20 Comments

Hello I'm here to deliver the missing piece to the nyc urban danger dilemma:

Mental health problems, even profound ones, need to be *destigmatized.* This is what stops people from seeking help before matters have escalated and estranged everyone who once supported them.

I recently went through this myself, its actually why I missed your meetup. Things had gotten out of hand and I had to march my ass into the Bellevue psychiatric hospital (p.s. never do this, go literally anywhere else, that place is a real horror), and I've decided to just be unashamed and see what I can do about all the stigma associated with having these problems. I am one of these people you might come across mumbling nonsense to themselves. Let's just say the symptoms attract abuse, yet at 44 years old I have no history whatsoever of violence. I have to take OLANZapine every day, which is an antipsychotic, mostly because the talking to myself unnerves others. But I'm willing to bet that when you (the rhetorical you, not YOU you, who is wonderful) read the word antipsychotic I probably became a tiny bit radioactive.

We live in a society that once destigmatized gay sex in order to confront the AIDS epidemic. We can do hard things.

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We were wondering where you were! Please come to the next one and tell us more, if you like! Also curious to know if you heard of the book "The Best Minds"? The author was on Bari Weiss a few weeks ago. <3 Y

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Wow, thank you so much for sharing this. Your honesty is so refreshing. I definitely want to meet up next time I’m in ny!

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Now that you’ve had Moynihan and Matt on, you’ve gotta get Kmele. Every now and again, when he’s off on one of his anti-group identity monologues, it strikes me that some of his hyper-individualistic ideals may be at odds with some Jews’ ideas about community and the like. I remember thinking this one of the times they had Bari Weiss on, though I don’t remember exactly what it was that brought it to mind.

Speaking of Bari, can you bring her and/or Nellie Bowles on?

Regarding the very end of this episode: I understand ChayaLeah’s hesitancy about bowing down to Matt, but I would have no qualms. As a gay man, I’m already doing gilui arayos, so what difference is a little avodah zara gonna make?

PS. Why aren’t more people commenting here? I thought you guys have thousands of listeners worldwide. I wanna know what “Ask a Jew” fans in, I dunno, Qatar or Libya have to say.

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We only have a handful of substack followers compared to overall listeners! I blame our audience. Step up your game.

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You need an engagement intern!

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"I was into Jews before they got big," I will be saying this in no time at all, I am sure.

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I heard kmele (pretty sure it was him) start to venture into Jews and collective identity and I was like, nope! Doesn’t translate. Would obviously love to hear bari on here. Noah Rothman? He’s fun for culture stuff.

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Okay. Amazing episode. Except for that Matt guy. Isn’t he a transphobe? I KID!

ChayaLeah, I would love to read your writing and I agree with Matt, you have a foot in both worlds. It’s a valuable perspective. Be a bridge, ChayaLeah!

The meetup was so much fun. Highlight of my week.

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Agree. You have a really special vantage, ChayaLeah. You could write a step by step list of Shabbas meal prep and I'd love it!

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Friends of Dorothy are gay people ya dingalings 😂😂😂

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I’ve gotten more messages about that than about fruit roll ups!

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LOL. Loud mouth gays win again 😘

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If you wanted to hang out with Bill’s friends you can find an “open” meeting. That’s for everyone. “Closed” is alcoholics/addicts only.

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I'm watching The Naked Archaeologist with my 9 yo who's home sick! It's awesome, thanks!

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Coco, shockingly, did not like the first episode! I blame the anti-Semitism....

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Obviously, coco is smarter than me and has better taste.

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We started with the "sexy" episodes...Delilah, Jezebel. It's the most wholesome sex ed ever. She might change her mind 😉

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I think this is the right episode for this question. What was the great bar band?

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Sign me up for the Fifth Column listeners trip to Israel!

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