- [Buki] Today on "Table For All," we take a deep dive into the journey, faith, and food behind the often imitated but never duplicated Jewish culture.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] The Jewish culture has been around since the beginning, but, still, many of their traditions are shrouded in mystery and often misunderstood, one of those being the Friday night tradition of Shabbat.

Historically, Shabbat is celebrated every Friday at sunset in observance of the seventh day of biblical creation, when the Torah says God stopped to rest and appreciate his creation.

I received an invitation from best-selling cookbook author Shannon Sarna Goldberg and her husband Jonathan to attend my very first Shabbat dinner.

- Hi!

Welcome to our Shabbat!

- Hello!

[child speaks in foreign language] - Welcome.

- Thank you.

- We're so glad you're here!

- Shannon and her three kids, Ella, Billie, and Jude, welcomed me to their home, and the kids were more than excited to get me into the kitchen to help braid the challah.

It was Shannon's love for this traditional bread that was the inspiration behind her wildly popular blog "The Nosher," and the catalyst to her very first cookbook, "The Modern Jewish Baker."

Challah time!

- It's challah time.

You want an apron?

- Yes, and I'm not a hollaback girl.

- I'm really happy to hear that.

- All right, all right.

- All right, great.

- So what goes into challah?

- Bread flour, salt, yeast, sugar, eggs, and oil.

- I'm not thin enough to do it like that.

Okay.

Here we go, from the back.

Go ahead.

- From the back.

So, the dough rises about three hours, and then it does a second, which is one of the most important things, because that gives it its nice lift and airiness, and, otherwise, it can end up too dense when it's baked.

So, we're gonna divide this dough, and we're gonna make one challah, and then we're gonna wrap some around hotdogs and make some challah dogs also.

- Some challah dogs?

- Challah dogs.

- [Buki] Challah refers to the mitzvah, a blessing or good deed, of separating a portion of the dough before you begin braiding as a contribution to the kohen, priest.

- There are so many different kinds of braids, and there's so many talented bakers who have just beautiful braids, but I like to kinda keep it traditional.

- On one holiday, we don't eat any wheat.

We eat matzah, which is a flat bread.

- I love matzah.

- You do?

Well, we're gonna have matzah balls tonight.

Do you like matzah balls?

- I do.

- Okay.

Great.

- I've made my own matzah ball soup.

Probably not as good as you.

- Oh, we're gonna have to compare notes!

That's so nice that you make matzah ball soup.

- I mean, I consider myself a Jewish grandmother sometimes.

- I gather those ends up at the top.

- Okay, kinda like- - Yeah.

- Just stuck together.

- Yeah.

Take the one on the right and bring it all the way to the left.

- [Buki] All the way, or- - [Shannon] Yeah.

All the way to the left.

- [Buki] Got it.

- And when you do it, you kinda, like, want it to be up a little bit.

Yeah, perfect.

- Okay, got it.

- And then, this one, you're gonna bring it all the way to the right.

- All the way to the right.

- Yeah, so now you can see we have a path down the middle.

- [Buki] Detail was crucial.

The braided challah may have three, four, or six strands, and the braids symbolize truth, peace, and justice.

- Traditional flavors are sort of like cinnamon.

Cinnamon raisin, you know, is popular.

Sesame seeds on top.

- [Ella] Chocolate chip.

- Ooh, chocolate chip.

- Chocolate chip.

- Yeah.

- Raisins.

- Raisins.

- You can also make stuffed challah, where, basically, in each strand, you put the filling of your choice, whether that's, like, a jam or chocolate.

- What's your favorite?

- My favorite is the raisin kind.

- Really?

With a little cinnamon too?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

That's a girl after my own heart.

Next, the rugalach, a Yiddish word that translates into "little twists."

The flavor combinations for rugalach are endless, but, today, Shannon showed me one her family's favorites, raspberry and chocolate chip.

We cut the dough into triangles, rolled and brushed with egg wash, before placing in the oven.

Shannon's husband Jonathan joined us in the kitchen and was steadfast in overseeing the popular Jewish treat potato kugel, a recipe passed down from his grandmother, and as we all know by now, every dish has a story.

So, I mean, this was really a relationship built on the love of food, and I even hear that our first date was at a grocery store.

- Our second date was at a grocery store, because after we went on our first date and she tried friend-zoning me, I was desperate to spend some time with her, and, one night, she's like, "Well, I don't really have time because I have to go to the supermarket," and I was like, "I have a car.

I'll drive you to the supermarket."

- As Jonathan cut the potato kugel, I managed to snag a little nosh before it made its way to the table.

- This is like a little tasting portion.

- Yeah.

I want the little corner piece.

- The corner's the best.

- Okay.

[upbeat music] What do you think?

- Mm.

I might be a convert after this.

- [Jonathan] Okay.

- [Buki] And we can't forget about the pot roast.

Just as I suspected, Shannon had a guy.

- I have the best butcher, and Harold knows that I like chuck roast, so when he has a good one, which this one is, look at that, he will ask me, "Do you want a chuck roast?"

And then he delivers to my house.

- What is it about Jewish women always has a guy at the butcher?

Every Jewish grandmother, every Jewish woman I know has a guy at the butcher.

Are you possessive over your butcher?

Are you gonna give me his number?

- No, no, I share, absolutely.

- Okay, okay.

- If anything- - Some people are like, "You can't have my guy."

- No, no, no.

It's not like that.

Other things, I get that, but, yeah.

- Got it, okay.

- I'm happy to share Harold all around.

- [Buki] The appreciation of this night continued with setting the traditional Shabbat dinner table.

This special table can be compared to the altar that once stood in the holy temple.

- The whole idea is that we're sort of separating out Shabbat from the rest of the week, and we're sort of taking a break, and we light candles at the start of Shabbat, and we actually light a different candle at the end of Shabbat.

- [Buki] The meal begins with the Shalom Aleichem.

[group speaking in foreign language] [group continues speaking in foreign language] - And now it's officially Shabbat in our house.

[group speaking in foreign language] - [Buki] And then the Kiddush, the blessing of the wine.

[group speaking in foreign language] And the blessing over the challah, known as the Hamotzi, And why do we cover the challah?

- We cover it because the last blessing that we say is over the bread, and we don't want it to be jealous of the candles and the wine that got blessings before it.

- Okay.

- All right, Billie, are you ready?

- All right, Billie, you're gonna say it for us?

Okay.

Go ahead.

[Billie speaking in foreign language] [group speaks in foreign language] - The prayers were said and we were ready to eat.

The pot roast was tender, the challah, fluffy as a cloud, and you'll never go back to mashed potatoes again after you try Jonathan's grandmother's potato kugel, and nothing goes better with kugel than great conversation.

What does this whole Shabbat dinner mean to you all?

- It's the one time a week where we really are all together, and that's kinda like the spirit of what Shabbat is, right?

It's a separation from the rest of the week, where you're with your family and loved ones and community and can take that time away from all the rest of the craziness.

- [Buki] As we ate, I learned so much about what makes the Jewish community so tightly knit.

- There aren't that many of us, right?

Statistically speaking.

I think we're 0.002% of the entire world population, or even less than that.

We take care of each other, right?

And I think that's just like a core value of what it means to be Jewish.

- Since World War II, Jews are very visible.

In a way, we look like everybody else, but we're different, and we know that we're different, and even though things are safe and comfortable, we've been taught, you know, kinda look over your shoulder, because you are still different.

- [Buki] In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League reported 3,697 antisemitic incidents in the United States, the highest number ever recorded since tracking began in 1979.

- There was an attack on a synagogue, you know, five miles from here.

Someone threw a Molotov cocktail on a Saturday night.

Thank God, you know, it didn't work.

There was minimal damage, but, you know, it happened.

- [Buki] Shannon and Jonathan say it's a balancing act to teach their kids the dangers that being Jewish can present, but not to live in fear.

- Like, when I was a kid, to have been able to say certain things about Jews, like what you would find these days on Twitter, it causes you to take pause and you can see the path for something like that to happen.

- [Buki] Shannon, Jonathan, and their kids live proudly and embrace everything being Jewish represents.

- Cheers.

Thank you for coming.

- [Buki] And the magic of connection and community Shabbat dinner brings every Friday night.

[gentle music] If there's one word to describe the Jewish community, that word would be resilience.

Throughout history, the Jewish people have taken the hardships they faced and turned it into lasting community and unwavering faith.

One woman who exemplifies those values and is unapologetically Jewish is Lizzy Savetsky.

The Texas native and former beauty queen says she found the core of her Jewish faith while studying abroad in Israel.

Now, this proud Orthodox Jewish mom and wife has made it her personal crusade to spread awareness about the Jewish culture and the fight against antisemitism.

[lively music] We met at her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for a no-holds-barred conversation on the past, the present, and the future of the Jewish community.

- [Lizzy] "Meshugana."

- "Meshugana."

- [Lizzy] Do you know what "meshugana" means?

- In a way, but explain for me.

- "Meshugana" means crazy, but it can be a term of endearment.

Like, "Oh, you're meshugana."

- [Buki] What's "farkakte"?

- "Farkakte" is messed up.

- [Buki] Oh, okay.

- Is my lipstick farkakte right now?

- No, it's great.

- Do I need to fix it?

- It's great.

I always ask this question of every Jewish person I know and meet.

Now we're friends.

Is being Jewish a religion or a culture?

There are Jews of every size, race, and color.

We have, you know, Sephardic Jews from Spain.

We've got Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe.

We've got Ethiopian Jews.

We've got the Mizrahi Jews in the Middle East.

So, is it a religion or is it a culture?

- I would say it is both and neither, that it is a people.

You know, there are Jews out there that would identify themselves as atheists, but a belief in God is not what makes you Jewish.

That's just the core value of Judaism, the religion, but being Jewish is about the people that we come from.

- And I know that you have a few survivors in your family.

Can you tell me about them?

- Yes.

So, my Zaide Eliezer, and he was living in Ukraine during the time of "Fiddler on the Roof," if you've seen that show or if anyone has, where they were living in this Jewish small neighborhood in Eastern Europe called the Shtetl, which is one of the Yiddish words that you can see on my wall, and a shtetl just means it's a small Jewish neighborhood.

My Zaide Eliezer had his eyeball poked out.

- 20 years before the Holocaust, between 1918 and 1921, it's estimated that nearly 100,000 Jewish people were killed, maimed, tortured, and raped during what's known as the pogroms in Ukraine.

After being blamed for giving comfort to the enemy and conspiring against the nation, hundreds of Jewish communities were looted, terrorized, and burned to the ground.

No one really talks about the Kiev pogroms of 1919.

Why don't we hear about this?

- Yeah, we don't.

- I know I was never taught this in school.

- Yeah, we don't hear about it, and it's really just one part of our long history of oppression, of expulsion, of murder, simply because we're Jewish, and, you know, it's a crime that we committed by being born.

It was after he had his eyeball poked out that he said, "I don't feel safe here anymore.

I think it's time to leave."

And, in fact, he couldn't even afford to bring his older children to America, and they ended up dying in Auschwitz.

- [Buki] The Holocaust, from 1933 to 1945, saw the genocide of European Jews during World War II when Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, and its collaborators gruesomely murdered over six million Jews and others in a horrific stain on world history.

- Thank God Zaide Eliezer immigrated, and his daughter, Mama Pauline, was my great grandmother, who I'm named after, and, you know, if they hadn't made those decisions and had that courage and bravery to start a whole new life with nothing, I wouldn't be here.

- What would these survivors think about what's going on today?

- I don't think that they would be surprised, because once you've lived through something like that, you know the signs to look for, and in my great uncle's Shoah testimonial, he said, "You think you're comfortable in America, but let me tell you something.

We were very comfortable in Europe too."

- [Crowd] End Jew hatred at the UN!

- [Buki] For many, social media can be a double-edged sword, and, for Lizzy, she learned the hard way how far that knife cuts after her activism was front and center on her platform.

- I think it's always shocking to see how much hate is just out there in the world, and it really breaks my heart to know that these people are being taught to hate.

- Lizzy speaks truth to power, and is teaching her daughters Stella and Juliet how to take up that mantel.

Stella is featured on Lizzy's page teaching weekly lessons from the Torah, but standing up against hate doesn't always mean pickets and protests, and all the yentas are talking about Lizzy's new venture, matchmaking.

♪ Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match ♪ ♪ Find me a find, catch me a catch ♪ - So.

- Yenta!

- Yenta.

You are literally the official New York Bubbee of the Upper East Side.

- Well, hello, honey.

- Hello, honey.

You are literally matchmaking all these amazing people.

Now, what's our success rate?

- I have three marriages, two engagements, and a lot of couples.

- It's bashert!

- It's bashert, honey!

- [Buki] Which means destiny.

- I feel like so much of the work that I do is so heavy and serious, and this is fun.

- [Buki] Lizzy efforts haven't gone unnoticed.

Her community has found a new ally in New York City's mayor, Eric Adams.

When the mayor of New York City calls you personally to collaborate on Jewish initiatives, you know you've made an impact.

- And the first thing that Mayor Adams said to me when I met with him was, "I understand a lot of people are scared right now to be Jewish, and I would be scared too."

- What did that validation feel like?

- It felt really good to know that there is somebody in power who is not gaslighting me, but sees this as a real problem.

- Everything is just so rife with meaning and texture in the Jewish community, and, I mean, I feel like this is a food show and we haven't even talked anything about food, so tell me about- - I know!

Oh my God.

- Tell me about some of your favorite Jewish foods.

Do you cook?

Are you in the kitchen, getting the challah ready, or you're like, "Let's have that cake."

- Do I look like I cook?

- I don't know.

You could be cooking in your Dior.

I don't know.

- I know.

You know what?

If I did cook, it would be in Dior, but I do love to make challah.

I'm not good in the kitchen, but making challah, for me, is not a culinary experience, but, for me, it's really a spiritual experience.

- And since, you know, now we're friends with the mayor, I mean, we gotta stop and get him some sort of a treat before we come and see him.

- Yes!

- I can't show up to the mayor empty-handed.

So we made a quick detour to Lizzy's favorite Jewish bakery, Michaeli's, to pick up some of her favorite treats.

[upbeat music] We arrived at City Hall and climbed the marble staircase to meet Mayor Adams.

We've spent the whole day together, just really talking about the Jewish culture, and she said, "You have to come meet the mayor."

- Yes.

- "You have to," and so I just love it, because how did the Black mayor of New York City get involved with this Jewish meshugana?

Was that a good one?

Was that a good one?

- That was good.

You said the Yiddish word.

Very impressive.

- Well, I believe that, you know, there is a commonality to what we all want, and when you allow the drowning out of noise, we can start actually hearing each other.

- You know, at the 2022 Mayor's Summit, that parable you gave with the frog in the boiling water, I thought was so profound.

Can you give me a little bit about that?

- And it was something that, you know, it's amazing some of the things you learn as a child, you come back and see the lesson that's connected to it.

It was a terrible laboratory experiment, but it was a philosophy that, if a frog jumps into hot water, it would jump out automatically, but if you place that same frog into cool water and turn up the heat slightly, it will remain there until it boils itself to death, and that's what we're seeing, because antisemitism and some of the other hate crimes that you're witnessing is slightly being turned up from social media, from hate groups, misguided, those who are celebrities.

Because it's being turned up slightly, we're going to see that we're boiling ourselves to death with hatred, and so we must identify every degree change and say, "No, we're not going to tolerate that one degree, because it becomes a force multiplier."

- And I just think that things like that are really making such a huge difference in our community.

- And things like Breaking Bread, Building Bonds, this is an initiative we're doing here in the city, a thousand dinners across the city, 10 people at each dinner at a minimum, and all come from different ethnic groups and backgrounds, and doing something I like to say is revolutionary, talking to each other, you know?

- I mean, that's what our show is all about.

- Right, right, right, you know?

You can not hate what you know.

- Well, mayor, I know you are busy.

You are flying from meeting to meeting, but we wanted to share with you from her favorite bakery.

- Oh, nice, nice, nice.

- Yeah, I brought you.

Okay, I know that you're very healthy with your vegan diet and you're in quite good shape, but this is bobcah.

Have you ever had bobcah?

- Yes, I have.

- Okay.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- So, you know, bobcah, part bread, part cake, and complete deliciousness over here.

- Love it, love it, love it.

- Yes, and we brought you some other treats as well.

- Because we know you're running from door to door.

- You can share them with your less healthy people.

- Trust me.

They will enjoy it.

Thank you.

Good seeing you.

- Thank you so much.

- See you soon.

- Yes, yes, I'll see you, Mayor Adams.

- Yes, yes.

- Thank you, mayor.

- We have work to do.

- This was such a pleasure.

- Yes, a real pleasure.

- Such a pleasure.

Lizzy and Mayor Adams know the fight can't be won alone.

It's going to take support from us all to eliminate hate, and maybe a bobcah or two.

[gentle music] When most people think of the Jewish culture, let's just go there.

They think of Eastern European Jews, but the Jewish culture is made up of so many different shapes and colors, from the Mizrahi Jews in the Middle East to the Black Jews in Ethiopia.

One woman who has made it her mission to shed light on what the Jewish culture has to offer for every community is Rabbi Heather Miller.

She is the rabbi president at the Flatbush Jewish Center and founder of "The Multitudes," a series of workshops that lead to the creation of safe and embracing spaces for Jews of color.

- I hope that, one day, my future grandchildren and I will be able to walk into any Jewish space and just be.

- [Buki] Rabbi Heather invited me to participate in a special student-lead event at Barnard College, celebrating the anniversary of the original 1969 Freedom Seder that took place on the one-year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death.

Over 800 people congregated at Lincoln Temple Church in Washington, D.C., and on this night, Jews and Black Christians, rabbis and ministers of all colors, held what they called the Freedom Seder.

They ate, they prayed, drank, shared stories, and discussed current social justice issues, and in keeping with tradition- - There are incidents of antisemitism that are on the rise.

There are also a lot of incidents of anti-Black racism that are happening as well, and then there's the intersection of both of those.

- [Buki] The students were asked questions to challenge their thinking and understanding.

- It's kind of like Jewish people are white people, and there's no such thing as Jews of color, which is obviously not true.

- [Buki] And it wouldn't be a Seder without food.

- There's an egg.

There's parsley.

There's horseradish.

There's haroset, which is delicious.

There's some over there.

Try it, but each one of the items represents a different thing.

♪ I do believe ♪ We shall overcome - [Buki] We capped off the day with the song those brave 800 sang all those years ago, "We Shall Overcome."

♪ We shall overcome ♪ Some day - A week later, Rabbi Heather invited me down to her synagogue to see how she balances activism, motherhood, and leader of her Jewish community.

You are a woman.

- I am.

- You are a Black woman, and now you're a Black woman and a Jew.

- [Heather] Mhm.

- Some would say three strikes and you're out.

- Yeah.

- And you have been barraged in every level.

- Yeah.

- For who you are.

How do you get out of bed?

- Well, it's really hard to have to feel like I have to do some mindfulness work before I come into those settings, and, honestly, it happens so often, I'm sort of used to it at this point.

I think, you know, the Ares in me makes me stubborn, so I'm not gonna stand for it, but it is really challenging.

One of my main motivations is that I want my kids to grow up and lead full and fully connected and participatory religious lives.

It's an important value to me and it's an important value to so many of us, but then, when we get that experience, it sort of takes it away, and I know of people who just don't wanna deal with it, so they're raising their kids outside of Jewish communities.

- Is that one of the reasons why you yourself decided to become a rabbi?

- Yes.

The way the math works is that one in seven Jews identifies as a Jew of color, but we don't see that when we walk into our average Jewish space, so I think that there's been a lot of intentional work to change that.

- [Buki] As a single mother of three sons, Rabbi Heather is challenged with not only teaching her boys how to walk in this world as men of color, but also as Jewish men.

- I'm a parent.

I'm a mom.

I'm a fierce mama bear.

Each of them were in kindergarten.

In their day schools, they were called the N word for the first time, and that was something that could not stand.

If a five-year-old is saying this on the recess yard, they got that from home.

So it's also, you know, not teaching them this idea that they're half Black and half Jewish, because they're not.

They're 100% Black and 100% Jewish, all at the same time.

- [Buki] When you strip everything away, for Rabbi Heather, her faith is front and center.

- I've been very privileged to, you know, be able to sit on boards and to have my voice be heard in different spaces, and I want to use that to sort of wedge the doors open permanently, for, you know, these stories to come out, so that we can deal with them as an entire community.

I really do believe that, you know, this religion belongs to all of us.

- [Buki] Lizzy said it best.

To be Jewish is not a religion or a culture.

It's an incredible group of people bound by their faith and their traditions.

Shannon, Lizzy, and Rabbi Heather gave us a glimpse at the challenges the Jewish culture still faces today, but, in the struggle, you can find so much joy, from the recipes passed down from family to family, the traditions and customs the next generation are taking hold of, and the communities of all colors and walks of life moving towards a more hopeful future.

Now, if that doesn't give you a little chutzpah, I don't know what will.

[gentle music] [Buki chuckles] [lively music] - All right, and then "flox."

What's "flox"?

- Yeah, like when you get so excited about something and you can't believe it.

"Oh, I'm floxxing!

I can't believe it!"

- Oh, well, I was floxxing this morning to talk to you.

- Oh my God.

- I love this wall.

This is incredible.