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Being Jewish podcast host Jonah Platt—best known for playing Fiyero in Broadway's Wicked—joins People of the Pod to discuss his journey into Jewish advocacy after October 7. He reflects on his Jewish upbringing, challenges media misrepresentations of Israel, and shares how his podcast fosters inclusive and honest conversations about Jewish identity. Platt also previews The Mensch, an upcoming film he's producing to tell Jewish stories with heart and nuance. Recorded live at AJC Global Forum 2025. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran People of the Pod: Latest Episodes: Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: The Dinah Project's Quest to Hold Hamas Accountable Journalist Matti Friedman Exposes Media Bias Against Israel John Spencer's Key Takeaways After the 12-Day War: Air Supremacy, Intelligence, and Deterrence Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript of the Interview: Manya Brachear Pashman: Jonah Platt: is an award winning director of theater and improv comedy, an accomplished musician, singer and award winning vocal arranger. He has been on the Broadway stage, including one year as the heartthrob Fiyero in Wicked and he's producing his first feature film, a comedy called The Mensch. He also hosts his own podcast, Being Jewish with Jonah Platt:, a series of candid conversations and reflections that explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Jonah is with us now on the sidelines of AJC Global Forum 2025. Jonah, welcome to People of the Pod. Jonah Platt: Thank you so much for having me, happy to be here. Manya Brachear Pashman: So tell us about your podcast. How is being Jewish with Jonah Platt: different from Jewish with anyone else? Jonah Platt: That's a great question. I think it's different for a number of ways. I think one key difference is that I'm really trying to appeal to everybody, not just Jews and not just one type of Jews. I really wanted it to be a very inclusive show and, thank God, the feedback I've gotten, my audience is very diverse. It appeals to, you know, I hear from the ultra orthodox. I hear from people who found out they were Jewish a month ago. I hear from Republicans, I hear from Democrats. I hear from non Jews, Muslims, Christians, people all over the world. So I think that's special and different, especially in these echo-chambery, polarized times online, I'm trying to really reach out of that and create a space where the one thing we all have in common, everybody who listens, is that we're all well-meaning, good-hearted, curious people who want to understand more about our fellow man and each other. I also try to really call balls and strikes as I see them, regardless of where they're coming from. So if I see, let's call it bad behavior, on the left, I'll call it out. If I see bad behavior on the right, I'll call it out. If I see bad behavior from Israel, I'll call it out. In the same breath that I'll say, I love Israel, it's the greatest place. I think that's really unfortunately rare. I think people have a very hard time remembering that we are very capable of holding two truths at once, and it doesn't diminish your position by acknowledging fault where you see it. In fact, I feel it strengthens your position, because it makes you more trustworthy. And it's sort of like an iron sharpens iron thing, where, because I'm considering things from all angles, either I'm going to change my mind because I found something I didn't consider. That's going to be better for me and put me on firmer ground. Or it's going to reinforce what I thought, because now I have another thing I can even speak to about it and say, Well, I was right, because even this I checked out, and that was wrong. So either way, you're in a stronger position. And I feel that that level of sort of, you know, equanimity is sorely lacking online, for sure. Manya Brachear Pashman: Our podcasts have had some guests in common. We've had Dara Horn, Sarah Hurwitz, you said you're getting ready to have Bruce Pearl. We've had Coach Pearl on our show. You've also had conversations with Stuart Weitzman, a legendary shoe designer, in an episode titled Jews and Shoes. I love that. Can you share some other memorable nuggets from the conversations you've had over the last six months? Jonah Platt: I had my dad on the show, and I learned things about him that I had never heard about his childhood, growing up, the way his parents raised him. The way that social justice and understanding the conflict and sort of brokenness in the world was something that my grandparents really tried to teach them very actively, and some of it I had been aware of, but not every little specific story he told. And that was really special for me. And my siblings, after hearing it, were like, We're so glad you did this so that we could see Dad and learn about him in this way. So that was really special. There have been so many. Isaac Saul is a guy I had early on. He runs a newsletter, a news newsletter called Tangle Media that shows what the left is saying about an issue with the right is saying about an issue, and then his take. And a nugget that I took away from him is that on Shabbat, his way of keeping Shabbat is that he doesn't go on social media or read the news on Shabbat. And I took that from him, so now I do that too. I thought that was genius. It's hard for me. I'm trying to even start using my phone period less on Shabbat, but definitely I hold myself to it, except when I'm on the road, like I am right now. When I'm at home, no social media from Friday night to Saturday night, and it's fantastic. Manya Brachear Pashman: It sounds delightful. Jonah Platt: It is delightful. I highly recommend it to everybody. It's an easy one. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what about your upbringing? You said you learned a lot about your father's upbringing. What was your Jewish upbringing? Jonah Platt: Yeah, I have been very blessed to have a really strong, warm, lovely, Jewish upbringing. It's something that was always intrinsic to my family. It's not something that I sort of learned at Hebrew school. And no knock on people whose experience that is, but it's, you know, I never remember a time not feeling Jewish. Because it was so important to my parents and important to their families. And you know, part of the reason they're a good match for each other is because their values are the same. I went to Jewish Day School, the same one my kids now go to, which is pretty cool. Manya Brachear Pashman: Oh, that's lovely. Jonah Platt: Yeah. And I went to Jewish sleepaway camp at Camp Ramah in California. But for me, really, you know, when I get asked this question, like, my key Jewish word is family. And growing up, every holiday we spent with some part of my very large, amazing family. What's interesting is, in my city where I grew up, Los Angeles, I didn't have any grandparents, I didn't have any aunts or uncles or any first cousins. But I feel like I was with them all the time, because every holiday, someone was traveling to somebody, and we were being together. And all of my childhood memories of Jewish holidays are with my cousins and my aunts and my uncles and my grandparents. Because it was just so important to our family. And that's just an amazing foundation for being Jewish or anything else, if that's your foundation, that's really gonna stay with you. And my upbringing, like we kept kosher in my house, meat and milk plates. We would eat meat out but no pork, no shellfish, no milk and meat, any of that. And while I don't ascribe to all those things now, I'm grateful that I got sort of the literacy in that. In my Jewish Day School we had to wrap tefillin every morning. And while I don't do that now, I'm glad that I know how to do that, and I know what that looks like, and I know what that means, even if I resisted it very strongly at the time as a 13 year old, being like what I gotta wrap this up every day. But I'm grateful now to have that literacy. And I've always been very surprised to see in my life that often when I'm in a room with people, I'm the most observant in the room or the most Jewish literate in the room, which was never the case in my life. I have family members who are much more observant than me, orthodox. I know plenty of Orthodox people, whatever. But in today's world, I'm very grateful for the upbringing I had where, I'll be on an experience. I actually just got back from one in Poland. I went on a trip with all moderate Muslims from around the North Africa, Middle East, and Asia, with an organization called Sharaka. We had Shabbat dinner just this past Friday at the JCC in Krakow, and I did the Shabbat kiddush for everybody, which is so meaningful and, like, I'm so grateful that I know it, that I can play that role in that, in special situations like that. Manya Brachear Pashman: So you've been doing a lot of traveling. Jonah Platt: Yes. Manya Brachear Pashman: I saw your reflection on your visit to Baku, Azerbaijan. The largest Jewish community in the Muslim world. And you went with the Jewish Federation's National Young leadership cabinet. Jonah Platt: Shout out to my chevre. Manya Brachear Pashman: And you posted this reflection based on your experience there, asking the question, how much freedom is too much? So can you walk our listeners through that and how you answered that question? Jonah Platt: Yes. So to be fair, I make very clear I don't have the answer to that question definitively, I just wanted to give people food for thought, and what I hoped would happen has happened where I've been getting a lot of people who disagree with me and have other angles at which they want to look and answer this question, which I welcome and have given me a lot to think about. But basically, what I observed in Azerbaijan was a place that's a little bit authoritative. You know, they don't have full freedom of the press. Political opposition is, you know, quieted, but there's no crime anywhere. They have a strong police presence on the streets. There are security cameras everywhere, and people like their lives there and don't want to mess with it. And so it just got me thinking, you know, they're an extremely tolerant society. It's sort of something they pride themselves on, and always have. It's a Muslim majority country, but it is secular. They are not a Muslim official country. They're one of only really two countries in the world that are like that, the other being Albania. And they live together in beautiful peace and harmony with a sense of goodwill, with a sense of national pride, and it got me thinking, you know, look at any scenario in our lives. Look at the place you work, look at the preschool classroom that your kid is in. There are certain rules and restrictions that allow for more freedom, in a sense, because you feel safe and taken care of and our worst instincts are not given space to be expressed. So that is what brought the question of, how much freedom is too much. And really, the other way of putting that is, how much freedom would you be willing to give up if it meant you lived in a place with no crime, where people get along with their neighbors, where there's a sense of being a part of something bigger than yourself. I think all three of which are heavily lacking in America right now that is so polarized, where hateful rhetoric is not only, pervasive, but almost welcomed, and gets more clicks and more likes and more watches. It's an interesting thing to think about. And I heard from people being like, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this question. I don't know the answer, but it's really interesting. I have people say, you're out of your mind. It's a slippery slope. The second you give an inch, like it's all going downhill. And there are arguments to be made there. But I can't help but feel like, if we did the due diligence, I'm sure there is something, if we keep the focus really narrow, even if it's like, a specific sentence that can't be said, like, you can't say: the Holocaust was a great thing. Let's say we make that illegal to say, like, how does that hurt anybody? If that's you're not allowed to say those exact words in that exact sequence, you know. So I think if it's gonna be a slippery slope, to me, is not quite a good enough argument for Well, let's go down the road and see if we can come up with something. And then if we decide it's a slippery slope and we get there, maybe we don't do it, but maybe there is something we can come to that if we eliminate that one little thing you're not allowed to say, maybe that will benefit us. Maybe if we make certain things a little bit more restrictive, it'll benefit us. And I likened it to Shabbat saying, you know, on Shabbat, we have all these restrictions. If you're keeping Shabbat, that's what makes Shabbat special, is all the things you're not allowed to do, and because you're not given the quote, unquote, freedom to do those things, you actually give yourself more freedom to be as you are, and to enjoy what's really good about life, which is, you know, the people around you and and having gratitude. So it's just something interesting to think about. Manya Brachear Pashman: It's an interesting perspective. I am a big fan of free speech. Jonah Platt: As are most people. It's the hill many people will die on. Manya Brachear Pashman: Educated free speech, though, right? That's where the tension is, right? And in a democracy you have to push for education and try to make sure that, you know, people are well informed, so that they don't say stupid things, but they are going to say stupid things and I like that freedom. Did you ever foresee becoming a Jewish advocate? Jonah Platt: No. I . . . well, that's a little disingenuous. I would say, you know, in 2021 when there was violence between Israel and Gaza in the spring over this Sheik Jarrah neighborhood. That's when I first started using what little platform I had through my entertainment career to start speaking very, you know, small things, but about Israel and about Jewish life, just organically, because I am, at the time, certainly much more well educated, even now, than I was then. But I was more tuned in than the average person, let's say, and I felt like I could provide some value. I could help bring some clarity to what was a really confusing situation at that time, like, very hard to decipher. And I could just sense what people were thinking and feeling. I'm well, tapped into the Jewish world. I speak to Jews all over the place. My, as I said, my family's everywhere. So already I know Jews all over the country, and I felt like I could bring some value. And so it started very slowly. It was a trickle, and then it started to turn up a little bit, a little bit more, a little bit more. I went on a trip to Israel in April of 2023. It's actually the two year anniversary today of that trip, with the Tel Aviv Institute, run by a guy named Hen Mazzig, who I'm sure, you know, well, I'm sure he's been on the show, yeah. And that was, like, sort of the next step for me, where I was surrounded by other people speaking about things online, some about Jewish stuff, some not. Just seeing these young, diverse people using their platforms in whatever way, that was inspiring to me. I was like, I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna start using this more. And then October 7 happened, and I couldn't pull myself away from it. It's just where I wanted to be. It's what I wanted to be spending my time and energy doing. It felt way too important. The stakes felt way too high, to be doing anything else. It's crazy to me that anybody could do anything else but be focusing on that. And now here we are. So I mean, in a way, could I have seen it? No. But have I sort of, looking back on it, been leaning this way? Kinda. Manya Brachear Pashman: Do you think it would've you would've turned toward advocacy if people hadn't been misinformed or confused about Israel? Or do you think that you would've really been more focused on entertainment. Jonah Platt: Yeah, I think probably. I mean, if we lived in some upside down, amazing world where everybody was getting everything right, and, you know, there'd be not so much for me to do. The only hesitation is, like, as I said, a lot of my content tries to be, you know, celebratory about Jewish identity. I think actually, I would still be talking because I've observed, you know, divisions and misunderstandings within the Jewish community that have bothered me, and so some of the things I've talked about have been about that, about like, hey, Jews, cut it out. Like, be nice to each other. You're getting this wrong. So I think that would still have been there, and something that I would have been passionate about speaking out on. Inclusivity is just so important to me, but definitely would be a lot lower stakes and a little more relaxed if everybody was on the same universe in regards to Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: You were relatively recently in Washington, DC. Jonah Platt: Yeah. Manya Brachear Pashman: For the White House Correspondents Dinner. I was confused, because he just said he was in Krakow, so maybe I was wrong. Jonah Platt: I flew direct from Krakow to DC, got off the plane, went to the hotel where the dinner was, changed it to my tux, and went downstairs for the dinner. Manya Brachear Pashman: Wow. Jonah Platt: Yeah. Manya Brachear Pashman: Are you tired? Jonah Platt: No, actually, it's amazing. I'll give a shout out. There's a Jewish businessman, a guy named Andrew Herr, who I was in a program with through Federation called CLI in LA, has started a company called Fly Kit. This is a major shout out to Fly Kit that you download the app, you plug in your trip, they send you supplements, and the app tells you when to take them, when to eat, when to nap, when to have coffee, in an attempt to help orient yourself towards the time zone you need to be on. And I have found it very useful on my international trips, and I'm not going to travel without it again. Yeah. Manya Brachear Pashman: Wow. White House Correspondents dinner. You posted some really thoughtful words about the work of journalists, which I truly appreciated. But what do American journalists get wrong about Israel and the Jewish connection to Israel? Jonah Platt: The same thing that everybody who gets things wrong are getting wrong. I mean, we're human beings, so we're fallible, and just because you're a journalist doesn't make you immune to propaganda, because propaganda is a powerful tool. If it didn't work, people wouldn't be using it. I mean, I was just looking at a post today from our friend Hen Mazzig about all the different ways the BBC is getting things horribly, horribly wrong. I think part of it is there's ill intent. I mean, there is malice. For certain people, where they have an agenda. And unfortunately, you know, however much integrity journalists have, there is a news media environment where we've made it okay to have agenda-driven news where it's just not objective. And somehow it's okay for these publications that we've long trusted to have a story they want to tell. I don't know why that's acceptable. It's a business, and I guess maybe if that, if the dollars are there, it's reinforcing itself. But reporters get wrong so much. I'd say the fundamental misunderstanding that journalists as human beings get wrong, that everybody gets wrong, is that Jews are not a group of rich, white Europeans with a common religion. That's like the number one misunderstanding about Jews. Because most people either don't know Jews at all on planet Earth. They've never met one. They know nothing about it except what they see on the news or in a film, or the Jews that they know happen to maybe be white, rich, European ancestry people, and so they assume that's everybody. When, of course, that's completely false, and erases the majority of Jews from planet Earth. So I think we're missing that, and then we're also missing what Israel means to the Jewish people is deeply misunderstood and very purposefully erased. Part of what's tricky about all of this is that the people way behind the curtain, the terrorists, the real I hate Israel people agenda. They're the ones who plant these seeds. But they're like 5% of the noise. They're secret. They're in the back. And then everybody else, without realizing it, is picking up these things. And so the vast majority of people are, let's say, erasing Jewish connection to Israel without almost even realizing they're doing it because they have been fed this, because propaganda is a powerful tool, and they believe it to be true what they've been told. And literally, don't realize what they're doing. And if they were in a calm environment and somebody was able to explain to them, Hey, here's what you're doing, here's what you're missing, I think, I don't know, 75% of people would be like, holy crap. I've been getting this wrong. I had no idea. Maybe even higher than 75% they really don't know. And that's super dangerous. And I think the media and journalism is playing a major role in that. Sometimes things get, you know, retracted and apologized for. But the damage is done, especially when it comes to social media. If you put out, Israel just bombed this hospital and killed a bunch of doctors, and then the next day you're like, Oops, sorry, that was wrong. Nobody cares. All they saw was Israel bombed a bunch of doctors and that seed's already been planted. So it's been a major issue the info war, while you know, obviously not the same stakes as a real life and death physical war has been as important a piece of this overall war as anything. And I wouldn't say it's going great. Manya Brachear Pashman: Did it come up at all at the Correspondent's Dinner, or more of a celebration? Jonah Platt: No, thank God. Yeah. It was more of a celebration. It was more of just sort of it was cool, because there was no host this year, there was no comedian, there was no president, he didn't come. So it was really like being in the clubhouse with the journalists, and you could sense they were sort of happy about it. Was like, just like a family reunion, kind of a vibe, like, it's just our people. We're all on the same page. We're the people who care about getting it right. We care about journalistic integrity. We're here to support each other. It was really nice. I mean, I liked being sort of a fly on the wall of this other group that I had not really been amongst before, and seeing them in their element in this like industry party, which was cool. Manya Brachear Pashman: Okay, so we talked about journalists. What about your colleagues in the entertainment industry? Are you facing backlash from them, either out of malice or ignorance? Jonah Platt: I'm not facing any backlash from anybody of importance if I'm not getting an opportunity, or someone's written me off or something. I don't know that, you know, I have no idea if I'm now on somebody's list of I'm never gonna work with that guy. I don't know. I don't imagine I am. If I am, it says way more about that person than it does about me, because my approach, as we've discussed, is to try to be really inclusive and honest and, like, objective. And if I get something wrong, I'll delete it, or I'll say I got it wrong. I try to be very transparent and really open that, like I'm trying my best to get things right and to be fair. And if you have a problem with that. You know, you've got a problem. I don't have a problem. So I wouldn't say any backlash. In fact, I mean, I get a lot of support, and a lot of, you know, appreciation from people in the industry who either are also speaking out or maybe too afraid to, and are glad that other people are doing it, which I have thoughts about too, but you know, when people are afraid to speak out about the stuff because of the things they're going to lose. Like, to a person, maybe you lose stuff, but like, you gain so many more other people and opportunities, people who were just sort of had no idea that you were on the same team and were waiting for you to say something, and they're like, Oh my God, you're in this with me too. Great, let's do something together, or whatever it is. So I've gotten, it's been much more positive than negative in terms of people I actually care about. I mean, I've gotten fans of entertainment who have nasty things to say about me, but not colleagues or industry peers. Manya Brachear Pashman: So you would declare yourself a proud Zionist. Jonah Platt: Yes. Manya Brachear Pashman: But you wrote a column in The Forward recently over Passover saying, let's retire the word Zionist. Why? Jonah Platt: Yes. I recently wrote an op-ed and actually talked about on my pod as well about why I feel we should retire the word Zionism. Not that I think we actually are. It's pretty well in use. But my main reasoning was, that the way we all understand Zionism, those of us who actually know what it is, unlike a lot of people –is the belief that Jews should have self determination, sovereignty in some piece of the land to which they are indigenous. We have that. We've had it for almost 80 years. I don't know why we need to keep using a word that frames it as aspirational, that like, I believe we should have this thing. We already have it. And I feel by sort of leaving that sentence without a period, we're sort of suggesting that non-existence is somehow on the table. Like, if I just protest enough, Israel's going to stop existing. I want to slam that door closed. I don't think we need to be the, I believe that Israel should exist people anymore. I think we should be the I love Israel people, or I support Israel people. I'm an Israel patriot. I'm a lover of Israel, whatever the phrase may be. To me, the idea that we should continue to sort of play by their framework of leaving that situation on the table, is it only hurts us, and I just don't think we need it. Manya Brachear Pashman: It lets others define it, in their own terms. Jonah Platt: Yeah, we're playing, sort of by the rules of the other people's game. And I know, you know, I heard when I put that out, especially from Israelis, who it to them, it sort of means patriot, and they feel a lot of great pride with it, which I totally understand. But the sort of more universal understanding of what that word is, and certainly of what the Movement was, was about that aspirational creation of a land, that a land's been created. Not only has it been created, it's, you know, survived through numerous wars, it's stronger than ever. You know, third-most NASDAQ companies in the world. We need to just start talking about it from like, yeah, we're here. We're not going anywhere, kind of a place. And not, a we should exist, kind of a place. Manya Brachear Pashman: So it's funny, you said, we all know what Zionism is. And I grinned a little bit, because there are so many different definitions of Zionism. I mean, also, Zionism was a very inclusive progressive ideology packaged in there, right, that nobody talks about because it's just kind of not, we just don't talk about it anymore. So what else about the conversation needs to change? How do we move forward in a productive, constructive way when it comes to teaching about Jewish identity and securing the existence of Israel? Jonah Platt: In a way, those two things are related, and in a way they're not. You can have a conversation about Jewish identity without necessarily going deep down the Israel hole. But it is critical that people understand how central a connection to Israel is, to Jewish identity. And people are allowed to believe whatever they want. And you can be someone who says, Well, you know, Israel is not important to me, and that's okay, that's you, but you have to at least be clear eyed that that is an extreme and fringe position. That is not a mainstream thing. And you're going to be met with mistrust and confusion and anger and a sense of betrayal, if that's your position. So I think we need to be clear eyed about that and be able to have that conversation. And I think if we can get to the place where we can acknowledge that in each other. Like, dude, have your belief. I don't agree with it. I think it's crazy. Like, you gotta at least know that we all think you're crazy having that idea. And if they can get to the base, we're like, yeah, I understand that, but I'm gonna believe what I'm gonna believe, then we can have conversations and, like, then we can talk. I think the, I need to change your mind conversation, it doesn't usually work. It has to be really gently done. And I'm speaking this as much from failure as I am from success. As much as we try, sometimes our emotions come to the fore of these conversations, and that's–it's not gonna happen. You know, on my pod, I've talked about something called, I call the four C's of difficult conversation. And I recently, like, tried to have a conversation. I did not adhere to my four C's, and it did not go well. And so I didn't take my own advice. You have to come, like, legitimately ready to be curious to the other person's point of view, wanting to hear what they have to say. You know, honoring their truth, even if it is something that hurts you deeply or that you abhor. You can say that, but you have to say it from a place of respect and honoring. If you want it to go somewhere. If you just want to like, let somebody have it, go ahead, let somebody have it, but you're definitely not going to be building towards anything that. Manya Brachear Pashman: So before I let you go, can you tell us a little bit about The Mensch? Jonah Platt: Yeah, sure. So the Mensch is one of a couple of Jewish entertainment projects I'm now involved with in the last year, which, you know, I went from sort of zero to now three. The Mensch is a really unique film that's in development now. We're gonna be shooting this summer that I'm a producer on. And it's the story of a 30 something female rabbi in New Mexico who, life just isn't where she thought it would be. She's not connecting with her congregation. She's not as far along as she thought things would be. Her synagogue is failing, and there's an antisemitic event at her synagogue, and the synagogue gets shut down. And she's at the center of it. Two weeks later, the synagogue's reopening. She's coming back to work, and as part of this reopening to try to bring some some life and some juzz to the proceedings, one of the congregants from the synagogue, the most eccentric one, who's sort of a pariah, who's being played by Jennifer Goodwin, who's a fantastic actress and Jewish advocate, donates her family's priceless Holocaust-era Torah to the synagogue, and the rabbi gets tasked with going to pick it up and bring it. As things often happen for this rabbi, like a bunch of stuff goes wrong. Long story short, she ends up on a bus with the Torah in a bag, like a sports duffel bag, and gets into an altercation with somebody who has the same tattoo as the perpetrator of the event at her synagogue, and unbeknownst to the two of them, they have the same sports duffel bag, and they accidentally swap them. So she shows up at the synagogue with Jennifer Goodwin, they're opening it up, expecting to see a Torah, and it's full of bricks of cocaine. And the ceremony is the next day, and they have less than 24 hours to track down this torah through the seedy, drug-dealing, white nationalist underbelly of the city. And, you know, drama and hilarity ensue. And there's lots of sort of fun, a magic realism to some of the proceedings that give it like a biblical tableau, kind of sense. There's wandering in the desert and a burning cactus and things of that nature. So it's just, it's really unique, and what drew me to it is what I'm looking for in any sort of Jewish project that I'm supporting, whether as a viewer or behind the scenes, is a contemporary story that's not about Jews dying in the Holocaust. That is a story of people just being people, and those people are Jewish. And so the things that they think about, the way they live, maybe their jobs, even in this case, are Jewish ones. But it's not like a story of the Jews in that sense. The only touch point the majority of the world has for Jews is the news and TV and film. And so if that's how people are gonna learn about us, we need to take that seriously and make sure they're learning who we really are, which is regular people, just like you, dealing with the same kind of problems, the same relationships, and just doing that through a little bit of a Jewish lens. So the movie is entertaining and unique and totally fun, but it also just happens to be about Jews and rabbis. Manya Brachear Pashman: And so possible, spoiler alert, does the White Nationalist end up being the Mensch in the end? Jonah Platt: No, no, the white nationalist is not the mensch. They're the villain. Manya Brachear Pashman: I thought maybe there was a conversion moment in this film. Jonah Platt: No conversion. But sort of, one of the themes you take away is, anybody can be a mensch. You don't necessarily need to be the best rabbi in the world to be a mensch. We're all fallible, flawed human beings. And what's important is that we try to do good and we try to do the right thing, and usually that's enough. Manya Brachear Pashman: Well, I thought that kind of twist would be… Jonah Platt: I'll take it up with the writer. Manya Brachear Pashman: Well, Jonah, you are truly a mensch for joining us on the sidelines here today. Jonah Platt: Thank you. Manya Brachear Pashman: Safe travels, wherever you're headed next. Jonah Platt: Thank you very much. Happy to be with you.
In this Yom HaShoah special, Mijal and Noam sit down with Dara Horn, acclaimed author of People Love Dead Jews, to discuss Holocaust education and why it matters more than ever. Dara explores the rise in Holocaust denial, antisemitism post-October 7th, and how Jewish sovereignty challenges popular narratives. They explore why many Holocaust education programs erase Jewish civilization and present Jews solely as passive victims—and how that plays into broader societal discomfort with Jewish power. Dara also shares how her provocative book title came to be, and why understanding Jewish identity is essential to understanding antisemitism. Click here to read more about Dara Horn and her work, including 7 books. Get in touch at our new email address: WonderingJews@unpacked.media and call us, 1-833-WON-Jews. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out Unpacked on youtube. ------------ This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a division of OpenDor Media. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Jewish History Nerds Unpacking Israeli History Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold
In this episode, hear from prominent author Dara Horn (“People Love Dead Jews,” “One Little Goat”) about the key issues with the way the Holocaust is discussed and taught today. David and Dara discuss how the language used in Holocaust education threatens the erasure of modern Jewish culture and perpetuates antisemitism by painting Jews as feeble, helpless, and sometimes even extinct. They reflect on popular works about the Holocaust, how they are taught to students, and how we can use these conversations, in turn, to bring the rest of Jewish civilization into the dialogue. This episode is for anyone teaching the Holocaust, from Jewish settings to public and independent schools. This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides. The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.
Rootless is off this week for Passover, but we wanted to bring you an episode of How to Be a Jew we think you'll like. Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the greater world's response as well? Dara Horn, a prolific author known for her book People Love Dead Jews (and the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews) as well as her work fighting antisemitism, joins us to deal with our anger and provide context for why we should be optimistic about the future of Jews. We also talk about her new Passover-themed graphic novel for kids, One Little Goat. How does a seder that won't end lead to a time-traveling adventure? Have a listen.
Dara Horn, winner of three National Jewish Book Awards and Kirkus Prize finalist, joins Zibby to discuss her irreverent, moving, and hilariously deadpan graphic novel for young readers, ONE LITTLE GOAT. Dara explains how she uses a talking scapegoat and a never-ending Seder to bring ancient stories to life for readers of all ages. She shares her childhood obsession with the passage of time and her deep connection to the Jewish tradition, and then dives into her acclaimed book, PEOPLE LOVE DEAD JEWS, touching on the shared themes between the two books: memory, Jewish identity, and how history lives on in us.Purchase on Bookshop:One Little Goat: https://bit.ly/4lrcajoPeople Love Dead Jews: https://bit.ly/42st4WkShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! Now there's more! Subscribe to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books on Acast+ and get ad-free episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/moms-dont-have-time-to-read-books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Later this week Jewish families all over the world will sit down at the seder table and, guided by the text of the Haggadah, recapitulate in a highly ornate and ritualized form the Israelite redemption from oppression in Egypt. The text of the Haggadah itself is fascinating, not only because of its sources and composition and what it emphasizes and how, but also because it references itself. There are discussions of previous seders within the seder. It is a document that structures a holiday designed to help us remember. Memory and the presence of the past is the great theme of the Haggadah, and it is the great theme of Dara Horn's new graphic novel for middle-grade readers, One Little Goat. Dara Horn is the author not only of One Little Goat but also of Eternal Life, A Guide for the Perplexed, and three over novels, as well as her celebrated volume of reporting and essays, People Love Dead Jews. This week, she joins the podcast to discuss this theme—the inescapability of the past, the formative nature of the past, the obligations imposed on us as memory-bearing creatures and as a memory-shaped people—and why it is woven into all of her work, including her most recent book.
Dara Horn on the continuous stream of Jewish history, comics, and her own family's unique Seder traditions. The post Dara Horn’s Passover Saga appeared first on Jewish Review of Books.
Welcome back to Just For This. Each week, host Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch (she/her) interviews women in leadership about women and leadership. Inspired by the story of Esther, we feature powerful stories of women who stand out in their fields, who have stepped up just for this moment. Our guest this week is award-winning author Dara Horn. She has authored six books, including the best-seller, “People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present.” She is the recipient of three National Jewish Book Awards, and has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. We discuss the success of “People Love Dead Jews,” how retelling the Passover story helps us keep history and memory alive, and the inspiration for her newest book, her first for young readers, a Passover-themed graphic novel called “One Little Goat.” Follow Just For This on instagram: @justforthispodcast
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Today we bring you an episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan, speaking with author and scholar Dara Horn. Horn is the author of novels and non-fiction, including “People Love Dead Jews,” “Eternal Life,” “A Guide for the Perplexed,” and now her first book for young readers, “One Little Goat.” A graphic novel, "One Little Goat," was dreamed up by a young Horn and written decades later alongside the uniquely grungy illustrations of Theo Ellsworth. The program's first half delves into the book's trippy storyline and how she arrived at it. As Horn remarks on her website, "'One Little Goat' is a quirky, dryly funny, Passover-themed graphic novel, featuring a lost matzah, a never-ending seder, and a time-traveling talking goat." In the second half of the program, we hear some about the ideas Horn proposed in her bestselling work, "People Love Dead Jews," and she speaks about her new education initiative, Mosaic Persuasion, which is bent on teaching American schoolchildren about real, living Jews, and Jewish culture. We hear about how the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has -- and has not -- shifted American discourse. And Horn points out the Jews' driving counter-culture DNA that has been passed down from generation to generation, much like the rituals of the Passover seder. And so, this week, we ask author Dara Horn, what matters now? Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Dara Horn (Michael Priest)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author and scholar Dara Horn. Horn is the author of novels and non-fiction, including “People Love Dead Jews,” “Eternal Life,” “A Guide for the Perplexed,” and now her first book for young readers, “One Little Goat.” A graphic novel, "One Little Goat," was dreamed up by a young Horn and written decades later alongside the uniquely grungy illustrations of Theo Ellsworth. The program's first half delves into the book's trippy storyline and how she arrived at it. As Horn remarks on her website, "'One Little Goat' is a quirky, dryly funny, Passover-themed graphic novel featuring a lost matzah, a never-ending seder and a time-traveling talking goat." In the second half of the program, we hear some about the ideas Horn proposed in her bestselling work, "People Love Dead Jews," and she speaks about her new education initiative, Mosaic Persuasion, which is bent on teaching American schoolchildren about real, living Jews and Jewish culture. We hear about how the Hamas massacre of 1,200 in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has -- and has not -- shifted American discourse. And Horn points out the Jews' driving counter-culture DNA that has been passed down from generation to generation, much like the rituals of the Passover seder. And so this week, we ask author Dara Horn, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/dara-horns-one-little-goat-passover.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/zU6o8qxtZlvMmyrGuICLUOmimzQ?utm_source=copy_url Dara Horn is the author of 5 Jewish novels for adults, the provocatively titled nonfiction essay collection People Love Dead Jews, and now a graphic novel for kids: One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe. She writes brilliant, insightful articles for The Atlantic and other publications which set my brain on fire when I read them. I recommend you run out and read everything she's ever written. But before you do, listen to this interview! LEARN MORE: Dara Horn's website Buy or borrow One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe Buy or borrow People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present Listen to the 7-part podcast Adventures with Dead Jews Buy or borrow Dara's most recent novel, Eternal Life Dara's short story “Shtetl World” Selected Articles by Dara Horn: o “Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism Worse?” o “October 7th Created a Permission Structure for Anti-Semitism” Other books mentioned: Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Mr. Mani by Alef Bet Yehoshua, The Source by James Michener CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast Twitter: @bookoflifepod Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
Comic Reviews: Marvel Amazing Spider-Man 68.DEATHS by Christos Gage, Mark Buckingham, Mattia Iacono Captain America and Volstagg 1 by J. Michael Straczynski, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo Red Hulk 1 by Benjamin Percy, Geoff Shaw, Bryan Valenza Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Adaptation 1 by Jody Houser, Will Sliney, Guru eFX Women of Marvel: She-Devils 1 by Stephanie Phillips, Federica Muzzo, Rachelle Rosenberg; Cherie Dimaline, Kelsey Ramsay, Fabi Marques; Alison Sampson, Cris Peter Marvel Unlimited Beastly Buddies 8 by Steve Foxe, Armand Bodnar, KJ Diaz Dark Horse Jumpscare 1 by Cullen Bunn, Danny Luckert IDW Godzilla vs. America: Godzilla vs. Chicago 1 by Mike Costa, Ryan Browne, Kevin Knipstein; Tim Seeley, Heather Breckel; Ezra Claytan Daniels; Caroline Cash Star Trek: Section 31 – Emperor Born 1 by Alyssa Wong, Megan Levens, Charlie Kirchoff Mad Cave Pop Kill 1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Dave Johnson, Juan Santacruz, Brian Reber OGN Countdown Forest of Oreka Vol 1: The Long Night by Paco Sordo Midnight Island: The Automaton Awakens by Lylian, Nicolas Grebil Crumble by Meredith McClaren, Andrea Bell Nomads Vol 1: The Sand Kingdom by Captain Juuter Soma by Fernando Llor, Carles Dalmau One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe by Dara Horn, Theo Ellsworth Hunger's Bite by Taylor Robin Additional Reviews: Junkyard Joe by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank Pretty, Pretty Please I Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl Simpsons: The Past and the Furious News: Wonder Woman game cancelled, Michelle Trachtenberg, Gene Hackman, Kathleen Kennedy not retiring, return of Pokemon Concierge, Matthew Lillard joining cast of Daredevil, Omninews, Oscar Wrap-Up Trailers: Shrek 5 Comics Countdown (26 February 2025): Radiant Black 31 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Eduardo Ferigato, Rod Fernandes Absolute Wonder Woman 5 by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire Department of Truth 28 by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds Seasons 2 by Rick Remender, Paul Azaceta, Mat Lopes Superman 23 by Joshua Williamson, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sanchez Ultimate Spider-Man 14 by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matt Wilson Black Hammer: Spiral City 4 by Jeff Lemire, Teddy Kristiansen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7 by Jason Aaron, Juan Ferreyra Metamorpho: The Element Man 3 by Al Ewing, Steve Lieber, Lee Loughridge Green Lantern 20 by Jeremy Adams, Jack Herbert, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the greater world's response as well? Dara Horn, a prolific author known for her book People Love Dead Jews (and the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews) as well as her work fighting antisemitism, joins us to deal with our anger and provide context for why we should be optimistic about the future of Jews. We also talk about her new Passover-themed graphic novel for kids, One Little Goat. How does a seder that won't end lead to a time-traveling adventure? Have a listen.
Why does antisemitism keep resurfacing in different forms? Award-winning author Dara Horn (People Love Dead Jews) breaks down the disturbing patterns behind antisemitism, how anti-Zionism is just antisemitism rebranded, and why Hollywood only tells Jewish stories a certain way. From the media's obsession with Jewish victimhood to the double standards applied to Israel, Dara exposes the uncomfortable truths no one wants to talk about. Listen to her non fiction mindblowing book on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2R3OIbsFMtEzjvaor1gpD8Ami's House is a weekly podcast hosted by comedian and musician Ami Kozak with co-host Michael Weber. We schmooze with our favorite artists and thinkers about comedy, politics, and all things Jewish. 00:00 Why Nobody Wants This is so cringe08:20 What connects every single form of antisemitism19:30 How Iran overtook the human rights conversation29:05 History of Anti-Zionism being antisemitism50:00 How to respond to Right Wingers who think Jews are crying wolf?53:44 Dara's new graphic novel, "One Little Goat"====== ====== ====== ======
In a poignant discussion, Jen is joined by Dara Horn and explore her book 'People Love Dead Jews', examining how society fetishizes Jewish memorial narratives while marginalizing living Jewish experiences. She critiques the prevalent anti-Semitism in Western culture, highlighting how Holocaust education often serves as a superficial morality tale that fails to recognize Jewish agency and complexity. Horn discusses the troubling trend of erasing contemporary Jewish identities, arguing that societal perceptions frequently oscillate between romanticizing Jewish victimhood and harboring underlying assumptions of Jewish malevolence. The conversation delves into the nuanced challenges of understanding anti-Semitism, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive historical context and genuine cultural understanding.
Blüdnikow & Blüdnikow handler denne gang om Dara Horns bog People Love Dead Jews fra 2021. I bogen kaster Horn et nyt, kritisk blik på vores ellers sakrosankte mindekultur om Holocaust og antisemitisme mere generelt og stiller det provokerende spørgsmål, om vi i virkeligheden hellere vil have døde jøder frem for levende som et moralsk kompas for resten af samfundet. Bogen har fået fornyet relevans efter terrorangrebet i Israel 7. oktober 2023 og den efterfølgende eksplosion af antisemitisme i Vesten, og Horn bliver flittigt benyttet som kommentator i amerikanske tidsskrifter. Dara Horn er ph.d. i jiddisch og hebraisk litteratur fra Harvard University. Skulle I selv have lyst til at læse mere: Længere interview med det europæisk-jødiske tidsskrift K, hvor hun udlægger sit tankegods. Interview med The Atlantic. Det var denne artikel, der gjorde mig opmærksom på hende til at starte med. Interview med Times of Israel. Wall Street Journals anmeldelse af People Love Dead Jews. Bag paywall.
This week I have two stories for you the first about a wealthy Jew that comes to the Baal Shem Tov to ask for a blessing for a child, but it comes with a condition that the child not touch the ground until he's 4 years old and the second about the great rabbi and scholar, Rabbi Shmuel Shtrashun, the Rashash who made a grave mistake and the effects of that mistake. If you're enjoying these Chasidic stories, please take a quick moment to buy me a coffee. https://ko-fi.com/barakhullman Thank you! I deeply appreciate your support! Also available at https://soundcloud.com/barak-hullman/the-hidden-revealed-ways-of-heaven. To become a part of this project or sponsor an episode please go to https://hasidicstory.com/be-a-supporter. Hear all of the stories at https://hasidicstory.com. Go here to hear my other podcast https://jewishpeopleideas.com or https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas. Here's the link to my conversation with Dara Horn, https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas/dara-horn or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht0pjDBIL_U Find my books, Figure It Out When You Get There: A Memoir of Stories About Living Life First and Watching How Everything Falls Into Place and A Shtikel Sholom: A Student, His Mentor and Their Unconventional Conversations on Amazon by going to https://bit.ly/barakhullman.
This week I have two stories for you the first about a chassid who made a business deal that went really wrong and came to his rebbe, Reb Dovid Tzvi of Neushtadt for advice and the second about a chassid of the Sadigora Rebbe who ended up going to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for advice on a business deal. If you're enjoying these Chasidic stories, please take a quick moment to buy me a coffee. https://ko-fi.com/barakhullman Thank you! I deeply appreciate your support! Also available at https://soundcloud.com/barak-hullman/ask-a-rav-in-cleveland. To become a part of this project or sponsor an episode please go to https://hasidicstory.com/be-a-supporter. Hear all of the stories at https://hasidicstory.com. Go here to hear my other podcast https://jewishpeopleideas.com or https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas. Here's the link to my conversation with Dara Horn, https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas/dara-horn Find my books, Figure It Out When You Get There: A Memoir of Stories About Living Life First and Watching How Everything Falls Into Place and A Shtikel Sholom: A Student, His Mentor and Their Unconventional Conversations on Amazon by going to https://bit.ly/barakhullman.
Jewish People & Ideas: Conversations with Jewish Thought Leaders
Dara Horn is an American novelist, essayist, and professor of literature. She has a Ph.D. in comparative literature in Hebrew and Yiddish from Harvard University. Dara is the author of five novels and in 2021 released a nonfiction essay collection titled People Love Dead Jews, which was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize in nonfiction. I spoke with Dara online about antisemitism in America, the Holocaust in Jewish memory, why people love dead Jews and living ones not so much, the state of the American Jewish community and much more. This conversation was recorded a few weeks before October 7th. I had planned on editing it and uploading after Simchat Torah but since the war began my free time has been spent on trying to explain Israel's position in the world and pushing back against anti-Israel voices online. My apologies to my loyal listeners, I hope in the future to have new episodes ready much faster than this time. If you're enjoying these conversations, please take a quick moment to buy me a coffee. https://ko-fi.com/barakhullman Thank you! I deeply appreciate your support! Also available at https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas/dara-horn. To hear all of the episodes go to https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas or https://jewishpeopleideas.com/ Also, please check out my other podcast, The Chassidic Story Project, where I share a new Chassidic story every week, available at https://hasidicstory.com or https://soundcloud.com/barak-hullman/tracks. To support this project, please go to https://www.patreon.com/barakhullman. Find my books on Amazon by going to https://bit.ly/barakhullman.
What does Am Yisrael Chai and Jewish peoplehood actually mean, and what role does the state of Israel play in this question? A conversation with Rabbi David Gedzelman, Ally Goldberg, and Dara Horn, with moderator Liel Leibovitz.
This week on the show, as the war in Ukraine marks two years since Russia's invasion, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski joins Fareed to discuss Donald Trump's comments about letting Russia “do whatever the hell they want” with NATO countries that don't “pay [their] own bills” and what Ukraine's war effort would look like without US support. Then, El Salvador was the most dangerous country in the world, now it's safer than the US. American Quarterly Editor-in-Chief Brian Winter fills Fareed in on the person in charge of that transformation, Nayib Bukele, and how it came at great cost to human rights and rule of law. Next, Dara Horn, author of "People Love Dead Jews", discusses with Fareed how the war in Gaza has led to a rise in antisemitism and "Why the Most Educated People in America Fall for Antisemitic Lies" (as her recent article for The Atlantic was titled). Finally, Fareed looks at what appear to be stunning results of Indonesia's recent Presidential election. GUEST: Radoslaw Sikorski @sikorskiradek, Brian Winter @BrazilBrian, Dara Horn @DaraHorn, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This was a lively episode. Liz went into details about a unique underground winery, she also discussed municipal elections in Israel, Liz also updated us on the story we discussed in 2023 about a cable car system going from the first station to the old city--Alan brought up how antisemitism is impacting Jewish and Israeli presenters for example inspirational speaker Leah Goldstein being disinvited to speak in Canada because of a "Small but vocal group of protestors" or Matisyhu's concerts being canceled. Check our Dara Horn's article The Return of the big lieLeah Goldstein
Robert Siegel hosts as Israeli jurist Dorit Beinisch, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, civil rights strategist Eric K Ward, and authors Anne Applebaum, Esther Foer and Dara Horn are honored by Moment Magazine.
Rabbi David Wolpe, Bret Stephens, Dara Horn, Einat Wilf, and a number of other contributors to David Hazony's new book, Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People, share their perspectives on what the community needs most at this critical moment, and how their views have and have not shifted since the outbreak of Israel's war with Hamas. A program of the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, hosted by Liel Leibovitz and Stephanie Butnick of Tablet's Unorthodox podcast.
Before October 7, our children were blessed to live in a world where their Jewish commitments were not an obstacle to making friends or fulfilling their dreams. Yes, there has always been some anti-Semitism. But for the most part, our kids could be who they were, without hiding anything. Our job was to inspire them to give voice to all parts of themselves: their love of sports; music; drama; dance; and their Jewish lives. You can do soccer and you can do Judaism. It's an and. That task now feels quaint. To the extent that our children love Israel, and the Zionism that made Israel possible (which is how we have educated them), they will face a world in college that is explicitly hostile to those commitments. Some might be tempted to disconnect from the hot mess, too depressing and complicated. Some might be bullied into silence. If they still love Israel, they become at best Marrano Zionists. Still others might be tempted to turn on Israel and claim that it is an illegitimate state. But in the bullying anti-Israel climate of today's college campus, among universities whose presidents cannot condemn genocide against the Jewish people as against their university's code of conduct, who among our 18–22-year-olds would have the moral courage to stand against the tide and say: I stand with Israel. I am a proud Zionist. Yes, there surely are Jewish students who are out as Israel supporters even today, and we are proud of their moral courage. But it is not easy. How do we help them? We will examine texts about Joseph in Egypt in the Torah and in the midrash; Robert Putnam's classic American Grace; and Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews to talk about how the challenge of educating our children Jewishly has changed dramatically as a result of October 7. How do we prepare our children for the world they now face?
Jewish Americans - much like the U.S. public overall – hold widely differing views on Israel and its political leadership. Israeli domestic policies and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict generate fiery attitudes toward Israel during peace time, and after the brutal Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, feelings have intensified. And rightly so. We invited 2 brilliant individuals, with deeply learned understandings of the complexities in the region on the show to have a roundtable discussion with Adam about Israel ,hoping to peel back some layers and get to the heart of the conflict. Boy, did we ever. We lived up to our founding ethos here at Dirty Moderate: We showcase the people who cut through the nails-on-a-chalkboard din of the modern-day American political scene while promoting rigorous analysis and lively debate in a respectful manner with individuals on both sides of the aisle and beyond.Dara Horn- Award-winning author and Creative Adviser for The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. Dara's People Love Dead Jews is a must read. For a deeper dive you can go back to Season 1 and listen to Dara's one on one with Adam here Ethan Chorin -Former diplomat, senior political analyst, and authorWith the highest praise from global experts, Ethan's book on Benghazi shows is considered the definitive treatment of the attack and scandal in Libya. This is Ethan's 3rd appearance on Dirty Moderate and we certainly hope, not his last. Ethan's episode on Benghazi Ethan's episode on Israel Thanks for helping us save democracy one episode at a time!Join the Dirty Moderate Nation on Substack! Tell us what you think on Twitter! Or, if you are fed up with Elon's bullshit, hit us up on Threads! There are always shenanigans over on TikTok too…Are you registered to VOTE?
Acclaimed author Dara Horn explores the reasons “people love dead Jews” — and why the idea of Jewish power makes non-Jewish society so uncomfortable.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/in-these-times-with-rabbi-ammi-hirsch/donations
About the daily stories of rising anti-Semitism, two questions. First question: How does this current chapter compare to previous chapters? The Haggadah contains the famous passage vehei she'amdah: This promise has stood us and our parents in good stead. For not only has one enemy stood over us to annihilate us. But in every generation enemies have stood over us to annihilate us. Yet the Holy One keeps the promise to save us from their hands. Take a look at the one-page rendering of Jewish history in the Haggadah entitled A Night to Remember. It is a timeline of Jew hatred. In what ways is the current chapter like previous chapters? In what ways is the current chapter unique? How would you compare this present moment to our long history of anti-Semitism? Second question: What should we do about it? What is the response of Elie Wiesel in Souls on Fire? What is the response of Dara Horn in People Love Dead Jews? How do Elie Wiesel's and Dara Horn's responses compare? What works for you as a response?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to journalist Matti Friedman, author of Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, about how the Israel-Hamas war is (mis)understood globally. Additionally, we speak to a series of students and educators about the state of antisemitism on school campuses. Special thanks to these guests: Moshe, Micah Greenland, Derek Gormin, Ben Spanjer, Nati Stern, and Celeste. In this episode we discuss:What gets lost in translation when we superimpose Americanized notions of racism and colonialism onto the Middle East? What drew Leonard Cohen to go to Israel during the Yom Kippur War? What help is being offered right now to Jewish students in American public schools?Tune in to hear a conversation about Jewish identity, moral clarity, and human resilience in times of crisis. Interview with Matti Friedman begins at 11:45.Campus interviews begin at 37:46.Matti Friedman's work as a reporter has taken him from Lebanon to Morocco, Cairo, Moscow and Washington, D.C., and to conflicts in Israel and the Caucasus. He has been a correspondent for the Associated Press, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. He grew up in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem. The Aleppo Codex, his first book (Algonquin, 2012) won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, among other honors. His second book, Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story (Algonquin, May 2016) won starred reviews in Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and was compared by the New York Times to Tim O'Brien's masterpiece The Things They Carried.References:Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai by Matti Friedman “Who by Fire” by Leonard Cohen“Who by Fire” by Rufus Wainwright and Amsterdam SinfoniettaThe Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World's Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books by Matti Friedman “An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth” by Matti Friedman “Israel's Problems Are Not Like America's” by by Matti Friedman Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition by David Nirenberg“The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False” by Simon Sebag Montefiore“Leonard Cohen speaks about G-d consciousness and Judaism (1964)”“The Anguished Fallout from a Pro-Palestinian Letter at Harvard” by Eren Orbey“We Stand Together With Israel Against Hamas”“Modernity and Messiah: On Parshas Noach and the Human Capacity for Revolution” by David Bashevkin“Why Jews Cannot Stop Shaking Right Now” by Dara Horn
Using the stories of Avraham, Sarah, and Hagar in Vayera, I voice what it's like to have utterly different experiences of the Gaza conflict with our coworkers, friends, and family members, some of whom seem to embody Dara Horn's prophecy that the world loves to pity the dead Jews of the past while finding the living Jews of today an inconvenience, an Other, and deserving of sanctimonious antisemitism.
Antonio Garcia Martinez, reporting live from Israel, joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to share his firsthand perspective on the ground, discussing the unfolding events, and potential outcomes for Israel and Gaza. If you're looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen Discussion recorded on October 22, 2023. – SPONSORS: VANTA | NETSUITE Are you building a business? If you're looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – NEW SHOW FROM TURPENTINE: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix's culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – SELECT LINKS: - Michelle Tandler - Episode 19 of Moment of Zen: https://youtu.be/G460fgsHahM?feature=shared - Liel Leibovitz - Episode 23 of Moment of Zen: https://youtu.be/HOXYZSLlDPU?feature=shared - Book: Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_and_Kill_First - Book: People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn https://www.darahorn.com/ - Movie: Munich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_(2005_film) - TV series: Fauda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauda – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:40) Antonio's describes traveling to the south of israel (06:10) How Israel is unifying and mobilizing (09:05) Hostage situation sentiments (12:14) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (19:05) Antonio's predictions (28:00) What happens next in Gaza (36:00) What's happening in the North with Hezbollah? (37:30) How the Israeli secular left do not understand the Western left's reaction (40:30) The biblical echoes of the double standards placed on Israel (46:05) Intra-Israel civil war (52:40) Can there be a happy ending here?
Dad and I respond to the Hamas terror attack on Israel. Notes: 1. Related episodes: Good Tillich, Before Auschwitz, Luther and the Jews 2. Please read Dad's Before Auschwitz; I also commend Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews 3. Statement from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the ELCA
Dennis asks Julie if she knows any women her age who acknowledge their physical beauty. Are men/women genuine in their trivial exchanges? They discuss the importance of looks to women, and the importance of income to men. Do degrees from prestigious universities hold the same value they used to? Are we becoming a meritless society? Does affirmative action have the opposite effect from its intention? Dennis references Ann Coulter's piece – “Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of Higher Education. Why?” and Dara Horn's book - People Love Dead Jews. Julie admits her naivety to the extent of antisemitism in the world. Dennis recalls when dating he wanted to talk about good and evil… Julie's outlook on finding a suitable partner is bleak. Can one learn to become deep?Music: Straight to the Point c 2022Richard Friedman Music Publishing 100%Richard Friedman Writers 100%ASCAP (PRO)IPI128741568RichardFriedmanMusic.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dennis asks Julie if she knows any women her age who acknowledge their physical beauty. Are men/women genuine in their trivial exchanges? They discuss the importance of looks to women, and the importance of income to men. Do degrees from prestigious universities hold the same value they used to? Are we becoming a meritless society? Does affirmative action have the opposite effect from its intention? Dennis references Ann Coulter's piece – “Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of Higher Education. Why?” and Dara Horn's book - People Love Dead Jews. Julie admits her naivety to the extent of antisemitism in the world. Dennis recalls when dating he wanted to talk about good and evil… Julie's outlook on finding a suitable partner is bleak. Can one learn to become deep?Music: Straight to the Point c 2022Richard Friedman Music Publishing 100%Richard Friedman Writers 100%ASCAP (PRO)IPI128741568RichardFriedmanMusic.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Dara Horn is an accomplished American writer, winning accolades and prizes for her fiction and non-fiction alike. She was approached to give a graduation speech to Jewish cadets at West Point in 2023. Here is Horn to tell the story of how her speech came to be—and the recorded copy of the speech she delivered. It's one of the most beautiful ever given at any graduation at any college—at any time. The subject: being uncomfortable and uncool. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The celebrated novelist Dara Horn's new book People Love Dead Jews has an arresting title, one designed to make the reader feel uncomfortable. That's because Horn makes an argument that tries to change the way people think about the function of Jews in the conscience of the West. In the book, and in this podcast conversation with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, Horn suggests that Jewish communities, figures, and abstract symbols of “the Jews” have come to serve a moral role in the Western imagination that, when one takes a step back, is bizarre and grotesque. It's easy to acknowledge the darkness of the Holocaust and to marvel at the optimism of Anne Frank, but Horn detects in that acknowledgement something insidious that hasn't yet been fully revealed or explained. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.
This series is sponsored by an anonymous lover of books. This episode is sponsored by Twillory. Use the coupon code 18Forty to get $18 off of all orders more than $139. In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Dara Horn, a leading contemporary Jewish writer, about how fiction and non-fiction can change the way we view our fellow Jews. While we at 18Forty love scholarly and factual writing, fiction has long enabled the Jewish people to be more imaginative and contemplative about the meaning of Jewish identity and memory in our collective past, present, and future. In this episode we discuss: What is Dara Horn's writing process? What is the role of belief in literature? Are there living Jews whom we struggle to love? Tune in to hear a conversation about how, as Dara says, “the uncomfortable moments are where the story is.” Interview begins at 7:17. Dara Horn is a Jewish American novelist, essayist, and professor of literature. She has written five novels and in 2021, released a non-fiction essay collection titled People Love Dead Jews, which was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize in non-fiction. Her other books include All Other Nights, The World to Come, Eternal Life, and A Guide for the Perplexed. Dara joins us to talk about Jewish stories, in fiction and non-fiction. References:Eternal Life by Dara Horn Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman Sin•a•gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought by David Bashevkin Breakdown & Bereavement by Yosef Haim Brenner “Becoming Anne Frank” by Dara Horn People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn “Savoring the Haterade: Why Jews Love Dara Horn's ‘People Love Dead Jews'” by Shaul Magid “American Jews Know How This Story Goes” by Dara Horn Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi All Other Nights by Dara Horn College Commons Podcast from Hebrew Union College Adventures with Dead Jews from Dara Horn Mr. Mani by A. B. Yehoshua Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz“Message” by Avi Shafran
Episode 40 of What Gives? the Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network. Award-winning author, essayist, and professor of literature Dara Horn talks to JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny about her recent essay in the Atlantic, Is Holocaust Education Making Anti-Semitism Worse? They speak about this hallmark of Jewish education, and education about Jews, that has been so prevalent for the last 50 years. Dara talks about what she found in her research for the piece, her thoughts about identity, antisemitism, Jewish culture, and much, much more.
On The Good Place, our group finally gets to the actual Good Place, where they discover that an eternity of perfection has led to boredom and stagnation even for those who were moral giants on earth. So they propose a new option, that people can stay as long as they like and then choose when it's time to bring their existence to a peaceful end. On the podcast, Dan Ross and Jon Spira-Savett discuss our own tentative views about the afterlife. We run through a number of Jewish views of what happens with us in Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, from Maimonides' view to Dara Horn's. Mostly we talk about how we think our individual souls continue to exist somehow for the purpose of giving back to Olam Ha-Zeh, This World, and how others' souls continue to affect us. Click here for show notes.
Holocaust education was brought about to battle antisemitism, but perhaps there's more that could be done. Dara Horn joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why focusing on the atrocities of WWII hasn't stopped growing antisemitism today – and to offer ways we need to expand education about Jewish life to combat it. Her article published in The Atlantic is called “Is Holocaust Education Making Anti-Semitism Worse?”
“There is such a kindness in this calendar. There is so much opportunity to truly heal, to truly shift how we relate to ourselves and our world.”— Ganga DeviAs we enter the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, we enter a time of freshness, new beginnings… and bold possibility. With Nisan comes springtime, with its beautiful themes of renewal and life.As we look forward with anticipation to the possibilities ahead, we also look back on the past year and all that we have learned.This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of Sacred Time, a podcast exploring the healing art of the Hebrew calendar.In this episode, Bluth and Ganga Devi reflect on the past 12 months that have been explored on the Sacred Time podcast, honour and organise what has been, and create a container of reflection and fertile ground for what may come next.“Each moon cycle brings us through new energy, new time, and a new chapter.”— BluthThis episode discusses: The four different moments for new beginnings in the Jewish calendar, and what sets each New Year apart The meaning and essence behind the word Seder and how we use our freedom in a way that honours that orderThe cyclical nature of our sacred time, from moons to months to life cycles — and how to remain present and conscious Highlights: 00:52 Intro01:30 Nisan03:06 New Years in Judaism 06:26 Zodiac New Year08:14 Passover Seder11:18 Sacred Time reflection13:17 Kindness in the calendar & The World to Come16:58 Sacred Time cycles19:37 Designing lives for presence21:01 Freedom & structure21:47 Year in review32:40 Time to reflect & counting the OmerLinks: The World to Come by Dara Horn https://www.darahorn.com/book/the-world-to-comeDaily Omer count through art, with Ariella Powers on the LJ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/living.jewishly The Holistic Haggadah: How Will You Be Different This Seder Night by Michael Kaganhttps://ktav.com/products/the-holistic-haggadah For an excerpt, see Bluth's facebook post. School of Living Jewishlyhttps://www.schooloflivingjewishly.com To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly: Visit our website: https://livingjewishly.org Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw or send us an email at hello@livingjewishly.org. Shalom!
On today's episode, Ari spoke with American Jewish University resident scholar Rick Richman about the land, people and polity of Israel in Hollywood's imagination. What does Hollywood storytelling about Israel—from Exodus in 1960, to Top Gun: Maverick in 2022—tell us about America's perspective on the Holy Land, and perhaps more strikingly, America's perspective on itself. In a wide-ranging discussion, Ari and Rick talked about Exodus (1960); Munich (2005); Top Gun: Maverick (2022); Dara Horn's “People Love Dead Jews”; Brooklyn-based Judaism in American cinema; the effect of American racial discourse on its view of the Near East; Montesquieu's “Persian Letters”; the spouses of great political leaders; and much more! Good Faith Effort is a production of Bnai Zion and SoulShop
Host Josh Holo and author Dara Horn have a lively and thought-provoking discussion about her controversial new book. Dara Horn is the award-winning author of five novels and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews, and the creator and host of the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews. One of Granta magazine's Best Young American Novelists and a three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, among other honors, Horn received her doctorate in Yiddish and Hebrew literature from Harvard University, and has taught these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College, Yeshiva University, and Harvard. She has lectured at hundreds of venues across North America, Israel and Australia. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children. Photo credit by: Michael B. Priest
It takes about two minutes on social media to run across anti-Jewish attacks and tropes. Antisemitism has been the most reported hate crime in Ontario's capital city for several years running. Violence and vandalism have struck synagogues in the U.S. and beyond. And of course, that's all against a historical experience of genocide that few communities have had to face. In short, it's unrelenting. What does that do to Jewish identities and communities? We ask: Derek Penslar, the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University; writer Dara Horn, author of "People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present;" and Robert Jan van Pelt, a renowned researcher on Auschwitz, and professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today's Talmud page, Ketubot 57, prods us to think about weddings as contractual obligations necessary for the survival of society. Few authors delivered keener insights into this question than Jane Austen, so today we're happy to feature the first episode of a recently launched podcast, Jane and Jesus, which looks at the author's seminal work on love, marriage, and faith, Pride and Prejudice, through a theological perspective. It's hosted by Karen Swallow Prior, and on today's episode, her guest is novelist Dara Horn, host of Tablet Studios' Adventures with Dead Jews. The two discuss love and marriage in literature and religion, and why Jews read and tell stories so differently from Christians. What's the one thing that the Fiddler on the Roof movie got very wrong about marriage? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark Oppenheimer, Sara Fredman Aeder, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Don't start yelling at us. People Love Dead Jewsis the name of Dara's book of essays, and her companion podcast is Adventures with Dead Jews. Dara challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.
Award-winning Author Dara Horn's new book People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Past has a provocative title. And make no mistake, it's designed that way. She wants you to feel uncomfortable as she explores the world's fascination with dead Jews. From examples of more subtle antisemitism to machete attacks in Jewish homes and shootings in synagogues, Dara challenges her readers to confront the reasons why we have such little respect for living Jews. Along with her latest work, Dara is also the author of five novels and won a Reform Judaism Fiction Prize and two National Jewish Book Awards. Listen to the latest episode of All Inclusive as Dara discusses the appeal of Anne Frank's lasting legacy, why a Jewish city was deserted in China, the limitations of Holocaust education to curb hatred of Jews, and more. Transcription of episode located here: https://allinclusivepodcast.com/podcasts/dara-horn-author…e-love-dead-jews/ For a link to the Diarna Project, click here: https://diarna.org/. Photo of Dara Horn: Credit to Michael B. Priest See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
People Love Dead Jews. That's the title of novelist and literary scholar Dara Horn's provocative book, which explores the ways in which non-Jewish societies exploit Jewish histories and atrocities to "flatter" themselves and erase Jewish realities. In an episode filled with more ghoulish humor than usual, we follow Dara’s journey of uncovering a troubling (and often truly absurd) history. We also can’t help ourselves and go meta: not only raking on the media (as we’re wont to do) but also nerding out about the difference between Jewish and Western literary narratives.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-Memorializing dead Jews, erasing living Jews [9:44-26:35]-Why does empathy require similarity? [26:36-30:33] -Jews disrupting historical narratives [30:34-34:54] -Anti-semitism, assimilation, and Jewish agents of erasure [34:55-42:38] -"I spent 20 years not writing this book" [42:39-49:29] -How I'm Supposed to Respond to Anti-Semitism [49:30-53:23] -Victim Blaming to Feel Good [53:24-58:46]-Holocaust museums have failed [58:47- 1:05:56]-What Readers Want (Resolution not Ambiguity) [1:05:57-1:20:00]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe
Dara Horn is the award-winning author of six books, including, most recently, People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present. Dara is the recipient of two National Jewish Book Awards, the Edw