My Sit Down With Peter Santenello on His Series About Hasidic Jews

YouTuber and video maker Peter Santenello has had a desire to tell the stories about communities that mainstream media won’t cover. He’s traveled all over the world, sharing an insider’s perspective on less known communities. A few months ago, he was invited to Brooklyn to meet and film many members of the Hasidic community. He and most of his hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers walked away with a profoundly different understanding of the community and a newfound respect.

In this interview we touch on why mainstream media repeats the same stories over and over again, how Peter got connected with the community, what his views were beforehand and how his views about Hasidim changed after spending time with them.

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Rivky says on January 3, 2021
Hey Allison, I am a long time fan of yours, and I was disappointed by this interview. I have been obsessively watching Peter’s video’s, and was so excited to see hear him speak to you and share his perspectives. But you dominated the conversation, and made it all about yourself, and your story/viewpoint. I wanted to hear HIS.
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Allison Josephs says on January 4, 2021
Thanks for your comment, Rivky. Unfortunately there was a lag in the video speed due to my internet connection, so I didn’t hear Peter at many times in the conversation and spoke more or added in more questions to fill in the blank space. I didn’t realize what had happened until some people started pointing it out once the video went live. We usually record my podcast on just audio and we don’t have the lag like that and I usually talk much less. I think the video component slowed down the speed and made the flow of the conversation more challenging.
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Anna Mix says on July 29, 2021
This was an excellent interview/podcast. I love Peter and I have to agree that his just listening to people’s stories minus a preconceived “plot line” is sooo refreshing and heartwarming. Mainstream media in general is all about creating and highlighting divides/sensational stories, but we as humans are not nearly as divided as they like to portray. Most of us are God loving, people loving respectful citizens who believe that all people deserve to be heard, and then we can decide what we believe. Thank you for sharing. Bless you.
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Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs is the founder and executive director of Jew in the City has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, People Magazine, NYPost, Daily News, TMZ, The Daily Beast, and Hollywood Reporter. She has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, JTA, Jewish Week, Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and Kveller. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.