Being Jewish with Jonah Platt

[00:00:00] Jonah Platt: If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that recently I got into a little back and forth with a random anti Jew bigot who sent me a rather unhinged and fully racist DM. I decided to share our interactions to my stories as a means of both schooling this fellow, and more importantly, illustrating what standing up to hate online actually looks like.

[00:00:21] Jonah Platt: I began by posting his initial F bomb laden rant, calling it out for its obscene anti Jew racism. My friends and followers responded with messages of support and humor, which were greatly appreciated. However, there were also two trends I observed in some of the responses that caught my eye. One common response was about how scary or frightening his words were.

[00:00:42] Jonah Platt: And I understand that for those who have not encountered anti Jew haters up close and personal, the intensity of their vitriol can be extremely jarring. Is it unpleasant? Yes. Upsetting? Sure, it can be. But scary? Why should we be scared of [00:01:00] a random, uneducated, overconfident musician on the internet spewing racist garbage that would be condemned by any decent human being?

[00:01:08] Jonah Platt: It's like in Wicked, which I told you I would blow your freaking minds, when Elphaba tells the wizard, you have no real power. And when Glinda tells her, don't be afraid, she says, I'm not. It's the wizard who should be afraid of me. We have the power of factual knowledge. We Jews know what is or isn't true about Jews.

[00:01:29] Jonah Platt: We know the reality of the situation in the Middle East, and we know we have the moral high ground in this face off. These are not serious people. They are brainwashed, ill informed followers who don't know how to think critically. Why should you, who is none of those things, be afraid of them? I mean, is there anything cultier than ending every single statement with, Free Palestine, as if that's a normal thing to do in regular conversation?

[00:01:54] Jonah Platt: It's straight out of the White Power playbook. I also want to return to a question [00:02:00] I've posed on this show before. What exactly is it that you're afraid of? It's important to make yourself be specific, and then investigate if it's something that logically requires a healthy fear. For example, this guy on Instagram was a random musician who tried to pick on a Jew, and unfortunately for him, chose the wrong one.

[00:02:18] Jonah Platt: These far left, anti Israel Gen Zers and Millennials are not street toughs. They're college students, hospital interns, yoga instructors. These people have no desire to get into a physical altercation with a stranger from the internet. They're just bullies, like on the playground, picking on those they assume are weak.

[00:02:40] Jonah Platt: But when stood up to, their confidence quickly erodes, because it's all built on low information bluster. We have to stop being afraid. What has being afraid done for Jews? Has it saved us from persecution? Do they like us more because we're afraid of them? When has evil ever been vanquished [00:03:00] by fear? Fear hasn't served us, it's silenced us.

[00:03:05] Jonah Platt: Which leads me to the second common response I received. Something like, Thank you for using your voice to call this guy out because I can't use mine. Friends, you know I love you. But if we all continue to rely on the small handful of Jewish voices speaking out against hate, we are doomed. Jews are already minuscule in number.

[00:03:25] Jonah Platt: Thank you for your time. We can't afford to shunt our collective responsibility onto an even smaller group. It will never be loud enough to turn the tide. The reason I posted my exchange with the struggling musician was not to show you all what I've been up to. It was to demonstrate the way these exchanges need to go if we're going to affect real change.

[00:03:45] Jonah Platt: If you view me and other Jewish advocates as leaders, that's great. That means we're setting an example for you to build on. But when it comes to calling out anti Jew hate, please do not think of us as your representatives. As if you have no [00:04:00] voice, as if you have no role to play in this fight, because not only do you have a role to play, it is one you must play.

[00:04:09] Jonah Platt: If we are ever going to change our situation, the only way, literally the only way we're going to flip hate for Jews into respect for Jews is if we start acting with self respect and strength. In life, we teach people how to treat us by the ways we behave and respond. That's true of every relationship.

[00:04:28] Jonah Platt: If you allow yourself to be picked on, you're teaching the bully to keep on coming back. We must create a social cost for being an anti Jew bigot. We need to make these people feel uncomfortable. Right now the most common reaction the haters receive is cheers and likes, so why would they stop? We have to make them stop.

[00:04:50] Jonah Platt: We must, each of us, everywhere, all at once, have a zero tolerance policy for anti Jew racism. This is a [00:05:00] very low bar. This is the bare minimum of self respect we should afford ourselves. Imagine if we created an environment where the anti Jew haters of the world were too afraid to voice their bigotry because every time they did, they were tsunami'd by Jews and allies explaining what horrific racists they are.

[00:05:19] Jonah Platt: Most people avoid direct confrontation and really don't like being publicly shamed. So we need to be confronting and shaming them en masse if we're going to shut them up. If I had to pick one mission to pursue until the end of time, it would be this. Creating a world where the Jewish people are strong, empowered, loud, and unafraid.

[00:05:40] Jonah Platt: Just imagine what such a world would look like. It's within our grasp, if we just have the courage to pursue it. Now, I understand why you might hesitate to speak out. You're afraid of the perceived consequences, which, as I've said before, are never as bad as you imagine, and are often quite positive. I also recognize you may not feel you're fully equipped or [00:06:00] knowledgeable enough to take these haters on.

[00:06:01] Jonah Platt: Which never stops them, by the way. So, I want to arm you with some rhetorical ammunition for the fight ahead. Obviously, studying up on the conflict, keeping abreast of its developments from multiple sources, is a great way to build confidence. But combating bigotry is not about being a historian. You don't need to speak to the invalidity of every empty quote unquote fact they present.

[00:06:26] Jonah Platt: You just need to call out the racism and bigotry in their words, as easily as we do for every other minority group. Here are three basic responses that will apply to nearly every anti Jew interaction you encounter. I'll give you a second if you want to throw up in the notes app or grab a pen. One, to take the behavior of an individual and generalize it to the entire group to which they belong is textbook racism.

[00:06:53] Jonah Platt: I mean, just starting a sentence with, you blacks, or all blacks, is already skin crawlingly [00:07:00] racist. And yet we allow you Zionists, or all Zionists, to skate on by. Don't. 2. Roughly 90 percent of the world's Jews believe that the Jewish people deserve to govern themselves in some portion of the land to which they are indigenous, aka Zionism.

[00:07:17] Jonah Platt: as it's most commonly understood by Jews today. If your stance runs counter to that of 90 percent of a group, it is very clearly anti that group. Saying you're anti Zionist is saying, I'm anti Jewish safety, and I'm anti 90 percent of all Jews. That is clearly an anti Jew position, and to tokenize the 10 percent of Jews who do hold the radical position of being anti Jew themselves is, again, textbook racism.

[00:07:42] Jonah Platt: Tokenization is racist, and believing Jews, among all the world's people, should not have safety and self government is racist too. Three, trying to teach a group what its own terms or experiences or history is, is super identifiably racist. For a non [00:08:00] Jew or anti Israel Jew to try to teach you what Zionism is actually happened in 48 or what the modern Jewish experience is, is virulently racist.

[00:08:10] Jonah Platt: Again, this would be instantly obvious if perpetrated against any other group. Imagine being non Latino and going onto a Latino person's account or approaching a Latino friend and confidently saying, Let me tell you what Latinos are all about. I mean, it's just an insanely racist thing to do and so very easy to spot and call out.

[00:08:29] Jonah Platt: Standing up for yourself is a muscle. We are all capable of it and you will get better and better at it the more you exercise it. And remember, you don't need to be an expert on Israel to call out racists, you just need to be an expert on calling out racism, which is a lot more straightforward. The battle of the, my facts are better than yours, is an exhausting bout that can go 20 rounds.

[00:08:52] Jonah Platt: It The, you're being a racist Jew hater and here's why fight is more like a two round knockout. So lace up your gloves, join [00:09:00] me in the ring, each and every one of you right now and for every moment going forward. Because to win a fight, you actually have to show up and fight it. This is the twelfth episode of Being Jewish, with me, Jonah Platt.

[00:09:45] Jonah Platt: There are a number of words one could use to describe my guest today. Impressive, prolific, spiritual, generous, multifaceted, courageous. Hilarious and no doubt a woman of great chutzpah. She stole our [00:10:00] hearts as Mrs. Debbie Barone on the classic sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and today she's capturing our hearts once again with her bold advocacy on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.

[00:10:09] Jonah Platt: She's a three time Emmy winner, a producer, a published author, a boy mom to four, and an invaluable friend to the Jewish community. Please welcome the one and only Patricia Heaton.

[00:10:20] Patricia Heaton: Thanks Jonah.

[00:10:21] Jonah Platt: So I said this to my guest Van Jones a couple of episodes ago. There's like not a single Jewish event happening now that you're not at.

[00:10:29] Jonah Platt: It's like you're at the rallies, the college campuses, you're in Israel, you're at the Jewish media awards, which I'm on the board of, by the way. Oh, you are.

[00:10:37] Patricia Heaton: What a great event that was. How did

[00:10:38] Jonah Platt: you come to be there?

[00:10:40] Patricia Heaton: Um, I don't, I don't know how to be there. I was just invited to present to Sheryl Sandberg.

[00:10:48] Patricia Heaton: So that was really an honor. That's

[00:10:50] Jonah Platt: so cool.

[00:10:50] Patricia Heaton: Yeah.

[00:10:51] Jonah Platt: And then of course you've also built a nonprofit. It's like,

[00:10:54] Patricia Heaton: I have never envisioned building a nonprofit, certainly not one that was all about making [00:11:00] sure Israel has the right to exist. I had never even been to Israel.

[00:11:03] Jonah Platt: Right. So this is a, this is a perfect segue to like, my first big question is like, Tell us how this journey started.

[00:11:09] Jonah Platt: You, you are like a full time Jewish advocate now.

[00:11:12] Patricia Heaton: More or less. More or less, right? So

[00:11:15] Jonah Platt: take me to the beginning. Like what was, what began this?

[00:11:18] Patricia Heaton: So pandemic, then strikes, writers, actors. And so there was this, this time of just sort of nothing happening. Yeah. And I'm a doer and I need something to do. And so I was praying for the Lord to give me something.

[00:11:34] Patricia Heaton: And I said, it doesn't have to be acting, although it'd be great to have another wonderful series. Sure. But just, I just need some, something, what is it that you want me to do? And like, five years prior to that I had also quit drinking. And I just feel that was part of like this preparing me to do something where I needed to be really clear minded.

[00:11:57] Patricia Heaton: And then [00:12:00] October 7th happened. Right. And I saw all this Hamas body cam footage all over social media.

[00:12:05] Jonah Platt: Right.

[00:12:06] Patricia Heaton: It's harder to find now. It's funny how they remove it. Yep. It shouldn't be removed. I

[00:12:10] Jonah Platt: couldn't agree more. And I wish the Israeli government were a little more. Yes. Freely, uh, disseminating that material.

[00:12:16] Jonah Platt: Yes.

[00:12:17] Patricia Heaton: So I saw it and I was so shocked and outraged. And you know, I grew up in a household. My dad had served during World War II. We knew who the Nazis were. We knew what they did to the Jewish people. We knew all about Anne Frank. We knew this was a terrible thing. Common knowledge. This is terrible. One would think.

[00:12:36] Patricia Heaton: And so I was so outraged and I just assumed I would look around Nashville where there's three churches on every corner and they're all pro Israel. And I thought they're going to be pouring out of their churches and they're going to be planting hostage posters and there's going to be Israeli flags and there's going to be.

[00:12:53] Patricia Heaton: and there was nothing. And I thought, we need to be doing something. This is like, and I [00:13:00] posted on Instagram and I said, Did you ever wonder, gee, if I were a German during World War Two, would I be that good German that hid my Jewish neighbors? Well, today is the day you get to be a good German. And I, I think.

[00:13:14] Patricia Heaton: I got together with my friend Elizabeth and she's Christian, married to a Jewish man. And we said, how do we activate Christians to be visibly and vocally supportive of the Jewish people, of Israel's right to exist and to fight anti Semitism? And so that's been the goal of this organization we created called 07C, October 7th Coalition.

[00:13:33] Patricia Heaton: So you can go to October, the number seven coalition. and find out what we're doing. But we just started reaching out to the Jewish community in Nashville saying, we're here for you. Uh, we did a big unity dinner with Jewish, uh, leaders and Christian leaders. We, with the Israeli consulate, we sponsored the screening of the body cam footage in the Southeast.

[00:13:54] Patricia Heaton: It hadn't been screened there.

[00:13:55] Jonah Platt: Wow.

[00:13:55] Patricia Heaton: So we, we rented a theater and we screened it. We, uh, worked [00:14:00] with Congregation Shareth Israel, very musical, um, synagogue to fly Israeli musicians who had just finished their IDF service to come and record their music. And we debuted the music at the Nova Festival in LA, um, when it opened.

[00:14:15] Patricia Heaton: And so we've been going around to different cities and bringing Jews and Christians together. Um, in May we're going to have a Jewish, uh, Christian women's conference in Israel called Deborah Rising. Um, we're going to have some scholars there, um, Why Deborah? Because you know, Deborah was the one that said, this is, this is the time, you know, that we have to rise up and save Israel.

[00:14:39] Patricia Heaton: And that's what we feel we have to do. And the biblical figure. Yes. And there's so, you know, there's so few Jewish people and there's many, many, many Christians And so we, we need to come together. And that was really just out of, you know, the, the Hebrew word is Hanani, [00:15:00] here I am. And when I just said, you know, Lord, here I am, what do you want me to do?

[00:15:05] Patricia Heaton: This seems to be what he wants me to do in this moment. I still love acting. I'm still, you know, reading scripts and looking for work and things like that. That seems to be it. And there's a scripture, uh, in the, New Testament, uh, one of Paul's letters to his letter to the Ephesians where he says, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you do everything you can to stand and after you've done everything, stand.

[00:15:34] Patricia Heaton: So we just do everything we can in the day we're given and then we just stand.

[00:15:40] Jonah Platt: It's amazing. And, and what's so interesting is like, in many ways, your journey over the past year really parallels my own, you know, as somebody who was, you know, who works in entertainment and been focused on entertainment.

[00:15:53] Jonah Platt: That's been all I've been doing really. And then the things you mentioned, the, the strikes, the, this, the, that, the slow [00:16:00] down, there's like, Then this moment happens in that vacuum and feeling like, okay, there's something really important that I need to do here. Was there a decision making process at any point of like, I'm going to pivot my focus and energy into this?

[00:16:14] Jonah Platt: Or it's just always been like, I'm going here, I'm going there, I'm doing this.

[00:16:17] Patricia Heaton: It really is stepping out in faith in a way that I've never attempted before. And the outpouring from the Jewish community, you know, it's, it's It's sort of sad in a way because like, where is everybody else? Where is everybody?

[00:16:34] Patricia Heaton: It's weird.

[00:16:35] Jonah Platt: I couldn't agree more. It's such a small handful. We come from a really

[00:16:38] Patricia Heaton: activist community. The Hollywood community gets on board almost every single thing. Why was this? So different.

[00:16:47] Jonah Platt: It's the question of our day. Right? Yeah. What has the response been from the, the Christian community to the October 7th coalition?

[00:16:56] Jonah Platt: Are you getting a lot of incoming, come to my church, come to our [00:17:00] community kind of things? Are you having to pull people in? How's that going?

[00:17:03] Patricia Heaton: I'm learning a lot about different denominations, theological view of Israel. And there's lots of different views. Sure. Sure. Sure. And there are some that was, I was a bit taken aback by some of the, should I even name names, Presbyterians, um, that really don't see any connection to Israel other than it, they see it as a secular country like any other country.

[00:17:29] Patricia Heaton: Interesting. Now that's, that's a slice of, uh, the Christian world. Most Christians understand the importance of Israel historically and spiritually to Christianity and what the Bible says about the Jewish people. Um, Jesus was Jewish. I mean, to me, it's very simple. The biological family of our Jewish savior is being attacked and we need to do something about it.

[00:17:52] Patricia Heaton: And we are grafted into what we see as being grafted into the Jewish line of heritage. And I also see that [00:18:00] the Jewish community is also very varied in their theology. Big

[00:18:03] Jonah Platt: time.

[00:18:04] Patricia Heaton: Big time. Maybe even more than Christians.

[00:18:06] Jonah Platt: It's a very sort of individualistic experience. Yes.

[00:18:08] Patricia Heaton: And I think people are also fearful about attracting any attention to their community by pro Hamas people who, you know, it's tricky.

[00:18:20] Patricia Heaton: There's been shootings at churches and things like that. And so. You know, you understand that pastors feel a responsibility to their congregation to keep them safe. So there's that aspect of it. They're, they're afraid for their, the safety of their congregation. But also I think Western Christianity has, some of it has morphed a little bit into Christianity is about being nice.

[00:18:43] Patricia Heaton: And Christianity is actually about truth. It's not about being nice. Sometimes when you tell the truth, it doesn't feel so nice. I think we have to look at the truth about what's been going on in the Middle East. When you support Israel, it's not doesn't mean you're anti [00:19:00] Palestinian, it means you're anti radical Islam.

[00:19:03] Patricia Heaton: And that's really affected through UNRWA and the UN and the monies that got have gone in and the Hamas leadership has really become a cancer in that community. Oh, yeah. So that's making it really difficult.

[00:19:18] Jonah Platt: Absolutely. And we

[00:19:19] Patricia Heaton: have to call it out. But I believe that there are Palestinians that are waking up and saying, we're sick of this.

[00:19:25] Patricia Heaton: We don't want this. We never wanted this. So, you know, hopefully those voices rise up and become stronger. And I think with the new administration coming in, Trump administration, I think they're going to be much more hard line. And I, I'm praying that it brings this to a swift conclusion. And I'm praying that the mullahs in Iran get kicked out and that the prince comes, the viran comes back.

[00:19:50] Patricia Heaton: So there's a lot that could be happening that, you know, I'm praying for.

[00:19:54] Jonah Platt: From your mouth to God's ears. Yes. So a lot of people, you mentioned, um, You know, that, that [00:20:00] Hamas body cam footage and how it at the beginning, you know, first week after October 7th, there was a lot of it. A lot of people saw it, not a lot of people then started a non profit and began speaking out.

[00:20:12] Jonah Platt: What makes you different?

[00:20:14] Patricia Heaton: In Chris Rock's very first special that really catapulted him to fame, he had this whole routine that I cannot repeat.

[00:20:23] Jonah Platt: We take cursing on the podcast. It's worse than cursing.

[00:20:27] Patricia Heaton: But the punchline of it was, He was making fun of people who brag about taking care of their kids, like, I take care of my kids.

[00:20:36] Patricia Heaton: And he said, Hey, listen, why are you bragging? I'm doing the very white version of it. Why are you bragging about that? That's just what you're supposed to do, right? That's how I feel about this whole situation. This is just what we're supposed to do. If every Christian rose up and, and called their representative and put pressure on them.[00:21:00]

[00:21:00] Patricia Heaton: And, and joined together with the local synagogues and said, this has got to stop and, and went to the universities and said, this has got to stop. You can't keep kids from going to school, from going into their classrooms. You can't be harassing Jewish students. If every Christian rose up and did that, I don't think we would have the problem in the country that we're having now.

[00:21:19] Patricia Heaton: There's just this, this winking at antisemitism can't be tolerated. I mean, after the anniversary of October 7th, you know, everybody's sort of like, uh, okay. That's one year down and you know, there's, I felt like almost like a collective kind of, okay, well now, now what do we do? And are things going to calm down now they've gotten more, you know, this, this little girl, I guess recently just, uh, in London, a bottle was thrown at her head.

[00:21:46] Patricia Heaton: The guy is shot going to his town, his synagogue in Brooklyn, um, Chicago, Oh, is it Chicago?

[00:21:51] Jonah Platt: Chicago.

[00:21:52] Patricia Heaton: Chicago. Um, you know, in, in Canada. Canada is a

[00:21:56] Jonah Platt: mess right really bad,

[00:21:59] Patricia Heaton: you know, [00:22:00] and they're arresting the one lone Jewish guy. Meanwhile, they're all calling for the end of Western civilization. He's the disruptor.

[00:22:08] Patricia Heaton: He's the one that's going to cause the problem. So, you know, and I feel that same kind of anger is we've got We've got to stand up because the other side is so well funded, they're so deeply embedded, they've been, they've been planning this for a long time. You know, I say that like all us normies have been raising our families, trying to have a career going, contributing to our communities, trying to have a vacation once in a while, paying our bills.

[00:22:34] Patricia Heaton: There's other psychopaths that spend their lives 24 7 trying to figure out ways to kill Jews and bring down Western democracy. That's what they do with their life. So We don't want to be that person, but for now, we all have to really take a chunk of time and focus it on trying to put this whole movement down.

[00:22:56] Jonah Platt: Again, there's such an interesting parallel between your [00:23:00] words and mine. Actually, the, the monologue that I do for my show that precedes this interview, I said like verbatim, some of the things you said, except about the Jewish community that, that I feel the Jewish community needs to do a much better job of standing up for itself.

[00:23:14] Jonah Platt: Obviously, if we had the The numbers of the Christian community far outweigh ours, but even Jews, for ourselves, we do not stand loud and unified. And I think Why is that, do you think? Fear. I think it's a deeply embedded Fear of? Well, that's always my question. It's very vague, I think, for a lot of people.

[00:23:33] Jonah Platt: Yes. There's just a fear of, like, something bad's gonna happen. I think they see the violence. And I've talked about this too, this, this availability heuristic, where you, you associate how quickly you can recall a recent example of something with how likely that thing is to actually happen. Yes. Which is not true.

[00:23:48] Jonah Platt: I mean, obviously there is violence, but it's It's very, and they're all horrible, but it's specific isolated events. It's not like millions of people are getting attacked in the streets. The likelihood of something [00:24:00] happening to you are like 00001. Right. So people are afraid of violence when they, I don't think they need to be.

[00:24:05] Jonah Platt: They're afraid, I think, generally of, What I'll call smoke to use another Van Jones term of like social media backlash, which again is like, it's literally not even real. No, it's strangers at home. If you don't look at your phone, you don't even know that it's happened to correct, but people are afraid of that.

[00:24:22] Jonah Platt: And then I think people are afraid of, am I going to lose my friends? Am I going to lose my job or whatever? And my response always is. If you have a job or a friend that is going to dislike you because you're a Jew, like, that is not the job you want and that is not the friend you deserve, yes. So I agree.

[00:24:40] Jonah Platt: It's a problem.

[00:24:40] Patricia Heaton: I, I mean, you know, I'm Irish Catholic and there's, there's, there's sort of something in my DNA that's always looking for a fight. Like, it's just perfect. That's a good quality. It's good, except look at the Irish right now. They are the worst. I mean, she's fake. They really are. I didn't know this until all this stuff happened.

[00:24:58] Patricia Heaton: I was so [00:25:00] shocked and disappointed in them. And in fact, I had a movie, a script that's about a family, American Irish family that takes a road trip to Ireland. And I'm like, I don't know if I want to even shoot over there because, you Who wants, you know, you have to vet the crew and make sure they're not all anti semitic.

[00:25:17] Jonah Platt: I think it's like one of those societies that they've had their own. Issues and they've incorrectly Sort of placed this situation on top of theirs and like see it's just like when this they see it like the troubles Yeah, exactly when it's they're completely different situation completely different.

[00:25:33] Patricia Heaton: Yes The best way to deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose Just it only takes one time and then they're gone

[00:25:39] Jonah Platt: This is literally from my, my monologue from this episode, yeah, you're just nailing it. Like, and

[00:25:44] Patricia Heaton: you have to punch back. You can't cower. And I know there's that whole phrase of, you know, I'm not a Jew with trembling knees, right?

[00:25:51] Patricia Heaton: And so that's exactly the attitude you have. You just have to fight. And as I said, like, I think it's my Irish DNA. [00:26:00] that I, I don't shy away from one. That's,

[00:26:02] Jonah Platt: that's good, good, good skill to have these days. Yes,

[00:26:05] Patricia Heaton: right.

[00:26:06] Jonah Platt: So anti Jew hate has been around for thousands of years, well before October 7th. How aware of it were you before the seventh?

[00:26:15] Jonah Platt: Like, was this on your radar at all? Cause it, it had been doubling and doubling and doubling for a while before we got here.

[00:26:20] Patricia Heaton: Right. I know there was a, as you said, there was this big uptick happening in the last few years, maybe even last 10 years. Yeah. And I was seeing that the world is just getting More hostile.

[00:26:33] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. Right?

[00:26:34] Jonah Platt: It feels like it for sure.

[00:26:36] Patricia Heaton: What's your idea of where that's coming from?

[00:26:39] Jonah Platt: I have a couple ideas. Um, I, I think one, and I know that you're a supporter, but I do feel that, uh, Trump's sort of persona and rise along with that. He sort of, uh. Made it okay to talk disparagingly about other groups and other people as he does it all the time And I think that sort of opened the box to let people be like, oh, it's it's [00:27:00] totally socially acceptable to hate on people now So I think that's part of it.

[00:27:04] Jonah Platt: I think that social media plays a huge part in it because it's so echo chambery and doubles down on the polarization and just really pushes people into their corners through the algorithm. And I think the media has not helped out of the news media the way how it is so biased and not just the bias, but like sort of the demonization of the other side.

[00:27:26] Jonah Platt: Where the people who don't agree with me are the enemy or trying to destroy our country or whatever it is. I don't know how you have like a healthy community with those vibes in the mix.

[00:27:37] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. I mean, I had never been a Trump supporter. I didn't vote in the last couple of elections because I didn't believe in the choices we were given.

[00:27:44] Patricia Heaton: And I still feel like this election cycle was, um, it's just like not great. Come on. How many people are in this country? Exactly. Those are the best two. Yeah. Um, so, but I am more of a conservative. [00:28:00] I would say that there's, I would say that there's been this, this victimhood stuff, this oppressed oppressor kind of ideology that's taken hold, that what it does, it stirs up resentment.

[00:28:12] Patricia Heaton: So there's tons and tons and tons of resentment.

[00:28:16] Jonah Platt: I think that's spot on this, this sort of level of resentment. And it made me think of, of two things. One is there's also this. sort of level of, with that resentment, this level of like entitlement and privilege of like, I'm resentful of, for example, America and the role it's played in the past.

[00:28:34] Jonah Platt: Meanwhile, here I am, like, living a wonderful American lifestyle and benefiting from it. I spent all my energy talking about how horrible America is. Yes. So there, I think there's that. There's

[00:28:43] Patricia Heaton: that. I think you're right. And I remember growing up, I'm much older than you, but growing up, there was always the, There's that.

[00:28:49] Patricia Heaton: The rich kids in the neighborhood, you knew who they were. Their dad was a doctor or insurance salesman or had car dealerships.

[00:28:55] Jonah Platt: Where'd you grow up? Cleveland. Cleveland. I was just there. It was great. Oh, you were? Where were

[00:28:59] Patricia Heaton: you? East [00:29:00] side? Shaker Heights? No,

[00:29:01] Jonah Platt: I was like, I stayed like downtown. Oh,

[00:29:03] Patricia Heaton: okay. What were you

[00:29:04] Jonah Platt: doing there?

[00:29:04] Jonah Platt: I was there for a Jewish Federation event. Oh, nice. For a speaking event.

[00:29:07] Patricia Heaton: Oh, fantastic. Is it strong there? Must be very strong. The Jewish

[00:29:10] Jonah Platt: community is amazing.

[00:29:11] Patricia Heaton: Because on the east side, yeah.

[00:29:12] Jonah Platt: It's, it's, it's like multi generational, like the same sort of pillars and founders of that community. are like five, six generations in whatever.

[00:29:21] Jonah Platt: And so they've just built this very familial, strong Jewish community. They're one of the strongest federations in the country. Oh,

[00:29:28] Patricia Heaton: excellent. I have to get back there and do something. I know they were asking us to do something. We just haven't been able

[00:29:33] Jonah Platt: to

[00:29:34] Patricia Heaton: work it out yet. But rich

[00:29:36] Jonah Platt: kids in the neighborhood, you knew

[00:29:37] Patricia Heaton: who they were.

[00:29:39] Patricia Heaton: And you were always hoping you got invited to the birthday party because they had a swimming pool. I

[00:29:42] Jonah Platt: get it.

[00:29:43] Patricia Heaton: But there wasn't a resentment. It's just what is. Right. Some people have more than others, but we all lived in the same community and we all went to the same schools and, and I think you're, you're right that social media has geed up this kind of thing of the haves and have not, have nots.

[00:29:58] Patricia Heaton: Um, but it's even like with, [00:30:00] um, like I saw somebody, you know, posting some anti Semitic thing about how the Jews think they're superior, right? And I'm thinking to myself, well, they are. Have you seen the Nobel Prize list compared to the size of Jewish people, the population, and the numbers that have won Nobel Prizes?

[00:30:20] Patricia Heaton: Have won 22

[00:30:21] Jonah Platt: percent of all Nobels. Yes.

[00:30:23] Patricia Heaton: I'm just, don't you want to be around people who are really good at what they do and who are committed to education? And committed to the flourishing of all human beings. Isn't that a great thing? And, and it's the reason, like, listen, it's why God chose the Jewish people.

[00:30:39] Patricia Heaton: You needed people who are smart and stubborn. That's what you have. Smart and stubborn. I'm just making a huge generalization. Yeah.

[00:30:44] Jonah Platt: Which, which, you know, is. is fine. I mean, I know, I know a lot of stupid Jews too, but

[00:30:49] Patricia Heaton: right. I mean, but as a whole,

[00:30:51] Jonah Platt: culturally, of course, you know, you're right in terms of like the values and the priorities.

[00:30:56] Jonah Platt: I was actually just listening to, um, Malcolm Gladwell's newest book. What's it [00:31:00] called? It's called revenge of the tipping point.

[00:31:01] Patricia Heaton: Okay.

[00:31:02] Jonah Platt: And he was talking about, uh, Ivy League schools.

[00:31:05] Patricia Heaton: Yeah.

[00:31:05] Jonah Platt: The, the way you used to get into Ivy League schools, this is in like the, the early 20th century, was taking an entrance exam.

[00:31:11] Jonah Platt: Like that's all you did. And the Jews were just crushing it. And they realized like, we can't just have this entrance exam. There's way too many Jews. We don't want this many Jews in our schools. That's where College essays come from, that's where interviews come from. That's where knowing what your extracurricular is, putting all of this on your application comes from.

[00:31:28] Jonah Platt: Yes. Like we got to have other criteria so we can keep Jews out because they're too, they're too smart and good at taking. Yeah. They're too

[00:31:35] Patricia Heaton: focused. And now that, and now with Asians too. Right. Exactly. They're feeling the same thing. They're too

[00:31:40] Jonah Platt: smart.

[00:31:40] Patricia Heaton: Yeah.

[00:31:41] Jonah Platt: You grew up in Cleveland, Irish Catholic. Yeah. Were you always, this strongly connected to your faith from the beginning?

[00:31:47] Patricia Heaton: Well, my, my mom was one of 15 children. Wow. Her mother, my grandmother, was Catholic Mother of the Year for the United States, and she, my grandfather, got medals from the Pope. Oh my God. Yes. [00:32:00] And. That's

[00:32:00] Jonah Platt: insane. That's amazing. And

[00:32:02] Patricia Heaton: I have about a hundred first cousins on my mom's side. You must. Because all 15.

[00:32:06] Patricia Heaton: five and 10 kids. You know,

[00:32:07] Jonah Platt: that is crazy. Yeah. Have you ever all gotten in one place? We tried

[00:32:11] Patricia Heaton: a couple of times, you know? Yeah. You put out the call.

[00:32:13] Jonah Platt: Right. And then whoever can make it can make it.

[00:32:15] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. But you don't even know, like anybody could show up. We had a Christmas party many years back and I just said, well, let's just, Put it through the grapevine and people just kept showing up and saying I'm your second cousin I'm the daughter of your first cousin who you know, so, um, that's that's always fun.

[00:32:31] Patricia Heaton: And um, and Then my sister's a nun at st. Cecilia's convent in Nashville. And Yeah, so my mom was a daily communicant. There's a thing in Like before Vatican II, which is when all the masses went to the, whatever your native language was, and the priest, instead of facing away from the congregation, turned toward the congregation.

[00:32:50] Patricia Heaton: There were these modernization changes that were made, but before that it was in Latin. You kept your hair covered, the women covered their hair with a veil. these chapel [00:33:00] veils. And so that's kind of the foundation of how I grew up. So it was pretty strong. It makes quite the imprint. It's just, it would be like growing up Orthodox, right?

[00:33:08] Patricia Heaton: Right. That was the vibe. Yes. Very, um, ritualized, um, a very, uh, healthy fear of God,

[00:33:16] Jonah Platt: you know,

[00:33:16] Patricia Heaton: feeling, knowing that God is watching you all the time. Right. So don't slip up. Yes. And I think, and I still believe that. And I often look around and going, thinking, looking at people, what they do, what they say. how they behave, and thinking, God can see you.

[00:33:31] Patricia Heaton: Are you not aware of this? Yeah.

[00:33:33] Jonah Platt: So, your, your mother died when you were 12 years old. Yeah. How did that loss shape who you are today, and, and, in what way, if any, did your faith help you navigate that?

[00:33:44] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. This was when there was no real therapy for kids. There was no grief counseling. Yeah.

[00:33:50] Jonah Platt: Yeah.

[00:33:50] Patricia Heaton: And we're Irish so, and my father was a big sports writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, very well known.

[00:33:57] Patricia Heaton: And so, we had a huge [00:34:00] wake and everybody showed up at the wake and then we had a huge funeral and then we had a huge after thing.

[00:34:05] Jonah Platt: And

[00:34:06] Patricia Heaton: uh. And then you got home and it was like, you know, okay, everybody finished their homework and you know, do the dishes. And

[00:34:14] Jonah Platt: there's no processing,

[00:34:15] Patricia Heaton: no processing. You know, I, I don't like, I wouldn't say that that's what caused me to drink so much at Ohio state.

[00:34:23] Patricia Heaton: I could use it as an excuse. I probably would have anyway. Um, but I, there was just, Emotionally tumultuous for many years afterwards because you're kind of sitting on this grief, but I was having a lot of abandonment issues. So anytime a change happened within my immediate family, my oldest sister goes off and becomes a nun.

[00:34:44] Patricia Heaton: My next sister goes off and gets married. My brother, who is like my best friend. We're both living in New York. He goes and takes a job at a newspaper in San Francisco. Every time it was like a massive emotional upheaval of seeing another person leave my life, you know? So [00:35:00] that just, uh, you know, that's was painful.

[00:35:03] Patricia Heaton: Um, the beauty of Catholicism is that we are not allowed to commit suicide. So anytime I had that thought, I just would not do it because I had a fear of being, um, Eternally separated from God. So you just, you know, you just kind of soldier through. I did, I did end up going to a lot of different. therapy.

[00:35:27] Patricia Heaton: Uh, I used to drink a lot, uh, do a smattering of drugs. Nothing, nothing too bad. Nothing

[00:35:33] Jonah Platt: too heavy. Just, you know, Quaalude,

[00:35:35] Patricia Heaton: a little cocaine.

[00:35:37] Jonah Platt: Quaalude sounds like they're pretty cool. They're very nice. Yeah. Yeah. We used to have Missed out on that era.

[00:35:42] Patricia Heaton: At Ohio State, we used to have what we called Soper Sunday.

[00:35:45] Patricia Heaton: Soper? Yeah. It's the, it's the term for Quaalude. It's a soper.

[00:35:49] Jonah Platt: I hadn't heard that one. Yeah. Soper Sunday. Soper Sunday. In the Jewish community, we have Soper Sunday where we raise money for the Jewish Federation. Well, the

[00:35:55] Patricia Heaton: Irish have Soper

[00:35:55] Jonah Platt: Sunday. And you're doing soap for Sunday. I like yours better, it's way more [00:36:00] fun.

[00:36:00] Jonah Platt: So, you're extremely outspoken about your Christian beliefs. Another thing you and I have in common, I'm very outspoken about my Judaism, so I want to give you props for that. Because so many people view speaking about that as like, lame, or weird, or not, you know. I don't know, socially acceptable for whatever reason.

[00:36:18] Patricia Heaton: Well, yeah, you really want to kill a conversation. You just bring up Jesus. But let's talk about my Emmys.

[00:36:25] Jonah Platt: So, okay, here's something fun to talk about. So, aside from supporting Jews, which is very unpopular these days, you're also, you know, have been vocally Republican and anti abortion. Yeah. In an entertainment industry where those things are also very unpopular.

[00:36:41] Jonah Platt: So you got the entertainment unpopular trifecta going for you.

[00:36:45] Patricia Heaton: Abortion's really the third rail in this, in Hollywood.

[00:36:48] Jonah Platt: How have these stances affected your professional and personal relationships?

[00:36:54] Patricia Heaton: Well just to give some context, so I was, we grew up as Kennedy Catholics, which means we were Democrats. [00:37:00]

[00:37:00] Jonah Platt: Okay.

[00:37:00] Patricia Heaton: You know, we boycotted grapes to support Cesar Chavez and the migrant farm workers. We were involved in the civil rights movement. But we're Catholics before we're Democrats. And about around in the 80s, the Democrats brought on abortion as part of their platform. And so we were like, okay. I can't do that anymore.

[00:37:18] Patricia Heaton: So, you know, I became a Republican and then more recently I registered as an independent because I just, this Republican thing was getting very crazy and messy. And with the, uh, with the abortion, uh, topic, I find it very anti, I find abortion very anti feminist. I find it very, it's a, a tool that, I hate to use the word patriarchy, but it only serves, abortion serves men, mostly.

[00:37:48] Patricia Heaton: What do you mean? Because they don't have to take responsibility.

[00:37:51] Jonah Platt: Isn't it? more feminist to empower women to decide for themselves what they want to do?

[00:37:57] Patricia Heaton: We all know that life begins at conception. That's a [00:38:00] scientifically proven fact.

[00:38:02] Jonah Platt: I'm sure at this point you can recognize that not everybody agrees with that.

[00:38:06] Patricia Heaton: It doesn't matter. It's true.

[00:38:08] Jonah Platt: Okay.

[00:38:09] Patricia Heaton: It's true that life begins at conception, right? And the life in my womb is a human life. So it's a human being in a stage of development that starts the minute you conceive that child, and it's your son or your daughter. It's a human rights issue, really, because you have to look at the developing baby in the womb and say, at what, we know this is a human being, so at what point does this human being, are they given civil rights to live?

[00:38:37] Patricia Heaton: It's an interesting question. Right? Because the Constitution gives us the right to life, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So, when does that right to life start?

[00:38:47] Jonah Platt: I don't have the data or the science to, to get deep into that one with you. I know it's certainly worth a discussion.

[00:38:54] Patricia Heaton: Well, that's the thing, Steve, it would be nice to be able to discuss this and not be shunned. [00:39:00] Like, I, I, I am never invited to Hollywood women's things.

[00:39:04] Jonah Platt: Really? No, I mean,

[00:39:05] Patricia Heaton: not that I care, but.

[00:39:06] Jonah Platt: Persona non grata? Yeah,

[00:39:08] Patricia Heaton: you just, you're not allowed to have that view. Like that's just weird. I don't think

[00:39:11] Jonah Platt: that's fair.

[00:39:12] Patricia Heaton: Here's the thing, politics never came. You've, you've worked when you're on a show, you show up, you make the show, make you say your lines. You're nice to the crew, you, you know, you're professional, you're friendly, you have a good time, you're appreciative, you're cooperative. Um, so that's always all it was about.

[00:39:31] Patricia Heaton: But you know, if you're on a set for a long time and for years and you start talking and stuff, you know, there were just people that really felt mostly like a lot of crew people, just felt like they couldn't really talk about. Politics they were afraid to.

[00:39:44] Jonah Platt: Yeah.

[00:39:45] Patricia Heaton: I think all of that sort of prepared me for what's happening now because it's, it's like I've never.

[00:39:51] Patricia Heaton: I shouldn't say that. I've had two very long running shows and I have a star in the Walk of Fame. I mean, it's not like I've ever been in some ways that you [00:40:00] kind of just tried to keep it on the low down because you didn't want to stick your head up, but you were aware that there was, you know, pushback going on.

[00:40:09] Patricia Heaton: So we cut to. At Columbia University, I think in, when all that crazy stuff was happening. When you went to

[00:40:17] Jonah Platt: go speak.

[00:40:17] Patricia Heaton: Yeah, when I spoke at the hostage rally. Yeah. And I'm on a stepladder with a megaphone outside of Columbia University in New York going, My name's Patricia Hayden and I'm a Christian and we have to support, you know, Israel.

[00:40:32] Patricia Heaton: I And so part of my brain was saying that. And the other part of my brain is like, I cannot believe I'm screaming, I'm a Christian into a megaphone in New York City, you know, it's just like, how did I get here? You know, it's come a long way.

[00:40:48] Jonah Platt: What was the feeling there?

[00:40:49] Patricia Heaton: You know, I just have always noticed that the, the rallies with Israel and with Jewish people are just full of song and joy and hope.

[00:40:58] Patricia Heaton: And. and [00:41:00] kindness. And, you know, it's such a different vibe. So it's, it's great to be a part of that. And the hostage rally that I spoke at was a lot of Israelis there, you know, and they have a really strong. They're Israelis.

[00:41:17] Jonah Platt: Yeah. They're, they're not shy.

[00:41:19] Patricia Heaton: They're not shy. And so that was really kind of great.

[00:41:22] Patricia Heaton: And I think there were like, uh, at least 500, maybe more there at that rally. And it just, it just felt good to my goodness. Well, there, I was the only Christian there that I was aware of. So I, I just knew I had to say something. And, uh, you know, hopefully get that message out to the Jewish community and to the Christian community.

[00:41:44] Jonah Platt: Were you surprised to see what we've seen on college campuses?

[00:41:49] Patricia Heaton: Listen, they're breaking the law by allowing these encampments to block students, from any student, from getting to class, but particularly [00:42:00] Jewish students. Like, you shouldn't be receiving federal funding if you are allowing people to harass.

[00:42:08] Patricia Heaton: and threaten Jewish students and keep them from going to class. This is like, this is why Elise Stefanik was, was at that congressional hearing, was like, what is wrong with you? And it continues to go. And UCLA, you know, the government put this, uh, a sanction on them saying, if you continue to let these camps happen, you're going to get your funding pulled.

[00:42:27] Patricia Heaton: And they appealed that ruling. They appealed that ruling at UCLA. It's like, are you out of your minds? I honestly have to say, I don't understand why you would vote. For the Democrats.

[00:42:41] Jonah Platt: We don't need to go down that whole road. No,

[00:42:43] Patricia Heaton: just, just a little, just touch on it. I'll

[00:42:45] Jonah Platt: touch on it. Explain it a little bit.

[00:42:46] Jonah Platt: It really was for me. I couldn't. ever stomach voting for Trump.

[00:42:52] Patricia Heaton: No. And I said this to a friend of mine. I said, I get that people hate Trump. I totally get it. I totally get that. They just cannot bring themselves to vote for [00:43:00] him. I think a lot of people didn't vote for him. I think they voted for what they feel his administration, a lot of people held their nose, which I understand, but I also think there were too many people in Hollywood that came out and tried to pretend that Kamala was something special when, when they, just before they were saying, you know, Biden's really special and he's.

[00:43:19] Patricia Heaton: Totally fine. And then they said, no, he can't do it. And here's a person and we're just going to install this person and she can't speak. She can't answer any questions. She rambles on. Um, and she's wonderful. Like just say, I don't think she's great, but I'm holding my nose and voting for her because I don't like Trump.

[00:43:38] Patricia Heaton: I totally get that. I think either way

[00:43:40] Jonah Platt: people were holding their nose. Yes. And for me, like the nose hold for Kamala was, was much easier for me to do than the nose hold would have been for Trump.

[00:43:50] Patricia Heaton: But you, did you get, come out and say, she's so great?

[00:43:53] Jonah Platt: No, never. Right. I came out and said I'm going to support her because I think this is what, you know, what I [00:44:00] believe I should be doing.

[00:44:01] Jonah Platt: Yes. But it was never like, You know, here's the most amazing president in our, in generations who has this, this, you know, grand vision for America of how she's going to change things, you know, I think, and I think that's part of why she lost is, you know, what was the vision? There really wasn't one. And meanwhile, Trump had a very strong of, you know, I'm going to change everything.

[00:44:21] Jonah Platt: And, you know, we're a thermostatic country. We like change. We vote for change all the time. Well,

[00:44:26] Patricia Heaton: Obama said the same thing, too. He said, I'm going to, I want to fundamentally change. I want to change everything. And

[00:44:31] Jonah Platt: so that sounds great. Let's change everything. Let's do that. You know, well, you

[00:44:33] Patricia Heaton: know what, to me, what's kind of frightening is the fact that Biden's wandering around in the jungle and she's in Hawaii.

[00:44:41] Patricia Heaton: And this has been going on for a long time, months and months, and everything just keeps rolling along. So you're like, Do we really need it? Like who's, is there someone in charge? Cause nothing, it doesn't matter that they're not around. Like there's a machine in place. And I think that's part of it. And I think people, [00:45:00] uh, really feel disenfranchised and that there is a big machine in Washington and that it needs to be dismantled and needs to be disrupt.

[00:45:07] Patricia Heaton: Let's say disrupted. I don't want to say dismantled. Cause I don't think anybody wants anarchy, but I think people want to disrupt some of this stuff that's been in place for a long time.

[00:45:16] Jonah Platt: I think that's probably right.

[00:45:17] Patricia Heaton: Yeah.

[00:45:18] Jonah Platt: You have gotten the opportunity to speak to a number of hostage families. Yeah.

[00:45:23] Jonah Platt: What have those conversations meant to you?

[00:45:25] Patricia Heaton: Well, I spoke to Rachel, uh, Goldberg Polen in Israel a couple weeks ago.

[00:45:30] Jonah Platt: How was that?

[00:45:31] Patricia Heaton: You know, I just don't know how she, uh, I don't know how you do that, you know, and, um, I, I guess, but maybe what else could you, what else would you do if you're not gonna speak up for your boy at every opportunity as long as you can and, and despite the way it turned out and that he lost his life fighting to the end, um, [00:46:00] you know, she's still, there's a serenity about her, um, and there's also grief there.

[00:46:09] Patricia Heaton: And That's just one of those things. That's why you, you have to believe that there is a God and that he sees your pain and your suffering and he understands it. I think for Christians, this is why Christ is so important because of his suffering, that you know that there is a God that suffered that understands your suffering.

[00:46:33] Patricia Heaton: Um, and you know, I shared with her this. One scripture where Paul says now we see as through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face So now we can't understand everything, but all will become clear

[00:46:52] Jonah Platt: Mm

[00:46:53] Patricia Heaton: hmm, right in the end And then there's a beautiful speech that you can look up on YouTube from Lord of the Rings where Paul says [00:47:00] Frodo and Samwise are kind of at the depths of despair where everything seems to be falling apart.

[00:47:07] Patricia Heaton: And, and Samwise has this beautiful speech about the, the, um, the stories, You know, what, what, by rights, we shouldn't even be here. Everything is so terrible. And it's hard to even think about an ending because how can an ending be happy after so many bad things have happened? But we remember the stories about those people who had a chance of turning back.

[00:47:30] Patricia Heaton: But they didn't. Those are the stories we remember. Those are the people we remember that didn't turn back. And Sam's, and Frodo says, why didn't they turn back? And Frodo's, and Samwise says, um, because they knew that there was some good in this world and that it was worth fighting for. And I feel that's what like Rachel is doing.

[00:47:49] Patricia Heaton: She's experienced this terrible thing and she's not turning back and she just keeps going. And that's, it's so heroic.

[00:47:56] Jonah Platt: So heroic. She's unbelievable. Yes. Well, we've, we've [00:48:00] gone from Chris Rock to Tolkien to the scriptures. You're very well read. You got a lot, you got a lot up there and you remember everything.

[00:48:08] Jonah Platt: I can't remember anything. So let's go to the My Zuza, Your Zuza project. Tell me what that is and how that came to involve you.

[00:48:17] Patricia Heaton: I've always known what a mezuzah is. And, um, I mean,

[00:48:19] Jonah Platt: you've always known. I've

[00:48:20] Patricia Heaton: just, I don't know why I know this stuff. I mean, I only went to Israel two weeks ago for the first time.

[00:48:26] Patricia Heaton: Right. But I have enough Jewish friends. I mean, I'm in show business. Right. Right. I know what it, I knew what it was. And I just, it just popped into my head. Myzuzah, it literally popped into my head. And I thought it's two things, two inspirations. Like I thought of the movie Spartacus. Um, where they all step forward and say, I am Spartacus.

[00:48:45] Patricia Heaton: Because the problem has been, how does a Christian literally show Jewish people they support them? Like, what could you do? Because people want to show something and maybe they're not going to fly an Israeli flag outside their house, but what kind of thing to do? And [00:49:00] I thought this could be a great thing.

[00:49:01] Patricia Heaton: And there was a story from 1993 in Billings, Montana, where a Jewish boy put a menorah in their window and a rock was thrown through the window. And so the Billings newspaper published a full page Menorah that people could put in their windows and 10, 000 people in Billings put the Menorah in their window.

[00:49:18] Patricia Heaton: So that's A Spartacus movement, right? So we were trying to get it going and we're trying to get social media influencers like Christians, we were going to send them a mezzuzah and start having them do it. We Not one single person responded.

[00:49:31] Jonah Platt: Wow.

[00:49:32] Patricia Heaton: So I happen to be going on Fox and Friends just to talk about 07C and Elizabeth and I said, should we just announce it?

[00:49:39] Patricia Heaton: Like we weren't really, it was not planned or plotted or, you know, we're just like, let's just, let's just talk about it. And so I just went on and I said, this is a Particus moment and this board, there's an organization called myzusa. org that gives free mezuzahs to Jewish families. And if you're a Christian, you can purchase one.

[00:49:57] Patricia Heaton: So it's, it's a

[00:49:58] Jonah Platt: different than what you're doing. [00:50:00]

[00:50:00] Patricia Heaton: Correct. But we said their name and said, you can get, this is where you can get a mezuzah. And so they were like, could you have given us a heads up because now we're

[00:50:09] Jonah Platt: being inundated with orders. Yes, because they're kind

[00:50:11] Patricia Heaton: of like, yeah, their website broke or something, you know.

[00:50:14] Patricia Heaton: Love it. So it took off, and it had, there were a lot of interesting responses to it from the Jewish community.

[00:50:22] Jonah Platt: Yeah, I read about some of the mixed responses. Yes,

[00:50:25] Patricia Heaton: there was like, hey, this is wonderful.

[00:50:27] Jonah Platt: Yep.

[00:50:27] Patricia Heaton: There was like, oh. Which it is,

[00:50:29] Jonah Platt: by the way. Oh,

[00:50:29] Patricia Heaton: thank you.

[00:50:30] Jonah Platt: Yeah.

[00:50:30] Patricia Heaton: There was like, Oh, this is a little bit cringy, but we're not in a position to be picky about who our allies are.

[00:50:36] Patricia Heaton: There's that. Um, and then there was like, there was, I got called, I can't, I'm not going to say it, but somebody called me an, an R word and a C word.

[00:50:48] Jonah Platt: An r word? I know the c word.

[00:50:50] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. Oh,

[00:50:52] Jonah Platt: the r word. Okay. Yeah, the r

[00:50:53] Patricia Heaton: word.

[00:50:53] Jonah Platt: Okay. Yeah,

[00:50:55] Patricia Heaton: I was like, and I saw that, and you know, people always say, oh, you know, Twitter is a [00:51:00] cesspool of like, and when I got that comment, I was like, oh, I felt, I'm in the game, baby.

[00:51:05] Patricia Heaton: There you go. Here we go. Now you know what it feels like. Yeah. It was kind of fun, actually. I mean, I block

[00:51:11] Jonah Platt: people. I'm so fast with the block. I

[00:51:13] Patricia Heaton: don't understand people saying, I can't be on Twitter. Right. I'm like, close, don't have open DMs. And blocked. That's all you do. And then your timeline is a thing of beauty where everybody, you know, you don't, you

[00:51:22] Jonah Platt: don't just, you don't need to give everybody the time of day.

[00:51:25] Jonah Platt: Nobody deserves your attention unless you want to give it to them.

[00:51:28] Patricia Heaton: But there was just this very small sliver. And I what I realize is because I read the comments and I don't think people Understand that I read the comments because when I if I respond there's this like oh crap, you know,

[00:51:41] Jonah Platt: right? Yeah, totally people think they're just I was thinking They're lighting a bag of dog shit on fire putting it on your door and ringing the door down running If you like chase after them like oh my god, I never thought this moment was gonna happen I think it's such a great show of solidarity I really think it's awesome and very meaningful and I I find it very comforting and You [00:52:00] Yeah, that point, I read some of the comments.

[00:52:01] Jonah Platt: People were like, oh, this is like appropriating. I was like, they're not doing it to like copy Jewish traditions. They're doing it to be friends. It's like, right, right. What? What a weird misunderstanding.

[00:52:10] Patricia Heaton: Yes. And also I think we should have probably made it clear that we were just getting the case, right?

[00:52:14] Jonah Platt: Not the scroll inside, not the

[00:52:16] Patricia Heaton: scroll inside and all that. I probably could have made that clear, but I think at the end of the day still.

[00:52:20] Jonah Platt: Whatever. Yeah. That's, I, the intent is what's important, I think. You visited Israel two weeks ago. Tell me, you know, what, what did that mean to you? What were some of the highlights?

[00:52:29] Patricia Heaton: The trip itself was, I mean, Jerusalem physically is a beautiful place because you can only build with Jerusalem stone, so it glows. Yeah. The city glows and it's gorgeous. And you know, the downside of the war is there's no tourists there, but that's an upside if you go because you have the place to yourself.

[00:52:45] Patricia Heaton: Yeah. And

[00:52:46] Jonah Platt: everybody's so happy to see you there. Yes.

[00:52:48] Patricia Heaton: And, you know, it's just. You know, being a person of faith, to be around, um, our spiritual ancestors who are very openly and vibrantly living in the presence [00:53:00] of God at all times, is just a beautiful thing. I was very moved by the Wailing Wall because there's no degrees of separation for Israelis and the pain of, October 7th, right?

[00:53:12] Patricia Heaton: They all know family members were hostages murdered, whatever. And so the intensity there, you can, you can feel the intensity of the people that are praying there. So that was very moving. Um, to, to just see all the sites, uh, Our Old Testament history and New Testament history, the places that Jesus walked, it's everywhere.

[00:53:37] Patricia Heaton: Uh, when we were up in Capernaum, we were standing where they believe the Sermon on the Mount was given and you can hear the Iron Dome behind it going

[00:53:46] Jonah Platt: and

[00:53:47] Patricia Heaton: you see the puffs in the sky of the missiles that are being taken out from Lebanon, right? Yeah. So it's this crazy. combination of, um, this ancient [00:54:00] history.

[00:54:00] Patricia Heaton: And it's not really history. It's like a river that's flowing and you're in the river at different points in time, right? Everybody steps into this river and it's on one

[00:54:09] Jonah Platt: continuum.

[00:54:10] Patricia Heaton: Yes. And it's alive. It's really alive. And I really felt the faith is alive and it's very exciting. I said to Dave, My husband, we need to get burial plots in Jerusalem because, or somewhere in Israel because our boys are never going to visit us, our graves, no matter where we, so instead of doing it like forest lawn, let's go to Israel and then we'll have a front row seat to the second coming.

[00:54:36] Patricia Heaton: Like we'll be first in line. And Dave likes to be first in line. So, um, yeah, but it was very moving because it's a real mix to have just, you know, it's secular and religious. And it's such a diverse community for being very Jewish. It's very because the Jewish community is diverse. Yeah. So you have so many different, you know, um, cultural [00:55:00] elements there and you have the best of it, you know, and it's, it was, it was very exciting.

[00:55:04] Patricia Heaton: Sure. It was like moving and meaningful and fun. fun and joyous. And there's such an exchange that we were having as Christians and Jews together. Did you

[00:55:13] Jonah Platt: film some of this? Yes. And so it's

[00:55:15] Patricia Heaton: all going to be coming out. I just didn't want to put it out like in random fashion. Here's this and here's that. I'm trying to like sort of putting it together with my social media team to have it be a little more impactful.

[00:55:27] Jonah Platt: Amazing.

[00:55:28] Patricia Heaton: But it's important. It's just really important for Christians to understand the importance of Israel on a spiritual level, but the world needs to understand the importance of Israel to the world and the contribution that Israel is making. Yeah. On so many levels, the technological level, just everything that they give to the world.

[00:55:49] Patricia Heaton: But Israel is sacrificing their sons and daughters, not just to save Israel, but to save the world. us, to save America, to save [00:56:00] democracy, to save the world. Their actual children, their flesh and blood are on the front lines. They are the tip of the spear in this fight. And we owe Israel an eternal debt of gratitude.

[00:56:13] Patricia Heaton: And that is why we need to be doing every single thing we can to support the Jewish people and Israel.

[00:56:20] Jonah Platt: Amen, sister. That was a, I'm, we're, we're leaving it there. So we usually take, uh, some questions from our Instagram audience. Dory. chite asks, what's your favorite Jewish food and favorite Jewish word?

[00:56:33] Patricia Heaton: Oh, um, let's see.

[00:56:36] Patricia Heaton: I like punim.

[00:56:37] Jonah Platt: Yeah, that's a good one.

[00:56:41] Patricia Heaton: And my favorite Jewish food, I guess I love the challah bread. I

[00:56:46] Jonah Platt: love challah. It's hard to beat. When you eat challah, we've asked this of many of our guests, do you rip it or do you slice it? Rip. Slice

[00:56:51] Patricia Heaton: seems weird, right? That's like eating pizza with a fork.

[00:56:55] Jonah Platt: That's good.

[00:56:55] Jonah Platt: I like that. Um, okay. We'll throw in one more. Um, [00:57:00] Okay, this is a good one. Uh, Megan underscore 218 first says, I grew up watching Everybody Loves Raymond with my family, so I've always been a big fan of yours. Do you have any advice for those of us who aren't Jewish but want to support the community in every way we can?

[00:57:13] Jonah Platt: What are some organizations or charities or acts of service you would recommend?

[00:57:17] Patricia Heaton: I would reach out to both your local synagogue and your local federation and find out, forget ideas from them of where you can be most supportive. I would go to myzusa. org and order a mezuzah, put it on your doorframe, say myzusa, yourzusa, hashtag Spartacus moment and post it so that people on social media can see that you are supporting social media is where so much information is coming, both pro and con and more, you know, more people Pro Hamas, um, media is out there.

[00:57:47] Patricia Heaton: It's very organized. It's very well funded. So we need more pro Israel, um, social media. So post as often as you can on social media. There's also like Magen David, um,

[00:57:58] Jonah Platt: Magen David Adom. [00:58:00] Yes. Yes.

[00:58:00] Patricia Heaton: The ambulance service really needs contributions. Service. Yes. And then anything supporting the IDF is important too.

[00:58:07] Jonah Platt: Amazing. Last one, at marissa. mylotusyoga, not a question, just a comment, so, so grateful for you and your advocacy. I hope you know how appreciated and loved you are.

[00:58:18] Patricia Heaton: Aww. That's so nice. Thank you.

[00:58:21] Jonah Platt: Thank you so much for being here. This was such a great conversation.

[00:58:25] Patricia Heaton: Great questions. Thank you. I appreciate you had great

[00:58:27] Jonah Platt: answers.

[00:58:28] Jonah Platt: Oh,

[00:58:28] Patricia Heaton: thanks.

[00:58:30] Jonah Platt: Thanks again to Patricia Heaton for her candor and her leadership and for making the time to chat with me while she's here in town. And a huge thank you also to all of our Christian brothers and sisters involved with the October 7th coalition. Your support is invaluable and absolutely necessary if we're going to have any hope of defeating the scourge of anti Jew hate.

[00:58:50] Jonah Platt: And as always, thanks to all of you out there. Special shout out to those of you watching me on JBS. I see you. And I'll see you all right back here for the next Superfly [00:59:00] episode of Being Jewish with me, Jonah Platt. Thank you to everyone who makes Being Jewish with Jonah Platt possible. Executive Producer Matthew Jones, Story Producer Sean Levy Ishvili, and Editor Patrick Edwards of Rainbow Creative.

[00:59:13] Jonah Platt: Consulting producers Bethany Mandel and Ariella Novek of Shield Communications, social media manager Yuval Yosha, graphic designer Noah Bell of Bellboy Creative, my incredible research assistant Samantha Greenwald, everyone at Aura House Studios, the whole team at Jewish Broadcasting Service, composer Gabe Mann, and of course you, dear listeners, who even stuck around to listen to all these credits.

[00:59:37] Jonah Platt: Man, I love you guys.