- Hi, I'm Angie. - Hi, I'm Sarah. - We're the winners of
the Jubilee Sweepstakes. - Hope you enjoy this video. - The specific thing
of doing it to a child that has no say is something I kinda. - The same way is becoming a Jew. We have no say. - Yeah, but becoming a Jew
doesn't necessarily mean doing something to your private parts. (cool music) - [Moderator] Step forward if you agree, Jewish men should be circumcised. - This is part of my
relationship with God, but I don't understand
why the rest of the world would do it. I do it because God says, this is my relationship with you do this. And I will be your God forever. When God says to me, circumcise
your son at eight days, I do it because that is what Jews do. - I remember hearing a story of a woman who was on a transport to Auschwitz. She had just given birth to a baby boy. And while she was marching, she asked someone for a knife and the German soldier
mocked her and said, you wanna make your, you wanna bring an end
to your life sooner. And apparently she took the knife, circumcised her son with the comments so that he should die a jew. These types of images create
such burning metaphors that our families, our grandparents, will sacrifice their lives
under horrible conditions to be able to maintain that
commandment of circumcision. - For 3,800 years, we Jews have done this. It's only been in the last maybe 20 years that people are starting to
say, well, do we have to do it? The moment you stop
physically doing the covenant and the religious things,
assimilation comes in. - [Moderator] Can the
disagreers step forward? - I just didn't feel it
was appropriate for me to talk about this because this
is specifically a man issue. - I'm circumcised and it's never been, you know an issue for me. Like I never like, oh, I
wish I wasn't circumcised. You know it's whatever. I don't remember it so, I have, I guess, some qualms with it about
doing that to a baby when they have no say
obviously if you're an adult and you wanna do it more
power to you go for it. But the specific thing
of doing it to a child that has no say is something I kinda. - The same way is becoming a Jew. We have no say. - Yeah, but becoming a
Jew doesn't necessarily mean doing something
to your private parts. - This is what God wants. This is the first thing
that our father Abraham was told by God to do. - When God first asked us to do it, yes Abraham, who then
could say yes, all right, I will do that. - He would have done
it at eight days also, but God didn't bring
it up until he was 99. (contestants laughing) Hi, my name is Rabbi Chaim. I am on the Orthodox side. I don't believe there's a God. I don't believe in Judaism. Belief means that I accept
it, because you say so. I know there's a God. I know my Judaism is real. This is the way God created me. This is my purpose. I'm oozing Judaism whether
you recognize it or not. This is who I am. - I don't really believe in a
lot of the religious aspects of being Jewish, but I
do love to celebrate, the holidays with my family. It's sort of more of
a state of being to me than something I actually do. - [Moderator] Women and men
have separate roles in society. - Not necessarily that we're
not equal in a certain way, but especially when it comes to Judaism. A woman historically has always been on a higher spiritual level than men. We are the ones that instill the values, the holiness, the culture. We are very strongly a
part of the community. And it's important that
I'm saying this because these little TV shows that come out, they like to paint the whole situation as if Orthodox Jewish women
are second class citizens and they just wanna leave the community. And it's so hard for them to exist and they have no saying and no life. And it's not true. - I don't go around saying, well, we're totally equal in all areas. I have different
responsibilities when I pray, because like you said, my soul needs greater
rectification to reach holiness. Whereas my wife's soul, it's a local call, for me it's a long distance call, but we have different roles. - I want to feel equal in
all aspects of Judaism. And all you have to do is
go to the Kotel in Jerusalem and take a step back and look
at where the (indistinct) is, where the divider is between
men and women at the wall. And the men have three
quarters of the wall. The women have a quarter and
we're all packed in there. And I wanted to have my time
to touch the Kotel and pray. And I'm trying to, you
know have that moment. And it was really hard
to not have that moment when I was there. - God did create a male
and female for a purpose. If he wanted us all to be
the same way of practice, then we would've been exactly the same. - God created six other genders as well, which are also in- - We'll get to that, we'll
get to that in a moment. God says, I don't trust men
because women are holier. - I've heard that narrative a
lot of how women are holier. I think the biggest thing
for me is if a woman wants to wear a Kippah or a Tallis, she feels like it makes her closer to God, why should she not be allowed to do that? I think that's my biggest issue. - Add that to your Kosher. Add that to the Mikvah,
in every religious home, the woman is seriously on a pedestal. - In theory, that
sounds, that sounds good. But I think in practice, men are you know praying a certain way to,
to feel closer to God. And when women want to do
that, they are told they can't. - I just wanna step in for a second. I wanna say, even though I
do believe what I believe. I still believe that if
people want to do something, they have the right to do so, and I'm not gonna judge them for it. - [Moderator] I would only
marry a Jewish person. - I married somebody Jewish and I wouldn't have thought
of going out with anyone else because marriage is not about love. I'm here to build the next
generation of Jewish people. I'm on a mission as a Jew
to keep Judaism alive. - Marrying a Jew is of
paramount importance to me, primarily because I see what happens to many intermarried
couples down the road. Where I see the fights that creep up come Christmas Hanukkah time. Statistically, the divorce rate
is so high in this country. So why go into a relationship
where you have statistical obstacles to prevent you
from ultimately having a healthy marriage? - Because I grew up in
a reformed synagogue. We're very accepting of
different interfaith families and things like that. I mean, definitely is possible, but again, in all different walks of
life, different sex of Judaism, it's so different. - So the couples that you are aware of that were successful
in their intermarriage, what happened to their children
and specifically were the mothers Jewish or not? If the mothers were not
Jewish, under Jewish law, the kids are not Jewish. - The couples I know are still together. Some of them, the mothers Jewish, some of them, the fathers Jewish, there are more progressive
values coming up that say that, you know
if your father's Jewish, we'll still accept you into the community because we want as many Jews
into the community as possible. Obviously not always successful, but I have seen those successful
circumstances for sure. I'm Aly, I'm here as a secular Jew. And I identify as a reform Jew. I have dated a non-Jewish
person once or twice, and it's something that
my parents didn't love. And I actually kept one
parts of it a secret for a little bit. This is the one area where
it's really important for them to, for me to end
up with a Jewish partner because again, raising Jewish families and celebrating holidays together it just minimizes conflict. I just find a lot of connection
with other Jewish people. - Just being Jewish
isn't enough for me to, be in, oh well, that's someone
I wanna spend my life with. My dad, who is Jewish. When he started dating my
mom and when he married her, they were, my mom was raised Christian and she wasn't Jewish. She did convert later. They married and it was
an interfaith couple for like a couple years. - Every person who I've dated or who's ever loved me
has not been Jewish. And I mainly attracted the
people who aren't Jewish because I grew up Jewish. I'm Yoanna like Moana, my pronouns are she, they. I'm 20 and I am a secular Jew. My family was Orthodox. I feel judged by Orthodox Jews a lot because I'm queer presenting. I found it very restricting. Now being the kind of
Jew that I get to be, it's a lot more freeing, I get to be me. - [Moderator] I support
Israel in its conflict with Palestine. Oh boy. - Israel deserves to exist. Israel is our ancestral homeland. Also Jewish liberation doesn't
have to come at the cost of Palestinians losing their freedom. So in that sense, I don't
agree with the last part of it. However, the conflict is
a different situation. - Like you were saying, it shouldn't have to come at
the expense of Palestinians. There is a conflict going
on right there right now. What's true for us is different than what's true for other people. And we should just be
able to live in peace. I know we want that. - I think blind support for
anything is problematic. - Yes. I'm Canadian, do I support every action the Canadian government takes? No. Do I support Canada? Of course. - Okay. I'm going to say something that's most probably going to explode this entire conversation. 1947 there was no such
thing as Palestinian people. They were Jordanians or Egyptian citizens, in 1948 these Jordanian
and Egyptian citizens were told by their people
go into refugee camps we'll wipe out the Jewish
people and you'll move back. In 1964 Yasser Arafat came out and said, I am going to raise up a people and call them the Palestinians. 'Cause we are going to liberate
Palestine from the Jews. The question was, do I support the conflict
between Israel and Palestine? I really don't, because the
Palestine never existed. - My issue with it is that
you just don't see them as a people, but that's not- - No, no, no. I didn't say, the Jordanian, why didn't the Jordanians take them in? Why didn't the Egyptians
take in their citizens? - I, don't know why that
happened, but regardless, a Palestinian people-hood was created and we can't take that away. - But terrorism comes from it. - Terrorism can come from anywhere. We have it in our own country. - I'd like to comment, you know I'm a little sick
and tired of the rhetoric where American Jews have to
apologize with this proviso, by saying that Israel has
a right to defend itself, Israel has a right to exist. You don't hear that language anywhere. No, proud citizen of
any country says America has the right to exist. England has the right to exist. Do I have to justify it? Do I have to bend over backwards
to gain the recognition and the acceptance of those who
are sitting there like this, judging me. I won't. - There is always this
binary terminology also that's used as very destructive. There is are you
pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel? Why is it one or the other? But this is the terminology that they use when they are only describing Israel. They don't say, are you
pro-China or pro-Korea? - I want to support Israel. I love, I love Israel. I want to love it, I want
Israel to be a safe place, a safe haven for you know Jews
and people of all you know religions and backgrounds. I'm not saying that I am against Israel, totally pro-Palestinian. I'm just saying that there
are things like you said, that that Israel does that I, in regards to the Palestinian conflict that I don't agree with at all. I mean, what you were was saying about there being no Palestine before 1924, there may not have been a
Palestine in the country, but there was a burgeoning and
growing Palestinian movement and a Palestinian identity
growing around those people- - Since 64, since 64- - That's not entirely true. - Look at your history. - I have looked at the history. There was, I mean, there's
a little disagreement when exactly it started, but there has been a movement
among the people there. People in that area to create- - Because the king of Jordan did not want them anymore
in his neighborhood. And the people of Egypt said, we don't want these people. - I don't think it matters why. I don't think it's about. I don't think it matters why it happened, it just matters that it happened. - Israel is not causing them to suffer. - That's that's not entirely true. - You show me one policy of
Israel that makes Israel, that makes the people
of these areas suffer. - The settlements, when they, when they appropriate
land from the West bank of the Gaza strip and then
they make the settlements and they make roads, and bridges and transportation that
Israeli citizens can use But the Palestinians cannot use. - Fantastic argument. You're right. So what was the problem
before the settlements? - The problem before the settlements? (contestants arguing) - Why was it terrorism
before the settlements? - Why was there a massacre in Chevron before the state of Israel was created? - 1927. - Why did the Arab- - I'm not saying there was no, I'm not saying that there
is no groups of Palestinians that have never done anything wrong- - What, so I'm just saying
you caught them in a vacuum. I wanted to share with
you that when Israel was being attacked let's assume at the UN and everyone's coming after Israel, and Israel feels very isolated. I just want you to imagine
what Israelis feel like when they hear American
Jews being critical of them at that moment, when
they're feeling so down, they want their brothers
and sisters in America to support them and when you don't, you have to understand that
there's a psychological toll that they feel and I share that feeling. When I see my fellow American Jews, not supporting our brothers
and sisters in Israel. You defend your family. - If my brother or sister did so... Committed a crime and was on death row, I would support them emotionally, but I would hope I would
still have the bravery to say what you did was wrong. - [Moderator] I have ancestors
who died in The Holocaust. - On my grandmother's side, my grandmother's mother
I'm pretty sure had about seven or eight siblings that
could have been my future Like great-aunts and uncles
who I never got to meet. - Well, growing up in New York, I didn't know anyone who had
a full set of grandparents. Pretty much everyone
was a second generation Holocaust survivor. I know that my mother was
from Chernivtsi Romania. She was transported to
a concentration camp called Transnistria, where the Germans and the local ruffians took
great pleasure in beating up and killing Jews. Just this recently over this past Shabbos I learned my great-grandmother
and my grandfather's sister perished at Babi
Yar, where the Nazis would line somebody up
on a ravine and shoot, and they would fall into a trap. So the Holocaust has very
much scarred my psyche. In fact, many times I would even fantasize and think that maybe I'm
a reincarnation of someone that died in a concentration
camp, in a gas chamber, because I have such vivid
images etched into my mind because it burns deeply within me. - What I noticed about the world, we call them Holocaust survivors, the children of Holocaust survivors. I, in my synagogue use a different word. I call them the re
builders because the way the Jewish nation was in
Europe, we were not wealthy. We weren't, you know
we were living in huts. We had small schools, we don't take this kind of things lightly. We rebuild. So I look at that generation just about all the Holocaust people that came out. They said, how are we (indistinct)
ago we gonna to rebuild? You brought up how your
mom was in the Holocaust, when she came out what's the first thing that she wanted to carry on? - Have babies, have a Jewish family make up for the loss
that Hitler destroyed? Her children were my mother's
revenge believe it or not, her vindication. I believe that I carry the
blood of my ancestors in me that I have a added
obligation to bring honor to their memories who have been perished. And to maintain the faith that
they so staunchly defended. So it's not just some
footnote in the past, but I believe I'm an
ambassador of their values. - [Moderator] Jewish people
benefit from white privilege. - Okay. - America has been playing
games where they decided the Irish are now white,
the Italians are now white, but 200 years ago they were not. I was like eight or nine or
something, and I wasn't sure. And I'll never forget like
there were these girls that would always play with this ball. One day I walked up to
them and I was like, hey, can I please like
whatever I wanna play with you. And they were like, oh
no, your hands are dirty. I was like, no, look, my hands are clean, my hands are clean, you know and I checked and I was like see and then
the girls laughed at me and they were like, ha, ha ha. The dirt's all over you. And they said, you're black and dirty. And they laughed and then
they went, they ran away and I was just standing there, like, what does that mean? Every day I woke, I went to sleep. I woke up, I'm like, please
(indistinct) make me lighter. Make me lighter like my sister so that they'll like me better. I just had this in grow
hatred it for my own blackness because of what someone else said. And it also led to moments
of me not even wanting to be religious anymore. - Well, I disagree with a premise that there is a white
privilege to begin with. I don't think in my grandparents'
generation in America when they were denied jobs
because they couldn't work on Chablis. So they didn't have any white privilege when Jews were not allowed
into various law firms. I don't see any white privilege there, growing up in Queens, New
York, having my face kicked in by the local ruffians. I think it is a myth. I am not saying that there isn't racism, unfair treatment to
minorities in this country. I'm well aware of it and I
litigate it all the time. - If I took off my Jewish
jewelry, no one would bat an eye. I live my life as a proud Jew because I want people to
recognize my Jewishness. And I don't want anyone
to find out after the fact and have maybe regretted hiring me or you know things like that. But again, it's recognizing
the fact that I pass as a white person in my life. It's hard to recognize
what you don't experience. - I think part of it is it's
sort of like white privilege doesn't mean you don't have
hardships or have struggles or, or can have terrible things happen to you. It just means that in America
currently struggles that are hardships that you go through
white people don't go through them because they're white. They go through them for
a myriad other reasons. - I grew up in Crown Heights
where I was a minority. My parents were very poor. I was given a trip by my
uncle to come down to Florida in the sixties. It was the first time I ever
saw, we do not serve blacks, dogs and Jews. And I was on the bottom
of the, of the level. I want this country to be
what Martin Luther king said. You shall be judged not
by the color of your skin, but by your actions. If we in America have a problem, keeping to that message
and constantly saying what Martin Luther king
said, then we're off topic. - There's a thing in
America called redlining. It has maintained the
division between different ethnic groups in America, ever since the civil
rights act was passed. And what that means is that
if you live in a certain zip code and you are from a
certain race or ethnic group, you cannot get a loan. You cannot get a mortgage. You cannot move out of there. - And why aren't the laws to prevent this? - Redlining are the laws that were created to make this happen. - So-
- Let me finish it. - Let's make America a better place. - You're from Crown Height. You should know redlining exists there. - Excuse me. - You should know redlining. - There is no redlining. - Redlining exists there and
let me explain this to you. Redlining maintains and
creates anti-Semitism and anti-blackness. How that works. - I grew up there. How that- - Please let, just let her finish. Please, let her finish. Please let her finish. - She's using my hood. That's why I'm. - Yeah, well, most mine
that's where I was born. - So the Crown Heights that I grew up in was rough and tumbled, yes. But when there was the rioting,
I gotta tell you something. There was a black man
sitting in front of my porch. I don't know why, but he was my neighbor and he
didn't want me to get hurt. And I gotta tell you
something, we embraced, we loved, we had dinner together. The Crown Heights I
grew up in was humanity. - [Moderator] What does it
mean to be a Jewish person in U.S.A. - Being a Jewish person in America today means consistently
dealing with anti-Semitism and never seeing any repercussions for it. Which is why I believe that
it is more important ever to be proud of being a
Jew in spite of the spikes and anti-Semitism. - anti-Semitism has increased
in the US in recent years. - I agree, especially
where I'm from in Brooklyn. I kind of grew up seeing anti-Semitism, especially even though I was
a child, I like the first, my first experience with
it was of course the riots. And if you were Orthodox, you felt it. 'Cause you were identified,
you're like an identifiable Jew. But if you weren't, you
didn't know what was going on. And now it's so outta control
that even people who don't look Orthodox experience it daily. So yeah. - Yeah, I mean I run a
Jewish Instagram page and when you look up Jewish on Instagram, mine is one of the first
thing that comes up. So of course we invite the
trolls and the anti-Semites. And there was this one
instance where these two, 13 year old boys were commenting
all over my post saying, I wish your grandparents
died in the ovens. I agreed with Hitler, you know these are two 13 year old boys,
where did they learn this? - Because of social media, people can hide behind the screen. People can hide and they
don't have to in your face. I used for years, I had a radio show on
KFI radio here in LA. And then from time to time,
somebody would call in and say, I'm not an anti-Semite, but. - Yeah, yeah. - The moment they said that
I'm not an anti-Semite. It says, let me re-correct
you, you're an anti-Jew. If we took the word
anti-Semite out and say, no, you're an anti-Jew. Do you know how hard it is
for them to defend themselves? anti-Semite's a cool word, It's not so bad, I'm just an anti-Semite. - You know, I never
thought about it like that. You are so right. - You know what, you know
like what you're saying, like this is also something
very new that we're doing that that started on social media as well. In the past year what some
people who are definitely anti-Jewish would say is
how can I be anti-Semitic? I'm a Semite, so we started using
- Exactly all the time. - Yeah exactly. - You're anti-Jew. - So what we started, so the terminology that we
have been deciding to use now, moving forward is anti-Jew hatred. - [Moderator] We are God's chosen people. - People always talk about Jerusalem being like the holy city. And I always tell people,
I was born in Jerusalem. So that makes me a holy. - We're chosen, but our
purpose in this world, because some people
misinterpret it as privilege or that we think we're better than people. No, our purpose in this world
is to be a light to the world. - Let's get to the crux of
what chosen really means when God created Adam and
Eve, God gave them a religion. The religion was seven
commandments to live by. When the world was destroyed
because the world wasn't living by these seven, God
came to Abraham and says I'm choosing you and your
children to do 613 commandments. So what does it mean really to be chosen? I got a bigger job for you. - Christians, believe that
only Christians go to heaven and everyone else goes to hell. Jews don't believe that. So when we say we're the chosen people, we're not saying that we're the only ones that are good enough to go to heaven. Like you're saying, we just
have more, a bigger job to do. - When I see a general in an army, with all of his medals on his lapel. And I keep thinking about how proud he is to be a member of his army. And he wears his medals with pride. I keep thinking as a Jew,
I wear my medals with pride and I what comes to mind
in response to the prompt is the prayer that we say on the holidays. I'll say it in Hebrew. And then I'll translate it in English. (Baruch praying in foreign language) You chose us above all nations, (Baruch praying in foreign language) You love us. (Baruch praying in foreign language) And you desire us (Baruch praying in foreign language) And you raised us up
above all other nations. There's a love of affair between
God and the Jewish people. I think it's very, very important that we maintain our pride. We wear our medals with pride. We don't apologize for who we are and we do the best that we can. - I'm gonna say it was a pleasure exposing the Jewish community to the world. (Baruch talking in foreign language) - How beautiful it is when
everyone can sit together and talk. (Yoanna talking in foreign language) - Very good. (cool music) - Thank you for watching this video. - Please subscribe to this
channel for more videos.
