Explaining Anti-Semitism to My (Jewish) Daughter. [5 Years Old]
29 December 2018 [link youtube]
Why is the year 2019, and not some other number? What is Christmas? Who was "Santa", and who was "Jesus"? What does it mean when I say that we're Jewish —and that we're hated for being Jewish, all over the world? We spent about a week solid trying to broach these issues with my daughter.
Youtube Automatic Transcription
so I want to ask you one more time it's
your least favorite topic I know I want to ask you why is the year 2018 so you know this is New Year's is the New Year's Eves festival coming up last year in Seoul over last year we celebrated with us and you said this is gonna be the best New Year ever when the ferris wheel with all this fun stuff that was from 2017 we can't do that wasn't 18 so my question for you is what happened 2018 years ago why why is it now the year 2018 it's not the year 500 it's not year 1,000 why is it this number and not something there why and this relates you this is linked to the question I've asked you again again who is Santa Claus what is Christmas all these big themes are coming together they're all linked in one giant conspiracy that's gonna blow your mind put the piece together you can just understand the way they're connected but you know do you think your mom knows but your mom never told you your mom never explained you some things are left for your father to explain to you okay so love oh this is the big secret this is the Big C is where all the pieces come together all those buildings we saw around the city that were cold at church right remember that ask you what is it church when you didn't really know him you don't know what a church was what do they do inside a church okay okay they all have statues of this guy called Jesus Jesus is a storybook figure he is not any more real than spongebob there is no real spongebob spongebob is just a cartoon in a story right some people come back through the scientists answer right right but here's the thing before this week you never heard the word Jew or Jewish before I've been trying to explain to you what it means to be Jewish who killed Jesus you said he's gonna come back but that's cuz he's dead he's just a fictional character it's just a storybook character like spongebob here's the thing the reason why everyone hates us the reason why we have a separate cemetery one business everything is because we killed Jesus the Jews killed Jesus that's what everyone says that's what they're all taught in the church it doesn't have to be that way they could teach the same story they could say the Romans killing Jesus they could blame the Roman Empire they could blame other people they could blame the soldiers that kill them they could blame the judge in the court or they could lay the law those things came from Rome but no all of the Christians everybody they blamed the Jews they say the Jews killed Jesus and the irony is of course Jesus himself was a Jew some still today Jewish people are he did people like you and me and your grandpa Pete and your grandma Gail all the Jewish people you're related to there's this really intense hatred against Jews Jesus was a Jew but he was also killed by the truth the answer to that question is yes because I am your dad and I am Jewish so this is the big challenge we don't have a choice you said to me recently you were going to move to a bunker yeah and learn Bulgarian you can choose to learn the Hungarian language you can move to China and you can choose to learn the Chinese language but you will never become a Chinese person and many of these places you go if you go to Bulgaria people will hate you for being Jewish that's a big problem it's been a problem for me all of my life it's been a problem for me in Scotland it's been a problem for me here in France it's a bigger problem in some countries than others but where most of the people are Christian then you have to you have to deal with the fact that people that Christians generally hate Jews so this is a big part of the history of Europe and this is why we do not celebrate Christmas these things are like so Christmas is the cell it's not about presents when I asked you before what is Christmas your answer was Christmas is about presents Christmas we hope it's not Christmas is the celebration of Jesus the full name of Jesus people use is Jesus Christ Christ Christmas so Christmas is about Jesus and even New Year the reason why the year is 2018 is because it was 2018 years ago in the magical story just like spongebob that people started to tell this story about Jesus being born and then Jesus was killed he was executed today you saw the police arresting a criminal in the story that's what happens Jesus he was arrested he was taken to court he was guilty and he was killed right sitterson the judge in the court was not Jewish the soldiers the police were not Jewish but everyone blames the Jews they say the Jews killed Jesus and you and me we're both Jews in Bulgaria the majority of people in Bulgaria hate us because we're Jews so we have to live our whole out of this we can plan our lives around it we can try to be smart about but this is a big factor in our lives you can choose to learn the Chinese language but you never become Chinese if you go to China you'll still be a white person Louisville you can do whatever you want your life you know but some things you can't change if you're if you're born Chinese then you're always be Chinese but Chinese people can learn to speak English and English people can learn to speak Chinese if you are born in Bulgaria if you are born Russian then all your life you will be Bulgaria and you'll be Russian in terms of your ethnicity in terms of what you are but learning the language does not change your ethnicity and of all the ethnicities to be born into being Jewish is the most dangerous ethnicity most of the world hates us and it will take many years for you to understand why
your least favorite topic I know I want to ask you why is the year 2018 so you know this is New Year's is the New Year's Eves festival coming up last year in Seoul over last year we celebrated with us and you said this is gonna be the best New Year ever when the ferris wheel with all this fun stuff that was from 2017 we can't do that wasn't 18 so my question for you is what happened 2018 years ago why why is it now the year 2018 it's not the year 500 it's not year 1,000 why is it this number and not something there why and this relates you this is linked to the question I've asked you again again who is Santa Claus what is Christmas all these big themes are coming together they're all linked in one giant conspiracy that's gonna blow your mind put the piece together you can just understand the way they're connected but you know do you think your mom knows but your mom never told you your mom never explained you some things are left for your father to explain to you okay so love oh this is the big secret this is the Big C is where all the pieces come together all those buildings we saw around the city that were cold at church right remember that ask you what is it church when you didn't really know him you don't know what a church was what do they do inside a church okay okay they all have statues of this guy called Jesus Jesus is a storybook figure he is not any more real than spongebob there is no real spongebob spongebob is just a cartoon in a story right some people come back through the scientists answer right right but here's the thing before this week you never heard the word Jew or Jewish before I've been trying to explain to you what it means to be Jewish who killed Jesus you said he's gonna come back but that's cuz he's dead he's just a fictional character it's just a storybook character like spongebob here's the thing the reason why everyone hates us the reason why we have a separate cemetery one business everything is because we killed Jesus the Jews killed Jesus that's what everyone says that's what they're all taught in the church it doesn't have to be that way they could teach the same story they could say the Romans killing Jesus they could blame the Roman Empire they could blame other people they could blame the soldiers that kill them they could blame the judge in the court or they could lay the law those things came from Rome but no all of the Christians everybody they blamed the Jews they say the Jews killed Jesus and the irony is of course Jesus himself was a Jew some still today Jewish people are he did people like you and me and your grandpa Pete and your grandma Gail all the Jewish people you're related to there's this really intense hatred against Jews Jesus was a Jew but he was also killed by the truth the answer to that question is yes because I am your dad and I am Jewish so this is the big challenge we don't have a choice you said to me recently you were going to move to a bunker yeah and learn Bulgarian you can choose to learn the Hungarian language you can move to China and you can choose to learn the Chinese language but you will never become a Chinese person and many of these places you go if you go to Bulgaria people will hate you for being Jewish that's a big problem it's been a problem for me all of my life it's been a problem for me in Scotland it's been a problem for me here in France it's a bigger problem in some countries than others but where most of the people are Christian then you have to you have to deal with the fact that people that Christians generally hate Jews so this is a big part of the history of Europe and this is why we do not celebrate Christmas these things are like so Christmas is the cell it's not about presents when I asked you before what is Christmas your answer was Christmas is about presents Christmas we hope it's not Christmas is the celebration of Jesus the full name of Jesus people use is Jesus Christ Christ Christmas so Christmas is about Jesus and even New Year the reason why the year is 2018 is because it was 2018 years ago in the magical story just like spongebob that people started to tell this story about Jesus being born and then Jesus was killed he was executed today you saw the police arresting a criminal in the story that's what happens Jesus he was arrested he was taken to court he was guilty and he was killed right sitterson the judge in the court was not Jewish the soldiers the police were not Jewish but everyone blames the Jews they say the Jews killed Jesus and you and me we're both Jews in Bulgaria the majority of people in Bulgaria hate us because we're Jews so we have to live our whole out of this we can plan our lives around it we can try to be smart about but this is a big factor in our lives you can choose to learn the Chinese language but you never become Chinese if you go to China you'll still be a white person Louisville you can do whatever you want your life you know but some things you can't change if you're if you're born Chinese then you're always be Chinese but Chinese people can learn to speak English and English people can learn to speak Chinese if you are born in Bulgaria if you are born Russian then all your life you will be Bulgaria and you'll be Russian in terms of your ethnicity in terms of what you are but learning the language does not change your ethnicity and of all the ethnicities to be born into being Jewish is the most dangerous ethnicity most of the world hates us and it will take many years for you to understand why