Over the holiday of Passover in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israeli-Palestinian content creator, known the world over for his prominence in creating engaging videos for social media, Nuseir Yassin, known by his social media handle as Nas Daily, walked into the Dan Family Aish World Center and sat down to have a four-hour conversation with a rabbi, senior Aish educator, Rabbi Dov Ber Cohen.
NAS Daily with Rabbi Dov Ber (Photo courtesy)
Dov Ber, who is an accomplished author, had just cut short a family vacation in Tiberias, to have the conversation with Nuseir. The result is the newest video from Nuseir, whose various social media platforms have upwards of 60 million followers from around the globe, talking about Judaism.
The video comes as the fourth installment of Nuseir’s challenge to study five different religions as well as Atheism over six months. The next upcoming religion on Nuseir’s list to be studied is Christianity, which he will also be filming in Jerusalem at some point later this month.
NAS Daily in Jerusalem (Photo courtesy)
Rabbi Dov Ber, who had previously spent six years studying Hinduism and Buddhism in the Far East, was particularly excited about this project.
Nuseir and Dov Ber discussed various topics from Jewish life, Jewish learning, the origins of the religion, and common modern-day practices, as well as larger topics such as world peace. “There are so many life-changing ideas in Judaism,” Dov Ber said after the filming was complete. “It is impossible to reduce them to one article or a video, even a Nas Daily video. My hope is that people will get a taste and want to learn more to empower your journey to purpose, happiness, and meaning in life.”
“The partnership between Nuseir and Aish was ideal for this particular video,” said Chief Media and Marketing Officer of Aish Jamie Geller who helped oversee the project. “In addition to interviewing Dov Ber, what better place is there to film a video that would teach people about Judaism than in a leading global Jewish educational organization.”
Nuseir described his excitement at filming this video and said: “This video in particular was inspiring for me as I grew up living in Israel right next to Jews and Judaism and yet I knew so little about their religion and culture. This whole spirituality challenge is inspiring, but finally learning about Judaism helped me understand the people who I grew up right next to, on a much deeper level.”
The Aish World Center sits directly across from the Western Wall, which gave Nuseir access to film overlooking Judaism’s holiest site. The savvy video creator took the opportunity to film on the day of the Priestly Blessing over the holiday of Passover, during which tens of thousands of Jews make the pilgrimage to the Western Wall to pray and receive the blessing.
“Sharing Jewish Wisdom with today’s audience, in a language that is easily accessible is what Aish is all about, and thus we were ecstatic to be able to partner with Nuseir (Nas) for his journey to study Jewish Wisdom and share it with his global audience. This was really a win-win for everyone involved, for Nuseir, for Aish, and most of all for the audience who can watch and learn from this incredible video,” Geller added. “During this time when it is difficult for many to express their Jewish identity openly without suffering ridicule, we encourage anyone who is looking to learn more about their Jewish heritage to get in touch with us. Whether it is to study Judaism, ask a question that they have always wanted an answer to, or simply to find a group of like-minded people online, we invite you to engage with us on social media, or find us on Aish.com and talk to our rabbis on live chat. Whatever it is, we will be happy to help you on your journey to study Judaism.”
