Two Nice Jewish Boys

Hey everyone! We have a new podcast! It's called Economize Me, and here's the first episode. What forces are at play in our relationship with our wallets (and our hair)? What exactly causes us to spend money? And how does that influence the way we behave? As a student of film and television, my acquaintance with economics was... non existent. But after 4 awful haircuts (one of which was free), I found myself asking: “Why did I act so irrationally?” In an attempt to understand my own behavior, I contacted Professor Barry Schwartz of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley. Professor Schwarts has been investigating the link between economics and psychology for over 40 years. Just the man to answer my questions.

These are highly turbulent times in Israel. Not only are we facing the Corona crisis with a health system that’s more or less stuck in the 80’s, we are also in the midst of a political earthquake that’s shattering the entire Israeli political landscape as we know it. Here’s a small recap of what’s happened here in just the past few days: the Supreme Court ordered Yuli Edelstein, the head of the Knesset, to hold an election for his successor, he refused and resigned, thus causing a constitutional rift (if Israel had a constitution); Ganz, the head of the Blue and White Party, decided to cross his most loyal political partner, Yair Lapid, and against all odds join Bibi for a right-wing-orthodox government; And if nothing crazy happens (which at this point, is just like saying if nothing normal happens), it looks like Bennet, Israel’s Defence Minister, will be left out of the upcoming coalition. And that’s just the appetizer. To discuss all this sweet sweet craziness, we decided to talk to Vivian Bercovici. Vivian served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel between 2014-2016. She’s a Lawyer, a business consultant and a columnist for several outlets including the Jerusalem Post, the National Post, and Commentary Magazine. Vivian was also brave enough to risk her life and join us today on the podcast, and for that we’re extremely thankful.

From the time of the cave-men to this day, painting has been deeply rooted in the DNA of mankind. It’s as primal as humanity itself, and can teach us much about what it means to be human. Maybe that's why millions of people visit the louvre to see the Mona Lisa, or to Rome to behold the Sistine Chapel - maybe through these works of art, they can understand themselves. Miriam Cabesa’s career has reached peaks many Israeli artists can only dream of. For the past 20 years, she's lived in NYC, devoting herself to her art. Since the 90’s Cabesa has been known as one of the most important Israeli artists. She was born in Casablanca, Morocco grew up in a kibbutz and became extremely influential, showcasing in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and various galleries in NYC and throughout the United States and even representing Israel in the Venice Biennale. Now she’s back in Israel, which gives us a rare opportunity to talk with her about her art and her life story.

It’s officially the end of the world, so we thought we’d do one last, no holds barred, all-in, episode extraordinaire! And who better to do that with that an old friend of the podcast, the man, the legend, the one who a Mako blog recently described as “pretentious, possessing an awful sense of humor, nerdy, out of his element, with a hint of personal and professional self-disappointment.”, ladies and gentlemen, Roy Iddan! Roy Iddan is a scriptwriter, he’s created and/or written many Israeli TV shows. Roy was also the production designer for the 2009 MTV show Dj & the Fro. But that’s only by day, by night, Roy is a political columnist, radio show host and even a political consultant for various campaigns. cough cough Likud cough cough Blue and White cough cough. We’re super thrilled to have Roy Iddan on the show today to talk about Corona, Politics and being on Reality TV!

Mordecai Chertoff came to Palestine in 1947 as a twenty-five-year-old, determined to make his contribution to the emerging Jewish State. Between 1947 and 1949 he was variously, local news editor, foreign news editor and war correspondent for the Palestine Post, soldier in the Haganah and resident of Jerusalem. In a series of vivid and often moving letters to his family back in the United States, Mordecai described the news of the UN vote for partition, the ongoing battles along the dangerous Jerusalem–Tel-Aviv highway and the attempts to break the siege of Jerusalem, the bombing of the Palestine Post, the declaration of the State of Israel, and, inevitably, the loss of friends. These letters have been annotated and contextualized in the book, Palestine Posts: An Eyewitness Account of the Birth of Israel, written by Modecai’s son, Daniel Chertoff. Daniel worked in the investment industry and as a senior executive in a large Israeli high tech company. Before discovering his father’s letters, he was an adviser to the World Jewish Congress and happily writing his doctoral dissertation in English literature at the Hebrew University. Daniel is an Associate Editor of Partial Answers and he joins us today on the podcast to talk about his new book, about his father and about the founding of the state of Israel.

LIVE: 2NJB Monthly Recap - Corona and Elections in Israel (third time is NOT a charm), Dem Primaries and much, much more!

Jews have always loved a good argument. From the oral teachings to the Talmud, the culture of arguing, making a point and then a counter point - is deeply rooted within the Jewish tradition. Maybe that’s the reason that in recent years, under the radar, Israel has become an international juggernaut in the debate world. The debating clubs are thriving, and in international debating competitions Israel is winning big prizes. Yoni Cohen Idov is the world debate champion for 2019. He’s a debate coach and currently works in Israel, USA and China. He joins us to discuss the art of debating, so that hopefully, we’ll be a bit better at it.

The fires this season in Australia have claimed the lives of 29 people to date. 15 Million acres of woodland have burned in Australia. Not to mention the 4.6 million acres that have burned in America and over 2 million in Brazil. It is estimated that in Australia alone, between 500 million to one billion animals have died, including approximately half of the entire Koala population. In many cases, governments are either helpless or completely uninterested in the problem. And although it is clear that 90% of the fires are caused by people, it’s not clear if there’s something that could be done to change the situation. One thing is for certain: around the world many nations are seriously struggling to preserve nature and wildlife. In 2015, Prof. Uri Shanas of Haifa University came up with a groundbreaking idea - what if private people got together to buy a big chunk of nature, and committed to preserve it. With several partners, Uri created TiME - This is My Earth, an organisation that strives to purchase and preserve 2.3% of Earth’s entire territory. We’re happy to have Prof. Shines on the podcast today to discuss the initiative.

What happened in Israel in the last month? 2NJB are here to summarize.

Recently, President Trump and his team unveiled the much awaited Deal of the Century, a plan to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This immediately led to a media frenzy. Several obvious opponents including the PA and the Arab League rejected the plan flat out. Others joined in their rejection claiming that it completely ignores the Palestinian side. On social media, many people shared a meme comparing the plan to the one laid out at the Oslo Accords, claiming the two to be identical. We figured, we should try and figure this out. What is actually in the plan? Is it fair? Is it feasible? Is it really the deal of the century? To help us unravel all this is a good friend of the podcast, Dr. Michael Oren. Dr. Michael Oren was Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's office, Member of Knesset in the Kulanu Party and served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States in the years 2009-2013. Oren also taught history at the Ben Gurion University and was a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown. He is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, which we’ve discussed here on the podcast. We are honored to be joined by Deputy Minister Oren to discuss the so-called Deal of the Century.