R' Doron Birnbaum: How Did Jewish Kids Start Believing This?

Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer - Living Lchaim

Rabbi Doron Birnbaum shares personal experiences with rising anti-Semitism in the UK and discusses how Jewish children are affected. He emphasizes resilience, visibility, and hope amid fear.

Key takeaways

• Anti-Semitism is escalating, affecting schools and public spaces.

Transcript preview

The algorithms of anti-Semitism will always win. They'll always always win. There's just too much content out there. So when you said the banonym, hate us, I don't know if they do. I just think people are incredibly misguided. I had a mother speak to me a few months ago. You know her daughter sat at the table, Shubus Table, and as kids do, they challenge you at your core, right? They get parents to actually work on themselves and said to the parents, teenagers know when to push. It's a teenage girl and she said, it's enough now. It's a genocide. It's enough, right? Let's call us fate as faith. And she went on and on and on and on. Is she a bad person for having that point of view? What's going on in the world could be scary. How are our kids interpreting it could be scarier? But just know this episode is about a very uncomfortable topic, but you will hear really practical tools and also words of hope. So stick around until the very end. This episode is in the very end. This episode is in love. Yaku Shlyma, Miriam Sarabas Yaku Mosha, and Shainl Bas Chaim Ihudel. And thank you to this week's sponsors, Koloqabar, Wielsteliz, Bippin, and 12 Stones. Now real quick, before we jump in, maybe you can see it in my eyes. We were filming our Tishabov film today and my eyes are hurting from all the tears. This is truly one of the most powerful content that we have ever made. It will be available on Tishabov. So if you haven't yet. It has already changed mind. Okay. Here we go. Rabbi Doran Birnbaum, thank you so much for coming all the way from the UK for this. I appreciate it. I know you're busy here in America while you're here, but let's just get straight into it. Sadly anti-Semitism is on a clear rise. From your perspective, what have you seen personally and then also we'll get into it from a Chinach teaching students and children perspective? Yeah, well, thanks for having me on. I mean, first of all, obviously, obviously, we know about the attacks that happened in Golders Green and they weren't the first ones. It was the, I'd like to say it's the end of a number of attacks that have unfortunately taken place, whether it's on synagogues or ambulances. But obviously what happened in Golders Green is a real sort of crossing a line for the Jewish community in Great Britain. Since then it's been quite a difficult and tense atmosphere amongst Jews in the UK. We try and remain positive and resilient and resilient and resilient and resilient and resilient and resilient and resilient time, but it's real, you know, I mean even myself, literally the week after this happened, so I had a, for various reasons, I had a couple of journalists who reach out to me, they wanted to write about the Jewish community and anti-semitism in Great Britain at the moment. And I took Aitsa from a few people and they said, listen, if you've got the platform, you need to speak, we need to speak up. And I was actually had a French journalist who was came to interview me on a Friday afternoon. and we got speaking it turns out she's Jewish. So I said you know what are you doing for Shabbas and you know I sorted out with a Friday night Shabbas Day she eats she ate at me Friday night and then I offered the turn to walk her back so I was walking her home up Golders Green Road which is exactly you know where the previous attack happened and I could hear you know noises from like some sort of shouting or something and there was a six foot four gentlemen walking towards us and straight away and straight away you know we could see this was an aggressive looking person probably a person who wasn't well neither was the attacker and he starts shouting at us I couldn't make it out and she says to me you know let's just cross the road so we so we cross over the road and then he starts pointing at me very clearly and say you I'm gonna knock you out you know what that means in America I'm gonna knock you I'm gonna punch you out yeah you say that phrase okay let me know okay and then he starts going into, you know, because you're Jewish and he starts talking about this. And we were about to ignore and then I see him carry on walking down the roads and approaching there was groups of Jewish teenagers out. It was a Friday night on Golders Green Road and going up to them and saying similar things and this this anti-Semitic vitriol that was coming out along with threats of violence. And so I was with the, we, Mamash thought at that point, you know, this is Pek Kachnefachenefachefache. This is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is the same thing, this is, modus upper and die as the speak Latin? Not yeah but I understand what the context what you're trying to say. Is this the same thing as the previous you know that so I said to okay you take she had her phone on her I said right you call 999 I'm gonna follow him I assume that's 911 for a last actually there I go and I'm gonna follow him she says you know don't follow it. I said you know don't follow it's gonna be two to three minutes till the police come because they're all on high alert this is a week after minutes and then the police will be and they'll take care of him and he won't attack anyone. Took 20 minutes and I followed him. 20 minutes I followed him with managed to get two other people to come and join me and eventually the police turned up and the CST turned up and they did press charges on him and he's not allowed now to go in the area at all. But this is you know this is something real that we are facing in the Jewish community in the UK right now. Now that's a personal experience. amongst others I can I can share with you. So I'm curious about how your role intercepts this idea of teaching the kids the teens. Just tell us a little about what you do and then I'm curious what their fears are or what they're expressing in the schools. Yeah, of course. So I'm my bread and butter is I'm an educator and I have been for over a decade in the UK and for some little part abroad abroad as well. Anti-Semitism in UK schools is very visible. It's visible in terms of security that we have. It's increased recently. Sometimes we'll see police now. I know in America your police serve as like security guards for shawls and for schools. For us, that's very, you know, we don't normally have that. But we have vast amounts of security and even things like going on, you know, school trips and things like that becomes very, very, you know, apparent. But my kids in primary school. they had a school trip to a place called Legoland, which is like a theme park, an amusement park, about a week after the attack happened. And they got the message that you mustn't look visibly Jewish on the school trip because we can't keep you safe. That means they couldn't wear school uniform, it had a manure on, they couldn't wear a couple, and that's heartbreaking not just as an educator, but as a parent, to take children in 2026, you know, Great Britain and to say to them you can't look Jewish on your school trip today. Now obviously it's not what you tell the kids, but as parents that's what we're, that's what we're hearing. And I did an article that happened to come out last week. I did it some time ago to talk about what it's like to be visibly Jewish in the UK. And I have to say actually, Merlin, who are the company that own Legoland, got in touch with me yesterday and he was in DC. And do you know what fair play to me? on. He says I totally agree with you. Obviously it wasn't the amusement park that gave the advice. I don't know whether it was the CSC, which is the Jewish security service or whether it was the police. Often it's based on security intelligence. But you know I like to play a game. Imagine if that advice was given for any other community, right? You can't come to the amusement park today looking like your community because we can't keep you safe. There would be uproar. Nobody would stand for it. But for Jews, that for Jews, that for Jews, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's normal and that's not okay and he said to me he agrees and he's going to speak to the CST and the police and see what exactly you know what was the intelligence and what if you've got to follow security advice you have to follow security advice but with no other community that would that be acceptable so in answer to your question there's a clear you know anti-semitism has become over recent weeks a topic that's unfortunately unavoidable the kids are talking about it the teenagers are talking about it We need to be up front with teenagers, say facts, especially in primary schools, because when something happens and then the rumors come out afterwards, you can't leave kids to rumors. You have to give them facts. You have to make them feel safe, not catastrophize things, make sure it's proportionate, but there's no way of not having those conversations with our children, which can sometimes be really difficult conversations to have. you're trying to educate and help these kids and teens realize like being Jewish is awesome it's the best gift and we have a mission but at the same time you know we're being forced to hide and I don't know if we're being forced to worry but like how do you balance those two realities? Okay so I'll say what I'll say with the caveat that I'm not in intelligence I'm not in security intelligence and you know it's always important that people wherever location they are they follow security advice now that caveat and disclaimer is out the way I'll sign something afterwards don't hide. Do not hide we cannot live in a world where we have to hide the fact that we're Jewish I go everywhere with this I will not take it off not when I lived in I lived in Gibraltar which is fine there but something we travelled into Spain which can be a bit difficult not not happening no if I can't go through mainland Europe and look obviously Jewish with my with my kipa my sitzas where are we as not just as a country as Europe is in the world where are we do not hide where the mug and david proud where whatever it is that sims symbolizes to you your Jewishness because you know what there's a time where we did hide I don't think it worked