Ark Media is Our Daddy

0:00Guys, guys, guys, guys, we have to tell you something. We have some big news. Yael's been dying for this moment- I've-... for four years... been dying to tell everyone I know, and- Chaya, you've already told everybody you know... I told everyone. [laughs] I've been, I've been, uh, discreet, but we have some big news. I only found out, I only found out it was a secret last week. I didn't know that- Oh. [laughs]... I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. [laughs] Well, it's not a secret anymore. We have some super exciting news.

0:29Um, you want, how do we, how should we tell? You wanna tell them? Should we just count down, like, one, two, three, and tell them together? No. We're not... That... What are we? No. We're not some- No?... Midwestern couple making a, a video about their gender reveal. Oh, okay. Just say it We're not doing, we're not talking about your, your, uh, pregnancy today? [laughs] I thought that was the big news. Oh, I thought it was your pregnancy we were revealing. [laughs] No. Whoops. Nobody's having a baby- No... except for Dan Senor. That's true. Two- Yes... twins. He's having twins. He's having twins.

0:56[laughs] Twins he never wanted. [laughs] Okay. So big news, everyone. Uh, we are moving to Arc Media. Uh, you may know Arc Media from Call Me Back and all their other wonderful shows. Um, this is a dream. Yeah. I mean, this is what, what we didn't know we wanted in the beginning, but then definitely something that we're very grateful for, came to us, um, very... Just, just in a perfect time, I think, where both of us were ready to, like, grow and do something different and more, a little more challenging. Um, so it's very exciting, and- Yeah...

1:32also scary, 'cause you guys know us, and now we have to actually be professional, so- Yeah... [laughs] this is a little hard. But we're, we're gonna get there. The people who work here are like, "What is wrong with them?" [laughs] Like, have these people never talked to other hum- professional humans in their lives? [laughs] Oh. [laughs] It's a little... It's definitely... We're learning a lot. We're learning a lot. It's great. Um, yeah, but it's, it's super exciting.

1:54We, we started, as you guys know, we started as, like, a baby podcast during COVID when everybody was like, "Oh my God, we're so funny. We should have a podcast." Um, and we started as a baby podcast, and, uh, we grew. Um, um, but I don't think anything, like, really changed for us, like, during the grow... like, for the show. And we promise you nothing is gonna change now. Like, nothing. Um- Well, I mean, uh, just a few things, like- Well, I mean, we're replacing Chaya-... there are gonna be ads and... Leah with- [laughs]... um, Rabbi Wolpe.

2:22Uh, but that's okay, 'cause I think Rabbi Wolpe and I have better chemistry. Oh, yeah. Well, that might be true. Um, but other than that, nothing is changing. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. No, there are gonna be some ads. It's gonna be a little more professional. We're gonna have, you know, things that are gonna make you laugh in the beginning, like, "We'll be right back," you know, things that, that just we were never- Yeah... it was never us before. We had to- But- We had to record a lot of those. Yeah. Yeah. Um- It'll be...

2:44In the beginning, it's gonna be a little jarring, 'cause I know how I feel, like, when my, the podcasts that I love kind of turn a little bit more professional, and not that the content changes at all, and it's still gonna be us two being fools, but- Yeah... it's gonna just be a tiny little bit more professional, so have a little patience for us. We found out... We've... The first question we asked Arc Media when they approached us was, "Do you have an HR department?"

3:06And when they said no, we're like, "Okay, good," because we're not [laughs] gonna change anything about our tone, and- No, no... you'll... We, we've recorded a few episodes already, so you'll definitely- Yeah... uh, see that. Uh, we have not changed. Um, what is changing, though, is our name. Oh. And don't get mad at us- Correct... because I know nobody likes a name change, but we like a name change. I know. I know. Um, so do you wanna tell them what the new name is, Chaya? I mean, they'll- It's-... see it...

3:29yeah, I mean, they're gonna already see it, but we're gonna be called Chosen People Problems, which is kind of a- You can call us CPP... CPP or The Chosen. I don't know. I like to call myself The Chosen. I don't know. I like to call it The, The Problems. The Pro- [laughs] You see, you can already see the difference between us. Um, no, but I think the name just suits us. It's funny. It's a wink at, you know, kind of, like, antisemites with the chosen people, and first world problems, and we'll get used to it, you know? Yeah. We'll get used to it. It's okay. Yeah.

4:00So don't yell at us for all the, for- [laughs]... for, like, little changes like that. Um- Right... you can yell at us for letting fame get to our head, which it will, um, guaranteed. Like, I- Yael-... I'm already-... fame got to your head when we had, like, seven listeners. This is true. You were like, "Oh-" When that... No. It's so hard- I think-... walking on the streets of Manhattan... when that woman approached us at Nordstrom that one time- [laughs] I know... that's when I knew I was a changed person. [laughs] Um, but- Yeah... yeah. But we, we promise- That was fun... it's still, it's still us.

4:29We're gonna have a lot of fun, uh, cool new ways to communicate with you. We're gonna have bonus content for those of you- Yes... who choose to- Yes... for some reason wanna hear more of us. Um, and we're so excited. We could never have done this without you. I, I, I can't stress this enough. We're completely an organic podcast. Mm. We never did advertising. We spent some money on PR once. That made it worse somehow. [laughs] Like, I don't know how. Like, I feel like the, the PR person gave us- It w-... less listeners. [laughs] Um, but that's a different story.

4:58But our growth is entirely because of people like you telling your friends, like, "Hey, you should listen to this podcast." Yeah, yeah. Um, but we also wanna take this moment to thank a few people, okay? Yeah. This is our Oscar. Have you, have you been rehearsing your Oscar speech? Yes. Okay. Yes, I have rehearsed for four days. Okay. Yeah. So there's no music ending here, so- Oh... you could just- We could just keep going? So should we start at the beginning? Yes. First, we wanna thank Hashem. [laughs] Okay, that, that much of the beginning. Okay. [laughs] I didn't realize. I thought we were going back to 2020. [laughs] No. Honestly, no.

5:31Thank you, Hashem. Okay, now go on. Oh, me. Okay. Well, so a lot of you, uh... Well, I'm not sure if people know how we were born, and, uh, we won't get into the whole origin story, but we actually came not from the Jewish space. We came, uh, from the libertarian, uh- Mm-hmm... space, I guess, uh, even though neither of us are really libertarians. But we met through a podcast called The Fifth Column, and those guys have been our, uh, you know, against their will, have been our daddies- Mm...

5:57up until now. Um, so we wanna thank them, uh, so much. Matt Welch, Michael Moynihan- Mm... uh, Camille Foster. Camille didn't really do anything, but he didn't stand in our way. [laughs] That's true. So that's good. Um, but they, they've been so wonderful to us. It's a huge podcast. We met on one of their weird... Remember those weird Zoom happy hours- Yeah... that people had? Yep. We met on one of those, and they've been so, uh, gracious with their time. They've been coming on the show. Mm-hmm. They've been, uh, helping us Uh, like, you know, sending like links and stuff. Mm-hmm.

6:26So we wanna thank them. And then of course our, our spiritual mother. Chaya, you, you say some things. I wanna thank Nancy Rommelman who- Ooh... really in the beginning she got us going, gave us the name of the podcast, gave us a place to record, gave us the confidence over the years to keep going. So thank you so much to Nancy and to all our guests really that came on in the beginning who- Yeah... came on for no reason. Like, we had no listeners. Seriously, no reason.

6:53And it was just fun, and so thank you to all of them, to Megan Down and to Bridget Phetasy, and all, all of them. Rabbi Wolpe. Yeah. I mean, I don't wanna start... I guess I just did start listing names, but to everybody that came on, it really meant a lot to us honestly- Yeah... because there was no reason for you to do that, and you really helped us grow. And Megan Down and Bridget Phetasy who had us on their shows, um- Yeah, yeah... which was, was fantastic. And so thank you for, for taking, um, you know, taking- You know, we sound like we're dying and mo- or moving.

7:22Yeah. Like, we're not. No. We're j- we're gonna still have a- Oh, I forgot to mention this is- [laughs] A weekly podcast... yeah. We're- we're replaced by AI. [laughs] No, but we've never really kinda thanked these people, so- I know, I know... thank you so much. I'm happy to. And then, and then there are two people who there would literally not be a show. Like, you and I would be dead- Exactly... in a gutter- No, for sure... without Gabby and Mickey- I know, Gabby and Mickey... our producer and editor who... When people say, like...

7:44When we say, "Oh, we have a producer and editor," they're like, "Wow." I'm like, "No, no, these are our friends who are doing it- Yeah... because they like us or they feel bad." Yeah, yeah. I think at some point for Mickey it's like reparations- [laughs]... because he's not Jewish. Um, and Gabby, uh, was a listener who became- Yeah... a producer and became a friend, and literally there would be no show without these people who just did it. Literally, yeah. Um, because they're, uh, they're our friends. They li- o- oh, I was gonna say they liked us.

8:10I don't know if they like us- Right... now- They used to... anymore. Right, right. They used to like us before they started working with us. [laughs] Um, but e- seriously, um, you know, like booking all the guests, making sure that we answer our phones and schedule something- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm... which is, like, impossible. You know, uh, taking care of everything behind the scenes, which we are terrible at, and then making us sound a little less stupid. Thank you. I really thank you Mickey and Gabby. I really, really...

8:37I can't express how deeply I appreciate everything you did for us. I- I will never be able to repay you, uh, for your kindness over the last four years. You can repay them with money or something. Yeah, okay. Hopefully. Um- You know- I mean, wow. Whatever- How will I ever be able to repay you? Yeah, you can repay them. [laughs] You can j- just calculate- Wow... what, how much work was done. It's an expression. Okay. Have you never thanked someone genuinely and tried to be- I, I ha- I have, but usually I can, you know, repay them somehow. [laughs] All right. Thank you, uh- I wanna... Wait. Okay. I'm not finished with my thank yous.

9:10Hold on. Okay, okay. I wanna thank two other groups of people. First of all, our families, okay? Our families have been very supportive of this, and i- it's- This is true... especially my husband Baruch. I have to say a big thank you to Baruch because people don't realize, [laughs] like, everything costs money, and I just pretend- [laughs]... that I have an account that s- that the money comes from. But that account is our personal checking account. [laughs] It does. [laughs] That I have- I also wanna thank Baruch for- [laughs]... for my financial needs. I mean, so I just think...

9:44I wanna thank Baruch, who's had a lot of patience. And by the way, you know, this whole endeavor, Baruch is, like, an, a British Chabad guy who is pretty private, and having a wife out there just going on and on and on about his life and our marriage and our kids and everything has not always been the easiest, and he's been nothing but supportive, uh, the entire way through. In fact, just bringing me a coffee right this second. Aw. Thank you so much. Um, so I really wanna thank him. I, I get excited every time I see Baruch liked one of our Substack posts. I know. [laughs] Yeah.

10:14He's very supportive. He listens to every single episode 'cause he's always scared of what I said. He needs to know. And- That's a good reason to listen... and, and our families in general, our parents, our siblings- Mm-hmm... our, my kids, your nieces and nephews. Like, everybody's- Yeah... been such a big part of this family endeavor, so I wanna say thank you to them. And I really wanna make a spec- a special thank you to our chats, our WhatsApp chats with our friends who have also been so supportive, who love our show, criticize our show, laugh with us, yell at us.

10:44Um, I just thank you for your deep, deep friendship. Um- Yes... I just wanna say that, so. Yeah. We're, we're very, uh, we're very lucky in that sense to have a really- Yeah... really great community of, of friends- Yeah, yeah... and, and people around us. And, and you guys and our listeners, and, and we- And our listeners... we look forward to interacting with you more, um, not just at Nordstrom, but also, um, you know, we'll have different places to interact online, and you'll hear all about it.

11:06Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of ways for us to be even more in your lives. Guys, you need to listen because we're... If Dan Senor gets mad at us- [laughs]... if people don't listen, he'll be so mad at us. I know. Um, so- And by the way, I wanna make one thing clear. We're still... It's still gonna be a free episode every week. This is not... You're not gonna have to pay to listen to our episode. I mean, if you want more of us, there will be a subscriber-only episode- Yeah... every week. But still, um, that's not changing. There'll still be a weekly episode free. Sometimes it's just gonna be the two of us.

11:33Sometimes it will be with a guest. I mean, hopefully- Yeah, but-... it's gonna be as similar to before as possible. Yeah. We already have a really, really big guest this week, so- Yeah, I know. It's exciting... we're super excited. Yeah. I think he hated us, but that's fine. Um- [laughs] You, you're just, you're s- it's... Yes, I know you felt that way. You should have seen her during the taping. Maybe because he's, he's British that, you know, that you just kinda, that's how it was. And he didn't flirt with us, so that's why. He didn't flirt with us. That was very offensive, actually.

11:59That was the, that was why El was having a hard time. Yeah, yeah, you're right. You put, you put your finger on it. [laughs] That was, that was my problem. We're gonna scrap the whole episode. Um, okay. We told- And you're-... we told our, our over- overlords that this was gonna be like five minutes, but, you know- Yeah, it's fine... screw it, this is our last hurrah. I know. Um, I wanna say- We love you guys... one more, one more thing. Yeah. Just sorry to end on a sad note, but one of our, uh, first listeners- Oh... from the beginning, uh- Yeah...

12:24who was always, always there, uh, and supportive and loved, listened to every episode and loved us, and we love him, um, his name is Andrew Wimsatt, Busty. Uh, he was murdered a few weeks ago in Texas. Yeah. Uh, some of you may have heard of this, uh, random attack in Austin. Um, and I just kinda, I just spoke to his brother the other day, and I... We'll, we're never gonna forget you, Busty. You're always gonna be part of the- It's true... Ask a Jew/Chosen People Problems journey. Well, the good, the good news is, on that front, is that he knew about this before he was killed, because I can't- Oh- I told-...

12:56because you told everyone. I t- [laughs] I told him before. I swear he knew. [laughs] And he was really happy for us. Okay. [laughs] And I just, I love, I loved Andrew, and I, I miss him, and I'm sad that he's not here for this, and I know that he's watching us and very proud. He felt very proud of us. So- Yeah, yeah, yeah... we love you, Andrew. So we- And we're gonna fight for you, for justice. That's another thing. Yeah, yeah. Fight for his justice. And we promise to carry, uh, your, your memory throughout the show. Yeah.

13:27Uh, in, you know- Yeah... some- sometimes in offensive ways, but in ways that- Yes... you would have appreciated. Yes, yes. Exactly. All right. Okay. So this is, uh, the last time we're gonna be funny, and- [laughs] No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. God forbid. It's, it's, it's gonna be great. We're so excited. Um, seriously, we're, we're very, very excited. And, um, we'll see you in the next episodes. Bye. Bye.