If you catch every episode of Unpacking Israeli History, which of course you do, you’ve already caught the live episode we recorded at an amazing camp called Camp Lavi a few weeks ago. Well, only a few days later, we recorded a second live episode, this time at Camp Tel Yehudah, the official national teen leadership camp of the youth movement, Young Judaea. Zionism is in this camp’s blood. It’s named for a Zionist youth leader, and it has fiercely held onto that identity even in years when doing so wasn’t easy or popular.
Well, today I bring to you that Tel Yehudah episode. I want to let it speak for itself, but what got me here wasn’t just how much these teens knew – though yes, it was plenty. It was how much they wanted to say. they didn’t hold back: what it’s like when a friend says something hurtful about Israel, how they tell the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, what it feels like to want to be seen and taken seriously as a young person with real convictions.
these teenagers are capable, they’re confident, and they are searching for meaning, not just fun. That’s genuinely inspiring.
As always, see what you think, and email me at noam@unpacked.media. I always want to hear from you.
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Okay, without further ado, I want to hear a super loud, as loud as you can be, Camp Tel Yehudah welcome, for the host of Unpacking Israeli History, the man, the myth, the legend, Noam Weissman. Take it away.
Noam: What’s up? What’s up? Amazing, Tel Yehudah. I am so excited to be here with you all. I love the opportunity to teach, to think, to talk about the story of Israel. I love it. I think it’s so important.
But before we do any of that, I gotta start at the beginning. Thank you. Thank you to Tel Yehudah. Love, it’s awesome. So I wanna try something with you. I wanna try something with you. You have agree-disagree cards.
I wanna try this out. Let’s try sports.
Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time in the NBA. Let’s see.
Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do. Now put it down, now put it down. I need to hear from one perspective. Give me an agree, can I get one agree? But I want to hear your thoughts on this. Alright, what who’s ready to say something? What do you got?
Camper: He would have had eight consecutive championships if he didn’t retire to play in a different professional sports league.
Noam: Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Awesome. Anybody disagree? Disagree. And you’re ready to go rock and roll? Okay, let’s hear it.
Camper: I don’t really know that much about basketball.
Noam: But it’s okay to have opinions when you don’t know much about things. People do that anyway.
Camper: Kobe was way better. Kobe rest in peace.
Noam: Okay, okay. All right, here we go. Solid argument. Solid argument. Next question. Question number two. Ready for agree, disagree. Taylor Swift is the biggest pop artist in the world right now.
Okay. Alright. Okay, who we got? Okay.
Camper: I think that I mean she’s about to get married, so everyone’s like talking about her. And I mean not that recently has she released a new album, but like, still she’s still many people are talking about her and yeah. So it’s it’s the it’s what people are saying. Okay?
Noam: Okay, okay. Alright, I gotta we need to disagree.
Camper: Aubrey Graham. Drake. What? Drake. okay. Drake is so much better. Okay. Drake is so much better.
Noam: One word answer. I like it. I like it. Alright, alright. Now I’m gonna get a little bit controversial. Jewish summer camp is more important for Jewish identity than Hebrew school or Jewish day school.
Woo okay. Alright, can I get a disagree? Can I someone with a we’re gonna start with a disagree? Let’s start with a disagree.
Camper: As a person who attended a Jewish school for nine years, I would not be the same religiously and emotionally connected to my Judaism if I had not gone to that school.
Noam: Okay. Who wants to push back and say and give me a camp? Hawaiian punch, you got it? Okay, Hawaiian punch.
Camper: I’ve made so many friends and so many new Jews I’ve known haven’t known from these camps.
Noam: I love it. Mad respect.
Alright, here’s my last one. Here’s my last one because what we’re gonna be doing is we’re doing this with Israeli history in a second. But here’s my last one.
Ten years from now and I know we’re all from different backgrounds, ten years from now, Israelis and the Arab slash Palestinian world will have peace.
Wow. Okay. anybody wanna give me a disagree. Okay, so so let’s back there, back there, back there, back there. What but I wanna hear your thoughts.
Camper: I think that you can’t make peace with someone that his whole their whole ideology is to kill and murder anyone who’s not exactly like them.
Noam: Okay, okay. That’s a perspective. That is a perspective that is out there. And I want to hear a different perspective. Let’s go for it. Here we go.
Camper: I firmly believe that we’ll be able to make peace and understand each other in ten years. Because I have a friend that’s Palestinian and we’re both really close friends, and I think that we’re gonna be able to do that.
Noam: Okay. Okay. Friendship rules the day. So now what I want to do, So I wanna go into a little bit of Israeli history with you guys right now. So we’re gonna play a game and I wanna see how well you know your stuff. Rivky, are you on the click? Here we go.
I want you to see if you can name this leader. Here we go. Leader number one. Who is this? One, two, or three. let’s see how well Tel Yehudah knows.
Yitzhak Rabin. Okay. Did you guys know that? Okay.
Very good. Now he said this quote, and it’s gonna be agree or disagree. Avi, could you read it for me, please?
We can continue to fight, we can continue to kill and continue to be killed, but we can also try to put a stop to this never-ending cycle of blood. We can also give peace a chance.
Agree or disagree? I need to see everyone.
This is unbelievably fascinating. I asked if 10 years from now there would be peace, and most of you disagreed. But now most of you are agreeing that we can also try to put a stop to this. So I want to hear. Actually, do you want to shoot- do you want to share a perspective? Yeah. Wait, wait. Listen, takshivu, shh.
Camper: I think that it’s good to be optimistic about peace, but it’s so much harder it’s like she said, easier said than done.
Noam: Amazing. Amazing. It’s true. Like, can I just can I pause for a second, Rivky? Can I pause for a second? I’m being serious for a second. I need to be like, serious Noam. You guys are amazing. You are amazing. It’s an amazing group. You’re in camp right now, and we’re having a serious conversation about the story of Israel. That is awesome. So like just thank you. You guys are amazing. Thank you. Seriously.
Can I get a disagree?
Camper: We’ve had no shortage of opportunities to make peace and we’ve tried again and again and it hasn’t worked.
Noam: Okay. Okay. So those are the two different perspectives. Let’s sit let’s see how well I don’t think you’re all y’all are gonna know this next one. Let’s see. Okay, who is this? Golda Meir, Hannah Senesh, or Henrietta Szold. Okay, you all got it. Mazal tov. This is what she said. Golda Meir.
Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.
Agree or disagree? All of you are except for one, we gotta can we can we Can we call on you? Can we call on you? Can we call on you? Okay. We gotta disagree. Go for it.
Camper: I don’t think peace can be determined by whether anyone loves or hates anyone anymore or less than anyone else. It has to just be a decision to treat everyone equally and with respect.
Noam: Nice. Love it. Love it. And can I get a different perspective over here? We haven’t heard from–My friend. What if just go talk to mic.
Camper: So the Israelis have offered peace time and time again, 2000, 2005, well also in 1948, sort of. And each time the Arabs refuse. Israel has never launched an offensive war. It’s all for the most part been defensive unless like you kind of view the 1967 war as being one of offense. Okay. So yeah, I think.
Noam: So different again, a different perspective. Now here’s the thing. One of the things I love to teach everyone in the world is there’s not one perspective on the story of Israel. There are different perspectives. And one of the things that I love to unearth at Unpacking Israeli History is the different perspectives. They exist and you should learn from different perspectives. Hear different ideas. Don’t just go back to the same well hearing the same idea over and over again. You’ll never grow. You’ll never learn. But we just did that.
Okay, so now I want to go to something else. I want to go to a situation. I’m gonna give you two different historical situations and ask what you would do. But I first wanna see if you know who this is. Do you have any idea who this man is? One, two, or three. Yitzhak Shamir, Ehud Omert, or Levi Eshkol. now you guys have no idea.
Now you guys have no idea. I see the line of the Israelis over there, they’re doing pretty decently. They’re doing pretty decently. Tagidu, mi zeh? This is Levi Eshkol, very good. Now he had a situation. You ready for the situation? Avi’s gonna read it.
Avi: Egypt has shut down the Straits of Tehran. Historical moment. A key waterway. Something Israel considers an act of war. Meanwhile Arab armies are gathering on all of Israel’s borders and radio stations are broadcasting that Israel will soon be destroyed. Israel’s military leaders are urging a first strike while they still have the advantage. But if Israel waits too long, that advantage disappears. There’s a catch though. The US has made it clear that if Israel shoots first, it won’t have American support.
What do you do? Do you launch a preemptive strike or do you hold and wait for American diplomatic cover? One or two. Show me by show me your fingers. One or two. Israeli history. You hold and wait. Ella, can I call on you? Ella, why do you say hold and wait?
Camper: Having America behind your back and like helping you and providing all sorts of weapons and stuff is not good.
Noam: Not a good idea. So let me tell you guys, let me tell you what happens. Let me tell you the history. So this is happening in the beginning of June 1967. Very good, Ella. And here’s what happens, 1967.
And what does Levi Eshkol decide to do? He’s the prime minister. He decides to preemptively strike Egypt. And he shot down, the Israeli Air Force, shot down 70 to 80% of the Egyptian Air Force. And then around 50% of the Syrian Air Force. And they started knocking down all the different Air Forces. And they basically won the war before it even started. Right decision or wrong decision? I don’t know. But the answer is that it tripled slash quadrupled the size of Israel after 1967. They won the Sinai, they won Gaza, they won the West Bank, Judea and Samaria. They won Golan. And now Israel grew tremendously. Was that good? Was that bad? Historical question.
Let’s go to the next example. Rivky, next example. Who is this? Number one, Menachem Begin. Number two, Shimon Peres. Number three, Naftali Bennett. Let’s see how you guys know your stuff. What’s the answer? No, no, no, no, no. Yes. What is it? Manachem Begin. Yeah. Alright, here we go. Avi. Avi’s gonna read for us, here we go.
This is the situation room. What are we gonna do historically?
Israeli intelligence has confirmed that Iraq is just months away from being able to build nuclear weapons, and Saddam Hussein has publicly stated that he wants to destroy Israel. To make things even harder, Israel has an election coming up in three weeks. The US, the United Nations, and Israel’s closest allies are all urging Israel to stand down. Whatever Israel decides, the consequences will be enormous.
Here are the options. Option one, you strike the reactor before Iraq goes nuclear. Option two, you stand down and you pursue sanctions and diplomacy. Which should you do? This is nineteen eighty one, Iraq. Do you preemptively strike or do you go through negotiations?
Camper: I think they should strike the reactor before Iraq can fully build it, so then they have no reactor, so they can’t destroy Israel.
What do you think Israel did? Did they do that or did they not? 1981 in Iraq?
Camper: I think they did.
Noam: They did. That is what Menachem Begin did. And it was a controversial decision. He sent Israeli Air Force and they destroyed the nuclear reactors. And this became known as the Begin Doctrine. The Begin doctrine said anyone that is saying they could potentially eliminate Israel and develops the ability to eliminate Israel, Menachem Begin, who’s the child of Holocaust, so many people in the Holocaust who were killed, and he said, we will never let another Holocaust happen. And because of that, we are not gonna allow any of our neighbors to have a nuclear ability.
What does this situation sound like? Not Iraq of 1981, but Iran right now. And so this is what’s behind. If you want to understand Israeli history and Israeli policy, you gotta know Israeli history.
So why did I just share this with you? Let me pause for a second. So many young Jewish people do not know their history. But you being here tonight and living the lives that you live and going to your camps are learning Israeli history. And it’s awesome. And learning your story is so important.
I am now gonna call up. Very often, you hear adults like me talking, teaching, etc. So I’m calling up to the stage six incredible people. Bianca. Give her give her come give her some energy. Bianca, Sylvia, Ella, Maya, Samson, and Max, the son of Stu Stein. Let’s go.
Let’s go. Okay. You like that?
Okay, now we have great campers here. Now we are gonna have some serious conversation right now. Some serious conversation.
I wanna know give me one word that describes your experience at Tel Yehudah. Give me one word. Line by line from Ella.
Amazing.
Unpredictable.
Incredible.
Amazing.
Life changing.
Noam: That’s awesome. That’s special. That’s special. That was well done.
I I had a question for you guys and I want you to be real. I know that your friends are here and like you’re overwhelmed by looking at them, but and the and like they might make you uncomfortable. But you’re talking to me. I wanna ask you questions. One of the questions that I have for you and you could ask me questions also, but one of the questions that I have for you is adults often talk about antisemitism in the Jewish world. And I wanna ask you guys.
You’re all from different places, right? You’re from Atlanta, you’re from Long Island, you’re from Puerto Rico, you’re from Puerto Rico, you’re from Chicago, you’re from Herzliya, right? You’re from different places in the world. Have you ever experienced antisemitism or is it an overblown issue? What’s your take? Anyone start.
Yeah, I think I’ll go first. But but speaking to the mic loudly. at least where I’m from. Loudly. Into the mic. Yep.
Camper: Where I’m from, antisemitism is a big issue. I know personally I’ve experienced a lot of that, especially in recent in this past year. It’s a major issue.
Noam: Wait, wait, wait. What what do you mean? Like where have you experienced antisemitism? Like what what does it look like?
Camper: Well, for me, I’ve experienced antisemitism in the classroom and, like I’m on a on my sports teams, like it’s pretty significant. And I don’t at least it for me, it’s very direct. It’s not it’s very much trying to make me react or trying to make other people laugh, which it’s not exactly enjoyable, but it’s kinda something as a Jewish teen I’ve learned to deal with.
Noam: So it’s just something that you cope with?
Camper: Yeah, pretty much.
Noam: My friends in Puerto Rico, have you ever experienced antisemitism?
Camper: I I think that’s really interesting because for us at least it’s more of ignorance. Like people don’t know what to say, they don’t understand things about Judaism or about Israel, and a lot of the time it’s unnecessary comments or comments because they just they just don’t know.
At least in my experience, none of it has ever been direct or with an intention to hurt me personally. It’s more so a lack of knowledge and just true ignorance and microaggressions more so than direct comments. As especially in like school situations, like with teachers expecting us to complete work on holidays and stuff like that.
Noam: Ella, I’m so interested In your perspective, you are Israeli. Yes. Have you ever experienced antisemitism in Israel?
Camper: at school and when I’m like all over the country, no.
Noam: So when you hear this, Ella, are you like, what are you guys talking about?
Camper: Not really, because I do see and hear antisemitism outside the country, like on Instagram and social media. So I’m not totally like unfamiliar, but yeah.
Noam: Any other thoughts on this from Sam?
Camper: Yeah, so I actually live in a community that is very heavily Jewish. And at my school, even there’s about one third of the Jewish the student alliance is Jewish, I believe. so I don’t ever really directly experience antisemitism.
And I feel like I’m almost privileged in a way that I don’t have to like go through that. Yet it makes me like hearing my peers and that they go through that makes me want to fight it fight out for it against it more.
Noam: Wow. So let me ask you yeah, yeah, let me ask let me ask you this. All of you well, currently, don’t go to a Jewish high school. All of you currently, you’re switching, Samson. I know it’s Jewish high school. And Ella, you go, you’re you live in Herzliya, so you go to Jewish school. I want to understand. After the 7th of October, and I know I’m being heavy right now by talking about this, and I know that we have Israelis in the room, and I know I just switched from fun to very serious, if that’s okay. I I you know it changed the world for so many people in so many different ways.
People lost friends, people lost loved ones. And if you’re in America, it made it complicated to be Jewish in some ways. How did your schools respond to the 7th of October? Did they do something? Did they not do something? What was the reaction?
So I’ll start. I remember so for seventh and eighth grade I went to a different school. I went to a school that forty percent of the population was Muslim, a majority of them of Turkish descent. And the school received heavy funding from Turkey. Not that it really matters, but well it kinda does. but my first memory was a lot of schools after October seventh in Atlanta made statements like we condemn violence of all kinds of terrorism, we look out for all the Jews and all the Israelis, and our heart hurts for them and the hostages, something that you would expect.
A school to do where there’s all kinds of different people of Jewish and non-Jewish descent. So I wanted my school to make a statement.
And I remember walking into the headmaster’s office for the first time. I never talked to him before, and I sat down and I said, I’m one of three Jewish kids. I know people who have been affected, who were hurt on October 7th, and I’d really like you guys to make a statement. And he’s like, We don’t make statements, we don’t do that, we don’t play around with that. And I looked at him and I said, You have a Unite for Ukraine club. What do you mean you don’t do that? And he just kept repeating the same thing, we don’t make statements. And I remember it was at that moment that I realized, wow, people, people really don’t care about Israel. And that was just something that was really impactful for me as I saw like the outside world and the reaction to 10/7. And yeah.
Noam: I wonder when you say people didn’t care about Israel, do you and this isn’t a leading question. It is a leading question, but I want to know what, push back if you don’t like the question, by the way. Do you do you mean people don’t care about Israel, people don’t care about Jews?
Camper: I think that that’s a really hard line to walk. I think that people don’t care about Israel because they dislike Jewish people. Jewish people, well stereotypically are successful, we’re doctors, we’re lawyers, and so if you fundamentally look at antisemitism, antisemitism comes, I believe, from jealousy and ignorance. And and then if you take that a step further, Israel and Zionism is the right to have a Jewish state. So if you call for the destruction of the Jewish state, in essence you’re calling for the destruction of Jews.
Noam: Anybody have different thoughts that you want to share?
Camper: At my school there was some talk about having a discussion in some of our history classes. I know about Israel or about the history of Israel. And I know that there was a lot of worry from parents about who was gonna teach that and what was gonna be said and ultimately it didn’t end up happening and my school ended up just not saying anything and I know that a lot of kids even at my school still don’t know what happened on October seventh. Wow and that it’s kinda scary just to know that they don’t like they just I’m sure to some extent they know, but it’s not like they know any of what happened or relate it to an actual place. Wow.
So I just wanted you to know I’m gonna make a commercial plug here. I introduced you before to my colleague Avi Posen who runs, a part of our organization called ConnectEd, where we actually teach the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how to talk talk about these things in non-Jewish school settings. And I think that that is such an important thing to make sure people actually learn the history, right? Do agree or disagree? Yeah, a hundred percent. Okay, we gotta do that. Wait, wait, what’s what’s your story? Go ahead. Max?
Max: So my story with that is there was zero statement, zero mention of it. There was so no one has said anything about it in my school. But I do remember a little bit after, probably a couple a week or two, this the first time I ever actually experienced just blatant antisemitism was some random kid I’d never spoken to. But I had to I happened to be wearing a star necklace that day.
Noam: The Star of David?
Max: Yeah. Yeah. I actually don’t wear them anymore just because the chain broke. So you don’t wear the Star of David anymore? I don’t. Because I don’t know if I directly related to this, but I do remember I had the ch the star out and it was just happened to be over my shirt. And a random kid I’ve never spoken to just went up to me and said free Palestine for completely unprompted. And I was a little taken aback.
Noam: Are there j how was how many kids are in your school?
Max: I have two thousand kids in school.
Noam: How many Jewish people are in your school?
Max: I am the only Jewish student.
That is an incredibly difficult position to be in and I I’m just incredibly sorry that you went through that. I’m sorry.
Wait, Maya, you were gonna say something. You grabbed the mic.
Maya: I was actually gonna say that I remember after October seventh seeing this like rush for people, rush of support for Palestine online on social media and all types of Instagram, TikTok, all those places, and actually seeing a lot of Holocaust deniers after it happened. And I was wondering–
Noam: After after the seventh of October?
Maya: Yes. And I had never even like thought that was possible. How like, there are so many facts that prove that the Holocaust happened and how people w took Israel and made it about an atrocity that happened to Jews.
Noam: Yeah, I I I felt like you’re about to ask me a question, like what’s the deal with that? I think there’s there’s two aspects of what’s going on there besides Jew hatred, which is a better term, I believe, than antisemitism. But one of the things, there’s something called confirmation bias, where we we see what we expect to see, and there’s something called desirability bias, which is we see what we want to see.
And what a lot of people do in life is they choose the facts that help support their narratives. And if it is the case that like Samson was saying that like when you’re fighting against Jewish people, that you’re punching up is the way some people view it. The Jews are successful the way some people view it. So I’m punching up. What’s the problem?
And then what people forget is that the Jewish people have experienced thousands of years of oppression, of persecution, of pogroms, of expulsions, of genocides. You know that between 1905 and 1921, 100,000 Jews were killed in pogroms. No one talks about that. 100,000 Jews were killed. You didn’t need the Holocaust in order to demonstrate how vitriolic and how and how violent the European world was to the Jewish people. And other parts of North Africa and the Middle East as well, where Jews were second-class citizens, where Jews were dhimmi, it’s called, where Jews had to play pay a certain tax called the jizya tax, where Jews had massacres against them, like Farhud in 1942. Like this is history people don’t know. You know why they don’t know it? Because it’s not convenient to know it. And when we learn history, it actually has to force us to make certain decisions. And so I think that’s a lot of the reason why that’s taking place.
But I wanna hear Bianca. I wanna hear you were telling me before, and I don’t know much about it, that you were creating this initiative for peace. Could you could you just tell me a little bit about that?
Bianca: So I go to a very diverse school. I go to an American school in Puerto Rico, So the initiative that I’m working on at my school is called It Begins With Us and it’s a peace initiative where we’re kind of just promoting intercultural and interreligious discussion between different students to just have a better understanding because I truly believe that peace is achieved through communication and knowledge and having that open mindedness and promoting, just that, peace. And so this September of this year, my school gave me the option to have it as Peace Month. And so I’m running it and I’m running different workshops and activities.
That is awesome. Round of applause for that. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Let me ask you a question. So one more question about your Jewish identity.
I just give me one to two words here. What is something about your Jewish identity? What is the thing about Judaism that you love the most? Give me one to two words.
The community.
Spirit of all Jews. Love it.
When you live together in hard times. Love it.
Yeah, our bond and our tradition. Love it.
Family. Okay. Great.
I think I’m kinda on the same wavelength as them, but just like everyone knows everyone, I think. It’s a small small community. How many Jews are there in the world putting on the spot?
Wow, you guys are good. 15.7 million. Very good. Okay. I would say community is pretty cool about that. The community aspect is just you feel it. I feel it at Tel Yehudah, by the way. I’ve the community, I love the vibes of this camp. Samson, last thing.
This is six words, but we take care of each other. I like it. Hey, that’s good. That’s good.
Can I tell you I no one said no one said one word, the the my favorite thing. You my can I tell you my favorite thing? It’s not about me, it’s about you. My favorite thing is Shabbat. I love Shabbat. I’m a big Shabbat guy. No, like it’s a day digital detox. You what you guys get at camp? You get a digital detox for like a month. It’s pretty special. You rest, you chill, it’s good. You’re with family, you’re with community, it’s special.
Now let me ask you one question, what do you recommend to respond to antisemitism, to respond to Jew hatred. What is your best medicine for the malady, it’s a sickness, the disease of Jew hatred?
Camper: That was actually one of the questions I was gonna ask you. But at least in my opinion, I think it’s especially on education. I think what you’re doing is amazing. And that of course. And that by people learning and understanding more about Judaism and about Israel and also meeting people with diverse backgrounds, even just within Judaism, iit enables people to have a better understanding and and ultimately like understand Judaism in Israel more and hopefully change their views.
Powerful, powerful. Anybody have another thought?
Camper: I believe to almost show people how Jews are, we have to be two things. We have to be proud and we have to be kind. We have to show that the Jewish people are a people that are kind and that are welcoming and that strong just want to be a good humans. Love it.
And building on that kind of idea, we need to tell our story. So, like I’m actually gonna steal your job for a second. Yeah. How many people have non Jewish friends here? I’m gonna assume almost everybody.
How many people have non Jewish friends who probably aren’t educated on Judaism and Israel? Yeah. We need to talk to them. Because we’re the next generation and it’s our job to ensure that we are safe, and that starts by talking. Because most people, once they talk to a Jew, I think we’re pretty likable. That’s great. That’s great. That’s great. That’s great. You want to add something, Max? Okay.
Max: I definitely think my idea of this is shaped by the circumstances. But I think the way I personally confront antisemitism is very much calling people out on it. Because I feel like especially like for these for like you guys in Puerto Rico where you guys said it was a lot about like people being uneducated. Where I’m from, people are educated and directly choose their words with intention. And I think if you’re not gonna call it out, it’s basically like green lighting and saying it’s fine.
Noam: Powerful. Okay. In the last f three minutes, Rivky, do you have three minutes? Two minutes. Do you have any questions for me?
Camper: I have a question related to the question you just asked us. Okay. Especially on social media, like as your content creator, how do you deal with antisemitism online?
Noam: Great question. So you guys already answered the questions the way I like to answer the question. When we create content at Unpacked, Unpacked is our main YouTube channel has around 520,000 subscribers, we have two to three million unique viewers a month. 52% of our audience is not Jewish. And here’s what’s fascinating: 90% of our content is not about antisemitism. Only 10% of our content is about antisemitism. The reason for that is the best way to combat antisemitism is to do exactly what Samson said, in my opinion. Know your story and tell your story. Bear your story. Share your story.
So I don’t think it’s helpful to get on comments and go back and forth and fight antisemites. But what I want to be spending my time and maybe I’ll end with this, right, Avi and Rivky, I’m gonna end with this.
There was a man who went through the Holocaust. And he grew up very religious.
And after the Holocaust, he lost his family. He decided to chuck his kippah, say, I’m done with this whole Jewish thing. He became a very well known philosopher, a very well known scholar. And he started hating Judaism. In Israel, by the way, he moved to Israel, became a scholar in one of the universities there, started hating Judaism.
And he wrote a letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And he said, Rabbi, do you know what you do? You just think about your religion, you’re backwards, you’re part of the eighteenth century, you’re archaic, you’re horrible, you’re disgusting.
You know what the Lubavitcher Rebbe did in response? The Lubavitcher Rebbe responded to this guy’s letter by saying the following. Dear Gershon is his name. Your last name, it sounds like you maybe have great rabbis in your history that are either from Lithuania or Poland, I’m not sure. But that’s probably where you’re from. And I just wanted to also just name that I thank you so much for reaching out to me. Signed Menachem Mendel Schneerson. That was the whole letter back. That was it.
This guy, Gershon, as he’s dying, he says to his student. I couldn’t believe the response of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And the student says, why? What was the issue? He’s like, I went nuts at him. I yelled at him. I screamed at him. And do you know what the Lubavitcher Rebbe did in response? The Lubavitcher Rebbe simply asked me what my last name was, and he reminded me where I came from. That was it.
My job, our job at Unpacked is to remind people where they come from. Our job at Unpacked is to remind everyone that we have a story that goes back three thousand years and will go forward for thousands of years. That is our job. That’s our job. And we have to remember where we came from. And we can never, ever, ever allow the haters of Judaism, the haters of the Jewish story, antisemites, to define our story. We define our story and it’s our job to get that out to the masses.
Thank you. Thank you, Tel Yehudah.