Group Chat: Are the Ninja Turtles Zionists? And more…

0:00There's never been more coverage of Israel and the Jewish world, and never less of it is worth trusting. Arc Plus members allow us to have these conversations honestly, without pulling punches or censoring any of our jokes. Join Arc Plus at arcmedia.org. [upbeat music] You are listening to an Arc Media podcast. [upbeat music] Hi. Okay, hi. Hi. This is, uh, Chosen People Problems, right? Hello. Is this Chosen People Problems? I think that's our name.

0:39Is it? [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, that's us. That's us. Um- Welcome... welcome to Our DMs Are Open. This is our little exclusive thing that we're doing from now on. Uh, it's free this week, but you better pay up next week if you want more of this. Uh, no pressure on us to make this entertaining. No pressure. I mean, zero pressure for us- Yeah... to be funny, entertaining, insightful- Yeah... happy to do this. Non-offensive. Non-offen- [laughs] I already offended people. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've only made, like, two people at Arc Media cry- [laughs]...

1:09so far, I think, right? And we've made a few antisemites, but other than that- We've made a few antisemites. Yeah. And quite a few Jews, which is pretty impressive. I know. We're doing well. Yeah. We're doing well. [laughs] So yeah, I'll explain what this is. What is Our DMs Are Open? [laughs] I knew you were gonna... Yeah, I, I think my mistake was taking notes- [laughs]... when you and I were talking earlier. So you were like, "Oh, she's got this. Okay." Well, you probably weren't taking notes. You were probably texting someone, and I assumed you were taking notes. That's what I'm guessing went on.

1:36Who, who would I be texting if I'm not texting you? Yeah, that's a good point. Figure. [laughs] Okay, so what... Our, Our DMs Are Open is a new show that we're gonna be doing, an added show- Yeah, yeah... every single week. But is it free for people, or do they have to pay? No. No. Okay. We're, we're done working for free. Right. Um, no. Just kidding. But our other show is free. Okay, wait. Before you yell at us, our show is still free. Um, that is, we would not have it any other way. Uh, we want people to listen to it.

2:03Um, so our, uh, regular show is free, like our episode that we just did, uh, with Douglas Murray, which hopefully you listened to, uh, which was really, really fun and absolutely terrifying- Yeah... if I may say so myself. [laughs] I mean, the m- the man is a little, he's a little intimidating. He's serious, yeah. He's serious. He was- An intellect... scared of us. I think he was- He was scared... pretty scared. It was mutually- Yeah... it's like you ever see, like, two dogs, like, walk by each other- [laughs]... on the street and they're both scared? I feel like that's a bit- Ah... like that was, what that was like. Right.

2:31Um, but it was wonderful and brilliant and funny at times, and sad at times, but it was just such a, such a treat to, to sit that man down for an hour and talk to him. So please listen to that one. Again, listen to all our episodes because, again, we, we always say this. Dan Sneer is gonna be so mad at us, you guys. You, you have no idea. [laughs] No, I'm kidding. That is so not true. He is the nicest guy ever. He is. Uh, but we don't, uh, we don't want him to, uh, regret this decision. [laughs] So listen to Douglas Murray and then comment and say, "Oh my gosh, I'm so happy you guys joined Arc Media.

3:01This is the best decision ever." I think the point of this whole conversation is to explain what Our DMs Are Open is, [laughs] and so far- [laughs]... we've not done that. No, let's get to that. So let's talk to that part. The Douglas Murray episode. Okay, this is where you send us your questions and we answer them. Correct. Yes. Isn't that amazing? It's a brilliant concept. [laughs] Um, but we've said this before in our Ask A Jew life, uh, you cannot offend us with questions. Right.

3:25So you can send us dumb questions, you can send us smart questions, you can send us questions that you could probably Google. Um, but send us questions 'cause we love answering questions, especially if they're about ourselves, and we have a few of those [laughs] here. Yeah. So we'll get to those. And those will be for paying subscribers. If you wanna be a paying subscriber, uh, you can go to arcmedia.org and sign up. Um, I think it's, what, $8 a month? It's not a lot of money. It's really not a lot of money, and you get all the shows. Right.

3:52So not just us. You get, um, For Heaven's Sake, uh, you get Inside Call Me Back. Call Me Back. You get all the- Yeah... all the good stuff. Uh, and if you wanna submit questions to us, um, go to the link in the show notes. All right, Chayla, let's, let's give these people their money's worth. [laughs] Well, well, first we have to say we'll be right back with your questions- Okay... and some of our own after this message. Okay, we'll be right back.

4:13[air whooshing] Here's a Chosen People problem we can actually solve. Finally, because we're not doing antisemitism today. No, I'm over it. Today we're doing money, and specifically how you should be spending yours. [beep] yeah. A bunch of rich Jews. Listen, rich Jews, give us your money so that we can do this show. You love it, and we could do more of the show- Yeah... if you just pay. Pay. Don't be cheapos. [beep] Join Arc Plus. You'll get exclusive content and ad-free listening across the Arc network. And also, your support allows us to say what we actually think, even when we probably shouldn't.

4:44When you join Arc Plus, you get to hear us behind the paywall, completely unleashed and ourselves. Yeah, this is us on our best behavior right now. And by the way, not just us. You'll get exclusive content from Call Me Back, For Heaven's Sake, and Arc News Daily. Ooh, wait till you hear what Deborah Pardes is like after dark. If this show has ever made you laugh, taught you something, or made you yell at your phone, become an Arc Plus member today. You keep independent Jewish media going, and we get to keep doing whatever this is.

5:13Join Arc Plus. It's good for the Jews. Is it? I don't know, but it's definitely good for us. [air whooshing] All right, we're back to Our DMs Are Open with your questions. All right, Chayla, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick the first question here for you. Okay. I like that I'm in charge of this, 'cause I can pick the ones that are about me. Oh my God, I knew this- Um-... was gonna happen. [laughs] Well, let's, um, let's start with this one. Drew from Minneapolis. Uh, "Yael, Chayla, I've only been listening to Ask A Jew for a few months, and I love it.

5:43I'm hoping nothing will change with the change to Chosen People Problems." It will not. This is me adding. "I could probably go back to your first episodes, but I didn't. So can you answer how you two, who are so different, came to hosting a podcast together?" Should we, should we talk about our origin story? Oh, boy. How much time do we have? [laughs] No, I'm just kidding. It's a lot. It's a short, cute story. Well, we talk about it a little bit- A little bit, uh, in our episode with Dan- Right... that will come out tomorrow that you have to listen to- Right... because it's hilarious- Yeah...

6:10um, I think. Um, but we, we kind of, we kind of spoke about it very briefly, so maybe now we can give more of the in-depth version. Yeah, that's a good idea. Okay. So Yael and I met during COVID, at the beginning of COVID. Um, I live in California. Um, obviously I'm a Chabad. I'm a r- a religious Jew. I'm a mom. I have four boys. Um, I'm also a Jewish educator. I work for Hillel and for, uh, my father, who is a Chabad rabbi here in Long Beach, California. I work at his shul. I also do a podcast with him and our friend Jay. Um, so we... I have, like, all that going on.

6:46Yael, should I, should I talk about you, or do you wanna talk about yourself? I thought we were gonna talk about how we met, not give, like, our resumes. I'm about to say the next thing. [laughs] Yael, uh, lives on the East Coast, and she's secular, lives in New York. She has a big job, very important job. She worked for the NYPD for many years. Now she's, like, a consultant who has, like, a very interesting job that she can't just sign NDAs for. Anyway, the two of us met on a Zoom during COVID for another podcast that's very, like, libertarian based.

7:16It's called The Fifth Column, if you've heard of it. I'm sure many of you have. If you haven't, you should definitely listen to them- Yeah, they need our help... when you're not listening to Arc Media. Yeah, when you're not listening to Arc Media, uh, podcasts. Um, but uh, we met on the Zoom that they were doing, like, the happy hour Zooms, and Yael was like... She m- basically messaged me privately, and she's like, "Why is there someone named Hilella on this Zoom?" 'Cause it didn't- Yeah... make sense. And- It's a very, like- Yeah... libertarian podcast we were ta- Yeah.

7:41This is COVID, so imagine, like, we were ordering drinks- Yeah... t- like, you know, takeaway drinks. On Uber Eats. [laughs] And we're sitting on our computers- Yeah... and, like, wiping down our groceries and doing, like, listening to this podcast with other people and talking about the Central Park Karen or whatnot. Right. And I was like, "There cannot be any other Jews here." And then turns out there's this, like, Orthodox lady. [laughs] So we had a, we had a little Zoom date. So the next night we had a Zoom date. Mm-hmm. And then we just never stopped talking since then. I mean, honestly.

8:11And then the first time I met you, I, in LA- Yeah... I invited myself to stay at your place. [laughs] Right. She slept over the first time, yeah. Is not, like- Yeah... something I would normally do, except I felt, like, very comfortable with you. Yeah. It's true from the beginning. So yeah, that's how it started, and we were just having these really, what I think of as very interesting conversations about Jewish identity and our lives and pop culture and, you know, Israel and all the different things that were coming up.

8:37And politics also. That was a big part of it. And it was just from two different kind of perspectives, and we just started recording. Our friends were like, "You guys should have a podcast." Everybody was starting a podcast at that time. Yeah. So we did, too. So we actually bonded over Beverly Hills, 90210, I don't know if you remember. Yes. Because one of my favorite stories you ever told me was how you used to have a kosher TV that didn't catch any... Well, may- you, you tell it. It was- I don't wanna tell your story...

9:02it was a video monitor, 'cause we didn't have a TV at home. So it was just a video monitor where you could put in, like, a VHS and watch. But when my parents would go out, I would pay my younger brothers, and they would hold either, like, a hanger or, like, a safety pin in the back where, like, the, where the antenna would usually go. 'Cause if you put something in there, you could get service or reception or whatever, and it was like an antenna. And we would watch Beverly Hills, 90210.

9:28I would pray that my parents were going out on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM so that I could watch 90210. And then I would have to pay my brothers, but it was worth it. But you'd have to pay your brothers to s- to stand with the antenna. To stand. Yeah, they would have to hold it. Yeah. Well, they weren't, we were not sophisticated enough to figure out how to keep it there. That would've required more. And then you would go to seminary the next day, and whoever watched would play it out- Not seminary. [laughs]... act it out for the other girls, right? Not seminary, but that was my mother.

9:54She always told the story that when she was growing up, the girls who had a TV would come to their school the next day, 'cause most girls didn't have TVs 'cause it was a Chabad school, and they would act out the shows for the- [laughs]... girls who didn't have TVs from the night before. So yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. That's amazing. We didn't quite do that, but we would tell everybody all, everything that was going on. Yeah. And then my second favorite story about this, and then we'll move, we won't talk about Beverly Hills, 90210 the whole episode. I think we should. Uh, we can. I could talk about- We definitely can...

10:24Brandon, Dylan, all the- Who was, well, who was your favorite? I started off Brandon and then very quickly moved to Dylan, and since then- Oh... have had a terrible problem with always liking the very emotionally damaged, horrible- Mm... love interest. See, I was a, I was a, I was a David girl. I was a Brian Austin Green girl. What? Oh, yeah, of course. No way. He was the- That's so funny... he was the cute, like, shy one. I don't know. No. I can tell, I can tell so much about somebody by who their favorite 90210 character is. [laughs] Also who their favorite Ninja Turtle is.

10:53Oh. You can learn a lot about somebody- But that's, I mean, Leonardo, obviously... from that. Of course your favorite's Leonardo. Yeah. That's, like, so... Yeah, 'cause you like the popular guy. Yeah. I liked Raphael because I like- [laughs]... you know, the guy who's, like, a little edgy. Oh, my God. You can, can learn so much about us, but that's, that- Yeah... there are no questions about Ninja Turtles at the moment. Nobody has asked us anything about that. Um- So strange... do you wanna tell the story about how you went to see, uh, um- [laughs] What's that?...

11:17Steve in Chippendales [laughs] in Vegas- Oh, my God... because he wanted to support- I'm not revealing every single senten- [laughs]... every secret of my life right now on the first episode. No. People are gonna have to pay more money to hear all of those stories. And you did a mitzvah. He's Jewish. You did a mitzvah. He is. He is. And you went to support his business. [laughs] Um, which was very nice of you. Okay. I forgot about that. Oh, my God. Next question. This one is about you again. Ugh. Oh. Okay. Uh, Ashley. Uh, Ashley with an interesting spelling. Okay.

11:46Ashley from Washington: "Hilella, first mazel tov on your son's wedding," which I think is coming up soon. Mm, yeah. Really, really soon. Uh, as we record this, it's one week from today, so. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And by the time this comes out, it's, like- A few days... it's on. Yeah. We're in the festivities. Yeah. Um- I was wondering if he used a matchmaker. I mean, like the kind in Fiddler on the Roof. How does that work exactly? Yes. Imagine the matchmaker on Fiddler on the Roof, but with WhatsApp. [laughs] That's exactly, exactly what we used. Um, no, honestly, yes, I'm... My kids are...

12:19We, we are from the Chabad community, so we use Chabad matchmakers, and we basically, in a nutshell, I mean, this is a long conversation, but in a nutshell, when a, a young man or a young woman are ready to get married, which happens sometimes, sometime between the ages of, you know, 20 to 25, um, they put together a little resume of themselves, like a picture and, you know, their history of, like, what schools they went to, what their jobs they have, and references, mainly, like, who their family is, who their friends are, and people you can call.

12:50And you exchange them with the matchmakers, and then the matchmakers basically send you ideas, and you rifle through them until you find one that you think sounds like a good idea, and you kinda do the research. And then if you agree, usually the boy, not always, but often the boy gets asked first. If we agreed, then the girl's family would, you know, say if they were interested, and if they were both interested, we had a date. And that was exactly what happened with my son. Aw. So yeah. Well, he's a catch. He... Thank God. You should do, um... Thank God. They should do, like, a swiping thing- Oh my God... the matchmakers. Yeah.

13:21I mean, it's, it's a beau- It, it works well when it works well, but there's definitely some... It, it's a great system most of the time, but we need, we need to think about, you know, some new realities of the new world. And, you know, even 25 years ago when I was dating, like, you didn't see a picture of the person before you went out. Really? I didn't see a picture. I did not see a picture of Baruch. He never saw a picture of me. Um, the best you could get was, like, you would ask a friend to give you a description of the person, which you can imagine how, uh- [laughs] And a- act him out... yeah, [laughs] act him out.

13:52[laughs] Is he more Brandon or Dylan, would you say? No. [laughs] Um, so yeah, we didn't get pictures. Now, you know, obviously the first thing I did, uh, for every- I shouldn't say this 'cause I have three more sons I need to marry off, but, you know, I always would, like, go online and see, you know, if I could stalk the parents or the siblings or- Of course... you know. Yeah, so it's very different. Well, now that you're a famous podcaster, the, the ladies are just gonna be lining up for, [smacks lips] for your- Or-... your sons... possibly running away, but we'll see.

14:19[laughs] We don't want those people anyway. My grandfather, my grandfather was a matchmaker. I've mentioned this before- Yes... on other episodes, but my grandfather was an incredible matchmaker. He made over 300 matches, and he would sit with... Before any kind of internet or anything, he had a box of blue cards and a box of g- uh, pink cards, and they... He would have boys and girls fill them out, and then he would just sit all day rifling through them, pulling them out, say, "Oh, this guy. Oh, this girl. Oh, perfect," and he would match them up, and- Aw...

14:45that's how he would do it, very old-fashioned, and, uh, and it worked. He really understood how to get people together, and people trusted him. We need to go back- We should go back to that... we absolutely should. I'm all for it. You should just get a box. In fact- Somebody buy a box with cards. Yes, but I n- I do wanna make one plug here because Arc Media has something called The Fold, which is, like, a community that we're building together where we can have, like, conversations outside of the podcast, and I'm really hoping that I'm gonna be able to use The Fold as a matchmaking opportunity 'cause I feel like maybe we'll have lots of single people on The Fold, and then we can, like, find where they live and have similar interests and make that part of our little community, so...

15:26Sign up. Will everybody please come there? Because I am, like... I'm, I'm- [laughs]... mildly addicted to it already. [laughs] So, uh, please come and talk to us there. Yeah, exactly. Um, 'cause it's really fun. It is. Um, okay, I will not ask you more questions about your son's marriage- Okay... out of respect for him. Thank you. We'll be right back. [whooshing] Here's a chosen people problem we can actually solve. Finally, because we're not doing antisemitism today. No, I'm over it. Today, we're doing money, and specifically, how you should be spending yours. How you should be spending your money on us. Join Arc Plus.

15:57You'll get exclusive content and ad-free listening across the Arc network. And also, your support allows us to say what we actually think, even when we probably shouldn't. When you join Arc Plus, you get to hear us behind the paywall, completely unleashed and ourselves. Yeah, this is us on our best behavior right now. And by the way, not just us. You'll get exclusive content from Call Me Back, For Heaven's Sake, and Arc News Daily. Ooh, wait till you hear what Deborah Pardes is like after dark.

16:21If this show has ever made you laugh, taught you something, or made you yell at your phone, become an Arc Plus member today. You keep independent Jewish media going, and we get to keep doing whatever this is. Join Arc Plus. It's good for the Jews. Is it? I don't know, but it's definitely good for us. [whooshing] And we're back to our DMs are open for chosen people problems. Um, Jackson in Albuquerque writes, "I am having a really hard time with the October 7th anniversary this year.

16:50What is the best way to commemorate it and honor the Israelis who so brutally lost their lives, all while I live in a place where so many people around me act like Israel is the bad guy?" Wow. Should I start? Yeah, you go ahead, and then I'll answer. Yeah. Um, I am, I'm not really feeling the October 7th anniversary, and I didn't feel it last year, um- Mm-hmm... because I just... I feel like every day is still October 7th to an extent. Mm. Like, I don't know. I'm still... I still- Yeah...

17:19see it every day in my life, like, in my timeline, in my social life, in, in stories, and so I'm, I'm having a, a bit of a hard time with kind of taking a, a moment to commemorate it because I feel like it's just still, like, such a big part of my day-to-day life, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, that's me personally. If, if I would advise Jackson, I would say, um, who also has a very interesting spelling of his name, um, I would say, you know, there are so many stories, and they're the ones that we all know, but I would try to go and find, you know, just a story of, of somebody who lost their life or somebody who's, who survived, um, and just learn a little bit about them.

18:01You know, learn what they were like, what they looked like. I, I listened to, uh, the morning show every day in Israel, and, uh, people were calling in and telling stories, and they were just- Say like, "Who do you wanna remember?" And people just telling stories about their friends, and somebody said, you know, "Oh, I'm from the kibbutz, and my..." He kinda glossed over how his dad was murdered. Mm. He said, "My dad was murdered, but I actually wanna talk about my friend. We worked in the auto shop together-" Wow... "and he was this kinda guy."

18:25And so, uh, you know, I would say take a moment to learn about them, and also, uh, like post on social media. Mm. All right? Post on social media, or tell somebody, or talk to somebody. And, and you know, I, I think a, a huge side effect of this whole anti-Israel nonsense is that we just like, we just like, we don't wanna engage, right? We don't wanna be like- Mm... "Oh, I don't wanna post anything. I don't want people to get mad at me. I don't want people to..." Just do it. Like, we need to normalize our existence. Mm. Um, so if you're comfortable with that, I would encourage you to also say something public.

18:59And it doesn't mean that you're, you know... It doesn't say anything about you, aside from the fact that you are a human being and you need the people around you to acknowledge- Yeah... what we've all been through. Yeah, I agree. Um, I would say a couple things. So there's the internal and the communal, or the individual and the communal, right? I think we, we deal with these kinds of things in, in two layers. So I'll address first the individual part. I think in Judaism, there's lots of ways that they tell us how to mourn, how to commemorate.

19:32You know, there's things like saying Kaddish and going to schul, and there's, you know, ways that you could go online and participate in a service. Everybody can find something that day that is meaningful to you as an individual, whether it's taking a few hours of the day and setting it aside to do something meaningful for yourself in, in honor of October 7th. I don't mean going to get a massage. I mean- [laughs]... like, you know, go read something special. Do what Yael is saying. Read the stories. Go sit by a, a body of water, or do it with your family at dinner.

20:04Everybody... You have to do something on the individual level to make that day feel special. Now, I do have to admit, for me personally, because of the way that I, you know, process, and also the way that I celebrate and, and, and, uh, observe Judaism, for me, Simchat Torah is really... feels like the anniversary of October 7th, because I was in schul when it all started happening. And so being in schul this year on Simchat Torah, it was so emotional.

20:35Like, at one point, the whole congregation got into, like, two giant circles, all the men, all the women, and we sang some beautiful songs together. Like, it was, for me, that, as an individual, that meant a lot. But on October 7th this year, I'm gonna be putting up signs of all the people that were killed. We printed, it's 16 posters of everybody who was killed on October 7th, and we're putting it up on our campus at Cal State- Wow... Long Beach. So that's, like, one thing. But... And then there's the communal part.

21:00Every single JCC, federation, synagogue, school, any Jewish organization is planning something for October 7th. They better be. And too many Jews opt out of joining, right? Like, they just say, "Oh, it's... You know, I can't make it. It's annoying. It's 7:00," or whatever. Like, show up, because part of mourning and part of remembering is also being part of the community. And I really encourage everybody... I know this is coming out too late for this, but- I was gonna say-... for next year-... it's good that we're giving this advice on October 8th. Yeah.

21:31But for next year, like, I really wanna tell people, even if you live in a place that's remote, like this, I forgot, Jackson said- Albuquerque... um, Albuquerque. There has to be a- Like, Albuquerque has a federation... JCC in Albuquerque. They have a JCC. They have Chabad. Everybody has October 7th events happening, and I really encourage everybody to show up. Make sure you go to the- And again-... anti-October 7th event, not the pro-October 7th event... exactly. 'Cause there are some of those too. Yeah, true. But I just, I'll...

21:55Just on that note, I wanna say one thing, because I think this is a really true thing for a lot of people. I don't get a lot out of those kinds of events. I just don't. It's not my thing. I am a very, like, sort of... I mourn personally inside, internally. I'm not, like, an external mourner. But I still show up, and it's very important for bodies to be in the room. You can't imagine what it feels like. I, I mean, if you've been, you know. But when you walk into a space, you don't feel alone, because it doesn't matter if it's 20 people, 50 people, or 700 people who show up to commemorate October 7th.

22:28All of a sudden you're like, "Oh, I'm not alone. This isn't just me." Mm-hmm. "There are people who live within my geographic area that feel the same way that I do." And just showing up makes such a big difference. So again, pick something to do that touches you individually, whatever that is. And then I beg of you, join the community and show up for the events that they're putting on for October 7th, because it makes a big difference to everybody to mourn together. Yeah. That's- And I'll add-... how I feel...

22:56I'll just say one more thing. You should also take this day or week or whatever to be very proud. Yeah. Um, because the, just the absolute stories of, of heroism that came out from that day, and we, we talk a lot about the failures of that day, and there were plenty, and we can fill... You know, Dan can fill all his podcast with stories about- [laughs]... like, the government and the IDF. Yeah. But, um, but y- you know, these stories of absolute heroism, of the people who drove...

23:21You know, there's one guy, a famous story, who drove I don't know how many times back and forth to the Nova Festival and picked up strangers in his car and saved, I think- Yeah... about 150 people. Yeah. Uh, of the people that held, you know, the, uh, the doors of the bomb shelters from within, uh, of the, you know, the people who kind of fought off terrorists or tried- Mm... to fight them off, uh, who put themselves on the front line for others, uh, the soldiers. I mean, there's just so many stories of soldiers that, um...

23:52I remember this one story I heard at the Nova of a few soldiers that, uh, showed up that actually abandoned their post. Mm. Um, so they couldn't reach their commander or whatever, and they ended up taking... Like, they could've been in prison for that- Right... if they had... But they saw that, like, people needed them somewhere else, and they abandoned their post, which was in a quieter area, and came to save lives. Mm. Um, so you can be just, uh, you know, be very proud of, of our people- Yeah...

24:18if you're Jewish, and if you're not Jewish, be proud that you are, um, you know, that you have, uh, you're, you're part of the Jewish family as far as I'm concerned. Right. And one last thing, you can always do a mitzvah in honor of the people who were killed, because it does a lot for their souls if you believe in, like I do. Um, give charity that day, say s- prayers. You could say psalms. You could go do something for someone else. Do good- Sign up for Arclight... you know, goodness. [laughs] I, I believe- Do acts of goodness... I believe in that. [laughs] That's what I believe.

24:46Do acts of goodness and kindness for others who are less- Yeah... fortunate. Like, yeah. Mm-hmm. Like- Like us. [laughs] But... [laughs] No. But seriously, do something in honor of the people who were killed, and it will... It's, it's really good for their souls. Yeah, and tell- Put on tefillin... tell their stories Do something nice. Even if you're just telling one person. Like, tell their stories. Yeah. Yeah. That's... I, I actually believe that. Yes.

25:04I believe people, you know, w- if you s- if you stop talking about people, they, you know, they really cease to exist in the memory, so. It's true. Anyway. Anyway. It's gonna... It's depressing today. It's gonna be depressing October 7th. It's gonna be still depressing on October 8th when this comes out, so. Yeah. Guess what? It's always relevant. But, but we also are alive. You can't just sit and be depressed. We're alive, we're here, and we have to live for the people who were killed. I mean, we can't just sit here and be like, "Oh, my God, I'm so depressed."

25:32No, you get up, and you shake it off, and yes, you could mourn for the day, and then you get busy living and being happy and making the world a better place and doing mitzvahs and learning and being a proud Jew and, and not being scared. Like, there's a lot we can do that has, that we do for the people who were killed. The right thing to do is to get up and live for them. You know, like my father said on Simchat Torah, we dance for them. We dance for them. Yeah. So- We will dance again- Yeah... the big, big part of this. Exactly. And if you've ever been... I know you've been, but if, if our listeners have ever been to the site of the Nova- Yeah...

26:05Festival in, uh, Ra'am in, in southern Israel, it's this beautiful memorial. You come... You know, you go there, and it, it's haunting. It's, it's Holocaust- Yeah... haunting. Yeah. The stories, the, the, the last words. It's just, it's all right there, and you come, you come out of there... I ca- I won't say how people leave there, but I came out of there with the conclusion is that the, the best revenge, quote, unquote, or the, the, the only thing that we can do to win is to live. Mm-hmm.

26:36And by live, I don't mean just, like, survive. I mean- Mm-hmm... like live and thrive- Exactly... and enjoy life like these beautiful young people who were just full of joy and love and, and laughter- Exactly... and music. So don't let the terrorists win. Yeah, exactly. Is what I'm saying. [sighs] Okay. [sighs] All right. Another question? Let's do one more. Maybe something about the Ninja Turtles? [laughs] You gotta keep up with us. We're gonna go from October 7th to Ninja Turtles. Yeah. You gotta keep up. How do you... Do you think the Ninja Turtles would've made a statement about Gaza?

27:08They f- they would've been such big Zionists. No. Splinter, yes. Yes. No. Are you kidding me? Yes. Splinter. Yeah. He, he would be such... He would be so woke. No. No, he would be a big Zionist. And April O'Neil, she's a member of the media. Forget it. No. We hate them. They would be such big Zionists. They would be with, doing a show with Macklemore now. [laughs] I'm glad they don't... How long do turtles live anyway? Don't they live, like, 100 years? Forever. Yeah. Oh, no. Longer than us. I hope they don't listen to this. [laughs] Okay. [laughs] All right. Wow. Okay. Casey from Oxford writes.

27:39Do you think it's Oxford, like, England or America? I wanna believe someone's listening to us at Oxford University. Yes. Yeah. Yes. I think. I think. I will choose to believe that. Yeah. Okay. Um, wearing, like, a little tie. Okay. [laughs] "Hello, Chaya and Yael. I hope this is not too embarrassing a question, and I would like you both to answer. What's something about Judaism that you each grew up thinking was true but later discovered wasn't?" First of all, if you think that's an embarrassing question- Yeah, that's not... you know, it's, this is easy-peasy.

28:06Uh, something about Judaism that you each grew up thinking was true but later discover wasn't. I, I mean, I thought that your- I don't know where to start. [laughs] I thought that your people had, uh, sex through a sheet- Oh... when you got married. Yeah, that's not true. And but you told, you told me that wasn't true. That is absolutely not true. Okay. Well, then- No... there goes that belief that I had. Yeah. And also that you don't, that I can get buried in a, in a Jewish cemetery even though I have a tattoo, right? That's also true. That's true.

28:31Oh, see, this is- Yeah, you learned two things. Wow. I mean, this is such an educational show. See, I'm going in a different direction, 'cause I grew up... Wow, this is gonna be hard to explain for people who didn't grow up in Orthodox day schools. But I was taught the Torah with, like, a lot of Midrash, which is, like, a lot of stories and explanations that go along with it. Mm-hmm. And so I thought all of it was absolutely 100% true in the way that the r- the way that the story was told. So for example- Mm-hmm...

28:57I was taught that Abraham, when he was, like, a little kid, was asked to take over his father, who owned, like, the Walmart of idols. He was, like, the idol seller- [laughs]... of his town. Idols"R"Us. Yeah, Idols"R"Us. Yeah. Exactly. And he went out of town, and Abraham was in charge of the idol store, and Abraham already at the young age of three believed in one God and didn't believe in idols. [laughs] And so he took an ax one day, and he smashed all the idols except for the one big one right in the middle. Maybe he was just a terrible toddler.

29:28Well, no, because listen to the point of the story, because there was one big idol right in the middle of the store, like, you know, on, probably on sale for seasonal, I don't know, holidays. [laughs] But Abraham then took the ax- For three goats... right? Mm-hmm. He took the ax, and he put it in the ha- arms of this major idol that was standing in the middle. So when his father came back and saw all the smashed idols around, he's like, "What the heck happened?" And Abraham's like, "I didn't do it. That idol did it." And the father was like, "That's ridiculous.

29:57That idol couldn't have done it. Of course you did it." And Abraham was like, "So you believe in something that couldn't even smash the other idols? Like, why would you believe in that? Why would you pray to it?" And I thought... I mean, literally the way I just told you that story, that's what I thought happened. So- I still- I know now... I, I'd like to think that happened. I know, but I don't think that's exactly- How it happened in- So what happened?... real life. Um, I don't know. I think Abraham did discover the idea of monotheism and- [laughs]...

30:25did promote the ideas of monotheism, but I'm not sure that that's exactly what happened. It just, it got some branding along the way. Yeah. No, the, there, I love Midrash. I love it. No, people are gonna take this the wrong way and say, "Oh, you're saying..." I believe in the Midrash, and I believe the stories are great, and I just don't think that's exactly the way it happened. Interesting. I mean, but I was taught a lot of things like that. I was taught that if you step over someone's feet, they're not gonna grow anymore. Yeah, or if you go under a ladder. And so I was upset. Yeah.

30:51Like, that's how- Yeah... I mean, I was taught a lot of that kind of stuff, but- Yeah. Um, interesting. Yeah. Yeah, because there's a lot of things that we, we think about, like the Red Sea parting, or Moses hitting the rock- Yeah... water coming out. Like, first of all, aren't you impressed that- Well, I believe-... I know all these things? I'm impressed that you know the sea splitting is a Jewish story. I'm proud of you. [laughs] It's only one of the top four moments in Jewish history. I'm really happy that you know that.

31:15[laughs] What are the other, like, top three? Like the, the Seinfeld season finale? The giving of the Torah. Oh my God, the Seinf- yeah. No. The giving of the Torah. I don't know. That. The build- Yeah... the, the temple in Jerusalem. Okay. Building it. Which one, one or two? Both, I would say. Or three? No, two. [laughs] I would say both. Um, I don't know. Listen- The revenge. The revenge. [laughs] Um, I think the right answer to that- Yeah, is?... is that we're always learning new things about Judaism [laughs] that were wrong. My answer is everything is true. Whatever you read about Judaism is true.

31:51[laughs] Just go with it. It doesn't matter. Even stories that you're not sure about, there's a reason you know that story. There's a moral, there's a lesson. Yeah. What is truth anyway? Let's just be post-truth. What is truth anyway? Yeah. What, what are Jews? I mean, listen, if Candace Owen can sit down and read the Talmud and learn new things- [laughs]... then we can all do that. Yeah, exactly. Um, but yeah, I don't know. But, but then, I feel like you, you, when you grow up, you take things very literally. Of course. And then- Right...

32:23when you become a little, like, older, and you get, like, a, become like a smartass, you're like, "Ugh, I'm not stupid enough to believe the Red Sea parted. I'm not stupid enough to believe whatever manna fell from heaven." Right. But then you get even older, and you realize, like, the concept of, like, spirituality- Right, right... and that things are not, like, linear necessarily- Right, right... and there's a in between. Yeah. I believe, I definitely believe that. I mean, I think, you know, that's a good point.

32:51You know, even something like the splitting of the sea, I took for granted that that absolutely happened the way that I learned it. Mm-hmm. Um, and then I probably went through, through a phase where I was like, "Oh, there's no archeological evidence," or whatever. And now I'm at a place where I'm like, actually, I totally believe it happened, and we don't understand everything, and we don't know everything, and there's always new things coming up.

33:13And, you know, maybe you could say somebody's naive, or you can say that, you know, you're putting your head in the sand. But I'm open to lots of different possibilities that all of these things happened, and I happen to believe that the Torah's true, and I believe that the stories in the Torah are real, and that they've sustained us for many, many generations, and I'm not gonna be the one to be like, "Oh, well that's nonsense." No, it happened in some way. I believe that I don't know what I don't know. Fine. Good for you. [laughs] No, I'm just kidding. No, I- [laughs] No, you're right... I'm just saying what you were saying, in a way.

33:43You're right. No, you're right. Exactly. I don't know. That's right. Yeah. We should have Sam Harris on to debate this. We should. [laughs] I know, I know. Okay, I'm gonna stop before I get myself in more trouble about what I think is true or not true. Let's continue. What else? Um, I think that's it. Should we wrap it up? Oh, is that it? All right. Thank you for the questions. We actually didn't even get to all of them. No, we have some- So how exciting is that for us? Yeah. Um, but you can submit your questions in the show notes. Again, they can be dumb.

34:09They can be things you can Google. Um, they should be interesting, but they don't have to be. So send us your questions. [laughs] No, Y- L. I disagree. They should be interesting and funny and anything. No, I was gonna say we'll make them interesting. Don't worry about it. Oh, okay, fine. Okay, fine. Like, our answers will make them interesting. Like, what if somebody says, like, you know, it, like, why did Donatello only have a stick while the other Ninja Turtles had actual weapons? [laughs] Like, it's not a interesting question- When-...

34:35but I feel like we could talk about it. [laughs] What if they ask us, like, what birth signs are you, and do you think you fit those? But okay, so that's a great question 'cause we can talk about how we- Okay... don't really believe in that. Okay. But it's fun to read. Yeah, it is fun. Um- Okay... but, uh, yeah. Why are we giving them ideas for questions? We, that you- Yeah, yeah... you do some work. Yeah, you do the work. Yeah. Or ask chat, ask ChatGPT- [laughs]... to list 10 questions that would be appropriate for this podcast, then send one of them to us. [laughs] Uh, but seriously, uh, send us your questions. A link is in the show notes.

35:10Uh, we'll be doing these every week. They will come- Yeah... out on Thursdays, I think. Mm-hmm, yes. Uh, for Arc Plus subscribers, so please be a subscriber. Guys, come on. Like, let's, let's show the Arc people that this wasn't a huge, huge mistake. [laughs] Um, so join us. Uh, sign up for Arc Plus and join us on The Fold. And what else? Next time, uh, we speak, Hila, you will be a mother of a groom. Yep, that's right. I'll be a mother-in-law. That's so exciting. A shviger, as we say in Yiddish. I cannot wait to- A shviger...

35:43embarrass you in front of his family. Oh, God. As soon as they break the glass, I'm like, "That's it." [laughs] I'm just, I'm gonna wait until then. Thank you. [laughs] I appreciate it. All right. Bye, everyone. Bye. [outro music] Here's a Chosen People problem we can actually solve. Finally, because we're not doing antisemitism today. No, I'm over it. Today we're doing money, and specifically how you should be spending yours. How you should be spending your money on us. Join Arc Plus.

36:24You'll get exclusive content and ad-free listening across the Arc network. And also, your support allows us to say what we actually think, even when we probably shouldn't. When you join Arc Plus, you get to hear us behind the paywall, completely unleashed and ourselves. Yeah, this is us on our best behavior right now. And by the way, not just us. You'll get exclusive content from Call Me Back, For Heaven's Sake, and Arc News Daily. Ooh, wait till you hear what Deborah Pardes is like after dark.

36:48If this show has ever made you laugh, taught you something, or made you yell at your phone, become an Arc Plus member today. You keep independent Jewish media going, and we get to keep doing whatever this is. Join Arc Plus. It's good for the Jews. Is it? I don't know, but it's definitely good for us