Rejuvenation: Finally. The Judea and Samaria Speaker’s Bureau.

[Music] hi everybody good morning you are listening to rejuvenation with apparel broadcasting from Jerusalem it is Sunday February 18th 2018 the third day of Adar 5778 it is a stormy day here in Jerusalem and around the country and it's really stormy down south near Gaza we have two soldiers who are in very critical condition in the hospital two others who were less critical condition in the hospital but four soldiers wounded last night right around the time that or before Shabbat was out here in Israel we have a an insane situation on the Gaza border of like a terror state that just shoots and kills people and and I don't know how this is going to end where it's going to end I was down in that area last week with an organization called camera who's board I stayed on here in Israel the committee for accuracy Middle East reporting and they had never been down there was the board members and they had never been down there so I took them down we went into a Hamas tunnel right on the Gaza border something we wouldn't be able to do today obviously we went all the way down to the hoods of sand dunes on the border with Sinai and when we heard on the news that the Egyptian government is going after Isis in Sinai we didn't have teared on the news we were watching it the attack helicopters and the plumes of smoke and everything they don't have to worry against about collateral damage over there so they're doing their best to make Sinai not one of the hot beds of terror in the world and we got to see that on the other hand on Shabbat the tomatoes that we served at my Shabbat table were tomatoes that were grown in the hot houses there in in banana diamond in that area beautiful pineapples ethical game so it's just like crazy crazy thing that we have going on here in Israel where we have some of the worst people on the planet around all our borders trying to do whatever they can all the time to disrupt life and we are doing what we can to make life better all the time and for everybody and not just for ourselves so it's just like crazy crazy existence so along with that just a couple of things that I wanted to say I mentioned the date but it seems like to some degree it's not 2018 we're back in the 1930s listening to the news this morning on the way into Jerusalem what's going on with Poland saying yeah there were Jewish criminals during the war during Jewish war criminals also Polish war criminals they're also Russian war criminals like everybody was just the same if there are still survivors walking around people who went through the horrors survived the horrors of the Holocaust and Poland's no less Poland is like denying that there was anything unique in their genocide of the Jews it's it's really just mind-boggling and you think like is this a normal world that I'm living in where the lies can just take hold show easily and hopefully on this show and others on this wonderful station Land of Israel calm with the help of Jeremy and Ari and Ben and Tabitha we're doing something to push back on those lies just a couple of little announcements before I go into my entry for food today which I'm really excited about but I'll tell you guys in a second just hold on hold on hold on I will be in Beth Jacob that a bit Jacob congregation in Beverly Hills on Shabbat of April 13th and 14th Mizrachi the religious Zionist of America have a wonderful program in order to help Americans celebrate Americans and Canadians I think North Americans celebrate the 70th birthday of the State of Israel which will be the the calendar English calendar date April 19th 2018 and they are subsidizing 70 Israeli speakers and scholars to go to 70 different synagogues around North America on the Shabbat before your mods note and so I am I will be just we just closed it like five seconds ago at that Jacob which is very exciting for me because I grew up in Los Angeles I graduated both days school and high school in Beth's Jacob quite a few years ago so for me it's coming back and way they're coming back you like to my childhood and I'm really very very excited and very honored to have been chosen by them to come and represent majima Israel the State of Israel during such such an exciting time so I'll leave a couple of the other announcement till the end because I have fern Baker on the line who stayed a very very late in Chicago and I want to let her get some sleep so fern thank you so much for joining me here on the land of his they work on rejuvenation today my pleasure Eve it's great talking to you again I remember speaking to you almost a year ago from Los Angeles also that was even later right right so just to give my listeners a little bit of a background as to where we're going with this interview last I think it was last March I was almost a year ago that I was in Chicago the the film settlers was just a horrible horrible film about yours truly and others like me was being shown at a conservative synagogue in Chicago I was asked by somebody who was aware of how horrible it was to come in and be there to do try and do some damage control after the film was shown in the audience and while I was there in Chicago I met I met with fern we've known each other for a while and gave birth I think the idea and fern ran with it along with avi Zimmermann especially to where we are today which is she's now the director of the Judea and Samaria Speakers Bureau which is about to launch so fern tell us tell us what you've been working on so hard this past year well you know when you and I talked we were thinking about ways that we could get all of these talented bright wonderful people who are spokespeople for their different organizations or groups or independently speaking live in Judea Samaria we were we were kind of brainstorming what's the best way to go about it and you brought up Bobby Zimmerman who I used to do events with when I was the Midwest director of camera was another fellow that everybody listening to this nosey shy he's one of our favorite people on the planet yep as I said the best of the brightest 11 Judea Samaria I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with some of these terrific people as you know we were saying gee how can we get to bring more people like you you and avi and Yishai to the international community and have them speak and educate inform debate those people who are not exactly the biggest fans of settlement settlers we just don't know anything they may they just are ignorant of the situation just going with the political correctness of oh those people are terrible right as you said just plain ignorant and people just parrot what they hear and by the way they're very very little mm-hmm I mean you certainly don't hear too much about today as Sumerian on mainstream news I would I happen to believe that most people wouldn't even be able to point it out on the map what where the regions are what the reasons are or what the historical significance are what the biblical significance is of these regions so we have a lot of work to do and the best way to do it is to get together make a concerted effort to to to bring these speakers to the United States to Canada wherever not averse to Australia or England or anywhere else where or like Yishai speaks Russian I mean we've got also a language set here so we can go to a lot of different places and what we did is we put together a website o.j a speaker's bureau calm and just like any other speaker's bureau its you represent talent you represent spokespeople and you are there as an agency to get them booked or engaged by other organizations independently university campuses you know big conferences public policy conferences that kind of thing and we want we want to Dan's and Sumerians to be represented at the table mm-hmm we want them at the table to participate in the discussions because you know their authentic voices they are they they live it they breathe it I should say not that you yeah well one of the frustrations over look I've been doing this for close to thirty years now and since I moved to Israel it's almost thirty years since I moved here but even before when I was still living in Los Angeles realizing that what people thought about Judea and Samaria was actually happening here sometimes bore a slight resemblance to each other and there have there are obviously other speakers speakers bureaus out there and when trying to get involved with them more than once I was told listen if you're coming in politically if it's seen that you're coming in in order to explain to people why Jews have the right to live in Judea then it's just not going to happen people do not want to hear that go in as you know something a little more part of this they say something ain't political maybe as a tour guide or something like that and you know Anna and it's something that I can do obviously I've got a lot that I have to talk about but how come we can't deal with the elephant in the room these are these are the big occupation and all these these are the issues that come up all the time and so rarely are the voices of the Jews living here heard in any kind of cogent fashion you can always find in that case because every single segment of society has somebody who doesn't represent it well and inevitably that's where the news is gonna find to tourists all with that same brush but just as an example in a couple of weeks a lot of us are going to be at APEC and and there we're going to have also you know the launch of the jss be at an event that we have to have outside of AIPAC because despite this being one of the big issues again of you know that that American jewelry is interested in or you know or should know about it it's we can't get a slot at AIPAC just to have the discussion or have left right and center have a huge discussion have a huge debate on all issues there's so many college kids have come let them hear all the sides they get thrown these little goldfish kids get thrown into the shark pit this the of the shark pond if you will especially of universities and don't even know how to answer accept and we're we can't do it we can't do it in in a formal way so we're gonna have a great event which I'm actually gonna mention right now as long as I brought it up on Monday March 5th if you were in the Washington DC area Monday March 5th from 1 to 3 at the 6th and I synagogue we are going to have an event Aegean Sumeria event with all kinds of great wine and dates and all kinds of products from Judea and Samaria a lot of speakers from there fern is also going to be there so you can meet her and that's when they'll be like the official launch of the of the speaker's beer you guys are just getting a preview today because hey what can I do I'm a giver so that's exactly what you're saying this is this is why there's such a need to finally say it's in the title there's no fooling anybody the Judea and Samaria speaker's bureau these are people who live it these are people who know it we don't all speak with one voice we have a lot of difference opinions even amongst ourselves it's not a homogeneous group by any stretch of the imagination but the discussion has to happen it just can't be like this right exactly what you said we're not one group with one agenda we're very there's all different diverse independent voices everybody who we represent has a profile youtube links to articles that they've written and there's a great pot of talent for people who want to bring a speaker to their events or created an events around them there's all kinds I mean we we have talent filmmakers a whole range and we hope to expand too I'm part of the reason why I'm what I plan to do at this event on Monday is look for more talent mm-hmm who are would be welcome and great additions to our speaker's bureau and we hope to keep expanding as well until we really have a great variety and I think we have ten speakers now that we represent well we have you we have are you shy Ezri to be is a filmmaker or evil Chomsky obviously Merman I'll be Zimmerman right I think I said I'm you who doubt hot Cohen mmm-hmm Yehuda for example is a different kind of voice he doesn't kind of presentation he gives the detractors a huge opportunity to be at the table and he encourages it he'll take them he'll take it he'll take them all on he's got a very very different approach yes he does I'm you know when you when you when you log into the website you'll see a carousel of speakers you can click on any speaker get their profile contact them through us through the speaker's bureau you'll have all that information and you'll have a good idea of how the speaker will will speed what if he or she speaks about no surprises there's plenty of information on the website we're happy to help I pretty experienced that putting events on so I hope I can be a help to whoever is wants to construct an event or a program facilitate and make it a very easy experience for them mmm-hmm we're sort of a one-stop shop okay so what is the website which by the way people is still under construction you can get into the website that it is not done but we didn't want to wait in terms of getting it out there there's a lot going on all the time so fern what what exactly is the website website is J WWJ a speaker's bureau okay we refer to it as J SSB Judea Samaria speakers bureau but it's WWJ a speaker's bureau calm okay not where and we're not a not-for-profit we're we're an agency just like a talent agency or any other kind of agency that represents clients and learn why our speakers so we're just the liaison the facilitator to get to bring that speaker to our the other side of our client would be booking the talent I just have to say as one of the speakers in ferns speaker's bureau how great it is for me to know that there's someone behind me here because all these years everything that I've done has pretty much you know been on my own and the context that I have and people that I guide or other people that people who listen to the show to bring us in and the all the speakers are in the same position we all work for a living we all have families we're all very very busy and as much as we love Judea and Samaria and as much as our lives are so caught up in everything that happens here we it's not like we've got other things that we have to do during the day besides promoting that and so the fact that fern really ran with this took the initiative and set up the speaker's bureau in order to be able to you know give us the breathing room was she can she can do this I could just say for me for Anne really thank you so much and I hope it's successful because there is just so many lies so much information misinformation out there and this is a constantly unfolding story this is not only a history lesson that people are gonna get obviously we go in there and we just can discuss if someone wants the biblical ties and the patina the the wars and ever the reasons that we got to the situation that we're in but every single day there is news coming out of Judea and Samaria and you really need people who are very much living it and it's part of our daily reality it's not just something theoretical in a book and I can't help but thinking listening to what's going on in Gaza over night that had we been able to pull this together maybe before 2005 maybe would be called the Judea Samaria and Gaza speaker's bureau and maybe some of the people who were thrown out of their homes in 2005 and now we are all the whole country is paying the price for that horrible move the expulsion from Gush Katif and now we've got the whole South you know and people have died and people will continue to die unfortunately and we've got a whole terrorist state there maybe just maybe if they'd had the opportunity to go out and give the explanation of what they were doing there and what was really happening there we wouldn't be in a situation that we're in today so who knows what plans are on people's desks and what they are anticipating during the Judea and Samaria that if we're able to get out there and give the explanation give the other side other people will stop and think and say one second before we go down that road and maybe make some mistakes that are not so easily walk back maybe we need to sit and think about you know this side of it and some other options so you know it's a little it's not too late to do this obviously not when it comes to Judea and Samaria and Israel as a whole it's a little late for the people in Gaza though so but at least now at least now yeah we have to you know as you said the landscape is constantly changing and you know who else but these folks like yourself the Nabi and Misha and all the others that we represent can clarify and answer very tough questions actually I hope there are good questions and that's that's another thing I I find that what has been frustrating to me as somebody who lives over here and who's a big supporter I just find that people just don't know anything mm-hmm we we sometimes forget that we have to take baby steps explain things from scratch right yes because even as I said we will have a map on the website just to help people understand what area we're talking about and you know we we also want to eventually we would like the lexicon to be changed we don't we don't really like the word settler and settlement we I mean we could like it you know it could become a positive but we really don't like it because it doesn't well it's become a pejorative term the way it's used now absolutely exactly we would like people to refer to the areas Judea Samaria although it's commonly referred to as the West Bank and I would bet that a lot of people don't understand that the Judean Samaria is what we commonly refer to as the West Bank so we have a we have a big job ahead of us mm-hmm especially when we want to talk if you want to talk to the detractors you know to the to audiences that are not the choir and that really is our goal I'm going to make that clear it's our goal to talk to people who are not pro mm-hmm the region for their goal to educate that's what we are really we want to educate and what we need to educate about doesn't fit into a sound bite and that's been a very big problem over the years everybody doesn't you know nobody's got an attention span anymore if you tweet it out it's got to be 144 units whatever it is nobody's got time for anything and in order to really understand what is happening in you Dabish um run in Judea and Samaria it takes more than three minutes and so that's why it's so important to be able to have these forums and have an ability to really show Maps talk about it get questions also not just give a one-way monologue but really get questions and answers most as we can absolutely not nothing makes me prouder to feel that to know that I have raised my kids in Judea that once again we have come home it's a it's an unbelievable feeling it really is and it's something that we want to be able to share know none one thing you're not gonna get from any of us his apologies okay explanations yes lots of questions yes if we don't know the answer we'll say that we don't know because we're not you know we don't have all the answers but I think first people don't need to understand the questions and need to understand the problems and then together perhaps we can work on answers that actually makes sense instead of just throwing something you know a band-aid at a situation that it's so much more complicated than people think it is exactly so I do promise your listeners and anybody else who chews into our website that there you will find the best and the brightest well and it will continue to expand and become a full-fledged operating speaker's bureau and I look forward to it and reaching all kinds of people and just have to be open if they're very difficult in today's political climate nobody you know people don't want to hear the ah the other side that's right and you know what doesn't have you don't have to mention political parties or anything that but it's very hard to to get a point across with the opposition if you will o my listeners very well know what I think of the so-called liberals who only want to hear themselves and the so-called pluralistic people who are very fine with your opinion as long as the total he lines up with theirs and then call themselves open-minded so yeah my listeners are well aware of my feeling on the subject getting worse not better very polarized so our work cut out for us it's going to be slow going I know that all our friends will look to the website and book our speakers which is great and we hope that those that are a little suspicious of it will also book our speakers and say hey you know let's make this a really interesting event a really great program and that's what we're depending on right absolutely and we'll go anywhere synagogues churches schools Federation's community centers wherever people really want to hear from the people living it the witnesses to what's happening here and and the players and what's happening here so while they're excited and if anybody who's listening is thinking wow I know somebody who could fit into the speaker's bureau be in touch with us where total has suggestions this is totally organic and really very much at its baby steps so I know fern is happy to hear from everybody okay that is great okay friend bakery in Chicago you can go to sleep now thank you so much for saying hopefully not so easy guys to coordinate in each of you with somebody far away from Israel wish she was here and we could have done it in person over a cup of coffee but that will happen eventually too okay and I will see you at AIPAC in just a couple of weeks terrific okay okay stick okay thanks fern okay so we're back to you so I hope I hope that this is something that you're thinking wow what a great idea and why didn't they do this a long time ago at least we're doing it now and I'm really very excited just want to mention also that tomorrow there is going to be a don't even how to say it not a podcast but there's going to be an online show coming out that I will be a part of write to me for the details it's about Jewish women it's called it's called extraordinary Jewish women and we have and I'm really honored to been a part of that with Faye Kellerman and Jaime Geller and Phyllis Chester who my interviewed a few years ago and other women who along with myself have really made our Jewish values and and maybe even motherhood whatever it is the the understanding of a Jewish future very much a part of the lives that we lead and the things that we do and drawing our strength from our faith and so we were interviewed and it's going to be on on February 19th if you want details on that there's about I think a half hour interview for each one of us and there's 20 or 21 women who were part of this and as I said really honored you've been included so you can email me Eve at the Land of Israel comm and I'm happy to give you the details of that because really there are extraordinary Jewish women out there and and I'm not so sure that we get you know some of the or that the other women for sure get some of the attention that they really deserve and the understanding of where strength comes from if we don't just feel like oh this is us we understand that there's something much much deeper much much older than we are that's in us that we want to bring forward in the things that we do in our everyday life we're not just living for ourselves so that was very exciting to be a part of yeah guys I'm busy beginning of a brand new week hopefully a good one I'll do what I can and I know that you all will do what you can I mean you're starting the week with the druvan am like working it go from there so take care everybody once again thanks to banish tabatha and everybody at the station please be in touch always happy to hear from you and and really take care everybody and have a great week [Music]