October 7 Listener Zoom
It's us Jews, Iranians and Mormons against the world
On the eve of October 7th, we gathered with 100+ of our closest friends (you guys!) to share our feelings, frustrations, sad tears and happy tears. You should listen all the way to the end for an uplifting finish (Or dare I say...a happy ending). For some reason Zoom created an AI summary of this meeting which is both horrifying and entertaining. It includes such lines as “Mickey speculated that Hamas and Iran's proxies made a tactical mistake, while ChayaLeah expressed her struggle to reconcile the ongoing conflict with her personal life. The possibility of future events altering the situation was also touched upon.” and also a fantastic “next steps” list:
ChayaLeah to share the "chosen meatballs" recipe in the Ask a Jew substack next weekend for Sukkot.
Listeners to visit the "Bring Them Home" website and read about one hostage to learn their story. (Here is the link because AI isn’t smart enough to include it -YBT)
All participants to do a good deed or extra mitzvah on October 7th in remembrance of the attack and for the hostages.
ChayaLeah to meet with the Iranian Student Club next week to discuss partnership with Hillel.
Bihawk to share Iranian memes about the conflict in the Ask a Jew substack chat.
Special thanks to Super Friends and former guests Eli Lake (The Reeducation, The Free Press) and
(The Gist) for jumping on and sharing their wisdom.Some of the book recommendations that came up in the episode:
Jerusalem: The Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Industry of Lies by Ben Dror Yemini
Letter to my Palestinian Neighbor by AAJ guest Yossi Klein Halevi (this is one of our favorite episodes, recorded in October of 2023)
The War of Return by Einat Wilf
Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
And an excellent interview on the Winston Marshall Show (another former guest!) with Natash Hausdorff about the legal case for Israel.
And finally, the recipe for Dan’s Chosen Meatballs, which he kindly Kosher-fied for Chaya Leah.
Thank you everyone who joined! let’s keep the conversation up in the chat section of substack! Just click on the thingy below -
Here’s a nice message we saw there from listener Darren:
I’ll leave you with a view of the Iron Dome hard at work from my parent’s Tel Aviv balcony, October 7, 2024.
I'm sorry that I missed the chance to join you live -- had another commitment. But grateful, as always--for so many of the reasons that others cited in the episode. Just to add a reading suggestion: Adam Kirsch's new book ON SETTLER COLONIALISM critiques the "Settler-Colonialism" theory at the heart of a lot of the anti-Israelism that we see...everywhere. And speaking of books and anti-Israelism, here's a dispatch from my little corner of being: https://substack.com/@erikadreifus/note/c-71874553.
Thank you for this podcast, and I don’t mean just this episode! I’m not a Jew. Heck, I’m a Protestant (nominally Presbyterian). But I’ve always known that Israel is the USA’s best friend and ally in the Middle East and I appreciate y’all’s take on so many things. Thank you and Shalom.