Jonah Platt, Being Jewish with Jonah Platt
[0:00]Welcome to Totally Booked. I'm Zibi Owens.
[0:04]I've interviewed more than 2,000 authors on this show and learned endless amounts
[0:09]about storytelling, reinvention and life itself.
[0:12]Because when you talk about books, you're really talking about life.
[0:15]So get ready to hear from today's best authors.
[0:18]The best-selling and the not yet discovered.
[0:21]Come find your next great read and the story behind it.
[0:24]Enjoy!
[0:25]I really enjoyed interviewing Jonah Platt.
[0:29]Both of us have shows on the JBS network.
[0:32]And it was a delight that Derek Olab, who runs the network,
[0:37]put the two of us in touch because I've been a long time fan of his.
[0:41]And here is more about Jonah Platt if you don't know much about him.
[0:45]Jonah Platt is one of America's most trusted voices on modern Jewish identity, culture and current events.
[0:50]He hosts being Jewish with Jonah Platt, the world's number one Jewish podcast,
[0:55]where he explores Jewish life through deeply candid conversation
[0:58]with prominent Jews and allies like Mayan Bialik, Scooter Braun,
[1:02]Hallie Mandel, Cindy Crawford, Van Jones, and Jason Alexander.
[1:06]An accomplished entertainer, Jonah has starred in acclaimed projects from Broadway, like Wicked,
[1:11]to Hollywood, being the Ricardo's, and is co-writing the musical adaptation of the Giver.
[1:16]He was named the inaugural Jewish American Heritage Month Honorary by the California Jewish Legislative Caucus,
[1:22]received to California's inaugural Community Excellence Award
[1:26]for Combating Any Semitism, Holocaust Museum L.A.'s inaugural
[1:30]Ross, an Abner Goldstein Advocacy Award, and the 2025 American Friends of LM Life Saver Award.
[1:37]He is the editor at large of Laura magazine and is currently pursuing his Masters in Anti-Semitism Studies at Gratz College.
[1:44]Welcome, Jonah. Thanks so much for coming on totally but welcome.
[1:48]Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Great to see you.
[1:51]So nice to be talking to another host on the JBS Circuit with their shows there and everything, which is fun.
[1:59]Very fun.
[2:00]So, Jonah, usually I interview authors, but not always.
[2:04]I like to talk to people who are doing really cool stuff in the world and bringing stories together,
[2:09]and you were the ultimate story draw or outer of people as you interview them on your podcast and TV show and everything.
[2:16]Why don't you tell listeners who aren't as familiar with you a little bit more about how you got into interviewing people, your Jewish advocacy, all that.
[2:25]Oh boy, all right.
[2:26]I know. I'll just settle in over here.
[2:29]So, my show now is called Being Jewish with Jonah Platt.
[2:33]And as you mentioned, it's on JBS and podcast on YouTube.
[2:38]And prior to October 7th, my whole career was entertainment industry focused.
[2:44]So, I've spent my whole life, even since I was a kid, like my thing was always making stuff, making shows, making movies, acting, singing.
[2:53]It's just like what I was sort of born to do.
[2:58]And I pursued it professionally for almost 20 years acting on Broadway and television and film and writing for TV.
[3:06]What would you like to sing now? I could do a name.
[3:10]I don't know if my mic's prepared for me to bust out to wick it right now.
[3:15]Yeah, warm up your voice a little and then we can get into it.
[3:17]I'm always warm.
[3:18]Okay.
[3:19]Okay.
[3:20]So, very much, you know, building the skill set of making shows and I feel very comfortable in front of a camera, behind a camera, knowing how these things kind of work.
[3:31]Then in 2021, I start using the platform that I had built through my entertainment career on social media to start talking about Jewish issues, not in a very today's the day kind of way, but like there was some violence happening between Israel and Gaza in spring of 21.
[3:50]I just sort of, you know, I'm very well read in this area.
[3:54]I'm very engaged Jewishally and have been my whole life.
[3:57]My family is incredibly engaged Jewishally from my nuclear family to my third cousins.
[4:03]Like everybody is engaged and involved, not just religiously, but in their community as leaders and kids going in day school and camp and just like very much engaged, mostly conservative to a little bit modern Orthodox Jews.
[4:18]And your mom, by the way, interviewed the panel I was on at the JF&A last year and she was like raving about you and your brother.
[4:28]It was so cute.
[4:29]It was so cute.
[4:30]She's amazing.
[4:31]My friend, those who don't know my mother, Julie Platt, is the most recent chairwoman of Jewish Federation North America among many other leadership positions within our community.
[4:39]So she's been an amazing role model.
[4:41]But I sort of had a sense that I could be something of a filter for folks to sort of just sort of break down and help understand what was going on and it communicate in a clear way through the noise and the misinformation and the confusion and also help articulate what my community was feeling as a member of that community and as being connected to so many people within it.
[5:06]And I could sort of see what people were thinking and feeling and felt like they didn't know how to say.
[5:10]And that sort of began my Jewish advocacy that grew kind of organically over the last couple of years speaking on some panels writing opeds for variety about Jewish representation and things of that nature.
[5:24]And then October 7th happened and I just found that it was the only thing I wanted to be spending my time and energy on.
[5:32]Again, it wasn't a conscious decision really of here's what I'm going to do today.
[5:36]It was just wow, I spent my whole day online doing live Q&As and making videos and talking to people on the phone and meeting with hostage families and getting on WhatsApp groups and just doing all of that stuff.
[5:51]And a couple of months into the fall out of October 7th now we're at like I don't know February of 2024.
[5:58]I thought to myself, okay, I want to stop being reactive to what's happening in the moment and sort of get back to my proactive Jewish advocacy like what I think is important and what I want to do.
[6:12]So happened to sort of dovetail with a moment both within my entertainment career and the industry as a whole where the industry was slow it was contracting things are getting harder and harder.
[6:25]I had sort of checked a lot of boxes for myself to the point where I felt okay to sort of pivot away like I wasn't leaving some great unrealized potential on the table.
[6:39]And it felt like the right thing and has felt certainly to me like more right than anything that I've done.
[6:46]And the show was my way of getting into that proactive advocacy it's really the synthesis of sort of my whole life's work of the entertainment stuff and the Jewish stuff all coming together in one.
[6:59]And that's what I had been doing ever since.
[7:03]I feel like from interviewing people I get a lot of common themes and I learned stuff that I never thought about that much in detail.
[7:10]Are there things that you found even with a lifetime of Jewish advocacy immersion and everything that you're hearing more from your guests that maybe you aren't expecting or that come up over and over again?
[7:21]That's a great question.
[7:22]I mean it's hard for me to distinguish because I also now do a lot of speaking around the Jewish community around the country.
[7:29]It's hard for my brain to remember what I learned from those experiences.
[7:32]You can dump it all into one.
[7:34]Yeah. So like definitely something I learned is that Jews wildly overestimate what non Jews know about Jews or think about Jews.
[7:44]That's interesting.
[7:45]That's come up a lot.
[7:46]Jews think other people in a way more about us than they do.
[7:49]Absolutely nothing about Jews and Jews are always like sort of shocked to understand how enormous this education gap is because we take it all for granted.
[7:59]So we really have our work cut out for us in a way that people continue to underestimate when it comes to the communication of just letting people know who we are.
[8:08]A couple of other common themes would be, you know, there's really a couple of different camps people fall into in terms of let's call it like the Jewish public bravery scale.
[8:22]You know, there are some people and to a person.
[8:25]But you should, you should brand that Jewish public, JPB, you know, little bit of JPBS.
[8:31]Yes, the Jewish public bravery scale.
[8:33]The way the way that I have thought to sort of frame it for folks.
[8:37]And this is, you know, a literary reference is Harry Potter.
[8:41]From, as I'm sure most people are familiar at least with Harry Potter to to part of Harry Potter and all these wizarding kids journeys.
[8:49]They go to Hogwarts, they go to the school and to get to Hogwarts, they have to go to platform nine and three quarters.
[8:55]It kings cross station to get to platform nine and three quarters.
[8:59]You have to run through a brick wall.
[9:01]It looks like a brick wall.
[9:03]And you have to trust it that when you get to the other side of this brick wall.
[9:07]Your people and your community and everything you want is waiting for you there, but you have to run through the wall.
[9:13]I think a lot of people get stuck on one side of the wall and they're too afraid and they don't want to run into it.
[9:19]But everybody who runs through is like, oh my God, now I'm here with like my people living my best life like being a wizard.
[9:25]And that's what I sort of see a lot of different groups falling into.
[9:30]There are those who are just too afraid.
[9:33]And when it comes to the fear a lot of time, they can't even really articulate what the specific fear is I find.
[9:39]There's like a vague sort of general fear.
[9:43]Is it physical safety?
[9:45]Sure, but is that like, is that based in anything or really anything logical? No.
[9:50]Is it, you know, commercial fear?
[9:52]Like, am I going to lose business or something that tends to be sort of vague?
[9:57]Like, in what way would you necessarily lose?
[10:00]They're not, and again, I always come back to like,
[10:02]if the business you're gonna lose is anti-ju racists,
[10:06]like let's lose them, right?
[10:08]You're better off and the sense of ease and relief
[10:12]and joy you'll get from being your full authentic self,
[10:17]far outweighs anything you could possibly lose
[10:20]by taking that step.
[10:21]And that's what I have seen in evidence in real life
[10:25]with people like to a person.
[10:27]There is nobody, it's, I mean, it's coming out
[10:29]of the closet is really what it is.
[10:31]And there is nobody who regrets man.
[10:33]I wish people still didn't know I was allowed
[10:34]and proud to you.
[10:35]Like I wish I was still hiding my identity
[10:38]and being ashamed of who I am and being afraid.
[10:41]Like nobody feels that way.
[10:43]Everybody feels this feels so much better.
[10:45]I'm making new opportunities that I didn't have before
[10:49]because now people are like, oh, you're out here too.
[10:51]Cool, let's do something together or the support
[10:54]from the public is, oh, here's another one.
[10:56]We love you.
[10:57]And so that I have just seen that all the different forms
[11:01]and all the different ways and it keeps being true
[11:03]again and again.
[11:04]I don't know if people are saying quiet
[11:06]because they were ashamed.
[11:08]I do think there's more fear associated.
[11:11]And I think it's one of those like deep in our DNA type
[11:15]of fears that you're just like always on guard.
[11:17]Like that's what we've been learning about forever.
[11:19]So we've been like sticking our necks out
[11:22]systemically feels wrong.
[11:24]100%. There's that inherited fear,
[11:26]that sort of shadow mindset, keep your head down
[11:29]and keep your bag packed.
[11:31]Like we got to get rid of all that.
[11:33]And when I say shame, I mean, I think there definitely is,
[11:37]it comes from a place of like embarrassment sometimes
[11:41]for people of like, oh, like the people around me,
[11:44]hate Israel so much and the Israeli government
[11:47]is making us look so bad.
[11:49]I just don't even want to like associate
[11:51]because I'm embarrassed and it reflects on me
[11:54]what, you know, smoke rich is doing,
[11:57]and which is of course ridiculous.
[11:59]But people have a little bit of that too, which I think,
[12:02]but I agree that it's definitely fear
[12:05]is the leading motivator for your partner.
[12:07]So obviously you would skew high
[12:09]on the Jewish bravery scale.
[12:12]But do you ever feel fear?
[12:14]Have you had threats that make you feel worried
[12:16]that you're out and talking about this all the time?
[12:19]And this is your identity.
[12:20]Never. No. Never.
[12:21]It's always the opposite, honestly.
[12:24]I mean, I and it's so much so that I keep looking
[12:27]for like other things to attribute it to.
[12:29]And I'm like, is it because I'm like a guy
[12:30]who's six feet or something like, but I honestly,
[12:34]you know, I get it's because you're the tallest Jew
[12:37]we can hold up and write.
[12:38]And so why is it so I like the other day
[12:41]I was wearing, I have these custom,
[12:44]they're called air macabees.
[12:46]It's like a blue and white.
[12:47]It looks like the Israeli flat kind of shoe
[12:49]and we did a, I did a partnership with them.
[12:51]I have a JP on the back.
[12:52]And I was rocking my customs and some random person
[12:54]on the street was like, hey, those are such cool shoes.
[12:57]Shabbat Shalom.
[12:58]It's like a Thursday.
[12:59]But it was cool, you know,
[13:01]you closed it and I wear this, you know,
[13:04]my again, David necklace all day every day.
[13:07]And I have literally only had positive interactions
[13:09]because of it.
[13:10]I have had people ask me what it is.
[13:12]I have had people like I remember I got off the plane
[13:15]in Mexico and like somebody in the door,
[13:17]some Mexican guy was like,
[13:18]I love your necklace, like just like, you know,
[13:21]things like that happen in me all the time.
[13:23]And I think again, there's that fear of,
[13:26]I'm gonna have a negative interaction
[13:27]which I understand.
[13:28]I always say don't be stupid, right?
[13:29]It's like I'm not gonna walk through a Muslim quarter
[13:33]at 11 o'clock at night by myself rocking this out.
[13:36]You don't wear your fancy watch
[13:38]in a terrible neighborhood by yourself at 1 a.m.
[13:40]Like don't be dumb.
[13:41]But because of this fear of the potential negative interactions,
[13:45]so many people are missing out on all of these
[13:47]positive interactions that they don't even consider.
[13:50]They are not allowing themselves to take part in
[13:53]when they, when they withhold.
[13:54]And I've had so many positive reinforcing interactions
[13:59]because of being out as a Jew.
[14:02]It's only been positively reinforced.
[14:04]And again, I understand look,
[14:06]there's like anti-Semitic hate crimes
[14:08]up the wazoo happening all over the place.
[14:09]Again, you have to be smart and sometimes stuff just happens
[14:13]and it's horrible and that could be me at some point.
[14:17]You know, random.
[14:18]But in general, I find that people respect those
[14:22]who respect themselves.
[14:23]Bullies don't want to bully confident people, right?
[14:26]That's not the reaction they're looking for.
[14:28]Bullies want to bully people who they can get away
[14:31]with bullying and can feel that sense of righteousness
[14:35]about when they, you know, punish.
[14:37]And if you're not giving that to them,
[14:40]you're just not an interesting mark.
[14:42]And I find that I'm just a really not interesting mark
[14:45]for most people.
[14:46]And the ones who do come for me online or whatever it is,
[14:49]either they get blocked or ignored or whatever.
[14:52]And they're, and they're losers, right?
[14:54]It's just like why would I want to waste a second
[14:58]thinking about somebody who's made their whole personality
[15:01]like trying to tear down Jews who support Israel or something.
[15:06]Like that, it's just crazy to me.
[15:07]So I just don't really give them any air.
[15:10]It's very smart.
[15:11]Very smart.
[15:12]I feel like being a Jewish parent today
[15:14]has its own set of challenges.
[15:16]I have four kids.
[15:17]I give three kids.
[15:17]Wow.
[15:18]Tell me what that is like for you.
[15:20]Are you trying, like when you message or model for your kids,
[15:23]especially in the current climate, like what do you keep in mind?
[15:27]And how do you give them all the hope and positivity
[15:30]and everything and the tools to not, you know,
[15:32]as you say, be stupid?
[15:34]Yeah, totally.
[15:34]So I mean, my kids are on the younger side.
[15:36]So seven, three and one.
[15:38]So we're not at the hard conversations yet really.
[15:43]Although my seven-year-old is starting to ask and know,
[15:46]like he knows a little bit now about like World War II
[15:49]and Nazis and like that's come up a little bit organically.
[15:52]We were in Curacao of all places, actually,
[15:55]where there is a, it's actually the longest standing
[16:00]Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere
[16:02]is in Curacao and it's starting, I think 1732.
[16:05]Who knew?
[16:06]And who knew?
[16:06]And it's a Dutch kingdom.
[16:09]So they have a great museum there.
[16:11]We went to and there's an and Frank section of it.
[16:14]And we didn't let him go up there.
[16:16]But he, you know, he was curious.
[16:18]So we ended up talking a little bit about some stuff later.
[16:20]But it really is it be the question,
[16:22]the way you framed it is the important way,
[16:24]which is like, essentially you asked me,
[16:26]how are you being intentional about this?
[16:28]And that is really it, right?
[16:30]It's it's be intentional that it,
[16:32]as long as you're thinking about doing something,
[16:35]you're already, that's like half the battle
[16:36]because I think so many parents just don't even think about it
[16:40]and think sort of love of Jewish identity
[16:44]is going to take care of itself.
[16:45]And it just doesn't.
[16:46]You have to really model it and make it important.
[16:49]So I do that in a lot of different ways in my house.
[16:52]My kids go to Jewish day school
[16:53]and we are very involved in that Jewish day school.
[16:56]So they understand how much we love the community
[16:59]and how important it is to us and we're there all the time.
[17:01]My wife is now an employee of the day school.
[17:04]She's now they're running their dance program
[17:07]and then on the temple board.
[17:08]So like we're super engaged there.
[17:10]They see that.
[17:11]Obviously they know dad's show is like being Jewish
[17:14]and I talk about how great being Jewish is.
[17:16]So that's kind of a lay up right there.
[17:18]And I had my oldest son on the show.
[17:21]I do a segment called Lador Vadorable
[17:24]where I have a little kid on and we talk about Jewish does.
[17:26]He was the first one.
[17:27]It's very cute.
[17:29]But like here's an example of being smart.
[17:30]Like the Lador Vadorables, I don't put on the internet.
[17:33]It's only if you listen to the podcast or watch it on TV,
[17:36]you can catch it, but there's no video of it online.
[17:39]And for some people, like look,
[17:41]there's plenty of like kids say they darn just things online,
[17:43]but there's something that feels a riskier to me
[17:47]than necessary to put my kids or my nephews
[17:49]or whatever in a Jewish video that I'm marking with my name
[17:53]and whatever and putting it out there on the internet.
[17:55]I just don't need it.
[17:56]So that's a precaution I take.
[17:58]Maybe it's too cautious.
[17:59]Maybe not, but it makes me feel more comfortable.
[18:01]I make sure that there's like stuff
[18:02]that has Hebrew writing on it in my house.
[18:05]Like even that small, but like we have a piece of art
[18:08]that has Hebrew on it.
[18:09]That's right in the living room.
[18:10]And that was really intentional.
[18:11]I thought like I want something with Hebrew in the living room.
[18:14]So they just see it.
[18:15]That's around them.
[18:16]We do Shabbat every Friday.
[18:18]Even if it's not the full meal or whatever,
[18:20]we're doing the candles.
[18:21]We're doing the grape juice.
[18:22]We're doing the chala.
[18:23]Even if it takes two minutes and I'm blessing the kids.
[18:26]And even if like last Friday,
[18:28]we were in Santa Barbara for the weekend.
[18:30]When we were at dinner, I was like,
[18:31]oh, it's Shabbat dinner.
[18:32]And we quit my three year old
[18:34]said that kiddish real quick, you know.
[18:36]So I'm glad that's okay.
[18:37]Cause sometimes that's what we do too.
[18:39]And we're like, I'm like, oh, it's Shabbat.
[18:42]And we can't do it.
[18:43]Like let's just say the prayer here.
[18:44]And you know, at least we're saying it's okay.
[18:46]Everything is okay.
[18:47]I always feel like it's a fail.
[18:49]Like I gotta be minus on Shabbat or something.
[18:51]It's better than okay.
[18:52]The fact that you're doing anything to market at all
[18:55]to me is like a pass fail to me.
[18:57]Okay.
[18:58]There's no A to F.
[19:00]It's either you're doing it or you're not doing it.
[19:01]And if you're marking it, you pass the class.
[19:04]I love that.
[19:05]Okay.
[19:06]What else do we play, you know, Israeli music
[19:08]around the house or in the car.
[19:11]There's songs that they love.
[19:13]Like, you know, the big club bangers like Tel Aviv
[19:16]and Tamito Hevote, the ones that can really jump around
[19:20]and dance to like I didn't even really have that growing up.
[19:23]But there wasn't so much of it growing up.
[19:25]There was more like folk music, you know,
[19:27]which I loved and they learn in school.
[19:29]But like having that just around,
[19:31]it's just around them all the time.
[19:34]And we celebrate all the holidays with my family.
[19:36]And so they know, they know it's all there.
[19:38]We talk about this stuff.
[19:40]You know, it's not an afterthought.
[19:42]It's just very present in who we are.
[19:45]And it's how it was for me.
[19:47]It's like I never remember not thinking
[19:50]I was 100% Jewish through and through
[19:52]and how that was an important part of my identity.
[19:54]And that's what we're trying to create for the kids too.
[19:57]So interesting.
[19:58]So I read that your wife
[20:00]inverted. And my husband converted. And I keep being like, sorry, all the news because
[20:05]that I'm like, sorry, great timing, you know, start to loop you into all this, right?
[20:09]It's like packs right and left. But I do think it's great. Another way to show the family,
[20:15]like how much you care that people are willing to like join in the party, so to speak.
[20:19]Yeah. I mean, and it's a gift, right? I mean, my wife loves being Jewish. And, you know,
[20:26]it took her some time to really sort of let it sink in. I actually actually October 7th
[20:31]really accelerated that for her. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, now she was like, oh, you're like,
[20:36]you're coming for my kids. Like, you're, you're, I'm my claws are out. And it really made her
[20:43]lean in even more and feel like, oh, yeah, like this is me. These are my people. But there's,
[20:47]you know, everybody who gets introduced to what Judaism is all about,
[20:52]finds so many beautiful things in it because there's so many amazing things. The same way that like,
[20:57]you could look at, say, Zen Buddhism and be like, oh, I love these mindfulness practices.
[21:02]I love this way of thinking about XYZ. Like Judaism has so much to offer. It just, you know,
[21:07]the richest amount of offering possible. And whenever anybody starts to learn any of it, they're like,
[21:12]oh, this is cool. This is great. Yeah. Very true. So I saw and I don't know if this is still true
[21:18]that you were in pre-production on a film called The Menge, which is so interesting because
[21:23]my husband actually was circulating through CIA and with his whole team, another project called The
[21:28]Menge. I think prior to yours and people were like, no, no, this is too niche. And so they said,
[21:33]no, and then they were like, no, this is unpopular. And then I was like, oh, look, you're doing it.
[21:37]It's a different, it's a different premise for the movie. It's great. But how is that going and
[21:42]how is the reception fit? It's interesting. I mean, it's, it's a very, very, very independent
[21:48]small, small, small movie. So different, different sort of situation or level that I'm guessing that
[21:55]your, your husband was, was trying to navigate. It's been interesting. I mean, I can speak sort of more
[22:01]generally than as opposed to that specific project. What, you know, it's hard enough to get things
[22:07]made today as it is. I sort of mentioned that earlier. Like the industry is just gets more and
[22:11]more challenging. It's contracting more and more. They're making less stuff. They're competing
[22:17]more with digital. Like there's just so much insanity happening. And you know, IP is more important
[22:23]than ever. Otherwise you're making teeny-tiny movies. And we are seeing teeny-tiny Jewish
[22:30]movies getting made. It seems to be sort of the, the way to make them. And relying really on the
[22:37]Jewish community to support them, which I think, you know, we do a pretty good job at, we could do
[22:41]a better job at. There are, there are things to navigate. I mean, you need to really find kind of
[22:48]friendlies at, at every level. They exist. It's just not, you know, it's, it's not ubiquitous.
[22:55]But there are agents and studio execs and lawyers and distributors and, you know, every time,
[23:02]again, it's the same, it's this Hogwarts thing. It's like when we peek our heads out and we're like,
[23:06]hey, we're trying to do a Jewish thing. Everybody's like, oh, talk to that guy, talk to that guy,
[23:10]talk to that guy, talk to that. Like there's all these people who care about this. And so you all find
[23:14]each other. You find, you know, as, as we're casting, we're finding sort of that line of like, who,
[23:21]who wants to be associated with a Jewish project, who's excited to be associated with a Jewish
[23:26]project of which there are plenty. And then there's plenty who are not and don't want to be
[23:30]associated with Jewish project. And of course, also we're, we're being true to the representation.
[23:36]So we only want Jewish actors in the Jewish roles. So already again, in an already difficult
[23:41]business, we're already saying we're not even choosing from the whole pool of people who could
[23:45]get this movie made. We're going to choose from a much smaller pool of Jews only. And then of those
[23:51]Jews, we have to find the ones who actually are passionate about this stuff and want to be
[23:56]associated. And look, this is the movie has literally nothing to do with Israel. But as we all know
[24:03]that some people just sort of conflate the association and they're like, oh, just Jewish stuff is
[24:07]too hot right now. But again, like, I will, I will kindly point those people to something like nobody
[24:13]wants this long story short, which is another Netflix, excuse me, another Netflix series, which is
[24:18]having a second season. Like you can have very successful excellent shows that have to do with
[24:24]Jewish stuff that everybody loves and are totally fine. And I think we're going to see more of them
[24:29]just the fact that so many people behind the scenes care now and are engaged now more than ever
[24:34]before the fact that you've got like, you know, a Lawrence vendor who produced all the Quentin Tarantino
[24:39]movies going on. I'm going to go to Israel and help produce October 7th mini series. And like
[24:43]that's out on. I forget if they're a Paramount plus. And then, you know, you've got Paramount saying,
[24:48]yeah, we want to make these kinds of things. Like it's happening. They exist. It's just, it's a really
[24:54]specific needle to thread and takes a lot of commitment and communication and effort. But it's
[25:03]doable. And it's not like I definitely don't want to paint the picture of. It's like all the Jews
[25:07]have been black bald. Like it's definitely not like that. Right. Totally. I mean, we see in the literary
[25:14]worlds, what Jews are up up against. And I don't know how tapped into you. You are. I know this
[25:19]stuff is going on. I know it's going on. It's one of sort of the, if I was sort of going to,
[25:25]you know, draw a spotlight on a couple of industries. I don't think people are aware enough about
[25:30]it's like psychology, psychiatry is a disaster. And publishing and literature has been a disaster.
[25:38]That's another one. I know it's just been really brutal and so racist. I know. And people
[25:45]feel it's totally fine. Like the great, you know, it's, anyway, that's like a whole another upset.
[25:50]But anyway, there is that going on. If you could have another couple guests on your show who you
[25:56]would just like pine the sky would love to have on. Are there, is there anyone left who would
[26:01]be super excited to talk to? Oh, yes. There's many. And my number one, I've always wanted to try to
[26:06]have on his pink. Oh, cool. And I've gotten like close a lot of times. But then she's, you know,
[26:12]her career is, is going different places and so it's been hard. Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler,
[26:18]Steven Spielberg, these are all the like the white whales who just don't even really do this kind of
[26:23]of a thing. Really, we'd love to have Mark Cuban on who is Jewish. A lot of people don't know. And,
[26:28]you know, it is a really smart, interesting guy. I'd love to have somebody from the sports world
[26:34]more. That's been trickier and like an Alex Bregman, who's, you know, an all-star baseball player
[26:39]or Denny Adia, the NBA, Israeli All-Star, folks like that. Yeah. All right. So if anyone listening has
[26:47]connections, you can get those on. Join the show. Send them up. I'm Sandler. If you're listening.
[26:55]So the, the prompt for the essays and I'm being Jewish now is what does it mean to you and how does
[27:00]it feel to be Jewish now? Tell a story only you could tell as if you're going to a friend of her
[27:04]coffee. How would you answer that? It's changed for me. I used to, you know, you know,
[27:10]you're, your book is on being Jewish. My show is being Jewish on being Jewish now.
[27:15]on being Jewish now. I think a lot of people must read your book because a lot of people
[27:21]will incorrectly describe my show as on being Jewish. And I'm like, that's not my thing. That's
[27:26]the biggest thing. But they're close. They're close. Yeah. So I get asked, as I'm sure you do,
[27:32]I get asked a lot like, oh, what does being Jewish mean to you? And I used to always give my
[27:37]answer as family. And that for the last, you know, 38 of my 39 years has been the answer. It's
[27:45]like the tree trunk of my Jewish connection has always been around my family every holiday,
[27:51]every memory I have of Jewish stuff is with family people. And I think that's a beautiful thing.
[27:56]And now, you know, obviously creating my own family. But it's changed over the last year or two.
[28:01]And, and the answer I give now is responsibility. And it comes from sort of two places.
[28:07]One, it comes directly from the canon of Jewish text and liturgy and observance.
[28:15]We are commanded to be responsible at every thinkable level. You're supposed to be very clearly,
[28:25]you know, articulated, be responsible for your thought, your action, your speech, your neighbor,
[28:30]your family, the stranger, the widow, your enemy, the environment. I mean, just like everything
[28:36]is laid out, you are responsible, you are responsible. It's on you. And to me, I've sort of been
[28:43]living that, but in a way through my Jewish identity, it's really become sort of the pillar of that
[28:51]they've just synthesized into sort of one and the same. A feeling like every person, every Jew
[28:57]in this moment needs to feel a level of responsibility for what happens next. We all have a role
[29:04]to play. We can all contribute. We can all find the thing. We're passionate about the skill set
[29:10]that we have and the sphere of influence that we inhabit. Everyone has one. Everyone has all three
[29:16]of those things. And to bring those to bear on behalf of our Jewish community, it really has
[29:22]to be now. It can be as small as, you know, having people over for Shabbat that you don't
[29:29]usually have over Shabbat. And it doesn't even have to be Jewish. Like it should pervade sort of
[29:33]everything we do. I mean, I teach my kids when we go on a walk around the neighborhood, if there's
[29:38]a piece of trash, you pick it up because it's our neighborhood. And if not you, then who? And like,
[29:43]why wait for somebody else to pick up that trash? Be responsible. Pick it up. That's the mentality
[29:49]that we as Jews need to have today. I love that. That's awesome. Last question. What
[29:55]After of your life, do you feel like you're in or where you're headed to or both?
[30:00]interesting. I mean, this is probably how most people who are about to turn 40 sort of
[30:06]feel organically, but like I feel like I'm at the, you know, I mean, I'm in chapter two
[30:11]of volume two. You know, if volume one was sort of everything before October 7th, volume
[30:20]two sort of started with October 7th, and I'm sort of, I feel like I'm only just beginning
[30:26]face. It's begun. The show, you know, my show has been out now for two full seasons.
[30:30]So it's not the first chapter of it. And I'm thinking about, you know, all the different things.
[30:35]I can be contributing in other ways and expanding what I'm offering beyond the show in terms of I'm working on new shows.
[30:42]I'm working on in-person stuff. I'm working on some nonprofit initiatives. So trying to build out from there.
[30:48]And I knowing myself, I have ADHD. I'm always like jumping around from thing to thing.
[30:53]I am certain this is not the final volume. And at some point, I will definitely be doing something else, whatever that is.
[31:00]But I know that there will be a third act somewhere. So, yeah, I get to say that's where I am.
[31:05]Well, perhaps there will be a book in one of these acts and you can come back and discuss the book.
[31:10]I just sent my proposal to my agent this week.
[31:13]Amazing. So it's in the works.
[31:15]Exciting. Very exciting.
[31:17]Well, thank you so much for all your time and all your advocacy and everything that you do.
[31:22]It's so appreciated and very welcomed and celebrated. So thank you so much.
[31:27]Thank you, Zibi. I'll see you on the JBS airwaves.
[31:30]All right. See you there. Bye bye.
[31:32]Thank you for listening to totally booked with Zibi,
[31:35]formerly momstone have time to read books.
[31:38]If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens, and spread the word.
[31:45]Thanks so much. Go and buy the books.