June 4, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode, Ashira Solomon, host of the Black and Jewish podcast, discusses her mission to bridge the gap between the Black and Jewish communities. She addresses misconceptions that each community holds about the other, emphasizing the importance of dialogue and understanding. Ashira shares her journey into media and cultural diplomacy, highlighting the challenges and rewards of representing both communities. The discussion also touches on personal reflections regarding family, career aspirations, and the significance of self-development and healing. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markoman Show on iHeartRadio.
My guest today is host of the Black and Jewish
podcast and cultural diplomat A Shia Solomon. Hi, a Shira,
So nice to have you on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, Carol, thank you for having me. I'm so excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So you host the Black and Jewish Podcast, which I
would say that people would be surprised to hear that combination.
Do you find that people are surprised?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yes, they're like, what does this mean? It's called black
and Jewish because you're a black Jew, Or they don't understand, like,
what's the concept of the show, So.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
What is it tell us about the show?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So the show is called Black and Jewish not because
I'm a Black Jew, but because I wanted to bridge
both of these communities that I'm both a part of
and I wanted to bring them together in a time,
especially after October seventh, that I felt like the black
community was being fed this narrative that they should be
(01:05):
aligning with the Palestinians because their narrative is similar to
the African American narrative, and as a Black American, I
felt very a fitted by this, and so as I
was seeing anti semitism rise, you know, everywhere, and in
the Black community. I was like, you know, there's so
many myths about both the Black community and what we
(01:25):
think about Jewish people and the Jewish community and what
people think they know about Jewish people. And I was like,
you know, I sit at the center of this, So
let me start a show to bridge both of them together.
And then also the show also when it's not talking
about bridging, I'm really tackling what's going on in the
(01:46):
Jewish community, what's going on with our own people, and
then also what are black issues political issues going on
in America. So I guess to't have like a three
part conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So what are some of the misconceptions that you think
each community has about the other.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So for the Jewish community to the Black community, they
feel that the Black community is becoming deeply anti Semitic
from a place of hate and hating Jews, and I
believe that's a misconception. I believe that what we see
as anti Semitism in the Black community is not from
(02:22):
the hate of the Jewish prison, but it's from being
misinformed about Israel and about Jewish people. So it's not
so much that they hate them, like deep in their heart.
It's more so that they like they don't understand Jews
and Israel at all, like they don't have a real, actual,
accurate information. And then from the black community, there's tons
(02:46):
of misconceptions about the Jewish community and Israel. And man,
what the number one in misconception is like this white
colonizer idea Jews are you know, practicing colonialism in Israel.
That's probably like the biggest one. And that you know,
(03:07):
this this war and this conflict in Israel in the
Middle East is about white Jews winnings to suppress brown
moust Indians.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So how did you get into this?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
What?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
What was your path?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I was living in Israel and I met Deputy
Mayor of Jerusalem flour Hassan Nahoon, And at the time,
I was a political moderator for women political leaders conferences
in the international scene. And I started to see that
there weren't any women being represented it from Israel, but
(03:43):
Jordan was there, Saudi Arabia was there, All these little
Eastern states where there there are women were there representing them.
And I said, well, I know there has to be
like women leaders in Israel Jewish.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah. So the one that I knew about because I
was only on LinkedIn at the time was Flor Hassan.
So I reached out to her.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
She's really crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
She's my path into media and everything. So I really
give her a lot of thanks to who I am
and who I'm becoming because she's been such a great
mentor to me. So I reached out to her. I said,
would you like to take a delegation of women to
these conferences that I'm going to? She said, yes, let's
do it. So this was some time around September, some
(04:29):
week of September. She calls me, mind you but I've
only met her once at this point. She calls me
out the blow but she goes, hey, I'm starting a
show called The Quad. It's going to be like The View,
but in Israel, and it's going to be Jewish women,
and you're going to be our fourth co host.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
She's like, guys, the producers have researched you, they liked you,
they seen some of the work that you've done, and
you're on the show. And she even even.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Asked do you want I said yes, actually very Israeli
to just feel like, here's what you're doing yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yes, And I just said, oh my god, yes. I
didn't ask any follow up questions or anything. And then
and so it was supposed to launch in November. Unfortunately
October seventh happened. I get my second call from flour
ever in life, and she calls me two days after
October seventh and she says, listen, we're launching the quad.
Now we have to do Hasbora right now. We have
(05:26):
to get in front of this pr war that's about
to happen. And we went into the studio maybe two day,
two or three days after October seventh. I want to say, so,
this is me my first time in Israel experiencing an attack.
I've lived in Israel before, but never like an attack,
and I'm shaken to my course.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And then I hop in the studio with Floor Hassan
and Emily Schrader, who's a journalist in the previous Canadian
ambassador to Israel, Vivian for Commage and I'm just like
thrown into media right there and there. So that's why
I got my start.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So how did it go?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So our first one it went really well. We all
talked about like where we were on October seventh, what
we were feeling, how we were still feeling, because it
was still like the first week. Like people I wasn't
living in Jerusalem at the time, People were not leaving
their homes. I was leaving my home. People were going
(06:29):
out to maybe grocery shop maybe, and then we were
just in our homes. Like even I remember when shabat
me and my friends were even scared to walk to
each other's houses. So I did shabat by myself. They
did shabat by until we were so scared. So that
first episode was really us talking about where we are
and how we felt.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right, Sophia, how would you define you use the word hsbarra?
I don't know if my audience maybe would know what
that means.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
How do you define hespara?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Hsbara is defined as like the public relations diplomacy department
of explaining Israel to the international community, because I find.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It, you know, enemies of Israel used that term sort
of in a negative sense, but all it means is explainers.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So what would have been a plan be for you
if this wasn't where your life went. What would be
a different path, as Shira Solomon might have taken well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So at the time, I was becoming a moderator on
these political panels and I was really enjoying that. And
I always thought that I was going to run for
political office at some point, and specifically I was starting
to lean towards how could I work in diplomacy. I
am a previous fellow of the Board Fellowship, which is
(07:55):
from the State Department, and they sent fellows out to
various countries. I got sent to Israel and then you
come back and you work in national security or something
like that. And I haven't fulfilled that requirement. But I
always thought I would be some type of ambassador or
do some type of diplomatic work. I still feel like
(08:16):
that's why I call myself a cultural diplomat now, because
I still feel like I'm bridging and showing each other,
showing people you know each other's communities and stuff. But
I think I would have just kept on moderating and
then trying to build myself into maybe working for the
embassy or something.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol marco It Show.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Is it hard being a bridge like? I feel like
that could get very tiring.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I find it rewarding because I care so much. I
care so much about the Jewish people, I care so
much about the Black community, and I find it to
be more than a burden because I not to toot
my own form. But I believe that I do it well.
(09:07):
And when I say I do it well, I believe
that I get to at least show representation, good representation
of who the Black community is and good representation of
the Jewish community. And I feel like in social media world,
you know, what goes viral is negative stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Right, Yeah, And there's a whole sense of like I
shouldn't have to teach you, I shouldn't have to explain
anything to you. And you're sort of the antithesis of that.
You're saying, I'm going.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
To teach you. I'm going to explain things to you.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yes, because I because really, at least for the in
the black community, I really do feel that the anti
Semitism is not from a deep hatred of Jews. I
really feel it's from that this misinformation. So if I
could at least sit in front of you and dialogue
with you and talk to you, I believe change can
(09:56):
actually happen there. You know, I don't believe that you know,
this is a lost cause.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
You know, right, Yeah, you have to believe in it
because otherwise you know that it's a lost cause for
yourself if you don't believe.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
In the work you're doing, you know exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
But I've met you and you're definitely very passionate. I
feel like about the cause of making that bridge, I
just wondered, you know if that was again we're in
this era of I shouldn't have to tell you anything,
and so for you to kind of challenge that, I
imagine must be hard.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
The one thing that I wanted to make sure that
I did well, which I believe, like when I go
to sleep at night, I feel like I'm doing well
is that representation piece. Because I feel like if I
were to go super negative about the Jews, I could
go viral. I would super negative about black people in
trash black people, I could go viral. But I feel
(10:53):
like I'm representing them in a very wholesome, dignified way,
also attacking issues that we have in each community, you know,
but it's still I feel like I'm it's dignified for
both my communities.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Right, Absolutely, What do you worry about?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Oh? I love this question. So currently, what I worry about.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You're like, I'm Jewish. Here's my list.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
What I worry about every night before I go to
sleep is when am I going to get married? And
when am I going to create a family. I've come
to the realization that I have my entire lifespan to
become rich or making it my career. I do not
have my entire lifespan to create and build a family.
(11:43):
And I'm just thinking about when I was like in
my early twenties and you know, having fellowships on the still.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Look like you're in your early twenties. Ps.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm in my thirties.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Man, you look really good.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You I just remember, you know the mess of like
you know, do every fellowship, do every internship, work for everything,
take you know, because you need to build, build, build,
build your career. And now I'm like, wow, you can
do that at thirty thirty five, forty even forty five.
You can always build your career. And I literally someone
(12:20):
would have told me that when I was young. But
you can't always build a family. You don't have infinite
amount of time to build a family. And I really
believe personally to my for myself that like you use
your early twenties in your thirties to build a family,
and it's okay. Like my Rabbi said something to me
that like four months ago, and I didn't understand it.
(12:41):
He said to share, you don't need to be rich today.
You have time to be rich. But what is he
talking about? Like I need to hustle, Like I'm gonna hustle.
I need it, I want to. I got grind, you know.
And then now it's dawning on me. What he's trying
to tell me is like, you have lots of time
to build your career. You have lots of time to
make money, lose money. You make money, but you don't
(13:01):
have lots of time to create a family. So I'm
very focused on dating as of recent but that's what
I worry about. Who am I gonna marry and when
I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's I love that you're actively thinking about that. And
if there are any eligible men listening, please email me
and I'll put you in touch.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
She is absolutely a catch and any man would be lucky.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
So thanks.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think that when you focus on it, I think
it ends up happening for you. Like if you don't
think about it and just kind of you could still happen,
but it happens more readily when you kind of focus
on the idea of getting married and having children and
obviously pray and all of that. So it is I
(13:47):
wish you the best of luck, because you really deserve
someone great.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So thanks to you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The follow up to that, I guess, is what advice
would you give your sixteen year old self, Like, would
it be something along these lines or you have something
else entirely that you'd want to tell a sixteen year
old to Shira.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Sixteen year old is Shira, I would tell her to
listen to your parents. Your parents are.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I'm gonna send this to my fifteen year old daughter.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah. I thought my parents were so strict and so restricted.
And when I look over the course of my life,
I haven't been living long, but that's rot the Shema
lived one twenty. When I look over the course, I
really am so thankful that my father was so strict
(14:40):
on me because it it really routed my destiny and
it really routed like who I am and not having
to experience so many hardships. I've experienced lots of hardships,
lots of heartbreaks and different things that could have been
avoided had I listened to my parents.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
But there's among us.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yes, there's tons of things that I did not experience
because my parents were on me hard. You know, they
really wrote me, and they really made sure that I
that I didn't have terrible friends. They really monitored what
kind of friends I had, and I thought, why could
I hang out with so and so? You know, they
(15:21):
really had a lot of discernment. And at sixteen, I
used to sing a song me and my brother, We
would say, two more years of you, I don't know
what to do. Man, I got two more years, two
more years ago, because that's that we're bring out. Now.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I'm not sending this to my fifteen year old because
I feel like that she'll be singing that to me forever.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Okay, you know, but now I'm like, why was I
singing that? Like why was I so in a rush
to get out into the worlds? And really, under my parents' authority,
I had, you know, tons of peace, tons of protection
and someone who really cared, loved me and was looking
(16:01):
out for the best of me. And what I've seen
as a knowing and restrictive and like they don't know anything.
I would go back to my six year old self
and say, your parents have wisdom, listen to it, and
they're doing this out of love, not because they want
you to have a sucky social life.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
They don't want you to not be popular or not people.
It's actually going to do with any of that. Yeah,
where did you grow.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Up in California in the Bay Area?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
What was that Like?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It was nice. So I'm from a city where my
great grandparents they were the first black people to ever
live there, So for four generations it was like we
were the only black family in this town. Yeah, so
I grew up as like the only black girl in
my elementary school and things like that. But I will say,
and then I moved then my parents like moved to
(16:52):
the what we call the Valley, a little bit outside
the Bay Area. But I would say, like I had
a great childhood. I was just I just thought it
was so restrictive, like one on one of nine, Oh wow,
I'm the second oldest girl, and so I had to
base it a lot. And I wasn't allowed to go
to the mall the time, and I wasn't allowed to
go to house parties. And you know, I right, Like
(17:15):
why did I go out? Why I got to base
it all the time. Yeah, but now I see the
girls who were the girls who got to go out
all the time and where they ended up versus where
I ended up oriative, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I also have to say I think that this
the and the things have changed a little bit on that.
Like I'm my fifteen year old daughter, like there's no
push to go out, like I mean, they do go
out like kids.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Kids these days, they do go places.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
But I tweeted something recently about how I used to
like scream at my mom all the time and be
like everybody has to you know, allowed to be out
and I have a curfew and it's like the worst.
And my daughter meanwhile, I was like, I think I'm
going to try overnight oats, Like right, that's that's the
thing that Yeah, but that's what happens. I think that
like the next it's them pendulum swing. You know that
(18:05):
the next generation is definitely more wholesome than maybe are
my generation was in any case, so I wanted, yeah, same,
I wanted to go to night clubs in Manhattan. So
that was that was my Oh yeah, wow, I was
I was and the coolest night to go out was
Wednesday night, so it was really.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Tough to do because I had school on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So yeah, I was I was always mad at my parents,
but you know, maybe they were right about one or
two things.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Who knows. What's how you turn out so successful? You know,
so it worked out.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. Well, I've loved this conversation.
You are just a gem. I think you're The work
you're doing is amazing and so meaningful. Leave us here
with your best tip for my listeners on how they
can improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Oh, I love this question because I'm so obsessed with
self development, Like those are the type of books I
like to read.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I would say being brutally honest with yourself and who
you are so that you can grow and you can heal,
but having tons of grace and kindness with yourself as
you're growing and your healing. So what that looks like
is like being very authentic of where you currently are
(19:35):
and maybe you want to get to the next place,
but just saying, like, listen, you wake up at twelve
o'clock in the afternoon, you know what I mean. I
don't know if that's going to set you up for
success totally or when it comes to things like losing
weight or something. You know, women are so hard on themselves,
and it's like, it's great that you want to improve
(19:57):
your body, and you should be very honest about where
you are, and it's fine to say, okay, I'm overweight,
but also having grace and kindness with yourself, because I
don't think beating yourself with evil, meanness and negative thoughts
is going to make you grow in the way that
people think it is. You know, when they say, oh,
yeah hard, you gotta go hard, it's being very graceful
(20:20):
and kind. And I say this because I have a
hard time with this, like.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
For sure, yeah, critics, I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, it's like noticing, hey, you went through something tough.
It's you can give yourself a little break. It's okay
that this is where you are where you are, but yeah,
you do have to you do need to get better. Yeah,
acknowledge that you've gone through something hard and now you
want to grow from it. Or you know, you've been
misbehaving out of your character and now you want a
(20:48):
girl from it, but just acknowledge where you are and
give yourself grace. I think that's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I love that we're so tough on ourselves. I find
this all the time. I wonder if it's I think
I do think it's.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Women are toer on themselves than men are on themselves.
But like, yes, I was sick.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Recently and I napped, and I was so angry at myself,
like napping, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It's okay, It's okay, It's okay to sleep for another hour,
you know, in the morning, when you when you're not
feeling well, it's all right.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yes, So I completely get that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I think that, you know, go easier on yourself. You know,
anybody who's listening, be nice to yourselves.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yes, And we need people to grow and heal because
I do believe all of our souls are connected in
this world in a way. And like when Carol is
her best self and when to share her best self,
we make the earth the world vibrate higher. So we
need people to heal and grow so that we can
(21:49):
increase the love and the energy in the world. Because really,
you know, us debating politics and all of these issues,
and you know what we do if on an individual level,
we're not whole. I don't believe we'll have actual change,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I love that she is a Shierra Solomon. Check out
the Black and Jewish podcast. Thank you so much for
coming
Speaker 2 (22:10):
On a Shira, Thank you for having me, Carol
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markoman Show on iHeartRadio.
My guest today is host of the Black and Jewish
podcast and cultural diplomat A Shia Solomon. Hi, a Shira,
So nice to have you on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, Carol, thank you for having me. I'm so excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So you host the Black and Jewish Podcast, which I
would say that people would be surprised to hear that combination.
Do you find that people are surprised?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yes, they're like, what does this mean? It's called black
and Jewish because you're a black Jew, Or they don't understand, like,
what's the concept of the show, So.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
What is it tell us about the show?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So the show is called Black and Jewish not because
I'm a Black Jew, but because I wanted to bridge
both of these communities that I'm both a part of
and I wanted to bring them together in a time,
especially after October seventh, that I felt like the black
community was being fed this narrative that they should be
(01:05):
aligning with the Palestinians because their narrative is similar to
the African American narrative, and as a Black American, I
felt very a fitted by this, and so as I
was seeing anti semitism rise, you know, everywhere, and in
the Black community. I was like, you know, there's so
many myths about both the Black community and what we
(01:25):
think about Jewish people and the Jewish community and what
people think they know about Jewish people. And I was like,
you know, I sit at the center of this, So
let me start a show to bridge both of them together.
And then also the show also when it's not talking
about bridging, I'm really tackling what's going on in the
(01:46):
Jewish community, what's going on with our own people, and
then also what are black issues political issues going on
in America. So I guess to't have like a three
part conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So what are some of the misconceptions that you think
each community has about the other.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So for the Jewish community to the Black community, they
feel that the Black community is becoming deeply anti Semitic
from a place of hate and hating Jews, and I
believe that's a misconception. I believe that what we see
as anti Semitism in the Black community is not from
(02:22):
the hate of the Jewish prison, but it's from being
misinformed about Israel and about Jewish people. So it's not
so much that they hate them, like deep in their heart.
It's more so that they like they don't understand Jews
and Israel at all, like they don't have a real, actual,
accurate information. And then from the black community, there's tons
(02:46):
of misconceptions about the Jewish community and Israel. And man,
what the number one in misconception is like this white
colonizer idea Jews are you know, practicing colonialism in Israel.
That's probably like the biggest one. And that you know,
(03:07):
this this war and this conflict in Israel in the
Middle East is about white Jews winnings to suppress brown
moust Indians.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So how did you get into this?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
What?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
What was your path?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I was living in Israel and I met Deputy
Mayor of Jerusalem flour Hassan Nahoon, And at the time,
I was a political moderator for women political leaders conferences
in the international scene. And I started to see that
there weren't any women being represented it from Israel, but
(03:43):
Jordan was there, Saudi Arabia was there, All these little
Eastern states where there there are women were there representing them.
And I said, well, I know there has to be
like women leaders in Israel Jewish.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah. So the one that I knew about because I
was only on LinkedIn at the time was Flor Hassan.
So I reached out to her.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
She's really crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
She's my path into media and everything. So I really
give her a lot of thanks to who I am
and who I'm becoming because she's been such a great
mentor to me. So I reached out to her. I said,
would you like to take a delegation of women to
these conferences that I'm going to? She said, yes, let's
do it. So this was some time around September, some
(04:29):
week of September. She calls me, mind you but I've
only met her once at this point. She calls me
out the blow but she goes, hey, I'm starting a
show called The Quad. It's going to be like The View,
but in Israel, and it's going to be Jewish women,
and you're going to be our fourth co host.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
She's like, guys, the producers have researched you, they liked you,
they seen some of the work that you've done, and
you're on the show. And she even even.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Asked do you want I said yes, actually very Israeli
to just feel like, here's what you're doing yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yes, And I just said, oh my god, yes. I
didn't ask any follow up questions or anything. And then
and so it was supposed to launch in November. Unfortunately
October seventh happened. I get my second call from flour
ever in life, and she calls me two days after
October seventh and she says, listen, we're launching the quad.
Now we have to do Hasbora right now. We have
(05:26):
to get in front of this pr war that's about
to happen. And we went into the studio maybe two day,
two or three days after October seventh. I want to say, so,
this is me my first time in Israel experiencing an attack.
I've lived in Israel before, but never like an attack,
and I'm shaken to my course.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And then I hop in the studio with Floor Hassan
and Emily Schrader, who's a journalist in the previous Canadian
ambassador to Israel, Vivian for Commage and I'm just like
thrown into media right there and there. So that's why
I got my start.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So how did it go?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So our first one it went really well. We all
talked about like where we were on October seventh, what
we were feeling, how we were still feeling, because it
was still like the first week. Like people I wasn't
living in Jerusalem at the time, People were not leaving
their homes. I was leaving my home. People were going
(06:29):
out to maybe grocery shop maybe, and then we were
just in our homes. Like even I remember when shabat
me and my friends were even scared to walk to
each other's houses. So I did shabat by myself. They
did shabat by until we were so scared. So that
first episode was really us talking about where we are
and how we felt.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right, Sophia, how would you define you use the word hsbarra?
I don't know if my audience maybe would know what
that means.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
How do you define hespara?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Hsbara is defined as like the public relations diplomacy department
of explaining Israel to the international community, because I find.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It, you know, enemies of Israel used that term sort
of in a negative sense, but all it means is explainers.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So what would have been a plan be for you
if this wasn't where your life went. What would be
a different path, as Shira Solomon might have taken well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So at the time, I was becoming a moderator on
these political panels and I was really enjoying that. And
I always thought that I was going to run for
political office at some point, and specifically I was starting
to lean towards how could I work in diplomacy. I
am a previous fellow of the Board Fellowship, which is
(07:55):
from the State Department, and they sent fellows out to
various countries. I got sent to Israel and then you
come back and you work in national security or something
like that. And I haven't fulfilled that requirement. But I
always thought I would be some type of ambassador or
do some type of diplomatic work. I still feel like
(08:16):
that's why I call myself a cultural diplomat now, because
I still feel like I'm bridging and showing each other,
showing people you know each other's communities and stuff. But
I think I would have just kept on moderating and
then trying to build myself into maybe working for the
embassy or something.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol marco It Show.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Is it hard being a bridge like? I feel like
that could get very tiring.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I find it rewarding because I care so much. I
care so much about the Jewish people, I care so
much about the Black community, and I find it to
be more than a burden because I not to toot
my own form. But I believe that I do it well.
(09:07):
And when I say I do it well, I believe
that I get to at least show representation, good representation
of who the Black community is and good representation of
the Jewish community. And I feel like in social media world,
you know, what goes viral is negative stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Right, Yeah, And there's a whole sense of like I
shouldn't have to teach you, I shouldn't have to explain
anything to you. And you're sort of the antithesis of that.
You're saying, I'm going.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
To teach you. I'm going to explain things to you.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yes, because I because really, at least for the in
the black community, I really do feel that the anti
Semitism is not from a deep hatred of Jews. I
really feel it's from that this misinformation. So if I
could at least sit in front of you and dialogue
with you and talk to you, I believe change can
(09:56):
actually happen there. You know, I don't believe that you know,
this is a lost cause.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
You know, right, Yeah, you have to believe in it
because otherwise you know that it's a lost cause for
yourself if you don't believe.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
In the work you're doing, you know exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
But I've met you and you're definitely very passionate. I
feel like about the cause of making that bridge, I
just wondered, you know if that was again we're in
this era of I shouldn't have to tell you anything,
and so for you to kind of challenge that, I
imagine must be hard.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
The one thing that I wanted to make sure that
I did well, which I believe, like when I go
to sleep at night, I feel like I'm doing well
is that representation piece. Because I feel like if I
were to go super negative about the Jews, I could
go viral. I would super negative about black people in
trash black people, I could go viral. But I feel
(10:53):
like I'm representing them in a very wholesome, dignified way,
also attacking issues that we have in each community, you know,
but it's still I feel like I'm it's dignified for
both my communities.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Right, Absolutely, What do you worry about?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Oh? I love this question. So currently, what I worry about.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You're like, I'm Jewish. Here's my list.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
What I worry about every night before I go to
sleep is when am I going to get married? And
when am I going to create a family. I've come
to the realization that I have my entire lifespan to
become rich or making it my career. I do not
have my entire lifespan to create and build a family.
(11:43):
And I'm just thinking about when I was like in
my early twenties and you know, having fellowships on the still.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Look like you're in your early twenties. Ps.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm in my thirties.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Man, you look really good.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You I just remember, you know the mess of like
you know, do every fellowship, do every internship, work for everything,
take you know, because you need to build, build, build,
build your career. And now I'm like, wow, you can
do that at thirty thirty five, forty even forty five.
You can always build your career. And I literally someone
(12:20):
would have told me that when I was young. But
you can't always build a family. You don't have infinite
amount of time to build a family. And I really
believe personally to my for myself that like you use
your early twenties in your thirties to build a family,
and it's okay. Like my Rabbi said something to me
that like four months ago, and I didn't understand it.
(12:41):
He said to share, you don't need to be rich today.
You have time to be rich. But what is he
talking about? Like I need to hustle, Like I'm gonna hustle.
I need it, I want to. I got grind, you know.
And then now it's dawning on me. What he's trying
to tell me is like, you have lots of time
to build your career. You have lots of time to
make money, lose money. You make money, but you don't
(13:01):
have lots of time to create a family. So I'm
very focused on dating as of recent but that's what
I worry about. Who am I gonna marry and when
I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's I love that you're actively thinking about that. And
if there are any eligible men listening, please email me
and I'll put you in touch.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
She is absolutely a catch and any man would be lucky.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
So thanks.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think that when you focus on it, I think
it ends up happening for you. Like if you don't
think about it and just kind of you could still happen,
but it happens more readily when you kind of focus
on the idea of getting married and having children and
obviously pray and all of that. So it is I
(13:47):
wish you the best of luck, because you really deserve
someone great.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So thanks to you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The follow up to that, I guess, is what advice
would you give your sixteen year old self, Like, would
it be something along these lines or you have something
else entirely that you'd want to tell a sixteen year
old to Shira.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Sixteen year old is Shira, I would tell her to
listen to your parents. Your parents are.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I'm gonna send this to my fifteen year old daughter.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah. I thought my parents were so strict and so restricted.
And when I look over the course of my life,
I haven't been living long, but that's rot the Shema
lived one twenty. When I look over the course, I
really am so thankful that my father was so strict
(14:40):
on me because it it really routed my destiny and
it really routed like who I am and not having
to experience so many hardships. I've experienced lots of hardships,
lots of heartbreaks and different things that could have been
avoided had I listened to my parents.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
But there's among us.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yes, there's tons of things that I did not experience
because my parents were on me hard. You know, they
really wrote me, and they really made sure that I
that I didn't have terrible friends. They really monitored what
kind of friends I had, and I thought, why could
I hang out with so and so? You know, they
(15:21):
really had a lot of discernment. And at sixteen, I
used to sing a song me and my brother, We
would say, two more years of you, I don't know
what to do. Man, I got two more years, two
more years ago, because that's that we're bring out. Now.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I'm not sending this to my fifteen year old because
I feel like that she'll be singing that to me forever.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Okay, you know, but now I'm like, why was I
singing that? Like why was I so in a rush
to get out into the worlds? And really, under my parents' authority,
I had, you know, tons of peace, tons of protection
and someone who really cared, loved me and was looking
(16:01):
out for the best of me. And what I've seen
as a knowing and restrictive and like they don't know anything.
I would go back to my six year old self
and say, your parents have wisdom, listen to it, and
they're doing this out of love, not because they want
you to have a sucky social life.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
They don't want you to not be popular or not people.
It's actually going to do with any of that. Yeah,
where did you grow.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Up in California in the Bay Area?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
What was that Like?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It was nice. So I'm from a city where my
great grandparents they were the first black people to ever
live there, So for four generations it was like we
were the only black family in this town. Yeah, so
I grew up as like the only black girl in
my elementary school and things like that. But I will say,
and then I moved then my parents like moved to
(16:52):
the what we call the Valley, a little bit outside
the Bay Area. But I would say, like I had
a great childhood. I was just I just thought it
was so restrictive, like one on one of nine, Oh wow,
I'm the second oldest girl, and so I had to
base it a lot. And I wasn't allowed to go
to the mall the time, and I wasn't allowed to
go to house parties. And you know, I right, Like
(17:15):
why did I go out? Why I got to base
it all the time. Yeah, but now I see the
girls who were the girls who got to go out
all the time and where they ended up versus where
I ended up oriative, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I also have to say I think that this
the and the things have changed a little bit on that.
Like I'm my fifteen year old daughter, like there's no
push to go out, like I mean, they do go
out like kids.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Kids these days, they do go places.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
But I tweeted something recently about how I used to
like scream at my mom all the time and be
like everybody has to you know, allowed to be out
and I have a curfew and it's like the worst.
And my daughter meanwhile, I was like, I think I'm
going to try overnight oats, Like right, that's that's the
thing that Yeah, but that's what happens. I think that
like the next it's them pendulum swing. You know that
(18:05):
the next generation is definitely more wholesome than maybe are
my generation was in any case, so I wanted, yeah, same,
I wanted to go to night clubs in Manhattan. So
that was that was my Oh yeah, wow, I was
I was and the coolest night to go out was
Wednesday night, so it was really.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Tough to do because I had school on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So yeah, I was I was always mad at my parents,
but you know, maybe they were right about one or
two things.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Who knows. What's how you turn out so successful? You know,
so it worked out.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. Well, I've loved this conversation.
You are just a gem. I think you're The work
you're doing is amazing and so meaningful. Leave us here
with your best tip for my listeners on how they
can improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Oh, I love this question because I'm so obsessed with
self development, Like those are the type of books I
like to read.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I would say being brutally honest with yourself and who
you are so that you can grow and you can heal,
but having tons of grace and kindness with yourself as
you're growing and your healing. So what that looks like
is like being very authentic of where you currently are
(19:35):
and maybe you want to get to the next place,
but just saying, like, listen, you wake up at twelve
o'clock in the afternoon, you know what I mean. I
don't know if that's going to set you up for
success totally or when it comes to things like losing
weight or something. You know, women are so hard on themselves,
and it's like, it's great that you want to improve
(19:57):
your body, and you should be very honest about where
you are, and it's fine to say, okay, I'm overweight,
but also having grace and kindness with yourself, because I
don't think beating yourself with evil, meanness and negative thoughts
is going to make you grow in the way that
people think it is. You know, when they say, oh,
yeah hard, you gotta go hard, it's being very graceful
(20:20):
and kind. And I say this because I have a
hard time with this, like.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
For sure, yeah, critics, I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, it's like noticing, hey, you went through something tough.
It's you can give yourself a little break. It's okay
that this is where you are where you are, but yeah,
you do have to you do need to get better. Yeah,
acknowledge that you've gone through something hard and now you
want to grow from it. Or you know, you've been
misbehaving out of your character and now you want a
(20:48):
girl from it, but just acknowledge where you are and
give yourself grace. I think that's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I love that we're so tough on ourselves. I find
this all the time. I wonder if it's I think
I do think it's.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Women are toer on themselves than men are on themselves.
But like, yes, I was sick.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Recently and I napped, and I was so angry at myself,
like napping, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It's okay, It's okay, It's okay to sleep for another hour,
you know, in the morning, when you when you're not
feeling well, it's all right.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yes, So I completely get that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I think that, you know, go easier on yourself. You know,
anybody who's listening, be nice to yourselves.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yes, And we need people to grow and heal because
I do believe all of our souls are connected in
this world in a way. And like when Carol is
her best self and when to share her best self,
we make the earth the world vibrate higher. So we
need people to heal and grow so that we can
(21:49):
increase the love and the energy in the world. Because really,
you know, us debating politics and all of these issues,
and you know what we do if on an individual level,
we're not whole. I don't believe we'll have actual change,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I love that she is a Shierra Solomon. Check out
the Black and Jewish podcast. Thank you so much for
coming
Speaker 2 (22:10):
On a Shira, Thank you for having me, Carol
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