w/Jonah Platt | Go Full Jew

I mean, people think there are tens and tens of millions of Jews everywhere because of how much attention we get. So I think it gives a little too much credit there to what people know and think about Israel. I don't think people know 90% of what makes Israel great. They just know that the curated narrative that they see on social media and on the news, which is that actually Israel is super powerful. It must be huge. It must have hundreds of millions of people there, and they use their power to colonize and oppress others. I mean, like, that's what people think of Israel. But the part that does speak to me is that sense of when, you know, actually also outside of Israel, maybe even more so, like when you're in the diaspora and you're seeing Jews succeeding wherever they go and thriving, it's like, well, what did these guys do to cheat? Because I'm not thriving and there's way more of me than there are of you. And so these guys are cutting the line somehow. They're manipulating things somehow. My problems must be because of them. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was. All things are mortal but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? Welcome to The Jew Function. I'm Leo. Hey, I'm Seth. Hello, everyone. Hello, hello. You look very happy for a guy who's in the middle of almost World War III, the shortest world war ever. Yeah. Maybe that's why you're so happy. Listen, in Israel, we work in the multiples of six. So we had a six-day war. Now we have a 12-day war. Next war is going to be 24 days. Hopefully, we don't go into full-blown world war. We try to keep him short. I saw a tweet that said it's peace, peace is here. You know, I'll tell you where there is peace. There was a lot of peace in Israel, among Jews in Israel. I don't know how it is on your end, but I think out of all the last few wars that we had going on here, this one really brought people close together. You're trying to not let us see the coffee. This is a trade secret. you know um so yeah so the difference the big difference is we don't have bombs on our heads um we don't have the x when you when you're in such an existential uh situation i think it's more easy i remember being in manhattan or during 9-11 like for i told you the story dad you won't believe what's going on here he's like give it three weeks son i'm like no you don't understand everybody loves each other everyone's good he's like give it three weak son he was right but you know when when you're under that existential when someone comes to kill you everybody bands together so we don't have that here yet like you guys have it's true and it works and and and so ironically uh you know i'm i kind of i i don't want that that feeling to go away um i i hope we don't need more missiles for it but uh that that's really something that it changes everything. When people see that level of cohesion, there's just nothing that could stand in that way. And for a reason, I mean, we talk about that reason in the Jew Function. If you're new to the Jew Function, I invite you to listen to the first 22 episodes because you'll hear the... You have 22 spare hours too. They're not full on. No, no, no. We were more economic back then. They're like 35, 40 minutes, great production value, put it in your ear, you transport it to the world and you will hear why we think that there's a reason why this unity works it's not just a fluke it's not just a material thing there's something deeper and and that's really the reason why we invite people to talk about it and i think that we're what the interesting thing seth i don't know if you noticed but we've been getting a lot of good answers to our big question that we ask our guests and that is if an alien came to earth and asked who are these people why draws so much attention and carries so much influence, even though there's so little, there's so few of them. We used to get a lot of no clue, I have no idea, and now we're getting people starting to formulate an answer around that. So that's interesting. I wonder what our guest will say about it because he himself is a host of a podcast that asks the question, what is being Jewish all about? He's actually a very interesting guest. He's got more followers than us, surprisingly. Not surprised. Not surprised. Yeah, he's got a lot of followers and he's using his followers to empower people on the issues of Jewish identity and anti-Semitism. And his podcast has been drawing attention since October 7th. And he was featured in a lot of places. And a lot of places, frankly, we would love to be featured. So maybe he will have some tips for us. But, you know, I really love his approach, just openness and desire to learn. And I think between him being an actor, an artist, an advocate for Jewish people, he's a natural bridge builder. He's a natural hub, as we call them. And I think we're going to have a great conversation. Let's just bring him on. What do you say? Let's welcome Jonah Platt. Hello, gentlemen. Thanks for having me. Thank you for that kind intro. Great. We could go longer, but I figure let's also talk to you. Wise, wise, wise. So I think, you know, let's do enough of the small talk. Let's just dive right in. You know, when you go on your website, there's a pop-up that says, what does being Jewish mean to you? So I want to turn the question to you and ask you, what does being Jewish mean to you? Because I think it's at the heart of a lot of what's happening in the world. Well, it's funny. I actually answered this question on my podcast yesterday. That was my opening monologue was really what is Jewish. I didn't see it. I know. So I get asked that question a lot when I do speaking engagements. People are like, well, what is being Jewish for you? And the answer I gave most recently, which I hadn't given before, I just sort of came organically. and then I did this monologue about it, is responsibility. I feel like Jews, more so than anybody else, feel a sense of responsibility or should feel or are instructed to feel a sense of responsibility in all things, in every interaction, in every relationship, as we relate to ourselves, as we relate to others, as we relate to the world. We have this sense of responsibility to leave whatever that is, that moment, that relationship, that interaction better than we found it. Nice one. With great power comes great responsibility type of thing? Is that the- I don't think it's because we're so powerful. I think it's because, you know, we sort of, you know, we're called the chosen people. And I don't think we're chosen because we're better than anybody. I think we're chosen because we were like, okay, yeah, we'll do all the 613 things that you say need to be done live a godly life or whatever adjective you want to use. And so I just think that we have taken it upon ourselves to raise our hand throughout history and be a group of people that even when the world wants to go one direction, we try to be a light shining in the other direction. Well, what is the direction that the world wants to go? And what's the direction that we want to go? I think in general, you know, if left to our own devices, humanity wants to tap into our baser instincts, our more heinous instincts, our more selfish, greedy, short-sighted, violent instincts. And Jews have tried to take a different approach. They try to treat your neighbor like yourself and take responsibility for one another. And all these different ways of honoring the world and ourselves and each other that are just part and parcel of what it is to be a Jew. I don't think that's obvious. I agree with you, but I don't think it's obvious to everybody that people gravitate towards more base desires. I mean, there's plenty of evidence for it everywhere. All the time. Yeah. But I think that if you ask most people in our country, let's say, let's start with, they would say, no, we're, you know, we want things to be good. We want things, you know, we want peace. Freedom. Freedom. Yeah, freedom. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I just, you know, it's all, they've done all these psychological experiments throughout the years, right? Where people, like, when you really leave people to it, most people are jerks. And, you know, they're willing to just shock another person who they've never met in another room because they're told they should do it. And they're hearing a dude scream, this hurts. And like, most people just like keep doing it because they say to do it. Or like, somebody's lying on the ground. And most people, if they have somewhere to go, like, will walk by that person. So like, yes, I think most people in their heart go, yeah, of course, I want the same thing everyone else wants. I want a good life for my family. I want freedom. I want peace. But with no sort of guiding principles or no taking of responsibility, when the shit hits the fan, they're going to default to some of those more selfish, animalistic instincts that things like being Jewish try to create scaffolding around to prevent and keep us focused on our higher nature. So before you go super deep, because I feel this guy has like depth in him. How come you're so wise, Jono? Maybe you can give us a little bit for some people who for some reason don't know you, who are not already following you. How did you get into even this whole topic? Like, did you grow up feeling anti-Semitism? Give us a little bit of a memory lane. Sure. The way I grew up actually will speak to sort of my approach to all of this and why I'm doing what I'm doing. is because I grew up with no antisemitism and I grew up being Jewish and really identifying from the day I was born as Jewish. I went to Jewish day school. I went to Jewish sleepaway camp, celebrate all the holidays with my cousins and grandparents and siblings. And it's just always been an enormous part of who I am. And that's what sort of fuels my advocacy is trying to help other Jews take ownership of their Jewish identity and celebrate it and find how they're going to connect to it, because certainly everybody connects to it in a different way, which is totally fine and great. The important thing is that you connect. So, you know, because of what's happened in the world, I've had to be more outspoken about this stuff. I sort of started doing that online pretty organically in like 2021 was sort of when I really began using. I had a smallish platform because of my entertainment work and identified that I could be useful just as being a person who's very Jewishly literate and like well-read and consumes a lot of information that I could provide some nuance and explanation to what was going on in spring of 21 when there was violence between Israel and Gaza. And there was a lot of anti-Semitic stuff being thrown around. And a lot of even Jews were like very confused about what was going on. And I tried to just sort of be a little bit of a filter and like a calming educational presence. And the response was very positive. And it's sort of slowly and organically picked up steam from there until October 7th, when it became sort of my full focus, just organically. So I didn't really want to be doing anything else and nothing else felt important and that's the road i've been on ever since let me ask you you said you had this very normal life no antisemitism growing up doing all the regular jewish stuff uh did did at any point did you feel or did you get the impression that you were somehow a little different or that there is some difference between this group of people that I belong to and other groups of people. It's a good question. You know, I don't know that I would say it's something I was acutely aware of and like thinking about actively, but there is, I mean, there's something special about Jews. I'll give you a recent example. Like my wife and I were in Venice, Italy, and my wife converted. And so my wife has no, I'd never had any kind of relationship with Chabad, had no idea really what that was or what that meant or what that looked like. And I obviously am familiar with them and know what they are and what they look, but I'm not particularly orthodox. I haven't spent a lot of time in Chabad spaces, but I'm aware of what they are. And so we were in Venice, Italy, and the Chabad there is in the Jewish ghetto, the former Jewish ghetto of Venice. It's a really cool sort of reclamation situation in there. And we were in Italy over Shabbat. And I said, I think it'd be nice to go to the Chabad for Shabbat and do an Italian Shabbat Jewish thing. And my wife was like, okay. And then we go to this thing. And within half an hour, my wife is crying as we're all gathered in the square, lighting the candles and singing. And there's a free meal. And she's like, who else in the world does this? Who comes together? These are people from all over the place. And they're all just here. They all are here for the same reason. They're all connected. People you've never met. People who are different than you. People from everywhere. like having a free meal together, like what is this beauty? And she was, I mean, she was crying. It was really beautiful. And to me, like, that's the kind of thing I've always felt about Jews. There's just this sense of community and taking care of each other and this connection wherever you are and whoever you are. And that I've always been aware of. - So, first of all, spot on, right? Everything you say, this is exactly like if someone would give a long answer to what is a Jew, you're in the ballpark, right? It's what it is. Jew, I don't know if you know this, but Jew, Yehudi from the word Yehud, unity. It's not just the Yehuda and the gratitude and all that. That's sort of the external story. The internal story is the unity because this is a people born out of nature's need to have a group that will point in that direction, as you were saying, again, so intuitively. Simply a need of nature. You can say creator at the end. It doesn't matter. There's a system with laws. You can call those laws. You can call them mitzvahs. It doesn't matter what you call it. You can call it the mitzvah of gravity. And if you break it, you're going to be punished severely in your bones. It's like, yeah, it doesn't matter. There's laws. We don't understand all the laws. We don't know all the laws. There's a lot of misinterpretation happening. That's part of the problem. But everything you said, that is it. The question that Seth and I grapple with all the time is, this sounds like such a good proposition. What's the catch? Why isn't everyone already doing it? At least Jews. Forget about everyone. the the big everyone the nations of the world as we sometimes amicably refer to them you know what we saw you know why aren't why aren't jews unified is that the question yeah yeah that's the question not only that not only that when when you know um however we want to take these these kind of sources you know it says that 25 or 20 of the jews left egypt and in the exodus And when we go back and we look at, so we spent, like Leo's mentioned, those first 20 episodes of our show, we basically go from biblical times all the way through modern times. When do we finish that, Leo? So before October 7th, we finished it. No, no, no. We finished it a long time before. What year? Anyway, it's not the point. The point is we went through. When he started his podcast. We went through each time, each calamity of the Jews and each calamity that happened before the Romans were able to defeat us, before the Greeks were able to defeat us, before the Babylonians were, there was always inner strife. and so the external enemy always came after the internal situation became um broken like they said that the the the most obvious ones they say is that the um the second temple was destroyed because of unfounded hatred right so when the romans actually came they they the generals said let them finish killing themselves killing each other there was a civil war going on and that then they were able to come in. So the crazy thing is that what you said, like who else, there's planes of Israelis flying back to Israel like now, like in the middle of this war. It's insane, right? Like October 7th happens and Israelis are trying to get back to Israel. Like people don't get that. They're like, oh, are your friends leaving? Are your friends okay? Do they need a place to stay? No, no. They all want to go back there. Everyone wants to be there. People are like, I don't understand. What It doesn't make sense. If there was a war in the U S people would be like, fuck that. I'm not sending my kids to go fight. And so, right. It's a totally different situation. So we have this thing with Jews that you described so beautifully about this warmth, this connection, uh, no matter where you go, it's like a family. and then there's this other weird piece that like there's this like fighting between us that is that and this division between us that um that exists that's this other thing that's um that that we have to understand where to place it and what to do about it well yeah i mean it's there's a there's a couple ways that I would go at this. I mean, if we're going to go, you know, Jewish text here, like the very first two brothers ever created, one of them killed the other one. So like, you know, it is in our nature to argue and to be divided and to, and again, to like talking about those baser instincts to be jealous of one another and upset with one another and not communicating. And so I think in any group of any kind of people, you're going to find disagreement. Add to that, that like disagreeing is very intrinsic. And one of the great things about Judaism and the way that we look at the world and the way we interact with each other is how important it is to have opposing ideas. I mean, that's what the Talmud is, is just like thousands of opposing ideas. And then you have just sort of the reality of the world in which Jews have been spread out in all different places and have all these different lived experiences that have just taken different human beings in different directions. And then there's the trap of how easy it is to be a hypocrite in so many different ways. I mean, the most frustrating like hate that I get online is when I get it from Jews. And I'm like, come on, like we're supposed to be better than this. you're supposed to be talking to me even if you disagree with me like way more respectfully than this what's the biggest criticism that they have with you it depends on what it is it's like if it's a if I say something that somebody on the right doesn't like it's that I'm too I'm being too liberal with something if somebody from the left doesn't like it's that I'm being too conservative with something which lets me know I'm like doing a good job um but it just depends on what it is uh but just people will be rude uh in in the way that they'll come after me for certain things and And when it's a Jewish person, it hurts more because I'm like, we're supposed to be in the same team. Yeah, we're on the same team. And again, like if you don't like what I'm saying, that's fine. But you don't have to be a dick about it. I think, you know, everything you say is exactly what we're after. In other words, all those things, take every... Here, I'll drop a little nuke on your head right now. Take everything you've ever read in the Bible, right? And everything you've ever seen in the Talmud, all those things, and assume, sake of conversation, not because I said so, wiser people have said so, assume that none of it speaks of external happenings in this world. They all speak about internal struggles inside a person. Okay? Yeah. Right? How does the Talmud open? Two are holding, one sits, it's one prayer shawl. One is pulling left, one is pulling right. That's one of the opening. Those are desires in you. What we call an evil inclination, a good inclination. An evil meaning egoistic that feeds yourself at the expense of everyone and everything. That's that base desire that you talked about. It's not the desires themselves, you know, food, sex, family, that's fine. But it's how you use it. It's the intention behind it that's egoistic, selfish, exploitative. That's one. And then the other desire is a desire for the other. Love your friend as yourself, right? Love your neighbor as yourself. That rule that collects all of the other rules in the Torah underneath it, right? Those are the two forces. That's it. There's nothing else. And everything you hear and read about are only this interplay between these forces inside of a person and then collectively between people. Yeah. That's it. That's right. So these two brothers, Cain and Abel, two forces inside of you. Isaac and Ishmael, two forces inside of you. Jacob and Asa, two forces inside. Do you notice how this thing happens in pairs all the time? Yeah, yeah. Moses and Pharaoh, everywhere we go. It's always that interplay. And then this goes a step further because once our buddy Abe, he figured it out in Babylon that observing nature, that this is a story and that when you don't like the other guy, you don't write a toxic comment on YouTube and you get off. No, you take the friction that you feel towards him and you take your friction and then you guys rise above it. Kind of like how you do it with your wife, I assume. You're married happily, right? Yeah. you put it down you step on that because you realize oh no this is just an expression of my egoistic self I'm going to step on that I want to reveal a higher level of connection between us and this will allow me to do it specifically that revelation that's what Abraham discovered and that was the beginning of the of the of the Jewish people of the Hebrews also Hebrews that they of him they they go from one side to another from one desire to another it's all about that That's the whole story. And so, you know, so the question is, how do you think we can get people to connect a little bit more with that DNA? Because if we don't know what we're about, we won't understand our place in it. You know, we're just going to sort of pretend, try to identify as everyone else, which is what Jews kind of fall into usually, right? Trying to blend in. It's a great question. I mean, it's sort of the only way I can think to really answer it is we need to, I think, change the way that we approach Jewish education as a whole and make sure that the things that we are seeing today that really matter in terms of Jewish identity are things that we're leading with in Jewish education. Certainly from a young age, as complex as we can go at a young age, but it has to also be continual. One of the guests on my show, Sarah Hurwitz, talks about this a lot, great author, how basically most American Jews, at least, you stop learning at bar mitzvah age, which is just when you're getting to the age when you can really start learning the important stuff and going deep on things. And so that's a major, you know, fault that is a feature of Jewish education, where just when we're getting to the good stuff, it drops off the face of the earth. And then you'll find people who are searching for wisdom and meaning in life. And they're looking everywhere but at Judaism. They're looking at the Buddhism. They're looking at self-help books. They're looking at retreats. They're blah, blah, blah. But it's sort of and her book is called Here All Along because like it's been here all along. We just don't know to look for it. So I think we need to, as a global Jewish community, confront that and help people understand who and what Jews are in a really deliberate way beyond just here are the prayers you have to know, here are the stories you have to know, here are the Hebrew words you have to know, here are the holidays, which are all important. And I understand, especially in youth, like we need that literacy too. It's like we got to know how to live and practice those things. But what's it all for if we don't know all the other stuff? Exactly. Exactly. And this is, by the way, I grew up, Seth probably grew up more connected to Jewish religion than I did. I grew up in a totally secular house. Well, you're Israeli, so yeah. Yeah. I'm Israeli. My parents were European and came to Israel. You got to study hard and get a good job, preferably a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer. Nothing else works. Right? And that's it. Obviously, I've done none of that. And they were supportive of that. But where I was going with it is that I feel like there's such a, as you said, ignorance. Not only ignorance, also fear maybe of what we have. You know, that little treasure chest. It's wrapped up in so much, like lots of outdated clothing and other things. And people just don't want to touch it. I feel like when I found out that Israel, the word Israel, it's not just the land of Israel, and it's because it's one of Jacob's names in the Bible. I didn't understand that as well. But when I learned that Israel means Yashar El, straight to the Creator, that's what this name is. That's what this group is doing. Creator being the force of love and bestow that altruistic quality for the other quality. That's what the creator is, that force, nothing else. That's some old guy in the sky. And there's one group that's trying to pull humanity in that direction. That's Israel. This is it. So that to me, that's like, oh, shit. We're looking at the whole thing all wrong. We're doing, forget organic agriculture and recycling. We have a more important task here. Yeah. I mean, I think you're right in that. so much of it is over time become wrapped up in survival instincts and uh and tucking it away or distancing ourselves from it or forgetting it's there because we're so focused on needing to survive and and to and to not be persecuted so there's so much of that uh inherited sense of we need to assimilate or we need to apologize for our what makes us great or distance ourselves from it so as not to attract more hatred or attract attention or to be thought of as you know arrogant or not humble or whatever the case may be which is again sort of speaks to my whole lane of my advocacy is sort of trying to get people to be proud of being jewish and empower them to reconnect with all of that stuff that makes being jewish great and not apologize for it because certainly certainly hasn't helped uh so you know no it can it can only help us to try something different we don't have any uh i mean maybe if you think the strimal is a cool outfit But we don't have any cool Maharishi style. Come on, the socks, the white socks to the knees, that's cool. That was cool for a while. No, but like you mentioned here, Jonah, that to get people to identify the, I don't know what you just said, the cool, this treasure that we have. So if you take the East, because when we think of spirituality or holiness, right like i'm calming everything down i'm settling everything down i'm being quiet and we think maybe like more eastern methods uh calm the ego down right like less desires and less desires equals less suffering and we have all kinds of mystics and people from the east on the other and also on the east is is more collectivism like uh like russia and china be more like communist everything is like one system and you have buddha and and the hindu and all that kind of stuff then you go west you have america everyone's an individual everything is you know capitalism uh every man for himself and the the the holiness that we're talking about the the jewish thing we don't have this thing where we like leave the world and go to the himalayas and detach like we're this and even where we are even where israel is between the the east and the west between this total you know the for example like i'm just totally painting with broad strokes but china russia this more communist collective thing and these eastern techniques and then the west which is all about individualism and the self and capitalism and you have israel in the middle the Jew in the middle who he's, he's a businessman or he is an entertainer or he's in the world. And he's also like a holy, he's also making these inner corrections. It's totally not a template that we're used to in this world, because if you're out there, like with like our thing is love everyone. But if you come to kill me, I'm going to kill you first. Like, it's like, wait, what? It's not a normal kind of perspective. So how can you look at me with a machine gun on or driving a nice car or living in a nice neighborhood and also that I'm spiritual? It's usually the world is used to this one or the other. And we're not one or the other. We're this total synthesis of heaven and earth. We're the synthesis of detaching, like the East, and also being fully about the self and money and everything of the West. And the Jew has to be this synthesis. And it's like Jews are just apologetic about everything, right? Like the Jews voting for this guy in New York now who's… I don't know if you heard about this. Yeah, right? It's like, it's just crazy. the situation that Jews are, because we don't have, and what you said about education, that we're exactly on this track, that true education about who we are and what our role is, people just don't even realize. We have to show somehow a true example of what this Jew is. You know, it's not Woody Allen, and it's not Jeffrey Epstein, you know, and it's not George Soros. So who is it? Who's the badass warrior, but also holy? Who is that guy? Maybe it's you, Jonah. So who is... It's Jonah. I'm not a warrior. Okay, you look like a warrior. You look like an Israeli soldier. But who is that guy who can balance the inner warrior, really? It doesn't matter what the external is, but that can balance both of those things. Overcoming himself, basically, is really what it's about. Overcoming who? Himself. Yourself. Yeah. But also externally, guys. We've got an entertainment guy here. We need to talk about the external thing. What can people see? That's the problem. It's a big problem. It's something that in terms of entertainment. I speak about this a lot. the easiest, fastest, most widespread way to humanize anybody, be it a Jew or anybody else, is through television and film, honestly. And we've, you know, there's a reason you're listing people like Woody Allen and Jeffrey Epstein and George Soros. That's who people see on TV, in the news and on their social media and in their movies. That's the touch point. That's all they've got. So it's really important on the entertainment side that there be a push. And I'm, I am seeing it behind the scenes, but that there'd be a push for more better Jewish storytelling, Jewish representation. And, you know, contemporary storytelling, not just Holocaust stories, not stories where Jews are, you know, only rich white people or diamond dealers who are black hat orthodox. But for example, like the show, "Nobody Wants This" on Netflix, which is a very popular show, where it's just, you know, contemporary people who are Jewish. That's what we really, really need to sort of start giving people another touch point, 'cause all they've got, look, most people on earth will never meet a Jew as long as they live. And most people's only touch point are the news, social media, and movies or TV shows. It's actually, now I finally get that point. When Seth and I were reading through your stuff and he said that you're saying that we need better Jewish representation in Hollywood. Chuck, I thought it was like a typo or something. It's like, Hollywood is clearly Jewish. It's all, everybody's Jewish. Hollywood is full behind the scenes of Jews who, the vast majority are Jews who are not connected to their Judaism or don't really identify or are very loosely, very assimilated, sort of weak cultural connection. Of course. They were just using their gifts as Jews without realizing it and renounced everything else. I totally get it. But what you just said, I think, is this is actually brilliant because you are right. There is no, if I'm thinking, if I'm trying to think, where can I see a Jewish person who is going through these struggles internally, who's trying to do the right thing in the face of everything else is wrong, but understands the sort of a bigger picture. There's a walking up balance between the East and the inner East and West, between the good inclination and the bad inclination. There's nothing. I mean, the closest film, you know, the film that came closest was A Serious Man. That was a, but, you know, but it was just, I mean, it was so out there that it's like, it remains like this little, like, you know, philosophical piece. But yeah, as far as additional, you know, shows and just like a soap opera, right, that would run for a hundred seasons that would just kind of get into that inner, you know, that's missing. I mean, even Larry David was, you know, was showing only one neurotic side of it. And, you know, he's a Seinfeld Jew. Yeah, exactly. He's a caricature Jew. So you're right. I mean, that part is missing. I mean, I'm thinking in terms of like big films and all that, but really just like... What would that guy look like? Like if there was a show about that guy or if there was a show about these characters, what is the story that people need to see? I think the key is that it needs to be a story that's not necessarily about being Jewish, but just that the character is a person who happens to be Jewish and moves through the world as a Jew. And so whatever struggle or obstacle they have to overcome within this narrative, it's through their Jewish lens. And if there was a parallel show with a guy who wasn't a Jew, what would be the difference between the two stories? It would be sort of the same. But instead of the guy like in his moment of crisis going into the church and confessing to a father, which is like a scene we've seen 10,000 times, you know, it's a guy going, I don't know, into the back of the synagogue and maybe his rabbi says something to him or he's talking to his some wise person he knows in his life and they're talking it out and they're referencing something Jewish. and he's instead of going to a Christmas party, he goes to a Hanukkah party, but it's the same exact thing that would happen at the Christmas party happens at the Hanukkah party. It's just, it's a Jewish background and not a Christian one. And why is that better? Because it's introducing people to Jews and humanizing Jews through narrative, which it's an emotional way. There's one other piece I want to get to. The Jew is not a human, like in a sense, excuse me for saying, like we're talking about 0.2% of the population. There's something extraterrestrial about this people. There's something eternal about this people. You want to read that post, Seth? Maybe read that post that we bumped on. Okay. Just a sec. I'm trying to formulate this idea. Okay. All right. I'll get back to this because it was like a big poof. But okay. I don't know. Did you find this, Spig, or where did this come from? Yeah. My mom forwarded it to me, actually. Okay. So it's a guy on X called New York Average Jew or something? An average New York guy. An average New York guy. Okay. All right. There's something about Israel that makes people uncomfortable and it's not what they say. So we're not affiliated with this guy. We saw this and it sounded like what we talk about. So, okay, there's something about Israel that makes people uncomfortable and it's not what they say it is. They'll point to politics, settlements, borders, and wars, but scratch beneath the outrage and you'll find something deeper. A discomfort not with what Israel does, but with what Israel is. A nation this small should not be this strong, period. Israel has no oil, no special national resources, a population barely the size of a mid-sized American city. They're surrounded by enemies, hated by the UN, targeted by terror, condemned by celebrities, boycotted, slandered, and attacked. And still they thrive like there's no tomorrow in military, in medicine, in security, in technology, in agriculture, in intelligence, in morality, in sheer unbreakable will. They turn the desert into farmland. They make water from air. They intercept rockets in midair. They rescue hostages under the nose of the world's worst regimes. They survive wars that were supposed to wipe them out. I'm getting the chills. And when the world watches this and can't make sense of it, so they do what people do when they witness strength they can't understand. They assume it must be cheating. It must be American aid. It must be foreign lobbying. It must be oppression. It must be theft. It must be some dark trick that gave the Jews this kind of power. It must be blackmail. Because heaven forbid it's something else. Heaven forbid it's real. Heaven forbid it's earned or worse, destined. The Jewish people were supposed to disappear a long, long time ago. That's how the story of exiled, enslaved, hated minorities is supposed to end. But the Jews didn't disappear. They actually came home, rebuilt their land, revived their language, and brought their dead back to life in memory, in identity, and in strength. That's not normal. It's not political. That's biblical. There's no cheat code that explains how a group of people returned to their homeland after 2000 years. There's no rational path from gas chamber to global influence. And there's no historic precedent for surviving the Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisitions, the pogroms and the Holocaust, and still showing up to work on Monday in Tel Aviv. Israel doesn't make any sense unless you believe in something beyond the math. This is what drives the world crazy. Because if Israel is real, if this improbable ancient hated nation is somehow still chosen, protected and thriving, then maybe God isn't a myth after all. Maybe he's still in the story. Maybe history isn't random. Maybe evil doesn't get the last word. Maybe Jews are not just a people, but a testimony. That's what they can't stand. Because once you admit that Israel's survival isn't just impressive, but divine, everything changes. Your moral compass has to reset. Your assumptions about history, power, and justice collapse. You realize you're not watching the end of an empire. You're witnessing the beginning of something eternal. So they deny it, they smear it, and they rage against it. Because it's easier to call a miracle cheating than to face the possibility that God keeps his promises. and he's keeping them still. - It's a lot for X, squeezed a lot in there. - Yeah, seriously. - 140 characters. - I mean, that was really interesting. I think the part that jumps out the most to me, and I think goes for Jews anywhere, not just Israel, although obviously Israel is the Jewish state, so it makes sense it would go for Israel, is that sense of how are you guys doing so well? you must be cheating. There must be something, you know, you must be doing something nefarious to be thriving like this. And I do think that that's a sensibility that deep down a lot of people harbor. But the part that I didn't agree with was like, you know, the world watches as Israel does blank, blank, blank, blank. In my experience, most people don't know anything about Israel. So I don't think the world is watching people reclaiming their ancient language and defeating these wars and being like people people don't know that there's that jews are 0.1 of the world people think there are 100 million jews in the world 0.2 excuse me come on dude sorry i took half of them out um uh yeah i mean people people think there are tens and tens of millions of jews everywhere because of how much attention we get so i think it gives a little too much credit there to what people know and think about israel i don't think people know 90 of what makes israel great uh they know the curated narrative that they see on social media and on the news, which is that actually Israel is super powerful. It must be huge. It must have hundreds of millions of people there and they use their power to colonize and oppress others. I mean, like that's what people think of Israel. But the part that does speak to me is that sense of when, you know, actually also outside of Israel, maybe even more so, like when you're in the diaspora and you're seeing Jews succeeding wherever they go and thriving, it's like, well, what did these guys do to cheat? Because I'm not thriving and there's way more of me than there are of you. And so these guys are cutting the line somehow. They're manipulating things somehow. My problems must be because of them. Let's go back to this character in this show. Oh, go ahead, Shmik. No, that's also interesting to me. I just wanted to say that it's something, you know, brought it up in a conversation with another guest that we had, which is I had friends who went to Italy for work, like consultants, I don't know, tourism related, whatever. Nice. And they were sitting with this guy, Italian guy, not Jewish, and they were talking about something and he was kind of like outlining the husband. There are a couple, husband and wife. My husband was outlining, this will happen, then this, and then we'll do this, and this, and this, and that. And the guy looks at him and is like, dude, you guys always see five, six, seven steps ahead, and I can't see it. And I think that was very telling because I think there's a lot of things that Jewish people experience and have access to, let's say, internally, as far as internal qualities that we take for granted. We don't see them, but people from the outside look at it and they can't figure it out. That's why they think it's cheating. And they don't know why that is. And also Jews don't know why that is. We know why that is, by the way. We talked about it. because when you actually connect, when you actually do that connection thing, when you actually make that effort to connect with someone, even when you have friction, and you insist on forming a higher level of connection, you build this network between you, you kind of get access to... Higher intelligence. Yeah, the system. It's basically, it's like the people with two eyes can see those stereographic posters, If you only have one eye, you can't. It's exactly that. Yeah, I think some of that comes from just the fact that we are, as Jews, talking about and thinking about these things by nature, where other people just aren't being even exposed to these ideas or ways of thinking. We have this full plate of stuff to eat off of, and other people are just not getting that same plate, and they don't know what they're not getting. Exactly. I mean, our sages, they say that we've reached that point. It was called the second temple, the first temple, actually. Again, not the stones and wood and whatever, fancy leather and gold. The idea, this level of connection between the people that, you know, opened this dimension to us, let's say. This feeling, you know, imagine if I can feel what you feel, if I can think what you think. If we have that intuitive connection, which you can sometimes feel with family members or really close friends, if you have that all the time with a large group of people, that's insane. That's intense. And we've been like cruising on that since then. Like we fell from that degree. So we're not in that level of first temple, not second temple. But as a nation, the Jews always kept it, even externally, right? As a small nation, we always had these messengers between the communities and the book that connected everyone. And all those things, they add up. They think, oh, no, because they're hard students. They're very studious people and they study hard. I didn't study hard. It wasn't that. But there's something that we have access to and we're not using it. We're using it to fulfill ourselves. That's what we're doing. And I think I'm going to say another big thing. I think it's hurting us and it's hurting the rest of the world. Like I take full, you said responsibility. I see you and I raise you. I take full responsibility for ourselves, but for the rest of the world as well. If they can't reach that level without me doing something, then man, I'm in the fault. You know, I got to do something about it. The one thing that you just said that I want to respond to is that, you know, you didn't study. I do think, you know, look, as Dara Horn, who's brilliant writer said on my show, she's like, we are people who kisses books, you know, so like, and everywhere throughout history, we have been well over. What's the word I'm looking for? Overrepresented in the literate portion of a population. So there is part of that Jewish culture that is all about learning and wanting. So I just wanted to give us that props there. Yeah, it's not instead of, my point is like, this in itself doesn't account for it. You know, the Koreans, the South Koreans were like, oh, Jews are so smart. Right. You know, the East is interesting. It's not like the West is trying to put down Jews. The East are like, oh, Jews are good. Let's be like Jews. Right. But they're not trying to be like Jews emotionally and the level of connection that we're talking about. They're trying to just be smart like Jews. So they're studying Talmud and this and that. But that in itself is not going to do it. You know, no offense to anyone. It's like you can load a camel with books, but you won't learn how to read it because it's not about that. That's an expression of that quality. It's not the reason for it. The root of it, and that's what we keep coming back to, is that connection that we have. You said, again, responsibility. There's another addition, mutual responsibility. That's the quality that lived among the people of Israel when we came out of Egypt. mutual responsibility. It's called in Hebrew. I forget the exact Hebrew of it, but that all of Israel is guarantors for one another. Yeah, guarantors. I love that because I take that to mean not a reminder of I'm responsible for all these people. As much as all these people are responsible for me, They are my guarantors. Like they didn't take out the loan. I took out the loan and they have been made responsible on my actions. So I need to be keeping them in mind with how I move through the world that I'm not causing the people around me, my friends, my family, my community to default on my loan so that my mistakes do not become their mistakes and drag them into it. And we fail at that all the time, but we need to be striving to always have the other in mind in that way because they are our guarantors. This is the challenge when it comes to this character. I'm trying to imagine who this character is. So he has this, well, let's just say that this piece that you said, that all of these people are my guarantors. I refer to it as something eternal or extraterrestrial between these people that carries them through everything. So it's not just that we're looking, okay, how does the, you know, the Christian guy would go to the church and the Jewish guy would go to the synagogue. It's not, and a Hindu guy would go to wherever he would go to. It's not just comparative, right? Like let's just see more Jewy stuff. And so people would get to feel it, but there's also this inner thing is what, because another piece is you try and explain something to people. It's not easy to explain to, for example, a child why he needs to eat the chicken and not just the cake, right? Or why he needs to go to sleep. So when you're talking about humanity, if we have this responsibility on ourselves, how do you go out then? How do we present to people this situation where everybody is just looking to self-satisfy themselves? And we're talking about something where we're all connected to each other. And it's not a burden for us to all be connected and responsible for us. And in fact, it opens up a whole nother layer of what it means to be alive. But how to show an example of that that people can relate to in any way? So I have a couple of ways to answer that. One is, look, I don't have the exact story right now off the top of my head. what the the essence of what you just said is a jewish idea but if it's sort of not if it's not in a vehicle that is recognizably jewish then it just feels like humanity right so like if i tell a story about a baseball team and like the lead of the baseball team ends up like coming to really learn and understand that story that like i really need to be playing for my team and it matters how i take care of my teammates much more than my own accolades like we're gonna get that idea but i'm not gonna know it's jewish unless the kid is jewish and it's the jcc baseball team right hold on hold on and and you're not gonna get the idea that it's actually a law of nature and it's part of a higher mission that's the missing piece every disney movie is about the guys getting together to beat the bad guy right but what for so we could have some good time for ourselves no there's a there's a higher mandate here a higher a commandment a mitzvah call whatever you want a law of nature that we're breaking and that's what we're seeing all the shit in the world it's not because it's let's take a break for a second no we have to explain this it's like it's like something that's not normal to talk about we're everything nothing normal about this show seth it's not it's not Well, I mean, if I may, I think what you're sort of basically saying is, let's say the universe is like a machine and it's like not working right now because it's, you know, the pieces aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. And if it does work. Call it a sickness and the thing is sick. And it's like, we need to be doing what's going to heal it. And imagine what it would be. Imagine how the system would function if it was working properly. It's not just like, because if we imagine right now, like, what would heaven be like? well, I'd have a good bank account and I'd have a pretty wife and I'd have like a good house and like good food and I'd be strong and taller. And like, you know, like what is, could heaven be? Right. A bigger slung. A bigger slung. But, but, but imagine something, you know, all we can really think of is just better stuff. You know what I mean? But there's something, some other level that we're talking about. Yeah. The example we like to give, again, I was also struggling with this idea. The example I like to give is, when was the last time you had the flu? Did you have COVID? I just had it. Did I have COVID? Like three or four times. Okay. Well, I don't know. I'm sure the first time was probably, I don't know. That was the worst one. Right. So remember that when you had it, you felt like half a person, right? Like you were like a 10% capacity. and then when you when you got better when eventually you got better and everything symptoms went away and everything you had this additional level of of life like added to your right like more hp to your character this is what we're talking about but from this level not from you know not from covid but from this imagine your best self then imagine that you were just like a sick person and there's like a a whole other life yeah you know it's that and and and And by the way, our sages said, and this is a short quote, they said, no calamity comes to the world if not for Israel, and no good comes to the world but for Israel. The guidance of all the worlds is given to Israel. So it's like it's a big responsibility. You know, we got to find a way to tell that story, man, or, you know, the plane is going down. Everyone needs to know that it's for the good of everyone. It's not like it's not something that's just for us. It's like you opened up with this responsibility thing. that somehow to show a good example of a good future for everyone that if we can get if we can make that family like you felt in it in italy if if life can just from small circles circles to bigger circles to bigger circles until life can be like this and not from above by some imposed communists or some imposed socialism which is filled with egoism at the end of the day right You're going to enforce sharing by a bayonet? I mean, come on. But somehow from the heart, from the family, from the ground up to create these feelings, these concentric feelings. And we have to figure out a way to spread that to the system. Hopefully you can figure it out. Yeah, it's a tall order. Well, that's what you came here for, John. You don't know it yet, but you were given this. Your mission should be to accept it. I don't know. I just had my third kid. I'm too busy for that mission. It's part of the world too. Yeah. Oh my God, man. This has been great. I can't believe what time just flew by. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great guy, man. We don't wait to hear from us, but we really enjoy this conversation and hearing. That's very kind of you. I enjoyed it too. This is great. I mean, I could talk about this stuff all day. Listen, we usually have, well, not usually, we always have, this is a tradition by now. we have the guests read a quote from the sources, right? Not from X, from our own sources. But I'm going to give you a choice of two. Okay. Because you're such a great guy, I'm going to give you the freedom of choice. We've been talking about dichotomies the whole time. So it's good that I have to pick from. Exactly, exactly. So here, I'm putting it both in the chat. Okay. I mean, as we were talking, I was entertaining a bunch of people But I think these two, hold on, let's see. Yeah. So give him a read for yourself, then choose one and read it out loud. That would be great. I think a great note to end on. Okay. I'm going to read the first one from Chilchot Arev. The essence of the root of Avut, mutual guarantee, is extended from the reception of the Torah, when all of Israel was responsible for one another. And this is because at the root, the souls of Israel are all considered as one because they are extended from the source of unity. For this reason, all of Israel are responsible for one another in the reception of the Torah. It's, you know, everything we've been talking about. Yeah, yeah, see? That's all, we've got it all, man. Just, it's all there. It's all there. We just got to tap into it here all along. Yeah, tap into it. So, you know, with this in mind, If you had a loudspeaker to all the Jewish people in the world, you have a minute, what would you tell them? I would tell them to, as I like to say, let yourself go full Jew. Whatever that means to you, quiet that voice that you sometimes hear that says, oh, this is lame or this is too religious-y or this is too, I don't know, opaque. Whatever it is, just let yourself go there. And however that looks, maybe it's you're gonna play an Israeli song in your car. Maybe it's you're gonna do the long kiddish instead of the short kiddish. Maybe it's you're gonna read online. You're gonna Google what is Parsha of the week mean? Whatever it is, just like go a little bit more, try to take more ownership of your Jewish identity and let it fill your life with meaning in however is most meaningful to you in your life. but it is this beautiful thing that's there and really deep and really rich and, and it's just, and a bottomless bounty of, of discovery awaiting you. So take it, be loud, be proud with it and, and celebrate it. Amen. Or start listening to the Jew function on a regular basis. And also, I mean, I hope your listeners will come check out being Jewish with Jonah Plath. Absolutely. Absolutely. You can find on YouTube and all the audio platforms and on JBS on TV. I guarantee all five of them will come to you. I'll see you guys there, those five. Jonah, this has been amazing. Thanks, man. So happy to have met you. We wish you really to go from strength to strength to continue to spread that message. Tell the story, man. Yeah, you're tapped in. And a way people can feel it. yeah yeah we're here for you as well by the way you're in our circles we like to say to our guests uh this is it this is for life and i really i mean i really feel this is the time you know this it really is biblical times this is that's right we're in the moment yeah yeah excellent thank you jance okay guys it's a pleasure so anyone else listen you know check it check out the Jew function. We're also on every platform, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok. Speak. Talk about our friends. Enough about us. No, no, no. He's a teen Jewish with Jonah Flat on all the platforms. No, no, no. He just said it. I'm just plugging our show as well. Okay, okay. Just leave a comment. Be a good example. Yeah, we'll see you next week, everyone. Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. Продолжение следует...