You've got a friend - with Mary Katharine Ham

Also, what are you doing Friday? Want to hang out?

Hello from Israel, a country on the brink of….something. We don’t know what exactly, we just know that it’s coming, and it ain’t good. So we sit here bracing, doomscrolling, volunteering, overeating, and spending as much time with friends and family as we can. Calculating routes to the supermarket that have the most options for shelter in case of an attack. Jumping at every sound, suspicious of every person on the other side of the street. As a funny meme I saw the other day goes: “Welcome to the new Game Show!! A refrigerator hum, or terrorists breaking in??”. At least we haven’t lost our sense of humor. Take that, Hamas.

The day before all hell broke loose (and I mean that in the most litteral sense you can imagine), we sat down for a lovely conversation with

Mary Katharine Ham

, who you might know from CNN, The Federalist, and her excellent podcast and AAJ favorite, “Getting Hammered” which she co-hosts with the lovely Vic Matus.

It’s going to be quite a trip to listen to this episode from the “before” times, because we discuss some of the exact same issues weighing down on us today: Israel, crappy journalism, campus madness and grief. It just all seemed one step removed back then.

Thankfully, because MK is a southern gentlewoman, she agreed to come back and record a 30ish minute new intro with us, so fear not - we will ease you in with some heavy sighing and plenty of venting.

I’m constantly hearing from Jewish friends in the US how lonely they are feeling right now. If your circle of friends consists of many non-Jews, and specifically those who lean more progressive, you might have noticed the tepid response to the massacre of October 7th. Some of you may be heartbroken over friends who haven’t reached out, or enraged over casual accquiantances, influencers, artists and even close friends spewing Hamas propaganda on their social media.

Not only do Jews feel that punch in their stomach, frankly most people with ears and eyes do. I’ve been hearing from many non-Jewish friends this week who are also completely shook. The threat has never felt so real, or so close to home. The brutality and blood lust that spilled into Israel on October 7th, combined with the bored shrug and “yes but…” in the west on October 8th onward, is a real cause for concern. Yes, lots of people get it and that’s incredibly reassuring, but the significant minority who don’t get it feel comfortable enough sharing real antisemitic crap and legit incitements to violence, because this has become normalized in some circles. The idea that Israeli flags are considered “controversial” and that Israeli speakers are booed off campus, while support of terrorist organizations and blatant antisemitism is cause for a “literary festival” in the Ivy League, tells you how sick the environment is (and fuck you Greta Thunberg). Let’s hope this shit ends today.

Back to feeling sad and lonely: I’d really love to encourage everyone to host a Shabbat dinner this Friday, and maybe invite a few casual acquaintances or maybe even strangers who feel the same as you. You can use the comment section to organize! I know we have plenty of listeners in LA, NY, Chicago and some of the other metropolitan areas. I really recommend being together with people who feel lost right now, so you can be less lost together! If you are lucky enough to already have a strong community, invite people in to join you! You don’t have to do anything Jewish at the Shabbat (sorry Chaya Leah) * and you definitely don’t need to BE Jewish. All you need to do is eat, maybe drink some wine, and commiserate with other people who think the whole world is crazy and no one else is left but them. So Yalla - go!

(***edit by ChayaLeah: it won't kill people to light shabbat candles, make Kiddush, eat challah, read the Parsha of the week…. it will greatly enhance your Shabbat and does wonders for your mental health. Please don’t listen to Yael.)

Foot note for my guilty gals and boys: You are allowed to be depressed even if you aren’t sitting in a shelter and don’t know anyone who was physically hurt. You are allowed to lose sleep over losing friends. You have this Israelis permission. It hurts, and it hurts us here too.