Hello, welcome to Ask Aviv Anything.

This is a very special episode.

I'm here with a hero of mine, Congressman Richie Torres.

Before we get into it, I just want to say thank you to Jason and L'Oreal Klinghoffer

for sponsoring this episode in honor of Jason's L'Oreal Klinghofer for sponsoring this episode in honor

of Jason's grandmother Nusia Klinghoffer, a Holocaust survivor who passed away last year.

Thank you.

Congressman Torres and I come from very different worlds.

You come from the East Bronx.

You have a history and a background that is very much from poverty and from real trials and tribulations, a single mother,

a neighborhood with tremendous amounts of crime and problems. You represent that neighborhood

today. And you have become now a congressman. You rose up the ranks, I would say, of the very much the progressive part of the Democratic Party.

You were a 2016 delegate for Bernie Sanders.

Richie, why are you and I now having a conversation because you're one of the most famous congressmen in the Jewish community

and one of the most loved, probably the single most loved represented in the U.S. Congress of the Jewish community and the one one of the most loved, probably the single

most loved representative in the U.S. Congress of the Jewish community who has held the line on

Israel. Can you describe an arc that takes you from really a deep background in progressive

politics to a place where you're now critical of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party

on these issues,

and therefore just so fascinating and so important to all the people I know.

Well, for me, the most important virtue in political leadership, but one of the most important virtues is empathy.

You know, when you're a representative, you have to represent your various constituencies, communities, as if you were part of the community.

...