The Queen of Jewish Activism. @melissaschapman

What if your blog could transform from a simple lifestyle platform into a powerful tool for activism? Join us as we sit down with Melissa Chapman, the remarkable voice behind the Staten Island Family blog. In this episode, Melissa opens up about her incredible journey from being a newspaper columnist to becoming an influential lifestyle blogger and an unexpected advocate for Israel. Her story takes us through the evolution of her blog, her initial plans to sell it, and how a significant event on October 7th redirected her focus towards advocacy against Jew hatred.

Melissa's profound commitment to her Jewish identity and activism is a central theme as she reflects on her Orthodox upbringing and a pivotal Zionism class that shaped her worldview. She candidly shares her struggles, from being deactivated on social media to the financial sacrifices she has made to amplify the voices of survivors and victims. Our conversation dives into the broader implications of the general public's lack of awareness and support for Israel, and the sense of betrayal felt by Jewish individuals who have supported other marginalized communities only to face silence in return.

In our heartfelt discussion, we emphasize the importance of unity within the Jewish community and the role of creators who inspire Jewish activism. We touch on the emotional and social toll of standing up for Israel, the challenges posed by legacy Jewish organizations, and the significance of supporting and uplifting the younger generation. Ending on a hopeful note, we express our deep gratitude to Melissa for her incredible contributions and look forward to future discussions that continue to shine a light on these crucial issues.

Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow

follow us on social @ltkpod!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast.
I'm your host, Lynn.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
And I'm Tony.
We are both wellness coachesand married with kids.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Join us as we talk about all things health,
wellness, relationships, lifehacks, parenting and everything
in between, unfiltered.
Thanks for listening and let'sget into it.
Welcome to the show.
Welcome back.
Season three, episode two.
We are back Super excited.
School just started, kids areback in school.
We're getting back on the flowof things and the routines.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And we have a very special guest.
I'm really excited.
She's like, she's awesome and Ifeel like we have so much in
common.
You guys will understand when Itell you guys about our first
guest.
So our first guest of seasonthree is someone I have a lot in
common with, who I admire verymuch.
Melissa Chapman is the bloggerbehind the Staten Island family,

(00:51):
a lifestyle blog that offers amix of lifestyle content,
including parenting tips,relationship advice, recipes and
fashion.
Melissa started the blog as away to share her experience as a
mother-wife, particularlyfocusing on her life in Staten
Island, new York.
Does that her experience as amother wife, particularly
focusing on her life in statenisland, new york?
Does that sound familiar youguys?
Chick p jc, uh-huh, uh-huh.
So we share very similarstories.

(01:13):
Over the years, she's built astrong community of readers who
appreciate her honest andrelatable approach to family
life.
In the last few years, melissaemerged as an accidental
activist for israel and againstjew hatred, with an emphasis on
platforming smaller Jewishcreators.
This transformation began inresponse to the growing
anti-Semitism she observed bothonline and in her community.

(01:34):
As a proud Jewish woman,melissa felt compelled to use
her platform to speak outagainst the rising tide of Jew
hatred and to advocate forIsrael.
Melissa's advocacy work hasresonated deeply with many of
our followers, furtheramplifying her influence beyond
just lifestyle blogging.
Tony and I had the pleasure ofmeeting her recently at a
Shabbat dinner and she is awonderful human being and we are

(01:55):
so insanely grateful to haveher on our show.
Melissa, welcome to the Lynnand Tony Know podcast.
We are so excited to have you.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Wow, that was such a beautiful intro.
I want someone to read it at mylike obituary you know, like
we'll just print it out andframe it instead.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
You don't have to wait.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
And you know like I really resonate a lot with your
story as as a mom and like alifestyle blogger, and you know
we literally our, our paths areour, our writing and our.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
The origins of, like our story, you know, is really
very it's so similar.
It's like creating that wedidn't, that we didn't overlap,
I guess I'm I'm like 10 yearsolder than you, so that's
probably why you know, you're apioneer, it's it's interesting
that like well in the bloggingspace, but like a hundred
percent.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
And uh, yeah, when I, when I heard your whole story,
I was like wow, she's, she'sawesome, like I can really
resonate with where she is.
And so you know, before, beforeyou started your activism, did
you, did you envision thingsshifting for you?
Like, who were you beforeOctober 7th?

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Well, you know, I mean, I started this.
I was like a, I was a writerfor the Staten Island advance.
I did like a column called kidsin the city.
It was like a take on like sexin the city, but like with kids.
And then when that you knowwhen, when newspapers released
cause I, you know, back in theday it was like newspapers,
freelance magazines, whennewspapers really, because I,
you know back in the day, it waslike newspapers, freelance

(03:29):
magazines when that all dried up, I was like you know what?
There's this new thing calledblogging and everyone, all these
moms, are doing it.
I'm just going to take all mycontent and all my contacts that
I've built up and I'm going toput them into this blog.
And I started this blog and youknow it was great.
I did a lot of brandpartnerships and it sustained me
for like a good I'm going tosay a good like eight years
where I was just doing lifestyle.

(03:50):
And then, but then realizing,you know, as your kids age out
of it, you know you don't reallyhave the.
You see yourself sort of notgetting the same opportunities.
You know, because your kids,you know they're not playing
with toys anymore.
And then you know it's likewhen they get to be teenagers
they don't really want to be oncamera anymore.
They don't.
I mean, I really stretched itLike my kids were really good
they were, they were good.

(04:11):
I got them like contacts,braces, like I did.
I.
I got everything I love that.
I totally pimped them out andthey were, you know, they were
very good.
I mean, listen, I got them alot.
I got great trips.
You know, we were getting paida really good money.
So it was like, you know, itjust seemed like for everything,

(04:33):
you know, it was a great deal.
And then, to be perfectlyhonest, like about a year before
October 7th, I was planning onselling everything Because I was
like I have this amazingplatform, I have like 400,000,
you know readers a month on myblog.
I was really mainly thenfocusing on like cause, you know
, I was age, I aged out of theparenting thing so I still do,

(04:55):
you know evergreen content.
But I was doing more likeplastic, a ton of plastic
surgery stuff, fitness and a lotvery recipe heavy.
And I was like you know what?
I'm going to sell it, becausenow everyone wants to be online
and I'll sell all my socialmedia properties, so they're
going to get everything.
It's over, definitely way over,you know, probably like 2

(05:17):
million total for thesubscribers and all that stuff.
And I had a deal was sixfigures, was amazing, ready to
go over six figures, like reallywhat I wanted.
And I was like I'm done withthis space.
I'm old, I'm not, I'm like,done.
And September 7th happened and Ithought, you know, I'll sell
everything, but I won't sellInstagram.

(05:38):
Just let me have Instagrambecause I could already.
I already felt like people weregoing to, israel was going to
get thrown under the bus, theJews were not going to come out
and support Israel and Israelwas just going to get creamed
and maligned.
And this is just what I feltlike October 7th, that morning,

(05:58):
you know, I just had thisfeeling and the guy that I had a
company doing it for me.
They said, no, it's got to be.
We need Instagram now, we needto take your Instagram, we're
going to scrub it and, just, youknow, keep everything.
So I said no and I didn't sellanything.
And you know, and since thenand ever since October 7th, it

(06:18):
was just been like all Israel,all the time, all is real, all
the time.
When October 7th hit, I think Ihad like maybe 75,000 followers
on Instagram, which was a lotfor me because, you know, I
wasn't like heavy Instagramperson, I was more blog and
other social networks, but um,but uh, I just like, after

(06:40):
October 7th, I just posted everyday what was happening in real
time, like completely forgot it.
I mean, I wish I would havesold it, because I literally
left everything dormant forabout six weeks.
I couldn't leave Instagram andI could see that nobody was.
I mean, the day after October7th, people were calling for

(07:01):
ceasefire.
Israel hadn't even doneanything, we were just attacked.
Nothing had even been done.
And you know, ever since then,just like ever since October 7th
, I just every day, you know.
And then the main thing was,like you said in the intro, you
know, seeing that nobody wasposting, and seeing all these

(07:23):
Jewish creators not getting anyairtime on any of their stuff, I
was like I have to find a wayto make sure that every Jewish
creator that wants to speakanybody I don't care if you have
two followers, I don't care ifyou have 10,000 followers, I
want to put you on my platformso at least everyone gets to see
, gets to hear from you.
And I feel like you know that'sbeen my goal since October 7th

(07:43):
and you know that's been my goalsince October 7th.
And you know I wasn't, itwasn't my plan and, like I said,
I was ready to sell everythingand I was ready to sell
Instagram too.
October 7th hadn't happened, Iwould not, I would not be even
speaking to you because I wouldbe off.
I would be.

(08:08):
I was ready to like, finallysay goodbye to social media,
Cause it's like a it's a reallycrazy you know place, but it's
where all the people are andit's where all the news happens
now.
So to have given up Instagramand not to have been able to
have a voice, I think would havebeen bad for the Jewish
community.
So I feel like that's been.
The silver lining in all of thisis that maybe it was meant to
be that I should continue.
Maybe, like you know, it wasmeant to be that I should
continue, you know, but, um, Imean, you know we're speaking

(08:29):
like this, we're having thisconversation now, but a couple
of days after, uh, hersch,poland goldberg, was executed
along with five other hostages,I mean I really, really thought
that things were going to bedifferent.
You know, and the fact that anAmerican, an American most
people don't even know thisAmerican and that you know he

(08:52):
was executed, and it's like itnever even happens, you know, no
one said anything.
It's barely a blip on thescreen of what's going on in
society.
I think it says a lot about,like, where people you know how
people see israel and jews andwhat we should see ourselves as

(09:13):
american jews in the landscape.
You know yeah sorry, I just wenton like a whole we love it.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
we're taking it all in.
I mean trying to give you youknow like a whole, we're taking
it all in, we're taking it allin yeah, yeah, I'm trying, I
mean.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I'm trying to give you, you know, like a little
background.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
No, that's incredible context for your story that I
certainly would never have known, because for me, what you've
done is so admirable, just atface value.
At face value, even if withoutthe the, the desire to sell and

(09:49):
to have the deal in place andthen to pull back and go maybe I
can't give this up right nowwas I mean that's that's talk
about putting your money whereyour mouth is, like that's the
real deal.
I mean, even without that, whatyou've done to lift up voices
that might not be heard ordefinitely would not be heard, I
mean there's not, there's notmany days that you can go on
online without somebody going,you know, without Melissa.

(10:12):
I don't know if this page wouldbe where it is.
Like I just watched, you knowBarack say that two days ago,
right, and, and literally youwere one of the when we, when we
first interviewed somebodyabout this, it was Millette, who
was a survivor of the NovaMusic Festival and we were

(10:33):
cutting up content for that andgetting ready to put out some of
the clips for it.
And Lynn was like, justcollaborate with Melissa Chapman
, she'll probably accept it.
And I was like she doesn't haveany idea who we are, like, why
would she do that and, sureenough, before we'd even
probably said two words to eachother, I added you as a
collaborator and you accepted it.

(10:54):
I texted Lynn.
I was like she accepted.
This is great.
What an amazing thing like tohave this message put out there.
So I mean, we've been directbenefactors of that, of that
kindness and that willingness togo above and beyond for smaller
voices, um and and to hear youhaving given up that sort of

(11:15):
deal to jump back in the fraywith everyone and grow the
entire community around you isincredible.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
I mean honestly.
You know I was raised I.
I.
I was raised Orthodox.
I went to Yeshiva for 10 years,um, you know.
So it's like ingrained in methat you know I had a class in
high school Yeshiva, FlatbushHigh School um, yoav Eliyach, uh
, yotav or Yoach.
His mother is uh uhaffa Eliyach.

(11:45):
She wrote an amazing book aboutbeing a survivor of the
Holocaust.
He gave us a class in Zionismand I still have my notes from
my 9th grade class because itwas it really imprinted on me
that like we really have tosupport Israel in every way and
I feel like we should all beliving there.

(12:07):
And if we can't be living there, I feel like how could we just
abandon Israel when everyone iscoming out against her?
I would feel like the worst Jewif I was on.
I had a platform and I didn'tuse it, and I know that so many

(12:27):
people are not doing it and Idon't know, maybe it's because
they weren't raised the way Iwas.
That like you know.
You know it's like if I, if Iforget Jerusalem, like I forget
my right hand, you know it'slike you can't, you can't let
you know the Jew, jew.
It's like everything is aboutIsrael, everything you do
everything, israel's andeverything, and I don't know how

(12:50):
people could like not besupporting her now and her
people.
It's just to me it feels likeit's your duty and I wish that
more people listen.
I have I've been deactivatedthree times.
Before October 7th, I definitelymade a couple of thousand

(13:11):
dollars a month on Instagram andI wasn't even trying, just, you
know, doing brand partnerships.
You know you were able to.
You know I was able to makemoney and obviously I've not
been able to make any moneysince then money and obviously
I've not been able to make anymoney since then.
But how could you not share andsupport and give voices to

(13:32):
people who have been killed?
And when people say thank you,like it's like people say thank
you to me, like even you sayingthank you to me, it's like I
thank you because you're givingme the opportunity to do a good
deed, do a mitzvah, like I'msharing in the mitzvah, sharing
the survivor story that everyoneshould hear what happened,
because you know, as you know,the minute October 7th happened,

(13:53):
everything that we saidhappened was denied.
What people?
You know it's like we weregaslighted.
So we have to.
You know it's like afterOctober 7th, we had to not only
try to heal, which we didn'teven have time to heal, we had
to just immediately go intodefensive mode and and, and,
fight, and, and, and, andsurvive.

(14:16):
And I think that it's like, as aJew, on these platforms I
really have, I just don'tunderstand how you could have a
platform and not use it, like Ijust I don't, I don't know how
you could like you know, causeyou were saying oh, you know,
it's amazing, you can walk awayfrom money, you know, and.
But I feel like a lot of peopleare choosing their business over

(14:38):
their Judaism and I think it'sa really it's very risky and
you're you know, if you havekids, the younger generation,
everyone's watching and youthink I'm taking.
I mean, it's a differentsituation, like, if you're like
I guess, if you're a singlemother and everyone's, because

(14:58):
one woman said to me I got veryangry because I wanted her to
share something and she said I'ma single mother and I'm the,
you know, I'm the custodialparent and I really can't risk
my business right now onInstagram to share.
I can't get too political.
So I guess you know, I guess incertain situations I understand
, but I think for the most part,you know, if you can, anything

(15:22):
you can share.
Um, there's so many lies,there's so much propaganda.
I don't know.
I don't really know what to sayand I have gotten a little, you
know, more less aggressive andmore and more sweet.
But I don't know, I just it'sbeen very hard to see, I think.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
I appreciate your courage because I feel like you
say what a lot of people thinkand I think, especially post
October 7th, and sadly peopleare, you know, you know be.
I've become activists, butmaybe for the wrong reasons and
you can kind of tell who's in itbecause it's like, okay, we're
all in this together, we don'thave a choice, and who's in it

(16:18):
to like, you know, for the likesand the clicks and the
following, and I feel like youcall it out, you call, you call
it out and you call out whenpeople are being fake and and
and and you know you keep themhonest.
Like I don't, like I wish I hadhalf the balls that you do.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
I mean, I mean, you know it's honestly it's not,
it's not.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, I can hear you.
I think I lost you for a second.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm sorry.
I feel like it's like my dutyto like keep reminding people,
because if I don't remind themand if I don't, you know, then
we're just gonna, you know,we're just gonna fall back into
just.
I mean, listen, it's likeanother part of my story and a
big reason why I have thisfeeling of like being so vocal.

(17:08):
My father was born in a workcamp during the Holocaust.
We don't really have a lot ofinformation Other than that.
You know he my grandmother,told us that she had to like
stand between two women to likehide her pregnancy when she was
like in line, and I don't reallyknow, like how she gave birth

(17:30):
in the work camp.
I don't know if maybe he wasdelivered and then held
somewhere until after the war,but I know that his whole life
he died very young.
I feel like his whole life wasfilled with so much pain, a lot

(17:51):
of physical pain, a lot ofemotional pain, and I believe it
was a product of, you know, hisenvironment and the way he was
born and the way he was parented, and I feel like the kids of
October 7th will be experiencingthis exact same thing.
The generations of survivors,like will be experiencing the
exact same thing.
The generations of survivorswill be experiencing the exact
same thing.
And I wonder you know the peoplewho lived in America when the

(18:15):
Holocaust was happening?
Were they?
I mean, they didn't have socialmedia then, so maybe they had
an excuse.
But what's our excuse?
You know what's our like?
If he was still alive, I reallybelieve that he would say to me
like Melissa, you have to beloud, you have to say something,
because no one spoke up for mewhen this happened to me.

(18:36):
So I feel like it's my duty asa daughter of a Holocaust
survivor to say something.
And we cannot say this is likethe Holocaust, because obviously
there is nothing that will evercome close to the Holocaust,
but it's a massacre of Jews on ascale that we haven't seen

(18:58):
since the Holocaust.
And I think that it's important.
You know that we support thepeople who were killed and the
people who are still grieving,the families of survivors, the
survivors themselves.
You know the kids and just Ithink you know just the
collective.
I mean, you're from Israel, youknow, you were just there.
You know the whole country issort of like holding their

(19:21):
breath right now, and theneverything's like in limbo.
When I was there in May, evenlike, our waiter was like you
know, you don't understand Likehe was a crying, thanking us for
coming and saying to us youknow, my daughter lives with us
now because my son-in-law has tobe in the army.
He's going, he's in thereserves, but he's got to be in
the army and like, and then myother daughter's going in the

(19:42):
army.
I'm terrified.
I am terrified that they'regoing to die, but like we have
no choice but to fight, and Ijust think that we as Americans
need to, like continue to telltheir stories and, and that's
why I will partner with anybodyand especially, especially, with
Israeli creators and andIsraeli families who want people

(20:04):
not to forget their loved oneswho passed away, Obviously, the
people that are still trying toget their loved ones back or
kidnapped, you know, hostages,and it's tricky because you know
there's so much politics goingon, but there's, there should be
no politics when it comes toJewish lives and Jewish safety
and Jewish sovereignty in aJewish homeland, and I think

(20:26):
that that's like something thatwe should we can all agree on.
You know, in a Jewish homeland.
And I think that that'ssomething that we can all agree
on.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, 100%.
Obviously, the world doesn't,but within the Jewish community
it should be an undeniable truthfor everyone.
What I do want to highlight isthat, while what you're
referencing inside of you seemsto come from just this natural,

(20:56):
innate place of duty, that Iwant to shine a light on the
fact that it's not innate ineveryone and it's not innate in
everyone and it's not there ineveryone.
So, you know, when somebodydoes thank you or tell you that
it's special, it's because,unfortunately, it is because not

(21:19):
everybody will pick up a sword.
You know, and that's trueinside the Jewish community,
almost entirely true.
It's even more frustrating forme, as someone who didn't grow
up as part of the Jewishcommunity and just you know, in

(21:41):
the past couple years has sortof been involved with it to have
had so many people pick up ashield for so many different
causes, myself included.
You know marching, marchingduring COVID, during BLM, you
marriage, celebrating with theirentire community.

(22:01):
And then you know to to lookaround at all of those
communities now and go, wow,where are you, where are you.

(22:22):
And it's not well, not even.
It's not even where are you.
I know where they are, I knowwhere they are and I know where
my friends are that were in thesame boat as me during BLM.

(22:44):
I see them too and it's one ofthose things that has their core
.
They were just and they werethe right thing to do.
But then to to look back and totake a step back at some of the
ways that that those causes were, were advocated for, and it
feels so eerily similar to theway that this is now being
advocated for on the, on thepro-palestinian side, and it's

(23:06):
and it's it's a bit infuriating,so like for me, it's.
You know, you, you speak to the, the, the jewish people that
are maybe unwilling to to pickup the fight for themselves and
and I can understand that out ofout of the fear that must be,
at this point, generational, butto look at like people like me

(23:29):
outside of the community thatare willing to go to bat for
literally everyone and then seethem dead, silent, dead silent
or worse, or worse is has beenone of the most eye-opening
things over the past year for me.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
To just it's, it's heartbreaking, honestly, I know
I I mean like I, you know, I, I,I know woody allen, you know he
has his issues, but I havealways loved his films and I
remember watching like I.
I've been watching woody allenfilms like forever and I think
it's I think it's in the filmmanhattan maybe, or maybe it's

(24:05):
annie hall, where he's like I, Ifeel like there's this anti.
I always felt like there waslike this anti-Jewish sentiment,
but I never wanted to reallyreally believe it.
That was a product of theHolocaust and my father and you

(24:30):
know, was so happy to be inAmerica.
You know, they worked so hardto get here and they, you know,
achieve the American dream and Ifelt like every downtrodden
group, every marginalized group,was like was was my cause too.
And even in my blog and I knowLincoln speaks to this too you
know, like I, I did, I made surethat every Black History Month,
I did, I mean, I did so muchfor Black History Month, asian

(24:53):
American Month, lgbtq plus, I, I, I made sure to go out of my
way right To like make sure thatthese were.
Everyone was represented on myblog, on my Instagram, on my
Facebook, and I always askedfriends, you know, tell me what
I can do.
How can I support you?
I went out of my way to makesure that I would do it for
these people.
Literally my story Right Samething and like just yesterday,

(25:19):
after Hirsch, an American waskilled, not one Jewish friend,
not one, not one non-Jewishfriend has said to me hey,
melissa, I see you and I'm sosorry.
Nothing, it's been silence.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I'm so with you on this, melissa.
It's been such a pain point forme in the last year, uh, as
someone who's championed Jerseycity for the past decade, just
always lending my platform toevery small business and every
minority group, sponsoringevents, donating, you know,
getting them events, spaces.

(25:59):
I had my own nonprofitorganization for inner city
youth and I just poured myselfmy like.
Month of June, you know, monthof August was Jersey city pride
month.
The whole month was all citypride month.
The whole month was all justpride content.
During BLM, I was there, I wasmarching in, I was standing in
front and I was reaching out toall the business owners and how,

(26:20):
what can I do?
How can I help?
How, what do I need to read,you know?
And I was like I don't, don'teducate me, I'm going to look at
books.
It's not your job, you know.
Like.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
I listened.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
I listened, I reached out, I'm here, I'm your friend
and everybody in the city knowsI'm an Israeli woman.
It has always been part of myplatform, since day fucking one.
They know my parents are fromIsrael, they know my family is
there, they know I go twice ayear.
It's always been a big part ofwho of my identity.

(26:53):
And October 7th happened and Ican count on one hand, out of
the thousands of people thatI've I've platformed, I can
count on one hand the amount ofpeople that reached out and
asked me if my family was okayand and since then it's been

(27:16):
it's been 11 months and peoplestill ask me to, you know,
promote or whatever but it'sbeen kind of like crickets, it's
like.
It's like a lot of the peopleturned.
Not only did they not reachedout, but they turned against me
and turned against my people.
And I came to this realizationand this was the most
heartbreaking realization thatall these years, all the
bullying and I don't know if youexperience any bullying or

(27:39):
online trolling or or you knowthings of that nature but I
dealt with a lot of horriblethings and I always thought is
oh, because I'm a successfulwoman?
No, it was never just becauseI'm a successful woman.
It was always because I'm aJewish woman and they looked at
me and thought she is a whitesettler, she is a gentrifier,

(28:00):
she is, you know, she stealsland.
So all these things that theycall Jews or they call Israelis,
that is what they projectedonto me, and to have that is so
heartbreaking after you dedicatea whole decade to a community
that spits in your face.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
I mean, you're literally preaching to the choir
.
My community was like theblogging community and the
blogging community, like withthe way society, you know it
changed as society changed.
So with you know, you know theMe Too movement, black Lives
Matter, you know everything.

(28:39):
The blogging world, you know,followed suit and promoted all
those causes.
So, being in the blogging world, having friends, you know other
bloggers influence, you knowthe influencer world you, you
know you do what you're supposed.
You know you, you go along withthe trends and you and you
support, and these were trendsthat I thought were, you know,

(29:01):
good, they, they, they, theydeserve my support.
But then to see these samepeople.
So now, so the?
So they followed the Me Toomovement, black Lives Matter,
and then it became FreePalestine and they all just
followed along the FreePalestine thing, they didn't
even question it.
I don't know if it's becausethey're Jewish people or they're

(29:21):
just like following the trend,but I would think that the
people that did know me and thatsaw me rallying specifically
against the free palestinemovement, specifically because
it calls for the annihilation ofthe jews and a jewish state,
the existence of a jewish state,you would think that they would
understand that, but I reallybelieve not only is it a jewish

(29:45):
hate thing, but it's a moneything.
It's all about the money.
It's follow the money whenbrands, you know, when you say
free, when you don't get onboard with the free Palestine
movement and you startsupporting Israel, people are
not going to support you becausethe mob, because the majority,
is going to say free Palestine.

(30:06):
So if you're not going to goalong with that, then you're
going to be ostracized andnobody wants to.
No one wants it to affect theirbottom line.
So I'd say, most of theinfluencers that I continue to
support and just like you, youknow, for all these years and
all these campaigns and ahandful, a handful, asked me how

(30:32):
I was doing.
But I don't think, I don't knowthat anyone actually put up any
kind of not promote any kind ofacknowledgement, anything on
their feed to support Israel.
I don't think I saw anyoneafter October 7th, and this was

(30:52):
even before the defendant self.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
So you know, but let's, let's find the silver
lining, though like yeah after.
October 7th.
What is the so?
What has been the silver liningfor you?

Speaker 3 (31:07):
um, I mean just, you know, hearing people say that
you know I've been able to helpthem and give them a voice, um,
just connecting more to my roots.
You know, cause, before October7th, you know I was just doing
everything for, for the bottomline, for the money I was in it,
also for the money, you knowand like, and for the ego, you

(31:29):
know and the likes.
And really I guess October 7thtaught me that you know, if you
don't have roots, if you don'thave a connection to people, if
you don't believe in somethingand really stands for what you
believe in, then what is what?
What is your purpose?
What is your legacy?
What are you teaching your kids?
What you showing others, youknow.
So I feel like it's made me.

(31:50):
It's made me more, um,introspective and also feel more
connected to my roots and toother jewish people and it's
made me, you know, find otherjewish people that I, that I
never would have spoken to, Inever would have gotten to know
you, I never would have gottento know so many people, um, if
not for October 7th.

(32:10):
I still wish October 7th neverhappened.
You know, like I wish that wecould turn back everything and
rewind.
We could have learned this allwithout October 7th, but, you
know, maybe this was the silverlining to reconnect us with
what's important, to remind usthat we can never forget the
Jewish nation.
We have to, you know, we can'tjust blend in and forget who we

(32:33):
are and assimilate, and we haveto be strong and we have to, you
know I guess that's it for me,and you know, and finding and
lifting other people up and, youknow, creating our own
communities and remembering andunderstanding that, like, we

(32:54):
really only have each other,even though you know it's like
every other.
I mean, it's crazy how historyrepeats itself.
You know, in Germany, this iswhat my father always told me.
This is the only story he evertold me, you know.
So they lived in Poland and theyowned a mill my father's 11
brothers and sisters.

(33:14):
They were so happy in Poland,they really felt they were
Polish.
They were Polish first and thenthey were Jewish.
Nobody wanted, you know, theyheard there were rumblings,
hitler, but they didn't want toleave because they had
everything.
They had a beautiful life, theywere very good standing in the
community, they had money, theywere cultured and 11 brothers

(33:39):
and sisters were all killed inthe Holocaust.
So maybe this is Hashem's way,god's way, of saying you're
getting too comfortable inAmerica.
You're getting too comfortable.
You're assimilating too much.
You're not too comfortable inAmerica, you're getting too
comfortable.
You're assimilating too much.
You're not, you're notremembering who you are, you're
not remembering Israel, you'renot remembering your people.
And maybe this is.
You know, this was the wake upcall that we all needed, and I

(33:59):
know that.
I know that it's.
It's woken me up and I knowthat's woken up other people too
, and I hope that you know wewill continue to be welcoming,
we will continue to create ourown community.
You know, you and I spent somuch time building everyone
else's community.
We left our own communitiesbehind.
And I think a lot of theseliberal, progressive Jewish

(34:20):
organizations have done the samething.
They're guilty of it too.
They were so busy, you know,being tikkun olam repair the
world.
Let's help the Black LivesMatter LGBTQ+, me too and they
forgot they left Jews behind.
So maybe this is the wake-upcall we all need in America and
around the world.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
And I think the people-pleasing needs to stop.
I think that's been the issue.
Is that, as Jews, we want tofit in.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Oh, we want to sit at the table.
We want to sit at the table.
I don't need to sit at thetable.
We want to sit at the table.
I don't need to sit at thetable anymore.
It's okay, I'm making my owntable.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
I'm sitting at the Shabbat kosher table.
I'd rather yeah, listen.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Melissa, you're spot on.
I don't think it's a maybe interms of what's being taught
right now.
In the harshest of lessons itis.
It is simply one of thosethings where you know the reason
, I believe, why it's so innatein you to to do what you're
doing and so innate in us to dowhat to do what we're doing is

(35:20):
because we can see the lessonand we can understand that there
is no other choice right now.
There simply is not, because ifthis lesson doesn't get learned
, then we will repeat it.
The universe will keep in thiscase, hashem will keep bringing
this lesson back to His peopleuntil the lesson is learned.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Until the Mashiach comes, and it'll get louder.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
The wake-up call gets louder and louder.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
To those listening and who don't know who the
mashiach.
It's like our, our redemptionright.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah, yes hurry up the redeemer, the redeemer, yeah
any day, yeah, he's not.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
He's not.
I don't think he's, he's Idon't think it's close at all.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
I don't I mean, yeah, not at all, but no, but also,
you know, for I really this islike one of my main things is
like the younger generation,like I'm like so focused on the
younger kids because that's thedemo that we really have lost in
the Street.
Palestine movement, because,like every other trend, you know

(36:26):
, it's trendy.
It's like Vogue magazine allthe TikTok stars, you know,
they're all hopping on thistrend.
So we need to like make surethat this younger generation
continues to hold the mantle,and it's like we have to.
We have no choice but to makesure that we lift their voices,

(36:49):
we inspire them, we support them, because it's probably the
hardest for them, you know, thanit is for any of us, you know,
to be on those campuses, to be ahigh school student.
Oh, my God, in this climate,like in high school, you just
want to fit in, like you're not,you know you just don't do
anything to fit in.
And to have to choose between,like free Palestine and and who

(37:14):
you are, your Jewish identity,it's like how could anyone be
forced to make that decision?
So you know all the you knowtrying to pass all this
legislation, voting in the rightpeople.
Like, we have to do that sothat we can make it a little
easier for the kids that arecoming up, because we're leaving
this to them.
You know, we leave them thisscary, we leave them this like
balagan, this mess, yeah, crazy,yeah, what are they going to do

(37:39):
with it?
You know, and so I hope that youknow, more people will, will
hear this podcast, they'll,they'll follow you and they'll,
they'll, they'll wake up like alight will go off, and you know,
and people say well, I don'thave any followers, it's okay,
first of all, you can collabwith me and then I'm going to
get you followers.
But every voice counts, becauseit's like everyone, you don't

(38:03):
know who's watching and thenthey're sharing and you know
they're talking in real time.
They're at you know, they're atcoffee and they're looking at
each other's phones.
They're sharing messages, likeyou just don't know.
So every voice matters.
This is a fight for like, forthe Jewish identity, for the
Jewish homeland.
Like this is every, every Jew.
This is your fight.

(38:24):
Whether you're religious,you're not religious, you're
atheist, you're still a Jew.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
A Jew is a Jew is a Jew, and so this is all of our
fight right now, and even forthe non-Jews listening, it's
never too late.
Like, stand up, like it's nevertoo late.
Fine, you don't want to post onsocial media?
Fine, call your Jewish friends,ask them if they need anything,
offer a hug, donate to a jewishorganization like like you know,

(38:54):
your jewish friends have stoodby you and supported you and,
regardless of how you feel aboutisrael and and and gaza, you
have jewish friends that live inin America that need you and
feel alone.
Support them.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yeah, support them.
The thing that I can feel and Ican imagine, if I put myself in
the shoes of somebody thatcomes from a good place, that
doesn't have any ill willtowards Israel, that maybe is
even neutral, but even Israel,leaning, that hasn't said a word
, at some point they go.

(39:29):
I can't jump in now, I've beenquiet for too long and they'll
notice, They'll notice right.
Exactly, and that's thepermission that I want everybody
to be able to have, is that thefight is not over.
This is not a one-time thing.
Anti-semitism is not going toend when the war ends.
Your friends are not going tostop needing to hear from you

(39:50):
just because there isn't anintifada.
There's going to be this battlefor who knows how long, but
well beyond our time here, Iwould imagine.
And it's never too late In thegrand scheme of things, it is
simply never going to be toolate.
Like, yes, the the.
The best day to get on boardwould have been October 8th.

(40:11):
The next best day to get onboard is today.
So, uh, you know, there's no,there's no, nobody's going to go
.
You know where the hell haveyou been for the past 11 months?
I mean, somebody might, but whogives a shit?
Like people are gonna be.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
like thank you.
I had somebody recently reachout.
Uh, you know she's like I'msorry, you know I've never I
haven't messaged you all yearbut like I, I'm, I'm sending you
love and I was like that meansa lot and I didn't, like, I
didn't make her feel like shitover it or anything like that.
Like that means a lot and thisis just a stranger on the
internet, just just poor.

(40:46):
You know, like not taking astance, just showing empathy and
just showing just show empathy,like what people don't
understand, like what happenedthe other day with the six
hostages.
We are all one nation.
We are a family, a big family,and like Hirsch and and Eden,
like we, we feel a closerelationship with these, close

(41:06):
relationship with some of thesehostages.
We've heard their stories, wefollow their families and it's
very personal to us, like onOctober 7th.
You know, it's like the Jewishgeography Everybody knows each
other.
Everybody knows a hostage.
Everybody knows somebody thatis in the IDF, in a reservist.
Everybody knows somebody thatwas at Nova or was murdered, a

(41:26):
reserve reservist.
Everybody knows somebody thatwas at Nova or was murdered.
It's such a small community.
We are 0.2 percent of the ofthe of the whole world and we
all know each other.
So when one of us gets killedin such a brutal way, it affects
all of us.
And I know that the other daywas was the second worst day
since October 7th for mepersonally.

(41:47):
And I'm still, you know, I'mstill processing and we, we we
need to hear from our friends,we need it.
But the thing is I'm at a pointin in in this journey that I
don't expect it anymore and Ilean on my family and I lean on
my Jewish community.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Yes, yeah, I definitely don't expect it at
all.
Like and and and my content.
It's interesting because my, myInstagram was initially, I'd
say, like 80% non-Jews, becauseI wasn't really posting, I was
just posting lifestyle stuff.
You know, I was just postingstuff, you know, about it being,
you know, America and I, and Idid post, you know, holidays,

(42:25):
whatever, but it wasn't, likeyou know, a constant, it was,
you know, every once in a while,I mean, I played the influencer
game like everybody else didand, um, you know, I, I, I have
not, I just don't, I just don'texpect at this point really any.
I don't expect anyone to sayanything to me, but it would be

(42:47):
nice if people you know couldstart posting something you know
or or would reach out to me.
But, like you know, like yousaid before, you know I have
maybe a handful I don't evenknow if I have a handful of
people and I work with a lot of.
You know I work, I work with alot of people that I helped a

(43:09):
lot.
I mean, it's like we have theexact same story.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
It's so freaky it is, it's great.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
That's why I was like so excited to have you on the
show, because, like, I feel likewe're so freaky right, because
we did the same thing for somany communities and it's just
so hard like I didn't evenmention that.
I was like a.
I was like a really hardcorevegan these past 10 years.
I did everything like I did.

(43:35):
I spray so much, I did so much,you know, work the way.
See, this is why this is whythis has been very kind of like
a very easy thing, because as an, as an influencer who
understands how to use socialmedia, but the stuff that I'm
doing for Israel now is the samestuff that I would do if I was
working for a brand, the samekind of like, you know, non-stop

(43:57):
posting, capturing things, likeI was doing all the same stuff,
but I was just doing it forbrand.
So it was very natural for meto just like immediately just
take those skills and adapt themfor Israel.
But it's just, it's justshocking to me that every of all
these things, all thesecampaigns that I did and all

(44:19):
these you know relationshipsthat I built and so much you
know, it's like it just allevaporated.
And it evaporated with thevegan community as well.
The sanctuaries that I wassupporting, that I was giving
money to every month, startedcoming out with fundraisers for
Gaza.
Not one word about Israel.
All these vegan communitiesthat I were in were like you

(44:42):
have to, melissa, because wehate israel.
And I was like what?
Literally yes, and and all of asudden, making all the recipes
about leave palestine.
I mean it was like it's beenlike living in the twilight zone
, just all the, all thecommunities and the causes that

(45:03):
they.
And this wasn't even like workstuff, this was just like
personal, on a personal level,like visiting, you know,
visiting sanctuaries.
I did a lot of rescue work likefor, you know, homeless dogs
and and and cats, and just havebeen abandoned, abandoned since

(45:24):
saying I support Israel.
And you know how easy it wouldbe to know, how easy it would be
to just say, you know what?
I just want my life back FreePalestine.
That would be the path of leastresistance and I understand
people who aren't Jewish wouldchoose it because then you have
no problems.
It can all continue the way itwas.

(45:45):
Back to school.
I mean, come on, lynn, you know, back to school we would have
been doing like a million.
We would have been doingScholastic Book Fair.
We would have been doing allthe stuff, all the you know,
back to school, the knapsacksworking with Staples.
I just posted a picture fromStaples of a woman wearing a
hijab who you know wouldn't talkto a Jew in Staples because

(46:07):
they're Jewish.
Like that's what I'm doingabout Staples now.
You know, it's like it's justsuch a different it's so
everything is so different now.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
And I wish, yeah, what do you?
What do you do to take care ofyourself?
Cause obviously this is a lot,and you've been full speed for
almost a year now.
How do you take?
What do you do to take care of,like, your mental health?
I know you're like into healthand you guys, you know I love
your videos when you're joggingand and I like that makes me
feel like, okay, she's takingcare of herself because I don't

(46:34):
know you know online at six inthe morning till till late at
night you're posting you'reposting, you're all.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
I mean, this is what I dream.
This is is literally all Idream about.
It's crazy.
This is all I think about.
It doesn't end.
It's like a never-ending cyclein my head.
So it's very hard to, and evenwhen I'm running I try to.
I've been doing that counter.
I have a bring-them-homecounter that I started on
October 8th and I run with itevery day and some days if I

(47:09):
don't run that day I feel guiltybecause I didn't do the.
I try.
I can't run every day becauseit's, you know, it's too hard on
my legs, but you know I, just II running and just you know
talking.
I mean I spend hours talking topeople, like people that I
don't know, just giving advice.
I mean it's crazy.
You don't even understand, likethe amount of time that I spend

(47:30):
just like talking to randompeople from all, from Australia
and Belgium and just you know,just trying to help them like
understand things.
And like you said abouteducating, you know, like it
really something that reallydoes stick in my cause that
people are like, well, I don'tknow.
And if I educate myself, no oneeducated me on Black Lives
Matter.
I didn't ask anyone to, Ididn't.
If you did, god forbid, don'tyou dare ask me to.

(47:53):
You know, don't you dare ask meto educate you on Black Lives
Matter.
It's not my job, so why is itmy job to educate anybody else
about Israel and about Judaism?
You know, know it's.
It's different for us, but it'sthe same thing.
You know we, we have toconstantly defend ourselves and
educate people.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
You know, and not only do we have to and and we're
expected to know every fuckingdetail and nuance.
Like I grew up in israel, Ieven studied middle middle east
relation like history in collegein Canada.
And my teacher was ChristianEgyptian, so you don't get more
nuanced than that and I don'teven fucking know every detail.

(48:36):
Also, I was very stoned inclass, but that's another thing.
But I'm just saying, if I livedin Israel and my dad fought two
wars I studied it in school inCanada and I read all the books
that you could pop.
I don't know every like whathappened in 19,.
You know, I don't know all thedetails, like I am still

(48:58):
learning, and the fact thatpeople like expect us to know
every single detail is like inminority group.
Well, it's again it's like spitout you know, no, it's typical
gaslighting.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
That's how they, that's how it's like.
It's like it's like such amanipulation and no other, no
other group is manipulated andhelp.
It's like we're held to astandard that no other group is
held to and it's it's.
It's so frustrating.
It makes me angry, you know,and I just feel like you know.
We just have to keep puttingout this content because no one

(49:35):
else will.
I mean, excuse me, nobody elsewill.
And what is the alternative?
What is the alternative Like?
The alternative is that we allend up just saying free
Palestine, and you know, and,and, and we just, we just go
along with it and we just leaveour, we leave Israel behind, but
that just that just can't,that's just, it's not right,

(49:57):
it's not.
it's not a reality.
It's not going to be my realityand you know we owe it.
We owe it to like we're part ofa link.
We're in a chain that has goneback, you know, thousands of
years.
Like we owe it to the peoplethat came before us, that fought
, that had it much harder thanus.
You know we're lucky.

(50:17):
We have the ability to like getthe message out.
To not do it is like it's a sin.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
It really is a sin.
I mean we owe it to oursoldiers, to our soldiers who
are on the front lines.
Oh my God, we owe it to likewhat is that what is posting on
social media when they're likeliterally 19, risking their
lives for our safety, riskingtheir bodies?

Speaker 3 (50:39):
their mental health, everything.
I mean how many?
How many?
Like wounded soldiers did youknow, have I met online and and
in at events?
When I went to israel, you know, we were at shiva hospital like
, and these guys, like it wasit's not even.
And one guy I met like gotmajorly injured and he's like as
soon as I get better, I'm goingback.

(50:59):
And I'm like what do you mean?
You're going back and he said,because like I can't leave my
brothers out there, me knowingmy brothers are out there
without me, I don't feel whole.
And like we have to feel likewe're part of Hashem's army.
You know, we're part of theIsraeli army too, in our own way
, like we we're part of theonline army, israel's online

(51:19):
army.
You know and I don't considerit like propaganda, I consider
it just telling we're truthtellers.
We're truth tellers for what'sreally happening, and every case
of anti-Semitism that'shappening now is directly
related to people hating Israel,whether they say it or not.
Nothing would be happening.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
It's not just hating Israel.
It's hating Jews.
They hate Jews that fight back.
They prefer dead Jews.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Israel's the lightning rod.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
People love dead Jews .

Speaker 2 (51:45):
It's the easy thing to rally around.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yes, yes, yes, people do love dead Jews.
It's true, you're right, andyou know.
I mean, like you know, mynephew was at Penn last year and
he was a freshman and you knowthose kids on that campus, you
know.
It was like I really hope thatwe've learned and we're going to

(52:07):
move forward and we're going tobe more helpful to these
students and we're not going tolet them have a repeat of last
year.
I hope that we're smarter andwe're better and we're more
organized.
But I think we have a lot ofcatching up to do because, like
I said, you and I are guilty ofit too.
Not that we meant to do it, butthese hero organizations, these
legacy Jewish organizations,they're all really guilty of it
too.
Not that we meant to do it, but, like these hero organizations,
these legacy Jewishorganizations, they're all

(52:29):
really guilty of it.
And we're guilty of it for,like, not holding them to the,
you know, holding them theirfeet to the fire and saying,
like, what are you spending ourmoney on?
You know, and I should have,and I should have realized it
when my daughter, who's now 23,when she was in high school, she
joined the ADL, theAnti-Defamation League.

(52:50):
Do you know what they werefighting back then.
Black Lives Matter, that's whatthey were fighting.
I said but isn't it like aJewish organization?
She goes oh, no, no, no, butthey do you know, just for Black
Lives Matter now, and thatshould have been like a light
going off in my head.
What do you mean?
It's ADL, like.
I know that we ADL is like.
It's run by Jews, right, it's aJewish organization.
But I think that ADL and a lotof these organizations have

(53:15):
forgotten who their main coreaudience is, who their main
community is, and they'replaying catch up too.
Now.
They're very behind me, april,and I just noticed.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
This has woken so many people and organizations up
speaking, you know, just assomebody fresh to the fight, so
I can see it with a little bitof a different perspective.
I suppose is that the thingabout the legacy organizations
is, at this point they arenowhere near as nimble as we are

(53:51):
online where you can go hey,I'm putting this deal down and
now this is what I'm doing oreven you, dibi, can get up and
running and make an impactinstantly.
They're playing catch up, butthey're too far behind, I agree.
They simply, unless there is atop to bottom overhaul in the

(54:14):
way that they approach thisapproach, this topic, which
these types of organizationsjust seem to move too slow.
They're, they're a little toooutdated and you go online and
look at what they post and youknow what that.
You know what they're they'reposting.
It's it's like this isn't goingto move the needle it's not
going to move the needle.
Yeah, this is not going to movethe needle and you're way behind

(54:37):
the eight ball on some of thisstuff and at some point it's
almost like you just want themto hand the keys to the car.
Yes, it'd be like okay, we havethe infrastructure, you have
the ideas, let's.
Let's agree to like, pass thebaton a little bit and go, let's
get into some people that canmake some moves.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Who are your favorite creators?

Speaker 3 (55:03):
right now that you look up to.
I mean good question, I meanobviously the people that I work
with, the people that I partnerwith every day, you know?
Oh, there's an account, joan ofJudea.
We love Joan of Judea.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
There's an account called Joan of Judea.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
And and she's really helped me.
She's really helped me, like,you know, really, not be afraid
to really be as powerful and asstrong as I want to be.
You know, she's really made mesay, like you, you know, just do
it Like, made me say, like you,you know, just do it, like,

(55:40):
don't be afraid.
Obviously, jew Hate Database.
They are, um, really, you know,calling people out, rallying
people, um, you know, they'renot afraid to just go for the
jugular and just call things outthe way they are and I think
it's awesome because, right, youknow they're, they're, they are
new and they don't have to gothrough donor lists and like do

(56:03):
eight committees to get onemotion passed board of directors
.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
There's no board of directors.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Right, and you know it's not like, but it reminds me
of like.
You know the way journalismused to.
You know how you would have tolike you know everything would
be so slow.
You know you have pressreleases and you have phone
calls and like now it's likethere's no more press releases,
there's no more phone calls.
It's a quick text, it's anemail, that's it.

(56:30):
And everyone's got to get up tospeed with the level, the way
things are communicating so fast, so furiously.
You know you need to, you knowthey need to be on that same
pace or at least hire people,like you said, bring them in
people that can at least managethat part of their organization,
so that they can at least, youknow, be there in some capacity.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
yeah, there's, there's a whole there's a whole
world of talent that we areimmersed in that if I was these
big heavy hitter organizationswith the checkbooks to match, I
would be hiring, consulting fromthese guys, and the Juhe guys
specifically consult and say,hey, what can we do to get in

(57:15):
this fight in a really impactfulway?
We have the resources we, justwe realized we don't know how to
allocate them properly.
What can we do?
I would be consulting with themdaily because, you know, I'm
excited to see where what thoseguys do, specifically in the
evolution of what they're, whatthey're taking on is, is going
to be it's, it's beyond justthis moment in time.

(57:39):
Yeah, what they're going to dowith their platform is going to
be so far beyond just thisspecific fight.
It's.
It's going to be really, it'sgoing to be really cool to watch
them evolve because they're sopassionate, so energetic and so
talented.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
And I think it's a new era for Jews.
We're like we're, we're notJews with trembling knees, like
we fight back, that's it.
Like we're not walking to thegas chambers and, uh, you know,
we're, we're, we're fighting,we're going to fight till till
the death.
Like we're, we're.
No, no more shit.
Like especially the Jew hateguys like they're, they're
calling out like Jew haters, andthat's how it's supposed to be.

(58:15):
There needs to be consequences.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
There needs to be consequences to Jew hatred.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Yeah, like I was told so many times like don't say
anything, be the bigger person,don't call it out, just like
pretend like it doesn't exist.
And then what?
And it continues and continues.
Like I've, I've I've dealt withso many Jew haters and like you
get to a point where you'relike I'm going to fight back,
like why do I have to just sithere and and and get abuse like
abuse like this, like it's not,it's not okay.

(58:42):
And I think, like Jew hate issetting and Jonah Judea is
setting a standard of we're notgoing to take shit from anybody,
we're going to call this shitout and we're going to be on
like unapologetic about it it.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Yeah, and I would throw abraham in that mix as
well.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Yeah, of course abraham hamra, yes, um, and and
also, you know, there's so manyamazing israeli creators there's
so, oh my god, that peopleshould be following.
Um.
Uh, what did you say, sahar?

Speaker 2 (59:10):
yeah, yes, you want to talk to somebody that?
If anybody asked me anythingspecific about israel, I'd be
like go watch three of Sahar'svideos.
He can rattle off the historyof not just Israel but the
Middle East.
He rattles off things that I'mjust blown away by.
His knowledge is an ocean.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
It's like if you want to know about Israel, you have
to go to the source and Israelicreators.
Really, because you know, Ithink part of this big, the
biggest problem in America isthat you're judging Israel based
on Western values.
You're judging Israel based onrace.
Israel, in Israel, the conceptof race is very different than

(59:54):
it is here.
Most Israelis are brown andblack people.
They're not white.
So you can't.
You know you're using systems ofjudgment that don't apply in
Israel and just the way thatIsrael fights the enemy that
Israel is fighting is not thetypical Western enemy.

(01:00:16):
It's a very different kind ofmentality and Israeli creators
understand this.
They understand the Palestinianmindset, hamas, hezbollah.
They understand it in a verydifferent way than American Jews
do, and so that's why it'simportant to follow them, to
really understand it from theirperspective, to understand what
it means to live in Israel.

(01:00:36):
Most people don't evenunderstand what it means to live
in Israel.
You know most people don't evenknow what it means to live in
Israel and as Americans, youknow they don't even, they don't
even know about Israel.
So you know Israelic creatorslike Adiel of Israel I love him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Oh my God, he's such a neshama.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Oh my God, I love him .
There's another one, eliranBen-Yair.
He is amazing.
Also, all these guys have beenin the army.
They were in the reserves allthroughout this year and they
really have a good handle on,like the politics, the history.
You know, israel is a very,very it's such a beautiful

(01:01:20):
complex, but it's not white jewslike people think, it's just.
You know, white colonizerashkenazi jews.
It's not, it's the majority,aren't even white.
There's like so manymisconceptions about israel, but
even ashkenazi jews are fromlike.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
We're all from Judea.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Well, this is the funny thing, my mother this is
why my mother's, my grandmotherwas born in Tiberias.
They were so she's like a Sabra, she's dark.
My mother's mother was like aSabra, dark.
And they had to leave this wasbefore 1948 because their Arab

(01:02:03):
neighbors were very violent andthey couldn't live there anymore
.
So they had to find sponsors inAmerica.
So both sides of my family mymother's side and my father's
side different reasons, had tolike because of their Jewish
identity.
They had to find, they had tocome to America.
You know, so it's like you knowmy blood, I cause I, I, I went.

(01:02:27):
I don't know if you know thisprogram.
It's called Chatzavakash, Idon't even know if it's still
around.
It was a program where kidswith Israeli heritage were
allowed to come and work in theIsraeli army, the Gadnav, for
six weeks during the summer.
So the only reason I wasallowed to go on because they're
like you're not Israeli, I'mlike my grandmother is they were
like okay, then you can come on, because everybody there had an

(01:02:49):
Israeli parent.
So you know, I don't look likeI have Israeli.
You know like, my heritage isfrom Israel, but I am, I don't
look like I have Israeli.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
You know, like I, that my heritage is from Israel,
but I am you know.
So it's like I mean every Jewslook like I, like I lived in
Israel, and there's blonde Jews,blue with blue eyes, there's
black Jews, there's brown Jews,there's Asian Jews, there's all
the Jews there's, there's.
It's like.
It's like you walk in Tel Aviv.
You feel like you're in theUnited States, almost very
diverse in the United States,almost.
It's true.
It's very diverse and a lot ofdifferent types of Jewish people

(01:03:18):
, Ethiopian Jews, and we're allfrom Judea.
Our history dates back 3,000years and we were just expelled
to different parts of the worldand we change and our skin color
changed, but at the core we areall Jewish people, we're
Amichad, we're one nation andyou know it's so narcissistic

(01:03:41):
for Americans to compare theAmerican struggle to a nation
that has been going through thehistory of a three, a people of
3000 people.
It's not an oppressor versusoppressed, it's not, it's it's.
It's it's good versus evil,it's.
You know we're going against aradical Islamism, we're going

(01:04:03):
against, not like a Naziideology.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Well, I think this is this ties together to what
Melissa was speaking to.
When it comes to the diasporaand and the disconnect that has
evolved over hundreds of years,I suppose or at least especially
the past, let's say 60 or 70years right, that the glimpse

(01:04:29):
that at least people in Americaspecifically have gotten of
Jewish people is of a peoplethat wants to assimilate, that
wants to be part of America,right?
So now everybody in America isgoing wait a minute.
Now all of a sudden you careabout Israel.
How are we supposed to carewhen you haven't been caring?

(01:04:50):
They see the example that'sbeen set in the diaspora.
So it's much harder for peopleto go to rally around this thing
when the people, when theJewish people in the West
haven't been rallying around ituntil now.
And so that, to me, is part ofwhat has been awoken in you and

(01:05:11):
Lynn and everyone else, whereit's like, oh shit, we did take
our eye off the ball and, whilewe want did lash out at
everybody else for not gettingit, we didn't fucking get it
either.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
And look where we are so, to my defense, I always
talked about being jewish, andmaybe not to the place where I
am now.
It wasn't like my wholepersonality, where now it is my
whole personality and you'reright.
You're right in a sense, but itwas always part.
It was right in a sense, but itwas always part.
It was always like a part of me.
It was always like right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
But now, but now you've started creating
community around it.
Right Now there's community,Now there's a Friday nights or
Shabbat nights, right Like thesethings.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
The identity has been calling me out.
No, I'm not calling you out.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
I'm, I'm, I'm, no, you're right.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
You're right, I think the diaspora, especially like
people who are not religious,who are more like secular and I
grew up, you know, I the thingis like my story is a little
different Like I grew up in a,like an Israeli home, so my
excuse was always like I'mIsraeli, I don't need to do
Shabbat.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
I'm Israeli.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
I don't need to fast on Yom Kippur, but I live in New
Jersey and since October 7th,I'm like I'm not, no, I'm being
pushed towards the religion evenmore and we are doing Shabbat
every Friday and we are doingall the Jewish holidays and we
are being intentional about itand we're going to shul and
we're we're being more involvedin the jewish community because

(01:06:38):
I'm I'm recognizing like that Ineed to be, I need to for my
kids, especially that we liveright now.
We don't.
If I lived in israel, I'd beback to being just, you know,
living the life and just beingthe israeli woman that I am.
But I live in new jersey and Iwant to set an example for my
kids that there's just shabbatdinner and that we, you know

(01:06:58):
these are the holidays and youare Jewish.
And me, my daughter, my 11 yearold, wears a Star of David and
she's going to have her batmitzvah and and my babe, noah,
when she, as soon as she's oldenough, she's going to go to a
Jewish school, like because Isee how important it is, and
definitely October 7th pushed meinto that direction.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
It's saying on my phone that I'm losing storage.
I don't know if that like doesthat matter, so I have to.
I don't know why it says that.
It says that I'm losing storageon my phone, that I have to
stop the recording.
It says I don't know why,device storage is running low.
You should stop recording andfree up device data.
I don't know what that evenmeans.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
You finally tapped out your phone, you're gonna
have to get a computer.
That's it.
Your shem has said enough withthe phone, get a computer.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
But as far as I mean, we can talk for hours.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
We could talk for hours, I suppose that's, that's
uh.
We're getting shoved out thedoor then and they're telling us
to wrap it up.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
So I want, can you tell people like where to find
you and like you know what'snext for you?

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
Sure, no, I mean, just follow me on Instagram at
Melissa S Chapman and like,everything's there.
I mean, you know, that's really, if you're a Jew, if you're not
a Jew, if you want to be anally, follow me, get in touch
with me.
Ally, follow me, get in touchwith me.

(01:08:24):
I, you know, I'm always here toshare my experiences and to
help people understand what'sgoing on and and to to create,
you know, new relationships.
That will, you know, that willsupport my Judaism in America.
You know, as a supporter ofIsrael.
So that's really, you know,that's really the main goal
right now.
And, and, to you know, keepsharing the stories of people

(01:08:48):
from Israel.
And obviously, you know,hopefully, by the time that this
is, you know, that this is live, Maybe more hostages will be
released.
It'll be a ceasefire deal, Aceasefire deal with a hostage
deal, one that's really in place, but not one that just gives
everything away.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Yeah, let's hope and let's pray and, melissa, thank
you for all that you do.
Thank you, we really appreciateyou, we love you and we thank
you so much for talking to usLike.
This was so much fun.
I like we need to do a part two, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
I would love it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
You let me know when, after I get my check.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Okay, yeah, get your mouth in order.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
Get my mouth in order and I'll be back.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
And then you'll be back.
Thank you so much thank you.