This woman's views on Israel | Hasidic woman Pearl

Video Description

This conversation did not go as expected. It turned into a discussion about Hasidic anti-Zionism, whereas I thought it would be a gentle discussion on faith. The book referenced by Pearl is A Divine Madness by Rabbi Avigdor Miller: https://amzn.to/3J0Ra47 Since I did my first video with Pearl three years ago, my friendship with her has deepened and become richer. Still, we have always had deep ideological differences. I am no longer Hasidic, and I reject many of the beliefs of my upbringing. Pearl is a deeply believing Hasidic woman who not only lives a joyous life in the heart of her world, but in a way, she is also a vanguard of the views of the post-Holocaust generation. I believe that her passion for speaking up on her anti-Zionism is partly driven by her sense that this view is being lost among the younger generation in her community. I think this motivated her to make this interview about how faith relates to the Holocaust and Israel. During the interview, I was fairly certain I would not air it—partly because I felt an urge to protect Pearl, and partly because I felt an urge to protect Zionism/Israel. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I'd say I'm a Zionist -- which of course doesn't mean carte blanche support for anything Israel does. I don't believe Israel is a perfect state, and I think its actions should be open to criticism. Still, I also believe that the world's outsized obsession with the perceived sins of Israel is often motivated by an undercurrent of anti-semitism.) After some deliberation on whether I should publish or not, I came to believe that neither of these impulses to protect was the right one. I’m grateful to live in a free society where we can disagree and not shy away from difficult discussions, even if someone might try to weaponize them. And so, with that in mind, I decided to share the interview. I did not add captions for Yiddish words within the video itself, but they are available through the subtitle feature—if you turn on CC, you’ll see the translations. For more related videos see: My video - understanding Hasidic antizionism: https://youtu.be/7dBvvgBLi2k Pearl on when her son left the fold: https://youtu.be/vf_LDz3vD_A My video on narratives like Unorthodox: https://youtu.be/v-VWUgQBTvQ