Rabbi Justin Pines of JBS Live in Studio During Today's JM in the AM

Wednesday morning at JM. Well, Rabbi Justin Pines is in our studio. This is a conversation that I have been very anxious to have and finally I jumped on the opportunity a few days ago made arrangements with our Pines to be in our studio and uh we'll get to hear about JBS and his and his organization's uh impact on cable TV and what's happening with the network etc etc. Rabbi Justin Pines, a pleasure to welcome you to JM in the AM. >> Thank you so much. Uh, what do I say? First time, long time. So, long time fan, first time appearing on the show. Thank you so much. >> I appreciate that. And you've had an interesting career path. Wouldn't you agree that that's an accurate way of portraying it? >> I think that makes sense. Yes, that's >> How does one become the CEO of JBS? >> Uh, Hashem's in charge of everything, I guess, is the short answer. We know. And uh it depends how long you want, but the the very headline and we can share as much as you want is that I uh um I was a corporate lawyer for several years. I went to Harvard Law School. Um but I uh I made a turn somewhere and became a rabbi and then you know my Jewish career also took me to JBS. But I'm happy to share as much or as little as you want about that. >> Interesting. You know, we we have this shtick for many decades that when someone has drifted from a certain background to let's say Orthodox, not making the comparison, I'm just saying as an example, Orthodox Judaism, they've changed their life completely. So, I will always say to them, you know, you had it all. Why on earth would you want to pursue this type of uh of observant background? Just as an example. So, in your case, I could say Harvard Law, from what we're told, and I know very little about academia, uh, upfront and personal, but from what we're told, Harvard Law, you write your own ticket essentially, and you never have to worry about a career path once you leave Harvard Law School and then you go ahead and and veer off of that path. >> Yeah. And I think sometimes I like to think that that's uh I took advantage of that. Now I get to interview my heroes as my day job, which is crazy. I sit with, you know, some of the leading Jewish thinkers of the day as part of the show that I lead Jewish insets with Justin Pines. And um I don't know if it's cuz I went to Harvard Law because I show, you know, smiled on me, but for some reason I get to spend an hour week sitting with the someone who's inspired me, who I want to help inspire others and learn Torah from them. >> And the background from Harvard helps helps book guests. >> I think um I don't know if it helped book guests, but I think everything leads to everything. So I think certainly it helped sharpen my mind, help the way I think. I think uh you know job applications along the way certainly using the word Harvard helps for sure. Um I'll give a shout out to Penn also because uh my you know in Anglewood I'm surrounded by five of my seven PEN roommates I guess live in Anglewood. So that's definitely a big part of it as well. Um and very grateful for my time at Penn as well. >> Um and and and do you cringe when now people mention you and Harvard in the same sense? Is there a little bit of cringe because of what's happening up there or what has been going on over the last couple of years? >> Yeah, that's a great question. I think um it's really I think with a lot of news, it's really hard to really really be in a position to give like a deep impressive thought. I'm not on Harvard campus right now. Certainly from where I'm sitting, it seems like Penn and Harvard both were in bad shape uh around October 7th, and it feels like Penn has taken more steps to work on that uh immediately than Harvard has from what I'm seeing at my distance. Um so I think uh >> and you would say that's Pennlike, right? Like you would say that that's if someone would say to you, one is going to act in a certain way and one will act differently, you probably could have guessed which was which. Would that be accurate? >> I guess so. I think so. So, I mean, I certainly, you know, when I was there, Penn had a super vibrant uh Jewish community. When I was at Harvard, it also was a very healthy Jewish community. It was different, I think. Uh, and I always reflect on the fact that Penn, I was able to like be picky, if that makes sense. There were so many Orthodox Jews that you could like find the ones that also overlap the specific hobbies you had. And at Harvard, it was like, "Oh, you're Orthodox, I'm Orthodox. We're going to be friends regardless of our backgrounds, which is also a kind of a hidden blessing blessing." But um uh I think that uh yeah, I'm not so close to the leadership of either school, both in terms of the Jewish leadership and the the the administration. Pen, I'm involved with the Hill a bit and I know they've really, you know, focused on really trying to strengthen the relationship with the administration and use this time as a time for repair. >> Interesting. whereby Justin Pines is here and we'll get to JBS, but it in all seriousness, when one is at Harvard Law, >> even [clears throat] before graduation, are are firms around the country seeking you out? Like, are you inundated with requests for interviews? >> Yeah, sure. I mean, it's a formal program. You have like there's like onampus interviews. It's kind of set up for you. Um, and so, uh, I >> It's like rabbitic placement. >> Exactly. It's like rabbitic placement. Um, and they they show up and it's, you know, it's a few weeks I think your second year before your second summer. uh you meet all different firms. >> So you must feel like a free agent. You must feel like you know I mean having people seek you. You know most people in employment don't don't uh enjoy that type of uh of episode. >> Sure. Yes. Uh it's it's definitely it feels like there's you know there's a limited number of choices in front of you. Certainly running a Jewish cable channel is not one of them at the time. It's [laughter] uh it's mostly either corporate law um public interest law which is like working for a nonprofit or government law are really the three most common paths. >> And you went straight to a New York firm. >> I went to Paul Weiss. Yeah. >> Which is New York. >> And um when someone says to you, I mean now you are the CEO of JBS, Jewish Broadcasting Service. It's got an impact. It's got a footprint all around this country, right? There's basically no corner of this country that can't access it. >> Almost anywhere where there's cable. I mean, now we're also on YouTube and podcast as well, but on almost every cable provider, we're there. >> And if someone says to you, "What is and I know you're not the founder, and I don't think the founder is even with us anymore. Am I right? and Mark Olivewood passed away in January of 2023. >> Right. So I you can't really speak to the history from that point of view, but if someone would say to you, what is the mission? What is the purpose? Why does JBS exist? What do you tell them? >> Yeah. I I think in some ways I was also drawn to the the the mission as well, I think that kind of the two core areas that Rabbi Gallup established and I think I've kind of continued is celebrating the best of the Jewish people um and being pro- Israel. Um, I think the language that I would use now is really um helping people connect with the Jewish people, the Jewish land, and the Jewish religion. Those kind of feel like what we're trying to do. >> Did October 7th make that more complicated or or you're in a lane where October 7th only enhance this type of, you know, programming for the community that you're addressing. >> Great. So, uh, so I'm going to I'm going to zoom out for one second and they'll come back in. So, I'm the grandchild of four survivors, which is a huge part of my identity. Um, my mother's father, Murray Pantier, um, was saved by Oscar Schindler. uh that was, you know, that shaped so much of my childhood and my adulthood and, you know, why I think I'm on this planet, you know, commitment to the Jewish people, commitment to my family, um commitment to never again. I think alongside those, what I've realized over the past 20 years myself is that there was kind of this obsession with never again, but we didn't spend a lot of time talking about like what are we preserving? What's the importance of the Jewish people? I remember the way it stuck out to me the most is I I've done two trips to Poland. The first one I went to was only focused on the destruction and it came home feeling very empty. And the second one, we spent more than half the trip talking about what Jewish life was like before the Horban. And I think that that to [clears throat] me um really made me realize that there was like we need it's not just about making sure we protect Jewish bodies. It's about actually preserving and growing the Jewish religion. Um and I think when I came into this role, I actually came in January of 24, so right after October 7th. And of course there was there was a lot more attention on Jewish identity on uh Jewish news. I had you know people advising me you should become a 24/7 news channel. Everyone wants to know about Israel. Do news all day every day. And my thesis instead has been to really use the energy coming towards Jewish news to learn about what's happening in Israel and try to grow that energy into learning more about Torah and about Judaism and about the Jewish people. And so we still of course we have daily news you know like any like you know like channel 11 or channel 4 we have our 6:00 news and our 11:00 news but after the news is over we have you know fascinating conversations with leading Jewish thinkers of the day because we want people to come to find out what's going on in Israel but stay to actually grow in their Judaism >> and you do include in all seriousness you do include include some Jewish music I assume that's part of the cultural experience that you're trying to spread and you do include actual real and I and people will know what I mean by this real Torah study. You include real, you know, people can get, you know, hardcore Torah thoughts on a regular basis. >> That's right. We have Gumar Shirim, we have Rabbi Saxs and Rabbi Riskin on the para every week. Um, both of them, uh, we have cartoons on the para. We have, uh, you know, different lectures about Torah itself. I I'll say on the music point, I think it's so fascinating because when I first I just read Sarah's book as a Jew, which I highly recommend, very fascinating book that kind of not talks about anti-semitism in America. She was Obama's speech writer. I had her as a guest on and one of the things she points out which was so interesting which I I just I can't stop thinking about is that because we live in America there's this assumption that you know there's holiday season is Christmas and so we're supposed to have our holiday songs so there's this focus on coming up with Hanukkah songs we have to Adam sound that's the Jewish music time and then it took me a year at the helm of JBS to realize no our holiday music sound is evil like we should be like there should be music around like the way you know Christians are listening to Christmas music for a month leading up to Christmas we don't need to do in December for Hanukkah. That's not our main holiday, right? We should be listening to Russy Kipper and El music the entire month of El. >> You'd never make it at Hallmark, >> right? Exa Exactly. Exactly. But that was it was such a big aha moment. And then I did I reached out to Eton Cats. I said, you know, we want to run Lanca and Kikarov on our network, you know, and we'll we'll, you know, promote your tour and that kind of thing. And so we really shifted to make sure that we're adding highquality Jewish music. For sure. >> Is it hard to come about content? You're you're 24 hours, right? Yeah. Is it difficult to come about quality content to present? >> Um, uh, I would say, thank God it generally it is not. I think it's more for us. I like the the metaphor I think of is kind of like being a chef, if that makes sense, which is there's endless Jewish ingredients and we're trying to pick which ingredients to bring together to present to our audience and you know what are the things that they want to be tasting in EL and what are the things that they want to be ta tasting the week week of Sukkot and what do they want to taste on, you know, Friday afternoon before Shabas and what do they want to taste on a Tuesday night if that makes sense. You're selective about the dishes that you serve. >> Exactly. We're trying to really, you know, and I alluded to this before. I think for me, I I had a very unique upbringing in that. I went to um I went to Salman Shrek Day School in West Orange, which is conservative day school. I was a member of Suburban Torah and then later Orthodox, Shoulles, and Livingston. And I went to camp Starite, which for lack of a better term is a reform camp. >> Oh gosh. We used to we used to pass Starlight on the way to Bara all the time. >> Exactly. you know, I still have the memories of thou shalt rest being the song we sang Friday night and we sang fiddler on the roof, may the Lord protect and defend you instead of shamm [laughter] um which you know in many ways exposed me at an early age and I think this is it's very hard to do these today and I realize in the orthodox world it's very hard but being exposed to different ways of thinking made like kind of enriched me more and helped me find my way and I think one of the things that we do very well on JBS is we really try to bring different voices from different parts of the Jewish people because I think we're a richer community when you're hearing hearing from people on all >> and from the other angle you have an amazing advantage cuz you know what those people want to hear and experience. I wouldn't know what the Starlight parents would want to experience on their cable TV but you know it. You know what they're looking for which is pretty cool. Rabbi Justin Pines is here, CEO of JBS. How about some nuts and bolts? People are listening. They want to know how to access all the programming that we're talking about. It is 24 hours a day. What do you suggest? >> Great. So, first of all, you know, 300,000 people watch every month just on the cable providers alone before getting to digital. So, if you if you are a cable subscriber, you know, the local channels in New York are Direct TV, we're on channel 388. Optimum, we're on 138. Spectrum, we're on uh channel uh 219 and Comcast Xfinity, we're on 1684 and Verizon for iOS, we're on 798. If I said that too fast, just go to the jbstv uh.org org website and you can find out more about, you know, where to uh ww.jbstv.org and you can find all of our, you know, our providers. Uh if you're not a cable subscriber or a satellite subscriber, we have a YouTube channel, we have an Instagram account. Um it's all JBSTVO.org.org.org.org.org.org.org.org.org.org. Uh uh everything that we put out now, we also put out as a podcast as well. >> And I'm very familiar with the 219. I'm a Spectrum customer, so I I'm very familiar with that channel. And guess what, folks? Once you tune in once in a while and then become a regular viewer, you will have no problem accessing it. Uh especially if you're a numbers guy like I am. Anyway, just Rabbi Justin Pines is here. We're talking about JBS. How is it dealing with the cable companies now once this has been established and you're on 219 with Spectrum? Does anything need to be done? Like do you have to maintain a relationship with anybody or is it just, you know, things flow along each and every day? >> Great. So, like anything else I've learned now that I'm a working adult, everything involves doing the work to get it there. You know, even, you know, tracking down the Ethan cats video, we have to reach out to Ethan, have the conversation, those kinds of things. I am fortunate that almost all of this work was done before I arrived on the scene. Um, we've established relationships with these cable providers. Um, and you know, yes, there's we have to comply with certain things. things. I think for example, one thing we're learning now is that as our budget grows, which thank god we're continuing to grow very, very nicely. Uh we're going to reach a point where all of our programs have to have um subtitles, um closed captions, um which obviously in our heart of hearts is something that we want to do and people ask us all the time and we've been trying to keep up, but it is a ton of work to do that and it's a high cost. So things like that we're trying to learn to make sure we're compliant. But the cable companies themselves, is it difficult to maintain that relationship or or like I said earlier, things basically just flow now day to day? >> Yeah. Yeah. I think we're we just, you know, we have to keep up with certain standards that they require, that kind of thing. Um, and it goes the other way sometimes as well. Sometimes you, you know, you you put something up and you look, it looks like it didn't come through in HD and you're like, why is it not on HD? And you have to call and follow up. But for the most part, it's a healthy relation. >> And you have colleagues, right? There are other cable channels that try to attract a Jewish audience, right? >> Yeah. I think that there's kind of three cable channels. There's I24, of course, which is really a full-time 24/7 news channel. Um, and there's JLTV, which is a little bit I don't want to speak on their behalf, but I think it leans more towards um what's the word? I'll let them speak for themselves, but there's different there's those are the three channels that are out there. Yeah. >> And it it's I mean, if if a fourth would be established, would cable companies drift to it? And the reason I'm asking this is because as a radio guy, I've always been shocked and I know a lot of people at SiriusXM, but there's never been a serious spelled differently effort to get a Jewish channel on. They do something around Kaneka time, funny enough, as you mentioned earlier, but nothing, you know, that that reflects a real desire to have 24-hour Jewish program. Yet cable television, you know, as far as we're concerned, you know, they're drowning in in Jewish channels. What do you think the difference is >> between TV and radio? Um, I I don't know if it's TV and radio. That's a good question. I wonder, you know, I think YouTube TV, as far as I can tell, does not currently YouTube has tons of Jewish content. YouTube TV, I don't think, as a Jewish channel. So, I wonder if it's more about the newer uh platforms platforms. Um, I think the cable channels already have tons of, you know, we're next to the Christian channel and African-American History Channel and those kinds of things. >> And I guess there a lot more channels, >> right? And there are more channels and I think that there's an interest. And I think I from what I've heard, again, these meetings were before my time. I think also it's a lot of it is just like getting in the meeting and sitting with the CEO of, you know, one of these cable providers and making the point that it's important to have a Jewish channel on television. >> Today on social media especially, um, you know, many people who are anti-Israel take the opportunity to use any format and any [clears throat] post, including some as innocuous as our, you know, music reminders to make their point of view known. Is does that happen in your end of the industry? >> Yes, for sure. >> A lot of hate out there. Um there's a lot of hate out there. Um we have you know we post clips from my show and other shows uh and you know every once not every once in a while pretty commonly uh someone you know once it's found people they all just come after you. Yeah. Exactly. Um yeah and there's by the way it's not even only Free Palestine stuff. I think you know the culture unfortunately of social media these days is people feel very anonymous and they'll just like >> say whatever they want. >> Yeah. Like I I won't even reference the rabbi I'm talking about, but I had a rabbi on and people were complaining about his haircut. [laughter] I was just like he's like a gudle and I sat with him and he's sharing beautiful Torah and they're like this guy needs a haircut and I'm like what world are we in that this is people are sitting at home and sending that's like that's your contribution to the conversation like you did great work. So I think it's uh I think in general people sometimes feel that social media is a way to get their angst out. Um and uh they're looking sometimes to to drop it on us sometimes. >> The whole world is looking at this New York City election. Do you spend time on any of this or is it because I know what it's like for me over all these 40 years. I really pick and choose, you know, what's what road is worth going down and what's not worth it. What's been your point of view on this? >> Yeah. So, on on my show, I don't uh Jewish such as Justin Pines, I don't focus heavily on politicians. I think I'm the only person um who's had Cippy Libby and Ambassador David Freeman on the same show. Um which I think also speaks to the pluralism and I think is really important. I really think, you know, I remember actually I was I was doing a speaking tour um in liberal synagogues a couple years ago, Ambassador Freeman's book had just come out and I just it was the one the one about the Abraham Accords. And I remember just saying show of hands. I'm in rooms of hundreds of people in these synagogues who's read this book. Zero hands. And I just remember thinking like we've gotten to a point where there's so much anger across political aisles and the Jewish people that this person was like one of the closest people to one of the most important peace agreements with Arab countries during our lives and you won't pick up the book because he's a Republican. Like what what's happening here? And I think that that's really something I try to push back against is to try to say no there are good people on both sides of the aisles here. Find the good people and work with those people. And so I think generally I stay away from politics. cuz I've had the two of them on which I think is important for different reasons. Um but we have within you know we're a 24/7 channel. There's all different programs. So you know uh uh we have um David Harris on there. We have um JLM minute from JNS on there with Alex Trayman on there. We have for Heaven's Sake with Danielle Hartman and Yasi Klan Halevy on there. We have Alana Stein Hayne Show texting in real life on there. And so there's really kind of a variety of different programs and they all kind of come at different ways and the ones that tend to be more politically driven and more politically driven. I will say something totally that just been sitting with me that I think is really interesting. Um uh I just it's based on a Wall Street Journal article that I read and this is just a hot take and take it as you. I'm definitely not a political expert but one of the things that I read was this kind of from where the Democratic party is sitting because mom Donnie in theory is going to do so well in New York. That's like a data point and it's all about data points in politics and that in New Jersey there's a push to bring in the Republican. And so >> there could be actually a data point where the Democratic party looks at this and says, you know what, enough with moderate Democrats because moderate Democrats are not winning in a state like New Jersey. Look at Manny. He's a radical. He's doing well. We need to get more behind more radical Democrats. And that to me is one of those where it's like people in the community are trying so hard to do good and you know sometimes you end up shooting yourself in the foot. 100%. And it's funny you mentioned this because, you know, we we concentrate so much on the down the ballot um, you know, practice, people, you know, basically voting the same party. And yet we see how an election in New York is having the exact opposite effect in New Jersey. Like the, you know, the neighborly thing to do would be to protest their vote across the river. Right. >> Which is amazing. >> Right. Right. Exactly. So, we'll as I say to friends of mine who are anxious about these things, you know, Hashem hopefully has a plan and uh we'll each do our part of whatever we can do and hopefully good things will happen. >> How is JBS supported? >> Uh JBS is almost exclusively supported by viewers, which is an amazing amazing fact. Yeah. >> And that means you're hearing from people all around the country. >> Yes. Around the country. Uh we I just got a uh a beautiful letter from a deacon um this week uh along with his what did he call it? He he had some kind of Christian term for his like his contribution to [music] the people. Yeah. something like that. Something from the pew he called it. Um but I think uh it's >> that probably means like a rabbitic discretion. >> Exactly. Exactly. Um [laughter] uh we have over 4,000 individuals give donations to JBS. um sometimes with opinions, sometimes not with opinions, but we have, you know, one of my favorite things actually is those times of years where I have a chance to reach out to viewers and thank them because the stories you hear, you know, uh my my mother is blind and she listens to JBS all day and she loves it. Or, you know, I'll tell you two that really stick with me. I consistently hear from people, I used to watch Fox News all day or I used to watch CNN all day and I switched to JBS and I'm so much happier and more fulfilled because I used to just have anxiety all day every day and now I feel my >> they lived in fear until they discovered your industry. The industry is to encourage people to live in fear. >> Look at the election in New York. Right. Exactly. >> Everything that's coming out now is all based on fear. I blame OJ Simpson. I think once people realized there was so much money to be made from news, it just like went totally off off the rails after that cuz people that was like the number one program that people were paying attention to and then I was like, "Wow, if we can make news a 24/7 thing, then we can make money from that." And I'm trying to really give people the space to not live in fear and not live in anxiety and have like a healthy relationship with Torah and Hashem. So, I think that's one piece. And the other thing that always sticks with me is I had um >> Rabbi David Aaron um from the Old City who's a cabalist. He's amazing. I had him as a guest and I got this long letter from someone who was in their 80s. He had been the chair of several national Jewish organizations, had sat with multiple presidents on behalf of the Jews, prime ministers of Israel, prime ministers of European countries and said, you know, I spent 60 years serving the Jewish people as a lay leader. And since I was like in elementary school, I had not had a critical thought about my relationship with the divine, with God until I saw your program. And so to me that's like it's again you know we focus I mentioned before the heavy focus on never again when it comes to the Holocaust without focusing on Jewish you know Judaism and similarly this whole like you know focus on Jew Jews approach and showing up in politics and helping the Jewish people but to have someone who's sitting there representing us for 60 years in a row and not once did he have his chance to have a meaningful thoughtful conversation about how to relate to the divine to me feels like such a miss. And so those letters you know really give me fire to be like we have to keep doing what we're doing. And on top of that, those of us who are frustrated by the anti-semitism, uh by the atmosphere that's not not always pleasant, uh you get at least half the time, I hope, uh based on what you're saying, you get both a reaction from the Jewish world and the non-Jewish world. That's very promising, that's very upbeat, that's very appreciative of of our tradition. >> For sure. We get a lot of positive feedback. And I think, you know, that's another piece of this which I think is so interesting about JBS. You know, I've I've been everywhere. I spent time at Gush and Orita and Parardis and >> Starlight at Gush. Yeah, exactly. That's amazing. Um, yeah, I've been I call my used to what was the last one you said Rabbi Gersf had Gersian on the show. He's amazing and he's a hero of mine. Um, but I I've I've traveled the Jewish world and and learned from all those people, if that makes sense. Um, and I think that, you know, there's there is a small percentage of us, I imagine some of them are the listeners of the show that have access to the inner inner of the Jewish world and, you know, they're deciding between which shor to listen to that week, if that makes sense. But there's a lot of people that you reach when you're on cable on a broad platform that aren't necessarily going to have access in that way and that it's a way in for them whether they're Jewish or not Jewish. I remember I was at the gym and a person came up to me and said, "I love your show." And I got to know him. He's a non-Jewish carpenter. And he just said similar story. He's like, "I was so fed up with news. I was just looking for normal content. I was flipping through and I saw you interviewing someone and I just stuck around for the conversation and now I watch." And I was likeing it's crazy. >> You must be I'm trying to figure out if you're older than I think or younger than I think. I mean, you do remember the OJ trial, so that gives us an indication that you're at least around for that era. >> I mostly remember the Knicks games and the OJ trial at the same time. The Knicks were good, but I'm I'm >> But you're mentioning, all right, Gush and Starlight and all these experiences, you you've been around, as they say. >> Yes. I'm I'm 42. I uh I um this is a good one. I uh I when I was graduating Penn, I got into Harvard Law School, but I deferred for a year to go to Israel. So that was my first time that I like learned in yeshiva. I didn't do a gap year. >> And that year was where? >> That was at Perdes. Uh and that was kind of my first I had this idea in my mind that I would spend a year in Israel and learn all of Judaism and then go back to my professional job because I felt like I had been president of Hill. I felt like imposter syndrome. I was like I need to know more Torah to you know reflect and lead the Jews in this way. And I think I thought I'm just going to like go learn it all and then I'll go back to my career path. And of course >> once you sit in >> life happens. >> Yeah. No. And also once you sit in a bait maj for an hour you realize like oh my god this is an ocean this is going to this is going to be the rest of my life I want to learn this forever like there's so much to learn here and then it was all about finding ways to get back I was you know there were so many namewald I was learning gamur with him before work when I worked at Paul Weiss to try to squeeze in some learning and then eventually I went to m schombo for a summer and then I went to yeshra which where I got my sma and then uh I was very close I am very close to rabbi we raber and then uh I spent time um in gush I spend time in orita. Um, just like trying to run around and learn Torah wherever I can from whoever I can. >> Rabbi Freriedman. >> Yes. The best. >> We are. We are. We're a high school. >> Oh, really? >> High school mates. >> He's such a sadik. He's really such a sadik. >> He's unbelievable. >> Yes, I know. I haven't had him on yet. He's one of the ones on my list. I'm like, I got >> Oh, he's going to be remarkable. His public presentations are fantastic. >> He's amazing. Amazing. Amazing. I I listen to Shirim and I got to grab him next time he's in New York. >> Unbelievable. So, you've really been wellrounded, so to speak. Are you Are you now I'm not testing you. I'm just curious. Is there a rabbi or or learning center that you're still uh linked to now or that's not part of your daily schedule? >> Um so I'm not in a yeshiva now. I guess you know we'll see. God willing one day. One day I'll have aspirations for that. >> I mean I think everyone imagines one day being able to sit and you know debate me Josh and learn but I think that's not the stage of my life that I'm in right now. Certainly I have, you know, four little kids and we're busy and I have a job and all those things. >> How old's the oldest of those children? >> They go from 3 to 10. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> You're right in the mix of it. >> Right in the mix of it. Yeah. Exactly. Um uh but uh but I you know there is there's tons. Anglewood is exploding. That's where I live with Torah Learning. >> How long have you been there? >> We've been there since 2018, I want to say. I think >> the reason I'm asking is because So you're there 7 years. And because I'm here, I'm somewhat familiar with that neighborhood. It's a completely different complexion now than 7 years ago. >> Yes. It's it's a totally different thing. Uh it's unbelievable what's happening there. Uh there's the Anglewood Torah Center. Uh there's, you know, breakaway learning things. people are organizing, you know, learning in people's homes. Kabut is everything in between. I think Palisades Avenue, our main street went from, I think, one or two kosher establishments. I think we're up to seven or eight now, which is it's really it's really changed a lot. And I think >> um co, you know, it's hard to say co helped because co was co, but I think at some point during co >> um I think tennis became very popular and learning Torah became very popular, >> right? And also I think there's been an increase in in spiritual events, unique spir I think Englewood resident Nadra Balour is somewhat responsible for that with the Ro Kesh program, right? A lot of interesting um spiritual encounters that people are offered in communities like yours. >> I think that's exactly right. I think that and and he's a great example and there's and there's several more. I think people are, you know, using their energy and their means and their time to try to create experiences and special places. You know, I think we had Morai Shapiro came to the the Perm Suda at the at Rebecca Sus's home last year. It was a party. Like people are kind of just like, "Let's go for this." I remember when I first moved there, a lot of people didn't take off for Perm. Um it was kind of like the night of Perm was the night and you squeezed in the Miguel in the morning and now it's totally shifted and people are like, >> "This is an important day. We want to be together in community." >> Wow. um the um I mean this this whole shift and and you know as I pointed out differentiation between now and seven years ago when you moved in it is remarkable how so many of us especially as we get older and we see the direction of society and we lament oh my gosh social media is bringing us down and so many other aspects of life are only going to infiltrate and start ruining our community and then it's amazing what the push back and I know it's a wrong word but the reaction It's amazing what the reaction is like as you just said the increase of spirituality, the increase in Torah study, you know, taking the family experience much more seriously than than before. It's it's it's remarkable that's the way it turns out when we think that things are going all downhill, >> right? It's interesting also to cuz we've had kind of two big events, right? There's October 7th, there's also CO and so both they were different. You know, CO wasn't an attack on the Jewish people, but it was a it was a reckoning. It was a moment of what are we doing here? You know, what's important to us? You're stuck home with your family. What do you want to do with that family? Is the goal that like >> I don't know, whatever you want. Everyone wants to get in good shape and they want to exercise more. Is it you want to spend more time learning? Yeah. You want to bake more? You want to What does everyone make? Sourdough. Everyone learns how to make sourdough. Um which we're very grateful. Lots of our friends give us sourdough still on Chabus. Um uh but uh I think that that was a moment where people like, "Wow, I really want to invest in my Judaism. I really want to find meaning there." That was a piece of it. I think October 7th, I don't I wonder if October 7th had the same impact on Torah learning. I think co really had an impact on to learning for us. I think for me my experience is obviously aside from activism. I think October 7th had a real impact on on domining. I think a lot of people came out of October 7th very shifted tons of tahheim and chats and I feel like you know people kind of brought that that spiritual tool back into their tool box >> plus they wanted to be in synagogue and enjoy the community experience and feel like they're really making a difference together. like it really like you know kind of pushed back on people were like all right we're getting rid of this kind of that and then October 7th it was like okay you know learning Torah is one thing but how can I have impact again aside from sending things and sending money and all that work I think there was kind of a spiritual revival that came with that as well >> great analysis >> uh this has been amazing I'm sorry the clock has sort of uh grabbed us at this point but uh hopefully we'll do this again why don't you review for everybody how people can access JBS what website they need to etc., etc. >> Sure. The easiest thing is just go to www.jbstv.org and that's where you can see the list of all of our different shows and also what channels to find us. If you are watching on cable, I'll say it one more time. Direct TV channel 388, Optimum 138, Spectrum 219, Comcast Xfinity 1684, and Verizon 5078. Um, my show Jewish Insights premieres Tuesday evenings at 8:00. Um, but you can see there's a plethora of beautiful shows >> and it's a weekly like Yeah, every week. I think I've missed like two weeks and a year and a half at this point. It's >> Oh, wow. Yeah. >> Um, I've been very anxious, as you heard from my intro, to have you in studio and you've been on my list for the last year. You know, you you know the list, the list of all the people that you'd like to have on. But do you know who really encouraged me over the last few months? >> Sure. >> To to have you in and have this conversation? >> The one and only Ellie Schwebble. >> Oh, that's so nice. Ellie said that he said he said to me and I think it's some in some WhatsApp group with the three of us that he created like half a year ago, but he alluded to the fact that we would get along very well. So, thank God it worked out. >> Amen, man. I love a shout out to Ellie Shrea. One of the best. >> He's amazing. Uh Justin, thank you. >> Thank you. Really such a pleasure to be here. >> A real pleasure. Rabbi Justin Pines, JBS, JBSTV.org. Correct. That's right. JBSTV.org. Our brothers and sisters in Israel, we are with you. Your favorite America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard on listener sponsored digital radio around the world web.com and the single network and of course the beloved NSN [music] app.