"Salam." "Salam." "Brother Daud." "How come you don't play?" "Because I'm busy watching you." "What colour should I colour the leaves?" "Either brown or green." "Whatever colour you have." "You could also colour them yellow if you want." "Why won't you study the Quran with those boys?" "They're not studying the Quran." "I want to go play in the playground." "Just let me finish this." "You promised me." "Come on." "Look!" "They left their book." "Let's go, we have to give it to them." "How much further?" "It's right here." "All I have to do is give it back to them." "Then we go back home, alright?" "OK." "Wait!" "Let's go." "Wait here." "I wanna go home!" "Lifka, just wait!" "Lifka!" "Lifka!" "Is one spoon enough?" "No, I don't like these..." "I know but mom and bobba do." "She's playing with her food." "Lifka, eat your food." "Don't play." "Eat." "Bobba?" "Yes." "Is the Jewish book similar to the Quran?" "Some parts are similar." "But they don't follow the Prophet, may peace be upon him." "God still punishes them for that." "Why do you ask that?" "When I was at the park, there was a Jewish boy who left his book there." "So I returned it to him." "That was kind of you." "Yes, but be careful." "Why?" "All I did was give them their book back." "They don't like Arabs." "Six boats." "Wouldn't it be cool to go on one of those boats?" "That would be awesome." "Just disappear, you and me." "Yeah, I wish." "You and me against the world." "Bless you." "Thank you." "You're getting all red." "Stay here for five more minutes." "Alright, fine." "I'll catch up with you." "No, I'll just stay with you for five more minutes" " then I'll leave." " OK." "Has it been five minutes?" "No." "Go, I'll catch up with you!" "You sure?" "Go!" "OK." "Don't walk to fast." "Alright." "Give me five." "Hi bobba." "Hello." "Come in!" "You must help me!" "They took over my house!" "She got a call today, from a family member" " I call 911 and the man in the line?" "He's useless." "He didn't help me!" "Who took" " So I call the emergency line!" "Nobody help me!" "Who took your house?" "Her uncle took away the house." "He's in Damascus." "Yes, they took your house in Damascus, OK." "I need your help!" "OK." "Please have a seat." "Tell me all about it." "Please." "Tell me about it, yes." "Good morning!" "What's your name?" "...Daud." "I'm sorry, I didn't get that?" "...David." "Well you know, class started already." "But..." "You're late." "Come on." "Let's go." "I want to switch gears for a second and talk about culture." "Talk about society, the importance of being part of a community." "I want to take you back about 2000 years or so." "And in it is a beautiful paso." "Why don't you take a seat." "You're not sitting." "What's your name?" "David." "David, how you doing." "Why don't you take a seat right over there with everybody else." "Take your backpack off, OK?" "Thank you." "Beautiful idea, I need someone to help me read it." "Heim, why don't you take a stab at it." "OK." "Almost." "Yosef?" "Umm..." "Uh..." "No?" "Not gonna happen this time around?" "Sorry." "Alright, we'll get you on the next one." "OK." "Umm..." "Yoav." "Let me hear you read it please." "Excellent." "Good!" "Tell me what it means!" "Uh, three strings." "Good." "Cannot be broken." "Excellent." "What are those three strings?" "Well for the purpose of right now." "We're gonna say it's culture, tradition, community." "Those three things when they are strong together, they cannot be broken." "When the Jews were slaves in Metrian there were three things they did not change." "Number one:" "Their names." "Number two:" "They didn't switch their language." "And number three:" "Their clothing." "Shlomo, Dovi, Mendy, the names that they came in with were the names that they left with." "Their language!" "They always kept their language." "And the clothing that they wore." "The clothing that made them unique and different from everybody else?" "That was the same clothing that they left with also." "Take that idea, remember it, because next week we're going to bring it all together with an awesome project." "You guys are going to love it and get psyched about it." "I'll see you next time." "I'll get the door from you guys." "Have a good day." "You're reading next time!" "David?" "I'm sorry, I just..." "It's fine." "It's fine." "Listen," "I just want you to be on time next time OK?" "I don't want you to miss the beginning of class." "Alright?" "I'll take you to the cafeteria." "I'll give you..." "A mets card, I'll give you Tim Duffle." "Hmm." "No." "Come on!" "You don't like the Red Sox anyways!" "I think I already have one too..." "So what!" "Come on." "Honestly." "Do you like the Red Sox?" "Umm..." "You like a bunch of teams?" "That's just wrong." "Just one for one." "It's a fair trade!" "OK fine." "The least you could do is like the Yankees and the Mets!" "You live in New York!" "Be quiet already with your Yankees and Mets!" "It's not true, I don't care." "Do you like the Mets or Yankees?" "See?" "Not everyone has to like them just because they're from New York." "It's like, not normal not to like the Yankees..." "Did you bring lunch?" "Here have half of mine." "You would get arrested if you said you were a Red Sox fan in New York." "I like the Mets." "You guys should really like the Mets too." "Just because I'm from New York doesn't mean I have to like them!" "Yeah, you're supposed to." "It's a free country." "Not when it comes to sports!" "Good." "But you still have work to do to get it exactly right." "How's the preparation coming for the other boys." "Your uncle told me he gave you our fathers Quran." "It is the only thing we have left from my family." "Your grandfather dedicated his life to its study." "I hope you will learn from that." "Bobba..." "Yes." "The boys will be ready for the recitation, and so will I." "Good." "Next." "One of the things about living in America in this day and age is that we're all happy, we're healthy things are going well for us but we don't take the time to think about how we got here." "What makes us strong." "What makes us strong as a society!" "Strong as a society." "Heim, Pay attention." "Strong a society strong as a people." "From the time of Moshe Rabbeinu until today, we've been creating links in a chain." "And the value of that chain is only as strong as the link before it." "That means that the generation of today has to understand the generation of yesterday." "Heim and Yosef, you guys are together." "Dovi and Mendy, you guys are a group." "Moshe you be with them, OK?" "And David and Yoav." "You guys are together." "Good." "OK." "Here's what I'm going to ask you guys to do:" "You're going to research a topic that interests you about something in your family that speaks to you about how you got to where you are today and about how your tradition remained strong and steadfast throughout the changes that you have seen in your own family." "Mr. Rothstein, from the electronics store down the road, said that he was going to donate iPods to the team that works the best." "Keep that in the back of your mind." "It can be yours!" "OK?" "Go." "I want an iPod so badly," "I'm tired of carrying around CDs." "I hate to break it to you, but me and Mendy, we're gonna win." "You're going to come next time early so we can study, right?" "OK." "OK, good." "I take this." "Scarfs too?" "Yes, scarfs too." "Has Aishah given any thought to meeting with Rami?" "He keeps asking about her." "Rami's a good boy." "I mention it to her." "But, she's very young, you know." "She's still focused on her studies." "Masha'Allah." "Masha'Allah." "Why do you have to go so far?" "It's a special school for engineering." "Stafford?" "stanford." "I don't think Bobba will let you go." "He will." "Cousin Abdu lives there so I'll stay with him." "I thought he moved?" "You know, you should be happy for me." "This is one of the best schools in the country." "How long are you going to be gone for?" "Huh?" "You can come visit me!" "California!" "It has amazing beaches, the weather's like this all year round." "It'll be fun." "Really?" "Yeah." "Yo, help us out!" "Osama, pass the ball!" "Ten years later." "He can be on your team now!" "This kid's wearing a dress, I don't want him on my team." "Hey!" "He just helped you out." "Stop being such a jerk." "Just take your boyfriend and get out of here!" "He's not my boyfriend you idiots!" "You wanna fight me?" "You wanna fight me?" "English!" "Come on, this is America!" "Eat your food." "I always have to tell her, 'eat your food'." "Bobba." "Yes." "Pass the meat please." "I got accepted into my first choice of university!" "Well that is good news!" "It has one of the best programs for computer engineering in the country." "I'm very proud of you, my dear." "I have seen how hard you have worked at your studies." "You see how God rewards those who work hard?" "So when will you be leaving?" "Leaving for where?" "I got accepted into Stanford, Bobba." "Stanford in California?" "There must be a program here in New York that offers engineering." "But they offered me a scholarship." "Do you know how hard it is to get into this school?" "You can't just move to California." "Dafida's parents let her move to Chicago last year for school." "No daughter of mine is living in California by herself." "That's not fiar!" "I expect you early tomorrow at the Mosque." "Yes Bobba." "What are reading?" "What's it about?" "The diaspora." "What does that mean?" "A dispersion of a people from their original homeland." "How are we going to do a project on that?" "I don't know." "I wanted to get back to what we were talking about last time which was culture, community, tradition same ideas that we've been speaking about but you guys had an opportunity to go do a little bit of research." "I want to hear about it." "Let's start with Dovi, tell me about your family." "Where are your parents from?" "My great grandparents, well they came from Hungary." "Ok, good." "And when did thy come here?" "They came after the war." "After the war?" "Where were they during the war, were they in camps?" "Yeah, unfortunately they were, yeah." "Yoav, tell me a little bit about your family." "Uhh..." "My father's side are Russian Jews and my mother's side are Germany." "Ok, and when did they come?" "They came before the war." "Everybody, Russian and German came before the war?" "Yeah." "Uh, David." "Tell me a little bit about you." "Well my father's from Jerusalem." "Ok, that's nice, how about your mom?" "My mom's from Istanbul." "How could his mother be from Istanbul?" "Well, Moshe, there were a lot of Jews that lived in Turkey." "And there were a lot of Jews that lived in many of the Muslim countries." "They would be called Sephardic Jews." "OK?" "The next stage of your project is to go have a personal dialogue." "That is how we begin to strengthen the links." "That's how we begin to learn about the previous generation, appreciate what they went through, and appreciate what they gave to us to allow us to remain strong in our culture and our tradition." "We're good for today, I'll see you guys next time." "Have a great day guys." "Yo come on!" "No I can't play today." "I'm already late!" "How are we supposed to play?" "So what are we going to do, two on one?" "Hey David!" "You wanna come play basketball with us?" "It's OK, I gotta go home." "The park is in your neighbourhood!" "I don't know how to play basketball." "Do we look like basketball players to you?" "Come on, let's shoot it around a little bit." "Hey, but come on, you've seen basketball before, right?" "Let's go we wanna start!" "OK, so it's me and David vs. You two, is that good?" "Game to what... eleven?" "Sixteen?" "Twelve." "Ok, whatever you want." "It's our ball first!" "Why?" "Cause." "Give it here." "Come on David, shoot it!" "Shoot it!" "Nice shot!" "Really?" "Yeah it was good." "Hey, give it in." "It's our ball." "It's our ball, we're playing winners ball." "It's fine David, you can shoot!" "Aw!" "Close one." "Sorry." "It's all good." "Hey, pass it back." "Pass it back!" "David!" "Oh!" "What the fuck!" "A little help please?" "Yo, you see what you did?" "I didn't mean in..." "Give us that ball!" "Give us our ball back!" "You want the ball?" "You want the ball?" "Go and get it." "Go get your ball!" "Goodbye!" "Get out of here!" "You OK?" "Thanks." "We gotta stick together." "Why don't you go to school closer to home?" "Closer to home?" "I want to get out of here." "This is so stupid." "Do you know how many parents want their kids to go to Stanford?" "Hello!" "Welcome!" "Hello, how are you?" "Good." "Come on in!" "The last time I saw you you were about this big." "I know, we grow up so fast these days." "Did mom tell you about the project?" "Oh yes." "Oh it takes me back." "Growing up in the midwest." "Didn't have a lot of Jews out there, not like in New York." "The nearest synagogue was over an hour away so we really only went there on special occasions." "But my father taught his Tora at home." "This was my husband." "His father was a Hebraic scholar in Europe." "A well respected man." "They lived on the lower east side." "The other synagogue on Elderidge?" "It's still there." "Only now when you walk outside you feel like you're in china or something." "Where are you from?" "My father's from Jerusalem." "Oh." "You remind me very much of a Rabbi that used to work around here." "He was from Morocco." "Would you like a cookie?" "Thank you." "How did you deal with being different from all the other people while you were growing up?" "It's funny that you should ask that question." "I remember something that happened many many years ago." "I had a friend who was Irish, and she asked me if I was Irish." "I said 'no, I'm Jewish'." "She said 'you don't seem like you're Jewish' and you know what I said to her?" "I said 'thank you'." "It's something I've been very ashamed about all these years." "I felt very guilty about it." "I should never have said that." "Oh this is Turkish delight!" "I would always eat this as a little girl." "Would you like to try some?" "Yes." "I'll get two." "Momma?" "Yes?" "Will we ever go to Jerusalem." "Why would we go there?" "Bobba always talks about it." "Your father grew up in Jordan, he's never been to Jerusalem." "So why is he always talking about it?" "Because his family is from there." "Should we get this?" "Let's go." "You have to press 'A' to serve." "OK." "Perfect." "Food's ready!" "We're coming!" "My point!" "How's the project coming?" "It's going very good, we had an interview with Tanta the other day." "Good!" "So what else do you have to do?" "Actually, we were thinking about going to go see that shul you know, by the lower east side?" "She was telling us all about it." "That's a good idea." "It's a great idea." "Here, have some hummus." "So you like hummus?" "My mom makes it for us every morning." "She does?" "From scratch?" "No, from chickpeas." "Oh." "We get it from Markowitz's on fifth." "Yoav tells me your family is from Israel?" "My father is from Jerusalem." "Yoav's brother lives in Jerusalem." "Last time we were there, he let me shoot his gun!" "It was awesome." "I'm just kidding!" "He let me hold it!" "Well." "Usually we go there every summer, but this year he said it's too dangerous." "So I don't think we're going." "Can I use some blue ones too?" "Raifka, not this way!" "Be careful!" "What's wrong?" "I'm considering Rami's offer." "You said you wanted to finish your studies before you got married?" "Raifka be careful!" "If I get married then I can go to California!" "It's about time I start living my own life." "You think marriage is just a game?" "It's for a lifetime." "You are too young." "You and Bobba got married when you were young." "That was different." "How was it different?" "I don't think it is a good idea to get married just to go to school." "Momma it's my decision to make." "And I would like to meet with Rami." "I don't think we passed it, it's probably still around." "Whoa!" "This is it?" "This is for sure it." "Look at how huge it is." "Yup, this is for sure it." "Wow." "Take a picture of me!" "I got you." "Take one of me?" "Ok fine." "Perfect." "Take one together." "OK." "No, actually I haven't." "I'd like to wait until I get married." "Masha'Allah." "Masha'Allah." "Coffee?" "Try the balaclava it's from Nabus." "Thank you." "He will get getting the shop once his father retires." "He'll get a business degree at night school so he'll be able to expand the business." "Masha'Allah." "Masha'Allah." "Maybe Aishah can help, she can also study business at the university." "She's very good with numbers." "Oh." "I will study computer engineering." "It will be so wonderful to have such a well raised young woman in our family." "It is so hard to find respectable girls from good religious families in this country." "Well." "Let's give the kids some time to get to know each other." "Oh, um..." "I've spoken to my father and he agrees that I could take a couple years off from the shop and I can find work in California." "I have a scholarship in California..." "After they return from California, they can have the apartment in our building which we currently rent out." "We will be glad to give it as a wedding gift." "Thank you." "After I graduate, I think the best place for me to try to find a job is in California." "They have a lot of good computer companies over there." "But dear, you will want to be close to your family once you start having children!" "Yes?" "And once I take over Bobba's business, you won't need to work!" "That's right." "That's a misconception that you made, sushi's not really..." "Hey David!" "Come on let's go!" "Let's go." "Come on." "Where?" "You'll see man." "But I can't stay out that long..." "That's OK man." "Seriously, where are we going to?" "You'll see!" "I'm telling you just don't worry." "Let's go." "You sure?" "Yeah!" "OK, so can we have the five pack?" "Oh my god this looks so cool!" "It's really beautiful." "The best part was when it went backwards!" "That was the best part." "I thought we were going to go this way?" "We're going home we're going swimming!" "But I really gotta go home." "Sorry." "Come on we're having such a great time!" "Let's go!" "I don't even have shorts!" "I brought you a pair." "Come on, let's go." "But shouldn't we" "Come on!" "In the wash?" "What?" "Your tzizit!" "Uh, yeah..." "Moshe!" "Get the camera!" "Take some pictures!" "It's in David's bag!" "Guys, look!" "Take the picture already!" "What's taking so long." "Ok, everybody say cheese." "Cheese!" "Very good." "How old are you." "Five." "Five." "Very good, you'll learn more, OK, you make attachment." "Ok." "Loud!" "Thank you so much." "Thank you, thank you." "Thank you, bye bye." "Good work." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Thank you Doctor Naser." "Where is brother Daud?" "I want to thank him personally." "Uhh..." "Daud was not feeling well but I will tell him you thank him." "Oh, thank you very much." "Congratulations, you should be proud." "Where were you?" "I'm sorry Bobba..." "Where were you." "I was just outside playing with some friends, and I lost track of time..." "Playing with some friends?" "What friends?" "Everyone was expecting you there!" "How could you be so irresponsible?" "You should be ashamed of yourself!" "But Bobba..." "Go to your room!" "Wait!" "Give me the Quran." "You don't deserve it." "Give it to me!" "Hey David." "How are you?" "Yoav's in the living room, you can come on in." "Hey!" "I just started working on the project." "Gonna write down what we-You got the photos?" "Yup." "Sik!" "Let me see them." "Oh wow, these came out very nice actually." "Yup." "I like this one, Oh wow!" "The shore looks amazing here." "Look at this!" "That's so funny!" "Let's put them on the board." "OK, looks like it's good there..." "OK looks like we've got it all set up." "Is everything OK?" "Well we are friends, right?" "Yeah, of course we are." "Remember the first day at the Yeshiva?" "Yeah." "Well when I came there, I was there because" " Here you are, some refreshments." "Thank you." "Don't put it on the board, K?" "Thanks." "What were you saying?" "Never mind." "Let's look at some baseball cards." "First page is the Red Sox." "I organized everything." "What do you want to do when you grow up?" "My dad wants me to follow in his footsteps." "Yeah, my father wants that to, but they don't make trading cards for people who work in a bank!" "Why do I want to go every single day and do that?" "Count people's money?" "That doesn't sound like fun." "So cool how they get paid to play baseball." "Here, I'll give you a few." "This is the best one, it's Roger Clemens." "Take them." "Come on, I'm going to take you someplace." "Where?" "You'll see." "What are you going to do the rest of he summer?" "I don't know." "You wanna come upstate with me one weekend?" "I don't think..." "Do you think your parents would mind?" "Well see, I'd have to talk to them." "Come on, it's going to be so much fun." "We have a swimming pool there we can go swimming, and if you want you can go across the street to the river, and we have a basketball court, we always play," "Wow." "We have soccer, always we have big soccer games..." "That sounds fun." "Thank you." "Where is Daud?" "I thought he was with you?" "No, I sent him home hours ago." "Well, maybe he's at the park." "He's probably avoiding you as well." "I told him to go straight home!" "What was that for?" "You can't get me." "Seriously, where are we going?" "You'll see you'll see." "Don't worry." "Are we supposed to be here?" "That's just a level one." "Now a level two." "Now I get it!" "OK." "Level two..." "Hey guys what's up?" "Hey David." "David, wanna play?" "How do you play?" "So what you have to do, is you have to roll out, and the one farthest away you pick up, you throw it up, pick the other one up, see that?" "And you do it until they're over." "Until there's five." "And you do it until the next level when you beat level one." "For the future levels try to keep them closer together." "Nice one David." "You're good at this game, you're a natural." "You got it, nice one David." "What time is it?" "Oh my gosh guys I almost forgot." "We have to say Tehillim today." "Can I lead today?" "I kind of want to lead today." "Do you really wanna?" "I wanna lead today." "For a long time." "Actually, let David lead." "I really don't want to lead." "He doesn't want to lead." "Well, just, let him lead." "He doesn't want to lead." "That's too bad, David!" "Just lead this once!" "I really don't wanna." "It's his first time here!" "Too bad!" "David needs to lead!" "Come on guys, I'm already on the page." "Leave him alone man." "No!" "David needs to lead the Tehillim!" "Leave him alone do you not understand?" "No!" "On the beach I saw a robe and an Arab book in his bag." "What book?" "An Arab book, with Arabic writing, and I don't even think he's Jewish!" "He's not Jewish?" "What are you saying?" "He's not who he says he is!" "He goes to Yeshiv!" "What do you mean 'he's not who he says he is?" "' Are you normal?" "He's not!" "He's a lying Arab." "Don't call him that!" "Hey break it up, break it up!" "Come on guys!" "David!" "Say A Tehillim." "Say it." "Just say the prayer." "Show him." "I don't know how to." "How do you now know when we say it in Yeshiva everyday!" "Sorry!" "I didn't mean to lie to you." "Lie to me about what?" "About being Jewish." "You're not Jewish?" "I don't understand you've been lying to me this role time?" "Been lying to everyone?" "I'm sorry." "Sorry's not gonna cut it!" "You lied to me!" "You lied to my entire family!" "And then you just say 'sorry'?" "That's it?" "You left your book at" "Oh, now you're going to make up another lie to cover it?" "Look!" "Just look, it's right here" "He has never done this before." "He has always come home for dinner." "Do you know where he might be?" "No." "He's upset with Bobba." "I told you to take it easier on him." "He will be back." "What if something happened to him?" "Who are you calling?" "The police." "No, not the police." "Give me the phone." "Where are you going?" "To find my son!" "Calm down!" "Wait here for him!" "He will come home!" "This is your fault!" "He is a good boy." "You are so strict on him." "He needs to learn discipline." "You know, this is not Egypt or Jordan!" "This is our home!" "Hello?" "Yes?" "I'm coming right now!" "Daud..." "Daud!" "Bobba?" "Bobba I just" "Shh!" "Are you OK?" "Can we go home now?" "Your mother she's been waiting." "She's been very worried." "Is she mad at me?" "Not as much as she's mad at me." "Daud." "Come sit." "Your grandfather would have liked you to have it." "The recitation" "You have plenty of time, you will do that when you're ready." "I don't deserve it." "Yes you do, son." "David." "I came to return one of your books." "It's one of the boys books." "They left it at the park." "I made a mistake and dropped off the wrong book." "I believe I might might have your" "It's OK." "I already have it." "Yoav Silverman?" "Is Yoav here today?" "Yes he is." "I'll tell you what." "I'll go get Yoav and you can give him back the book yourself." "I just want to say that I'm sorry and I didn't mean to lie to you." "He came to return something to you." "Something important that you lost." "You left it at the park on the bench." "What's your real name?" "Daud." "Bobba spoke to cousin Abdu about me staying with him in California." "So you're not going to marry that guy?" "No." "I guess Bobba was scared that I'd run away." "Like you did." "Are you gonna be OK if I go?" "Yeah, you should go." "You sure?" "Yeah."