Two Nice Jewish Boys

You've heard it before: the fact that the Jewish religion has survived in exile for more than 2000 years is nothing less than a miracle. And really, if you think about it, what are the odds that such an odd religion would persist, especially amidst the multi-billion strong titans of Christianity and Islam? But somehow, it did. For generations upon generations, people said the same prayers in an ancient language they often didn’t even understand. They followed the laws of a God they had never seen. And kept secluded in they’re communities, with one mission in mind: to survive, and keep Judaism whole. But in retrospect, a rift was inevitable. And indeed, it came in the 17th century, shaking the Jewish world to its foundations. Shabtai Zvi was born in 1626, and from a young age he was fascinated by the secrets of Jewish mysticism. When he was 22, he declared himself the Messiah. The huge cultic movement that he created in the years to come, is considered the single biggest rupture in Jewish history. Dr. Alexander Van Der Haven Studies Jewish history in the Ben Gurion university in the Negev desert. His new book: Sarah the Ashkenazi, the Queen of the Sabbateans, is depicting the fascinating story of Shabtai Zvi’s wife. We’re super excited to have him here to talk about the Sabbateans and his new book.

An opinion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a bit like superman boxers - everybody’s got one. And it seems that nowadays no matter where you go - be it indonesia or wyoming - anyone with a pulse will tell you that while it’s true that Arafat said NO to Barak’s peace offer in 2000, it doesn’t really count since Barak was a lame duck by then. There’s one thing, though, that the discussion about the conflict really lacks. It’s subtle, yes, but if used wisely, it has the potential to redefine our thinking process and our perceptions. This thing is objectivity. Objectivity regarding the conflict - is there even such a thing? Let’s just say that if there is, sitting with us today is the guy who brings it to the table. Dr. Micha Goodman is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and the head of the Beit Midrash Yisraeli Ein Prat, a torah studying institute for young adults. He authored several best sellers, and his most recent book, Catch 67’, was recently published in English. In the book Dr. Goodman tries to rethink and deconstruct the most basic perceptions about the conflict, in an effort to reach new insights, untangle the axioms and maybe, just maybe, disarm the timebomb we’re all sitting on. How does he do it? 2NJB are thrilled to have Dr. Micha Goodman with us today to find out. Photo by W. Hagens

Operation Peace for Galilee. The Lebanon War. The First Lebanon War. The 1982 Lebanon War. It’s got a lot of names. The first full blown war the IDF engaged in across its border with Lebanon. The war ended in 1985 - you know, if you look on Wikipedia. But 15 years followed, 15 nameless years. 15 years in which Israeli soldiers - 18 to 21 year old kids - were stationed within Lebanese territory embroiled in a long, drawn out, seemingly endless affair. 15 years of casualties. 15 years of trauma both for the individual soldiers and their families and for the nation as a whole. One of those soldiers was named Matti Friedman, a Canadian who emigrated to Israel and drafted to the IDF in the late 90s. After, basic training Matti was stationed on a hilltop outpost named the Pumpkin. The Pumpkin became briefly notorious in Israel in 1994 when Hezbollah fighters staged an attack on the outpost, killing a soldier and wounding 2 others. Had this been all, the outpost wouldn’t have garnered all that much attention. After all, hundreds of Israeli soldiers had been killed in Lebanon since 85. But this wasn’t all. Matti Friedman is a journalist and author. His much acclaimed The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible was awarded the Same Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in 2014. His recent book, Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War has been extremely positively reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and countless others. We are so honored to be joined today by Matti Friedman.

The Internet is a double edged sword - on one hand, it connects people, it entertains, it informs, educates and inspires. But it’s also time consuming, highly addictive and often puts the spotlight on a more sinister side of humanity.    Well, if there’s a winning chance for the positive side of the net, it must be thanks to Meir Kay. Meir is an independent content creator on Youtube, a vlogger and an internet personality. He started uploading videos in 2010, and has since become incredibly successful. His short movies have gone viral on social media amassing hundreds of millions of views. Meir Kay has tons of different types of videos - from acts-of-kindness clips to inspirational shorts and social experiments - but throughout all of his content, one thing stands out - positivity. I think it’s safe to say that Meir Kay is one of the MOST positive figures on the internet. And that positivity has influenced countless people. Going over the comments on his videos is enough to understand the impact that he has had. Now, all that remains is to wonder, what makes this guy so upbeat!? I mean, you can’t REALLY be that happy? Right? We’re THRILLED to have Meir Kay with us today to talk about his videos and about the power of positivity.

Walking down the streets of Tel Aviv, it’s practically impossible to ignore the humble, yet still extraordinary architecture of this seaside city. Rothschild boulevard, the Neve Tzedek neighborhood, Allenby street - certain parts of Tel Aviv really feel like a film shoot set in the early parts of the last century. One of the styles that strongly influenced this period and today is so iconic to Tel Aviv, is Bauhaus, or more accurately, International Style Architecture. In Tel Aviv, you can’t miss it. Minimalistic, aesthetically symmetric, low and generally white, these buildings dominate the Tel Aviv landscape. But Bauhaus is more than just an architectural style, it’s buildings tell the story of a certain part of Zionist history. To tell this fascinating story, we’re joined by Yigal Gawze. Yigal is a photographer, artist, architecture graduate and a Tel Aviv Bauhaus explorer. His careful examination of Tel Aviv's International Style Architecture has led to a photography exhibition and now to a private walking tour of the "White City". Yigal’s new book : Form and Light- from Bauhaus to Tel Aviv is due to be released next month. We’re excited to have Yigal on the podcast to talk about the Bauhaus Movement and TLV.

Americans love reading. And often, more than 140 characters. While here in Israel the number of book readers is at a constant decline - the US book industry is flourishing - not without the help of course of Amazon and others who ushered the book into the digital age. The e-book revolution brought a true disruption to the field of novel writing. Now, when you no longer need a publisher to get your book out there, many aspiring authors try their luck by digitally publishing their own work, and some even succeed and make money. In recent years, Israel has become a major player in exporting content in fields like TV shows, reality formats and even documentary films, but you don’t often hear about the modern Israeli novelist. That is, before Mike Omer. Mike was your regular Israeli. A bright young man, pursuing a promising career in High-Tech. But one day he decided to quit his day job and make an old dream come true - he decided he’d be a novelist. Not long after that, and his most recent book, A Killers Mind, has climbed to number 1 on Amazon’s best seller list. How did he do it? We’re very happy to have the man himself, Mike Omer, here with us, to tell his story.

4 years ago, under the sweltering heat of Nineveh in the kurdish region of Northern Iraq, the small city of Sinjar came under attack by ISIS forces. The Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, caught off guard, retreated, abandoning the civilians of Sinjar without warning. The outcome was devastating. Thousands massacred. Women and children taken into slavery. A population dissolved by evil. Of course, all this appeared in the headlines, it flashed across our television screens but beneath the surface of the stream of breaking news from this tormented region, live a people whose lives have been shattered to pieces by daily tragedy. The horrors are unimaginable, the evil seemingly unstoppable and the trauma almost insurmountable, nevertheless, as always, wherever there is human peril there are stories of human virtue. This story is about Lisa Miara. Born and raised in the UK, but currently residing in the Shariya refugee camp, Lisa has spent the past several years trying to save the lives, literally, of thousands of Yazidi refugees from both mortal danger and the agony of their trauma. Through her foundation, Springs of Hope, Lisa works restlessly to provide the displaced Yazidi people with hope and purpose. She joins us today to share her stories.

In the 1990’s the Iron Curtain finally came down, making it possible for approximately 1 million Russian Speaking Jews to flee and immigrate to Israel. It was the biggest single immigration wave in Israel since the 1950’s. But many things have changed since Israel began accepting immigrants - or Olim as they are called in Hebrew, in the golden years of the 50’s. Then, the concept of the melting pot, embraced by Ben Gurion in the hope of creating one homogenous Israeli culture - kept the Israeli society from disintegrating into secluded factions, by enforcing severe pressure to erase the past completely and assimilate at any cost. But that policy has dissipated over time. The result was, and in many ways still is - a cultural chaos. Amidst this chaos enters Alex Rif, a daughter to Russian-speaking parents. Alex was raised as an Israeli, but realized that something inside her longs for her ancestors’ Russian culture. She formed the group Generation 1.5, in the goal of bringing new life to the Russian-Israeli culture. Alex joins 2NJB to speak about her struggles, hopes and initiatives.

In today’s world every one of us is a pseudo-photographer. The ubiquity of advanced photography devices has turned us into compulsive picture snappers. But despite this inflation of the photographed image, in fact, perhaps now more so than ever, it remains true that there is much more than just pressing a button in the capturing of a moment. Ziv Koren, one of Israel’s most prominent and world-renowned photographers, has been in the business for almost 30 years. Throughout his life, Koren has documented countless historical events around the globe, from HIV epidemic outbreaks and the Tsunami disaster in southeast asia, to the Earthquake in Haiti and many more. His photos won numerous awards and were exhibited in luxurious museums such as the Mett in Tokyo, the Art Museum in Houston and the MAXXI in Rome. Koren has published 15 books of his work including Writing with Light, Milestones, Shalom Inshalla and more. We’re super excited to have Ziv Koren on the show to take an audio-snapshot of his incredible career and talk about what it means to be a photographer.

Behind every great man stands a great political strategist. As far as political earthquakes go, Donald Trump’s victory in November 2016 was at least an 8 on the Richter scale. Right up until the last second, no one saw it coming. But a few people were probably less surprised than most of us and one of them is surely Steve Bannon. Considered by many to be the architect of Trump’s rise to the White House, Bannon is certainly a controversial figure. To most, he’s a either the despicable leader of the Alt-right or the savior of American pride and nationalism. And to the rest, he’s an enigma. Luckily, we’ve got Gadi Taub. About a month ago, Dr. Taub, a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was able to sit down for about 2 hours with the man himself. You can find his in-depth analysis piece on the Haaretz website. Although Bannon’s been dismissed from the administration, it seems that he might be the key to understanding the currents of change that took place and that are continuing to take place in America, as well as the Jews’ place in all this mess. We’re thrilled to welcome back Gadi to the podcast to disambiguate Bannonism for us once and for all.