Chosen People Problems

Iran who? Venezuela what? The hottest place you need to know about right now is a little Muslim democracy in the horn of Africa called Somaliland. Recently, Israel just became the first country to recognize Somaliland as it cements its independence from Somalia, and we are now all in the honeymoon phase. We invited our new best friend Saeed Ibrahim, founder and editor of Somaliland Chronicle, to answer our hard-hitting geopolitical questions like “where is Somaliland?” and “what do you eat there?”

Saeed took us through the history of the region, the longstanding bond with Israel, the reactions on the street (they like us! They really like us!), the relationships with their not-so-nice neighbors, and why countries should be on their oxygen masks first before they help others.

But first, where are we?

Also:

* How are the daycare centers?

* Come for the camels, stay for the sea cucumbers.

* Oh, a real genocide.

* Houthis be maaaadddd.

* Location, location, location.

* Any kosher hotels?

* How can we be good allies?

* Do you know who Mandy Patinkin is?

* A Hebrew lesson - Um Shmum!

* The African Union? Please.

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Here are some celeberations on the streets of the capital Hargeisa after the recognition:

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And a visit from Israel’s Foreign Minister:

Thank you for listening! If you made it this far, it is your duty to the people of Israel and Somaliland to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It will really help us gain independence. Just click on the button below and hit those 5 stars.

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Last night we went Live on Substack with our listeners and AAJ BFF and The Free Press contributer, Eli Lake. Bummed you missed it? Want to watch a video version? Subscribe for free at askajew.substack.com

Read Eli’s latest about Venezuela, Iran and others, “Why the Venezuela Operation Won’t Embolden America’s Enemies” at The Free Press.

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Our podcast daddy Michael C. Moynihan is back from the dead for a long (and long awaited) discussion on conspiracy theories, antisemitism, dumb people, and why you shouldn’t end every conversation with a Jew with: BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PEDOPHILES??

Anyway, it’s not too late to update your 2026 resolutions, and our guest’s advice is to maybe this year, dislike yourself a little bit more. Not in a self-harm way of course, but a bit of self-hatred never hurt any writer, let’s put it that way.

Also:

* The Talmud is very oxen heavy

* Maybe the Somali daycare thing isn’t that bad, or maybe we are just afraid they’ll come after Yeshiva’s next.

* Christopher Hitchins didn’t hate religious people.

Oh great, we made it 23 mins before talking about Mandy Patinkin

* An argument about sexual assault.

* Would you go back in time and punch Mandy Patinkin?

* Holcoaust books for everyone.

* Why should Moynihan’s Goyishe daughter care about antisemitism?

* Antisemitism explains dumb people.

* Why does Europe suck?

* The Intellectual broken windows theory.

* But what about the peaophiles???

* Knowledge is something ((they)) aren’t telling you.

* The book I refered to is Kindly Inquisitors by the dear Jonathan Rauch, buy it immediately and also listen to our episode with him.

* Wait, Zionists killed Kennedy now?

* Antisemitism is just math.

* People should really learn to to hate themselves more.

All of the love to The Fifth Column community!! We love you, Michael loves you, we all love each other. None of us would be doing this without you. <3

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Hi everyone,

Last night we were supposed to interview Michael C. Moynihan, but unfortunately he tragically passed away. At least that’s what we think, we don’t know where he is. Godspeed Michael, we’ll miss you and carry your legacy.

Anyway, his disappearance is your gain, if you’re a paying subdcriber! We jumped on Substack to chat about our holiday, answer your questions,…

All photos and videos to accompany this episode are on our substack! Askajew.substack.com

In this episode we cover the events of last week, from the horrific murders in Sydney, to Ben Shapiro at TPUSA, to - of course - Mandy Patinkin.

In case you missed it, Ben Shapiro took to the stage last week at Turning Points USA’s AmericaFest, and in front of 30,000 people, for 30 glorious minutes, tore into all the haters. And yes, he named names.

I was wondering in the episode what the reaction was in the room to Ben’s speech, or rather - how many of these kids are actually buying into the Candace/Tucker nonsense? This week I got my answer, when Blake Neff, Charlie Kirk’s producer, posted the results of a straw poll of the attendees (most were under 30 years old btw).

Well, well, well. Would you look at that. Almost 87%, wait, let me spell that out - EIGHTY SEVEN PERCENT, view Israel as either a top ally or one ally of many. Only 13.3% don’t view Israel as an ally at all. This is not to say the online poison spewed by many of these straight-up antisemitic f*******s isn’t real. But perhaps, after all, the kids are alright. You see, the problem with all these people as I explain is that they went full retard, aka full antisemite. They could have gotten away with it if they just harped on about the manufactured famine or the USS Liberty, maybe even the dancing Israelis conspiracy theory would have gone over smoothly with people who enjoy alternative facts and dance recitals. But they went full batshit, mossad-tried-to-kill-me, Israel-made-me-pay-for-sex-with-girls, Brigitte-Macron-is-a-man, Jewish-bees-are-trying-to-kill-me, crazy. And they are losing. Take some free advice from a PR person - stick to the acceptable antisemitism of lying about Israel and parroting Hamas talking points. It’s worked for the left.

Ok, enough about politics. In this episode we also cover:

* Our response to Sydney - don’t cancel any events. Show up stronger. Here is the Weest Village Chabad event on the first night of Hanukah. It was packed, joyful, and freezing. That’s how we roll.

* How low or high is the bar to be a good Jews? Chaya Leah thinks you need to celebrate a holiday that isn’t in the top 5 and not wear wool and linen together, Yael thinks you just need to listen to this podcast (and would and Instagram story or two kill you?)

* A wonderful Shabbat Dinner in Long Beach ful of listeners and love.

* You can’t scream people into being on your side.

* A beautiful sermon to an empty room:

* Hanukkah movie recommendation!

UPDATE: I watched this movie. It is not good. Watch the Alicia Silverstone one instead.

Never a bad time to remind you that all your favorite Christmas songs were written by Jews. How do we know? A few years ago we had a Rabbi on who talked to us about the Jewish roots of many Christmas songs. It’s a story of immigration, love and hope. You should definitely listen, and yes - there’s a Spotify playlist.

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You know Andy Mills from such podcasts as “The Daily” from The New York Times, “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling” from The Free Press, and most recently, the award winning show “The Last Invention” about the Al revolution from his new company ”Longview Investigations”.

We discuss wether or not Al has a soul, human-robot babies, why some of the founders of the technology think we need to stop it like, now, and what does connection with humans look like in the age of machines.

Over the weekend, we were all consumed by the events in Sydney, that sadly seemed inevitable. The Australian Jewish community is so small, as is the Chabad family, and almost everyone in these two groups knows someone that was affected. In days like these, Jews are often advised to lay low, keep their heads down, and not draw too much attention to themselves. Do we really need to celebrate publicly? Maybe replace that star of david necklace with something a little less conspicuous? In light of that, we share two videos of two different celebrations right here in NYC. The more we try to kill us, the louder we sing. Happy Hanukkah!

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*No International Laws were broken during the recording of this episode.*

Dr. Mijal Bitton is a spiritual leader at the Downtown Minyan, an NYU sociologist, a scholar-in-residence at the Maimonides Fund, co-host of the Wondering Jew podcast AND she’s right here on Substack at Committed by Mijal Bitton . We discuss being a sephardic, south American Jew, orthodox feminism, dirty words in the bible, and even some TV recommendations (Pluribus anyone??)

Good for the Jews is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Also ICYMI, Van Jones had a dream come true this week….I don’t want to embarass the happy couple even more, but let me just say that AI is a wonderful tool and you can do many fun things with it and share here, if you are inclined.

To end on an even more positive note, last week over a thousands Jews and friends stood outside the Park East Synagogue in the freezing cold to show their support after the congregation was attacked by a bunch of losers in Keffiyah’s and masks. A Holocaust survivor Rabbi told us not to be afraid. Matisyahu sang songs about peace. An adorable kids choir sang their hearts out. Every single speaker talked about their love of NYC, America, and thanked the NYPD to the cheers of the crowd. Fam, you’re in good company.

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Chaya Leah is back from Vegas, and boy does she have some stories to tell (not the kind you think, though. They are much, much worse). Also, are orthodox Jews allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving? Was Yael disappointed when she met hostages in real life? And what did Chaya Leah say to make an Uber driver pull over because he was laughing so hard? If you love our show, please consider becoming a subscriber on askajew.substack.com. It's free! For now...

EMBARRASSING - I confuse Chaim Herzog and Chaim Weizmann I guess, so ignore everything I said about him. Ireland still sucks though, that part has been fact-checked.

We cover:

* Slot machines are life.

* Looking for a Minyan at The Venetian,

* Chaya Leah loved the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show, especially the part about Israel.

* Two very special guests for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

* These hostages have some dark humor, and we’re here for it.

* The antisemites are sometimes right.

* Netanyahu is asking for a pardon. We have nothing to add.

* Ireland still sucks, but our listeners from there are the best.

* I gets Chaim Herzog and Chaim Weizmann confused, SORRY.

* The truth about the Hannibal Directive is that you’re all idiots.

* The IDF killed everyone on October 7th and also it was a good thing.

* What’s the most normal country?

* The Australian World War 1 memorial in Israel.

* Normalize Normalization.

* Who is worse, Peter Beinart or Mandy Patinkin?

* How do we fix Israel’s image? By doing nothing.

* Mamdani’s transition team is just as bad as you think it is.

Questions? Concerns? Want to tell Chaya Leah she is “lanky”? Email us at [email protected]

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Happy Thanksgiving! Today on Ask A Jew, CNN Political Contributor and author of the new book “A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization”, Scott Jennings!.

You know Scott as the “spokesperson for common sense” on the CNN panel, and may recognize him as the guy who wore the hostage pin every day for two years on air, along with his progressive BFF Van Jones. (Scott, tell Van Chaya Leah says “hey”). He’s also a writer, a veteran of national political campaigns, host of the Scott Jennings Show on the Salem Radio Network and a million other things we didn’t have time to talk about because we were too busy asking him about raising chickens and whether he ever stole anything from the White House (the answer is Yes! You have to listen to find out what though..)

We did talk about being a lone conservative on a panel of liberals, how America is awesome, friendships across the aisle, why the only negative responses he got to wearing the hostage pin were on the air and not in real life, and his passionate, administration-defying crusade to make soccer illegal.

We even let him talk about his book for a little bit! The bestseller “A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization” is out now and you should buy it as a holiday gift for all your friends as well as your enemies. It’s a great read with some wild access and fun stories!

Make sure to follow Scott on X, Facebook, Instagram and check out his radio show/podcast, which you can catch weekdays at 2pm EST Live on X.

Also:

* Writing a book about President Trump, with President Trump, while President Trump is being President Trump.

* Wearing the yellow hostage pin every day over the last two years in solidarity with the hostages in Gaza, and finally taking it off.

* Growing up as a blue-collar Kentuckian with a little briefcase.

* “Everyone is Hitler” except Hitler.

* This podcast has gone one zero episodes without mentioning Mandy Patinkin.

* Is it fair that Scott is the lone conservative voice on the CNN panel fending off the liberals? Na, it’s not fair…to them.

* Scott Jennings, Van Jones, David Axelrod - we’d pay for someone to make this buddy comedy.

* Stop resisting the west.

* Is being an antisemite good politics? Strongly recommend taking the time to watch Scott address the Republican Jewish Coalition last month. Chills:

* Scott was on a nice vacation in Israel when Iran ruined it.

* The Iron Dome is a freaking miracle (and fun to watch!)

* 250 years of America F*** Yea!!!

* Is Scott the most Meme-d guy on CNN?

* Scott thinks soccer should be banned.

* Raising 4 boys and the Abraham Accords in the Jennings household.

* Oh wait Scott has a book??

* What did Scott steal from the White House?

* The Best Christmas movie is not the one Scott said.

* We make him thank us for Jesus

If you’ve come this far, consider subscribing!

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Periel Aschenbrand is a writer, comedian, author, and producer of the Comedy Cellar podcast “Live From the Table”. We discuss her life in comedy, post-October 7th stand up, and the irony of hiding in a baker’s oven during the holocaust. Find Periel on Instagram, catch her show “Hysterical” at the West Side Comedy Club. and check out her clothing line Henrietta, a tribue to an OG Jewish female hero.

Do you love Ask A Jew? Do you at least like us? If so, we have exciting news! Stay tuned on Substack for some announcements on new stuff coming your way in January 2026. And no, unfortunately it’s not a new cohost instead of Chaya Leah.

Make sure to subscribe on askajew.substack.com so you don’t miss out!

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