- I wrote about what happened last weekend in Pittsburgh
but I felt like talking about it, and here I am.
For those of you who may not know
an anti-Semitic attack was committed.
11 members of a Jewish community
in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania were gunned down.
The shooting lasted, by most reports,
about 20 minutes, and there are so many things
about these kinds of attacks that I think,
for most of us, are completely unimaginable.
We've seen attacks in schools and these horrible images
of, G-d forbid, children, with their hands up.
Each of these horrific events is horrific.
This event is particular has shaken those of us
who identify as Jewish, no matter if we are religious,
not religious, believe in G-d, don't believe in G-d.
This kind of attack by someone
who posts anti-Semitic rhetoric,
by someone who declares that he wants
to kill all of the Jews as he guns them down,
this kind of attack is, it's unfathomable.
I'm surprised myself by how much
I feel like this has affected my direct family.
I don't mean to, in any way,
imply that I know what it's like
to be a relative of one of the people who was killed.
You know, or to have to bury someone (crying)
G-d, who was killed this way.
But the pain that I feel for an attack on people
because they are of my ethnic line
and because they belong to my people,
it is incredibly personal.
It's really painful.
I feel let down by America.
Not by Americans.
But my grandparents left Eastern Europe because of this
because people were killing Jews because they were Jewish.
And my grandparents left pogroms and businesses being closed
and women being raped
and children being killed in the street.
My grandparents lived at a time when one group of people
believed that they had a right
to try and eliminate the world of Jews.
That genocide is unbelievable.
This is not that.
But this feels so wrong, it feels so wrong.
And it makes me feel like I don't know where I belong.
I don't know if there's a solution.
I'm sure there are many solutions.
I don't know that it's my job right now to have a solution.
It's my job to protect my children.
How do I protect my children?
I'm asking you, because I don't, I don't know.
I've chosen to speak openly with my children
and what I told them is what I'm gonna tell you all.
We're gonna go to synagogue on Shabbat.
The AJC, if you go to acj.org,
has a program called Show Up for Shabbat.
And they're encouraging Jews,
even those who don't typically go to synagogue,
and they're also encouraging non-Jews
who want to do something
to show their support for the Jewish community
and all communities who feel threatened.
Why am I gonna go to synagogue on Shabbat?
Because I'm part of a community that bonds together.
I'm part of a community that shares genetic information.
We share common foods,
we have a universal, global language of Hebrew,
many of us look alike.
We are a people.
We're not just a religion to hate. (cries)
We don't exist, we don't exist to make movies for you
and to run your banks, and to give you entertainment,
and to let you make jokes about us.
(breathes in)
We're a people that wants to live and thrive
and we're a people that came to this country
because no one else would have us.
We see America as the Great Melting Pot of the world.
A place where my grandparents, who didn't have an education,
could come and learn English as best as they could
to work in sweatshops to make clothing for the people
who could speak English. (laughs)
And this is a country where my mother and her sisters
could get an education.
And where you could be anything you wanted to be.
And where people didn't,
where people didn't hate you and kill you (crying)
just because you are Jewish.
So this has been a really hard week.
It's been a really hard week.
It's been a really hard week. (crying)
Okay, (laughing) had a little cry there.
And now I'm gonna share this
with all of you people (laughing)
and I hope that you will share this in turn.
'Cause, I'm a person, I'm a person on YouTube right now.
And I'm a person who's encouraging you
to make part of your Saturday to Show Up for Shabbat.
If you're not Jewish and you've never been to synagogue,
look one up in your neighborhood.
A Reform or Conservative synagogue will typically have
a lot of stuff in English.
You can pretty much wear whatever you want.
You can dress like you're going to a semi-nice party
if you want to feel more like you blend in.
An Orthodox synagogue in your neighborhood
will also be very welcoming.
Men and women typically sit separately.
Women typically wear skirts,
men typically cover their heads in Orthodox synagogues.
Learn about our religious tradition,
learn about our culture.
Show Up for Shabbat this weekend.
If you're Jewish and you haven't been to synagogue
in a long time, if you're not into it, that's fine.
You don't have to believe in G-d
to be part of the Jewish people.
And you don't have to like going to synagogue
but this weekend, let's remember
what it feels like to be a people.
I think we all need it.
Thanks for watching.