Two Nice Jewish Boys

*This episode is sponsored by Masa Israel Journey. Check them out at http://masaisrael.org/twonicejewishboys * Exclusive subscription offer for podcast listeners: Get 6 months of The Forward for only $15: forward.com/2njb Yesterday, Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States of America and Kamala Harris as the first female Vice President in American History. With them Israel waved goodbye to one of the friendliest American administrations in modern history. And if that’s not enough, Israel is on its own way to an inauguration… but first it has to get through another election (the fourth in two years). Meanwhile, Israel has extended the lockdown for another 10 days while the national vaccination effort is progressing at an unprecedented speed. We’ll be discussing all this and more today with a great friend of the podcast, and old guest and an Instagram sensation, Hananya Naftali. While serving in the IDF, Hananya was unable to turn a blind eye to all the fake news he heard about Israel. So he decided to do something about it. Fast forward 4 years - he’s got huge followings on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We are super thrilled to be joined by Hananya Naftali.

*This episode is sponsored by Masa Israel Journey. Check them out at http://masaisrael.org/twonicejewishboys * From Mark and Steve to Bill and Elon, when scrolling through any list of the top figures in tech, there are practically no female faces. And it’s not just at the top. According to some statistics, in the US, women represent only 14% of software engineers and only 25% of all computer-science related jobs. It’s not much better in Silicon Wadi either. As of 2017, women made up only 29% of all computer science students in Israel. So why is this? Why in 2021, in the age of equality, is there still such a wide gap? And finally, are we doing something about it? Ruth Polachek is the Chairwoman, Founder and CEO for 6 of the last 7 years of “she codes”, a community of 30,000 Israeli female software developers. “she codes” has as its mission statement the goal of reaching 50% female representation in the tech industry within a decade. Ruth is also currently CEO and Co-Founder of a new Digital Health venture, LessTests, which aims to make Covid-19 testing as accessible as possible to everyone around the world. We are thrilled to be joined today by Ruth Polachek.

We had to reschedule all our guests because of the lockdown. So guess what? You're stuck with us for the second time in a row. Enjoy it while it lasts!

It's time to wrap up 2020! We talked about elections, vaccinations, horrible dating dilemmas, and Eytan's promising new political party that's gonna conquer Israel by storm.

Covid has been with us for a year now - happy birthday! But as we’re all gonna be vaccinated pretty soon, some aspects of the disease are going to remain with us for a long time in the future. Because even though most people didn’t end up getting infected with the virus, a huge amount of households - here in Israel at least - suffer from the devastating economic impact, that two lockdowns and more ever-lasting draconic restrictions, have brought upon middle class and lower class people who simply try to make ends meet. When Tamara Harel Cohen decided to make Aliyah and devote her career to build a socially impactful startup, she didn’t imagine the %@#$%-storm that would hit us all. Her company, Riseup, tries to help households make better economic decisions, and get out of debt. As debt in Israel rises constantly each year - that is not an easy mission to embark on. We’re super excited to have Tamara Harel-Cohen with us today, to talk about her fascinating and innovative company, economic decisions, and much more.

What makes up the DNA of a nation? It’s hard to think of one quality, or even a handful of qualities that unite millions or hundreds of millions of people. After all, societies are, in the end of the day, just a bunch of individuals. And still, it’s hard not to wonder sometimes, what makes a nation tick, and why do certain people - and certain countries - stand out? Only a little over 70 years old, Israel is already a huge success story in so many ways. For decades Israel enthusiasts have been trying to find the answer to the question - why has the Jewish nation thrived in such extraordinary ways? Is it our culture, our upbringing, or perhaps something in the tap water? Today we’re joined by Michael Dickson. Michael and his co-author Dr. Naomi L. Baum have recently released Isresilience, a new book which, through a series of conversations with inspiring Israelis, endeavors to answer just these types of questions. Michael is the Executive Director of Stand With Us in Israel - an organization that advocates for Israel and fights against the BDS movement worldwide. We’re super thrilled to have Michael Dickson with us today to talk about his new book, about StandWithUs and about much much more. (Photo by Jared Bernstein)

Naor and Eytan talk about everything that went down in Israel during the past month. *** Exclusive subscription offer for podcast listeners: Get 6 months of The Forward for only $10 — that’s 67% off: forward.com/2njb

Israel is a pretty small country. Just about 9 million. But for our size, we pack quite a punch. Everybody knows the ol’ Nobel Laureate spiel - Israelis have won a whopping 12 since 1966 and that’s crazy for a country of our size. It seems like we got the brains. But what about the muscle? Unlike the USA, Russia and China, we don’t have the resources to nurture younglings from an early age on their journey to become the best athletes in their field. This is why we never particularly excelled at the Olympics. There are, however, a few fields of sports in which we are really good at. Surfing and sea sports is one of them, and Judo is another. Out of 9 Olympic medals Israel has gotten in the Olympics throughout the years, 5 were in the field of Judo. Yael Arad was the pioneer, when she brought us the Silver medal in 1992, and became the first ever Israeli to win an Olympic Medal. More than a decade later, in 2004, Arik Zeevi won the Bronze medal, and made history. Since then, Arik has been inspiring generations of Martial Artists, in Israel and throughout the world. So without further ado, 2NJB are proud to have our first ever Olympic Medalist, ladies and gentlemen - Mr. Arik Zeevi.

If you grew up in a religious or even a traditional Jewish home, this might sound familiar to you: It’s dinner time on Tuesday night and you served yourself way more food than you could eat. Seeing that you didn’t finish the food on your plate your mother reprimands you with those two words: “Bal Tashchit!” “Bal Tashchit” is one of the 613 commandments in the old testament and it literally translates to “you shall not destroy” or “you shall not waste”. These two words are at the center of the Jewish debate on environmentalism. Today we’re joined by Rabbi Yonatan Neril, co-author of Eco Bible, a publication on what the Bible says about ecology and creation care. We are happy to be joined by Rabbi Neril to talk about the environment, about climate change and about what nice Jewish Boys (and girls) should do to care for our planet.

Corona, it seems, is wreaking havoc throughout Israel, as we’re in the midst of a semi-lockdown, and the worst is yet to come. The theaters have been closed since winter, the movie industry is on hold, and thousands of artists, actors, producers and others from the entertainment industry, find themselves at a crossroads. Some choose to take the stimulus checks the government is sending, and keep their heads down. Others, take another approach. If you grew up in Israel, there’s no way you haven’t heard of Aki Avi. Aki is one of the busiest, most talented actors in Israel. There isn’t an angle of Israeli culture where he didn’t leave his mark - theater, tv host, cinema, tv shows and even Hollywood - Avni’s career is simply breathtaking. 2NJB is happy to have Aki Avni on the show today, to talk about finding inspiration during pandemic times, the craft of acting, expressing your political views in Israel, and much more.