Howie Danao: A Filipino Child Raised by Israelis — From Outsider to Belonging

Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer

Living Lchaim

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Inspiration for the Nation is the weekly Jewish podcast from Living Lchaim, hosted by Yaakov Langer.

Howie Danao grew up in an affluent Tel Aviv home as the adopted son of a secular Israeli family, alongside his Filipino mother who worked as a caretaker. A gifted singer fluent in Hebrew, he rose to the semi-finals of a major Israeli reality competition and later served in the IDF even before he gained citizenship. A transformative Jewish-identity program pushed him to confront his past and his purpose, sending him on a spiritual journey that led to conversion, religious life, and using his music to share his story of faith, belonging, and love for Israel.

Howie's music: https://bit.ly/4pjRew6

IG: https://www.instagram.com/imjusthowie/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HowieDanao

Hoodie: https://www.makeyourmarkculture.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/makeyourmarkculture/

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✬ IN MEMORY OF ✬

This episode is in memory of:

• Miram Sarah bas Yaakov Moshe

• Shimon Dovid ben Yaakov Shloima

This episode is for the speedy recovery of:

• Yosef Chaim ben Devorah Chaya Golda

#iftn Lchaim.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The mother came from the Philippines to Israel. She wanted to work as a nurse, but things didn't really work out. So she worked as a housekeeper.
0:07.0	And at the same time, she found out that she's pregnant with me.
0:10.0	And instead of going back to the Philippines, her employers offered her to raise me with them.
0:15.0	So I was raised by my Bajako mother into adopting parents, Israeli parents.
0:19.0	So I have my mom, I call her mommy, my Bajako mother, and I have two adopting parents, Israeli parents. So I have my, my mom, my, I call her mommy, my
0:22.0	biological mother. And I have two adopting parents. I call them Iima and Naba. Like every day,
0:27.2	I experienced an identity crisis. Because God forbid, I go out one day and I'm not coming back
0:35.4	because a terrorist decided that he want to blow up or something.
0:38.3	God forbid. What did I serve? Like, again, I told you, most of my, of my mindset and my perception
0:48.3	about Judaism, about the country, about Am Israel, is that I'm not a part of it. I started to ask my mother, like, why Israel?
0:55.5	How in the world did a little Filipino boy, who wasn't Jewish, become not only a successful
0:59.9	artist, but also an Orthodox Jew? His story of adoption, sacrifice, and soul searching is
1:06.0	epic. This episode is in memory of Shimon Dava, and Yom Sariq of Moshah.
1:11.6	This episode is giving off a lot of Hanukkah energy, so get ready to get into that miracle light.
1:17.6	This episode is Rufuah Shlema, Yosef Chaim bin Devarachai Goulda.
1:20.6	This episode is powered by Wales Delis, Twillerie, Felthheim, and Kahlachad magazine.
1:26.6	Now, be sure to hear Howie's incredible voice all the way at the end of this episode. I believe he has of the best voices from any guest we have ever had on the show. Here we go. Howie, thanks so much for doing this. Of course. Thank you for having me. Of course. We've been planning this for a while, so I'm glad I finally got you.
1:44.8	Lord Hashem.
1:45.5	And we're going to get into your life, but this is your first time. My first time in the United States. That's amazing. Okay. So I have a lot of questions about, like, how you feel about that. But take me back to the beginning. Could you tell me your first memories of growing up in Israel? Yeah, of course.
2:02.0	So my childhood your first memories of growing up in Israel. Yeah, of course.
2:09.3	So my childhood was always, it was normal for me.
2:10.5	It felt normal for me.
	...

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