From Bokort's own Florida, this is Behind the Bima.

On this episode, the rabbis are joined by Mark Halawa.

Born in Kuwait and raised in an openly anti-Semitic environment,

Mark's journey ultimately led him to Judaism.

In this deeply personal conversation,

Mark reflects on the assumptions he absorbed growing up,

discusses the moments that challenged him,

and shares the difficult work of reexamining beliefs

many take for granted. All this and more, Behind the Bima. This season of Behind the Bima is

sponsored by Julie Charleston and Daryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton and Malvina

Charleston, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin. Welcome to the latest episode of Behind the Beam. I'm so excited that the intro to this episode is going to be with the one and only the great Rebitten, Yechever-Golberg. Welcome, Rebetson Goldberg. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. Yechever, you're really the perfect person to open this episode with, both as a follow-up to the last episode

Rebitten Schechter we've gotten so much feedback about and also as an introduction to this episode

a conversation we had with Mark Halawa. Mark is a fascinating, fascinating individual, incredible

origins began as part of a different religion and a different society and today is an observant Jew living in Yerlheim. Spoiler, I don't want to spoil it. So I'll let you hear it. But there's a lot for us to talk about both as a follow-up to Rebittsen Schechter and also our experience, our trip to the UAE and what opened up our eyes, our hearts, and our minds. So those were different than us and just meeting people and how that changes things you don't vilify. Let's start with Rebittsen Schechter. You've been getting a lot of feedback from the episode? I'm getting some feedback. I think that what was great about Rebittsen Schechter was how real she was. She always is, but certainly in a conversation one-on-one, what I loved about what she said, my favorite parts were

when she was speaking about what it's like for her generation, I mean, everyone who knows me knows

I'm a little bit Holocaust obsessed, so I will admit that.

A little bit. A little bit. When you grow up with grandparents and when it's in your world,

it's hard not to be. And when it's so important to me to pass it on

to the next generation, it is definitely something that's center in my life. But what she said

was interesting about how her generation, they struggle with the fact that they don't know so much

about their parents, about their stories. They don't want to burden them with having to tell

them and tell them stories and tell them details. And so there are so many holes in their stories. And I know that, um, you know,

...