August 4, 2025 • 45 mins
Tami and Dash are joined by Aussie actor and influencer Jakey Parry, who now serves in the IDF and has garnered a large following from his funny, insightful and moving videos about being a new immigrant and learning Hebrew in Israel.
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https://thejewishindependent.com.au/quiz/tji-quiz-55
More from Jakey on TJI
https://thejewishindependent.com.au/i-have-learned-orthodox-actor-is-not-an-oxymoron
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https://www.instagram.com/jakey_parry/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Do you need a break from the heavy news cycle?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Have you ever tried learning a new language which
has its own script with 22letters, all consonants, no
capital letters, and it'swritten right to left.
The verbs change for tense,gender, number and person with
completely different forms.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
If you answered yes to one or both of those
questions, then you've come tothe right place.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm Dash Lawrence from the Jewish Independent, and
in today's episode, your thirdcousin, tammy Sussman, and I
will be chatting with an Aussieactor and influencer living in
Israel who has garnered a largefollowing for his videos about
Hebrew language learning fauxpas.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Who knows if he'll be ashamed to admit anything.
It's season three of thisJewish Independent podcast and
we seem to be dropping our shamea little bit.
Some of us more than others andwe seem to be dropping our
shame a little bit.
Some of us, more than others,come along for the ride as we
have a go at cutting throughsome seriously chewy and dewy
topics.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Welcome to this week's episode of A Shame to
Admit.
Hello everyone, I'm DashLawrence, Executive Director
here at the Jewish Independent.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And I'm Tammy celebrity lookalike Amy
Winehouse Sussman, Do you see it?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Mmm, not quite.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I think it's pretty strange that two people in one
week, who don't know each other,said hey, you look a lot like
Amy Winehouse.
I told them that they wereracist.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You look too healthy to be Amy Winehouse.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I was going to say maybe I look like her when you
know she was papped outside ofrehab.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh no, no, you don't look like Amy Winehouse.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What other celebrity do you think I could pass for?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Alyssa Milano.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's retro.
Maybe, you just threw that nameout there Alyssa Milano.
Why is Alyssa Milano on yourmind?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, she's not on my mind, but I'm looking at you
right now and I'm trying toconjure up a celebrity and for
some reason she came to mind.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I reckon if I'd had the teenage nose job, I could be
an Alyssa Milano impersonator.
Who do you get told you looklike?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I don't know.
Fill in the blank baldmiddle-aged man.
No one tells me.
Oh jeez, you look like Bruce.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Willis.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
No one tells me I look like Bruce Willis.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Who would you choose to play?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Dash Lawrence in a biopic?
Ooh, he's got too good of ahead of hair, but it's okay.
Jesse Eisenberg, I think.
I think he could channel mereally well.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
He is so anxious and neurotic.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
He is, but I think he could maybe dial it down a
little bit but still chap intosome underlying neuroses that I
might have.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay, they could put a cap on him and make him bald.
Who else?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, if we're thinking Australian actors, he's
too old now, but Ben MendelsohnI would have quite liked Ben
Mendelsohn to have played me.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Well, he could play you in the future because your
biopic would have child actor,middle-aged and then future
actor.
Interesting that you've chosenjewish actors.
You identify as a jew.
That's cute, by the way.
If you can hear my keyboardtapping, it's because I'm doing
(03:57):
the most jewish thing ever andthat's googling.
Is ben mendelsohn jewish?
I just assumed he was becauseof his surname.
I know some jews with thesurname Mendelsohn Jewish.
I just assumed he was becauseof his surname.
I know some Jews with thesurname Mendelsohn and because
he looks Jewish.
But I know that a lot of ourlisteners are fact checkers, so
yeah, I'm not sure that he is.
(04:19):
No, he went on the series who Doyou Think you Are?
And they traced his paternalgrandfather, oscar, to a Jewish
family in Prussia.
I reckon Eric Banner is yourguy.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Far too handsome to be me.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh, don't say that, dash, we've had plenty of guests
.
And my mum say that you have acute face.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't have part German, part Croatian, outer
suburban Melbourne masculinitythat you know, sort of strong,
strong features.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
How do you know so much about Eric Banner's
ancestry?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
The things I keep stored away.
They're back, the recesses ofmy mind.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Caught you out, like I can totally see you.
I don't know, maybe you had theflu and you're like.
Oh, you just like ended up inthis rabbit hole of Eric
Banner's ancestry.
That's cute, dash.
I love what we're doing here.
We very rarely get a chance tojust chew the fat about like
celebs and pop culture, but Ithought we could start off this
(05:20):
week's episode with a bit ofthat, just to boost morale.
The news cycle is heavy.
The stuff out there on socialmedia is bad.
It's pretty bleak.
I know that you've deletedInstagram from your phone.
Good decision, one that Ishould consider.
So I thought we'd start offtoday's episode with a bit of a
(05:41):
pop culture quiz, because thelist of nominees for the Emmys
have come out and the Emmys arein September.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And so what that means for Jewish news outlets is
that they've done what they doevery year, and they compile a
list of Jews who are nominated.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Jews don't like being on a list, unless it's a list
of nominations for prestigiousawards in arts.
This is a multiple choice quiz.
I'm the quizzer, you're thequizzie.
Okay, I know that TJI has aweekly quiz, so we'll leave a
link to that in the show notes,but there's a really narrow
(06:24):
focus for this quiz.
It's a pop culture quiz.
In each of these multiplechoice questions, there's going
to be one celeb who has beennominated for an Emmy.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Which of the following Jennys have been
nominated for an Emmy?
Is it A Jenny Slate, b JennySchechter, c Jenny from the
block or D Jenny Coat?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Jenny Schechter.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Do you know who Jenny Schechter is?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Not really.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
She's a.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Jewish actor.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
No, she's actually a character from the original L
Word.
She was a controversialcharacter, so she's not even a
real person.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You didn't think it was Jenny from the block.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
No, who's that?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Jenny from the block J-Lo.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Do you know who Jenny Coate is?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
She writes books based on Bible stories.
It's Jenny Slate.
Jenny Slate is a comedian, awriter and an actor.
Do you want to know what I loveabout her?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
What do you love about her?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I love that she's talented, but I also love that
she still has her original noseand it's a big one and it's sexy
.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
She is nominated for her role in Dying for Sex.
Outstanding Supporting Actressin Unlimited Series or Movie.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Okay.
Which of the following Bens hasbeen nominated for an Emmy and
extra points if you can tell me.
Which ones are Jewish?
Okay, which ones are Jewish?
Okay.
Is it A Ben Stiller, b BenAffleck, c Ben Kingsley or D Ben
(08:10):
Franklin?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I think Ben Kingsley and Ben Stiller are Jewish, but
I don't think they've beennominated for an Emmy Ben
Franklin at the end.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you know who Ben Franklin is?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
No, benjamin Franklin .
Thank you for clarifying that.
Maybe it was Ben Stiller.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It is, and he's been nominated for Outstanding
Director.
Do you know that he directedSeverance?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's very good, ben Kingsley.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You identified him as a Jew.
Why did you do that?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I think he is, isn't he?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
He does have some Jewish ancestry.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, he's certainly played Jewish characters in the
past.
He played one of the I can'tremember his name from
Schindler's List.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
It's Huckstern, it's Huckstern, it's Huckstern.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He's the one that has his golden tooth melted down
and turned into a ring as a giftfor Oscar Schindler.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Do you know that he was born Krishna Pandit Bungie?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, yes, that's right , I did know that.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
He is.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
He's Indian.
Yeah, yeah, he is.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
He's Indian, yeah, born to an English mother and an
Indian, gujarati father.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So he copped a lot of slack for playing Gandhi.
People didn't realise heactually is.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Indian.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Indian.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Ben Affleck's not Jewish, is he no?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
In 1994, Kingsley stated I'm not Jewish, and
though there might be someRussian Jewish heritage way back
on my mother's side, the threadis so fine.
There's no real evidence thatwill not stop the Jews from
claiming him as their own.
All right, we're moving throughthis list.
(10:06):
Which of the following JewishZoes has been nominated for an
Emmy Zoe Deschanel, Zoe Saldana,Zoe Kumsma or Zoe Kravitz?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Oof, I think it was Zoe Deschanel.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Zoe Deschanel, she's not Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yes, she is.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
No, she's not.
Yeah, her paternal grandmothercomes from a Quaker family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Quaker, which, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't know
was a religious society untilquite late in life.
I did think it was just a brandof oats.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Tammy.
Yeah, zoe Deschanel convertedto Judaism when In 2018.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Her husband is Jewish .
Ah, that's right Told you.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Her former husband Jacob Peshanik.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
All right.
So I reckon her and Isla Fisherhave a WhatsApp group where
they shit talk their ex-Jewishhusbands and they're like
complaining about you know whatI did for him?
Do you know how hard it was toconvert for him and what do I
get in return?
Great, this conversation is soJewish.
It's peak Shabbat dinner.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So okay.
So if it's not her, then ZoeKravitz.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, it is, it's Zoe Kravitz.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Lenny's daughter.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Lenny's daughter.
She's been nominated in theOutstanding Guest Actress Dinner
Comedy Series.
Okay, final question which oneof these Jewish Seths has been
nominated for an Emmy?
Is it Seth Rogen, seth Green,seth MacFarlane, seth Meyers or
(11:54):
Seth Cohen?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Seth Rogen.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
You're right, seth Meyers.
Do you know who Seth Meyers is?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Seth Meyers.
Do you know who Seth?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Meyers is Former Saturday Night Live cast member,
has his own talk show.
Good friends with.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
He often jokes that like it'sconfusing to everyone that he's
not Jewish.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh, he's not Jewish.
No, wow, he's got such a Jewishname.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He's got such a Jewish name and all of his
friends are Jewish, but he's notJewish.
No, wow, he's got such a Jewishname.
He's got such a Jewish name andall of his friends are Jewish,
but he's not.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And his wife is Jewish.
That's confusing.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That's how a lot of people feel about you, Dash.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I'm just confirming that Not sure she's.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do you know what?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
What.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I guarantee you that one of our listeners now is
looking it up for us.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, can't confirm.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I love our listeners.
I love the fact that they'rethere to correct our
pronunciation and to let us knowwhen we've given incorrect
information about a celebrity'sJewish ancestry.
I also love our listeners whosend us content or ideas for
episodes.
Now one of our listeners wholistens from Madrid, I should
(13:13):
add who sent us a video that ayoung man, an Aussie Jewish man
who is doing his militaryservice in Israel, made about
his experience there.
And I watched this contentcreator's opus and I thought he
(13:35):
is hilarious and we need tointerview him on this show.
And what we discovered Dash isnot only is he hilarious, but
he's also quite thoughtful andempathetic and has so much to
say, so much insight to provideabout his experience doing army
service and learning Hebrew andjust living in a completely new
(13:59):
Jewish community.
And this person is Jakey Parry.
Jakey Parry is an actor,content creator and Hebrew
teacher, despite not speakingHebrew fluently.
He moved to Israel a few monthsbefore October 7th and decided
to stay and draft to the army.
He currently serves in the RDFspokesperson unit while side
(14:22):
hustling a social mediafollowing of over 35,000 people
himself.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And just to timestamp this one, Tammy and I recorded
this interview shortly afterIsrael's war with Iran was
called to a halt.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
And it's important that you mention that Dash,
because at some point in theinterview we do have to pause
and there was concern that therewas a siren or that he was
called into work.
So that's just a little bit ofcontext to, I guess, the energy
or the atmosphere that was kindof the backdrop of this
(15:01):
interview.
We know that you are going tolove our conversation with Jakey
Jakey Parry.
Thank you so much for joiningus in the Ashamed to Admit
(15:24):
studio.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Thank you so much for having me for my podcast debut.
It's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Wow, what an honour.
So I came across you and yourstuff when a loyal listener of
this show, he sent me yourmagpie video where you tell
viewers that lethal, swoopingAustralian magpies prepared you
for the rocket and missilesfired from Iran.
(15:50):
We'll get to that video soon,but let's start at the beginning
.
Jakey, tell us about your birth.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Okay, so I was actually born in.
I'm joking.
Okay, I was happily to tell youthat.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
No, your origin story , yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
For sure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And can we just call out the fact, before you do that
, jakey, that you are our firstever guest who can lay claim to
the Perth Jewish community beingtheir home, first Perth Jew
represent.
So give us some insight intoyour little community as well,
(16:31):
because I'm actually a Sydneyboy.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I was born in Sydney, sydney baby.
I left when I was nine monthsold.
A lot of my family is stillfrom Sydney.
Perth's an awesome, awesomeplace.
It's like we've got a verysmall, huge Jewish community.
I think there's some likedebates whether it's like us or
Brisbane who are number three,but we're definitely number
three in terms of likepopulation, and we have one
Jewish school.
It's a really, really cuteJewish school.
(16:55):
It's like because there's oneJewish school, it's like
religious, not religious.
Everyone's together.
It's like this like really cute, tight-knit community where
everyone knows everyone.
If there's drama, everyonehears about it.
If there's it's a schedule,it's it's a schedule.
Yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That's a very good way of putting a dash can we
just also let tammy in on somebit of trivia?
Tammy, amazingly, perth has asuburb named after its Jewish
community.
There is a very small suburbcalled Menorah.
Really, I believe, incelebration of the Jews of Perth
(17:32):
.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Okay, we've lost Jakey and I'm wondering if maybe
there's been an alert and hehas to go into a bomb shelter.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Guys, I'm back with you.
Can you guys hear me?
Yes, cool, cool, cool.
It was crazy a week ago andlike suddenly everything is
totally normal.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Dash just informed me that there is a suburb called
Menorah in Perth.
Can you verify that?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
it's a bit of a wild fact.
As Dash said, we're reallyreally in a shadow, to the point
where, like, there's streetscalled Menorah it's a bit wild.
There's like a proper radius ofJews and I'm curious what other
people think when they walkthrough our area on a Shabbat,
like why are all these randomAustralian people wearing these
button shirts in the 40 degreeheat?
It's a really funny, funnylittle community.
(18:16):
But yeah, I loved it.
I loved growing up in Perthbecause it's such a small
community.
You really have the ability tolike get your name out there.
Everyone's willing to listen toyou, almost like a small town
kind of vibe.
But we're all really close.
We all have, like this Perthpride, like to the point where,
like now that I'm in Israel,like we have a group chat with
(18:37):
all the people who moved fromPerth to Israel and we often
like do reunions and thingstogether.
We all obviously think we'rebetter than Melbourne and Sydney
, even though we know we're not.
And yeah, I wouldn't change itfor the world.
Yeah, shout out, shout out.
Carmel School where I went toschool the only Jewish school in
Perth and yeah, it was so muchfun.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I'm sure they're very proud of you now.
So you grew up in Perth inquite an observant or orthodox
family.
How would you describe?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Because we're so small.
There was only two real youthmovements or directions to go.
There was Bina Kiva and therewas Habo Dror.
I went to Bina.
It's modern orthodox, soreligious, but also not crazy
religious like at all.
Very understanding.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And you were also a theatre kid.
Was that at school?
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Big, big theatre kid.
I was a few different leadsthroughout high school I was a
cowardly lion in the Wizard ofOz and Uncle Fester in the
Addams Family A lot of fun roles.
Like I said, it was like thewhole community came to these
musicals and they're growing andgrowing and growing and I'm so
jealous when I see videos onlineof what they're doing.
It's funny that I'm the firstperson from Perth you guys are
(19:50):
having, because I'm definitelynot the first famous Jew in
Perth.
I've got a fair few.
The first Jewish celebritystory that I can tell you is
obviously Troye Sivan was aPerth boy who came to our school
it was in my sister's yearNever met him, definitely has no
idea who I am, but that's onething.
And also a few years ago I thinkhe might Maybe, maybe We'll
(20:11):
shoot him a message.
The other thing was a few yearsago.
For Rosh Hashanah in our smallJewish community we had Sasha
Baron Cohen was married.
Unfortunately, I don't thinkthey're still married, but was
married to a Perth girl they'renot Isla Fisher.
Um, that's unfortunate.
So he will not be returning tomy community, unfortunately, but
(20:32):
he did at some point.
And there was this wholebecause I told you, like a small
community where like rumorsflow, and like it's, our
principal sent the mostambiguous, suspicious message to
the whole, like like kids, andlike hey, there are some rumors
going around that a certaincelebrity is coming for a
certain event.
We just want everyone to knowthat everyone needs to stay calm
(20:54):
, not to to.
I was like that is not theright thing to do when a
celebrity is coming to our smallcommunity.
In short, his kids went to ourschool for a few weeks.
He was with at michael anddianella shout out for russia,
shana, um.
And it was the most absurdthing.
It was like you were justbecause you're just praying, and
there's sasha baron cohen, andit's not only that, he's got
(21:15):
like this, he's a celebrity.
He has this domineering figureand this presence and this voice
as well.
Like when he did kaddish, itwas like, oh my God.
The other thing I'll say aboutthat is I am a Levite, he is a
Kohen.
So part of that during Chagimis like the Levites will wash
(21:37):
the Kohanim's hands, and I wasabout to wash his hands when, I
kid you not, a fellow Levite whowas older than me pushed in
front to wash Sacha BaronCohen's hands.
So, yeah, I was stripped ofthat.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
He cut your lunch.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
He cut the lunch in half.
Oh my God.
But yeah, it was a wild time.
It was so such like, it wasjust wild.
It was like, yeah, like goingto shake hugs my mouth with
sasha baron, um.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So what I'm trying to say is perth does have its
history of um celebrities jakey,what you're describing is such
a like comfortable, secure,idyllic community, a place where
there were a sufficient numberof jews around you to feel like
you had a community, you hadpeers, you had shuls, you had a
(22:30):
network, but small enough toreally feel very, very
comfortable.
So why, then, the call to makeAliyah to Israel?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I think, like all Jewish communities, especially
in Australia, we all have thatcomfort.
We all have that Like I was socomfortable in my community.
But I think, like all things,change is important and I think
like, when I say like small, Ithink like I knew every single
Jewish girl who was around myage, to the point where, like I
(23:02):
knew which is a weird thing tosay at like 18 years old, but
like I knew I'm not going tomarry any of these girls in in
five, six, seven, eight yearstime, which is wild.
But that's part of growing upin a small Jewish community.
Um, like, I loved everyone, butI knew that this isn't where my
future was.
I was originally like, becauseof the acting world, like I was
(23:23):
originally looking at likedifferent options.
I'd gotten into a really likegood acting school in Perth and
I thought I was going tocontinue with that and there was
really a way for my life tojust move to that direction.
But at the end of the day, likeI'm a Zionist, I like grew up
with Zionist Israel educationand I knew like as also a
(23:43):
religious Jew.
It's a small thing, but it'slike I go to I don't know what's
an Australian supermarket atColes and I'm wearing my kippah
and like it's not that I likeI'm so scared to wear my kippah,
it's just like I feel a bitdifferent and I think I was just
(24:06):
ready to not feel so differentand ready to be with I don't
know everyone.
Like that exciting, like changewas really appealing to me and
it also helped that I have threeolder sisters who made Aliyah
similar path to me and I alsoknew that my parents were
towards retirement age and theirplan was also headed towards
Israel.
Yeah, it wasn't easy.
I really could have taken amore comfortable path here in
Perth.
But yeah, I really do believeeverything happens for a reason
(24:26):
and there's a reason I'm hereand there's a reason why I said
no to university and said yes todrafting into a military.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That was going to be my next question, because when
most young people think abouttheir gap year, they think about
maybe some Contiki tours orjust getting really drunk or
high in Europe.
They're not really thinkingabout army service.
So do you want to talk usthrough that?
Speaker 3 (24:54):
For sure, for sure.
The former thing that you saiddefinitely appeals to me more
than army service.
That was not what I wasthinking about at all.
I was also like a really funyear.
That was not what I wasthinking about at all.
I was also like a really funyear.
I did go to yeshiva, so likethat was.
That was the difference, butmore like liberal fun, like
yeshiva as opposed to to theother, like strict ones, and I
really had the best year likeliving in Jerusalem, made a lot
(25:17):
of mates, but I think I just,like so many people, I really
did just fall in love with thecountry and I realized that this
is where I want to be.
And then, after I decided thisis where I want to be, like I
was like, what is the next step?
The army wasn't even an option,because I just associated army
with like shooting a gun andgoing into battle and that is so
(25:38):
, so far from me.
I think I am the first personin basic training to not hit one
target, so there is a reasonwhy I'm not on the battlefields.
But when I found out that thereare other options in the army
and you don't just have to be afighter and there are what I'm
in, which I'll tell you guysabout later is a really niche,
creative, awesome job in thearmy.
(25:58):
Once I learned about that I waslike, okay, maybe there is a
future here and because I wascoming in as a 20 year old,
there's no real otheralternative.
Because, like, it's mandatory,you can get around the system,
but it's also a bit hard becauseyou're not going to officially
make Aliyah, you're notofficially going to get your
citizenship here.
Like I told you, I have threeolder sisters who had done a
(26:20):
similar process to me and theykind of were like, if you really
want to feel Israeli, if youreally want to integrate, you
should do the army.
Yeah, so that's kind of why.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I imagine there's maybe taboo around people not
serving in the army as well, orit's frowned upon.
Am I right to assume that?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
No, definitely to the point where, like it, even like
nowadays, it's like politicaldiscussions and there's protests
of people who don't want toserve and want to serve.
For me, that wasn't even partof it.
It was more just like apersonal thing about integrating
, feeling Israeli, I'm a proudZionist and I want to contribute
the best way I can.
Thank God, I think finally Ifound a way to do that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But you're also a thespian, jakey.
But you're also a thespian,jakey, and for those who haven't
seen your TikTok or Instagramvideos and reels, check them out
.
You'll get a real flavour forthe brilliance of your
theatrical style.
Jake, you're only 21, but youhave already cultivated a very
(27:19):
distinctive voice.
Your performances throughsocial media are terrific, very
funny, very entertaining.
You mentioned before that youhad to forego that opportunity
of doing theatre in Australiaand starting to become an actor.
You moved to Israel, as you'resaying, moved into the IDF, so
(27:40):
I'm fascinated to learn aboutthis particular niche area of
the IDF.
Is there like an entertainingunit?
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
that's not specifically what I'm doing.
There is an army theater whichis wild and I'd love to know
what they do day to day.
My social media I'd like to sayI'm known as a micro influencer
because I have a niche and it'sa really niche and people do
love it, but it's really I guessit comes from my, my birth in
me like to find these niche,small little groups.
(28:10):
But yeah, so my social media is.
I kind of started it at thestart of my army service,
actually when I didn't quite getinto the unit that I wanted to
and I wasn't having the besttime, and the unit that I did
want to was the social mediaunit, the spokesperson digital
unit.
So my social media actuallystarted as like, kind of like a
response, like almost like an F?
(28:31):
You for not taking me, lookwhat I can do online.
And it was kind of like myexternal way to like project my
frustrations with the country,funny things I noticed in this
country, and then also aplatform to like, which
eventually became my niche, tostart teaching slash, learning
Hebrew as I'm learning itthroughout.
And yeah, it comes from mytheatrical side, like I realized
(28:53):
, if I'm going to have to stoptheater for a few years, which
ironically didn't happen,because I'm still doing theater
in the middle of the army, whichis also a bit strange.
Why is it strange?
It's not strange, it's morejust like I'm grateful, grateful
, like a lot of people in thearmy don't have the luxuries
that I have, like a day jobwhere they're able to do things
on the side and, thank god, Ihave lovely commanders.
(29:14):
I'm going from base torehearsals, which is it's a wild
.
I I honestly don't know howmany soldiers in israel can say
they do that.
Um, in fact, I might be theonly one I'd like to say I'm
kind of like the Israeli versionof Troy Bolton, like when he
goes from basketball training totheater, but instead of
basketball training I'm going tothe army.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
But let's go back to your videos, because some of our
listeners may not be familiarwith them.
Your most popular videos, orthe ones that you describe as
the most niche, are you pokingfun at your mistakes?
Basically, that you're makingas you're learning Hebrew.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
So I kind of realized thatthere is not a voice for the
Olim Karashim, for the newimmigrants who were trying to
speak Hebrew.
But unfortunately, there are alot of what in Hebrew are called
fedichot, like embarrassingmoments that happen, because
there's unfortunately there'slike a lot of when we're trying
(30:16):
to speak our English, literallyin Hebrew, it sounds really bad,
can give you a lot of examples,but also you can find a lot of
them in my Instagram and it'slike it's really bad, can give
you a lot of examples, but alsoyou can find a lot of them in my
Instagram and it's like it's avoice to that Oleh Hadash,
because, honestly, that voiceisn't represented.
No one really says it becausethey're too embarrassed to say
the embarrassing moments theyhad.
So I guess I'm that voice.
(30:38):
I'm like full openness.
And then what's really amazingis once I got my first video out
about the first Hebrew mistakeI made, um, which I think was
when, literally just talkingabout the literal English
translations, I asked a friendwhat they thought about my pin,
(31:00):
like as in a badge on my armyuniform, but in Hebrew pin is a
penis, so that was reallyawkward.
Um, yeah, so I guess I am thatvoice for embarrassing Hebrew
moments.
And then the the comments I hadwas all like this, like
relatability and like, oh my god, I did this, I did this, which
(31:21):
was even worse than what you did, and and yeah, like from then,
like we just kept on doing more.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
It is very relatable and your videos are being
enjoyed by not just Englishspeakers learning Hebrew, but
native speakers as well.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
For sure, like even lately.
Like it's like random Israelipeople coming up to me on the
streets and saying, ah, you're ageeky from TikTok, and I'm like
, yeah, it's a bit wild.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And even some Arab citizens of Israel as well.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yes, that that was really, really, really cool.
It was like right by my placehere in Jaffa and it's it's wild
.
It's wild Like how your voicecan connect to so many people
and that's, I think, things thatI'm starting to learn now that
I have, like, my audience isgrowing, the power of an
audience and the power of avoice, and I think eventually
I'd love to not necessarily justlike do funny videos.
I'm also like I feel like I'dlove to be a storyteller, and
(32:12):
also my army unit at the moment,which I can tell you guys about
a bit later, it's like being inthe spokesperson unit.
I can get to it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I was gonna say why don't you just tell us now?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
so, like I said, I started off my social media as
like a response for not gettinginto my dream unit and as a
culmination of a lot of things alot of me fighting, a lot of my
videos, a lot of people helpingme I eventually got into that
unit, the social media digitalunit.
I'm in the spokesperson unitand it's been so lovely.
It's been so much, so much fun.
(32:42):
I love like the creativeattribute of it and putting it
together with, like my values ofZionism, of Jewish pride, and
it all just kind of culminatesinto a job that I love going to
every single day and I'm supergrateful and, like I said, I
really do believe everythinghappens for a reason.
There was a reason why I was inthe old job and from that it
(33:05):
kind of leapfrogged my socialmedia, which got me eventually
here and made me make all theseamazing friends, and I moved to
Tel Aviv and it's all baruchHashem falling into place
there's one video that I'd liketo direct our listeners to, and
that is not one of your, yourfunny ones.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It's a very thoughtful, very considered
video where you start by sharingyour childhood love of stickers
and your sticker collection andthen you superimpose those
memories and those early videosof you with your stickers over
you today and your response tothe sort of sea of stickers of
(33:44):
what I can only assume are deadIsraeli IDF soldiers.
And that's something that youencounter day to day, and
obviously that experience hastaken you back to your earlier
life collecting stickers.
So listeners really shouldwatch it themselves.
But can you just give us someidea of where that video came
from?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
should watch it themselves, but can you just
give us some idea of where thatvideo came from?
Yeah, so that's definitely oneof the videos I'm most proud
about.
Thank you so much formentioning it.
So I think it comes back from,like I was saying, even though
the funny Hebrew experiences Ihave from the point of view of
the Oleh Hadash that's justanother example of a video from
the point of view of the OlehHadash, the new immigrant.
It's something that Israelisdon't think about because their
(34:28):
nature is like war.
Okay, it's sad, let's move iton.
And that comes from the conceptwhen a soldier falls, like,
their family often makes asticker.
And if you guys ever come toIsrael and come to our train
stations, the train stations arefull with like hundreds,
thousands of stickers of fallensoldiers and for an Israeli,
(34:48):
that's what is part of theirday-to-day life.
And as an Oleh Hadash, as a newimmigrant, I was genuinely like
what the F?
Like?
How is this just normal?
How do we walk through this?
Every single day?
We see these thousands ofstickers and no one, no one,
takes a step back.
So I think part of and this iseventually what I want to use my
(35:09):
voice for part of being a newimmigrant or having a different
perspective is stepping back,and that's what that video came
from and, I think, being thismicro influencer like so many
people when when I posted thatvideo, were like, oh my God, I
never thought about it like thatand I really appreciate your
perspective that's really one ofmy most proud videos and it's
(35:31):
genuinely something that I wantto keep doing.
I love the fact that I can usemy social media for positivity
and spread laughs and stuff likethat, but I'd also yeah, I
think there's so many thingsthat Israelis don't think about
that we do think about as Jewsfrom Hul that we can really do
some lovely discussions oflearning something from each
other.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and what you're really touching on is the
absurdity of life in Israel atthe moment, and I think that's
why so many Australians inparticular would have resonated
with your magpie video, which Ireferred to earlier in this
episode.
So in this episode bit that youcreated and you said it was an
(36:17):
idea that your sisters broughtto you because, as content
creators, we just love it whenpeople bring their ideas to us,
and one in 20 ideas are actuallygood.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So talk us through this one that your sisters
gifted you yeah, so it wasfriday night dinner, all of us
together, like we're having afriday night dinner.
It was like the first timewe're all together since the
start of Iran attacks.
I was in the army for the pasttwo weeks so it was like all
very intense and, yeah, I guessjust our Australian-ness kind of
came together and we were like,wow, iran attacks are bad, but
(36:49):
we survived.
Magpies, like what, really canbeat us, like there was nothing.
I don't know how it is inMelbourne and Sydney, but it is
genuinely enough to kill, tomake a grown man cry when you
walk through.
(37:09):
For us it was Breckler or YokinePark on a Shabbat afternoon.
It's genuine, like you, like Iremember, like I would take,
before I entered the park, Iwould like take a breath, even
say a word to Hashem upstairsand like, just like, genuinely
like hope that I wouldn't die.
Like they were wild, they arelethal, beyond lethal.
Like it's like you go, you'rein your car and you see like
(37:31):
this silhouette of just a grownman running away from a magpie.
It's genuinely absurd.
So, yeah, like I think onlyAustralians can relate to that
and I was like you know what?
Let's really test mymicro-influencedness, let's just
.
Let's just post it.
And what I saw in that videowas it has a lot of shares.
I think it has like over 500shares, so it's like that is 500
(37:52):
Australians who are sharing itto each other.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And that's brilliant.
That's why I'm doing it.
Were you concerned about tone?
Was there a discussion aboutlike is this too soon to be
posting something like that?
This stuff always fascinates mebecause this is a conversation
I have in my head every day.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
For sure.
I was very, very careful tolike do it in a way that's like
funny without being too hard.
Really, I think I posted itright in the middle of what was
going on.
So I did it with a sense ofbalance.
I think I had to do a bit ofediting because I think I went a
bit too far for a second, andthen power of editing.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I'm always a big believer that it's never too
soon this comes up time and timeagain with our creative
interviewees that we use humouras a coping mechanism, so I'm
sure a lot of Australians werein their safe rooms.
What's the Hebrew word for asafe room?
Speaker 3 (38:46):
So a safe room is a mamad and the bigger ones, which
is wild.
That we have two differentwords for a safe room is like if
you have the underground ones,which are more safe, that's a
miklat.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, Miklat.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Well, I'm sure there were many Australians in there.
Mama Dim, Mama Dot, what's theplural?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
I assume Mama Dim, but I could also be totally
wrong.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I'm sure that there were many Australians in there
having a giggle, a well-deservedgiggle, some resp from, I hope
so, the horrors of war for sure.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
I'll just say, like, I think like, if anything,
that's like one thing that Ireally want to give to everyone,
like, and that that was thepurpose of that video, like
spread a laugh, spread some joy,because it really it is.
Like you said the word it's,it's absurd times we're living
through and the classic israeliresponse is to like, as we say,
alhamshif ala, to continueforward.
But, yeah, sometimes it's worthtaking a step back and to laugh
(39:43):
about the absurdities of things, or even to cry about the
absurdities of things, becausewe're literally living through
history and it's like, even inthe past two weeks, to be in the
army during this iranianconflict.
It's an honor to be herethrough history and that's, I
guess, why, like my obsessionwith taking videos and like I
was also like this throughoutschool, like I studied media and
(40:07):
analysis and I was the one whowas always taking photos and
recording moments, I'm a bigbeliever in that taking a step
back, taking a breath and livingin the moment.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So a lot of people have misconceptions about Israel
.
Even Australian Jewish peoplehave misconceptions about what
Israel is actually like to livein and, ditto, about the IDF as
well.
They have a very narrow lensabout what they think the IDF is
like and what it might be liketo live in Israel.
(40:37):
What's something surprisingthat you've learned since you've
been drafted in the army thatyou think people outside of
Israel may not realize andappreciate about it?
Speaker 3 (40:50):
The first thing that I didn't realize.
I really thought that the armywas all about combat and, like
every system, there is so muchto make the system what it is
and there's all these differentlike there's a job out there for
every single person who wantsto draft then again it also is
an army at the end of the day.
So some of the funnier, absurdthings that for Israelis are
(41:11):
normal, that I find absurd, likeeven the fact that we need to
like salute and like what wecall Tekasim and like where,
like, they put on the reallycringy military music and I'm
like what the hell is going on?
Why is no one laughing exceptme?
And I think for me, I don'tknow, I've always been a bit of
a, even in Australia, during allthose like army related
(41:35):
ceremonies.
My secret shame is I find theminute of silence really hard
not to laugh at and times thatin a military, like when you're
actually in the military, it'slike times a hundred, it's like
everything is so formal, like weput on the funniest little
clothes.
So at the end of the day, it isa military and it is an army
and I feel like that's somethingthat people forget.
(41:57):
So that's something that peopleforget, so that's something
that I didn't really expect.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
That's because you're a satirist and funny satirical,
ironic People find it hard tobe sincere and earnest.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
Those were all the words I was looking for, by the
way.
Thank you, they escaped mymouth.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
My pleasure.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
And the final thing I'll say about the army is kind
of what I was alluding to Likebefore.
We're all just lovely, sweetpeople and we all have a core
value of Zionism and we loveIsrael and it doesn't matter
where you come from, if you'reAustralian, if you're Israeli,
if you're a new recruit.
We all have this common goaltogether.
(42:31):
It doesn't matter if you're ina combat, non-combat, if you're
like me making videos for theIDF Instagram.
We all have a common value ofZionism, pride and Judaism.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
So what does the future look like for you, Jakey?
If you have a magic wand, whatwould your day to day look like?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Wow, that is wild to think about.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
You didn't know you were going to be in for a bit of
career counselling.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For now, I definitely see my Bizarra Hashem in the
entertainment industry in oneway or another, whether it's
acting or filmmaking orsomething like that.
Like that hasn't changed sinceI was 17.
The network and environment mayhave changed, given that I'm
not in Australia, but I think Iwant to keep on using, like I
was saying before, like it'swild how one can use their
(43:20):
platform and I've used myplatform nine out of 10 times
for spreading light andpositivity, but there's also
that one out of 10 chance that Ican also use it to send deeper
messages, to tell stories, andthat's what I'd love to do in
the future.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Thank you so much for joining us today on Ashamed to
Admit.
We would usually ask our gueststo share something they're
ashamed to admit, but youalready did.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
If you guys want to see what I'm ashamed to admit,
just check out my Instagram.
That's a lot of shameful toadmit moments.
Thank you guys so much forhaving me.
It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Our pleasure.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Shabbat shalom, jakey .
Take care, shabbat shalom guys.
That was Jakey Parry and youcan find him on Instagram at
Jakey J-A-K-E-Y, underscoreParry P-A-R-R-Y.
We'll leave that link intoday's show notes.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
You've been listening to.
A Shame to Admit with me, TammySussman.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And me, Dash Lawrence .
Speaker 1 (44:30):
This episode was mixed and edited by Nick King,
with theme music by DonovanJenks.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
If you like the podcast, forward it to a mate.
Tell them it's even moreenjoyable.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Tell them it's even more enjoyable than a deep dive
into Eric Banner when you'resnuggling under your doona and
you've got a little man cold.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
As always.
Thanks for your support andlook out for Tammy.
Next week I'm heading off toBali.
See you soon.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
No need to rub it in.
Do you need a break from the heavy news cycle?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Have you ever tried learning a new language which
has its own script with 22letters, all consonants, no
capital letters, and it'swritten right to left.
The verbs change for tense,gender, number and person with
completely different forms.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
If you answered yes to one or both of those
questions, then you've come tothe right place.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm Dash Lawrence from the Jewish Independent, and
in today's episode, your thirdcousin, tammy Sussman, and I
will be chatting with an Aussieactor and influencer living in
Israel who has garnered a largefollowing for his videos about
Hebrew language learning fauxpas.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Who knows if he'll be ashamed to admit anything.
It's season three of thisJewish Independent podcast and
we seem to be dropping our shamea little bit.
Some of us more than others andwe seem to be dropping our
shame a little bit.
Some of us, more than others,come along for the ride as we
have a go at cutting throughsome seriously chewy and dewy
topics.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Welcome to this week's episode of A Shame to
Admit.
Hello everyone, I'm DashLawrence, Executive Director
here at the Jewish Independent.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And I'm Tammy celebrity lookalike Amy
Winehouse Sussman, Do you see it?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Mmm, not quite.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I think it's pretty strange that two people in one
week, who don't know each other,said hey, you look a lot like
Amy Winehouse.
I told them that they wereracist.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You look too healthy to be Amy Winehouse.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I was going to say maybe I look like her when you
know she was papped outside ofrehab.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh no, no, you don't look like Amy Winehouse.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What other celebrity do you think I could pass for?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Alyssa Milano.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's retro.
Maybe, you just threw that nameout there Alyssa Milano.
Why is Alyssa Milano on yourmind?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, she's not on my mind, but I'm looking at you
right now and I'm trying toconjure up a celebrity and for
some reason she came to mind.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I reckon if I'd had the teenage nose job, I could be
an Alyssa Milano impersonator.
Who do you get told you looklike?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I don't know.
Fill in the blank baldmiddle-aged man.
No one tells me.
Oh jeez, you look like Bruce.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Willis.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
No one tells me I look like Bruce Willis.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Who would you choose to play?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Dash Lawrence in a biopic?
Ooh, he's got too good of ahead of hair, but it's okay.
Jesse Eisenberg, I think.
I think he could channel mereally well.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
He is so anxious and neurotic.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
He is, but I think he could maybe dial it down a
little bit but still chap intosome underlying neuroses that I
might have.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay, they could put a cap on him and make him bald.
Who else?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, if we're thinking Australian actors, he's
too old now, but Ben MendelsohnI would have quite liked Ben
Mendelsohn to have played me.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Well, he could play you in the future because your
biopic would have child actor,middle-aged and then future
actor.
Interesting that you've chosenjewish actors.
You identify as a jew.
That's cute, by the way.
If you can hear my keyboardtapping, it's because I'm doing
(03:57):
the most jewish thing ever andthat's googling.
Is ben mendelsohn jewish?
I just assumed he was becauseof his surname.
I know some jews with thesurname Mendelsohn Jewish.
I just assumed he was becauseof his surname.
I know some Jews with thesurname Mendelsohn and because
he looks Jewish.
But I know that a lot of ourlisteners are fact checkers, so
yeah, I'm not sure that he is.
(04:19):
No, he went on the series who Doyou Think you Are?
And they traced his paternalgrandfather, oscar, to a Jewish
family in Prussia.
I reckon Eric Banner is yourguy.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Far too handsome to be me.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh, don't say that, dash, we've had plenty of guests
.
And my mum say that you have acute face.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't have part German, part Croatian, outer
suburban Melbourne masculinitythat you know, sort of strong,
strong features.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
How do you know so much about Eric Banner's
ancestry?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
The things I keep stored away.
They're back, the recesses ofmy mind.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Caught you out, like I can totally see you.
I don't know, maybe you had theflu and you're like.
Oh, you just like ended up inthis rabbit hole of Eric
Banner's ancestry.
That's cute, dash.
I love what we're doing here.
We very rarely get a chance tojust chew the fat about like
celebs and pop culture, but Ithought we could start off this
(05:20):
week's episode with a bit ofthat, just to boost morale.
The news cycle is heavy.
The stuff out there on socialmedia is bad.
It's pretty bleak.
I know that you've deletedInstagram from your phone.
Good decision, one that Ishould consider.
So I thought we'd start offtoday's episode with a bit of a
(05:41):
pop culture quiz, because thelist of nominees for the Emmys
have come out and the Emmys arein September.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And so what that means for Jewish news outlets is
that they've done what they doevery year, and they compile a
list of Jews who are nominated.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Jews don't like being on a list, unless it's a list
of nominations for prestigiousawards in arts.
This is a multiple choice quiz.
I'm the quizzer, you're thequizzie.
Okay, I know that TJI has aweekly quiz, so we'll leave a
link to that in the show notes,but there's a really narrow
(06:24):
focus for this quiz.
It's a pop culture quiz.
In each of these multiplechoice questions, there's going
to be one celeb who has beennominated for an Emmy.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Which of the following Jennys have been
nominated for an Emmy?
Is it A Jenny Slate, b JennySchechter, c Jenny from the
block or D Jenny Coat?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Jenny Schechter.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Do you know who Jenny Schechter is?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Not really.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
She's a.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Jewish actor.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
No, she's actually a character from the original L
Word.
She was a controversialcharacter, so she's not even a
real person.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You didn't think it was Jenny from the block.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
No, who's that?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Jenny from the block J-Lo.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Do you know who Jenny Coate is?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
She writes books based on Bible stories.
It's Jenny Slate.
Jenny Slate is a comedian, awriter and an actor.
Do you want to know what I loveabout her?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
What do you love about her?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I love that she's talented, but I also love that
she still has her original noseand it's a big one and it's sexy
.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
She is nominated for her role in Dying for Sex.
Outstanding Supporting Actressin Unlimited Series or Movie.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Okay.
Which of the following Bens hasbeen nominated for an Emmy and
extra points if you can tell me.
Which ones are Jewish?
Okay, which ones are Jewish?
Okay.
Is it A Ben Stiller, b BenAffleck, c Ben Kingsley or D Ben
(08:10):
Franklin?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I think Ben Kingsley and Ben Stiller are Jewish, but
I don't think they've beennominated for an Emmy Ben
Franklin at the end.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you know who Ben Franklin is?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
No, benjamin Franklin .
Thank you for clarifying that.
Maybe it was Ben Stiller.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It is, and he's been nominated for Outstanding
Director.
Do you know that he directedSeverance?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's very good, ben Kingsley.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You identified him as a Jew.
Why did you do that?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I think he is, isn't he?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
He does have some Jewish ancestry.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, he's certainly played Jewish characters in the
past.
He played one of the I can'tremember his name from
Schindler's List.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
It's Huckstern, it's Huckstern, it's Huckstern.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He's the one that has his golden tooth melted down
and turned into a ring as a giftfor Oscar Schindler.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Do you know that he was born Krishna Pandit Bungie?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, yes, that's right , I did know that.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
He is.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
He's Indian.
Yeah, yeah, he is.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
He's Indian, yeah, born to an English mother and an
Indian, gujarati father.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So he copped a lot of slack for playing Gandhi.
People didn't realise heactually is.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Indian.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Indian.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Ben Affleck's not Jewish, is he no?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
In 1994, Kingsley stated I'm not Jewish, and
though there might be someRussian Jewish heritage way back
on my mother's side, the threadis so fine.
There's no real evidence thatwill not stop the Jews from
claiming him as their own.
All right, we're moving throughthis list.
(10:06):
Which of the following JewishZoes has been nominated for an
Emmy Zoe Deschanel, Zoe Saldana,Zoe Kumsma or Zoe Kravitz?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Oof, I think it was Zoe Deschanel.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Zoe Deschanel, she's not Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yes, she is.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
No, she's not.
Yeah, her paternal grandmothercomes from a Quaker family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Quaker, which, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't know
was a religious society untilquite late in life.
I did think it was just a brandof oats.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Tammy.
Yeah, zoe Deschanel convertedto Judaism when In 2018.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Her husband is Jewish .
Ah, that's right Told you.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Her former husband Jacob Peshanik.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
All right.
So I reckon her and Isla Fisherhave a WhatsApp group where
they shit talk their ex-Jewishhusbands and they're like
complaining about you know whatI did for him?
Do you know how hard it was toconvert for him and what do I
get in return?
Great, this conversation is soJewish.
It's peak Shabbat dinner.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So okay.
So if it's not her, then ZoeKravitz.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, it is, it's Zoe Kravitz.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Lenny's daughter.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Lenny's daughter.
She's been nominated in theOutstanding Guest Actress Dinner
Comedy Series.
Okay, final question which oneof these Jewish Seths has been
nominated for an Emmy?
Is it Seth Rogen, seth Green,seth MacFarlane, seth Meyers or
(11:54):
Seth Cohen?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Seth Rogen.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
You're right, seth Meyers.
Do you know who Seth Meyers is?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Seth Meyers.
Do you know who Seth?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Meyers is Former Saturday Night Live cast member,
has his own talk show.
Good friends with.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
He often jokes that like it'sconfusing to everyone that he's
not Jewish.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh, he's not Jewish.
No, wow, he's got such a Jewishname.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He's got such a Jewish name and all of his
friends are Jewish, but he's notJewish.
No, wow, he's got such a Jewishname.
He's got such a Jewish name andall of his friends are Jewish,
but he's not.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And his wife is Jewish.
That's confusing.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That's how a lot of people feel about you, Dash.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I'm just confirming that Not sure she's.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do you know what?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
What.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I guarantee you that one of our listeners now is
looking it up for us.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, can't confirm.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I love our listeners.
I love the fact that they'rethere to correct our
pronunciation and to let us knowwhen we've given incorrect
information about a celebrity'sJewish ancestry.
I also love our listeners whosend us content or ideas for
episodes.
Now one of our listeners wholistens from Madrid, I should
(13:13):
add who sent us a video that ayoung man, an Aussie Jewish man
who is doing his militaryservice in Israel, made about
his experience there.
And I watched this contentcreator's opus and I thought he
(13:35):
is hilarious and we need tointerview him on this show.
And what we discovered Dash isnot only is he hilarious, but
he's also quite thoughtful andempathetic and has so much to
say, so much insight to provideabout his experience doing army
service and learning Hebrew andjust living in a completely new
(13:59):
Jewish community.
And this person is Jakey Parry.
Jakey Parry is an actor,content creator and Hebrew
teacher, despite not speakingHebrew fluently.
He moved to Israel a few monthsbefore October 7th and decided
to stay and draft to the army.
He currently serves in the RDFspokesperson unit while side
(14:22):
hustling a social mediafollowing of over 35,000 people
himself.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And just to timestamp this one, Tammy and I recorded
this interview shortly afterIsrael's war with Iran was
called to a halt.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
And it's important that you mention that Dash,
because at some point in theinterview we do have to pause
and there was concern that therewas a siren or that he was
called into work.
So that's just a little bit ofcontext to, I guess, the energy
or the atmosphere that was kindof the backdrop of this
(15:01):
interview.
We know that you are going tolove our conversation with Jakey
Jakey Parry.
Thank you so much for joiningus in the Ashamed to Admit
(15:24):
studio.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Thank you so much for having me for my podcast debut.
It's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Wow, what an honour.
So I came across you and yourstuff when a loyal listener of
this show, he sent me yourmagpie video where you tell
viewers that lethal, swoopingAustralian magpies prepared you
for the rocket and missilesfired from Iran.
(15:50):
We'll get to that video soon,but let's start at the beginning
.
Jakey, tell us about your birth.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Okay, so I was actually born in.
I'm joking.
Okay, I was happily to tell youthat.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
No, your origin story , yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
For sure, for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And can we just call out the fact, before you do that
, jakey, that you are our firstever guest who can lay claim to
the Perth Jewish community beingtheir home, first Perth Jew
represent.
So give us some insight intoyour little community as well,
(16:31):
because I'm actually a Sydneyboy.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I was born in Sydney, sydney baby.
I left when I was nine monthsold.
A lot of my family is stillfrom Sydney.
Perth's an awesome, awesomeplace.
It's like we've got a verysmall, huge Jewish community.
I think there's some likedebates whether it's like us or
Brisbane who are number three,but we're definitely number
three in terms of likepopulation, and we have one
Jewish school.
It's a really, really cuteJewish school.
(16:55):
It's like because there's oneJewish school, it's like
religious, not religious.
Everyone's together.
It's like this like really cute, tight-knit community where
everyone knows everyone.
If there's drama, everyonehears about it.
If there's it's a schedule,it's it's a schedule.
Yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That's a very good way of putting a dash can we
just also let tammy in on somebit of trivia?
Tammy, amazingly, perth has asuburb named after its Jewish
community.
There is a very small suburbcalled Menorah.
Really, I believe, incelebration of the Jews of Perth
(17:32):
.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Okay, we've lost Jakey and I'm wondering if maybe
there's been an alert and hehas to go into a bomb shelter.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Guys, I'm back with you.
Can you guys hear me?
Yes, cool, cool, cool.
It was crazy a week ago andlike suddenly everything is
totally normal.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Dash just informed me that there is a suburb called
Menorah in Perth.
Can you verify that?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
it's a bit of a wild fact.
As Dash said, we're reallyreally in a shadow, to the point
where, like, there's streetscalled Menorah it's a bit wild.
There's like a proper radius ofJews and I'm curious what other
people think when they walkthrough our area on a Shabbat,
like why are all these randomAustralian people wearing these
button shirts in the 40 degreeheat?
It's a really funny, funnylittle community.
(18:16):
But yeah, I loved it.
I loved growing up in Perthbecause it's such a small
community.
You really have the ability tolike get your name out there.
Everyone's willing to listen toyou, almost like a small town
kind of vibe.
But we're all really close.
We all have, like this Perthpride, like to the point where,
like now that I'm in Israel,like we have a group chat with
(18:37):
all the people who moved fromPerth to Israel and we often
like do reunions and thingstogether.
We all obviously think we'rebetter than Melbourne and Sydney
, even though we know we're not.
And yeah, I wouldn't change itfor the world.
Yeah, shout out, shout out.
Carmel School where I went toschool the only Jewish school in
Perth and yeah, it was so muchfun.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I'm sure they're very proud of you now.
So you grew up in Perth inquite an observant or orthodox
family.
How would you describe?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Because we're so small.
There was only two real youthmovements or directions to go.
There was Bina Kiva and therewas Habo Dror.
I went to Bina.
It's modern orthodox, soreligious, but also not crazy
religious like at all.
Very understanding.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And you were also a theatre kid.
Was that at school?
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Big, big theatre kid.
I was a few different leadsthroughout high school I was a
cowardly lion in the Wizard ofOz and Uncle Fester in the
Addams Family A lot of fun roles.
Like I said, it was like thewhole community came to these
musicals and they're growing andgrowing and growing and I'm so
jealous when I see videos onlineof what they're doing.
It's funny that I'm the firstperson from Perth you guys are
(19:50):
having, because I'm definitelynot the first famous Jew in
Perth.
I've got a fair few.
The first Jewish celebritystory that I can tell you is
obviously Troye Sivan was aPerth boy who came to our school
it was in my sister's yearNever met him, definitely has no
idea who I am, but that's onething.
And also a few years ago I thinkhe might Maybe, maybe We'll
(20:11):
shoot him a message.
The other thing was a few yearsago.
For Rosh Hashanah in our smallJewish community we had Sasha
Baron Cohen was married.
Unfortunately, I don't thinkthey're still married, but was
married to a Perth girl they'renot Isla Fisher.
Um, that's unfortunate.
So he will not be returning tomy community, unfortunately, but
(20:32):
he did at some point.
And there was this wholebecause I told you, like a small
community where like rumorsflow, and like it's, our
principal sent the mostambiguous, suspicious message to
the whole, like like kids, andlike hey, there are some rumors
going around that a certaincelebrity is coming for a
certain event.
We just want everyone to knowthat everyone needs to stay calm
(20:54):
, not to to.
I was like that is not theright thing to do when a
celebrity is coming to our smallcommunity.
In short, his kids went to ourschool for a few weeks.
He was with at michael anddianella shout out for russia,
shana, um.
And it was the most absurdthing.
It was like you were justbecause you're just praying, and
there's sasha baron cohen, andit's not only that, he's got
(21:15):
like this, he's a celebrity.
He has this domineering figureand this presence and this voice
as well.
Like when he did kaddish, itwas like, oh my God.
The other thing I'll say aboutthat is I am a Levite, he is a
Kohen.
So part of that during Chagimis like the Levites will wash
(21:37):
the Kohanim's hands, and I wasabout to wash his hands when, I
kid you not, a fellow Levite whowas older than me pushed in
front to wash Sacha BaronCohen's hands.
So, yeah, I was stripped ofthat.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
He cut your lunch.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
He cut the lunch in half.
Oh my God.
But yeah, it was a wild time.
It was so such like, it wasjust wild.
It was like, yeah, like goingto shake hugs my mouth with
sasha baron, um.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So what I'm trying to say is perth does have its
history of um celebrities jakey,what you're describing is such
a like comfortable, secure,idyllic community, a place where
there were a sufficient numberof jews around you to feel like
you had a community, you hadpeers, you had shuls, you had a
(22:30):
network, but small enough toreally feel very, very
comfortable.
So why, then, the call to makeAliyah to Israel?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I think, like all Jewish communities, especially
in Australia, we all have thatcomfort.
We all have that Like I was socomfortable in my community.
But I think, like all things,change is important and I think
like, when I say like small, Ithink like I knew every single
Jewish girl who was around myage, to the point where, like I
(23:02):
knew which is a weird thing tosay at like 18 years old, but
like I knew I'm not going tomarry any of these girls in in
five, six, seven, eight yearstime, which is wild.
But that's part of growing upin a small Jewish community.
Um, like, I loved everyone, butI knew that this isn't where my
future was.
I was originally like, becauseof the acting world, like I was
(23:23):
originally looking at likedifferent options.
I'd gotten into a really likegood acting school in Perth and
I thought I was going tocontinue with that and there was
really a way for my life tojust move to that direction.
But at the end of the day, likeI'm a Zionist, I like grew up
with Zionist Israel educationand I knew like as also a
(23:43):
religious Jew.
It's a small thing, but it'slike I go to I don't know what's
an Australian supermarket atColes and I'm wearing my kippah
and like it's not that I likeI'm so scared to wear my kippah,
it's just like I feel a bitdifferent and I think I was just
(24:06):
ready to not feel so differentand ready to be with I don't
know everyone.
Like that exciting, like changewas really appealing to me and
it also helped that I have threeolder sisters who made Aliyah
similar path to me and I alsoknew that my parents were
towards retirement age and theirplan was also headed towards
Israel.
Yeah, it wasn't easy.
I really could have taken amore comfortable path here in
Perth.
But yeah, I really do believeeverything happens for a reason
(24:26):
and there's a reason I'm hereand there's a reason why I said
no to university and said yes todrafting into a military.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That was going to be my next question, because when
most young people think abouttheir gap year, they think about
maybe some Contiki tours orjust getting really drunk or
high in Europe.
They're not really thinkingabout army service.
So do you want to talk usthrough that?
Speaker 3 (24:54):
For sure, for sure.
The former thing that you saiddefinitely appeals to me more
than army service.
That was not what I wasthinking about at all.
I was also like a really funyear.
That was not what I wasthinking about at all.
I was also like a really funyear.
I did go to yeshiva, so likethat was.
That was the difference, butmore like liberal fun, like
yeshiva as opposed to to theother, like strict ones, and I
really had the best year likeliving in Jerusalem, made a lot
(25:17):
of mates, but I think I just,like so many people, I really
did just fall in love with thecountry and I realized that this
is where I want to be.
And then, after I decided thisis where I want to be, like I
was like, what is the next step?
The army wasn't even an option,because I just associated army
with like shooting a gun andgoing into battle and that is so
(25:38):
, so far from me.
I think I am the first personin basic training to not hit one
target, so there is a reasonwhy I'm not on the battlefields.
But when I found out that thereare other options in the army
and you don't just have to be afighter and there are what I'm
in, which I'll tell you guysabout later is a really niche,
creative, awesome job in thearmy.
(25:58):
Once I learned about that I waslike, okay, maybe there is a
future here and because I wascoming in as a 20 year old,
there's no real otheralternative.
Because, like, it's mandatory,you can get around the system,
but it's also a bit hard becauseyou're not going to officially
make Aliyah, you're notofficially going to get your
citizenship here.
Like I told you, I have threeolder sisters who had done a
(26:20):
similar process to me and theykind of were like, if you really
want to feel Israeli, if youreally want to integrate, you
should do the army.
Yeah, so that's kind of why.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I imagine there's maybe taboo around people not
serving in the army as well, orit's frowned upon.
Am I right to assume that?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
No, definitely to the point where, like it, even like
nowadays, it's like politicaldiscussions and there's protests
of people who don't want toserve and want to serve.
For me, that wasn't even partof it.
It was more just like apersonal thing about integrating
, feeling Israeli, I'm a proudZionist and I want to contribute
the best way I can.
Thank God, I think finally Ifound a way to do that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But you're also a thespian, jakey.
But you're also a thespian,jakey, and for those who haven't
seen your TikTok or Instagramvideos and reels, check them out
.
You'll get a real flavour forthe brilliance of your
theatrical style.
Jake, you're only 21, but youhave already cultivated a very
(27:19):
distinctive voice.
Your performances throughsocial media are terrific, very
funny, very entertaining.
You mentioned before that youhad to forego that opportunity
of doing theatre in Australiaand starting to become an actor.
You moved to Israel, as you'resaying, moved into the IDF, so
(27:40):
I'm fascinated to learn aboutthis particular niche area of
the IDF.
Is there like an entertainingunit?
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
that's not specifically what I'm doing.
There is an army theater whichis wild and I'd love to know
what they do day to day.
My social media I'd like to sayI'm known as a micro influencer
because I have a niche and it'sa really niche and people do
love it, but it's really I guessit comes from my, my birth in
me like to find these niche,small little groups.
(28:10):
But yeah, so my social media is.
I kind of started it at thestart of my army service,
actually when I didn't quite getinto the unit that I wanted to
and I wasn't having the besttime, and the unit that I did
want to was the social mediaunit, the spokesperson digital
unit.
So my social media actuallystarted as like, kind of like a
response, like almost like an F?
(28:31):
You for not taking me, lookwhat I can do online.
And it was kind of like myexternal way to like project my
frustrations with the country,funny things I noticed in this
country, and then also aplatform to like, which
eventually became my niche, tostart teaching slash, learning
Hebrew as I'm learning itthroughout.
And yeah, it comes from mytheatrical side, like I realized
(28:53):
, if I'm going to have to stoptheater for a few years, which
ironically didn't happen,because I'm still doing theater
in the middle of the army, whichis also a bit strange.
Why is it strange?
It's not strange, it's morejust like I'm grateful, grateful
, like a lot of people in thearmy don't have the luxuries
that I have, like a day jobwhere they're able to do things
on the side and, thank god, Ihave lovely commanders.
(29:14):
I'm going from base torehearsals, which is it's a wild
.
I I honestly don't know howmany soldiers in israel can say
they do that.
Um, in fact, I might be theonly one I'd like to say I'm
kind of like the Israeli versionof Troy Bolton, like when he
goes from basketball training totheater, but instead of
basketball training I'm going tothe army.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
But let's go back to your videos, because some of our
listeners may not be familiarwith them.
Your most popular videos, orthe ones that you describe as
the most niche, are you pokingfun at your mistakes?
Basically, that you're makingas you're learning Hebrew.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
So I kind of realized thatthere is not a voice for the
Olim Karashim, for the newimmigrants who were trying to
speak Hebrew.
But unfortunately, there are alot of what in Hebrew are called
fedichot, like embarrassingmoments that happen, because
there's unfortunately there'slike a lot of when we're trying
(30:16):
to speak our English, literallyin Hebrew, it sounds really bad,
can give you a lot of examples,but also you can find a lot of
them in my Instagram and it'slike it's really bad, can give
you a lot of examples, but alsoyou can find a lot of them in my
Instagram and it's like it's avoice to that Oleh Hadash,
because, honestly, that voiceisn't represented.
No one really says it becausethey're too embarrassed to say
the embarrassing moments theyhad.
So I guess I'm that voice.
(30:38):
I'm like full openness.
And then what's really amazingis once I got my first video out
about the first Hebrew mistakeI made, um, which I think was
when, literally just talkingabout the literal English
translations, I asked a friendwhat they thought about my pin,
(31:00):
like as in a badge on my armyuniform, but in Hebrew pin is a
penis, so that was reallyawkward.
Um, yeah, so I guess I am thatvoice for embarrassing Hebrew
moments.
And then the the comments I hadwas all like this, like
relatability and like, oh my god, I did this, I did this, which
(31:21):
was even worse than what you did, and and yeah, like from then,
like we just kept on doing more.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
It is very relatable and your videos are being
enjoyed by not just Englishspeakers learning Hebrew, but
native speakers as well.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
For sure, like even lately.
Like it's like random Israelipeople coming up to me on the
streets and saying, ah, you're ageeky from TikTok, and I'm like
, yeah, it's a bit wild.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And even some Arab citizens of Israel as well.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yes, that that was really, really, really cool.
It was like right by my placehere in Jaffa and it's it's wild
.
It's wild Like how your voicecan connect to so many people
and that's, I think, things thatI'm starting to learn now that
I have, like, my audience isgrowing, the power of an
audience and the power of avoice, and I think eventually
I'd love to not necessarily justlike do funny videos.
I'm also like I feel like I'dlove to be a storyteller, and
(32:12):
also my army unit at the moment,which I can tell you guys about
a bit later, it's like being inthe spokesperson unit.
I can get to it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I was gonna say why don't you just tell us now?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
so, like I said, I started off my social media as
like a response for not gettinginto my dream unit and as a
culmination of a lot of things alot of me fighting, a lot of my
videos, a lot of people helpingme I eventually got into that
unit, the social media digitalunit.
I'm in the spokesperson unitand it's been so lovely.
It's been so much, so much fun.
(32:42):
I love like the creativeattribute of it and putting it
together with, like my values ofZionism, of Jewish pride, and
it all just kind of culminatesinto a job that I love going to
every single day and I'm supergrateful and, like I said, I
really do believe everythinghappens for a reason.
There was a reason why I was inthe old job and from that it
(33:05):
kind of leapfrogged my socialmedia, which got me eventually
here and made me make all theseamazing friends, and I moved to
Tel Aviv and it's all baruchHashem falling into place
there's one video that I'd liketo direct our listeners to, and
that is not one of your, yourfunny ones.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It's a very thoughtful, very considered
video where you start by sharingyour childhood love of stickers
and your sticker collection andthen you superimpose those
memories and those early videosof you with your stickers over
you today and your response tothe sort of sea of stickers of
(33:44):
what I can only assume are deadIsraeli IDF soldiers.
And that's something that youencounter day to day, and
obviously that experience hastaken you back to your earlier
life collecting stickers.
So listeners really shouldwatch it themselves.
But can you just give us someidea of where that video came
from?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
should watch it themselves, but can you just
give us some idea of where thatvideo came from?
Yeah, so that's definitely oneof the videos I'm most proud
about.
Thank you so much formentioning it.
So I think it comes back from,like I was saying, even though
the funny Hebrew experiences Ihave from the point of view of
the Oleh Hadash that's justanother example of a video from
the point of view of the OlehHadash, the new immigrant.
It's something that Israelisdon't think about because their
(34:28):
nature is like war.
Okay, it's sad, let's move iton.
And that comes from the conceptwhen a soldier falls, like,
their family often makes asticker.
And if you guys ever come toIsrael and come to our train
stations, the train stations arefull with like hundreds,
thousands of stickers of fallensoldiers and for an Israeli,
(34:48):
that's what is part of theirday-to-day life.
And as an Oleh Hadash, as a newimmigrant, I was genuinely like
what the F?
Like?
How is this just normal?
How do we walk through this?
Every single day?
We see these thousands ofstickers and no one, no one,
takes a step back.
So I think part of and this iseventually what I want to use my
(35:09):
voice for part of being a newimmigrant or having a different
perspective is stepping back,and that's what that video came
from and, I think, being thismicro influencer like so many
people when when I posted thatvideo, were like, oh my God, I
never thought about it like thatand I really appreciate your
perspective that's really one ofmy most proud videos and it's
(35:31):
genuinely something that I wantto keep doing.
I love the fact that I can usemy social media for positivity
and spread laughs and stuff likethat, but I'd also yeah, I
think there's so many thingsthat Israelis don't think about
that we do think about as Jewsfrom Hul that we can really do
some lovely discussions oflearning something from each
other.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, and what you're really touching on is the
absurdity of life in Israel atthe moment, and I think that's
why so many Australians inparticular would have resonated
with your magpie video, which Ireferred to earlier in this
episode.
So in this episode bit that youcreated and you said it was an
(36:17):
idea that your sisters broughtto you because, as content
creators, we just love it whenpeople bring their ideas to us,
and one in 20 ideas are actuallygood.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So talk us through this one that your sisters
gifted you yeah, so it wasfriday night dinner, all of us
together, like we're having afriday night dinner.
It was like the first timewe're all together since the
start of Iran attacks.
I was in the army for the pasttwo weeks so it was like all
very intense and, yeah, I guessjust our Australian-ness kind of
came together and we were like,wow, iran attacks are bad, but
(36:49):
we survived.
Magpies, like what, really canbeat us, like there was nothing.
I don't know how it is inMelbourne and Sydney, but it is
genuinely enough to kill, tomake a grown man cry when you
walk through.
(37:09):
For us it was Breckler or YokinePark on a Shabbat afternoon.
It's genuine, like you, like Iremember, like I would take,
before I entered the park, Iwould like take a breath, even
say a word to Hashem upstairsand like, just like, genuinely
like hope that I wouldn't die.
Like they were wild, they arelethal, beyond lethal.
Like it's like you go, you'rein your car and you see like
(37:31):
this silhouette of just a grownman running away from a magpie.
It's genuinely absurd.
So, yeah, like I think onlyAustralians can relate to that
and I was like you know what?
Let's really test mymicro-influencedness, let's just
.
Let's just post it.
And what I saw in that videowas it has a lot of shares.
I think it has like over 500shares, so it's like that is 500
(37:52):
Australians who are sharing itto each other.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And that's brilliant.
That's why I'm doing it.
Were you concerned about tone?
Was there a discussion aboutlike is this too soon to be
posting something like that?
This stuff always fascinates mebecause this is a conversation
I have in my head every day.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
For sure.
I was very, very careful tolike do it in a way that's like
funny without being too hard.
Really, I think I posted itright in the middle of what was
going on.
So I did it with a sense ofbalance.
I think I had to do a bit ofediting because I think I went a
bit too far for a second, andthen power of editing.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I'm always a big believer that it's never too
soon this comes up time and timeagain with our creative
interviewees that we use humouras a coping mechanism, so I'm
sure a lot of Australians werein their safe rooms.
What's the Hebrew word for asafe room?
Speaker 3 (38:46):
So a safe room is a mamad and the bigger ones, which
is wild.
That we have two differentwords for a safe room is like if
you have the underground ones,which are more safe, that's a
miklat.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, Miklat.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Well, I'm sure there were many Australians in there.
Mama Dim, Mama Dot, what's theplural?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
I assume Mama Dim, but I could also be totally
wrong.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I'm sure that there were many Australians in there
having a giggle, a well-deservedgiggle, some resp from, I hope
so, the horrors of war for sure.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
I'll just say, like, I think like, if anything,
that's like one thing that Ireally want to give to everyone,
like, and that that was thepurpose of that video, like
spread a laugh, spread some joy,because it really it is.
Like you said the word it's,it's absurd times we're living
through and the classic israeliresponse is to like, as we say,
alhamshif ala, to continueforward.
But, yeah, sometimes it's worthtaking a step back and to laugh
(39:43):
about the absurdities of things, or even to cry about the
absurdities of things, becausewe're literally living through
history and it's like, even inthe past two weeks, to be in the
army during this iranianconflict.
It's an honor to be herethrough history and that's, I
guess, why, like my obsessionwith taking videos and like I
was also like this throughoutschool, like I studied media and
(40:07):
analysis and I was the one whowas always taking photos and
recording moments, I'm a bigbeliever in that taking a step
back, taking a breath and livingin the moment.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So a lot of people have misconceptions about Israel
.
Even Australian Jewish peoplehave misconceptions about what
Israel is actually like to livein and, ditto, about the IDF as
well.
They have a very narrow lensabout what they think the IDF is
like and what it might be liketo live in Israel.
(40:37):
What's something surprisingthat you've learned since you've
been drafted in the army thatyou think people outside of
Israel may not realize andappreciate about it?
Speaker 3 (40:50):
The first thing that I didn't realize.
I really thought that the armywas all about combat and, like
every system, there is so muchto make the system what it is
and there's all these differentlike there's a job out there for
every single person who wantsto draft then again it also is
an army at the end of the day.
So some of the funnier, absurdthings that for Israelis are
(41:11):
normal, that I find absurd, likeeven the fact that we need to
like salute and like what wecall Tekasim and like where,
like, they put on the reallycringy military music and I'm
like what the hell is going on?
Why is no one laughing exceptme?
And I think for me, I don'tknow, I've always been a bit of
a, even in Australia, during allthose like army related
(41:35):
ceremonies.
My secret shame is I find theminute of silence really hard
not to laugh at and times thatin a military, like when you're
actually in the military, it'slike times a hundred, it's like
everything is so formal, like weput on the funniest little
clothes.
So at the end of the day, it isa military and it is an army
and I feel like that's somethingthat people forget.
(41:57):
So that's something that peopleforget, so that's something
that I didn't really expect.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
That's because you're a satirist and funny satirical,
ironic People find it hard tobe sincere and earnest.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
Those were all the words I was looking for, by the
way.
Thank you, they escaped mymouth.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
My pleasure.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
And the final thing I'll say about the army is kind
of what I was alluding to Likebefore.
We're all just lovely, sweetpeople and we all have a core
value of Zionism and we loveIsrael and it doesn't matter
where you come from, if you'reAustralian, if you're Israeli,
if you're a new recruit.
We all have this common goaltogether.
(42:31):
It doesn't matter if you're ina combat, non-combat, if you're
like me making videos for theIDF Instagram.
We all have a common value ofZionism, pride and Judaism.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
So what does the future look like for you, Jakey?
If you have a magic wand, whatwould your day to day look like?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Wow, that is wild to think about.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
You didn't know you were going to be in for a bit of
career counselling.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For now, I definitely see my Bizarra Hashem in the
entertainment industry in oneway or another, whether it's
acting or filmmaking orsomething like that.
Like that hasn't changed sinceI was 17.
The network and environment mayhave changed, given that I'm
not in Australia, but I think Iwant to keep on using, like I
was saying before, like it'swild how one can use their
(43:20):
platform and I've used myplatform nine out of 10 times
for spreading light andpositivity, but there's also
that one out of 10 chance that Ican also use it to send deeper
messages, to tell stories, andthat's what I'd love to do in
the future.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Thank you so much for joining us today on Ashamed to
Admit.
We would usually ask our gueststo share something they're
ashamed to admit, but youalready did.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
If you guys want to see what I'm ashamed to admit,
just check out my Instagram.
That's a lot of shameful toadmit moments.
Thank you guys so much forhaving me.
It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Our pleasure.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Shabbat shalom, jakey .
Take care, shabbat shalom guys.
That was Jakey Parry and youcan find him on Instagram at
Jakey J-A-K-E-Y, underscoreParry P-A-R-R-Y.
We'll leave that link intoday's show notes.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
You've been listening to.
A Shame to Admit with me, TammySussman.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And me, Dash Lawrence .
Speaker 1 (44:30):
This episode was mixed and edited by Nick King,
with theme music by DonovanJenks.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
If you like the podcast, forward it to a mate.
Tell them it's even moreenjoyable.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Tell them it's even more enjoyable than a deep dive
into Eric Banner when you'resnuggling under your doona and
you've got a little man cold.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
As always.
Thanks for your support andlook out for Tammy.
Next week I'm heading off toBali.
See you soon.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
No need to rub it in.
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