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New Day

Gas Prices Continue to Fall; John Berman Discovers His Roots

Aired October 17, 2014 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alisyn, that means it's CNN Money time.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, good.

CUOMO: Your money.

CAMEROTA: Oh, mine, personal?

CUOMO: Yes. Everybody.

CAMEROTA: Okay.

CUOMO: Chief business correspondent Christine Romans has some good news about gas prices.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Did you hear those coins? You heard those coins, right?

CUOMO: Yes.

ROMANS: Those coins are right back in your pocket because gas prices have been falling and they've been falling and they're going to continue to fall. $3.14 is the new number. $3.14 the average price per gallon of gas in this country. Look, it's down more than 20 cents in just the past month.

Can I show you how it's been going since the peak this summer? Fifty cents a gallon lower since the highs we paid this summer. Fifty cents a gallon right back in your pocket. You've got these states already below $3 a gallon. Missouri is the lowest. Look over here in Jersey, below $3 a gallon. But can I tell you over here, in the Rocky Mountains and western states, another 15 cents to 30 cents that are going to drop by the end of the year. That's according to Gas Buddy. So over here you're going to start to see some relief.

If you are going to heat your home with any of these things this winter, and you probably are, this is how much prices are -- have forecast to come down for you. It's going to be a warmer winter, plus these prices are coming down. That's going to be a relief for consumers for heating their homes and for also putting gas in their cars. This is what oil prices have done. It's all because of plunging oil prices. $107 a barrel this summer. Now down to $83. The U.S. is producing a lot of it. The rest of the world is slowing. That combination means you've had a real decline in oil prices. They're up a little bit this morning, you guys, but you -- look, $83 a barrel. That's something.

CAMEROTA: Wow, you can come on any time, Christine.

ROMANS: I can only really come on when it's good news in gas prices. Everyone hates it when I come on with bad news about gas prices. Enjoy it.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Only $83? I have to run out and buy a barrel of oil.

CAMEROTA: Do that (ph).

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE) away.

CAMEROTA: All right, let's go over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it. My takeaway, it's going to be a warmer winter. Yahoo to that.

It's time for the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

Number one, a Texas nurse may have had Ebola symptoms last Friday when she flew from Texas to Ohio. Twelve people who came in contact -- close contact with Amber Vinson are now in quarantine.

Hunter Biden, the vice president's youngest son, got the boot from the Navy back in February. Sources say he tested positive for cocaine. He's now a managing partner at an investment firm.

ISIS reportedly has control of three war planes from Syrian airbases and is training to use them with help from former Iraqi military officers. The president will hold a closed door meeting this afternoon on the issue of ISIS.

Overnight, hundreds of police in Hong Kong clearing the site where pro-democracy protesters have camped out now for weeks. It's unclear how this affects plans for talks with officials next week on long-term reforms.

It will be los gigantes and the Royals in the World Series. San Francisco winning the national league pennant with a dramatic three- run homer in the bottom of the ninth, eliminating the Cards in five games. The World Series starts Tuesday in Kansas City, game one.

We always update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks, Michaela.

Our John Berman is a guy who makes his living asking questions and chasing answers. And when he went looking into his own family history, he got some answers he was not expecting. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: This is going to be so good. So good.

CUOMO: This -- I'm going to cry.

PEREIRA: No.

CUOMO: I'm going to laugh.

CAMEROTA: You're going to laugh.

PEREIRA: Do we have any tissues? Oh, we didn't bring any.

CUOMO: Some say the reason CNN undertook the week-long series "Roots: Our Journeys Home" was really about John Berman.

PEREIRA: It's true.

CUOMO: Sure, 13 of our hosts and anchors are tracking their lineage for your viewing pleasure, but only one may be descended from royalty.

PEREIRA: Look at that face.

CUOMO: Here at NEW DAY, we have always looked up to Berman because he often wears lifts, but royalty is really a note of distinction, sir.

JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "EARLY START": I went searching deep into my roots, Chris Cuomo, and I found out that I am, in fact, related to Tom Brady. So, it's very exciting. No, look, it's not about royalty. It's not like I'm a, you know, duke of Boston or anything. The question is, am I related to one of the greatest thinkers of all-time, like in the history of the world? And there was every reason to believe that the answer to that was yes. But you have to go look and see how I searched of the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Why am I sitting here in front of this statue in this city, no less? Amsterdam, a city of canals and bridges and a country of windmills and tulips. Well, I'm here because the two of us, we share a name. This is Baruch Spinoza. I am John Spinoza Berman.

BERMAN (voice-over): Baruch Spinoza was a 17th century Dutch Jewish philosopher. A very big deal. Statues, portraits, even streets bear his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has become an icon of the reason and of the solitary thinker who braves not only his own community and religious leaders (INAUDIBLE), but also more generally religious intolerance.

BERMAN: Spinoza's petty ideas about God being inseparable from nature and his, at the time, haughty notions about freedom of thought were so radical they got him ex-communicated, expelled from the Jewish community in Amsterdam in 1656. Scandalous then, now revered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he's a popular symbol for all kinds of things that we'd like to associate with.

BERMAN (on camera): I'd like to associate with that. It's a good name to have, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

BERMAN (voice-over): Good name, great lineage, if it's mine, which is what I grew up being told.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you've driven by with friends, do you point up there and say -

BERMAN (on camera): I always point up. I always point up.

BERMAN (voice-over): For years my father, Gerald Spinoza Berman, would point proudly at the Spinoza name carved in the Boston Public Library.

BERMAN (on camera): And when you see it, you know, what would you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would think that's me, that's my family, that's my heritage. My grandfather's name was Spinoza. My mother's name, maiden name, was Spinoza. And we thought that we were descendants from Baruch Spinoza.

BERMAN: You thought you were a philosopher prince?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Which would make me the son of a philosopher prince?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or something.

BERMAN (voice-over): There's just one problem. According to Dutch philosophy Professor Michael Leezenburg (ph).

BERMAN (on camera): What do you know about Spinoza the man in terms of family life?

PROF. MICHAEL LEEZENBURG: Well, it's fairly simply so say, he simply did have -- did not have any family life at all. He was never married.

BERMAN: No marriage, no known children. So how did my family and would-be philosopher prince father account for this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were brought up thinking we came from a long line of bastards.

BERMAN: A long line of, yes, bastards. Remember that line.

But, seriously, what is the truth? Am I loaded with radical philosopher DNA. After a lifetime of expectations, at last Michelle Ergelblat (ph) from ancestry.com helped begin the search for an answer. An answer that intriguingly begins in Amsterdam, the birthplace of the philosopher. MICHELLE ERGELBLAT, ANCESTRY.COM: So the first generation of Spinozas

in the United States was Benjamin Spinoza. And Benjamin is your second great grandfather. And he was born in Amsterdam.

BERMAN (on camera): Yes, I don't really speak good Dutch.

BERMAN (voice-over): But you don't have to speak Dutch to go to Amsterdam. Nearly everyone there speaks perfect English, including Heddy Burg (ph) -

HEDDY BURG: And I show you these two buildings -

BERMAN: The chief curator and manager of museum affairs for the city's Jewish historical museum. She walked me through the historic Jewish corridor.

BURG: The girl's orphanage was here. There were all kinds of Jewish institutions also on this same street.

BERMAN (on camera): So Benjamin Spinoza was born here in 1850, at 121 Rashrhberger (ph). I can't say it, Rashrhberger.

BURG: Rashrhbergerstrass (ph).

BERMAN: Just like you say, Rashrhbergerstrass.

BURG: Yes, not berben (ph) burher (ph).

BERMAN: Rathenberherstrass (ph). Your language is a pain.

BURG: I know.

BERMAN (voice-over): The neighborhood revolved around this gorgeous building. The 339-year-old Portuguese synagogue filled with grandeur, not to mention treasure.

BURG: It's all lined with gold letter of the 17th century.

BERMAN: It was built by the tight-knit community of Jews who, like Baruch Spinoza's family, emigrated from the Iberian Peninsula.

BERMAN (on camera): How many people were members?

BURG: There were about 4,500 Portuguese Jews part of this community.

BERMAN: This synagogue, this community was everything.

BURG: Yes.

BERMAN: And to live outside this community would have been next to impossible.

BURG: Yes, it was really -- not really an option. I mean Baruch Spinoza was really the very first Jew at that time to live outside of community.

BERMAN: And he got tossed. I mean he --

BURG: He got tossed. So it was not out of free choice.

BERMAN (voice-over): Remember, he was ex-communicated in 1656, a problem for him, and it turns out, a problem for me in my long-held belief that I might be his great, great, great, et cetera, grandson. Ancestry.com uncovered a document from 1737.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Isaac Espinoza (ph), who is, this is the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh great grandfather.

BERMAN (voice-over): Wow, and you're talking about Early 1700's there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, in Amsterdam. So, this is your seventh great grandfather, it's talking about Isaac Espinoza of Zali (ph), and then it goes on to talk about his father.

BERMAN: Daniel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Espinoza of Barbary.

BERMAN (voice-over): Wait, Barbary?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you familiar with the Barbary Coast?

BERMAN (on camera): Yes, you're dealing with, like, that's like North Africa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BERMAN: Interesting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zali we think is Saleh, which is part of Morocco.

BERMAN (voice-over): Morocco, me, the Morocco that's in North Africa. My ancestors emigrated to Amsterdam from a Jewish community in what is now Morocco in 1722. Well, after Baruch Spinoza was already living in and scandalizing Amsterdam, my people were on a different continent. I am not, it seems, a direct descendant. So if his story is not my story, what is my story?

It turns out the answer, buried in the Amsterdam city archives with 700 years of records, is scandalous in its own right, even for a Spinoza. Researcher Eric Heiselar (ph) found the records of my family's early years in Amsterdam in the 1700s.

ERIC HEISELAR, RESEARCHER: Here we start.

BERMAN: Marked by one four-letter word: debt.

HEISELAR: Another page. Here's another page.

BERMAN: Pages of it.

HEISELAR: It's list after list of Jewish gentiles. And here's Yonce Vicker (ph). BERMAN (on camera): The end figure.

HEISELAR: 33,295 and a little bit.

BERMAN: 33,000 guilders. This is in 1744, that has to be a lot of money now.

HEISELAR: Half a million.

BERMAN: He had a half million dollars in debt. I'm not responsible for any of this, am I?.

HEISELAR: Well -

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Is this where someone walks into the room here?

BERMAN (voice-over): And that's not even the big family scandal. For that, Eric looked nearly 100 years later, 1822. A birth record for another Isaac Spinoza, the great, great grandson of Isaac the debtor.

HEISELAR: There's something weird about it. The father's name is (inaudible), but there's no mention of a marriage.

BERMAN (on camera): Interesting.

HEISELAR: Very.

BERMAN: So, there's a father listed but there's no marriage, that's unusual?

HEISELAR: Very unusual. It's a small community. Everybody would know what's going on. The young woman (inaudible) without being married would be frowned upon.

BERMAN (voice-over): But wait, there's more. A record of Isaac's mother.

HEISELAR: This is Mrs. (inaudible) again. Marrying in 1811 with a different husband.

BERMAN (on camera): She had a kid. She had Isaac.

HEISELAR: While still being - -

BERMAN: Married to somebody else.

HEISELAR: For years.

BERMAN (voice-over): And the son, Isaac?

HEISELAR: He's a mamzer, which is a Jewish name for illegitimate child without any rights.

BERMAN: His offspring, too. That could be why Isaac's son, Benjamin, left Amsterdam and came to the United States in 1867. Benjamin Spinoza, born in Amsterdam in 1850, died in Boston in 1907, and the Spinoza Bermans have been there ever since.

The search for Spinoza, the connection to Baruch Spinoza came up empty. But at least one part was true.

BERMAN (on camera): Benjamin Spinoza's father is what's called a mamzer. Do you know what a mamzer is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really.

BERMAN: His parents were not married when he was born.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that part is true. A long line of bastards after all.

BERMAN (voice-over): Yes, the name on the wall might not be our history, but our name filled with its own history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

PEREIRA: A lot of information there.

BERMAN (on camera): Pretty crazy. Amsterdam, the records there are insane. 700 years' worth of records. You pick up these books, and it's page after page of information. You know, that seventh great grandfather of mine was a half million dollars in debt. It listed what he owed and to whom for what. It's crazy.

CAMEROTA: And, so, what did your father think of all your discoveries?

BERMAN: You know, he -- Look, it's our name. It's his middle name, it's my middle name, it's my grandmother's maiden name. So, he always sort of thought that we were descended from the philosopher, even though the fact that the guy never had any kids, you know, should have been a sign to some of us that maybe it wasn't the case. So, you know, I think it was interesting to him that the facts are what they are.

PEREIRA: I feel like you're glossing over your North African roots. You and I, we might be more connected than we originally thought. Come on, man.

BERMAN: Watching the World Cup with my boys is fascinating because they want to know what countries they should root for, where are you from. And if turns out we're from, like, every single one of them.

PEREIRA: Everywhere.

BERMAN: They're rooting for Cameroon now in Nigeria, because it turns out we're African.

CUOMO: The diaspora is wide and far.

BERMAN: The truth of the matter is that the North African Jews, those Jews who were in Morocco, were part of originally the Portuguese community, very likely the same which Baruch Spinoza's family was. We probably are, in fact, related as cousins from one town in Portugal or Spain.

CAMEROTA: You're clinging to this, I see.

PEREIRA: That just shows how beautiful all of this is, because in a world where we seek to divide often times, that's what this "ROOTS" thing has really been illuminating for me is that we're all really connected.

CUOMO: I don't feel so connected to you and I'll tell you why.

PEREIRA: Come on.

CUOMO: For years, Berman has been holding this Spinoza thing over the heads of colleagues. Just so you know, many a debate Berman has accented with the well, I'm descended from Spinoza.

BERMAN: Just because I'm right doesn't mean I have to be related to a philosopher.

CUOMO: I agree.

BERMAN: It is, in fact, it is, in fact, my name. You know, what's fascinating is they got to Boston, my Spinozas got to Boston, you know, in the 1860's. There's no other Spinozas there. You look at the phone book from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's.

PEREIRA: Nothing.

BERMAN: There's no other Spinozas there.

CUOMO: Is it Espinoza or is it Spinoza?

BERMAN: Well, no, I mean, by the time Baruch Spinoza was born in, you know, in the 1600's it was already Spinoza. But, depending on what language you speak it is Spinoza or Espinoza. But, there are no other Spinozas there.It's a very rare name in the United States, certainly for Jews. Yes, there are Espinozas, but again, that would go back - -

CUOMO: Did you pass it along?

BERMAN: One of my boys, his middle name is Spinoza.

PEREIRA: Good, I like that.

BERMAN: You know, it's a big family name.

PEREIRA: This has been good for them, too, to see a little bit of the past.

BERMAN: Like I said, they root for the Netherlands now, if Morocco had a good team they'd be rooting for them.

PEREIRA: Look, and don't try and pull one over. You tried to convince us that you were like 8 percent Egyptian .

CUOMO: I am.

PEREIRA: And that you came from the pharaohs.

CUOMO: I am, you're jealous. It's 11 percent Egyptian.

BERMAN: The DNA. Look, we took a DNA test. Ancestry had us take a DNA test, and mine came back and it turns out that I'm Jewish. And I'm like, oh my God! That explains the bar mitzvah, thank you!

CUOMO: I'm 11 percent Egyptian. Look, I liked learning more about you.

PEREIRA: This was awesome, awesome, John. What a great storyteller you.

BERMAN: Thank you.

CUOMO: You're a very interesting guy, even more interesting now.

CAMEROTA: This is going to go bad really quickly.

CUOMO: For more, you want to learn more about John Berman, who doesn't?

BERMAN: Who doesn't?

CUOMO: Go to CNN.com/roots and there's a lot there.

BERMAN: A lot.

CUOMO: And our series is going to pick up tonight at 8:00.

PEREIRA: Oh, wow.

CUOMO: With Fareed Zakaria, his quest to trace his lineage, and on Monday morning we're going to have Kate Bolduan's story, which, as we now know, has a new branch.

PEREIRA: Yes it does.

CUOMO: Cecilia's in there, too. Tuesday night at 9:00 here on CNN you can make sure to watch our two-hour "ROOTS" special, hosted by Anderson Cooper, and John Berman's cousin, Michaela Pereira.

BERMAN: Should have Ethel Bass, you know, and Matt Arnold put that together.

PEREIRA: Great job, Ethel and Matt.

CUOMO: Well done.

CAMEROTA: Amazing. CUOMO: Well done.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Alright, here's a teaser for you. Can soccer fans change the world? Well, one of the top ten CNN Heroes of 2014 thinks so. Find out how, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: (audio gap) And the vote is in your hands at CNNheroes.com to decide who takes home the top prize. This week's honoree made it his mission to turn the fervor of soccer fans into philanthropy for poor children. Meet Jon Burns.

(START VIDEOTAPE)

JON BURNS, TOP TEN CNN HERO: The atmosphere of World Cup is like nothing else. It's electric.

CROWD: Ole, ole, ole, ole

BURNS: You get that rainbow, kaleidoscope from all the different nations that come together. Football is the only worldwide sport really. In 2004, I was in a full stadium. I suddenly saw all the fans around me like it was a little army. I started asking myself, what could I do if we could mobilize some of these people to do some good? So at Lionsraw, we bring people to the World Cup, they get to watch games, but for a huge chunk of our town (ph) we find local charities that are working with children and ask how can we help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over there is going to be three classrooms. To come and to do this for us, for the children, this is a World Cup spirit.

BURNS: In Brazil we've got about 300 volunteers here from about 12 countries. We did a couple of days, just part of the team, full of fun and working really hard.

When we invest in a place, it's for the long-term. Lots of guys come and kind of get it in their blood. That's what we're about. Look how far we've come in a week. It's fantastic. Football has always had the ability to break down barriers. We're taking it a step further, trying to harness the passion in football fans to make a different.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Brilliant idea.

CUOMO: Right? Creative, dedication. Jon, just one of our top ten honorees. One of them will become CNN Hero of the Year and receive 100 grand towards furthering their own work, so what do you do? You got to CNNheroes.com and you get to vote once a day, and here's the key word, every day. You can vote everyday if you want.

All ten will be honored at an all-star tribute hosted by Anderson Cooper Sunday December 7th. Got all that? Good. Lot of news and information to update. Let's get you to "NEWSROOM" with Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello.