Jews can't chill

And why Taylor Swift is the Israel of the music industry

Welcome to our two-part anniversary show! Though like an old couple, we only remembered our anniversary half-way through the episode.

With Yael preparing to leave the homeland and Chaya Leah coming off the high of her son's Bar Mitzvah, there is much to discuss!

Have you heard of the World Cup? Ok, but what about the various reactions of the locals and tourists to the Israeli media? There are plenty of depressingly negative videos out there of Israeli journalists getting harassed and yelled at (what was that thing about glass houses and stones?), but instead we’ll share one incredibly wholesome video of an Israeli stand-up comic, Guy Hochman, making friends with Iranians.

גיא הוכמן @HochmanGuy

מונדיאל, ניסיתי לעשות שלום גם עם האיראנים.

A second video hating on this comic is already making it’s way through Arab speaking Twitter and has 3 times as many views as the original. On social media, hate is stronger than love - but life ain’t social media, fam. Hochman was since forced to leave Qatar amid death threats, but we thank him for his service.

Speaking of love, Yael met a cute Holocaust survivor at Yad Vashem (the Israeli Holocaust museum) who had a viral moment with one Joe Biden. She told us how much fun she had meeting the president, and how nice it was for once to have a good time at Yad Vashem, which is not really known for its joyous occasions:

If we’re on the topic of historal injustices - leave Taylor Swift alone! Yael makes a passionate case for why Swift is the Israel of music, with everyone constantly criticizing her despite the fact that she’s a beacon of light to the world. Israel’s official Twitter (yes, that’s a thing) even paid tribute to her in this tweet about Kanye, and managed to get some love from Elon Musks. The world is a strange and funny place in 2022.

Also - Chaya Leah tries to ruin the notion of gossip but Yael perseveres, a little but about Dave Chapelle and how fun it is to ignore this stuff, and CL answers an important question about how to win over your Jewish mother-in-law (good luck…)

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On the second part of the podcast, you will hear an excellent interview with David Bernstein of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values about his new book, Woke Antisemitism. Sadly, Yael drops off for technical reasons, but our marvelous sound editor Mickey still makes it work somehow just with Chaya Leah. It's a Thanksgiving miracle! It’s a great talk and highly recommended for anyone troubled by the growing anti-semitism of the progressive left.

Bonus content: How do you get 4,000 rabbis in a selfie?? Last week in Brooklyn, thousands of Rabbis gathered to take a HUGE photo. We will spare you the jokes about not being able to tell them apart.

Say Parve Cheese!!

This is the last of our backlogged episodes which we blame on excessive travel and bar mitzvahs. Back to our regular schedule this week, and...go!

Tell us how much you missed us in the comment section below, or contact us at askajewpod@gmail.com, follow our substack and connect on Instagram.