WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:06.080 Here's a question that I am turning over in my 2 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:11.320 head over and over again lately. How should we be 3 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:17.039 doing content or talking about subjects in relations to Jews 4 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:24.800 when the climate is becoming increasingly hostile. What bad things 5 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:29.440 are we to talk about? And what should we not 6 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.960 talk about. I'm not asking this question as an invitation 7 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:39.600 for assurances Freeda, It's okay, you cover things sensitively. I'm 8 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:45.840 not asking it in an attempt to self validate. I'm 9 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:53.399 asking it to raise genuine questions about ethical journalism, sociology, 10 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.520 and storytelling in a changing climate. I'm thinking about this 11 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:05.200 a lot. I have to say, my work as a 12 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.799 content creator who tells the story essentially of people is 13 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:11.719 something that I feel. I'm always walking a tight rope 14 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:19.239 of moral decisions coupled with, of course, an element of 15 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:24.200 self interest. I'm always making decisions and calls. It's not oh, 16 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.159 this is the story and I tell it. Storytelling is 17 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:33.840 about taking this story is going to skew the narrative, 18 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:38.480 this story is going to help frame an effective narrative, 19 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.319 and making these filtering calls constantly throughout for my entire 20 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.920 career of documenting the Hasidic community, and I could say 21 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:54.120 it's twenty years, because it was twenty years ago when 22 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:57.400 I first logged on online in the Citic community and 23 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:02.200 made my first blog, and I started to write anonymously 24 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:05.920 from the perspective of a Hasidic woman. I've always had 25 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.520 the same goal to humanize, to tell a story of humans, 26 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:14.560 where oftentimes that is a very difficult story for outsiders 27 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:18.159 to hear. And over those twenty years, I have always 28 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:23.680 made moral decisions about how to tell this story effectively. 29 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:30.439 I've also balanced that with self survival with at some 30 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:35.000 points that meant being anonymous. When I first started, I 31 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.560 was Spitzel Shrimpken, and I changed all the details about 32 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:43.400 myself because I had to. I was risking everything in 33 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.400 my life. I didn't intend to blow up my life, 34 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:50.000 although it did end up happening, and it was necessary 35 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:52.599 for me to protect myself, and so I had to 36 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.680 lie about my details, changing all where I lived, how 37 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:58.719 many children I had, and so on and so forth, 38 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:05.120 in order to balance self interest with storytelling. Likewise, along 39 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:10.240 the way, different personal interests have come in the way 40 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:14.360 with my work that I have tried to juggle alongside 41 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:20.199 the moral questions. Now, however, I feel i'm at a 42 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:24.560 crossroads again where I am trying to ask some really 43 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:30.000 hard moral questions of myself, and I had the urge 44 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:35.960 to articulate them with you all. I'm very fortunate to 45 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.319 have an audience that is very thoughtful, that I have 46 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:44.400 learned a lot from, and that I feel is able 47 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:49.280 to appreciate the importance of these questions and to participate 48 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:53.039 in my internal debate and also the external debate we 49 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:57.719 should be having about the ethics of journalism and work 50 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:02.080 documenting the Jewish people in this current climate. And so 51 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:08.800 what I'm juggling right now internally in my ethical questions 52 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.400 of how do you tell the story effectively? And how 53 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.680 do I also think about myself as a human being 54 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.279 that needs to survive and feed myself and my child, 55 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:20.759 my son who is no longer a child but is 56 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:26.839 in college and still on my dime. As I juggle this, 57 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.879 I am right now asking the question my work is 58 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:37.040 for the first time, reaching anti Semites. I don't think 59 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:41.879 I've experienced that before. It is reaching people who have 60 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:49.079 preconceived notions about Jews and are looking to validate those 61 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:53.639 notions about Jews and to buttress their arguments about Jews. 62 00:04:56.199 --> 00:05:01.279 We're watching the climate about Jews go from oh my god, 63 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:04.800 I cannot believe someone said the Austrian painter was right 64 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:11.319 to it being so commonplace that you're starting to see 65 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.160 it bleed into everyday life. It's not just the trolls 66 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.439 on the Internet. It's not just a few people. It's 67 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:22.360 a sentiment you're starting to see just in everyday life casually, 68 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:27.360 a focus on the Jewish people as some kind of 69 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:31.480 villain that is at fault for what's going on in 70 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.959 the world. It's something that when I first experienced anti 71 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.920 semitism in my common section, this kind of anti semitism, 72 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:47.360 it was like storybook childhood fantasy anti Semitic villain come 73 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:51.000 to life. It's like the witch from Sleeping Beauty has 74 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.439 walked into your life and you're like pinching yourself. Is 75 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:00.839 this real? This is my formative childhood legend of villainy. 76 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.800 Is this real? And now, of course it's real. It's 77 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:12.920 completely normalized. The problem of Jews being blamed for what's 78 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:15.519 going on in the world, of course, is a long one, 79 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:21.920 and different people will see different reasons why this has 80 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:26.399 come to the four again. But one thing for sure 81 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:32.199 is that I want to be very careful in how 82 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:37.319 I tell the story of Hasidic Jews in particular, in 83 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:43.800 order to be mindful of this climate. There are many 84 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.839 things that I am turning over in my head. First 85 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:51.480 of all, how much control do we really have? Anti 86 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:58.160 Semites are going to run with anything. Silence will be weaponized, 87 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:02.360 words will be weaponized. There will always be something that 88 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:07.120 they will use. So should we be asking these questions 89 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:11.240 at all? And to that I will say yes, yes. 90 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.160 It is still very, very important to publish some things 91 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:20.000 and not others, to publish with discretion, to tell stories 92 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:26.639 with care, even though no matter what we do, no 93 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.560 matter what we do, those who want to see Jews 94 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:34.319 in the anti Semitic narrative will see it that way. 95 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:41.199 And yet ethical decision making in storytelling is pertinent, and 96 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:47.120 throughout my entire time creating this content, I have made 97 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:55.560 these decisions constantly, constantly. So when I started to really 98 00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:00.160 get into this role as sort of street anthropologists was 99 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:04.399 when I became a tour guide fourteen years ago. That's 100 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:07.399 when I started to walk the streets, when I came 101 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:10.240 to believe that being immersed in a community in a 102 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:13.720 world is the right way to do sociology. Instead of 103 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:18.639 in the Ivory Tower in academia, and I fell in 104 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:22.560 love with this way of seeing the world, especially because 105 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:28.160 as this was happening, as I was walking through the 106 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:34.480 world and observing it, I could see how wrong media 107 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:38.879 narratives were, how detached from reality they were, how much 108 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.440 the system of journalism where you call three experts who 109 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.360 are in academia and you get two quotes, completely loses 110 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:51.840 understanding of the big picture. I said, I'm not going 111 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:53.919 to do that. I'm going to live in the world, 112 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:57.000 observe the world, and tell the story and see the 113 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:01.559 big picture. When I started to do this, it was 114 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:06.879 very fashionable to bash that setic community, very fashionable. Deborah 115 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:11.320 Feldman came up with unorthodox people devoured it. There was 116 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:17.000 almost no counter narrative, anyone who tried to counter her narrative, 117 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:23.080 which was full full of so many issues. And by 118 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.320 the way, she went to Germany and became a celebrity 119 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:30.600 there something that has always made me feel so uncomfortable, 120 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:36.799 and told a story of Jews as terrible people that 121 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:45.919 it's always felt to me so morally problematic, so something 122 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.360 that I felt we should criticize. But at the time, 123 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:55.080 anyone who criticized Deborah Feldman was ripped to pieces. Ripped 124 00:09:55.080 --> 00:10:00.000 to pieces. It's amazing how I've watched the climate change. 125 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:04.840 Big moment, first moment of being canceled, was when I 126 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:09.879 started to share views on Hasidic education. So basically what 127 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:13.759 happened like ten years ago in this climate where Hasidic 128 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:18.120 Jews are a cult, they are crazy. There were all 129 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.360 these negative things said about them. And by the way, 130 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.200 just want to pause here to point out something that 131 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:27.399 I found myself do. When I do this quote Hasidic 132 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.600 Jews are cult, They're crazy, I find myself stepping back. No, no, no, 133 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.000 don't say that. It's going to be taken out of 134 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:38.200 context by anti Semites. This is how the new climate 135 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:42.840 is infiltrating my mind. But back to what happened about 136 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:48.200 ten years ago. The first time I was canceled, the 137 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.240 Hasidic community was being shredded to pieces. I would regularly 138 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:55.159 read on the New York Times. People called them a 139 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.840 drain on the planet. People were saying they're spreading diseases 140 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:04.279 because of measles outbreaks in the community. Things that shocked me. 141 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:08.399 It seemed to call the Jews diseased. I could I 142 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.720 could see the kernels there. I could see the kernels 143 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:13.919 of a narrative that would later sprout fully, and I 144 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:18.440 screamed off the rooftop saying, wait, wait, stop blaming them. 145 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.159 They're vaccinating, many of them are vaccinating. They have a 146 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:29.360 lot of children. The arguments that they're too many people 147 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:32.279 and using up the resources of the planet. It was 148 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:36.799 always so scary to me, and I wasn't wrong. I 149 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.720 hate to say it, I wasn't wrong, but that was 150 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:44.080 very unpopular and I would get no audience. I was 151 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.720 screaming into the void about these things until it came 152 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.559 to the education issue. So what happened was, in this 153 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:55.440 very negative climate towards a Cidic Jews, an organization sprung 154 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:59.759 up called yeah Fed that spearheaded by enough to Leye Moster, 155 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.840 who has gone through his own long journey. I've had 156 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:03.799 him on my channel, but anyway, I don't want to 157 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:08.279 go into that. Yafed aimed to change Hassidic boys education. 158 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.480 The media loved this, They loved this narrative, they loved 159 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:18.159 this project. They fully fully gave it the stage. Basically, 160 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.519 the goal was to force the government to force the 161 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:25.559 Hasiitic community to change their education. Now me. I did 162 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.200 not disagree with the fact that the Citic community has 163 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.960 to think about change, or that people that or rather 164 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.440 that many people in the Citic community are interested in 165 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.120 this kind of change, an expansion of education for boys, 166 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:45.320 and so the premise of rectifying education for boys wasn't 167 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:52.399 a negative one to me. However, the way it was approached, 168 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:57.279 which was this tremendous negative publicity stunt saying they are 169 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.519 all uneducated and poor and living off the government. I 170 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:03.480 did it again. I regret saying that. But the way 171 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:09.080 it was framed I thought was going to be counter effective, 172 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.639 That it was going to make people close ranks and 173 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.639 stop the natural pace of change, because they're going to 174 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:22.879 become more zealous as a response to outside pressure. As 175 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.679 I was walking through the community watching street posters crop 176 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:31.519 up everywhere screaming help, they're taking us to Auschwitz. Spiritually, 177 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.559 I was like saying, Oh, I'm seeing it. They're doubling down. 178 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:43.440 They are feeling attacked, and they are going to resist change. Now, 179 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.480 when a Hasidic man comes into a boys' school and 180 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.480 says let's introduce new textbooks, they're going to have their 181 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.279 antennas up. Why by bah bah Bay change no, no, no, no, 182 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.639 we're not doing change. There's always change in the Acidic community, 183 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:04.159 but under pressures from the outside that feel like forced assimilation, 184 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.159 they become cognizant of the change and more mindful and 185 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.000 more concerned about it. And this relates to understanding the 186 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.720 entire Hasidic system. It's like a culture, it's a system. 187 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:20.559 There are deep embedded values. This goes back to well 188 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.279 before the Asidic community came to America and Eastern Europe, 189 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:27.360 where they were fighting for their survival and were persecuted, 190 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.120 and so there's like a deep seated cultural memory about 191 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.759 what it means like to experience religious persecution and that 192 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:41.080 can be awoken if outsiders start to put pressure you 193 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:46.600 must change. So this was my argument at the time. 194 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:51.320 I said two things. One, they are not uneducated. Education 195 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:57.960 is a complicated concept and calling them uneducated is extremely offensive. Yes, 196 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:01.159 the boys don't learn secular subject but that doesn't mean 197 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:06.720 they're uneducated. It's very, very problematic. And number two, you're 198 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:09.399 going to shoot yourself in the foot if you're going 199 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:13.799 to ham fist change like that. That was my argument 200 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:16.960 out You could disagree with this argument. It's okay if 201 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.399 you say, actually, this is the pace of change, or 202 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.159 this is the process of change, you need a charatenistic 203 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:27.559 or whatever. I am open to hearing other sides. This 204 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:32.559 was my argument, and I became persona non grata among friends. 205 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:35.360 We had the most heated debates, but basically on Facebook, 206 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.480 which is where the conversation was happening. Then people were saying, 207 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.039 this is the woman who doesn't want children to be educated. 208 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:45.879 She herself greedily left and she doesn't want an education 209 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.360 for the children. I felt extremely hurt by this. I 210 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:57.240 felt extremely hurt by this. I felt misrepresented and definitely ostracized, 211 00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:02.159 definitely ostracized. I was shocked to experience ostracization for the 212 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:04.399 second time in my life. I thought, when I left 213 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:07.960 that stated community, I'm done with that. It's a very closed, 214 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.960 small community. It's a very cohesive community. It's an our 215 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:17.000 group world. You get canceled easily. It has good sides 216 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.799 and bad sides. The good side of the secular world 217 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:22.879 was supposed to be you don't get canceled. Well, this 218 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:26.519 was I left before the word canceled became a thing. Well, 219 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.639 I got canceled, and that was my first taste of 220 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:33.200 what it's like to have an unpopular opinion and my 221 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:38.679 first experience with myself as someone who cannot help it. 222 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:44.679 My views, my opinions, my perspectives, they are what they 223 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:46.960 are when they are popular. They are what they are 224 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:50.679 when they're unpopular. It's only when they're unpopular it's not 225 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:55.759 only extremely painful and isolating, but I become creatively crippled 226 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:01.559 and go into hiding. I'll stop being as comfortable speaking. 227 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:06.759 For instance, I'm about to publish a video with Pearl 228 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.440 where she says some very unpopular things. She says, essentially 229 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.559 that the Jews are to blame for the Holocaust in 230 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:17.559 so many words. I'm sorry to state it this way. 231 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.640 I hope I'm not framing it incorrectly, but you can 232 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.319 watch that video. Definitely unpopular. I expect her to be shredded. 233 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.519 I don't know what the reaction is going to be, 234 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:31.839 but I admire her courage. She's cognizant that the climate 235 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:37.839 for her views right now is very, very harsh. She 236 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:40.880 is cognizant of the fact that this will probably make 237 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:46.000 her very unpopular, and yet she shares them. What Pearl 238 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:48.480 and I have in common, I feel, is deep convictions. 239 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.680 Even when the world doesn't agree something that I think 240 00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:57.720 is admirable. What she has that is so admirable that 241 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.319 I don't have is that she has thick skin and 242 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.799 she says her bit and goes on her way while 243 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:09.279 I shrivel up and hide. And my first experience with 244 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:12.559 being canceled was a lesson in how I handle it, 245 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:17.359 and that it's very disruptive to my work, and that 246 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:19.960 I will not change my opinion because of it. I 247 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:25.680 will only limit my voice. And I expect it to 248 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:27.920 happen again. I don't know what the future holds, but 249 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:30.240 I expect it to happen again. I expect at some 250 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:32.279 point people to say, oh, I used to like her, 251 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.920 I don't like her anymore because XYZ, and for it 252 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:39.160 to hurt a lot, for people to say she she 253 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:43.039 was great until she took this position and then no. 254 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.200 I expect this to happen because at some point people 255 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.240 will say, I don't like your position. It's only part 256 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:53.440 for the course. The tides of the world change, and 257 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:57.960 there are popular opinions, and I have watched the climate 258 00:18:58.039 --> 00:19:01.480 for the Hassitic community's popular opinion go from they are 259 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:07.799 the worst people from other Jews saying terrible things from 260 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:10.640 I don't want to repeat what I heard from other 261 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:13.759 Jews about the Actic community during my career as a 262 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:20.079 tour guide, but they were very disturbing to suddenly everyone 263 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:25.680 being a fan of nuance and acceptance and embracing all 264 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.480 stripes of Judaism and Hasidic Jews being cool for the 265 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:35.680 moment and Exacidam and Hasidam and all sorts of Orthodox 266 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:41.240 Jews being very big proponents on the nice things, the 267 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.640 positive narratives about that Setic community. When that Actic community 268 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.319 was ripped to pieces by Tyler Oliverira, who was a terrible, terrible, 269 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:55.799 terrible video and an example of bad journalism, instead of 270 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:00.000 the reaction being like it was with Unorthodox no defense 271 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.680 and silence and a lot of people enjoying it, the 272 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.319 entire Jewish community basically was upset by that video, especially 273 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:12.680 the Orthodox Jewish community. In the past, the Orthodox Jewish 274 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.519 community was largely silent about acidic Jews. You made them 275 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:20.039 uncomfortable when you talked about acidic Jews. They didn't know. 276 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.799 They felt like, oh, a city Jews are too much 277 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:25.359 and we are just the right amount. But if you're 278 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.799 a Hasidic, don't become anything else because you make us 279 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:32.759 on come it was a touchy subject. Now a city, 280 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:37.559 Jews are the cool kids, and it's all a moment 281 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:42.400 of rosiness. When I saw the climate change and my 282 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:46.279 work pick up and receive so much. Oh, I'm so 283 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:50.000 happy that you're doing positive work. I thought to myself, Well, 284 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.599 this is a transient moment. Let's see what comes next. 285 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:59.759 How will the climate change? Maybe the pendulum will swing back, 286 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:05.599 It'll be the debrovelpment error again. Well, life is always surprising, 287 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:09.519 and the way it has been changing, in my view, 288 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:16.480 has been instead an increasingly anxious climate about talking about 289 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:20.920 anything problematic. So it went from only the bad things, 290 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:26.200 and I'm feeling the climate shift towards let's not talk 291 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:28.920 about anything bad. Let's not talk about anything that could 292 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:33.000 even be construed as bad. And I think this might 293 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:36.279 be where things are headed. But it's definitely something I'm 294 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:41.039 already receiving feedback on. And I'm actually, in my own 295 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:46.720 life receiving feedback in my own moral mind. My own 296 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:50.680 work has become more measured, and I thought, with time, 297 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:54.599 I'll become more audacious, and I find myself actually becoming 298 00:21:54.680 --> 00:21:58.119 more self scrutinizing. What I mean to say is, if 299 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.640 you look At my early blogs, I talked very comfortably 300 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:04.400 about things like head shaving, which is the body of 301 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:09.119 overseers zelots who can sow terror in the acidic community. 302 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:12.079 I talked about these things openly alongside the fact that 303 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:15.799 they are just a part of that world, and I've 304 00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:21.039 become more measured when I talk about these things. Right now, 305 00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:26.880 here's what the ethical dilemma is. It's becoming really scary 306 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:31.119 to talk about anything because A the climate is changing, 307 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:35.599 and B the climate is changing in response to real 308 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:42.440 anti Semitism, and that means B the viewers are changing 309 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:46.440 to a viewership that are taking things and using it 310 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:54.839 to reconfirm their biases in the most antisemitic framings. I'll 311 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:59.279 give you an example, the air the line that encircles 312 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:04.759 a neighborhood to allow Jews to carry on Shabas. On Shabas, 313 00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:08.480 the Jews day of rest, you're not allowed to push strollers, 314 00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:11.200 you're not allowed to carry bags, and that is one 315 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.599 of the halaris, one of the laws, because on Shabas 316 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:15.759 you're supposed to rest. God rested on the seventh day. 317 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.480 We're supposed to rest on the seventh day, and resting 318 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:23.319 means follow in Orthodoxy, means following a number of halaris. 319 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:29.200 In Judaism, action oriented observances is very core and there 320 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:32.319 are Lama testiments. They're forty nine laws, and among the 321 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.799 laws there is the law that you're not allowed to 322 00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:36.720 carry in a public space. You can carry in a 323 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:39.480 private space, but not in a public space. You're also 324 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:40.839 not allowed to drive a car, and so on and 325 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:44.640 so forth, turn on switches. There's a lot of rules. 326 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.240 Not being allowed to carry in a public space means 327 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:53.000 that women can push strollers, and it's very difficult law. 328 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:59.039 There is, however, a way of making things easier, which 329 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:02.640 is to ask the question what is a private space 330 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:05.039 and what is a public space? And to define a 331 00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:08.119 private space as a space that is encircled. And there's 332 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:09.599 a lot of laws around the air of. I'm not 333 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:13.240 familiar with them, but essentially an air of is an 334 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.680 encircling So you have a front yard, you encircle it, 335 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.119 and now it's considered a private space. This can be 336 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:26.759 then used to encircle larger spaces like an entire block, 337 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.400 or even a neighborhood, or even a borough of the 338 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.720 Borough of Manhattan, borough of Brooklyn are encircled with that 339 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:38.279 line called an air of encircling. This is something that 340 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.640 was always a rather difficult subject for me to explain, 341 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:44.799 and I didn't like talking about it so much on 342 00:24:44.839 --> 00:24:49.240 my tours. But it's interesting. It is to me the 343 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:55.680 most non controversial subject you can talk about until now. 344 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.119 Now I'm nervous to make content about the air of 345 00:24:59.160 --> 00:25:02.839 Why because I can already see it. Oh, the Jews 346 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:05.799 are tricking God again? Here we go, here we go? 347 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.079 How else do they trick God? So this is the Jew, 348 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.680 the stereotype of the trickster Jew. Envision yourself that image 349 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:20.160 that they love to use. That's the association that I 350 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.319 have come to make with the air of that anti 351 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:26.920 Semites will grab anything that I make about the air 352 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.160 of and they will say, did you hear about these 353 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:35.079 Jews that are thinking they're tricking God? Now? That makes 354 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:38.359 me think, should I talk about the air of? Is 355 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:42.200 it necessary? Should we not talk about the air? What 356 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.799 if the Arab is in the news, What if there 357 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:46.839 is a debate in the Hasidic community of the air 358 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:53.279 of is koshure and having that debate means the lives 359 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:57.079 of women who are impacted by the laws of shabas 360 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:02.200 are not only women women, men and children are enormously 361 00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:06.559 impacted by the debate we're having. So I think it's 362 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:10.279 very important to have these conversations. It's very important to 363 00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:15.640 have these conversations carefully and with nuance. Yet at the 364 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:21.680 same time, every conversation like this we have becomes fodder. 365 00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.200 So maybe we shouldn't have a conversation, or or maybe 366 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:26.559 we should only have it if it's an issue in 367 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.039 the community. So here's an issue in the community right 368 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:36.119 now this moment, the issue of magazines. There are all 369 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.200 these magazines that have been publishing four years now. They're 370 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:43.720 free magazines. They were still around in my childhood. In 371 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:46.200 my day, there was just the community connections, I think, 372 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:48.359 and then there was like the bulletin that came in 373 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:52.400 the mail for free. But basically these are free magazines 374 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:57.880 that are just at They will put in some recipes 375 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:02.400 and pictures of kids, toys, these creations, but it really 376 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.640 started as just ads. They come to you in the 377 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:08.799 mail or you can get them from these magazine containers, 378 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:11.119 and people like to keep it in the bathroom to 379 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:14.200 browse through. Remember, these people don't have the Internet the 380 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:18.079 way we have it, so this is very very like scrolling. 381 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:21.440 It's like mindless scrolling. You mindlessly look through the ads, 382 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:25.880 and the companies of these magazines fund themselves through the ads. 383 00:27:28.279 --> 00:27:32.559 I have been watching these ads get increasingly ostentatious and materialistic, 384 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.839 which I'm not a fan of. And one of my 385 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:38.599 first long form videos on my channel, we're actually looking 386 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:43.400 through the community connections and remarking on that. At the time, 387 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.599 I was remarking on how amazing it is that the 388 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:52.799 city community is rising in comfort levels after being such 389 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:55.759 a starter community. It's really a community that is an 390 00:27:55.799 --> 00:28:00.599 immigration success story, and that was something that I remarked 391 00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:03.319 on in a climate in which everyone was saying they're 392 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.559 illiterate and they don't and they can't work. So at 393 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:11.319 that time, the way that comment was seen was, oh wow, 394 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:15.440 look at them. They actually are not the way the 395 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.319 simple way that you're framing them. But now the way 396 00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:22.000 it's being received in the current climate is totally differently 397 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:28.480 because now the Jews or no one cares anymore if 398 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:31.519 the if the Hasidic Jews are not educated and are poor, 399 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:37.839 now they're the villains that are. It's very painful to 400 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:43.599 I don't want to say the words. But back to 401 00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:48.599