Two Nice Jewish Boys

What were the qualities that pushed mankind forward throughout history? Deduction was an important element in our ability to understand the world around us. Innovation certainly aided us in our pursuit the master the forces of nature. But perhaps one characteristic above all others has driven our species forward: Curiosity. Curiosity is almost an instinct, an impulse to find an answer to question. The itch to find new questions to which we ought to seek answers. And the ability to doubt and question everything around us - these abilities led us to be the dominant species on earth and known universe, light years above any other form of life. But a very reflexive question comes to mind when we speak of curiosity, and that is - what is it that makes us curious? It seems we are so eager to find answers to questions, that we never quite stopped to think about why we're asking the questions. Dr. Mario Livio is a world renowned scientist and the author of six internationally acclaimed popular science books. He was a professor of physics at the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, and worked with the Hubble Space Telescope from 1991 to 2015. His bestselling book The Golden Ratio - the Story of Phi won the Peano Prize and the International Pythagoras prize for popular books on Mathematics. Dr. Livio’s new book, titled “Why? What makes Us Curious”, depicts his journey to understand the roots of curiosity. It’s a great privilege to have Dr. Mario Livio with us today to discuss this curious topic.

Usually a Skype call begins with a clamor of several similar, almost identical, questions: “Can you hear me?”, “Can you hear me now?”. But not this one. This one started with a series of quiet smiles, followed by all eight? people on the call bursting into tears. One end of this call is New Jersey, the kitchen table of the Katz family. The other end, a remote part of Russia called Sakhalin Island, near Japan. In April of 2016, Jess Katz picked up again on a search she'd been conducting for most of her life, a search which she most likely expected to lead her to archived documents or in the best case scenario, a photo. She was continuing a cross-generational search for her grandfather’s long lost younger brother. Her grandfather never had the fortune of meeting his younger brother after the Holocaust ripped them apart. Unfortunately, neither did Jess. But her search was definitely not to no avail. Jess Katz joins us today to share her inspiring story.

“You promised a dove.” Those words were written by the Israeli poet, Shmuel Hasfari, in his song “Winter ‘73”. Some interpreted them as a sort of eulogy to peace. A peace which was promised to a generation of Israelis who only found themselves disappointed time after time at the ever eluding prospect of peace with the Arab world. The song was written around the same time as the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the PLO - a time of great hope for this generation - the kids of ‘73. But soon they were devastated once again. With the outbreak of the second intifada, many gave up hope for the prospect of peace. Some pointed their fingers at the Israeli leadership who failed them. Some blamed the settlement movement and others pinned the failure to attain peace on the Palestinian’s lack of determination. Dr. Einat Wilf, a former Member of Knesset, grew up as a member of the Labor Party and was an ardent advocate of the two state solution. She believed that if only Israel and its leaders would propose the right deal, at the right time, we would have peace. We would have that allusive and elusive “dove”. The kids of ‘73 had a childhood full of hope and aspirations. They grew up to peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and the Oslo Accords. However, the failure of those Accords, the atrocities of the second intifada, and stalemates upon stalemates in the peace process caused many in that generation to abandon hope. Dr. Wilf join us today to talk about how her experiences both in and out of politics shaped her perspective on the peace process. Photo credit: Iliya Yefimovich **Correction: The massacre perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein in Hebron in 1994 took place in The Cave of the Patriarchs (not in Rachel's Tomb as stated in the episode)

For almost seven years a gruesome civil war has been tearing Syria apart. With half a million dead, 5 million refugees and 7 million citizens who were forced to leave their homes - it seems there’s no apparent end on the horizon. The war has changed the middle east in many ways, and has affected all the neighboring countries, including Israel. But it seems that of all these states in the area, Jordan is the one who was forced to bear the brunt under the circumstances. This poor desert kingdom had to absorb millions of refugees, who literally ran across the huge border between the two countries. As a country that was itself on the brink of civil war several times in the past, Jordan now faces yet another severe challenge. Into this mess entered Rachel Delia Benaim. Rachel is a reporter and a few months ago she embarked on a risky journey across Jordan, in search for an unexpected cause of the Syrian Civil War. What she found was alarming. Lucky for us, she’s here to share her story and her fascinating insights. Photo by: William Proby

“There is no spoon.” Remember that line from the "The Matrix"? Neo walks into the Oracle’s house to discover a monk-child sitting cross-legged on the carpet. The kid holds up a spoon and begins to seemingly bend it with his mind. He hands it to Neo and urges him to realize the truth, “There is no spoon.” In August 1973, the CIA conducted a study at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California. Just to be clear, this is in reality, not in the movie. That study conducted by the CIA documented the unique abilities of a young man. After 7 days of tests, the study concluded that this young man had “demonstrated his paranormal perceptual ability in a convincing and unambiguous way.” Uri Geller became popular in Israel in the late 60s early 70s. Within a few years he'd become an international sensation, bending spoons for television audiences worldwide and even appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1973. That appearance was a humiliation as Uri described it and almost caused him to pack up his bags and go home for good. Uri Geller claims to have paranormal abilities, ranging from the psychokinetic to the telepathic. Of course, there is much skepticism, not excluding our own, but to paraphrase Uri’s own son: whichever way you look at this, there’s a fascinating story here! Today, here in the studio, there is a spoon. And here to bend it is Uri Geller himself. Photo Credit: David Parry/PA Wire

In the fall of 2016 something truly bizarre happened in the United States embassy in Havana, Cuba. According to reports, 22 embassy staffers were suffering from mild brain damage, concussions and permanent hearing loss. Scientists and researchers are still debating the causes of these events but many suspected covert sonic attacks. In response, the US expelled two Cuban diplomats and warned US citizens not to travel to Cuba. These peculiar events took place just one year after the US embassy was reinstated in Havana and only a few months after President Obama became the first US president to visit Cuba since 1928, as part of what became known as the Cuban Thaw. The thaw marked a warming in the relations between Cuba and the US - a move which was heavily criticized by many. In the midst of all this was one American Jew from Long Island. Alan Gross was a US government contractor and social entrepreneur who traveled to developing countries to bring modern communication technology like satellites, phones and internet to the locals. His journeys led him to Cuba in 2009, where he provided local Jewish communities with various technological equipment. However, during his fifth visit to Cuba, something unexpected happened. The 60 year-old Gross was arrested by the Cuban Police. About the events that unfolded next, we will hear from the man himself. Today we are deeply honored to be joined by Alan Gross. (Photo by the White House)

Soda water or still water? The big question. Here in Israel, we love our soda water. Maybe we relate to the pressure that builds up from those little bubbles of carbonation, or maybe we just like the fizz. Whatever the reason, in most Israeli homes you’ll probably find a carbonation device called SodaStream. Until 2015, this Israeli company held it’s main manufacturing branch in the settlement of Maale Adumim. This, to say the least, bothered some people. You see, Maale Adumim lies across the green line in the West Bank and is considered by most of the international community to be an illegal settlement. Starting in 2010, a series of organizations and courts, including the European Union’s highest court, came to decisions and rulings that put pressure on SodaStream for residing in the West Bank. It was easy to trace the source of this pressure. Better known for its initialization BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement sprung up in 2005 and set as its goal to end Israel’s violation of international law for the sake of the Palestinian people. Since then it has swept across platforms from university campuses to International courts. In 2015, SodaStream announced that it would be shutting down its plant in the West Bank and laying off 500 Palestinian workers. A movement that claimed to be protecting the rights and privileges of the Palestinians was suddenly forced to reconcile with the fact that they had just cost 500 of these people their jobs. Bassem Eid was born in Jerusalem but today he’s a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Bassem is an ardent Palestinian human rights activist and he joins us today to talk about BDS and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. (Free photo by Odemirense)

“Unshakable and unbreakable”. Those two words were used by the Obama administration to describe the special, intimate relationship between Israel and the United States. When Michael Oren found himself, almost against all odds, serving as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2009, he found out sooner rather than later the these relations were, in fact, very shakable, and maybe even breakable. His impossible job was to prevent that from happening. Promising change and peace, Obama entered the white house with a burst of optimism, and some might argue, arrogance. To Michael Oren, the Obama administration and its relations with Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, shaped to be the greatest challenge of his life. In his book titled “Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide” Oren depicts the almost unimaginable chain of events that took place during his 4.5 year term as an ambassador. Since this January marks one year to the end of the Obama era, we thought it was a good opportunity to recap, look at the Obama years from a distance, and discuss his legacy. Michael Oren is a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's office, Member of Knesset in the Kulanu Party and he served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States in the years 2009-2013. In a previous life, Oren also taught history at the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University and was a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown. He is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction. Deputy Minister Michael Oren joins us today for the second time to talk about the Obama years from an Israeli perspective.

On October 5, 2017, only a few months ago, a report published in The New York Times shook the foundations at the epicenter of America’s film and television industry - Hollywood. More than a dozen women accused the hugely successful film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, abuse and rape. These allegations brought about a wave of accusations against prominent male figures in film and TV. It gave birth to a movement named #metoo and recently another movement named Times Up both aimed at empowering women to speak up against sexual violence and misconduct. One year before this seismic report, there was a warning tremor. A tremor that was nonetheless seismic for the person reporting. A journalist from the Los Angeles Jewish Journal published an essay titled: “My Sexual Assault and Yours, Every Woman's Story.” That journalist’s name is Danielle Berrin. Danielle refrained from naming names and instead conveyed her experience, her trauma and the devastation she felt from this once idolized man. Soon it became clear that this man was the prominent Israeli journalist, Ari Shavit. Shavit apologized, begrudgingly, and stepped down from the public stage. Israel’s media world was shaken to its roots. Danielle Berrin joins us today to talk about her story, the metoo campaign and how, after the ashes settle, we might be able to build a better future.

I (Naor) just came back from a ten day trip in Poland. What I saw there perplexed me. On one hand, Poland is going through massive political changes in which the far right have taken control over the country. Recently, a bill was passed that gives the right wing government greater control of the Supreme Court. Just last month, tens of thousands of anti semitic protesters marched through the streets of Warsaw shouting racist chants. On the other hand, the Jewish community is still present and actually at its prime since WW2. One memeber of the Jewish community there is Matan Shefi. Matan decided to move to Warsaw three years ago with his wife and the two still live there today. Matan works at the Jewish Historical Institute and helps people trace their Jewish roots in Poland. Today, Matan joins us to talk about his new home, his work and recent developments in Poland. Photo credit: Mazaki