Yair Ettinger, a journalist and researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute's "Ultra-Orthodox in Israel" program as well as a fellow at the Hartman Institute in New York, is the co-author, together with Nissim Leon, of the recently published book A Flock With No Shepherd: Shas Leadership The Day After Rabbi Ovadia Yosef . It analyzes the causes of the movement's identity, leadership and popularity woes, some resulting from and others coinciding with the death of its towering founder and spiritu...
May 07, 2018•27 min
Milton Shain, emeritus professor of history at the University of Cape Town, specializing in the history of Jews and anti-Semitism in South Africa, tells the very different story of a Jewish settlement in the New World. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.
May 04, 2018•35 min
What does radical Islam have in common with right wing extremism? Much, it turns out. From the perception of existential, apocalyptic threat to the sense of historic mission as saviors of their people, the two sides have more in common than either want to admit. Julia Ebner's book “The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far Right Extremism” shows why each side exists in a world of obsession with the other; and proposes how to mitigate the pull of extremism that preys on the young. This sea...
Apr 30, 2018•35 min
In our minds, Saudi Arabia, to this day, has been an ultraconservative, almost medieval society, with a clear hierarchy and a coercive leadership. But it turns out that is not exactly the case. Nachum Shiloh discusses his research that focuses on the history of Saudi elites in the first half of the 20th century. This episode originally aired June 6, 2015.
Apr 27, 2018•21 min
When Malka Marom, a Canadian-Israeli musician and broadcaster, walked into a destitute Toronto night club in 1966, she was swept off her feet. The music, played by Joni Mitchell, mousy-looking and still unknown, was unlike anything she had heard before. Soon thereafter, they became lifelong friends; Marom's book Joni Mitchell in Her Own Words is a compilation of conversations they had over a 40-year period. She is now working on another book, featuring conversations with another great Canadian s...
Apr 23, 2018•36 min
Prof. Roberta Ronsethal Kwall, a legal scholar and the founding director of the DePaul University College of Law, has just authored a new book entitled The Myth of the Cultural Jew – Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition . She explains to host Gilad Halpern why even the most secular Jews have imbibed the halakha , whether they like it or not. This episode originally aired June 5, 2015.
Apr 20, 2018•26 min
If another war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, it could "turn Lebanon into a car park," and take down wholesale targets in Tel Aviv, says longtime journalist and author, the Lebanon expert Nicholas Blanford. He argues that one of the only hopes for avoiding war is that each side is fully aware that a new round could mean mutually assured destruction, or at least severe devastation. Yet it might only take some damned foolish thing in the desert to spark that war. This season o...
Apr 16, 2018•35 min
Dr. Caroline Light of the Program in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University talks with host Gilad Halpern about her recent book, That Pride of Race and Character: The Roots of Jewish Benevolence in the Jim Crow South . It analyses the circumstances that led to the establishment of a sizable Jewish charity network in the American South in the post-Reconstruction period. This episode originally aired April 18, 2015.
Apr 13, 2018•19 min
Yohanan Plesner, the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, joins us to discuss the past accomplishments and future challenges of democracy in Israel. Ahead of the 70th Independence Day celebrations, the IDI will launch the Democracy Pavilion along the Independence Trail in Tel Aviv, with a view to celebrating its many achievements and educating local and international visitors about its importance. This episode of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by the Israel Democracy Institute , wh...
Apr 09, 2018•32 min
Prof. Carole Fink, a scholar specializing in international European history at Ohio State University in the US, tells host Gilad Halpern about how Europe's Jews fit into the numerous minority protection schemes that emerged on the continent in the interwar period, and about the road to their catastrophic breakdown. This episode originally aired March 27, 2015.
Apr 06, 2018•25 min
Daniel Boyarin, Professor of Talmudic Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses his forthcoming book “Judaism: The Genealogy of a Modern Notions”, in which he argues that Judaism, as a full-blown concept, is a modern creation. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel....
Apr 02, 2018•33 min
Prof. Sander Gilman, who teaches history at Emory University in the United States, is an extremely prolific academic with a vast spectrum of fields of expertise. He discusses his cleverly entitled study, “Aliens vs Predators: Cosmopolitan Jews vs Jewish Nomads.” This episode originally aired March 20, 2015.
Mar 30, 2018•21 min
Why do we believe? After writing books about the god of Islam and Jesus of Nazareth, religion scholar Reza Aslan takes on the biggest question of all: What does “God” mean, anyway? Aslan comes to the surprising answer that God looks a lot like humans. Does this make him a deep believer or an atheist? Is God everywhere or nowhere? Find out in this interview about his latest book, “God: A Human History.” This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , whic...
Mar 26, 2018•37 min
Dr. Erica Weiss, Tel Aviv University anthropologist and author of “Conscientious Objectors in Israel: Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty”, tackles the concept of conscientious objection in Israel – a democratic society that honors the freedom of conscience while fighting for its survival. This episode originally aired March 15, 2015.
Mar 23, 2018•20 min
Dr Martina Weisz, a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, discusses the place of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese colonial project, which started immediately after the momentous expulsion of the Jews from these countries, in the late 15th century. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel....
Mar 19, 2018•25 min
Dr. Eran Shalev of the Department of General History at the University of Haifa, author of American Zion: The Old Testament as Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War, traces the theological and ideological origins of the special relationship between Israel and America. This episode originally aired March 7th, 2015.
Mar 16, 2018•24 min
Prof. Uriya Shavit, the head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and of the Religious Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, discusses his new book Scientific and Political Freedom in Islam: A Critical Reading of the Modernist-Apologetic School , which explores Islamic theologians' efforts to harmonize religion, science and modern systems of government. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, an...
Mar 12, 2018•32 min
Prof. Laura Schor, a historian at Hunter College in New York and author of The Best School in Jerusalem: Annie Landau’s School for Girls 1900-1960, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the extraordinary character of Annie Landau, a British ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who was a high-profile public figure in Jerusalem during one of its most tumultuous periods. This episode originally aired March 6, 2015.
Mar 09, 2018•18 min
Prof. Daphna Hacker, an associate professor of law and gender studies at Tel Aviv University, discusses her new book Legalized Families in the Era of Bordered Globalization , which explores a phenomenon that is as understudied as it is widespread. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel....
Mar 05, 2018•30 min
Dr. Sarab Abu Rabia-Queder, a researcher at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University, specializes in the impact of higher education on Bedouin women. Herself of Bedouin origin and an activist for Bedouin rights, she talks to host Gilad Halpern about the nomadic people who live mainly in the south of Israel, and how they straddle the line between tradition and modernity, and between their Arab identity and the State of Israel. This episode originally aired Feb. 2...
Mar 02, 2018•29 min
Dr Michal Kravel Tovi, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, discusses her new book When the State Winks: The Performance of Jewish Conversions in Israel , an ethnographic account of the arduous conversion process female migrants from the former USSR choose to undergo in the hope that it would accelerate their integration into Israeli society. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, d...
Feb 26, 2018•24 min
Dr. Danna Piroyansky, author of Ramle Remade: The Israelization of an Arab Town 1948-1967 , discusses the very Israeli concept of ‘mixed cities’ – the result of government-sanctioned mixing of Jewish and Arab populations. How did it come about in Ramle, a town in the south-eastern coastal plain that was 100 percent Arab Palestinian up until the 1948 War of Independence, and was subsequently populated with Jewish immigrants? This episode originally aired Feb. 21, 2015....
Feb 23, 2018•22 min
Dr. Leon Wiener Dow, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, discusses his new book, The Going: A Meditation on Jewish Law , an autobiographical and theological exploration of the relationship between God, law prayer, practice and community in Jewish law. Check out the extra segment for this episode on patreon.com/telavivreview This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the ...
Feb 19, 2018•32 min
This episode originally aired on Feb. 20, 2015. Dr. Jonathan Rubin, a historian of the Medieval Levant at Tel Aviv University, specializes in the production of knowledge in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th and 13th centuries. He talks to host Gilad Halpern about how the Crusaders' encounters with local societies - beyond the initial indignation - led to theological, economic, and scientific developments.
Feb 16, 2018•23 min
With a severe humanitarian and economic crisis, another Gaza war could well be on its way. But Gaza is not only the packed, imprisoned and impoverished strip of misery. It is a place where high school students learn Shakespeare, whose residents have been to hell and kept their pride. Why isn't it a Singapore by the sea, and is there any hope or route to improvement? Veteran journalist Donald Macintyre brings years of firsthand reporting to his deeply informative and equally colorful book Gaza: P...
Feb 12, 2018•33 min
This episode originally aired Feb. 13, 2015 Dr. Ephraim Chamiel, a lecturer and scholar of Jewish thought in the modern era, explains who were the Jewish philosophers who sought to harmonize modernity and tradition. His book, "The Middle Way: The Emergence of Modern Religious Trends in Nineteenth-Century Judaism," is available in English.
Feb 09, 2018•23 min
Michael Broyde, professor of law at Emory University and former rabbinical judge, discusses the constitutional, legal and societal implications of track two arbitration in the contemporary United States, which are the topic of his new book Sharia Tribunals, Rabbinical Courts and Christian Panels: Religious Arbitration in America and the West. This episode comes with bonus material for patrons only: www.patreon.com/telavivreview This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer ...
Feb 05, 2018•35 min
This episode originally aired Feb. 6, 2015 Prof. Anita Shapira, one of Israel's most eminent historians of Zionism, discusses her biography of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding prime minister.
Feb 02, 2018•24 min
Rise and Kill First reveals Israel's deadliest secrets. The history of targeted assassinations precedes the establishment of the state and continues to the present. Israel has killed terrorists, political figures, nuclear scientists, former Nazis and a UN negotiator; questions still swirl around the death of Arafat. When does Israel strike, and when does it abort a mission? Ronen Bergman's exposé obtains material never before released, and he talks with people who never talk. Here he discusses w...
Jan 30, 2018•38 min
This episode originally aired on Jan 31, 2015. Dr. Oren Meyers of the Department of Communications at the University of Haifa, co-author, together with Eyal Zandberg and Motti Neiger, of Communicating Awe: Media Memory and Holocaust Commemoration , analyzes with host Gilad Halpern the disproportionate role Holocaust-related imagery plays in the Israeli media debate. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute , which promotes humanistic, democratic, an...
Jan 26, 2018•16 min
