InKredible Kids
A podcast with Kosher content geared toward empowering Jewish kids of all ages. We interview kids from around the world and have many interactive segments for all kids to enjoy. While having fun and learning new skills, kids will hear about responsibility, empathy, confidence, and more!
InKredible Kids
Jewish in Holland: Bicycles, Cheeses, and the Legendary Anne Frank
Join us as we meet Rivka from Amsterdam, who shares her life experiences, family background, and the significance of Anne Frank's legacy in her world. This heartfelt conversation explores community, identity, and the resilience of Jewish youth today.
• Rivka shares her journey and identity as a Jewish girl in Amsterdam
• Discusses family history and the importance of community
• Highlights cultural aspects like biking and local traditions
• Reflects on school life and educational differences
• Shares a profound connection to Anne Frank and Holocaust remembrance
• Discusses recent events affecting the Jewish community in Amsterdam
🎧Remember to send all responses, questions, comments, and ideas to ikidspodcast@gmail.com.
🎧Make sure to follow InKredible Kids on your favorite podcasting app, so you never miss an episode. Be sure to rate the podcast⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and drop a review!
🎧Explore our website: https://inkrediblekids.org/
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Watch "Their Stories, Our Legacy" an original FREE InKredible Kids Holocaust film.
Click here to watch.
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You can be a sponsor too! If you are interested in sponsoring an episode as a zchus for something dear to you, email ikidspodcast@gmail.com.
Hey kids, welcome back to the next episode of the InKredible Kids Podcast. My name is Moritz Ciri and I will be your host. Through this InKredible journey. We are going to meet many InKredible kids. They are going to share with us their stories, some of them super cool and different like you've never heard before, and some you may say are just ordinary, but all of them InKredible. If you have great ideas, email me today at ikidspodcasts at gmailcom.
Morah Tziri:And now it's time for InKredible Kids. It's time for the joke of the day. Yay, today's joke is brought to you by Pachava Tea from Tom's River, new Jersey. If the USA is so great, then why do we need a USB? Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the next episode of the InKredible Kids podcast. I am Moritz Siri and I am so excited today to introduce you to a superstar InKredible Kids listener from Amsterdam, holland. The idea of meeting kids from other countries has always been something on my bucket list and I hope to be able to feature many different kids from many different places in future episodes of InKredible Kids Podcast.
Morah Tziri:And a huge happy anniversary to InKredible kids podcast. On february 13th 2023, we released the teaser of InKredible kids podcast. Hey kids, I'm so excited to welcome you to the InKredible kids podcast. My name is maura thierry and I will be your host through this InKredible journey. We are going to meet many InKredible kids and then on, on February 16th, we released our first episode. So it has been two full years of InKredible kids, and look how much we've grown. Thank you, every single one of you, for joining this community, and to many, many, many more. Over the last two years, we've had almost a million downloads of InKredible Kids podcast, and for that I am so grateful. I don't have words to describe how unbelievable this is. Happy anniversary to all of us.
Morah Tziri:Have you watched our newest InKredible Kids production film yet, which is completely free to watch and is about one of the most important subjects I can even possibly speak about on this program, and that is Remembering the Holocaust, and you have the opportunity to meet Holocaust survivors. The name of the film is their Stories, our, our legacy, because what you're going to hear, if you haven't already, is stories from four holocaust survivors who talk directly to me and you about what they went through all those years ago and what they think is important for each of us to remember as we continue to grow up. Contribute to, to the world, and one day, in Mirtz Hashem, everybody, every one of you, will build families of your own and you will impart the lessons that you learned to your children, and so the future of the Jewish people will be strong and the chain will be forever unbroken that connects us from our past to our future. This is a must watch for every single Jewish family and for every single Jewish family. Check it out today at InKredible, click on the videos page and there you will find that latest video.
Morah Tziri:And now for today's episode. Rivka Evers is ever so adorable and ever so insightful, and my favorite part of the interview comes toward the end, where we talk about a girl named Anne Frank who, at a very similar age to the age that Rivka is right now, in the very place where Rivka lives. Amsterdam faced a huge challenge, and many of us learn about Anne Frank, and today we are going to talk about her with Rivka in Amsterdam on the InKredible Kids podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode. We asked our listeners where do you live and what is something interesting about the city you live in? Here's what they had to say.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Sheva. I'm nine years old, I live in Staten Island and what's cool about Staten Island is that there's that Staten Island fire there and a lot of people think it's cool. And if you live in Staten Island, you're probably bored of it and you went in it like a hundred times, so it's not even cool anymore. Bye, I'm 12 years old. I live in Passaic, new.
Rivka:Jersey. Bye, hi, my name is Avi and I'm 12. Something interesting about Waterbury is Waterbury is known as the brass capital of the world and is renowned for the quality and durability of its goods.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Shana and I'm 11 years old. My city is Muncie. What's interesting about Muncie is that there's a lot of animals like bears, deers and raccocoon Bye. Hi, my name is Nomi, I live in Seattle, Washington, and I'm 11 years old. What I like best about Seattle is that it's so warm and everybody's so kind to each other. Hi, my name is.
Rivka:Gavin, I live in Chicago, illinois, and something special about my community here in Lincolnwood is that people are really nice here and friendly.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Lisa. I am 6 years old. Here and friendly. Hi, my name is Lisa, I am six years old and I live in Queens. I think Queens is interesting because there's less houses and more apartments and buildings.
Speaker 4:Hi, my name is Patsy and I'm 16 years old and I live in Monroe. An interesting thing about where I live is that our school is really really big. I'm in 11th grade and my grade has 11 classes, 34 kids in each class. Our first grade has 19 classes with 27 to 30 kids in each class. Sometimes it's really fun because there's a lot of kids and there's always girls to hang out with, but sometimes it's challenging because wherever you go, there are a lot of people and girls. Thank you so much. A lot of people and girls.
Morah Tziri:Thank you so much, and now please enjoy this interview with Rivka. Hey, rivka, this is really cool. You have a really cool looking light up mic. Let's do a little soundcheck Testing, testing One, two, three, hello, hello, I hear you, okay. Okay, I really appreciate that you took the time to get yourself a good, quiet spa and a good quality microphone is a really added plus and something very exciting for me to see. But mostly, I'm excited to see you and you're looking beautiful today, thank you. So, rifka, tell us where you are and where you're from. Hi, I'm.
Rivka:Rifka Evers. I live in Holland, in the city Amsterdam. I'm 12 years old. I just had my bas mitzvah, mazel tov.
Morah Tziri:Thank you. Okay, keep talking, keep talking. I'm trying to detect an accent.
Rivka:I don't really have an accent, like maybe a little bit. I don't really hear it, but my sister does have more of an accent in English. Why your sister?
Morah Tziri:more than you.
Rivka:I don't know, because I went to camp in America, in actually in Canada. That's why maybe I got used to more of the American talk. My sister, she just speaks like very big accent.
Morah Tziri:You live in Holland, I live in United States of America and I'm excited to learn about your life. But first I just want to say that how cool is it that we have kids who are all considering themselves to be part of this InKredible community over here and we're literally all over the world. So when I hear about listeners to the podcast in Holland and Amsterdam, where you live, and I get listeners sending me messages from Switzerland and from Australia and from places all around, I just have this warm feeling inside of me, like OK, like we're all listening, yeah no. But like we're all so connected as Jewish people and like I could never have dreamed of this. This is something of my dreams, like of beyond my dreams. Like even in my dreams I didn't think that this was going to be something that would happen. And it's like so, so, so special. Just to hear about it and then to meet you guys is like the next level. So, rivka, you're going to introduce us to life in Amsterdam. Tell us about it, okay the Jewish in Amsterdam.
Rivka:It's. For me it's like normal, it's big, but compared with like America and like Crown Heights, it's very. It's not very small, but it's like normal it's big, but compared with like America and like Crown Heights, it's very. It's not very small, but it's like small. We have two kosher grocery stores and like one from Jewish school and one modern Orthodox like school and high school. We have a lot of shows actually, and I go to a school. It's a very small school. I only have one classmate.
Morah Tziri:No, there's two of you. It's an very small school. I only have one classmate. No, there's two of you, it's an all-girls school?
Rivka:Yeah, no, so we have like a girls' side and a boys' side, and I think, like from second grade, like the boys and girls get like separated. Okay, so I'm in high school now because, like in America, like in seventh Wait what? I'm in high school because, like in Holland, in seventh grade you already go to high school, like in Canada, I guess. So I'm already in high school. And when I was in elementary school I wasn't only with one other girl, because I had, I think, like third grade till sixth grade all together in one class. So then I had like 18 girls. Okay, that's also not a lot.
Morah Tziri:So you learn in like a little pod, like you have, like they put a few grades together to make it more alive like a little pod like you have, like they put a few grades together to make it more alive.
Rivka:Yeah, but we still like have our like work apart, like not together, everything. But then when you go to high school then you go only with your classmates. So for me only one classmate and for kardash we go.
Morah Tziri:We like have kardash with the class above us, who's also only two kids, so or four, wow okay, that's small, so we could talk about what it's like to be in this tiny little school environment. But let's start with what brought your family to Amsterdam, even maybe before you were born. What's the history of your own family there?
Rivka:Okay, so my dad is from Holland. He lived in a city called Amersfoort. Grandparents were Norslokers there, but they were also Dutch. They in a city called Amersfoort. Grandparents went to Oslochus there, but they were also Dutch. They're both also Dutch and my mother's from Crown Heights. So when they got married they first lived a few years in Crown Heights and then they decided to move to Holland because we have a lot of family here and it's just fun. So then we moved to Holland and I think like a few months later I was born and so I always live in Holland. But I have two older brothers who also lived in America for a while, one second.
Morah Tziri:So you just said a couple of things that I want to just remind everybody in case they are not holding in all of the episodes of InKredible Kids. We had an interview a couple months ago with a girl in America whose family is on Shlichus. So for people who are not from a Chabad background like me, I didn't grow up even knowing so much what shlichas is. Over the years I've got the privilege of knowing so many wonderful people.
Morah Tziri:So Rivka mentioned that her grandparents had gone to Holland for shlichas. They literally they pick up and they go, and they go with the purpose of spreading Torah and Jewish life to places where there's hardly anything right. The word shlichas means a mission and they're on a mission and that's their mission, and we have that in the Nat Chabad community as well. We have hero rabbis and families who sacrifice a lot to live in far out places, away from family and whatever. But I guess they've been there long enough. This is your grandparents, that you've built other family members there as well and they wanted your parents wanted to return to the lands of your father. Do your parents do shlichas?
Rivka:also no, but my mother sometimes does evenings for women, but we don't really do shlichas.
Morah Tziri:And also my grandparents. Free it as a shliach anyways, right yeah.
Rivka:We know that. And my grandparents, they moved to Amsterdam actually like last year or two years ago because they wanted to be with all their grandkids and kids, because we like all in Amsterdam.
Morah Tziri:Cool, all right. So tell me something unique about the city of Amsterdam. Like nothing to do with, maybe even the Jewish aspect, but what is life like in Amsterdam?
Rivka:So I live in a quite a like calm and quiet part of Amsterdam you have the city where it's more like busy and it's fun to go there. There's a lot of stuff you have down in the like city center and well, it's very Dutch to eat cheese and so our cheese here is very good. It's called, I think, like Gouda cheese and it's very good. Like when I come to America, the cheese tastes so bad for me it's lacking flavor in America.
Morah Tziri:It's like plastic. It tastes like plastic to me. Ew. But what if I get Gouda cheese at the store? It's not the same that you have. No, it's Gouda cheese, it's really good. Well, here's the problem when you are traveling from Europe, like, let's say, you live in, you know, you live in you know by the way, psa for anybody who doesn't know Holland is in Europe. Ok, we should have said that in the beginning. Holland is in Europe. There are seven continents North America, south America.
Speaker 5:Africa, Europe and Asia, Australia, Antarctica.
Speaker 6:Seven continents. Back to the start.
Morah Tziri:And Holland is in Europe and Europe is across the Atlantic Ocean.
Rivka:So I wonder if you're allowed to import cheese from Holland to America. I don't know. Do you know about that? Yeah, yeah, because a lot of times I have an aunt who lives in Canada, so it's like she always asks when we come, like could you bring cheese for me Because it's so good? So we always bring like cheese for her.
Morah Tziri:Oh cute. Okay, I mean, I put a lot of different cheeses on my cheese board. It's like my favorite thing to do, Like you ever make cheese boards.
Rivka:My mother likes making them like if she has events or for like a kid ocean show. She makes like cheese boards.
Morah Tziri:So I used to make it like once a year for, like I don't know, shavuos or Hanukkah party or something like major. And now I like I make them for myself when nobody's even there, like I, just I make cheese boards because I love them. I'm like why should I wait till like those events? So I'm not like so fancy, but like I'll make it pretty and I'll eat it, and like I feel like I'm spoiling myself. What does your mom put on her cheese boards?
Rivka:Olives and grapes and cheeses, all kinds of cheeses, because there's just a lot of kind of cheeses in Holland. I think they also have in America, like blue cheese, but it's not so good. So good.
Morah Tziri:Yeah, I don't know Something about it doesn't sit right with me. To me, blue is mold. I get that. It's not so okay. So they have cheese. Tell me about, like in the city part there's more bikes in Holland than people.
Rivka:Like everyone bikes there also are cars, but like also a lot of bikes. We have, like, bike lanes and I also bike to school every day, really, and yeah, it's 10 minutes away, it's not too bad.
Morah Tziri:So you're saying, like the streets, accommodate people on bicycles.
Rivka:Yeah, but there's also a lot of electric bikes. Everyone's on bikes always, Like also all my friends. They bike to school.
Morah Tziri:How do you bike to school Like you wear a backpack on the bike. No, on my bike I have a place to put my backpack, like a basket in the front.
Speaker 5:Oh, riding on my bicycle's my favorite thing to do in the front.
Morah Tziri:Oh, I love that you hold on to the handlebars and you bike ride with your. I'm going like this with my hands as if, like that's a normal way to bike. Clearly, I have not been on a bicycle in a while. Where do people in holland keep their bicycles? Do you have like a garage like for them?
Rivka:no, we just keep it in the front of our house. We have like a place to just put our bikes in and like. There's also some people that don't even have a car, they only bike, like my friend, like she just bikes everywhere Really.
Morah Tziri:Yeah, but what if they have to like go to the grocery store, like where are they going to put their? They bike to the grocery store.
Rivka:Like the mother has like a kind of bike. It's called a Buckfeet. I'm not sure if they have it in America, but it's like a bike with like place for people to sit in, okay, and then she could put her grocery stuff there, so it's like an attachment to it. Yeah, like a kind of like a carriage and then on a bike.
Morah Tziri:Yeah, okay, I feel like on family trips, like people rent those sometimes and like when they go like you know, I'm saying like when people go on vacation, it's just a fun you go to a park and you rent a bike that has a attachment in the back, you know for for the kids.
Rivka:No, it's not in the back, it's in the front. It's like a.
Morah Tziri:Oh, I've never seen that before. What did you say it's called? I want to write this down Buckfeets, b-a-k. Buckfeets. I'll look it up. I'll try out different spellings. Interesting Okay, so I did not spell that, right. Buck who? What did I write? Is that English? No, it's Dutch, okay.
Morah Tziri:So when you say, oh, my goodness, the original cargo bike. Okay, this is hilarious. Should I tell you why? Why, because I've never seen anything like this in like a normal setting, like okay for people, for the listener, it's essentially I see, it's like Amsterdam bicycle company sells them. It looks almost like a wagon in the front, right, yeah, and yeah, it's like a big open wagon in the front with a wheel in the front, like a bicycle wheel in front of the wagon, and then you have your handlebar behind it, the bike seat and the wheel behind it, so you're pedaling and you're pushing your essentially a shopping cart looking type of thing with the wheel before it.
Morah Tziri:This is so interesting because I was literally just telling somebody yesterday Rivka, this is really funny. I was just telling somebody yesterday that when, before I was married, my friend got married and I wanted to do, you know, like shtick at her wedding. Yeah, you know what shtick is at weddings, no. So shtick is like you need to do something like fun and silly and different to make the kala happy or the chasin. You know, people come out at the wedding and they do like you ever see people at weddings and they go in front of the chasin and kala and they do like cool dances or they juggle or you know so.
Rivka:By my uncle's chasin.
Morah Tziri:we did like a dance yeah that's all part of shtick for a wedding like to just make them excited, anyways. So I always wanted to do like fun shtick at my friends' weddings and I discovered somebody in Muncie, where I'm from. I discovered somebody who had actually he's one of the schnitzel guys. If anybody in America knows the schnitzel guys, he's really funny guy and he created himself. He took a shopping cart from a store that didn't need it anymore an old shopping cart and he cut a bicycle in half and he attached a bicycle to a shopping cart and he had it in his garage and I took it from his house into the trunk of my car, brought it to the wedding and I rode around the wedding floor on a bicycle with a shopping cart in the front.
Morah Tziri:And it was basically the same thing and I thought he invented it. I don't know. It sounds really similar. When I'm looking at this picture I'm like this looks exactly. I literally was just telling my friend about this yesterday and then, when my sister got married 10 years later, I called him up. I said do you still have the bicycle? He said I don't know. It's like in my shed and no one used it since you did, and it has a flat, flat tire. So we pumped up the tire and we took it out for my sister's wedding again and it was so fun and it's it's. I'll send you pictures of it later. It's hilarious anyways. Okay, continuing on. So you have a life on wheels over there, very, very different. Also thinking I'm wondering do you think you guys eat less in europe than we do in america?
Rivka:so a lot of people in europe always say like yeah, people in america they're so unhealthy, they eat so unhealthy. I mean, it's not all true, but there is a lot of unhealthy stuff. Like in holland, I think there's even a rule you're not allowed to put food coloring in your food, and so a lot of like candies, like natural from, like fruits and vegetables, like, if you look at like and that doesn't affect the taste of it, right? No, it tastes really good. Then you also have like fruit loops. If you look at the ones from america and the ones from europe, they're like the ones from america are like very bright and those from holland are more like light, because in america there's a lot of food coloring in it yeah, they've done so many tests and stuff to show that that stuff is like terrible for you.
Rivka:Yeah, dutch people are like very simple with their food, like a lot of people. They're also always like like to eat healthy and like stuff like that. Because my mother is like American, she has a little bit more spices in her food and better food. I guess I mean Dutch people also like good food, but it's just sometimes very simple.
Morah Tziri:Right and you also get used to like what you have like, meaning if you grew up always eating simply and without like intense flavor or intense, I don't know that their flavor is so bad, I just think also they eat more healthy and they eat less. Here in America you go to a kiddish on Shabbos and the amount of food that people are stuffing their faces with myself included, but that's also like that is like crazy are stuffing their faces with, myself included.
Rivka:Oh, but that's also like. That is like crazy. We also have that in holland. We have, like like in our show, like sometimes a kiddush and there's like a lot, of, a lot of cakes and like five minutes already it's finished because, like all the kids take like five pieces and like take a bite of all of them and just throw them out.
Morah Tziri:So I guess kids are the same everywhere. Yeah, so you started telling me before about the structure of your school. So what do you call, like the grades and the classes? What else is some I want? I'm just wondering what else is similar and different.
Rivka:Okay, so, like also every time I have to say my grade, I like have to count it in my head, because it's very different here in Holland. Because, in America you start from first grade is like the first year of elementary school, while in holland you start from kindergarten. It's already like it's called group a, like group one, and like the two years of kindergarten is like group one, group two, then, when for you guys first grade, is for us group three, so like get it.
Rivka:So you're already like numbers ahead, but you're the same age like no, because right, it's also a little bit different like that, because then till group eight for us I think that's sixth grade for you guys is like till, that's the end of elementary school, and then you go into high school. And when you go into high school it starts again, but then instead of group one it's class one. So I'm in class one now.
Morah Tziri:So you just switched the terminology Instead of saying groups, you say class.
Rivka:Yeah, so I'm in class 1 now, because it's my first year of high school and then also it's different, like when you end high school. It's very different here in Holland because you have like three choices which year you end high school.
Morah Tziri:You could end high school in 10th grade, 11th grade or 12th grade, and who makes that choice the kids or the parents, I mean?
Rivka:9th grade, 10th grade or 11th grade, because you have like three levels. You have Fabio, havo, fabio, like three different levels of work, kind of, and you choose which level is the best for you and with that you can get a job. Like if you have the highest level is Fabio and with that you can become like a doctor or lawyer, and then when you have the lowest level, famio, you, you can't like become like a lot, but I mean you.
Rivka:I think you become, you could professionally artists and like, not like the real professional jobs?
Morah Tziri:uh-huh, you mean to tell me that if you are not looking to be a doctor and you're as old as an american ninth grader? Yes, yeah, like if you were in ninth grade according to american, like if you were in a school here in new york or something. Yeah, a ninth grader, yes, yeah, like if you were in 9th grade according to American, like if you were in a school here in New York or something. Yeah, a 9th grader would be often there. I don't know. They could be 13 years old, right, I don't know. I don't like know this. It gets confusing. Yeah, I'm wondering what numbers you're going according to. Like 9th grade is so young to be finished school already?
Rivka:wait not, maybe not ninth grade. Okay, so I'm in seventh grade now, right? No, in ninth grade you choose which level you want to do and then you can end in 10th grade, 11th grade or 12th grade.
Morah Tziri:Wow, okay, that seems like really early to end, but do you think the kids are more mature in holland?
Rivka:I don't know like, maybe in our school it could be because, like because I only have one classmate, I'm also friends with girls that are like two or three years older than me, right? So maybe then I guess you're more mature, right? But I think if you end in 10th grade, you won't get accepted to SM because you're too young, uh-huh. So some kids also if you like, harder for them to learn, so they'll do an easier level. What's the best?
Morah Tziri:for them, and then they can go get a job the next year? Yeah, I guess. So I think so You're not there yet. No, we'll do an epilogue, we'll do a. Where is she at now? In a few years? Yeah, that Fascinating. What's your favorite subject to learn in school? I like Jewish subjects a lot.
Rivka:We learn Hebrew, so I like learning Hebrew. Hebrew language, yeah, the language Hebrew, modern Hebrew they call it. I like halacha because we're learning now the Lama Tesh Molochais and.
Morah Tziri:I like that Very practical. Please pay attention, because I wish I had learned that better when I was in school and I think I like biology.
Rivka:I like a lot of my things. I also like math.
Morah Tziri:Wow, so you sound like you like to learn in general, yeah, I like to learn.
Rivka:That's awesome. Like some stuff are also boring. I don't like everything.
Morah Tziri:Okay, what's one thing that's boring for you? I don't really like how much. Show us your normal. What was that? I don't like how much it's like boring for me.
Rivka:Right learning of it like the yeah you know, like reading all the psokim and I'm like it's just not my. I don't really like it.
Morah Tziri:You know what's interesting. I just want to say something about that. I feel like I'm seeing a pattern with what you just said. You like halakha, you like biology, you like hebrew language. They're all very practical. Those are all things that, like, you can learn about and like you understand right away, like why that's important and why that's cool, and there's like a satisfaction in it. You know what I'm saying. It's like, oh, I could practice what I learned. Oh, now I understand why this is like this and this is like this, the way the human body works, the way that halacha, why it was designed like that. This is what I can do. This is what I can do something about it.
Morah Tziri:Chumash, or the study of learning Chumash, is so, so beautiful. But if it's not and I don't know, I'm not blaming any teachers out there at all, but there's so many different ways of learning Chumash and the way of learning Chumash in school might not be everyone's favorite, right, and like I always say, like, don't dismiss the whole subject, because maybe one day you'll come across a way of studying Chumash that will totally open your mind. I'll be a little personal with you. Chumash was also very, very hard for me in school I didn't have the patience to sit through, like you said, all those Sukkot. It was really hard for me.
Morah Tziri:But I discovered a way of learning Chumash like way later on in my life and now I'm like Chumash is so cool. It was like a whole style of learning Chumash where you're like investigating, kind of the Torah and you're finding like, oh my gosh, that connected to something from the Parsha over there and like it totally changed the Chumash game for me. So you might have your moment at some point, right, and we have to be good students even if it's not our favorite subject. But it's normal to say something is not your thing right now, you know. Yeah, also, we learn.
Rivka:French in school, so it's harder for me because you have to like learn words by heart.
Speaker 5:Il va au bureau de Madame Gordon.
Rivka:Oh, la, la, la Je vais au college Trafford, tu vas au college Trafford.
Morah Tziri:And French is harder than Hebrew.
Rivka:Y eah, because Hebrew I already knew a little bit because also always when my parents try to like talk about a secret, they talk in Hebrew. So I learned a little bit from that.
Morah Tziri:You're like I got to figure out this language.
Rivka:So now I get everything they say. So they have to find a new language. Oh yes, so next year I'm going to also learn German in school.
Morah Tziri:You're going to learn in German.
Morah Tziri:No, I'm going to learn German the language. Oh, I'm going to learn German the language. Oh, I thought you mean what's the spoken language of your school? Like, what's the language? Everybody speaks most Dutch, everyone speaks Dutch. Okay, so Dutch people from Holland are referred to as Dutch people and they speak the Dutch language. Right, yeah, do you ever know why? Like, if I'm from America, well, that doesn't sound a good example. Because America talks English. That's confusing because we're from England. But like what? Because, whatever, too much history in that statement. But anyways, when you're you know, you know what?
Morah Tziri:I just answered my own question. What was your question? It wasn't a question because I was about to give you proofs and every single proof didn't make sense, because I was going to say people in Israel speak Israeli? No, they don't. They speak Hebrew. Well, people in France speak French and the people of France are French people. People in England speak English and the people there are English people, englishmen, right, or British, but that's a whole other story. So I'm saying it's interesting. The word Holland sounds nothing like the word Dutch. I don't know. I just wonder where that came from.
Rivka:Yeah, I think the real name is actually.
Morah Tziri:True, yeah, like if you look at it on the map, it's listed as the Netherlands. The Netherlands, right, the Netherlands, yeah, with the before it.
Speaker 6:Most people don't know what the difference between Holland and the.
Speaker 5:Netherlands is.
Speaker 6:Each of these terms is used to describe this region, but they actually refer to different things. You see, the Netherlands is the official name of the country, which is made up of 12 provinces. Holland, on the other hand, refers specifically to the two provinces within the Netherlands named North Holland and South Holland. The reason these two places are often confused is because of their cities, namely Amsterdam, rotterdam and the Hague. These cities have historically held a lot of economic and political influence, leading to the name Holland becoming popular with foreigners, so, over time, the terms Holland and the Netherlands have been used interchangeably.
Rivka:A lot of Americans. They don't know the countries in Europe. So I think one time my cousin asked me how far is Amsterdam from Holland? It's like asking how far is New York from America. Amsterdam is in Holland.
Morah Tziri:Well, this is a teaching moment. You're listening here, you're learning, you're learning geography America, amsterdam is St Holland. Well, this is a teaching moment. You're listening here, you're learning.
Morah Tziri:You're learning geography. You're learning so much. Sit tight, we'll be right back with the rest of this InKredible interview. Hey, I have a challenge for you. Tell me a place where Jewish kids can get together outside of school and do something super special from all places around the world. What's that you said? That's right Tehillim Army Getting together since October 7th every single Thursday night on Zoom. Check out the information on InKredible, click on the Tehillim Army tab and make sure to sign up for our WhatsApp group notifications so you can know about any changes, surprise special events and, of course, all of the emerging InKredible Kids content that you want to get to know about right away.
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Morah Tziri:And now back to the episode. Okay, I want to ask you about something that I think a lot of people are going to know about a little tiny bit, but not too much Amsterdam, where Anne Frank was hiding during the Holocaust, and there's a famous Anne Frank house. We didn't like plan to talk about her, but I feel like, when I'm speaking to someone like you, a beautiful Jewish girl in Amsterdam, right now, remembering another beautiful girl who, over 80 years ago, was in Amsterdam and in your own city, unfortunately not being able to live the comfortable life many of us live today. So what do you know about Anne Frank? Do you want to tell us?
Rivka:Yeah, I'm sure I went to Anne Frank's house actually the day of my Bas Mitzvah. I went with my cousin and my aunt who came from my bas mitzvah to Thailand and it was very interesting.
Morah Tziri:She was like tell me more about that. One second for your bas mitzvah, in honor of your bas mitzvah.
Rivka:It was like the morning of my bas mitzvah, like it's very hard to get tickets for the Anne Frank Museum. So my aunt already made tickets like six months before. So she's like, do you want, maybe do you want to come with? I was like, okay, sure.
Morah Tziri:So I came and it was your first time going, yeah, Okay, so the place where Anne Frank, like you're going to explain in a moment, wasn't hiding is now a museum.
Rivka:Yeah, but like so all the stuff like that were like the walls and like you could see, like, let's say, they put like marks on the walls like how tall the girls were becoming.
Morah Tziri:So, you see like lines of like a pencil, that they made on the walls and that was preserved and like you can see where, yeah, it's like behind glass.
Rivka:Okay, so tell everyone a diary while in the Second World War, because she was hiding behind actually a bookcase. There was like a bookcase that was actually a door but it was a hidden door and if you went inside there was like a very small house kind of, and she shared her room with a dentist who also was hiding, and in the house there was also other other family, a husband and a wife and a son, and then her family who she had one sister and a mother and a father and a dentist. So she writes in her diary that it was very hard for her to share like all her space with other people and was very strict like they only were allowed to wash their hands or take a shower, like in one time of the day because like it was very hard for them. And also she like writes in her diary that she like it's always angry at her mom because her mom was like under stress kind of, and that's why she wasn't so nice to ann.
Rivka:And also the lady that was staying in the house always said yeah, understandably, yeah, you know. Like the lady that was also staying in the house always said because her sister was like the perfect girl, she was always jealous of her sister because everyone liked her. Everyone was always like and why are you not more like your sister? So yeah, she also missed her life that she had. She actually lived in Germany and then moved to Holland because the Nazis were in Germany and then it was almost actually the English people were taking over Holland and like getting away the Nazis.
Morah Tziri:When they were found and they're not sure how she was found actually, but they say maybe, which is so terrible because it was already toward, like you said, it was like toward the end of the war where, like, they were so close to being freed, yeah, and they were still caught, yeah.
Rivka:So they're not sure how they were caught, but they think that maybe someone snitched them. So then they were taken to a concentration camp. First they were still together with their father, like the two daughters and their mother were together with their father, but then they were brought to Auschwitz and they were separated and they died from a sickness that was going around Not sure which one, I think I'm not sure Either typhus or tuberculosis or something, yeah.
Rivka:And then after her father survived, and so after the war he went to look maybe like someone in his family was still alive, but none of his family members were alive. And then he went back to the apartment where they stayed and he found Anne's diary and then he publicized it. He also married again with also a survivor of the Second World War, really, and like started a whole new family. Wow, and I also read her diary. You read the diary, yeah, but like it's like in a comic version.
Morah Tziri:Yeah, there's so many versions of it. Yeah, I read a version of it in school. I think we read it in a play. It was like they wrote it out like a drama. We would read it out loud in class.
Morah Tziri:Anne Frank became like the face of a young, beautiful girl during this time and I always loved learning about her also and clearly you do too, because we didn't even discuss this before that. We were going to talk about her legacy, but you're in Amsterdam, so I figured I had to bring it up and just try it out. So that was so amazing. You just pulled it over so beautifully. I actually once had a. I had a stopover in Amsterdam last year and I was like I want to just like get off. I didn't have enough time, but I was like on the way back from somewhere else, but I wanted to just like go and I was like I would love to just go see the city of bicycles and go into Anne Frank's museum house. It didn't work out. Maybe another time. But my maiden name is Frank.
Morah Tziri:I was not related to Anne Frank, but I always like felt like connected to her a little bit and also I loved her personality. You know like she wasn't that perfect child, but it was like a little bit like rebellious. Yeah, exactly, but she was curious also. Imagine having like so much energy, so much that you want to learn in life, so much spirit, and you're in hiding for being a Jew, in this tiny attic, wherever they were, hiding behind a bookcase in someone's house and with other families and adults who are constantly, I mean, it's like taking a.
Morah Tziri:It's very hard, yeah, like you know, like when you buy helium balloons at the store that are like flying away and you have to like hold them down to get them into your trunk of your car so they don't like fly away. Like I feel like she was being, she was like stuffed and like, yeah, like Didn't have space to move. It's terrible, you know. Just let her be, let her free, you know. You know every time we live a free life and every time we make a kiddush Hashem in the world and use our unbelievable kohos and talents, I feel like we're living life for them a little bit. You know, like people like that who didn't have a chance to do it, we have the chance. We have the chance to sparkle.
Speaker 5:It will sparkle and shine if we each do our part.
Rivka:Yeah, so he just before said that she was hiding in someone's house and actually she was hiding in the office of her father, had like a giant building for his work, and so they hid there behind a bookcase and a lot of his colleagues were very loyal to him and they helped them get like food and newspapers and clothing and actually when, when they got caught, also a lot of the colleagues got caught.
Morah Tziri:And they also worked with him.
Rivka:Yeah, and they also survived the war, so they also were there to tell the story.
Morah Tziri:Wow, you really know a lot about the story and the subject. Wow, that's really special. Okay, well, just on the topic of Jewish pride for a minute. I know also like there was some anti-Semitic things against Jewish people happening in Amsterdam earlier this year, like a few months ago, that were in the news. Was that scary for you?
Rivka:So it wasn't in my neighborhood, baruch Hashem, it was like in the city of Amsterdam. And like the morning that it happened, I into my parents when my parents are like don't tell her yet she just woke up like what, wait, what, what, what, what, that's gonna open your ears, yeah, and they told me and I was like very shocked, but it didn't like all the way get to me. And then when I came to school, everyone was talking about it and I was like, oh my god, it happened here in Amsterdam. It's so crazy. And also my father went to the soccer game actually, but then like nothing was wrong, everything was okay.
Morah Tziri:Only after, when people went to the city and stuff happened, Well, hashem is watching over us, that is for sure, and I think, part of the comfort in knowing that we have this amazing community, like, for me at least, of, like I said in the beginning, like people in Amsterdam that are joining us here, InKredible kids from wherever they are in the world, we know that we have a promise that everyone comes together from all the places of the world yeah, from the four corners of the earth. Mashiach, exactly. Mashiach is definitely on his way. We hear his footsteps right, we feel it, we know it's coming, we smell it. Now I get to see all the parts of the world and all of us together, everyone here, everyone who's part of the Jewish people. We're all going to see that time, hopefully, really, really, really soon. Meanwhile, we'll all do our special holy work of living a life of Kiddush Hashem wherever parts of the four corners of the earth that we find ourselves.
Rivka:Yeah, I think so. My teacher always says that Like I hear the footsteps of Moshiach, and it's true, I guess Do you?
Speaker 5:Yeah, like laughing Everybody. Just you wait to see Miracles, amazing wonders Like no one's ever seen before. Finally, the magic moment. We have all the way to go.
Rivka:There's so much more Achtos in the world now because of what's happening in Israel, so everyone's very Achtos in the world now because of what's happening in Israel.
Morah Tziri:So everyone's very Achtos and we just need to continue that. We can't forget that there's that important energy that is bringing us closer. Do you have any last message that you want to share? You're special.
Rivka:how you are. It doesn't matter where you live, even though sometimes you can feel like I'm so outside of the world, like I'm so far away from the real world. Everywhere you are, you could shine your bright light.
Morah Tziri:Love that you know. There's a song that goes Amsterdam Disneyland.
Speaker 4:Tel Aviv oh, they're miles apart.
Morah Tziri:You know that song? No, the words are Amsterdam, disneyland, tel Aviv, though they're miles apart. When you light the candles on Friday night, there's caring and sharing in all of our hearts and it literally starts with Amsterdam. It was so lovely meeting you and I loved having this honest, real conversation with a special girl like you. Thanks for being such an inspiration and keep joining us. Thank you for letting me come on the podcast.
Rivka:It was lovely, it was very fun.
Morah Tziri:Enjoy the rest of your night, because you're a bunch of hours ahead of me. Yeah, bye, bye. I am beyond proud of Chaim and Chaim should be super proud of himself for speaking so openly and bravely about something that could be very personal to him, with confidence, with the knowledge that he is an awesome kid and his challenge is there, but he will get through it and he will continue to have a positive attitude and that really unparalleled belief in Hashem In his simple yet such deep words. If Hashem gave you something, then that is a challenge that is meant for you. I love that.
Morah Tziri:After I spoke to Chaim, I looked further into his school, tal Academy, which services kids with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences, and just maybe you'll hear more about them in a future InKredible Kids feature. And now it's time for homework. Oh, come on, not that kind, all right. So Riffka's conversation really had me thinking how so many of you guys are InKredible kids and so many InKredible kids who have been on this program on InKredible Kids Podcast in the last two years have so much knowledge, so many talents, so many suggestions and ideas to share with all of you.
Morah Tziri:I want you to think of one InKredible kid who was featured on an InKredible Kids Podcast. Who has inspired you and has made a difference in your life? Write up a little something about it. Tell us how an InKredible kid on InKredible kids podcast inspired you and helped you make changes in your life and, of course, made you feel more InKredible every day. Send your InKredible kids inspiring InKredible kids story to ikidspodcast at gmailcom and maybe I will share your story on the next episode of InKredible kids podcast. Meanwhile, everyone have a wonderful rest of your day, never forgetting how InKredible you each are. Can't wait to see you on the Tehillim army or imagine you as a steady listener over here at InKredible Kids Podcast. Don't forget to follow, tell your friends, subscribe, do all the things that you got to do. It helps InKredible Kids grow and grow and grow, and I thank you all for being here.
Speaker 3:Are you an InKredible Kid? Send your story to ikidspodcasts at gmailcom. Mykidspodcast at gmailcom. Subscribe today to the InKredible.
Morah Tziri:Kids Podcast. Thanks for listening and remember you are all InKredible Kids.
