WEBVTT - Karol Markowicz Show: When the Stones Speak with Doron Spielman 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.720 I'm and welcome back to the Carol Midwood Show on iHeartRadio. 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.840 I heard from a lot of you about my last 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.560 monologue on the pressure to have to be a type 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.560 of person, maybe a girl boss or a trad wife. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.720 When I said that most people really are somewhere in between. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.680 Most agreed with me that living your life in this 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:32.559 box it's impossible, and really, no one's life is like that. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.360 No one's life looks like it does on Instagram. But 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:40.280 I'll read you the one listener email who's somewhat disagreed 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.480 with me, Carol. I enjoyed the segment, but I don't 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.960 think you're exactly right. Men get put into a so 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.239 called box all the time. We know we have to 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:55.040 be providers, caretakers, upstanding members of society. We don't get 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.560 to try on a lot of different personalities before choosing one. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.040 What would your advice be to a man who felt 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:08.280 pigeonholed by this, Well, that's interesting because I've long agreed 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:12.759 with that. I always said that women are so lucky. 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.360 No one asks a man, hey, what do you plan 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:20.679 to do after the baby comes? Women get options. It's true, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.520 but this note didn't make me think, what's the standard 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:30.360 that we expect from women, There really isn't one. Not 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.600 every woman wants to be a stay at home mom, 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:36.320 but we just assume that men don't. Write can a 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.000 man be happy staying home and raising his children? Of course, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:44.280 and more men make that choice today than ever before. 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.960 But do we really think that would be a tipping 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.800 point where more men will be pulled to that than 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.440 women are unlikely? Right, I've written before, but it's long 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.640 been a cliche that women get offended when they are 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.400 asked how they managed to do it all. It's a 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.360 question that men aren't asked because there's no expectation for 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.040 men to be heavy hitters at work while also making 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.639 cupcakes for their kids' school bake sale. It's only women 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.000 who are presented with the idea that they must be, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:18.360 you know, at the top of their game at work 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.360 and at home to have it quote unquote all. I 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.760 don't know which way is easier, and it might be 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.720 that women are looking for this rigid confines of a brand, 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:35.080 maybe a path, because it's easier that way. If you 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:39.359 choose to be a girl boss, then you're devoting your 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.600 attention to work and I hate the term girl boss 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:47.239 by the way. I think it's condescending, but it's descriptive, 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.600 and I get what it means. It means you're a 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.600 go getter at work, or if you choose to be 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.680 a tried wife, then you're you know, you have a 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.680 sour dough starter and maybe some chickens in the backyard, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.600 and there's a path, and you know when you're on it, 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:06.040 and it's easier because you're not trying to do both things. 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.680 The last listener who wrote in she implied that she 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.480 found it easier to pick that future path and then 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.720 just move towards it without ever imagining that she could 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.160 switch it up. And what I said to her was 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.760 life is long, and you don't know where you'll end up. 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:27.480 But I get that choices can be hard sometimes. But yes, 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.519 this listener's right that men just get fewer of them. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:36.119 Thanks for listening. Coming up next and interview with Deron Spielman. 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:42.040 Join us after the break. Hi, and welcome back to 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.720 the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.480 Doron Spielman. Deron is the author of the newly released 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.280 book When the Stones Speak. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:51.680 Hi. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:53.120 Dorone's so nice to have you on. 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.720 Thank you for having me, Carol, it's a real pleasure 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:56.120 to see you. 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.000 So I'm loving this book. I think it's so interesting 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.440 saying it's a historical record of the City of David. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.320 How would you describe to somebody who doesn't know what 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.200 the City of David is. What it is. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.880 It's really something that is Indiana Jones. I mean, it's 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.599 the actual Indiana Jones that we grew up with and 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.479 we loved. I mean, this is a story where Queen 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.120 Victoria wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant back 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.320 to England. She sends this navy captain to going to 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.200 the Old City of Jerusalem. He wanders down at hillside 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.640 outside the old city walls, and he sees the spring 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.359 of water, and he goes into this spring of water 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.360 that goes into the belly of a mountain, and there 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.599 he uncovers an actual underground city. And the City of 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.239 David is the actual site of Jerusalem from the Bible, 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:50.520 sitting beneath the ground, pristinely protected because it's not inside 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.159 the old city walls. And in one word, it really 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.120 is Disney World, but it's true. It's the glacier dreams 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.040 come true. It's actually the city of the Bible. 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.280 So who did you write this book for? Because it 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.280 has the historical component, of course, but it's such a 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.400 perfect moment for this kind of book. Did you have 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.799 that in mind at all? I know you did hundreds 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:19.840 of interviews for the book. Did you think at all 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.160 that you were going to be releasing it at this 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:23.920 kind of moment in our history. 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.240 I'll tell you, Carol, I wrote the book twice. I 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.039 don't know how many books have been written twice. The 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.160 first time I wrote the book was in early twenty 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:37.480 twenty three about the amazing archaeological discoveries and how unfortunately 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.520 terror groups and people have been pushing a false narrative 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.080 that the Jews are cloning lists tried to cover up 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.160 the excavations. So that was the initial motive to bring 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.600 the truth to light. However, I have to tell you 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.000 on October eighth, I was standing in southern Israel in 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.760 my military uniform in the morning, at nine in the 0:05:55.760 --> 0:06:01.159 morning on the eighth, in a highway of abandoned cars 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.920 by myself with two other soldiers. The cars were smoking 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.680 and it looked like a tidal wave had washed in 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.800 and washed out and taken the bodies with it. And 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.280 at that moment, I looked around me and I said, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:19.040 my god, my book that was talking about historical denihalism, right, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.760 this is where that leads. And after one hundred days 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.440 of the war, I got a bit of a respite, 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.520 and we'll talk about a healthy life and how one 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.040 recovers from that. I'm still figuring it out. Yeah. I 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:31.719 looked back at my book and I said, wait, you 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.120 know this is different now. I'm different now. And I 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.120 wrote it again a second time. Wow, to be appropriate 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.200 for now, for those kids who are on campus, for 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.599 the parents, for Jews everywhere and Israel supporters everywhere that 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.280 feel like the very essence of what we stand for 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:46.080 is under attack. 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.400 So what changed in when the Stone speak? What changed 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:50.920 in the book? 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.080 You know, originally it was I don't want to say 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.240 it was more academic and intellectual, but there was to 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.680 some degree. Okay, they're saying, we haven't been here. Here's 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.160 the proof that we're not colonialists, that this is actually 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:07.120 our land. What changed in October seventh is that this 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:13.240 is actually a battlefront. This is not an academic argument. 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.320 This is an argument that we should have known based 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.400 on the Hall cost that if someone comes to erase 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.680 your history. The next step, Carol is going to be 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.640 and whoever it is, but especially the Jews, they're coming 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.320 to erase you. And as I stood there, I realized, Okay, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:30.680 this is actually a front in the ward. It's the 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.280 front that we've ignored. You know we often talk about 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.520 in this military, you know that we missed the intelligence. 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.320 It's not only the intelligence that we missed. We ignored 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.680 decades of the erasure of the Jewish connection to the 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.240 land of Israel. And that's what those kids in Gaza 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.520 grew up believing, and that's why they became terrorists and 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:50.560 invaded Israel's borders. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.320 Do people who deny that Jews are indigenous to the 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.800 country of Israel? Are they even reachable? 0:07:58.160 --> 0:07:58.360 It? 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:00.440 Can mind still be changed? 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.280 You know, I've seen both. I've had people come to me, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.960 students with like a glossy kind of look in their 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.320 eyes that you know, they it looks like they took 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.280 either a drug or they've truly been brainwashed. And you 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.000 can wave your right your hand in front of their 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:17.400 face and there's no reaction. But I'll give you an example. 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.920 I had the Duke Law Association come to me, and 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.000 this was a few years ago. And I told them 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.000 the story of how we have Arab workers that worked 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.720 for us, and how it was Camas who threatened those 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.720 workers to stop working on the excavations and the workers 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.199 were working together with Jews and Christians on the excavations. 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:36.880 And I said to them, I said, you know, you 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.280 just met with one of these supposed human rights groups. 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:45.280 Where were they? Because I've raised charity charity to give 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.040 to these families now that don't have a job. And 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.040 you know, at the end, a person came up to 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.240 me and he said, you know, I was expecting something different. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.240 You're not the monster I thought you were. And you know, 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.400 if one person says that, I'm hoping maybe there were 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.320 two or three in the group of around fifteen. I 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.920 think that there is a group of people who are 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.079 out there that can be reached, But the most important 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.640 group are that in between group. There are so many 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.240 people that are under attack, whether they're on campus, or 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:14.959 they turn on TV and they hear what the United 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.040 Nations says, or you know, they see the marches and 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.120 they they how can this be happening? If we really 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.560 have a connection to the land, maybe we are colonialists, right, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.760 And that is the group that I hope will read 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.240 this book and their grandparents will give it to them 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.480 and their parents and they'll read it as well to realize, no, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.680 you know what, you're indigenous to the land of Israel, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.640 maybe more indigenous here than any other people, and you 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.160 should be proud of this and be willing to defend it. 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.040 Were there any surprises in writing when the Stones speak? 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:52.480 You know what was surprising is the rapid firing against 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.080 us of Israel's enemies. When I took a step back, 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.360 girl and I looked at it out of the context 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.720 of the city of David, I said, my God, like 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.600 how it's not going into the to the ring against 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.079 one fighter. You go against one fighter, which is the 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.319 Muslim Brotherhood, and as soon as you're victorious, all of 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.360 a sudden NGOs come and take you to court on 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.040 fallacious legal charges. And just as you're about to win, 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.520 they recruit the State Department, who doesn't even know what 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.040 they're talking about, and they recruit a white house. And 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.600 what really became clear to me as I wrote the 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:28.200 book was, my God, this is a concerted campaign. And I, 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.360 who had been living in it, was in survival mode 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.800 for so long, just the fight to keep the excavations 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:37.760 going with my close compadres who were doing this with me. 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.560 That really, when I wrote the book, I saw that. 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.640 And the other thing I saw as it took a 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:46.800 step back were the heroes, the incredible heroes that stood 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.520 up for us, whether they were members of the Israeli government. 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:51.360 David Friedman from the. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.360 United States, wonderful guy. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.040 Wonderful person who changed the dial and declared the city 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.600 of David a United States historical so we're the only 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.600 one in Israel. Eleana roz Leitner also from Florida, And 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:09.480 all of these heroes are donors. And ultimately speaking, I 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.360 left writing the book feeling very good, because good ultimately, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.440 even when it was dark, like being underneath the ground 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.040 and you come out of the ground and they were fighting, 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.040 good ultimately wins. 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.080 Are you optimistic? That sounds like a lot of optimism 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.559 right now when things seem pretty dark for the Jews 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:26.280 around the world. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.120 You know, I'll tell you something. I just sat around 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.640 the dinner table with my daughter, my eldest daughter, Nashama, 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.800 and she said, look, Abba, you know. 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.040 Sama mean soul. For those who don't. 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.520 Know, she does, and she's a big soul. And she 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.240 said we were all sitting around with the kids, and 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.840 there's always a fiery conversation. She said, abba listen the 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:49.839 recruitment levels. More than one hundred percent of all people 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.640 called up, you know, showed up for duty. And you 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.960 ask yourself. In Israel, first of all, you know, it's 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.680 been a nineteen months of war. Our friends have died, 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:04.040 literally you've died, and unfortunately their sons have done and 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.680 we have children in the army, and we have ballistic missiles, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.520 and we make life as good as we can. And 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.000 yet why are one hundred people one hundred percent showing up? 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.840 Because there's a power, a strength that has been released, 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.880 not only in Israel, but the battleground is not Israel. 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.200 It's Israel, and overseas, it's the diaspora, whether you're in 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.320 France or whether in New York. And therefore, I actually feel, Carol, 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.480 that this kind of woke us up. And what you 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:33.520 see is there's a choice now either I'm going to 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.880 do I'm just going to simply disappear, or I'm going 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:39.640 to decide to be a Jew or support Israel for nanjuws. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.679 And drawing that line in the sand was critical because 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.920 people were slowly fading out. Now there's a line. Which 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.199 side are you going to stand on? I'm very optimistic 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.840 that most people, Jews, Christians and other people will take 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.160 a stand with Israel and ultimately that will be vindicated. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.559 What do you want people to take away from one still. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.640 And to speak, there's a challenge against us. That is 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:08.199 an entire narrative that has been constructed, goes back more 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.280 than one hundred years, goes to the founding of the 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:15.840 Palestinian nationalist movement by Hajajaminal Husseini, who is aligned with 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.319 Hitler himself in the very very famous picture It's taken 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.120 root in the media. I faced the media, I was 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.120 on sixty minutes. I've done all of these things. It's 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.720 on university campuses, and one could have the sense of 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.319 maybe giving up. However, we have to understand that if 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.520 what they're saying is true, we have to leave. If 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.480 actually what their claim is about us is true, we 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.920 have no right to the land of Israel. It means 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.880 Biblical values aren't true, Christian values aren't true, and the 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.200 foundation of the United States isn't true. Meaning Israel is 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.000 not just about Israel, it is about the foundation of 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:57.760 the Western values. Unfortunately for them, ours history is actually true. 0:13:58.200 --> 0:13:59.800 And what I want this book to do is to 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.120 tell people's this is the time where you need to 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.520 take a stand and realize that this is what's at stake. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.520 It's not Israel. Just like with Iran, it's not just 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.720 about Israel. It's about the West. What happens here has 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.200 massive shock waves. It's your story wherever you are, and 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.720 if you listen to the stones. This is why the 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.080 book is called When the Stones Speak, because the archaeologist 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.800 in the city of David, when there was arguing about 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.800 the history of a site, was it King David? Was 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.360 it one hundred years after King David? She would step 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:30.840 back at Lot of Mazarre and she would say, you 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.800 know what, let the stones speak, and same thing with 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.520 what's happening now in the world. Let the stone speak. 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.720 Let them tell you our story. We are indigenous, stand strong, 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.480 and we have Western values and Judaism, and there's a 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.400 positive future ahead of us. That's what I want people 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:48.640 to get is really a sense of strong. 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.920 What do people generally misunderstand about Israel? 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.480 I think the most common thing that people misunderstand about 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.280 Israel is they think that we're a bunch of depressed. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.880 You know, there is some depression, but that you know, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.080 we have mental health issues every single person, and there's 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.840 plenty of them, but not for the reasons they're saying. 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.480 Mostly because of the way is Radley's drive. And at 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:11.760 the end of the day, I. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.840 Was going to make a Jewish mom's joke, but I 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.440 won't do that exactly. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.320 You know, there's a little neuroticism, aongongst the Jewish people 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.480 that's kind of built in. I think it goes back 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.360 to the passover cleaning issue, which just exacerbates it. However, 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:27.840 I think at the end of the day, people you know, 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.880 they write to me like, how is life there? And 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.080 the irony is you know, I tried going to Aroma today. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.600 Roma's the coffee shop and he's a best coffee right 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.880 and I'm standing in line and there is such a 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:40.600 long line. 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.440 You just cut in front of each other and hope 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:45.040 for the best. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.200 Well, you know, I was born in America, so I'm 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.440 still trying to bring a bit of that gentrification. But 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.760 you know, you drive around the coffee shops, you drive 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.840 around the restaurants, you can't even get in and life 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.160 even with all the tragy and again this week, I 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.840 already went to a memorial ceremony for a friend's son 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.040 who was killed. And at the end, you know what 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.200 we did, he said, everyone come over to his house, 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:11.600 and there was like a party at his house for 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.080 his son, because his son, he said, died for the 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.920 Jewish people. I'm sorry to be tragic, but there's life. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.680 And all these young people were there just drinking and 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.440 telling stories and having fun in and Israel is so 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.840 full of life. The vibrancy of being here is so 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.200 great that I think that's what's most misunderstood. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:31.240 What do you worry about? 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.600 I worry about us not learning the lesson, Carol, That's 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.240 really what I worry about. I worry about us slipping 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.800 back again from October seventh. You know, we almost were 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:45.960 plumbled in the in the in the Young Kipper War, 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.040 and we had all these takeaways how you can never 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.640 underestimate your enemy. You have to be super strong. And 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.080 then we built a beautiful high tech country, and you know, 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.480 and we forgot about our enemies, and we forgot about 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:58.920 how strong we have to be in that there's a 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.920 price that paid a lift here. It might be more taxes, 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:03.760 it might be serving the army, it might be. You 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.840 have to be on a stronger defense. And my biggest 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.840 fear is that we're going to allow ourselves to slip 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:14.560 back in to the realm of complacency. Because being Jewish 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.040 and being in the land of Israel, if you read 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.160 through the Bible, you go all the way back, there 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:22.920 has never ever been a time of complacency ever, And 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.640 that's my biggest fear. We have to stay alert, and 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.600 I believe the way to do it is to constantly 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:32.879 see our lives here as a continuation of a thousands 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.520 and thousands of years journey, the people who died in 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.840 the Holocaust, the people who died in the pug grums, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.359 going back to the Second Temple, the First Temple, the 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.600 children who ran around this land right in their bare feet, 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.160 and there's the sense that it's alive. And if it's alive, 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.240 you can never go to sleep. Your job here is 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.199 to be alive. It's a twenty four hour day experience. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.760 It's exhausting and exciting, as you know, and that's the cure. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.920 That's the solution, I think, is just this vibrancy to. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.600 Do israelis see what a remarkable thing the city of 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.600 david Is Or are they just surrounded by history all 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.960 the time anyway, and so you know what you write 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.240 about in when the stones speak, that's their lives anyway. 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.680 Or do they see that this is something really special 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:17.360 and unique. 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:21.560 It's a great question and your framing is absolutely brilliant. 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.600 Israelis had become accustomed to knowing they were living in 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.600 an older country. However, when they came to the city 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.720 of David, it was like a miracle happened. It began 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.440 with Israelis. You know, Israelis have spread all over the 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.360 political spectrum, right, it's kind of a Jewish trait. There's 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.119 like a perfect formula. When they come to the city 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.480 of David, whether they're from a high tech company or 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.920 they're in charge of missile defense or their family living 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:51.600 on the periphery, they leave different, absolutely different, having felt like, 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.440 and I hear this time and time again, that they 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.360 went back in time and connected to something and when 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.840 they re entered this world they realized, wait a second, 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.639 I'm part of a story. And that is the power 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.919 of the City of David. And it has kind of 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.560 broken this old adage of Israelis that yeah, we live 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:11.600 in an old country. No it's not enough to say 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.679 you live in an old country. It's critical that you 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.399 realize you are indigenous to this land. And that is 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:21.199 an important word that we don't like to say. We 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.000 kind of take it for granted. Everyone knows where it 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.800 no no right when you go to the city of David. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:27.800 Are you going? Is it like going to the met 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.200 or is it like going to a place that is 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:35.440 your ancestral home? And that is the Fittish. The insight 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.639 with Israelis today that you know if you pull I 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.840 take this from many of our enemies. I'm sorry to 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.200 say you pull any Palestinian off the street. I don't 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.320 mean to be overly political, but they're all part of 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.800 this narrative that they have constructed and been told is true. 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.639 You have pull in Israeli off the street. They are 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.720 a great guy or girl, but they're arguing. And therefore 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.160 the power of the City of David for them, and 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.760 my recommendations for them in the Hebrew at least, is 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.040 you've got to really own that indigenous nature. We have 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.720 to teach our children that they are indigenous and Israelis. 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.159 It says on the l all planes be an ambassador. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.120 When they walk off that plane. You need to every 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:17.480 single person this is my ancestral indigenous land, because that's 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.880 what this spoils down to, and that's why this place 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:21.400 is so important for Israelis. 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.040 Did you always want to write about archaeology or history 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.440 or is this kind of new for you? 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.600 No, I wanted to write fiction. Actually, I really love 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.520 fantasy and science fiction. Lord of the Rings and you know, 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.320 I can reread the series every single year. When I 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:38.879 came to Israel, I kind of felt like it was 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.920 our own Lord of the Rings and maybe working underground, 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.280 but I'll tell you the time that I really decided 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.399 fictions going in the back burner after a number of 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.400 failed attempts, and I'm going for this is. I had 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:55.960 a sixteen minutes interview and during the interview I realized 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.320 the manipulation that was taking place with Leslie Stall and 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.600 she came. She was crying and everything else until the 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.040