Rabbi Steve Leder
[0:01]Hi, this is Vivi Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast,
[0:05]Momstone Have Time to Read Books.
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[0:34]Okay, now back to this amazing podcast.
[0:37]A week ago Saturday, I did an Instagram live with Rabbi Steve Letter.
[0:42]He is the author of four books,
[0:44]including a book that I interviewed him about on my podcast,
[0:47]called The Beauty of What Remains What Death teaches us about life.
[0:51]He is the senior rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple,
[0:54]a very prestigious synagogue in Los Angeles,
[0:57]and I wanted to talk to Rabbi Letter about all the events with Israel and Palestine,
[1:03]but not so much to have any sort of political conversation,
[1:08]more as a way to clarify what exactly was going on,
[1:12]and to have him explain it as if to a 13-year-old girl,
[1:15]and also to see what we can do to combat the spread of antisemitism,
[1:19]and really hate towards any group.
[1:21]And he gave amazing, amazing, timely advice,
[1:25]and I wanted to release it as a podcast as well.
[1:27]I hope you enjoy it.
[1:28]Hi, everybody.
[1:30]I'm Zibioins, as you probably know since you're watching my Instagram.
[1:33]But I am here today with Rabbi Steve Letter,
[1:36]and I am really excited that he offered to do an Instagram live with me today
[1:40]to talk about all of the stuff that's going on in Israel,
[1:43]and the rise in antisemitism, and what we can all do to prevent it
[1:47]and help do our part to fix it.
[1:50]If you don't know about Rabbi Letter,
[1:52]I got to know him because he was on my podcast for his book,
[1:56]which was amazing.
[1:57]He's written four books.
[1:58]And the book we talked about the most was the beauty of what remains
[2:01]what death teaches us about life,
[2:03]which, by the way, you must go out and read and was amazing.
[2:06]He's written several other books,
[2:08]and he is the senior rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in LA.
[2:13]And I will now invite him to join me to talk about all of the news
[2:18]and what we can all do, how we can play our part.
[2:21]Thank you all so much for doing with me on this beautiful Saturday.
[2:24]Hi, Rabbi. How are you?
[2:25]Hi. Hi, Zippy. So good to see you.
[2:28]So good to see you, too.
[2:29]Thanks for doing this on the weekend on Shabbat.
[2:32]Of course.
[2:33]Well, it's important, and I always love talking with you.
[2:37]Oh, thank you.
[2:39]Well, so much is going on right now,
[2:41]and I have been reposting all of your statements,
[2:44]because I feel like you have such a great perspective on everything
[2:48]as I realized in all your books and everything.
[2:50]I was hoping maybe you could start off.
[2:52]In case there are people who think they know what's going on,
[2:55]they know what's going on, but maybe they don't know all the details
[2:58]and just give the general, how did we get here?
[3:01]Let's pretend there's like a 13-year-old girl watching.
[3:03]How did we get here, and what is all the commotion about?
[3:07]Oh, my goodness.
[3:08]It's so urgent.
[3:09]Yeah, I'm going to have to give a very short version
[3:12]and maybe not go back 40 years, right?
[3:15]Because the roots of this conflict go back a very long way.
[3:19]Even in modern history, but this most recent conflagration,
[3:24]this most recent excuse for violence,
[3:27]started when at the end of Ramadan,
[3:30]there was some rock and bottle throwing by worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
[3:36]I think, honestly, there was some over-policing on the part of the Israelis.
[3:40]And that was used as an excuse and an opportunity for Hamas
[3:48]which I think it's very important to point out.
[3:51]Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization not only by the United States,
[3:57]but by 27 countries in the European Union.
[4:01]It gave Hamas the opportunity to attack Israel with rockets to whip up their base.
[4:08]And as has always been the Israeli policy when attacked
[4:12]is to defend the people of Israel.
[4:15]To give a little more background about Gaza,
[4:18]and this to me is the most tragic part of the story.
[4:22]A friend of my sons who is Hispanic,
[4:25]we were together the other day,
[4:27]and she said, why is Israel occupying Gaza?
[4:32]Why are they there?
[4:33]And I said to her,
[4:35]there hasn't been an Israeli living in Gaza since 2005.
[4:40]When they gave it back in its entirety with working businesses,
[4:44]to the Palestinian people, to rule and run as they saw fit,
[4:50]they had every opportunity to become a peaceful, friendly neighbor with Israel.
[4:56]And with Egypt, they have a seaport.
[4:58]They have the opportunity to trade with their neighbors.
[5:01]They could have done with Israel when Egypt did with Israel.
[5:04]What Jordan did with Israel, what the UAE has done with Israel,
[5:08]what Bahrain has done with Israel,
[5:10]they could have done that in 2005.
[5:13]And Israel, by the way, forcibly removed thousands of Israelis from Gaza,
[5:18]in order to give it to the Palestinian people.
[5:22]Within two years, what the Palestinian people in Gaza got was Hamas.
[5:29]Now, I think it's very important to understand what Hamas's core mission is.
[5:36]Hamas's core mission, bankrupt by Iran,
[5:41]Iran's really pulling up the puppet strings here.
[5:44]Their core mission is on behalf of Iran to establish
[5:50]an extreme fundamentalist Islamic caliphate throughout the Middle East.
[5:55]And the first item on the agenda in order to create that reality
[6:02]is the destruction of the state of Israel.
[6:05]It is the destruction of half the Jews in the entire world.
[6:11]And we've heard that story before.
[6:14]Their core mission is not to better the lives of the Palestinian people living in Gaza.
[6:22]If it was, they'd be spending money on hospitals and schools and infrastructure,
[6:27]and not on rockets and tunnels.
[6:30]So, in my view, it's not only Israelis who are the victim of Hamas,
[6:35]it is the good, beautiful, peaceful, ordinary Palestinian people
[6:42]who have no control over their own lives because they're led by an oppressive terrorist organization.
[6:49]That's why there's been no Arab Spring in Gaza.
[6:53]There's been no Arab Spring because of the brutality of Hamas.
[6:57]So, this is where we are.
[7:00]And somehow some way, the media has managed and social media
[7:06]to position Israel as the Goliath and not the David in this story.
[7:12]Israel is a country of about seven million surrounded by 350 million Arabs,
[7:20]if not more.
[7:21]Most of whom, unfortunately, do not want peace.
[7:26]Those who do want peace have achieved it.
[7:29]We've been at peace with Egypt.
[7:31]We gave the Sinai back like we gave the Gaza back.
[7:34]But we have peace with Egypt.
[7:36]We have peace with Jordan.
[7:38]We have peace with Bahrain.
[7:39]We have peace with the UAE.
[7:41]We have peace with Morocco.
[7:44]Israel is a willing partner in a peace process.
[7:49]Hamas is not.
[7:51]And that's the sad truth of it.
[7:53]So we're all Jews and Palestinians like victims of a terrorist organization.
[8:02]And what has happened sadly, which I definitely want to talk with you about today
[8:06]because it's happened in New York where you are in an L.A. where I am,
[8:09]that cancerous dynamic has metastasized to America 10,000 miles away.
[8:19]And we have to do everything we can not to allow that to be the case.
[8:24]Now, I have some really strong feelings about that which we can get into.
[8:29]But that's a basic background.
[8:31]There has not been an Israeli or a Jew living in Gaza since 2005.
[8:39]So to blame Gaza's problems on the Israelis is really quite a staggering reach, in my opinion.
[8:48]So I feel like you're putting a lot of the responsibility on the media's depiction of what's going on.
[8:55]So what percent of what's going on is attributable to them would you think this is like 90 percent?
[9:02]Well, let's let's be clear about one thing.
[9:04]There's no question that the damage and suffering is much greater on the side of the Palestinians than it is on the side of the Israelis,
[9:11]because Israelis are much more powerful country.
[9:15]My point is, the blame for that suffering is Hamas.
[9:20]Right.
[9:21]Okay.
[9:22]They Israel shields its civilians.
[9:25]Hamas uses civilians as shields.
[9:28]And so I point the finger at them.
[9:31]Okay.
[9:32]Now, let's talk about the media.
[9:34]And let's talk about it.
[9:35]I want to talk about it in an American way that might inform the Israeli-Palestinian context.
[9:41]On Tuesday, I was in Minneapolis visiting my mother for the first time in 18 months.
[9:47]I got to see my mom.
[9:48]I know.
[9:49]I said I was just hugging on his faces.
[9:51]It was special.
[9:52]One of the great moments of my wife.
[9:55]And a member of my congregation texted me that a group.
[9:59]Okay.
[10:00]of Palestinians were care-vining around Los Angeles or Palestinians and supervisors were care
[10:05]care-vining around Los Angeles shouting death to the Jews. We're throwing rocks and bottles
[10:10]of Jews in a restaurant. One of the Jews said, fuck you. And they got out of those cars and went
[10:16]into the restaurant and said, where are the Jews and beat them up. And so when I heard about it,
[10:24]I immediately went to look at the television in my sister's house where I was staying. I looked
[10:28]at CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, PBS, all of it. Nothing. Not a word. And now they've started
[10:43]three days, four days later. Now, why not a word? Why nothing? I'll tell you my theory and this may not
[10:50]make me popular, but I think it's the truth. And I think American Jews should wake up to this truth.
[10:58]that there is hypocrisy. There is a double standard when it comes to Jews as victims,
[11:05]as a minority, as opposed to other minorities as victims. If there had been a caravan of 30 white
[11:13]supremacists waving swastikas, driving around Los Angeles, shouting death to blacks, death to blacks,
[11:21]death to Asians. And they drove by a restaurant and someone blacks said, fuck you. And they
[11:28]descended on that restaurant and beat every black in that restaurant. That would have been national
[11:34]news in 30 minutes. 30 minutes. There would have been marches. There would have been statements
[11:40]from the White House. There would have been statements from Congress left, right, and center.
[11:45]There would have been op-eds in the Washington Post, the New York Times, as there should be.
[11:51]But when the Jews are the victims, it's relatively silent. So I ask myself, where are my woke friends?
[12:01]Where are the people we marched with and breathed tear gas with after George Floyd was murdered?
[12:07]Where are my woke friends? And I think the truth of it is that it's hard for people
[12:15]to see Jews as victims. First, because Israel is militarily the strongest country in the Middle East.
[12:22]But in America, and I'm just going to be very blunt, I think it's hard for people to see Jews
[12:27]as victims because we are defined solely as privileged white people. So how could privileged
[12:36]white people be victims? They're the victimizers. We're not seen as a minority.
[12:41]And, you know, the excuse that's often given by people who are anti-Semitic
[12:49]is I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm anti-Zionist, or I'm anti-Nitan Yahoo. Now, some of those people
[12:59]are telling the truth. But I can tell you when those thugs ran into that restaurant and started
[13:06]beating Jews, they didn't say death to the Netan Yahoo supporters or death to the Zionist.
[13:13]They were shouting death to the Jews. So many people, many people, particularly on the far left
[13:22]and in academia and thought leaders, cloak antisemitism in the guise of anti-Zionism or
[13:33]anti-Israeli government du jour. And I'm just laying it on the line here. And I don't think it
[13:40]behooves American Jews or good people anywhere to deny this double standard or to look the other way.
[13:48]And it is a real indication of how important it is that we continue to stand up for others when
[13:56]their rights are trampled on. You know, I grew up in Minneapolis. My father's business was three blocks.
[14:04]My whole childhood from where George Floyd was murdered. It broke my heart. And we should continue.
[14:12]I mean, we've had a sister African-American church for 30 years with our congregation.
[14:19]We have to continue to build these bridges. But I think we also have to be honest with our friends
[14:24]when they let us down. Where were you? We needed you. When your mosque was attacked, I stood
[14:31]by your side. When your brother was murdered, I said his name. So I am asking all of our woke friends
[14:40]when you see anti-Semitism and you know it when you see it, say its name, say its name,
[14:47]say its name, stand by us as we have stood by you. I love that. I feel like discrimination
[14:56]of any group, even if you're perceived as privileged as a community. If you're, if you're discriminating
[15:02]a group based on who you are, that's discrimination plain and simple. Correct. And by the way,
[15:08]more than half of the citizens of Israel are people of color. By the way, these are Jews from
[15:14]Arab countries who settled Israel. These are people of color. And I'll tell you one other thing,
[15:20]the lack, the silence in the national media. The only good thing I can say about it
[15:26]is it certainly dispels the myth and the anti-Semitic trope that Jews control the media.
[15:32]Because if Jews, right? If Jews control the media. Yeah, that would have been front page news.
[15:39]And it wasn't. And now just now I saw last night NBC started to cover it. You know, I hope
[15:46]I don't think my, my Instagram posts woke up the media. But I think that there were a few of us
[15:53]who pushed pretty hard to shine a light on this hypocrisy. And I think it's made a difference.
[15:59]But I don't for a moment suggest that we try to go it alone. I don't for a moment suggest
[16:05]that we stop standing up for others when their rights are trampled on and their hearts are broken.
[16:10]I'm merely suggesting we be honest with our friends when they let us down so that it doesn't
[16:15]happen again. What else can we do aside from trying to be open, which is very hard, by the way,
[16:22]to talk to people. I mean, I guess you'd have to post about it as opposed to reaching out to
[16:27]individuals and saying like, hey, remember I posted about you? Can you post about me? I mean,
[16:33]it's hard. It's like you said, to put yourself out there and almost ask a favor of everybody.
[16:39]I think it's important if there really are friends. You know, when there's conflict in a friendship
[16:45]and it's addressed, it often creates a deeper friendship. It's very much like a marriage.
[16:51]So I'm talking about it. And I want my friends to hear it. And I think it helps. And by the way,
[16:58]I'm sure there are times when I've let my friends down and wasn't quick enough to respond or
[17:02]didn't notice something because it didn't get the coverage it deserved. So I think we just have to
[17:07]have an honest conversation with each other and then commit ourselves to holding each other as
[17:13]sacred going forward. So that's one thing. You know, the pandemic has hamstrung us.
[17:19]I know exactly what I would have done pre pandemic in this situation. I would have reached out to
[17:24]our sister African American church. We would have filled our 2000 seat sanctuary with people of color
[17:31]and our and the members of our congregation. The mayor would have been there. You know, we we
[17:38]would have had a very healing opportunity. And I would have been able to stand up there and say,
[17:45]let's not let a disease 10,000 miles away metastasized to our community where we have worked
[17:51]so hard to be brothers and sisters. And that but the pandemic has really hamstrung us
[18:00]to Instagram and social media. And it's a real problem. So that's just where we are. But hopefully,
[18:07]you know, we're coming out of it. And we won't, you know, be there forever. I'll tell you something
[18:12]that I said yesterday to someone. I think it's really important for everyone listening today.
[18:18]I'm kind of a geek. I collect books of old sermons of rabbis from, you know, 100 years ago and
[18:25]today. And in 1943, in one of those books, I read a sermon written in 1943. It was actually
[18:34]a high school graduation address given by a rabbi and Minneapolis named Albert Minda, who nobody's ever
[18:39]heard of, to an all white all Christian high school in 1943. Now, most of the young men about to
[18:48]graduate would be heading off to war. Many would die. And in his speech, his speech was entitled,
[18:54]what makes America beautiful. And he observes in the speech that many countries have larger
[19:00]mountain ranges of purple majesty, many go to Nepal, go to the Andes and Chile, go to Switzerland.
[19:08]Many countries have greater mountains of purple majesty. And many countries have larger amber waves
[19:16]of grain, wheat fields. He said, what makes America uniquely beautiful is when it crowns
[19:23]thy good with brotherhood and sisterhood from sea to shining sea. That is the American
[19:31]differentiator. That is the unique beauty of America. And we have to do everything we can
[19:41]to protect that unique, most powerful and important part of what it means to be an American.
[19:50]There is no other way to peace, no other way. And that's my answer. And Tipo Neal is right. All
[19:57]politics is local. Reach out to your...
[20:00]friends. If you're a member of a church or a mosque or a synagogue, find a partner,
[20:04]church mosque or synagogue to reach out to. It's very hard to demonize someone. You know and
[20:12]care about. It's very easy to objectify someone. You know nothing about. We really need each other.
[20:21]So we're getting all these comments from Jill there and in the chat. Thank you, Jill, who is saying
[20:26]other people have echoed the same sentiment. Why are other people not speaking out both
[20:31]companies? And I feel that a lot of people even on Instagram are afraid to speak out. That's my
[20:37]assessment that you that the the hatred towards Jews and the conflict around Israel and Hamas is
[20:46]so big that to get involved feels frightening. I think for people what do you think? I think one
[20:51]could have said the same thing to Martin Luther King Jr. during the 60 civil rights marches.
[20:57]Why was he successful? Because he held America up to its own values and showed America that it
[21:07]was falling short of its own professed values. And I think that's what we have to do and that's why
[21:13]we have to speak out. America, you are not holding true to your your stated values. Jews are a
[21:24]minority and very small minority in this country. Most of whom are not in the 1% despite that
[21:31]anti-Semitic trope. And if you prick us, we bleed like everyone else. And if it is brotherhood
[21:38]and sisterhood that is uniquely beautiful about America, then speak out when your Jewish brothers
[21:45]and sisters are bleeding. Just as we should speak out when our Palestinian brothers and sisters
[21:53]are bleeding and our black brothers and sisters are bleeding and our Asian brothers and sisters
[22:00]are bleeding. All all I ask is when you see anti-Semitism say its name, say its name, say its name.
[22:12]Then then you're being true to what makes America beautiful. So I don't think this is even
[22:21]at some level, some meta-level zippy. This isn't about Jews. This is about our professed values
[22:27]and our lived values being the same. Let's not be a nation of phonies and hypocrites. And to reiterate,
[22:35]I must say I think there's some classes in it as well. I think a lot of people feel like Jews are
[22:40]just a bunch of white privileged people. They're the problem. So who cares? I'll say it. I think
[22:47]I think that's an incredibly ill-informed and cruel assessment. But I think it is an assessment
[22:55]that many people make. And, you know, silence is our enemy. Silence is our enemy.
[23:02]Have you seen the video of the neo-Nazis in Milan? I'll line up in the square saying,
[23:06]hi, I'll hitler. No. It's like it made me sick to my stomach. My husband just showed me. It's
[23:12]everybody like yesterday I'll line up doing this. Is this just the beginning? This is what I'm
[23:18]so panicked about. You know, look, all roads do not lead to Auschwitz. Okay. And Hamas is not
[23:24]the SS. I don't want to overstate it. Okay. I do believe that antisemitism as a political doctrine
[23:32]has been rejected by the majoritarian culture of America. Now, I am concerned that there is a very
[23:39]different conversation going on on the far left of the Democratic Party, a very different
[23:43]conversation, one that sees some kind of moral equivalency between the democratically elected
[23:49]government of Israel and the Iran-backed hunt of Hamas. I'm very, I'm shocked and very concerned
[23:58]that some of the Democratic Party's most left-leaning representatives actually are drawing a moral
[24:07]equivalency. I would like five minutes in a room with them to talk about it because I don't
[24:11]understand it. And I think it's incredibly naive and ill-informed. So yeah, that's dangerous. And
[24:18]that's why APAC matters. And that's why I educate. And that's why the American Jewish
[24:22]Committee matters. And that's why being engaged and why your vote matters. So do I think it's
[24:29]the beginning of the end? No, I don't. I think America is an extraordinary and great country for Jews
[24:35]unlike any other in all of our history. Frankly, you know, as if if anyone ever asks you as a Jew
[24:41]where and when would you like to be born? In all of history, you know what I would say?
[24:46]Right here, right now, because we're the luckiest Jews who ever lived. You and I are the luckiest
[24:53]Jews who ever lived. We're free. And, you know, the question is, what do we do with our freedom?
[25:00]You know, there are two kinds of freedom. There's freedom from and freedom to. In America, we are
[25:05]free from most forms of institutionalized politicized oppression. What shall we use that freedom to
[25:14]do? We should use it to uplift all. But all includes ourselves. You know those famous words of
[25:19]Hello, Ritten. I think 2011 years ago, if I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am
[25:27]only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? It's as true today as it was then. But I am
[25:35]optimistic about the American experience and experiment. It's been an amazing country for Jews
[25:43]and it still is. We need to be vigilant and keep it that way. I think we will do that as I said
[25:47]before by holding America up to its own profess standards of protecting, you know, democracy is
[25:54]not really about protecting the majority. The real definition of democracy is a nation that protects
[26:04]its minorities. The majority doesn't need that protection. So, you know, we need to keep
[26:13]being good Americans. We need to stay engaged in the political process. And we need our
[26:18]friends. You know, almost all Jews in America live in only 35 congressional districts.
[26:23]Wow. So think about that. That's it. What does that mean? That means we need our friends. We need
[26:30]friends. We cannot go it alone. We should not go it alone. So is this beginning in? No, must we be
[26:38]hypervigilant? Yes. Is antisemitism the oldest of stories? Yes. And America is the one place where
[26:48]I believe we can transcend it. I really do. What do you think we should tell all of our kids,
[26:56]grandkids, people who are asking? I mean, I feel like there's such a confusion now over
[27:00]this conflict and the sanctioning of antisemitism in general, which of course is not okay,
[27:06]no matter what's going on. And nobody wants anybody to be targeted in the Palestinians is really
[27:10]nobody. What can we say? What can we say to our kids who maybe they don't have the band with yet,
[27:16]but want to make a difference? Because they're the ones who are going to keep us, you know, on this
[27:20]you just shining. Well, the first thing is not what we say, but what we do. And the first thing is
[27:28]let's be sure we raise proud, educated Jewish children devoted to the values of the Torah
[27:38]and the state of Israel. Let's let's grow happy, proud Jews. Because happy, proud Jews are the
[27:51]kinds of people who engage productively with others because they know who they are. And, you know,
[27:58]and expose them to Israel, take your kids to Israel before you take them to Paris or before you
[28:04]send them to some camp or before you take them to, you know, some national park, take your kids
[28:11]to Israel. People who really go to Israel and see it for what it really is are always amazed,
[28:17]always amazed. It's an extraordinary place. So that's the first thing. Raise proud Jewish kids
[28:24]take them to Israel. So they know what they're talking about when they're old enough to engage
[28:29]and let them see you living out Jewish values. Take them to your synagogue's food pantry
[28:35]when you volunteer on Sunday morning, right? Take them to the march when you march with the oppressed.
[28:42]Show them as much as you tell them or more because you know you've got I give four kids, right?
[28:49]Last time I checked. I'm one of five. So I have some sympathy because I know what my mother went
[28:57]through. You know, they may not always be listening, but they're always watching. They're always
[29:01]watching. And, you know, I have the advantage, you know, we talked about my book last time.
[29:08]I talk in the book. I talk about what I've learned from sitting with so many families to prepare
[29:13]them for the funeral of a loved one. Listening to that stew of stories about their loved one.
[29:19]And Zibi, it's never the resume the kids talk about. It's never the net worth. It's never the zip
[29:25]code. It's never the GPA. It's never the awards. It's always the small things that that
[29:33]grandmother or grandfather or mother or father did with those children when they were young.
[29:40]That's what they remember. So what you do with your children is much more important than
[29:45]what you say. It creates lifelong memories and impressions that carry them forward even after you're
[29:55]gone. So, you know, is Israel important is Shabbat.
[30:00]important is synagogue important. If the answer is yes and your behavior, not your words and your
[30:06]behavior, I think your kids are going to turn out to be lovers of Israel and are going to be
[30:11]the kind of kids. This sounds self laudatory. I don't mean it to be. I'm trying to give you an example.
[30:18]I was on a Zoom earlier today with a group called the British American Project. It's a think tank
[30:23]of Brits and Americans and they asked me to be on a panel about the very thing you and I are
[30:28]discussing. And in the middle of the panel, I asked the Palestinian in London, where can I
[30:35]contribute to a fund for the rebuilding of Gaza? He was shocked, speechless. But I meant it.
[30:43]And I said, I'm not alone. My congregation will do it. Those are the things you want your children
[30:49]to see you do not just hear you talk about. Take them with to the black church, your sister
[30:54]church and your synagogue. You know, engage them in relationship building. And the other thing I would
[30:59]say that so important is when your friends let you down, you got to talk about it. You have to let
[31:05]them know because that's a real friendship. And I think then your odds are pretty good because America
[31:12]is a remarkable place for Jews deeply flawed, much work to be done, but historically speaking
[31:19]remarkable. So just to summarize and people are asking in the chat, yes, I'm going to post this
[31:25]in my feed. You can all just like post it to your stories after I will put it up on YouTube somehow
[31:29]and figure out how to do that. And so don't worry about that, everybody. I'm on it and you can
[31:33]forward it. What's like what's our to-do list? And there are a lot of authors who are watching too
[31:38]who can use their voices for good. And what can we all do? Give us an action plan that we can carry
[31:45]out step by step. Let's go. Please. You know, Justice Potter Stewart was asked by the Supreme Court
[31:53]to define obscenity in a pornography case. And he said, I can't define it, but I know when I see it.
[32:01]When you see antisemitism and you know it, when you see it, say its name, say its name,
[32:10]do not look the other way. And don't let your woke friends look the other way. That's the most
[32:20]important thing we can do. And to become knowledgeable, knowledgeable, if you're going to engage on
[32:29]this topic, and I can understand why some people would not want to, I really do. But if you're
[32:33]going to engage, be knowledgeable. And don't just talk. You know, there's this very important
[32:40]saying in the Talmud that I use a lot in my congregation. I'll just, in English, it says, say little
[32:47]and do much. So engage with organizations doing this work. Engage with others of other faiths
[32:56]and ethnicities. And be proud Jews. Be proud. It's a beautiful value-centered, glorious tradition
[33:08]that we're a part of. Let's be proud of that. And let's protect it. Amen.
[33:15]Thank you. That was amazing. You're amazing. We're obviously watching what you write. I love all
[33:21]the statements. Keep doing them. And, you know, you are an example of what you said. You are
[33:27]leading by what you're doing. And we need a leader. So are you. So are you. So are you, Zibi. Thank
[33:33]you for this time. And thank you to everyone who was watching. And let's, let's all do what we
[33:38]can to, to love each other from sea to shining sea. I love that. This box. Okay. Thank you,
[33:44]Remi. You're welcome. Bye-bye, Zibi. Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time
[33:49]to Read Books. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time
[33:54]to Read Books. Also sign up for my newsletter at Zibi Owens.com and sign up for my virtual book club
[34:00]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan
[34:04]at Textures Sound for the Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing
[34:09]this fantastic intro and now trim music.