The Moment That Taught Me Who I Am

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]My name is Rudy Rochman. I'm a Jewish and Israelite activist. I'm also [music] a Hebrew, a Jew, and an Israelite. These are different names for the same people that we've had for thousands of years.

[00:00:08]As a 7-year-old, my parents decide, "Let's go and do a trip to London and visit the UK." [music] So, this is my first time in London. I was with my mom and my younger brother. I was seven, >> [music] >> he was five. We get onto the red tour bus that does the tour of London. My mom was wearing a shirt in Hebrew, and the shirt said "Emet", [music] which means truth. We get onto the bus, and the bus driver sees my mom's shirt and says, "Excuse me, is that written in Jewish?"

[00:00:29]My mom looks at the shirt and says, "Uh no, it's written in Hebrew, but it's the language of the Jewish people. That's what you're asking?" He's like, "Oh, so you guys are Jews? Get off my bus. I don't want any Jews." And the man got up, grabbed my mom, and threw her off.

[00:00:42]>> [music] >> I promised myself that the next moment I would deal with any form of injustice, especially if it's against the Jewish people, I'd [music] have to be prepared physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and ideologically. I was born in one place, grew up in a different place, have a different passport. What mattered is I am a Jew.

[00:00:59]And so, I started asking myself deeper questions. What does it mean to be a Jew? [music] Because I'm technically not from the tribe of Judah. I'm from the tribe of Levi from both sides of my family. So, why am I called a Jew?

[00:01:09]>> [music] >> Only because the name 2,000 years ago, when we were kicked out, it was called Judea. And because we came out of Judea, we called ourselves Judeans or Jews. And so, if I realize that the name of this land, the proper name of this land >> [music] >> is not Judea, that's just one region out of the land. The proper name of the land is Israel, and the nation is Israel, >> [music] >> that makes me an Israeli. Being an Israeli doesn't mean you have a piece of paper that says Israel on it. It doesn't mean that you grew up eating Bamba and Bisli and listen to Omer Adam and Artzi. Being an Israeli means that you're the living, breathing continuation of an ancient civilization, that to be a Jew is a synonym of our original name, to be a part of the nation of Israel. And that's [music] the first time I met with anti-Semitism, and over time I've realized that that was actually a great blessing. Because I went through that, this [music] person that saw my mom's shirt that said "Emet", he projected his Emet onto us, and that revealed the Emet within [music] me.