Vulnerability (with Ysabella Elisheva Hazan ) | EP 68

0:08Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Success Series. This is episode number 68. I'm here with a very special guest, Ysabella Hazan. Ysabella has a very exciting story and she's behind a very exciting movement as well. We'll dive into specifics about her upbringing and just why she's passionate about what she does today. but Isabella is one of the lead activists for Israel. She's been supportive of it since way before October 7th and before it's been a popular thing. And so, Isabella, I think maybe at the very beginning of your story, let's talk about why you're excited about it and let's talk about what the inspiration was behind everything that you do on social media and with your program and your company as well.

0:43Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be on with you. Shout out to Michael for connecting us. He's amazing. So why I do what I do. I love Israel. It's my place of love. i love israel the land the people it's something that i've always been drawn towards when i was uh when i was younger my dad i had this like book where my dad used to read me like before i would go to bed and one of those stories was like king david the maccabees and i have this like distinct memory actually it's funny i can probably pull it out here because now i'm at home it's i know it's somewhere in there um and it was where king david was being anointed and there was like a picture of like the oil and I remember as a kid thinking like whoa we were people we have a kingdom this is this I'm the descendants of this like what's the hotel I was fascinated by the hotel I was like I have to go out when I was younger I was like I need a hotel dress I need a hotel dress and I never went to Israel I don't really have Israeli family because we're all from Israel um so it was always from a place of I love my people I feel connected to our history for me it wasn't just this abstract story.

1:46Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:It was something that is real and to join my civilization, to join my people. And it was never from anti-Semitism. That's for sure. Very cool. I think a lot of people have things that they're passionate and excited about and are important to them, but very few actually go and manifest something behind it. Because as you know, through this experience, it's not easy to have an idea of something and then just go and do it. So what would you attest to your ability to have something you're passionate about, understand what you wanted to do, and then actually take the first step in developing what you did, whether it's social media and all the other things that you do as well?

2:18Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:That's a really good question. And you know, I never got the chance to speak about this before. I have raging ADHD. That is, in French, incontournable, unavoidable. So this question is like putting the spiritual passion that I have, the ideological passion into the physical world. so what I do is I always try to keep my why alive in order to bring the you know the ideas into reality so I could say that I always remind myself my wife Victor Frankl has an amazing book his philosophy he who has his wife can bear anyhow so I stay really grounded in my why that's how I manage to take these ideas and put them into reality so number one is to know my why that was very big for me as somebody who is very passionate you know the passion and motivation is great but it's discipline that gets you to the other end so remembering my why and that was big for me because I I did four years of law school and law school was very difficult I was um that's where I started my activism was people don't realize that I was a full-time law student like really this entire time I just finished this process like I'm officially free like now I have like I could start my career like I was a student up until like a month ago so this is so for me this is an interesting question because it was my wife that really pushed me through it and I was it's like I remember myself like I want to be a lawyer I'm going to be a lawyer to defend my people if I'm reading a very boring patent law contract law thing I stay grounded in my why and that's the only way for me to keep going so throughout this process it's a great question because I was doing something that I enjoy, but sometimes I don't believe anyone who says they enjoy every single moment of law school readings.

4:06Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:So I would stick around to my why. Honoring my parents is also a very big one too. Were they supportive of all of it? The law school, the activism, what did they want for you when you were younger? My mom always gave me a really good piece of advice. Honestly, I put all the pressure on myself. I have no pressure from my parents. My mom always told me, do whatever you want to do, but be the best at it and that was her philosophy she's like whatever you want she goes if you want to do eyebrows think about like kim kardashian's eyebrow lady she's the best of the best like you can do whatever you want just make sure you you do your best to be the best and that was really where i you know that was my i guess what i grew up with uh there's many moments in the beginning of law school where i studied in french for the first time my whole academic journey was in english and then when i got to law school the three years of my civil law degree was all in French.

4:56Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:That was a shock. Law school was difficult. And then to add French on top of it, I was not so happy. So when I would call my dad, my dad's like, just switch programs. It's okay. And my mom was on the other side being like, absolutely not. And so I had a very good balance. But I guess the question is, what did my parents say? My parents are very supportive. I think with my activism, I might have scared them a bit um it's funny i always preach like never hide jamega and david because if you hide jamega and david then you're accepting a reality that we have to hide and that is way scarier than actually than living it than self you know hiding even though you feel it even though it's in the moment it's you know people are looking at you you don't feel safe it's really it's more unsafe to hide it because in the future what's going to happen next you're like we're like auto oppressing ourselves in a way so you know my dad will still tell me how do you make it David and I'll always preach the opposite.

5:49Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:I'm like, dad, do you know what I say online? So, but they're very supportive. Very supportive. I think when it comes to activism, my dad is super supportive, but maybe I'm his daughter. So like, safety perspective. Yeah. I'm like, I'm more scared of my dad than of like the protesters. I have a funny story, actually. Two years ago, there was, you remember the encampments? Yes. In the schools. Yes. So I I went to have dialogue in the encampments. Obviously these encampments are pretty violent. We know how the pro-Palestinian, pro-Khammas sides are. Not everyone is down for dialogue. There are some good seats, but a lot of the time they're gonna shout out you.

6:27Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:So I went there. I was my friend, Rudy Rockman. We went together. We had other small group of Jews with us there. And as I'm holding the sign with Rudy, Rudy looks at me, he goes, and we're facing the pro-Palestinian crowd. He goes, is that your crowd? He goes, is that your dad? And I'm like, yeah, that's my dad. And then I'm looking at my dad and I'm like terrified. He's like, go back home. Like, you're stressing me out. I'm like, the whole time I'm just staring at my dad and these protesters are screaming at me. I'm like, you think I care about you right now? I'm just looking at my dad. He's gonna embarrass me here.

6:56Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:So that's like, that's what I'm thinking of. Like, I'm not stressing at my dad. And it's funny because we got escorted out by the police. And you know, the video looks kind of gangster because you know, you're walking out, the police is like this. And then right here, just a guy following me with his arms crossed like this. And that's my dad. And it's funny because that went viral, but nobody knows. Who he is? Like, who is this guy? Yeah, nobody knows because this guy, he just looks like he's part of the crowd. He's like not a pro-tensor, not pro-Israel. His mission is just to look at me. So, yeah, I guess the answer, like, yeah, he's very supportive.

7:29Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:I definitely stress him out a bit, too. I think in life, anything that's worthwhile pursuing is going to come with its own set of risks. And I guess the question is always, what risk are you willing to sort of take for the cause, right? and that's applicable to anything that you do, whether it's starting a company, whether it's being an activist for something that is controversial in some capacity. So definitely commend you for that. I think the other thing, and Michael shared this with me, actually, is you're also an Aquarius. Is that true? Is it obvious? Yeah. Well, yes, because I'm an Aquarius too, so I'm able to pick up on it.

7:59We talk very fast. We think quickly as well. I talk fast. I don't know. I always have this conversation with people, though they say you talk too fast, but yet they still hear everything that I say. so my my thought is always is talking fast a bad thing but so you're good people don't understand

8:13Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:me like really no the older generation sometimes i'm on a panel they're like you're great but you speak too quickly i'm like okay noted i'll try to slow it down yeah but i know i've seen people but i understand you um yeah yeah but are you an aquarius also according to the hebrew calendar on both yeah yeah full aquarius it's you know i'm a pisces i'm in a dove okay so you have a little bit more balance with it do you do you feel that well actually if we're really going to get into the details of it i feel like i like i like i don't exist on this timeline because i was born in adar aleph so that's the leap year month so technically that month is not always there it's the month that's added in and i was born between shikiah and nightfall it's like so it's really on the dot i'm you know when you go on chabad.org to look for your hebrew birthday and there's like that small time frame in between where it's not the night and it's not the day I'm born in that time frame so I feel like my soul was like am I coming here am I not do I take the leap so that's why I'm like I don't I left the time is off or not off but you know in between so I just feel like I don't know you can kind of choose yeah I don't know yeah I feel like I was like I feel like I had a tape before I came down to earth I was like I don't know right it's like which which side do I want to fall into yeah exactly you could choose either do you feel that in the work that you do that your Aquarius nature sort of helps facilitate some of the passion and desire that you have for things?

9:36Or if you go back to like before thought, like what, where do you think it all comes from? Right? Like, have you, I'm sure you've had those thoughts before, like why you're excited about this and beyond just the physical nature of it.

9:45Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:I definitely think that being idealistic is something that helps me in my activism. A lot of the times I find myself speaking with people who are, who are less idealistic than me. And when say idealistic, I mean, I really believe in the positive way, and it's a medic way of Jewish power. For example, I really want to see Israel completely independent from the US. I want to see a real allyship where Israel is strong. The US could be strong, okay, but we can make decisions for ourselves without Washington, you know, having to have their two cents. So when I express this, I'm super idealistic. I'm like, we can suffer now maybe for a bit.

10:22Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:And, you know, maybe it'll be difficult but it's worth it in the long run i really believe we can do it on our own so my my my love for my people my that that innovation that ideal that idealistic point that's very aquarius is what i think helps me in that in that way because i would say the average person is like who i speak to is not for that that's just like one example we'll be like i don't know or or we can't make peace with palestinians you know they hate us i don't accept that i am definitely more idealistic. Okay, yeah, sure. Some of them hate us. A lot of them hate us. This is not used to me, but I believe that we have the responsibility to change that.

10:57Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:That's true, but this is also true. So I think that when I say Aquarius nature, I think that, I don't know how I would phrase it, but this ideological, this, I don't know, innovative, but maybe humanitarian. You're zooming outside a little bit of what's just like the typical norms of this is right and this is wrong, Aquarians can be sort of more high level and say, this can be right, that can be right, all of it can be right, and some of it can be bad, right? Versus the typical approach to it. I'm like the frequency of abundance, like we can have this and this. I'm like, I'm definitely like, and so what?

11:29Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:Like what's after? So I think that has helped me a lot in my activism, being able to dream in real life, for real. Like I meant to be able to dream in real life. I don't accept things as they are. um so definitely like the lulu the lulu is a salulu like that's really my model maybe so so that i guess um i guess yeah so where does it come from i don't know i think i have a long line of ancestors that um are blessing me that are with me i really feel protected i really feel like i'm maligned when i when i speak about israel when i was in law school and things didn't make sense you know when you're looking at a real estate and mortgages and all these things i'm like this makes sense because i know what i'm going to do with it afterwards this is part of it so it's part of the process I think that lineage that I my my parents my grandparents the community that I grew up in so many amazing mentors I have is what grounds me and like I guess that's I guess the why but I don't know some things your soul's attracted to and that's what mine was can't explain it I think most things in life also we we want answers and we want explanations but we don't get them until maybe much later in life or when we when we pass um to go to us to go to a slightly different direction when you think about like process which obviously even going through law school and building what you created it all requires a process and oftentimes most people that are trying to do anything in life they get stuck there they're like why is it taking so long for things to work why is it taking so long for the effectiveness to happen in the work that you do you're really playing the long game so to speak right because you're not going to see a direct impact overnight you might not be able to impact a small group of people but to create the change that you want for the world it's going to take longer how do you keep the the excitement, the passion, the certainty in this process when it's not manifesting maybe as fast as you want it to?

13:11Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:I think that I really focus on my own plate. I look at my lane, I go, am I doing what am I supposed to be doing? And that's what helps me. I think that's what it is. And then, you know, there's been, thank God, there's been a lot of beautiful stories that have come out of it that I've seen only now. You know, I was just at a conference and there was a former Ahi Samite there. And he's like, I used to watch your videos. I watched your debate that you did. I'm like, did you like it? Like, you probably didn't like it when he was an anti-Semite. But now I was like, oh, wow, that's crazy. Because when I think about it and I see that video, I see a kid.

13:45Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:I'm 26. I was 20 years old. I would not debate the way I did. I wouldn't change it. But my positions now are more refined than they were then. I'm more confident. And I see, like, the raw version. I mean, like, if that version inspired somebody and we played a small role, you know, there's things along the way that Hashem, the creator, gives you like you know a high five and like hey you're you're in the right path so i i think that but i think i also i really focus on my own play what i'm supposed to be doing and i think that helps me like i don't i don't think that the impact needs to be direct i think it's just uh you do your part i'm big on that like just doing your part and then when you look at let's say somebody comes to you and they are attacking you or they're spewing something on social media or in person how do you first how do you handle it and then what's like the simplest explanation to somebody who's, say, anti-Israel as far as why they shouldn't be or why they should have a different or open-minded perspective to it?

14:38What would be, like, a simple explanation to somebody like that?

14:42Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:Okay, that's a big question. So I'll answer this question in, I guess, in two ways. So every anti-Israel hater has their own different, unique reasons why they don't like Israel. I've seen, like, patterns why a certain type of anti-Israel hater, like, there's different kinds. not to generalize but it's very rare that they have been coming out of this you know box so there'll be the the far right one there'll be the one who's like left-leaning there'll be the one who's you know who's jewish who didn't grow up jewish and disconnected from their people and they have adopted the mindset the worldview of an anti-semit which doesn't make them more valid there'll be the nature like karta like i can count them on my hands extreme fringe group of jews who have their trauma and religious reasons that are a bit distorted of why.

15:34Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:So each one is a bit different. But I guess what I would say to them is that, because I think it's also, I'll give you my reason. I think it's something very spiritual. And we're on a spiritual podcast. I know you guys are like, it's like Kabbalah center. So for me, it's like, they will either be a partner in creation with Hashem to bring about light or they're partnering with Hashem anyways to still bring about light. However they choose to do it, it doesn't matter. So for example, I was recently speaking with, speaking, I had an interaction with somebody who was shouting at me saying, you should be ashamed, you should be ashamed.

16:11Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:And when I tell you he was actually foaming at the mouth, I had to like wipe spit off my face. Like he was so rageful. Like it's no hyperbole here. He was, Meach was 100 % hated Jews. He hated me. I felt the the hate it's not always that I feel that way but with this guy um his name is Yves Engler he's a known hater that's what he kept saying like you should be ashamed and xyz xyz xyz and in a conversation like that I can see that the the meat of the topic of like what he what he wants is he doesn't really care about Palestinians like he really just hates Jews so to somebody like that I would say I'm just a proud Jew and I can see that that would trigger him more and I think that just us being more connected to who we are um changes that or There's some people who genuinely care about Palestinians.

16:55Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:But I guess I would say to those who hate Israel or someone who doesn't know about Israel is that clearly, number one, clearly the Jews are connected to our land. We're ready to fight for it. We're ready to die for it, ready to bleed for our land. The intifadas have proven to be a fail. October 7th is a fail. It brings us closer to who we are. So if you want to see justice on the land, try something new. Because resisting us has proven, empirically speaking, to be a complete and utter failure. And what's the definition of insanity? What is it? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

17:24Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:You keep resisting us. You keep trying to kill us. And we get closer to who we are. We move to Israel. We build. So maybe try something different or maybe accept that we're not going anywhere. We're here to stay. We've proven that we're here to stay. And I guess that's what I would say is that even if you still hate us, look at the facts, look what happens. Let's say social media or like the public landscape. One of the things, and even Michael and I, we talk about this often, vulnerability is missing tremendously from social media, right? Everybody's sort of projecting a certain type of persona or a certain type of ideology.

17:55How do you maintain consistency? And what would be your advice to people that are trying to either be on socials or try to make a name out of themselves to still be vulnerable and not be afraid of being ridiculed or being made fun of or being attacked? What would be your advice to somebody who's struggling with that?

18:10Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:What you think we should be more vulnerable online? I think so. Why? Well, one, because the rest of the world is projecting what I think is like generally a false perspective of what life is without all the most beautiful parts of it would tend to come from vulnerability. So whether it's love, whether it's compassion, whether it's not having everything figured out, I think that it's really hard for people to go on social media and say, I don't have it all figured out, but I still can have something very valuable to share. It's almost like we as humans think that we need to have everything figured out to have a voice, including myself and I've learned that in the last five six seven years the more vulnerable that I've been the more people are actually receptive to what I'm saying versus when I try to just pretend like everything is perfect in my life so that's my perspective on it open of course to a debate on either side to that but yeah I guess that'd be a two-folded question for you one what's your take on that it sounds like you know like why is it whether vulnerability is something that you think should be portrayed more or not and then two how would you go about doing so if somebody were to ask you.

19:08Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:What do you mean by vulnerable? Because you said love and is being vulnerable being real to you or being vulnerable means like what I want to know what you mean by that. Yeah, sure. In my perspective of it being vulnerable is saying these are all the amazing things that I'm putting out there, but here are the things that are not so great still in my life or still in the message that I'm portraying. And so I'm okay with putting it all out there and not hiding certain attributes of it. Like I might have a very successful career, but personally I'm struggling in X, Y, and Z areas makes us more humanized.

19:41And then when people are more receptive to listening to us because they're like, Hey, they don't have it all figured out. Nobody does. And so now they're at least at some level where I feel like I can get to. And so whether it's connection, whether it's listening to spiritual wisdom, they don't feel like you're detached from reality, which as an Aquarius, I think it's easy for us to do that. Like we can, you know, we can feel like I always feel like I'm living here and everybody else is down here. And I just I understand the whole picture. So air sign. Yes, air sign. Exactly. We're literally in the clouds.

20:07Literally. Yeah.

20:09Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:So I'm 100 percent for being authentic and being real. I don't know if I'm for being vulnerable, but I'm for being authentic and real. I'm somebody who is extremely private on my social media. So for me, I'm online for a purpose. I'm here to educate about Israel. if me being more human helps with that that's what I'll do so I'll post some stuff that makes me more human um so that I can educate better on Israel um but I don't I don't feel comfortable sharing online and I don't think it's because of um I don't even I don't think of vulnerability but maybe that's something that that you know is there but I don't think people deserve to see me vulnerable.

20:53Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:Like some people who I don't know, like not deserve, but deserve is not right. But it's not the right word. But it's, it's just not online. Like I wouldn't be vulnerable with everyone. Maybe, maybe I'm not open and like being maybe I'm not, but I'm definitely super private online. Like I don't, I used to be also way more extroverted. As a kid, I was naturally an extrovert. Now, the past, I would say about five years, socially like not extroverted like i used to be i think that's also because of of the online world i think socially it's very taxing to be viewed all the time um especially i'm not famous i'm famous amongst jews and among you who are you know educated you know it's it's very very very very niche and i think the fact that i'm not actually a very famous person makes it harder in a way because you know people know you and they don't know if they should say hi or not and that awkwardness or that feeling of like big brothers always watching has made me um or not has made me because i think it make me something i just made me appreciate a lot more of what i keep to myself it's very interesting to clarify you're not vulnerable because you think that it's it just it's like the one area of your life that you can keep private because you're already putting so much out there is that the is that the reason or is there something else that sort of like why do you think you went from very extroverted to very introverted was there like was it was it because of something was it more of a general sense of something i think i started dressing more snoot so i think that also changed my personality in a way and then it balanced out because of that i think that on that journey i think that affected my extroversion number one that's also something i never shared about online because it's like a personal thing between me and hashem and if i'm not solid on something i'm not going to share it sure i guess i'm not going to share it because i'm not going to stay here like i'm snoot and then after wear like you know leggings with a short skirt which I do wear you know so it's like I'm not I don't want to be preachy that way so it's more like my spiritual journey um I also don't feel the need to be vulnerable I I guess I am I show what is part of my mission my mission is to spread emet and to spread truth about Israel I am online to defend Israel's honor the people and the land that's what motivates me I know it's very clear for me what makes me feel right in my soul is defending Israel's honor and defending Israel the land and that's my objective and um part of the process was really beautiful because I got to connect with so many people online that I I feel so much love from when I passed the bar exam I shared it I felt the love um but while I was studying I didn't I didn't because I needed to close myself off and and I'm a very very very very sensitive person I'm ultra sensitive took me a long time to accept that but actually a rabbi who told me that.

23:35Really?

23:36Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:But yeah, he saw me like, you're very sensitive. I was like, wait, what? I'm like, wait, maybe I am. I was like, yeah, I guess I'm so sensitive. How much time did you think about it before you accepted it? How long did it take? It was quickly because of what he said. He saw me, he said, you're the most sensitive woman I've met. And I was like, whoa. Did you hear that from a big rabbi? It was shocking. And he saw my face. I was like, I never saw myself as somebody who's sensitive. It's not, you know how you view yourself it's not something as i viewed myself as that i saw myself as tough maybe or and they said don't worry hashem loves that wow well he said hashem loves that in that same moment i accepted it and also i respect our sages so when someone says like i will i'm not going to be defensive i'm going to be maybe more surprised so from there that was actually after october 7th when i went to israel to volunteer that was like short after then so from there is where I think I realized that I'm ultra sensitive that it's okay and to use it as a superpower to connect with protesters, to connect with pro-Palestinians and to feel them also and to use that trait for the good and to balance it out so yeah that's it, I want to be vulnerable online I'm private, I share what I have to share in order to advance Israel's message.

25:00Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:But I keep it real. When a girl DMs me about something, I edit my pictures, okay? I'll keep it real that way. And I make it a joke. When I'm at an event, I'm like, yeah, I use FaceApp. I know you do too. Let's be for real. You're not hiding? No, we all do. Yes, I edit my pictures. Sometimes I look like an alien. It's very funny. My friends laugh at me. It's like you pushed it, Isabella. I don't care. I like it. I'm posting it, YOLO. But I don't think that people online will know that I'm, you know, shits and giggles like this. They definitely, it's not that I'm hiding in a podcast like this. Like I'll feel comfortable, but my stories, I don't know.

25:38It makes sense. Your point is your mission is clear. So if it doesn't compliment the mission, then you don't really see need to do so. Right. And if it did, then you won't. That's sort of the conclusion. Okay. It makes sense. Let's say you're looking at a girl who's, let's say in her teens, younger, struggling with sort of feeling comfortable with putting herself out there, which as you shared, It's not even easy within a community. People have opinions. You'll hear your name being spoken about. It's inevitable. I've experienced the same thing myself. What would be your advice to a younger girl who's sort of trying to figure out where her voice is, how to feel comfortable with attention and insecurities?

26:10What would be your advice?

26:11Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:My advice would be to go inwards. Why do you want to put yourself out there? You know, what's the purpose? What do you want to share with the world? What speaks to you? and when you stand in your truth, when you stand in your emet and when you're grounded, you know, for me, I always remind myself I have like the four alafs love, light emunah emunah the Torah and the creator truth you know, it grounds me so before I put myself out there I always ask myself why I'm doing what I'm doing and it pushes me to make it less personal, to make it not about you say Hashem gave you this this beauty, this talent, even this feeling to do something, this urge to start something, that's divine.

26:56Ysabella Elisheva Hazan:It's something that's good and lean in on that and that will give you the power to put yourself out there because you're a vehicle of light that Hashem is using you to spread. The Creator is using you to spread light. So I would definitely think about it that way. Whenever I lose sight of that or whenever I see myself even closing in, I remind myself about that because I do get a little bit shy. And that's really what gives me power. That's beautiful. What would you say if you look at all the spiritual tools that are accessible out there? What's the most important thing for any of us to be doing spiritually to connect to the creator, to connect to God?

27:28What works for you as an example?