TikTok is useful tool for Jewish orgs and influencers in Greater Phoenix

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Anyone with a TikTok account might have seen a recent video by Congregation Beth Israel Cantor Seth Ettinger on the final night of Chanukah 2022. Dressed in his by-now-famous, Chanukah-themed blue suit and wearing a large hat shaped like a Chanukah menorah with all nine candles ablaze, Ettinger sits on his sofa and tensely watches his dreidel spinning on the table in front of him.

With Queen’s “We are the Champions” playing in the background, he spins the dreidel as if it were a professional sport with a championship on the line. He even does an “end-zone” dance when he wins.

This video is part of Ettinger’s (@ cantorinparadise) Jewish content on the fast-growing social media platform. He described himself as an “avid YouTuber,” but those videos take hours to make. TikTok videos, on the other hand, sometimes take only minutes and get more attention from a much wider group of people.

“With TikTok, I’m seeing how my material is perceived outside of the Jewish community; I cast a wide net and see what hits and what doesn’t,” he said.

One big advantage to TikTok is that he can easily share his videos to other social media sites where he already has a large following.

Ettinger’s content isn’t exclusively Jewish. He also posts videos singing secular music and humorous videos about his family life.

“I want to show people I am a cantor — but it’s not all that I am,” he said. He’s not the only Jewish clergy in Greater Phoenix using the site to share Jewish content.

Rabbi Aviva Funke, associate director for the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix and its Hebrew High principal, uses her TikTok channel (@ rabbiaviva) to teach specifics about Jewish tenets, holidays and traditions. She is also a parent of three young children and she describes her channel as a place to create community “around raising Jewish kids and being parents, deepening connection and hopefully, providing some support and inspiration along the way.”

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Valley Beit Midrash’s president and dean, recently added a TikTok account (@rabbishmuly) where he talks about Judaism and social justice. His first video asked, “How do we know if Chanukah worked? If we go out now and spread hope; if we go out now and do acts of kindness every day; and if we go out and be advocates of justice for the most marginalized.”

They’re joining a cadre of national and international Jewish voices, both clerical and lay, using TikTok to teach, entertain and engage with the wider world using a mix of Jewish and other content.

For example, Miriam Anzovin, an ex-Orthodox artist in Boston, made headlines earlier this year for her series of informal TikTok videos responding to passages in the Talmud, the central text of rabbinic Judaism, in what some referred to as “crude language.”

Using a very different style, Rabbi Michael Beyo, CEO of the East Valley Jewish Community Center (EVJCC), started a TikTok channel (@torah.tok) to teach Torah in “a modern, inquisitive, fun and engaging way for Gen Z.”

Beyo saw the videos of popular Israeli TikToker Sharon Binyamin and approached him about a partnership with EVJCC. Binyamin, who has more than 60,000 followers, provides English videos for the East Valley channel.

The first video was about Chanukah.

“We tell the ‘true’ story of Chanukah — which is very different from the story we have heard in Sunday school. It is full of political intrigue, military conquests and court backstabbing. Torah can be engaging and relevant to Gen Z — these videos convey that in an interesting way,” said Beyo.

He doesn’t expect too many of the adults who attend his Beit Midrash classes to see the videos but is hopeful that their children and grandchildren will soon be followers.

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society

(AZJHS) is also hopping on the TikTok train but with a somewhat different motive. It wants to teach Holocaust education using the platform familiar to young people and its first step is to offer a TikTok contest: the “1st Annual Oskar Knoblauch TikTok Competition,” using the #AZJHSTikTokContest hashtag.

The contest challenges Arizona high school students to teach a piece of Holocaust history in two-minute videos by using oral history testimonies of local survivors. Students can choose from among 200 stories accessed on AZJHS’ website. They’re offered a wide latitude in using art, music, acting or whatever works for their content.

AZJHS’ staff is well aware that TikTok and other social media platforms have long been criticized for allowing Holocaust denial and antisemitism to spread unchecked on their platforms.

“The last thing we want is a student to put misinformation out there, or even worse, if someone puts something antisemitic under our handle, it’s not tolerable,” said Anthony Fusco, AZJHS’ education coordinator.

At the beginning of 2022, TikTok announced a slate of new features intended to reduce the spread of misinformation about the Holocaust shared on the platform and to lead users to trustworthy sources about the subject. Now, a banner pops up when users search for Holocaustrelated terms and directs them to aboutholocaust.org, a website run by the World Jewish Congress and UNESCO, to offer information about Holocaust history.

Even with the risks that are still associated with social media platforms like TikTok, they are still useful tools, Fusco said.

“We need to go where the kids are going, where they’re learning and how they’re learning,” he said.

AZJHS officially launched its TikTok account on Jan. 6. They were waiting to promote the contest until schools are back in session from winter break.

“We’re going to have to keep a constant eye on this account and watch out for trolls,” said Mary Ellen Page, AZJHS’ Holocaust educator and historian. “As our organization grows, we have to be doing things that everyone else is doing. TikTok is one of those things.” JN

For more information about the contest, visit azjhs.org.