Podcasts about french jewish

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." In Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Stanford UP, 2021), Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

As the largest Jewish community in Europe and the third largest in the world, French Jewry—primarily of Sephardic descent from North Africa—blends a rich, thriving Jewish heritage with modern challenges.Giving a voice to the French Jewish community on this week's episode of Adapting, David Bryfman sits down with Devorah Serrao, CEO of Alliance Israélite Universelle, to explore the unique dynamics of Jewish education and identity in France. Devorah shares insights into how young French Jews today balance their French and Jewish identities, as well as lessons for Jewish communities worldwide in navigating identity and finding your inner voice. 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. 

On today's supernatural Friday Podcast we share a testimony of  French Jewish woman who had a divine encounter with Jesus and her testimony tells the rest of the story.  Listen and enjoy.  

4 December 1937 | French Jewish boy, Jacques Waks, was born in Paris.He was deported to Auschwitz from Drancy on 10 February 1944. He was murdered in a gas chamber after arrival selection. – Auschwitz Memorial https://bsky.app/profile/auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social/post/3lcj2cgrrzm22 Fritz Haber: The Nobel Prize-Winning Terrible Human Being Who Saved Half Of Humanity http://iflscience.com/fritz-haber-the-nobel-prize-winning-terrible-human-being-who-saved-half-of-humanity-64717 ‘Meu avô foi o ... Read more The post episódio especial: o que nos torna desumanos? appeared first on radinho de pilha.

Join us today as we found an interview of a French Jewish man who was bound with depression and then he found his Jewish Messiah, Jesus!!! Listen in and be encouraged.  

Today's episode is on a passage from the work of 14th century French Jewish writer and translator Qalonymos ben Qalonymos. Join us to learn about Qalonymos' life, explore their understandings of gender through a passage from their work the Even Bochan, and discuss its connections to historical and modern Jewish practice. Check out our website, where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon, checking out our merch, and following us on Instagram, Tumblr and Bluesky. [Image: A close-up photo of a Hebrew manuscript; the text is the opening of the passage discussed in the episode, Internet Archive.]

Send us a Text Message.Ireland's deadliest day, May 17th 1974 came at the hands of the UVF, Ulster volunteer force, a radical protestant loyalist paramilitary group from Northern Ireland. The Ulster Volunteer Force set off four car bombs that exploded without warning, bringing destruction to Dublin and Monaghan and killing 33 people including a woman that was nine months pregnant. the youngest of the dead was only five months old and the oldest was an 80-year-old veteran of World War One. Two of the victims were foreigners Antonio Magliocco, an Italian man, and Simone Chetrit, a French Jewish woman whose family had survived the holocaust. In addition to these deaths, there were approximately 258 people who were injured in the explosions. Support the Show.Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

It was true before Oct. 7, but especially afterwards: an increasing number of progressive-minded people are viewing Jews as settlers in Israel. "Go back to Europe," some especially antisemitic ones chant at rallies. But it begs the question: if Jews are settlers in Israel, where aren't we settlers? Ben Wexler, a writer and academic who recently graduated from McGill University, has been thinking about this question a lot. He recently published an essay in the French Jewish magazine K. Les Juifs, l'Europe, le XXIe siècle, titled "The Eternal Settler". In it, Wexler discusses the troubling rise in antisemitic violence, often carried out under the guise of decolonization and conflated with criticism of the Israeli government. To explore the topic more, Wexler joins to discuss colonization, settler identity and the perception of Jews as settlers. And after that, he joins hosts Avi and Phoebe in talking global political trends: the rightward shift of France, the United States and Canada may be good for Israel... but is it good for the Jews? Credits Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

Israelis should expect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "poison machine" to be working overtime with the coalition government attacking its own military leaders on a daily basis, says Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel on the Haaretz Podcast. After a brief "honeymoon" period last week, following the IDF's daring rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza, he said, "The hunt is on again. We'll see Netanyahu attacking them almost on a daily basis on the one hand, and also, what we call the poison machine run by his son and his supporters. We'll see more and more accusations pointed towards Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Ronen Bar, the head of the [Shin Bet security service]." The goal of these attacks, Harel says, is to distract the Israeli public from Netanyahu's "dirty political trickery" and "the terrible, terrible price of the ongoing war." "Netanyahu's interests are no longer in line with Israel's strategic interest," Harel asserts. What about the "Decisive victory" the prime minister keeps talking about? "It's absolute nonsense," He said, "and Netanyahu knows that better than anyone else." Also on the podcast, French journalist Shirli Sitbon, a long time Haaretz contributor, reports on how French Jews, along with the rest of the country, were "shocked" by the snap elections declared by President Emmanuel Macron. She said they are themselves caught between political blocs on the left and the right, and with the center weakened, now embrace extremist parties. On the far left, she said, the bloc includes MPs "saying Israel is solely responsible" for the war in Gaza, who view Hamas as a legitimate resistance movement, support a full boycott and sanctioning of the country as well as arresting Israeli soldiers traveling in Europe and protesters carrying signs portraying French Jewish politicians as pigs. The alternative is a right-wing coalition led by Marine Le Pen's extreme xenophobic National Rally. The polarization, she said, leaves many Jews frightened and confused, with indications that more than half might consider leaving the country if the far left or the far right win a decisive victory and the country "changes on a fundamental level."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is Settler Colonialism, and can it be applied to Israel? In this instalment of Kalam Shorts, Sam and Edgar explore this terminology and talk about the French Jewish scholar, Maxime Rodinson, and his seminal 1967 work, "Israel: A Settler Colonial State?" To gain access to the full episode, join the Kalam Community at patreon.com/kalampodcast for just $3 a month. For continuous updates on the podcast and historic perspectives on the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast

Trigger Warning for discussions of genocide, transphobia, and mention of suicide Note: There are some audio sync issues on this episode between me and Jo. Apologies for that. I'm still learning how to edit audio smoothly. I'm going to leave the episode as is though (unless its just utterly unlistenable). It's a learning experience.  Episode music can be found here: https://uppbeat.io/track/paulo-kalazzi/heros-time Day 3 will dive deep into the historic context surrounding trans identities, look at the origins of the gender binary, look at famous trans individuals throughout history, and tackle the modern manifestations of transphobia and how it all adds up to a trans genocide. Day 3 features special guest Jo Dinozzi, actor, fight choreopgrapher, and Director of A Sketch of New York. Episode notes to follow: Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 3 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 2 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week we're going to be talking about the trans genocide that is currently ongoing in the United States, this is certainly an issue in other parts of the West, such as Canada and the UK, but I live in the US and that's the location that I am most qualified and able to speak on. As with last week we're not going to be starting with what's happening right now in 2024. We're going to dive deep into the historical context surrounding trans gender identities and their perpetual position as a marginalized community. Before we get into that though! I have something special for you this episode! Today we are joined by a guest, my good friend, Jo Dinozzi. Hi Jo, thanks so much for joining me today. So, I thought we'd start today off with an examination of the gender binary and where it all started. According to Suzzanah Weiss, a feminist writer and sexologist with a Masters of Professional Studies in Sexual Health from the University of Minnesota:  “Arguably, modern notions of the gender binary originated during the Enlightenment,” they say. “That's when scientists and physicians adopted what historians call a ‘two-sex model' when describing people's bodies.” This model treated male and female bodies as opposites, and as the only two options. “Up until that point, popular thinkers thought more along the lines of a one-sex model, where male and female bodies were homologous,” explains Weiss. Case and point: female genitalia were viewed as male genitalia turned inward, and female orgasm was deemed necessary for reproduction since male orgasm was. Indeed, the one-sex model had its own problems. Mainly, women were often viewed as incomplete men. “But the two-sex model created new problems, such as the devaluing of female sexuality and the erasure of anyone outside the gender binary,” they say. You can find more information on the one sex theory and the emergence of the two sex theory in Thomas Laqueur's book Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. So far though we've just been looking at Western ideas of gender though, many cultures around the world have far more expansive views of gender, though many of these ideas of gender are still attached to biological features and characteristics. Some examples of these include the Hijra from Hinduism, to further underline how bigoted Western systems of power can be, the British passed a law in 1871 categorizing all Hijra people as criminals. The Bugis ethnic group of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, recognizes three genders beyond the binary. These are the Calalai, the Calabai, and the Bissu.Something interesting to note is while Bugis gender is often described as a spectrum, bissu are deemed to be above this classification: spiritual beings who are not halfway between male and female, but rather embody the power of both at once. In Mexico there is a third gender called Muxes which is deeply embedded within the indigenous Zapotec culture. Since the 1970s, every year in November, muxes celebrate La Vela de las Auténticas Intrépidas Buscadoras del Peligro, or the Festival of the Authentic and Intrepid Danger-Seekers, a day of energetic merriment to honor muxes. There's also Sekarata from the Sajalava people indigenous to Madagascar. They are viewed as both sacred and protected by supernatural powers. There is, of course, Two Spirit people. This is a pan Indigenous North American term that was coined in the 1990s as a way for the indigenous LGBTQIA+ for reject white, Western, ideas about queerness and gender identity. There has been some push back against the term Two Spirit as some see it as inherently recognizing the Western Gender binary. Many indigenous tribes such as Niitsitapi, the Cheyenne, the Cree, the Lakota, and the Ojibwe, to name just a few have their own terms for these gender identities that fall outside of the binary. Those terms are, of course, in their own languages and I think I would only insult some people with how poorly I pronounce them. So, suffice it to say, you can find more information about this on the wikipedia article for Two-Spirit under the subheading Traditional Indigenous Terms. Last culture I want to go over for today is Judiasm. Jewish law, or halacha recognizes 8 distinct genders. The two classic ones that we all know and have mixed feelings about and then 6 others Androgynos, Tumtum, Aylonit hamah, Aylonit adam, Saris hamah, Saris adam.  So, as we can clearly see, the idea of a strict gender binary of only Male and Female isn't an idea that was always widely accepted and the fact that is has crept into so many cultures around the world that had much greater levels of acceptance of diverse identities is solely the fault of western colonialism and white supremacy. Something that should be noted is that gender identity and gender presentation are two different things in a society and often for individuals. I, for example, identify as agender or gender apathetic. I don't identify with any gender at all really, but my gender presentation is decidedly masculine. In my opinion gender identity is internal and specific to each individual person, whereas gender presentation is external and based on the culture you live in and how that society views the way a specific gender traditionally looks. With that out of the way let's talk about the greatest nightmare of Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro… pronouns. You've got them, I've got them, everyone's got them. Well, that might not, actually be true. There might very easily be people who don't feel that any currently available pronoun fits their own concept of gender. I guess it's more accurate to say that I have never met anyone who doesn't use any pronouns. There's a specific set of pronouns that I want to discuss today, though we could likely do a whole other episode on just pronouns. I want to talk about they/them pronouns. Cause, those are really the ones that started this whole temper tantrum conservatives have been throwing for the past several years. They say that they/them is a plural pronoun, and always has been. As if language never changes and we were all STILL speaking Old English.  Hell, when the folks who made the King James Bible were translating it they used thee, thou, thy, and thine as singular and ye, you, your, and yours as plural. Also, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen all used the singular they in their works. It's been in the Canterbury Tales, Hamlet, and Pride and Prejudice. So, if we're gonna be pedantic about it, I have sources to back up my pedantry and they don't. But also, language evolves! We have contronyms now! Words that are their own opposites! So, just chill and take the opportunity to grow, if you haven't already. Next thing to talk about is, of course, the difference between gender and sex. Gender is an internal identity that is based on your own relationship with the concept of gender. Sex is biological and is, frankly just based on your genitals. No one is out there doing chromosome tests on every single baby born. A doctor just looks at your crotch and decides. They'll also assign you a gender at birth based on those same characteristics, but just because you're assigned a gender doesn't mean you have to keep it. We also have to note that, just like gender, sex also exists on a spectrum. And listen, you don't have to believe me. Go watch Season 1, Episode 9 of Bill Nye Saves The World. He'll tell you too, and if you don't trust Bill Nye on Science, you're a fool of a Took. I'm actually going to turn the mic fully over to Jo at this point as she is far better informed on this topic than I am. (Insert Jo here) Now, something that we need to talk about is the Recency Illusion. There are many people that believe trans gender people are somehow a new phenomenon. That they haven't always existed throughout history. So here are some examples for you to do some more reading on, on your own. Ashurbanipal (669-631BCE) - King of the Neo-Assryian empire, who according to Diodorus Siculus is reported to have dressed, behaved, and socialized as a woman. Elagabalus (204-222 CE) - Roman Emperor who preferred to be called a lady and not a lord, presented as a woman, called herself her lover's queen and wife, and offered vast sums of money to any doctor able to make her anatomically female. Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1286-1328) - French Jewish philosopher who wrote poetry about longing to be a woman. Eleanor Rykener (14th century) - trans woman in London who was questioned under charges of sex work Chevalier d'Eon (1728-1810) - French diplomat, spy, freemason, and soldier who fought in the Seven Years' War, who transitioned at the age of 49 and lived the remaining 33 years of her life as a woman. And, of course: Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) - Gay liberation and trans rights pioneer and community worker in NYC; co-founded STAR, a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and trans women Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) - Gay liberation and trans rights pioneer; co-founded STAR with Sylvia Rivera, the woman who threw a brick to start the Stonewall Riots And, I would be remiss if we didn't talk about my favorite trans gender individual in history, the Public Universal Friend. The Public Universal Friend was originally a Quaker born in 1752. However, The Friend contracted a very serious illness, suspected to be typhus, in 1776 and nearly died. Once the Friend had recovered they shunned their original name and all gendered pronouns. Asking to be referred to only as the Public Universal Friend, the P.U.F. or simply as the Friend. Whenever someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the Friend would merely reply. “I am that I am”. The Friend would go on to form an offshoot of Quakerism called the Society of Universal friends which, unfortunately, ceased to exist in 1860, 41 years after the Friend's death in 1819. The congregation's death book records: “25 minutes past 2 on the Clock, The Friend went from here.” We're starting to make our way to more modern issues now, next on our docket is the looting of the Institute of Sexology in Berlin in 1933. On 6 May 1933, the Institute of Sexology, an academic foundation devoted to sexological research and the advocacy of homosexual rights, was broken into and occupied by Nazi-supporting youth. Several days later the entire contents of the library were removed and burned. The Institute was founded by Magnus Hischfield in 1919 and was the earliest institution to be doing research into gender affirming surgery, as well as offering contraceptive services and sexual health education. The Institute actually performed one of, if not the first, gender affirming surgery in 1931. It was bottom surgery for a trans woman named Dora Richter. She is believed to have died in the initial attack on the Institute. On May 10th, the German Student Union, a group of young Nazis, dragged every single book and bit of research out of the Institute, piled them in Bebelplatz Square and set them on fire. This was the first, and largest book burning of the 3rd Reich, with over 20,000 books burned. There is no telling how far back trans gender health research was set by this event. Hirschfield wasn't in Germany when the book burning occurred. He was on a world speaking tour and remained in Nice, France after he finished. He died there of a heart attack in 1935. We're getting closer and closer to the modern day now dear listeners. Before we get there I want to talk with you about a resource I like to use called the Pyramid of Hate. It was designed by the ADL based on the Alport Scale of Prejudice, which was created by psychologist Gordon Alport in 1954. The Pyramid illustrates the prevalence of bias, hate and oppression in our society. It is organized in escalating levels of attitudes and behavior that grow in complexity from bottom to top. Like a pyramid, the upper levels are supported by the lower levels; unlike a pyramid, the levels are not built consecutively or to demonstrate a ranking of each level. Bias at each level reflects a system of oppression that negatively impacts individuals, institutions and society. Unchecked bias can become “normalized” and contribute to a pattern of accepting discrimination, violence and injustice in society.  The second level of the Pyramid included bigoted humor as one of these hallmarks of systems of oppression. There are many people who feel that humor is somewhat sacred. That it falls outside the standard array of ethics and that anything can be joked about, because it's just a joke and there's nothing serious about it. If you are the type of person who believes that… well you probably haven't made it this far into the episode. Regardless, let me draw everyone's attention to a PhD dissertation written by former appellate attorney of the Texas 5th Circuit Court Jason P. Steed. Steed says, and I'm quoting directly from a series of tweets he made a few years ago: You're never "just joking." Nobody is ever "just joking." Humor is a social act that performs a social function (always). To say humor is a social act is to say it is always in social context; we don't joke alone. Humor is a way we relate/interact with others. Which is to say, humor is a way we construct identity - who we are in relation to others. We use humor to form groups… ...and to find our individual place in or out of those groups. In short, joking/humor is one tool by which we assimilate or alienate. We use humor to bring people into - or keep them out of - our social groups. This is what humor *does.* What it's for. Consequently, how we use humor is tied up with ethics - who do we embrace, who do we shun, and how/why? And the assimilating/alienating function of humor works not only on people but also on *ideas.* This is why, e.g., racist "jokes" are bad. Not just because they serve to alienate certain people, but also because… ...they serve to assimilate the idea of racism (the idea of alienating people based on their race). A racist joke sends a message to the in-group that racism is acceptable. (If you don't find it acceptable, you're in the out-group.) This is why we're never "just joking." To the in-group, no defense of the joke is needed; the idea conveyed is accepted/acceptable. The defense of “just joking is only ever aimed at the out group. If you're willing to accept "just joking" as defense, you're willing to enter an in-group where the idea conveyed by the joke is acceptable. If "just joking" excuses racist jokes, then in-group has accepted the idea of racism as part of being in-group. This segues us into our next topic fairly smoothly. We're going to be talking about the AIDs crisis. You might be wondering how this is a smooth segue, well that's because when the AIDs epidemic first began in the 1980s, the Reagan administration treated it as a joke. Here's the first exchange between Speakes and journalist Lester Kinsolving from 1982, when nearly 1,000 people had died from AIDS: Lester Kinsolving: Does the president have any reaction to the announcement by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta that AIDS is now an epidemic in over 600 cases? Larry Speakes: AIDS? I haven't got anything on it. Lester Kinsolving: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." [Press pool laughter.] No, it is. It's a pretty serious thing. One in every three people that get this have died. And I wonder if the president was aware of this. Larry Speakes: I don't have it. [Press pool laughter.] Do you? Lester Kinsolving: You don't have it? Well, I'm relieved to hear that, Larry! [Press pool laughter.] Larry Speakes: Do you? Lester Kinsolving: No, I don't. Larry Speakes: You didn't answer my question. How do you know? [Press pool laughter.] Lester Kinsolving: Does the president — in other words, the White House — look on this as a great joke? Larry Speakes: No, I don't know anything about it, Lester. Because they saw the AIDs epidemic as one big joke, and because of the massive amounts of homophobia in American politics the Reagan administration did nothing about the thousands and thousands of people dying. But why, why I can hear you asking. Because AIDs, the so called “gay plague” was thought to only affect gay men. They also thought it could be spread through saliva, so there was a joke from a later press conference about the President banning kissing as a way of fighting the spread of AIDs. But I digress. AIDs was thought to only affect a specific part of the population. Gay men. A segment of the population that the Reagan administration didn't want in American society. So when they heard they were dying, instead of doing research, or raising public awareness, or even expressing compassion for the suffering of fellow humans, they did nothing and made bad, poor taste jokes, because they wanted gay men to die.  Now, many people will look at this and say that it wasn't a genocide because the deaths weren't caused by government action, but by government in action. These people are wrong. This was DELIBERATE in action, knowing and planning for that inaction to kill as many people as possible. This was, as clear as it can be, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group, in whole or in part. Now, no one is saying that Reagan CAUSED AIDs, but he saw what it was doing and specifically did nothing to prevent any of the deaths that it caused. This, finally, brings us to the modern day and the ongoing trans genocide. We have established our historic context, we have set a historic precedent for inaction as a form of genocide. Now we can really get into it.  Remember the Pyramid of Hate that we touched on briefly earlier. Well, Level 3 is Systemic Discrimination and includes Criminal justice disparities, Inequitable school resource distribution, Housing segregation, Inequitable employment opportunities, Wage disparities, Voter restrictions and suppression, and Unequal media representation. There are, according to translegislation.com, in 2024 alone 530 anti trans laws have been placed before various state and federal legislations. I remind you that it is only April 2nd, when this episode first releases. 16 of them have passed, 87 of them have failed, and 430 are still currently active. These bills seeks to discriminate against trans people in almost all areas of life, with the 3 most prevalent categories being Education, Sports, and Healthcare. In 2024 alone 132 bills have been proposed to deny or restrict access of trans people to gender affirming care. But why is this important? Other than because healthcare is a human right that should be freely available to everyone. A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, using data from U.S Transgender Population Health Survey found that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42% of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes. If you are a trans individual and you need mental health services or support, please reach out to the Trevor Project at (866) 488-7386 or call the Trans Lifeline at (877) 565-8860. You're not alone, and you never will be. Now, to return to our regularly scheduled educational program. The US deliberately blocking people from accessing gender affirming care is genocide. Full stop. End of story. According to an article titled Suicide-Related Outcomes Following Gender-Affirming Treatment: A Review, by Daniel Jackson, which is a meta analysis of 23 different studies on the effect of gender affirming care on trans suicide rates, having access to gender affirming care greatly reduces the risk of suicide among trans youth and adults. So if you know that having access to these services will help keep a group of people alive, and you deliberately block access to that service, you are actively trying to kill them. This is, just as with the AIDs epidemic, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group, in whole or in part. It is also, causing severe bodily or mental harm to members of the group, which is another way in which genocide can be committed. Florida even went so far as to pass a bill, SB 254, banning gender affirming care for minors. They call it child abuse, and will take children away from their parents if the parents try and get the GAC. This is “transferring children of the group to another group” which is a third way in which the US government is committing a trans genocide. There are two more things I want to talk about today. First is detransitioning. There are some people who transition from one gender to another and then go back. Conservative talking heads would have you believe that there is a massive majority of trans people feeling this regret and returning to the gender they were assigned at birth. As with all things, they are lying to you. The results published in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 8% of respondents reported having ever detransitioned; 62% of that group reported transitioning again and were living as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth at the time of the survey. About 36% reported having detransitioned due to pressure from parents, 33% because it was too difficult, 31% due to discrimination, 29% due to difficulty getting a job, 26% pressure from family members, 18% pressure from a spouse, and 17% due to pressure from an employer. There will certainly be some people who will transition and then find that they don't actually identify with the gender they transitioned to, but that's a fantastically small number, and while those people deserve our empathy and support, they are not representative of the overall trans community. Also it should be noted that you don't have to medically or physically transition to be trans. Many people do this because of gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia. But surgery and/or hormones are not requirements for being trans. I'm technically trans, as I identify with a gender other than the one I was assigned at birth, but I have no intentions of taking hormones or having surgery. I'm just gonna hit the gym and get big muscles. The last thing I want to cover is the epidemic of transphobia that infects this country, and in the present day nothing exemplifies that more than the tragic death of Nex Benedict and the inattentiveness and inaction of her school in protecting her. New was a 16 year old non binary youth attending Owasso High School in Oklahoma. After a year of bullying over her gender identity Nex was attacked by 6 girls in the bathroom. They beat her into unconsciousness. Instead of calling the police or an ambulance, the school called Nex's mother Sue and told her that Nex was suspended for two weeks. Nex was examined by hospital staff, spoke with police, and then was discharged. They went to bed complaining of a sore head. The next day, when getting ready to go with their mother to Tulsa, Nex collapsed and had stopped breathing before the ambulance arrived. The Medical Examiner eventually ruled Nex's death a suicide caused by Benedryl and Prozac, stating that it had nothing to do with the beating Nex received from students at their school.  I think that's bullshit. I have nothing more to say on that other than Fuck Oklahoma and Fuck the Owasso Public School Disctict. That's it for today dear listeners. Stay angry, stay safe. Don't let the bastards get you down. Stick around for the outro. We've got some more reviews over the past week. Some of them aren't technically reviews. Spotify apparently has a Q&A feature, and defaults to “What did you think of this episode?” so I'm going to read those too. *Read Reviews* Jo, thank you so much for being here today and for providing your valuable insight and knowledge. Do you have any projects that you'd like to plug before we sign off? Alright, that brings us right up to the end. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. PLease remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day and remember, Trans Rights are Human Rights.          

Just having survived in New Orleans as a poor French Jewish immigrant was a major accomplishment for young Leon Godchaux. But having lived a life in his adopted city where he eventually opened his own department store, mastered the use of the newly-invented sewing machine for better clothes quality and then to establish a major sugar refinery upriver from New Orleans – which would be a model or the rest of the sugar industry – was a life well lived. Peter M. Wolf, the author of “Sugar King: Leon Godchaux: A New Orleans Legend; His Creole Slave and His Jewish Roots,” joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, along with producer Kelly Massicot, to discuss the history of an amazing man who also secretly purchased a Creole slave in order to liberate him, and would later become a business partner. Wolf also reveals what happened to the engine for Godchaux's train that was used to haul items throughout the refinery. Hint:  In was relocated to a major theme park.

In this premiere episode of Judaism Demystified's "Getting to Know the Rishonim" series, we dive into the life and legacy of Rabbi Levi ben Gershon, also known as RaLBaG or Gersonides, a prominent medieval French Jewish philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician and astronomer/astrologer. We uncover who Ralbag was, shedding light on his immense contributions not just to Jewish thought but also to the realms of science and philosophy. Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss and Rabbi Dovid Campbell share their personal journeys of discovering Ralbag's work, with Rabbi Campbell delving into Ralbag's scientific and philosophical achievements, and Rabbi Schneeweiss focusing on the structure and depth of Ralbag's Tanakh commentary. The conversation then zooms in on Ralbag's unique interpretation of Akedat Yitzhak (The Binding of Isaac), particularly his novel approach to the concept of "nisayon" or "Divine test." Rabbi Campbell takes the reins to explain how this ties into Ralbag's sophisticated understanding of Divine knowledge. As Rabbi Schneeweiss navigates through Ralbag's commentary, Rabbi Campbell interjects with insights into Ralbag's views on human perfection and prophecy, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of Ralbag's philosophical underpinnings. Rabbi Schneeweiss rounds off the discussion on the Akedah, exploring the practical outcomes and lessons derived from the narrative, known as "toalot" in Ralbag's framework. He also introduces listeners to the Maaliot Edition, providing a teaser for the rich, multifaceted nature of Ralbag's commentary. This episode not only offers an in-depth look at Ralbag's approach to one of Judaism's pivotal narratives but also invites listeners into the broader, intricate tapestry of Jewish scholastic heritage through the lens of one of its most profound thinkers. *This episode is dedicated to the refua shelema of our dear friend Yaakov ben Haya Malakh and to the neshama of Meir ben Moshe a'h — Abdolrahim Ilian, the late father of our dear friend, Rod Ilian. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/judaismdemystified/support

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Episode Description Sign up to receive podcast:  People Group Summary: https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups//11764 #AThirdofUs                    https://athirdofus.com/ Listen to "A Third of Us" podcast with Greg Kelley, produced by the Alliance for the Unreached: https://alliancefortheunreached.org/podcast/ ·        JoshuaProject.net/frontier#podcast provides links to podcast recordings of the prayer guide for the 31 largest FPGs. ·        Go31.org/FREE provides the printed prayer guide for the largest 31 FPGs along with resources to support those wanting to enlist others in prayer for FPGs. ·        Indigitous.us/home/frontier-peoples has published a beautiful print/PDF introducti ·        on to FPGs for children, supported by a dramatized podcast edition.

Following Hamas' October 7 massacre of Israelis Jews around the world have experienced a  surge of antisemitism. We checked in with some of AJC's global experts  to learn what they've been seeing and hearing on the ground and to understand what efforts are underway to protect Jews and counter this hate. In the first of two installments, we hear from AJC Europe Managing Director Simone Rodan Benzaquen, AJC Africa Director Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann, Director of AJC's Belfer Institute on Latin American Affairs. Take action to bring all hostages home now. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Simone Rodan Benzaquen, Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann Show Notes: Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: What Happens Next: AJC's Avital Leibovich on the Hostage Deal and Challenges Ahead What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? The Good, the Bad, and the Death Threats: What It's Like to Be a Jewish College Student Right Now Mai Gutman Was Supposed to Be at the Music Festival: IDF Lone Soldier Recounts Harrowing Week Responding to Hamas Terror: IsraAID CEO on How You Can Help Israelis Right Now Learn: Debunking the False Equivalency Between Israeli Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners How much do you know about Hamas? Try to ace our quiz and expose the truth about the terror group today. 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. Transcript of Interview with Simone Rodan Benzaquen, Wayne Sussman, and Dina Siegel Vann: Manya Brachear Pashman: American Jewish Committee has 14 international offices around the world. For today's episode, we checked in with some of those offices to learn what they're seeing and hearing on the ground since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Today, we take you to Europe, Africa and Latin America. We start in Paris, where years of work to combat rising antisemitism has seen a serious setback. For more than two decades, since the Second Intifada, antisemitism has been on the rise on the European continent. In fact, it was that ripple effect that prompted AJC to ramp up its advocacy there. AJC Managing Director of Europe Simone Rodan Benzaquen joined us from Paris. Simone Rodan Benzaquen: What we have seen, I think, in Europe is more or less what we've seen, everywhere, what can only be described as an explosion of antisemitism across the European continent, I would say, mostly in Western Europe, here in France in particular, but also in the United Kingdom, we have seen the same. In Germany, we have seen similar things going on in Sweden and Denmark. But of course, here in France, where antisemitism has existed for at least two decades, or at least this contemporary form of antisemitism, for the past two decades with high numbers of antisemitic hate crimes. The situation is very, very serious. We've had basically three times the number of antisemitic hate crimes, since October 7 of what we had during the entire year, last year.   We have desecration of cemeteries, we have antisemitic tags. We have intimidation, we have spitting on people. It is as if the sheer horror, the violence that happened on October 7, unleashed an antisemitic passion, an antisemitic violence across the world. As if the horrible images that were filmed by the Hamas terrorists on October 7 sort of was a legitimization. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what does that mean for the Jewish community and daily life? Simone Rodan Benzaquen: We've reached a point where people are hiding every single aspect of their Jewish identity. People are changing their names on their delivery apps, people are changing their names on their doorbells, if they believe that they sound Jewish. People are hiding every single aspect of their Jewish identity. On Uber apps, on taxi apps, myself, you know, I go on TV and do interviews quite a bit and so I give a different name to the taxi, and I give a different address a few blocks down the street is to be sure that you know, just in case, the taxi driver doesn't know where I actually live. So everybody takes precautions. It's gotten to a point where we just don't live the same life as everybody else. Manya Brachear Pashman: Has the work you've done over the past two decades made a difference? For example, since the Second Intifada, there have been a number of conflicts between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza. Do you see progress? Simone Rodan Benzaquen: We in Europe have felt like we've been doing a little bit of the work of Sisyphus over the past two decades, where we have moments of hope and things are getting better. And we say to ourselves, oh, maybe this is a wakeup call. And sort of, then we go back to, you know, before. And I hope that this this time around, given the level of violence, given the level of antisemitic hate crimes, given the number of sheer antisemitic attacks.  When you actually take it down, you come to on average about 40 antisemitic acts a day. I mean, that's huge for a population that represents far less than 1% of the entire French population. I hope this will serve as a wakeup call. But there is the question of what does it mean, how do you translate it politically? How do you translate it into government action? I mean, Europe has come up with different plans, action plans against antisemitism, but it's not enough and more needs to be done. I think one of the things that we as Jewish communities were very wary about was the fact that  over the past sort of two decades, there was sort of a lack of how can I say, solidarity from other French people. Again, we've had antisemitic hate crimes for the last 20 years, people have been murdered. But every single time, when you look at the demonstrations, at the marches after something horrible happened, you would mostly have a few hundred, or maybe a few thousand Jews in the streets.  And so there was sort of a feeling that within the French Jewish community that they were a little bit abandoned by the rest of society. And so we know from our surveys, AJC does a survey every two years where we know that, for example, French people, and Germans as well, are convinced about the fact that antisemitism is not the problem of Jews alone, but that of the entire society.  So both in Germany and in France, 73% of the population say that it is not the problem of Jews alone. But despite that number, it has never sort of translated into something concrete. So we would never have marches. We would never have like sort of big shows of solidarity with the Jewish community. And I think, since, if there's one good news, and there's not a lot of good news these days, if there's one good news is that last Sunday there were massive demonstrations across France, against antisemitism with basically the entire political class were present, with 20 government ministers who were present, with a prime minister who was present, with three former prime ministers who were present, two former presidents, plus a lot of people on the streets. We had over 180,000 people in the streets of France, basically expressing solidarity with the Jewish community and saying that they want to fight against antisemitism. So I think that was a sort of a very important sign of hope for many French Jews. …. Manya Brachear Pashman: Now we go to the continent of Africa, where AJC Africa Director Wayne Sussman joins us from the South African city of Johannesburg to explain how the war that began on October 7 affects Israel's relations with African countries.  Wayne Sussman: I would say the tensest of the relationships right now is between Israel and South Africa. The Ambassador of Israel to South Africa received a démarche.  So when the first two countries to recall their ambassadors were South Africa and Chad. When it comes to Chad, that was more unexpected than South Africa. Because relations were recently increasing between Chad and Israel. Sadly–and one's got to remember that the largest Jewish community in Africa by a country mile is in South Africa. But sadly, the government of South Africa has had a very adversarial relationship with the State of Israel over the last few years. And this has manifested in the last few weeks. Manya Brachear Pashman: Because of this antagonistic relationship with Israel, has the South African Jewish community faced quite a bit of antisemitism? Wayne Sussman: Even though the current government of South Africa has had an adversarial relationship with the State of Israel, levels of antisemitism are extremely low–far lower than Europe, far lower than Latin America, far lower than the United States of America, far lower than Canada, far lower than Australia.  So we are working off a very low base here in South Africa. But over the last few weeks, antisemitic incidents have increased. For the time being, levels of violent incidents have been low. A turning point was on Sunday afternoon in Cape Town on the Sea Point Promenade, just to zone in on Sea Point, where the majority of Jews in Cape Town live. And the promenade is a beautiful public space, which all residents of the city use.  And what we saw the day before was a pro-Palestinian demonstration through the streets of the City of Cape Town. It was a largely peaceful protest. There were pockets of the protests, which had hateful slogans and made concerning threats against the main Jewish Day School in Cape Town.  And then the next day, a group of Christians at the Sea Point Promenade, which I referred to earlier, which is in the Jewish neighborhood of Sea Point, were going to have a prayer vigil for the State of Israel. They had a stage set up, microphones, etc. And a group of 200 to 300 pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas supporters sympathizers came and disrupted it. And the police had to get involved and use water cannons. It's very rare for us to see sights like this in South Africa, particularly in Sea Point. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what I'm hearing you say is the antagonism toward Israel doesn't normally translate into antagonism that targets the Jewish community there? Wayne Sussman: One of the worrying sides we see is our threats against, first of all, multinational corporations. I think these threats will not be impactful. But what is more concerning are privately owned Jewish businesses. And we have seen specific targets in this regard. Because of  the CEOs of these businesses purporting to support and stand with Israel. But I think we need to see how successful these are going to be.  But I think the community is incredibly united right now. They are standing strong. And it's vital because this is a very important Jewish community in South Africa. A rich history, this community has made a remarkable contribution to the fight against apartheid, to building this economy, to creating jobs in the field of medicine and law, to arts and culture, and even some in sport. Manya Brachear Pashman: There was a United Nations resolution calling for a truce. I believe 35 African states voted in favor of that resolution but Cameroon and Ethiopia abstained. Can you shed a little light on where other African countries stand? Wayne Sussman: I would say the overwhelming amount of countries have adopted a neutral position that might change when we come to the United Nations and a multinational forum on the African continent like the African Union. But countries like Kenya, who under the new president have stood firmly and strongly with Israel. Countries, like Zambia have shown a lot of empathy towards Israel. That's a version relationship. And then we look at countries in the west of Africa, Togo and Cameroon. They've historically had very strong ties with Israel, those ties remain. And then you have countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, those countries have stood firmly with Israel at this time. An interesting development. And again, this is a very fluid situation. But Indian Ocean islands like Mauritius, and Seychelles, where I was, I've been surprised at their even-handedness on this particular situation.  Ethiopia is a fascinating country. It's a country which for many years had remarkable levels of economic growth, a very young population, one of the largest populations in Africa, also the center of the African Union, and also the hub of African air travel. And, of course, a country where many of Israel's citizens hail from and still maintain deep personal ties to. So I think that Ethiopia abstaining was very, very interesting in that regard. And that ties will be stronger between the two countries after this. Manya Brachear Pashman: I should note that Sudan and Morocco, two signatories of the Abraham Accords, did vote in favor of a truce. Do you see those ties weakened by all of this? Wayne Sussman: I think universally, it's going to be a challenging time for Israel. But I think once the dust settles, that you will see countries like Morocco return to embracing normalization. You'll see countries like Zambia, who are not part of the Abraham Accords, but are deepening ties, I think they will continue to do that. So I think the next few days and weeks will be very difficult. But again, back to what I was saying earlier, from a bilateral level, I think African countries are pragmatic.  Those which were considering the Abraham Accords will see the benefit with regards to Israel, agritech Israel in fintech, Israel in rural health care, Israel in rural development. I think countries have seen a great benefit in deepening those ties. So it is going to be tested, certainly in places like the United Nations, certainly in forums like the African Union.  What's very interesting, there was an interview in a Saudi Arabian newspaper recently with the president of Somalia. And he was very bullish, saying that if Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a two-state solution, that it would be right for Somalia to engage in peaceful relations with Israel.  So even though we're in a very difficult and dark time, and it's unclear what's going to happen, we're seeing signs from Somalia, which is obviously in Africa, and also signs in Saudi Arabia, that even once the dust settles over here, that diplomatic doors will still remain open. …. Manya Brachear Pashman: In July 1994, terrorists bombed the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and injuring more than 300 others. From that point on, the Argentine capital became known as the site of the worst and most fatal antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. That distinction changed on October 7 when terrorists breached the border between Israel and Gaza and murdered more than 1,200 people. As the Director of AJC's Belfer Institute for Latin American Affairs Dina Siegel Vann explains, it has not been an easy time for Jews on the South American continent or other Spanish-speaking regions.  Dina Siegel Vann: Some of the countries that have really concerned us the most, are countries like Colombia, which in the past used to be the most steadfast ally of the United States and of Israel. But since the arrival of President Petro, who is a leftist ideologue, I would say, this has changed. And since October 7, we have seen really the country go in a totally different direction, which is really endangering the relationship not only with Israel, but with the United States.  Colombia, President Petro has tweeted on October 8, he was already tweeting, where he was comparing Gaza to Auschwitz, where he was talking about international bankers, and he was talking about, the media, international media being on the side of those who commit genocide.  So, you know, that has already made for a very rarefied environment, in terms of relations, as I said, both with the United States and what Israel. He also threatened through his foreign minister, the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador who was responding to his attacks, and now he has recalled his ambassador to Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: Chile also has been unfriendly, but that's been the case for a while. It is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, and leaders of that community have expressed support for Hamas. But AJC will hold its annual strategic forum for Latin American and Iberian leaders in Santiago this month. Can you give us the lay of the land there?  Dina Siegel Vann: So what has happened since is that President Boric, who, you know, who identifies with those positions of the Palestinian community has also had very hostile attitudes towards Israel. Number one, you know, he has not met with the Jewish community, he has not expressed his condolences, he hasn't expressed his condolences to Israel, and to the families of the victims. And he has also spoken, you know, mostly about what is going on in Gaza, and has characterized Israel's efforts to defend itself as genocidal as crimes against humanity, etc. And that also has created a very very vulnerable sense in the Jewish community in Chile that feels, you know, totally alone when it comes to this development. So I would say that Chile and Colombia have been the most egregious cases. Particularly because we're not talking about insignificant countries in the region, we're talking about Colombia, which is the third largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel and Egypt. And we're talking about a country like Chile, who has always been or considers itself a paragon of human rights, not only in the region, but around the world. So their voices count, and that's why, you know, it concerns us a great deal. Manya Brachear Pashman: As I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, until October 7, the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust had taken place in Argentina in 1994, carried out by Iran's terror proxy, Hezbollah. And just recently, Brazilian police detained a couple of Hezbollah operatives who were in the country with plans to attack Brazilian Jewish institutions, correct?  Dina Siegel Vann: It underscores the really, really dangerous role that Iran plays in the region. And we know firsthand about it, because of course, the attacks in 1992 and 1994. But we know about it also, because of the tri-border area, where we know that Hezbollah and Hamas are very active, undertaking all kinds of money laundering activities. It's very important that we keep a focus on that. I think the U.S. is very, very keen on following very closely what's going on in that area, and in other areas in other areas of the region, including Venezuela, which has been the gateway to Iran in the region. Iran is very well positioned in that country and has ties to President Maduro. Started with President Chavez and it has continued with President Maduro.  So we need to keep in focus, when we talk about, you know, potentially dangerous scenarios, not only from lead for Latin America, but for the United States for the whole hemisphere., this, you know, Iran is quite  active. And is really, you know, thinking about how to create mischief, you know, whether in Brazil or elsewhere.We don't remember that, you know, that we have really a dangerous situation very close in our own neighborhood. Manya Brachear Pashman: You have told me that 30% of the hostages hail from Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, 15 from Argentina.  Dina Siegel Vann: Yes. Well, I have to say that Argentina, for example, President Fernandez published in the New York Times a half a page with a letter an open letter demanding that the hostages be brought home and talking about their own hostages their own citizens. So yeah, absolutely. I mean, the hostages are traveling, there's some hostages from Latin American families that are traveling all around the region, meeting with members of Congress meeting with government officials and others and the media to raise more awareness about the issue and pressure the governments, their own governments to to speak up, you know, on on on, on behalf on to bring that these hostages home.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Since recording this episode, many of those hostages with Latin American citizenship have been able to return home. Of course, there are still so many hostages– nearly 160. To push for their safe return, listeners can head to AJC.org/BringThemHome or follow the link in our show notes.  Dina, take us back to Europe–tell us about the situation in Spain.  Dina Siegel Vann: Spain has been a mixed bag, because you have President Sanchez and Foreign Minister Alvarez has come out from the very beginning with very strong signs of support towards Israel, recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization recognizes Israel's right to defend itself. But they they were in the process of creating a government and they need some of the more radical parties, independent parties, and, you know, some other parties like Soomad, who are very anti-Israel, they needed them to form coalition's and this parties were speaking, you know, in very vile terms regarding Israel, and really indulging on some antisemitic themes, and President Sanchez, didn't come out publicly as well as, you know, Foreign Minister Robotis to denounce them. But at the same time, they made clear that everybody understood that in foreign policy, what counts is the voice of the President and the voice of the foreign minister.  They met with the Jewish community, they expressed their their their solidarity, they express their concern about antisemitism, they met with the families of the kidnapped. So they have really tried to, you know, to keep a very balanced and very difficult position, vis a vis, their current situation. They formed a government yesterday, the government was finally formed. And maybe at this point, they will be more, they'll have more leeway to come out to protest this type of discourse.  But at the same time, you know, in Spain, you have seen some vandalism, you have seen some intimidation in schools against Jews and Israelis. So as I said, it's a mixed bag. And we are still monitoring this very carefully. Spain wants to be a leader, wants to be a convener when it comes to negotiating some sort of peace deal, they did it in the Madrid Conference a while back, they see their role, once again, as you know, as as a liaison, as a bridge between both worlds and therefore, you know, they always try to keep a very careful stance when it comes to both communities.   

Joshua Turnil is the director of Jews for Jesus in France and Switzerland, overseeing the work in francophone Europe. Joshua was born in New York, and has a bachelor's degree in French literature. His wife, Delphine, who is French, also serves with Jews for Jesus. They have three children: Ilan, Lilya, and Levia. Joshua has participated in, and produced five music albums, as well as video projects such as the life story of resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, Ruth Gottlieb. Joshua is uniquely qualified to speak to the question of antisemitism, as his Paris office is often the target of antisemitic threats and is under the constant vigilance of the French police. Also, he has worked side by side with leaders of the French Jewish community and church leaders to actively fight against antisemitism.

Finally, the basic question: What is being “culturally Jewish”? Getting at the difference between a culture and religion, how identity manifests in modernity and how it came to be this way is heady stuff, and of course, in true Jewish fashion, the answer is: it's complicated. Thank goodness for my brilliant baby brother, Zeb, who is a professional Jewish educator like my mom, but also a largely secular Jew, like me, and his specialty in and nuanced thinking about modern Western Jewish history. Some light topics up for discussion include: the birth of nation-states, assimilationism, responses to modernity, what “identity” means, and how, lucky us, we came to be part of the "global cabal." Don't worry, there's plenty of snark too, this ain't grad school! Also, love you Mom, sorry in advance! Tons of terminology in this one, so hit the glossary below, and check previous episode notes for more.  GLOSSARY:Rebbe: Largely used by Hasidic Jews, a Yiddish-German term for "rabbi," also referring to a person educated in and who educates, guides or mentors others in Judaism. Assimilationism: The act or desire to be absorbed culturally and socially into the dominant or majority group.  Zionism: A poitical movement founded by Theodor Herzl in the 1890s to create a Jewish homeland, based in an assimilationist philosophy and cemented by antisemitic incidents like the Dreyfus affair (the false accusation and imprisonment of a French Jewish military officer that came to symbolize Jews' supposed disloyalty).Ghetto: Likely derived from Italian, in the early 1500s it referred to the area of Venice where the Jews were required by law to live. It is most broadly used in the Jewish to refer to the walled-in parts of cities where Jews were imprisoned under Nazi occupation, often before being sent to death camps.Humanism: A philosophical approach with a long history, generally centered on placing importance of the human experience, and well-being of humankind over deities or states. Haskala: A late 18th- and early 19th-century European Jewish intellectual school of thought integrating Judaism and modern European life. Yiddish: Translated to mean "Jewish" in Yiddish, a German-derived dialect integrating Hebrew and parts of the local language generally considered the language of Askenazic Jewish communities in central and eastern Europe. Yiddishkeit: a Yiddish word describing a quality of "Jewishness."Ladino: Sometimes called Judeo-Spanish, it has Castilian origins and is considered the language of Sephardic Jews, who originate in Spain and Portugal, but blends broad languages including Arabic or Greek. Nebbish: Yiddish for a meek, pitiful person.Freedom Seder: https://religiondispatches.org/take-history-into-your-own-hands-why-i-wrote-the-freedom-seder-and-why-its-still-necessary/ Reform Movement: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/reform-judaism/Pale of Settlement: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-pale-of-settlement Support the showLike the show? Support it! Or don't, that's cool too. Just glad you're here! https://www.buzzsprout.com/2196108/supporters/new

On July 24, Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia of France wraps up his hectic weeklong tour of Ontario and Quebec. But it wasn't his first time in the country, or specifically Montreal—he came over 30 years ago for a family wedding. In an interview with The CJN Daily, Rabbi Korsia downplayed the impression that France's Jewish community faces an increasingly difficult future in the wake of terrorist attacks and physical violence in the past decade. Tens of thousands of French Jews have moved to Israel, while about 700 French Jewish families are now living in Montreal. The rabbi also supported Quebec's controversial new law, Bill 21, banning the display of religious headgear and other items for people who work for the provincial government. A similar veto has long existed under France's embrace of "secularism". He returns to France Monday night, after visiting a myriad of Jewish organizations, Sephardic synagogues and communal agencies operating in Montreal—a network that left him deeply impressed by what he views as a strong, unified sense of community, which he said does not exist for Jews in his native country. What we talked about Learn more about immigration of French Jews to Canada, in The CJN from 2014 and 2017. When Quebec Jews pressured a p_romoter to cancel show by French rapper Freeze Corleone, on antisemitism lyrics, in The CJN._ Discover the Initiative France Montreal run by Feder_ation CJA to absorb French Jewish immigrants including those from Belgium and Switzerland._ Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

This week, Anna and Oli are joined by CS alumni Colin to talk Tarantino, and discuss Inglorious Bastards (2009). Shoshanna, a French-Jewish dairy farmer and the sole survivor of her family, is hunted by Hans Landa, a quintessentially evil Nazi officer. Now the proprietor of a small movie theatre in Paris, an opportunity arises for her exact revenge when the Nazi party hosts a high-profile premiere at her theatre. Meanwhile, the Americans have finally joined the fight, and an elite squad of Jewish-American soldiers, led by Lt. Aldo Raine, are enlisted to hunt down nazis, which they do in extravagant and horrific Tarantino fashion. Want to be on an episode of the Cinema Scum Podcast? Write to us @CinemaScumPodcast on Instagram with a movie idea!

On Easter Monday, Quebec Premier François Legault tweeted out a column praising the province's Catholic heritage. While Quebecois history is indeed steeped in Catholicism, the message flew in the face of Legault's aggressive push for secularism in the public sphere, best exemplified by the recent Bill 21, which banned civil servants from wearing religious symbols such as kippahs and headscarves. Avi lives in Montreal, and Phoebe is an expert in French Jewish history—and they have thoughts. Plus, with Yom ha-Atzmaut around the corner, the hosts bond over their love of Israeli music and share some of their favourite tunes. What we talked about Read “Three Talmud Courses on Beren Campus Canceled for Next Year” at The Commentator Read “AI brings 2 distinctly Israeli voices to life for Israel's 75th” at the Times of Israel Credits Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.

Today's guest is Tara Ison a writer and author of several books, and currently a Professor of Fiction at Arizona State University. Tara Ison discusses her new novel, "At the Hour Between Dog and Wolf". Tara and Betsy discussed how the transformation of the character Danielle/ Marie-Jeanne was just shocking! A young French Jewish girl becoming a Fascist! The discussion leads to Anti-Semitism, and how it is on the rise.Tara and I also discussed the importance of understanding our past, because if we don't learn from History we are doomed to repeat it. They both agreed that there is a powerful lesson for all of us and that it's important to stand up against oppressive systems, even when they hide behind the promise of safety or freedom.We are providing the Audio Interview with Betsy Wurzel and Tara Ion in depth on the book, Anti-Semitism. This a must to listen to this interview.If we do not learn from history our world is doomed to keep repeating.

Too few people know that parts of the Arab world and Iran were once home to large Jewish communities. This Mizrahi Heritage Month, let's change the story, with the final episode of the first season of The Forgotten Exodus, the first-ever narrative podcast series devoted exclusively to the rich, fascinating, and often-overlooked history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewry. Thank you for lifting up these stories to celebrate Mizrahi Heritage Month. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen to the rest of The Forgotten Exodus, wherever you get your podcasts.   __ Home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, the story of Jews in Iran has been one of prosperity and suffering through the millennia. During the mid-20th century, when Jews were being driven from their homes in Arab lands, Iran assisted Jewish refugees in providing safe passage to Israel. Under the Shah, Israel was an important economic and political ally. Yet that all swiftly changed in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which ushered in Islamic rule, while chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” rang out from the streets of Tehran.   Author, journalist, and poet Roya Hakakian shares her personal story of growing up Jewish in Iran during the reign of the Shah and then Ayatollah Khomeini, which she wrote about in her memoir Journey From the Land of No. Joining Hakakian is Dr. Saba Soomekh, a professor of world religions and Middle Eastern history who wrote From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture. She also serves as associate director of AJC Los Angeles, home to America's largest concentration of Persian Jewish immigrants.  In this sixth and final episode of the season, the Hakakian family's saga captures the common thread that has run throughout this series – when the history of an uprooted community is left untold, it can become vulnerable to others' narratives and assumptions, or become lost forever and forgotten. How do you leave behind a beloved homeland, safeguard its Jewish legacy, and figure out where you belong? __ Show notes: Listen to The Forgotten Exodus and sign up to receive updates about future episodes.  Song credits:  Chag Purim · The Jewish Guitar Project Hevenu Shalom · Violin Heart Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Oud Nation”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Haygaz Yossoulkanian (BMI), IPI#1001905418 “Persian”: Publisher: STUDEO88; Composer: Siddhartha Sharma “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: N/; Composer: DANIELYAN ASHOT MAKICHEVICH (IPI NAME #00855552512), UNITED STATES BMI Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Persian Investigative Mystery”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Peter Cole (BMI), IPI#679735384 “Persian Wind”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Sigma (SESAC); Composer: Abbas Premjee (SESAC), IPI#572363837 “Modern Middle Eastern Underscore”: Publisher: All Pro Audio LLC (611803484); Composer: Alan T Fagan (347654928) “Persian Fantasy Tavern”: Publisher: N/A; Composer: John Hoge “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833. ___ Episode Transcript: ROYA HAKAKIAN: In 1984, when my mother and I left and my father was left alone in Iran, that was yet another major dramatic and traumatic separation. When I look back at the events of 1979, I think, people constantly think about the revolution having, in some ways, blown up Tehran, but it also blew up families. And my own family was among them.  MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century. This series, brought to you by American Jewish Committee, explores that pivotal moment in Jewish history and the rich Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations as some begin to build relations with Israel. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience. This is The Forgotten Exodus.  Today's episode: Leaving Iran MANYA: Outside Israel, Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East. Yes, the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2022. Though there is no official census, experts estimate about 10,000 Jews now live in the region previously known as Persia.  But since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Jews in Iran don't advertise their Jewish identity. They adhere to Iran's morality code: women stay veiled from head to toe and men and women who aren't married or related stay apart in public. They don't express support for Israel, they don't ask questions, and they don't disagree with the regime. One might ask, with all these don'ts, is this a way of living a Jewish life? Or a way to live – period?  For author, journalist, and poet Roya Hakakian and her family, the answer was ultimately no. Roya has devoted her life to being a fact-finder and truth-teller. A former associate producer at the CBS news show 60 Minutes and a Guggenheim Fellow, Roya has written two volumes of poetry in Persian and three books of nonfiction in English, the first of which was published in 2004 – Journey From the Land of No, a memoir about her charmed childhood and accursed adolescence growing up Jewish in Iran under two different regimes.  ROYA: It was hugely important for me to create an account that could be relied on as a historic document. And I did my best through being very, very careful about gathering, interviewing, talking to, observing facts, evidence, documents from everyone, including my most immediate members of my family, to do what we, both as reporters, but also as Jews, are called to do, which is to bear witness. No seemed to be the backdrop of life for women, especially of religious minorities, and, in my own case, Jewish background, and so I thought, what better way to name the book than to call it as what my experience had been, which was the constant nos that I heard. So, Land of No was Iran. MANYA: As a journalist, as a Jew, as a daughter of Iran, Roya will not accept no for an answer. After publishing her memoir, she went on to write Assassins of the Turquoise Palace, a meticulously reported book about a widely underreported incident. In 1992 at a Berlin restaurant, a terrorist attack by the Iranian proxy Hezbollah targeted and killed four Iranian-Kurdish exiles. The book highlighted Iran's enormous global footprint made possible by its terror proxies who don't let international borders get in the way of silencing Iran's critics.   Roya also co-founded the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, an independent non-profit that reports on Iran's human rights abuses.  Her work has not prompted Ayatollah Khameini to publicly issue a fatwa against her  – like the murder order against Salman Rushdie issued by his predecessor. But in 2019, one of her teenage sons answered a knock at the door. It was the FBI, warning her that she was in the crosshairs of the Iranian regime's operatives in America. Most recently, Roya wrote A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious about the emotional roller coaster of arriving in America while still missing a beloved homeland, especially one where their community has endured for thousands of years. ROYA: I felt very strongly that one stays in one's homeland, that you don't just simply take off when things go wrong, that you stick around and try to figure a way through a bad situation. We came to the point where staying didn't seem like it would lead to any sort of real life and leaving was the only option. MANYA: The story of Jews in Iran, often referred to as Persia until 1935, is a millennia-long tale. A saga of suffering, repression, and persecution, peppered with brief moments of relief or at least relative peace – as long as everyone plays by the rules of the regime. SABA SOOMEKH: The history of Jews in Iran goes back to around 2,700 years ago. And a lot of people assume that Jews came to Iran, well at that time, it was called the Persian Empire, in 586 BCE, with the Babylonian exile. But Jews actually came a lot earlier, we're thinking 721-722 BCE with the Assyrian exile which makes us one of the oldest Jewish communities.  MANYA: That's Dr. Saba Soomekh, a professor of world religions and Middle Eastern history and the author of From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture. She also serves as associate director of American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles, home to America's largest concentration of Persian Jewish immigrants. Saba's parents fled Iran in 1978, shortly before the revolution, when Saba and her sister were toddlers. She has devoted her career to preserving Iranian Jewish history.   Saba said Zoroastrian rulers until the 7th Century Common Era vacillated between tolerance and persecution of Jews. For example, according to the biblical account in the Book of Ezra, Cyrus the Great freed the Jews from Babylonian rule, granted all of them citizenship, and permitted them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple.  The Book of Esther goes on to tell the story of another Persian king, believed to be Xerxes I, whose closest adviser called Haman conspires to murder all the Jews – a plot that is foiled by his wife Queen Esther who is Jewish herself. Esther heroically pleads for mercy on behalf of her people – a valor that is celebrated on the Jewish holiday of Purim.  But by the time of the Islamic conquest in the middle of the 7th Century Common Era, the persecution had become so intense that Jews were hopeful about the new Arab Muslim regime, even if that meant being tolerated and treated as second-class citizens, or dhimmi status. But that status had a different interpretation for the Safavids. SABA: Really things didn't get bad for the Jews of the Persian Empire until the 16th century with the Safavid dynasty, because within Shia Islam in the Persian Empire, what they brought with them is this understanding of purity and impurity. And Jews were placed in the same category as dogs, pigs, and feces. They were seen as being religiously impure, what's referred to as najes. MANYA: Jews were placed in ghettos called mahaleh, where they wore yellow stars and special shoes to distinguish them from the rest of the population. They could not leave the mahaleh when it rained for fear that if water rolled off their bodies into the water system, it would render a Shia Muslim impure. For the same reason, they could not go to the bazaars for fear they might contaminate the food. They could not look Muslims in the eye. They were relegated to certain artisanal professions such as silversmithing and block printing – crafts that dirtied one's hands.  MANYA: By the 19th century, some European Jews did make their way to Persia to help. The Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Paris-based network of schools founded by French Jewish intellectuals, opened schools for Jewish children throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including within the mahalehs in Persia.  SABA: They saw themselves as being incredibly sophisticated because they were getting this, in a sense, secular European education, they were speaking French. The idea behind the Allianz schools was exactly that. These poor Middle Eastern Jews, one day the world is going to open up to them, their countries are going to become secular, and we need to prepare them for this, not only within the context of hygiene, but education, language.  And the Allianz schools were right when it came to the Persian Empire because who came into power was Reza Pahlavi, who was a Francophile. And he turned around and said, ‘Wow! Look at the population that speaks French, that knows European philosophy, etc. are the Jews.' He brought them out of the mahaleh, the Jewish ghettos, and said ‘I don't care about religion. Assimilate and acculturate. As long as you show, in a sense, devotion, and nationalism to the Pahlavi regime, which the Jews did—not all Jews—but a majority of them did. MANYA: Reza Pahlavi took control in 1925 and 16 years later, abdicated his throne to his son Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1935, Persia adopted a new name: Iran. As king or the Shah, both father and son set Iran on a course of secularization and rapid modernization under which Jewish life and success seemed to flourish. The only condition was that religious observance was kept behind closed doors. SABA: The idea was that in public, you were secular and in private, you were a Jew. You had Shabbat, you only married a Jew, it was considered blasphemous if you married outside of the Jewish community. And it was happening because people were becoming a part of everyday schools, universities.  But that's why the Jewish day schools became so important. They weren't learning Judaism. What it did was ensure that in a secular Muslim society, that the Jewish kids were marrying within each other and within the community. It was, in a sense, the Golden Age. And that will explain to you why, unlike the early 1950s, where you had this exodus of Mizrahi Jews, Arab Jews from the Arab world and North Africa, you didn't really have that in Iran.  MANYA: In fact, Iran provided a safe passage to Israel for Jewish refugees during that exodus, specifically those fleeing Iraq. The Pahlavi regime considered Israel a critical ally in the face of pan-Arab fervor and hostility in the region. Because of the Arab economic boycott, Israel needed energy sources and Iran needed customers for its oil exports.  A number of Israelis even moved to Tehran, including farmers from kibbutzim who had come to teach agriculture, and doctors and nurses from Hadassah Hospital who had come to teach medicine.  El Al flew in and out of Tehran airport, albeit from a separate terminal. Taking advantage of these warm relations between the two countries, Roya recalls visiting aunts, uncles, and cousins in Israel.  ROYA: We arrived, and my mom and dad did what all visiting Jews from elsewhere do. They dropped to their knees, and they started kissing the ground. I did the same, and it was so moving. Israel was the promised land, we thought about Israel, we dreamed about Israel. But, at the same time, we were Iranians and, and we were living in Iran, and things were good.  This seems to non-Iranian Jews an impossibility. But I think for most of us, it was the way things were. We lived in the country where we had lived for, God knows how many years, and there was this other place that we somehow, in the back of our minds thought we would be going to, without knowing exactly when, but that it would be the destination. MANYA: Relations between the Shah and America flourished as well. In 1951, a hugely popular politician by the name of Mohammad Mosaddegh became prime minister and tried to institute reforms. His attempts to nationalize the oil industry and reduce the monarchy's authority didn't go over well. American and British intelligence backed a coup that restored the Shah's power. Many Iranians resented America's meddling, which became a rallying cry for the revolution. U.S. officials have since expressed regret for the CIA's involvement.  In November 1977, President Jimmy Carter welcomed the Shah and his wife to Washington, D.C., to discuss peace between Egypt and Israel, nuclear nonproliferation, and the energy crisis.  As an extension of these warm relations, the Shah sent many young Iranians to America to enhance their university studies, exposing them to Western ideals and values.  Meanwhile, a savvy fundamentalist cleric was biding his time in a Paris basement. It wouldn't be long before relations crumbled between Iran and Israel, Iran and the U.S,. and Iran and its Jews.  Roya recalls the Hakakian house at the corner of Alley of the Distinguished in Tehran as a lush oasis surrounded by fragrant flowers, full of her father's poetry, and brimming with family memories. Located in the heart of a trendy neighborhood, across the street from the Shah's charity organization, the tall juniper trees, fragrant honeysuckle, and gold mezuzah mounted on the door frame set it apart from the rest of the homes.  Roya's father, Haghnazar, was a poet and a respected headmaster at a Hebrew school. Roya, which means dream in Persian, was a budding poet herself with the typical hopes and dreams of a Jewish teenage girl.  ROYA: Prior to the revolution, life in an average Tehran Hebrew Day School looked very much like life in a Hebrew Day School anywhere else. In the afternoons we had all Hebrew and Jewish studies. We used to put on a Purim show every year. I wanted to be Esther. I never got to be Esther. We had emissaries, I think a couple of years, from Israel, who came to teach us how to do Israeli folk dance. MANYA: There were moments when Roya recalls feeling self-conscious about her Jewishness, particularly at Passover. That's when the family spent two weeks cleaning, demonstrating they weren't najes, or dirty Jews. The work was rewarded when the house filled with the fragrance of cumin and saffron and Persian dishes flowed from the kitchen, including apple and plum beef stew, tarragon veal balls stuffed with raisins, and rice garnished with currants and slivers of almonds.  When her oldest brother Alberto left to study in America, a little fact-finding work on Roya's part revealed that his departure wasn't simply the pursuit of a promising opportunity. As a talented cartoonist whose work had been showcased during an exhibition in Tehran, his family feared Alberto's pen might have gone too far, offending the Pahlavi regime and drawing the attention of the Shah's secret police.  Reports of repression, rapid modernization, the wide gap between Tehran's rich and the rest of the country's poor, and a feeling that Iranians weren't in control of their own destiny all became ingredients for a revolution, stoked by an exiled cleric named Ruhollah Khomeini who was recording cassette tapes in a Paris basement and circulating them back home.  SABA: He would just sit there and go on and on for hours, going against the Shah and West toxification. And then the recordings ended up in Iran. He wasn't even in Iran until the Shah left. MANYA: Promises of democracy and equality galvanized Iranians of all ages to overthrow the Shah in February 1979. Even the CIA was surprised.  SABA: I think a lot of people didn't believe it. Because number one, the Shah, the son, was getting the most amount of military equipment from the United States than anyone in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf. And the idea was: you protect us in the Gulf, and we will give you whatever you need. So they never thought that a man with a beard down to his knee was able to overthrow this regime that was being propped up and supported by America, and also the Europeans. Khomeini comes in and represents himself as a person for everyone. And he was brilliant in the way he spoke about it. And the reason why this revolution was also successful was that it wasn't just religious people who supported Khomeini, there was this concept you had, the men with the turbans, meaning the religious people, and the you know, the bow ties or the ties, meaning the secular man, a lot of them who were sent by the Shah abroad to Europe and America to get an education, who came back, saw democracy there, and wanted it for their country.  MANYA: Very few of the revolutionaries could predict that Tehran was headed in the opposite direction and was about to revert to 16th Century Shia Islamic rule. For almost a year, Tehran and the rest of the nation were swept up in revolutionary euphoria.  Roya recalls how the flag remained green, white, and red, but an Allah insignia replaced its old sword-bearing lion. New currency was printed, with portraits bearing beards and turbans. An ode to Khomeini became the new national anthem. While the Shah had escaped on an Air France flight, corpses of his henchmen graced the front pages of newspapers alongside smiling executioners. All celebrated, until the day one of the corpses was Habib Elghanian, the Jewish philanthropist who supported all of Iran's Hebrew schools. Charged and convicted as a Zionist spy.  Elders in the community remembered the insurmountable accusations of blood libel during darker times for Iran's Jews. But younger generations like Roya's, who had not lived through the eras of more ruthless antisemitism and persecution, continued to root for the revolution, regardless of its victims. Meanwhile, Roya's Jewish day school was taken over by a new veiled headmistress who replaced Hebrew lessons with other kinds of religious instruction, and required robes and headscarves for all the students.  ROYA: In the afternoons, from then on, we used to have lessons in a series of what she called: ‘Is religion something that you inherit, or is it something that you choose?' And so I think the intention, clearly, was to convince us that we didn't need to inherit our religions from our parents and ancestors, that we ought to consider better choices. MANYA: But when the headmistress cut short the eight-day Passover break, that was the last straw for Roya and her classmates. Their revolt got her expelled from school.  Though Jews did not universally support Khomeini, some saw themselves as members of the Iranian Communist, or Tudeh Party. They opposed the Shah and the human rights abuses of his monarchy and cautiously considered Khomeini the better option, or at least the lesser of two evils. Alarmed by the developments such as Elghanian's execution and changes like the ones at Roya's school, Jewish community leaders traveled to the Shia holy city of Qom to assure the Supreme Leader of their loyalty to Iran.  SABA: They did this because they wanted to make sure that they protected the Jewish community that was left in Iran. Khomeini made that distinction: ‘I am not against Jews, I'm against Zionists. You could be Jewish in this country. You cannot be a Zionist in this country.'  MANYA: But that wasn't the only change. Right away, the Family Protection Law was reversed, lifting a law against polygamy, giving men full rights in divorce and custody, and lowering the marriage age for girls to nine. Women were banned from serving as judges, and beaches and sports events were segregated by gender.  But it took longer to shut down universities, albeit for only two years, segregate public schools by gender, and stone to death women who were found to have committed adultery. Though Khomeini was certainly proving that he was not the man he promised to be, he backed away from those promises gradually – one brutal crackdown at a time. As a result, the trickle of Jews out of Iran was slow.  ROYA: My father thought, let's wait a few years and see what happens. In retrospect, I think the overwhelming reason was probably that nobody believed that things had changed, and so drastically. It seemed so unbelievable. I mean, a country that had been under monarchy for 2,500 years, couldn't simply see it all go and have a whole new system put in place, especially when it was such a radical shift from what had been there before. So I think, in many ways, we were among the unbelievers, or at least my father was, we thought it could never be, it would not happen. My father proved to be wrong, nothing changed for the better, and the conditions continued to deteriorate. So, so much catastrophe happened in those few years that Iran just simply was steeped into a very dark, intense, and period of political radicalism and also, all sorts of economic shortages and pressures. And so the five years that we were left behind, that we stayed back, changed our perspective on so many things. MANYA: In November 1979, a group of radical university students who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seized hostages, and held them for 444 days until President Ronald Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981. During the hostages' captivity, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The conflict that ensued for eight years created shortages on everything from dairy products to sanitary napkins. Mosques became distribution centers for rations. ROYA: We stood in line for hours and hours for eggs, and just the very basic things of daily life. And then it became also clear that religious minorities, including Jews, would no longer be enjoying the same privileges as everyone else. There were bombings that kept coming closer and closer to Tehran, which is where we lived. It was very clear that half of my family that was in the United States could not and would not return, because they were boys who would have been conscripted to go to war. Everything had just come apart in a way that was inconceivable to think that they would change for the better again. MANYA: By 1983, new laws had been passed instituting Islamic dress for all women – violations of which earned a penalty of 74 lashes. Other laws imposed an Islamic morality code that barred co-ed gatherings. Roya and her friends found refuge in the sterile office building that housed the Jewish Iranian Students Association. But she soon figured out that the regime hadn't allowed it to remain for the benefit of the Jewish community. It functioned more like a ghetto to keep Jews off the streets and out of their way. Even the activities that previously gave her comfort were marred by the regime. Poetry books were redacted. Mountain hiking trails were arbitrarily closed to mourn the deaths of countless clerics.  SABA: Slowly what they realize, when Khomeini gained power, was that he was not the person that he claimed to be. He was not this feminist, if anything, all this misogynistic rule came in, and a lot of people realize they, in a sense, got duped and he stole the revolution from them. MANYA: By 1984, the war with Iraq had entered its fourth year. But it was no longer about protecting Iran from Saddam Hussein. Now the Ayatollah wanted to conquer Baghdad, then Jerusalem where he aspired to deliver a sermon from the Temple Mount. Meanwhile, Muslim soldiers wounded in the war chose to bleed rather than receive treatment from Jewish doctors. Boys as young as 12 – regardless of faith – were drafted and sent on suicide missions to open the way for Iranian troops to do battle.  SABA: They were basically used as an army of children that the bombs would detonate, their parents would get a plastic key that was the key to heaven. And the bombs would detonate, and then the army would come in Iranian army would come in. And so that's when a lot of the Persian parents, the Jewish parents freaked out. And that's when they were like: we're getting out of here.  MANYA: By this time, the Hakakian family had moved into a rented apartment building and Roya was attending the neighborhood school. Non-Muslim students were required to take Koran classes and could only use designated water fountains and bathrooms.  As a precaution, Roya's father submitted their passports for renewal. Her mother's application was denied; Roya's passport was held for further consideration; her father's was confiscated.  One night, Roya returned home to find her father burning her books and journals on the balcony of their building. The bonfire of words was for the best, he told her. And at long last, so was leaving. With the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Roya and her mother, Helen, fled to Geneva, and after wandering in Europe for several months, eventually reunited with her brothers in the United States. Roya did not see her father again for five years. Still unable to acquire a passport, he was smuggled out of Iran into Pakistan, on foot.  ROYA: My eldest brother left to come to America in the mid-70s. There was a crack in the body of the family then. But then came 1979, and my two other brothers followed. And so we were apart for all those very, very formative years. And then, in 1984, when my mother and I left and my father was left alone in Iran, that was yet another major dramatic and traumatic separation. So, you know, it's interesting that when I look back at the events of 1979, I think, people constantly think about the revolution having, in some ways, blown up Tehran, but it also blew up families. And my own family was among them.  MANYA: While her father's arrival in America was delayed, Roya describes her arrival in stages. She first arrived as a Jewish refugee in 1985 and found her place doing what she had always done – writing in Persian – rebuilding a body of work that had been reduced to ashes.  ROYA: As a teen I had become a writer, people were encouraging me. So, I continued to do it. It was the thing I knew how to do. And it gave me a sense of grounding and identity. So, I kept on doing it, and it kind of worked its magic, as I suppose good writing does for all writers. It connected me to a new community of people who read Persian and who appreciated what I was trying to do. And I found that with each book that I write, I find a new tribe for myself.  MANYA: She arrived again once she learned English. In her first year at Brooklyn College, she tape-recorded her professors to listen again later. She eventually took a course with renowned poet Allen Ginsberg, whose poetry was best known for its condemnation of persecution and imperial politics and whose 1950s poem “Howl” tested the boundaries of America's freedom of speech.  ROYA: When I mastered the language enough to feel comfortable to be a writer once more, then I found a footing and through Allen and a community of literary people that I met here began to kind of foresee a possibility of writing in English. MANYA: There was also her arrival to an American Jewish community that was largely unaware of the role Jews played in shaping Iran long before the advent of Islam. Likewise, they were just as unaware of the role Iran played in shaping ancient Jewish life. They were oblivious to the community's traditions, and the indignities and abuses Iranian Jews had suffered, continue to suffer, with other religious minorities to keep those traditions alive in their homeland.   ROYA: People would say, ‘Oh, you have an accent, where are you from?' I would say, ‘Iran,' and the Jews at the synagogue would say, ‘Are there Jews in Iran?' MANYA: In Roya's most recent book A Beginner's Guide to America, a sequel of sorts to her memoir, she reflects on the lessons learned and the observations made once she arrived in the U.S. She counsels newcomers to take their time answering what might at first seem like an ominous or loaded question. Here's an excerpt: ROYA: “In the early days after your arrival, “Where are you from?” is above all a reminder of your unpreparedness to speak of the past. You have yet to shape your story – what you saw, why you left, how you left, and what it took to get here. This narrative is your personal Book of Genesis: the American Volume, the one you will sooner or later pen, in the mind, if not on the page. You must take your time to do it well and do it justice.” MANYA: No two immigrants' experiences are the same, she writes. The only thing they all have in common is that they have been uprooted and the stories of their displacement have been hijacked by others' assumptions and agendas. ROYA: I witnessed, as so many other Iranian Jews witness, that the story of how we came, why we came, who we had been, was being narrated by those who had a certain partisan perspective about what the history of what Jewish people should be, or how this history needs to be cast, for whatever purposes they had. And I would see that our own recollections of what had happened were being shaded by, or filtered through views other than our own, or facts other than our own. MANYA: As we wrap up this sixth and final episode of the first season of The Forgotten Exodus, it is clear that the same can be said about the stories of the Jewish people. No two tales are the same. Jews have lived everywhere, and there are reasons why they don't anymore. Some fled as refugees. Some embarked as dreamers. Some forged ahead without looking back. Others counted the days until they could return home. What ties them together is their courage, perseverance, and resilience–whether they hailed from Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, or parts beyond. These six episodes offer only a handful of those stories–shaped by memories and experiences. ROYA: That became sort of an additional incentive, if not burden for me to, to be a witness for several communities, to tell the story of what happened in Iran for American audiences, to Jews, to non-Iranian Jews who didn't realize that there were Jews in Iran, but also to record the history, according to how I had witnessed it, for ourselves, to make sure that it goes down, as I knew it. MANYA: Iranian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who in the last century left their homes in the Middle East to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Many thanks to Roya for sharing her family's story and for helping us wrap up this season of The Forgotten Exodus. If you're listening for the first time, check out our previous episodes on Jews from Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan. Go to ajc.org/theforgottenexodus where you'll also find transcripts, show notes, and family photos. There are still so many stories to tell. Stay tuned in coming months. Does your family have roots in North Africa or the Middle East? One of the goals of this series is to make sure we gather these stories before they are lost. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to find more of these stories.  Call The Forgotten Exodus hotline. Tell us where your family is from and something you'd like for our listeners to know such as how you've tried to keep the traditions and memories alive. Call 212.891.1336 and leave a message of 2 minutes or less. Be sure to leave your name and where you live now. You can also send an email to theforgottenexodus@ajc.org and we'll be in touch. Tune in every Friday for AJC's weekly podcast about global affairs through a Jewish lens, People of the Pod, brought to you by the same team behind The Forgotten Exodus.  Atara Lakritz is our producer, CucHuong Do is our production manager. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Sean Savage, Ian Kaplan, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name, for making this series possible. And extra special thanks to David Harris, who has been a constant champion for making sure these stories do not remain untold. You can follow The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can sign up to receive updates at AJC.org/forgottenexodussignup. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed the episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

With winter holidays approaching, there's only one thing everyone wants keeping them warm by candlelight on a dark winter's night: a Jewish romance novel. You may laugh, but the subgenre is huge, spanning from rabbis to regency. What's the deal? Are Jews reading this—or is it for curious gentiles? Tamar Fox, an author and editor, joins to explain the plots, the meaning and what the books actually do well. After that, Instagram comedian and hazzan Orel Gozlan stops by to outline the impact of French Jewish comic Gad Elmaleh, who recently announced his conversion to Catholicism. What we talked about Books mentioned: Hot Rabbi by Aviva Blakeman; Promised Land by Rose Lerner; Band Sinister by K.J. Charles; The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire by Rachel Sharona Lewis; The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan Listen to "Stages of Psychosexual Development" by Ryan Stotland Credits Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

Home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, the story of Jews in Iran has been one of prosperity and suffering through the millennia. During the mid-20th century, when Jews were being driven from their homes in Arab lands, Iran assisted Jewish refugees in providing safe passage to Israel. Under the Shah, Israel was an important economic and political ally. Yet that all swiftly changed in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which ushered in Islamic rule, while chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” rang out from the streets of Tehran.   Author, journalist, and poet Roya Hakakian shares her personal story of growing up Jewish in Iran during the reign of the Shah and then Ayatollah Khomeini, which she wrote about in her memoir Journey From the Land of No. Joining Hakakian is Dr. Saba Soomekh, a professor of world religions and Middle Eastern history who wrote From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture. She also serves as associate director of AJC Los Angeles, home to America's largest concentration of Persian Jewish immigrants.  In this sixth and final episode of the season, the Hakakian family's saga captures the common thread that has run throughout this series – when the history of an uprooted community is left untold, it can become vulnerable to others' narratives and assumptions, or become lost forever and forgotten. How do you leave behind a beloved homeland, safeguard its Jewish legacy, and figure out where you belong? ___ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits:  Chag Purim · The Jewish Guitar Project Hevenu Shalom · Violin Heart Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Oud Nation”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Haygaz Yossoulkanian (BMI), IPI#1001905418 “Persian”: Publisher: STUDEO88; Composer: Siddhartha Sharma “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: N/; Composer: DANIELYAN ASHOT MAKICHEVICH (IPI NAME #00855552512), UNITED STATES BMI Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Persian Investigative Mystery”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Peter Cole (BMI), IPI#679735384 “Persian Wind”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Sigma (SESAC); Composer: Abbas Premjee (SESAC), IPI#572363837 “Modern Middle Eastern Underscore”: Publisher: All Pro Audio LLC (611803484); Composer: Alan T Fagan (347654928) “Persian Fantasy Tavern”: Publisher: N/A; Composer: John Hoge “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833.   ___ Episode Transcript: ROYA HAKAKIAN: In 1984, when my mother and I left and my father was left alone in Iran, that was yet another major dramatic and traumatic separation. When I look back at the events of 1979, I think, people constantly think about the revolution having, in some ways, blown up Tehran, but it also blew up families. And my own family was among them.  MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century. This series, brought to you by American Jewish Committee, explores that pivotal moment in Jewish history and the rich Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations as some begin to build relations with Israel. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience. This is The Forgotten Exodus.  Today's episode: Leaving Iran MANYA: Outside Israel, Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East. Yes, the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2022. Though there is no official census, experts estimate about 10,000 Jews now live in the region previously known as Persia.  But since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Jews in Iran don't advertise their Jewish identity. They adhere to Iran's morality code: women stay veiled from head to toe and men and women who aren't married or related stay apart in public. They don't express support for Israel, they don't ask questions, and they don't disagree with the regime. One might ask, with all these don'ts, is this a way of living a Jewish life? Or a way to live – period?  For author, journalist, and poet Roya Hakakian and her family, the answer was ultimately no. Roya has devoted her life to being a fact-finder and truth-teller. A former associate producer at the CBS news show 60 Minutes and a Guggenheim Fellow, Roya has written two volumes of poetry in Persian and three books of nonfiction in English, the first of which was published in 2004 – Journey From the Land of No, a memoir about her charmed childhood and accursed adolescence growing up Jewish in Iran under two different regimes.  ROYA: It was hugely important for me to create an account that could be relied on as a historic document. And I did my best through being very, very careful about gathering, interviewing, talking to, observing facts, evidence, documents from everyone, including my most immediate members of my family, to do what we, both as reporters, but also as Jews, are called to do, which is to bear witness. No seemed to be the backdrop of life for women, especially of religious minorities, and, in my own case, Jewish background, and so I thought, what better way to name the book than to call it as what my experience had been, which was the constant nos that I heard. So, Land of No was Iran. MANYA: As a journalist, as a Jew, as a daughter of Iran, Roya will not accept no for an answer. After publishing her memoir, she went on to write Assassins of the Turquoise Palace, a meticulously reported book about a widely underreported incident. In 1992 at a Berlin restaurant, a terrorist attack by the Iranian proxy Hezbollah targeted and killed four Iranian-Kurdish exiles. The book highlighted Iran's enormous global footprint made possible by its terror proxies who don't let international borders get in the way of silencing Iran's critics.   Roya also co-founded the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, an independent non-profit that reports on Iran's human rights abuses.  Her work has not prompted Ayatollah Khameini to publicly issue a fatwa against her  – like the murder order against Salman Rushdie issued by his predecessor. But in 2019, one of her teenage sons answered a knock at the door. It was the FBI, warning her that she was in the crosshairs of the Iranian regime's operatives in America. Most recently, Roya wrote A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious about the emotional roller coaster of arriving in America while still missing a beloved homeland, especially one where their community has endured for thousands of years. ROYA: I felt very strongly that one stays in one's homeland, that you don't just simply take off when things go wrong, that you stick around and try to figure a way through a bad situation. We came to the point where staying didn't seem like it would lead to any sort of real life and leaving was the only option. MANYA: The story of Jews in Iran, often referred to as Persia until 1935, is a millennia-long tale. A saga of suffering, repression, and persecution, peppered with brief moments of relief or at least relative peace – as long as everyone plays by the rules of the regime. SABA SOOMEKH: The history of Jews in Iran goes back to around 2,700 years ago. And a lot of people assume that Jews came to Iran, well at that time, it was called the Persian Empire, in 586 BCE, with the Babylonian exile. But Jews actually came a lot earlier, we're thinking 721-722 BCE with the Assyrian exile which makes us one of the oldest Jewish communities.  MANYA: That's Dr. Saba Soomekh, a professor of world religions and Middle Eastern history and the author of From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture. She also serves as associate director of American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles, home to America's largest concentration of Persian Jewish immigrants. Saba's parents fled Iran in 1978, shortly before the revolution, when Saba and her sister were toddlers. She has devoted her career to preserving Iranian Jewish history.   Saba said Zoroastrian rulers until the 7th Century Common Era vacillated between tolerance and persecution of Jews. For example, according to the biblical account in the Book of Ezra, Cyrus the Great freed the Jews from Babylonian rule, granted all of them citizenship, and permitted them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple.  The Book of Esther goes on to tell the story of another Persian king, believed to be Xerxes I, whose closest adviser called Haman conspires to murder all the Jews – a plot that is foiled by his wife Queen Esther who is Jewish herself. Esther heroically pleads for mercy on behalf of her people – a valor that is celebrated on the Jewish holiday of Purim.  But by the time of the Islamic conquest in the middle of the 7th Century Common Era, the persecution had become so intense that Jews were hopeful about the new Arab Muslim regime, even if that meant being tolerated and treated as second-class citizens, or dhimmi status. But that status had a different interpretation for the Safavids. SABA: Really things didn't get bad for the Jews of the Persian Empire until the 16th century with the Safavid dynasty, because within Shia Islam in the Persian Empire, what they brought with them is this understanding of purity and impurity. And Jews were placed in the same category as dogs, pigs, and feces. They were seen as being religiously impure, what's referred to as najes. MANYA: Jews were placed in ghettos called mahaleh, where they wore yellow stars and special shoes to distinguish them from the rest of the population. They could not leave the mahaleh when it rained for fear that if water rolled off their bodies into the water system, it would render a Shia Muslim impure. For the same reason, they could not go to the bazaars for fear they might contaminate the food. They could not look Muslims in the eye. They were relegated to certain artisanal professions such as silversmithing and block printing – crafts that dirtied one's hands.  MANYA: By the 19th century, some European Jews did make their way to Persia to help. The Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Paris-based network of schools founded by French Jewish intellectuals, opened schools for Jewish children throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including within the mahalehs in Persia.  SABA: They saw themselves as being incredibly sophisticated because they were getting this, in a sense, secular European education, they were speaking French. The idea behind the Allianz schools was exactly that. These poor Middle Eastern Jews, one day the world is going to open up to them, their countries are going to become secular, and we need to prepare them for this, not only within the context of hygiene, but education, language.  And the Allianz schools were right when it came to the Persian Empire because who came into power was Reza Pahlavi, who was a Francophile. And he turned around and said, ‘Wow! Look at the population that speaks French, that knows European philosophy, etc. are the Jews.' He brought them out of the mahaleh, the Jewish ghettos, and said ‘I don't care about religion. Assimilate and acculturate. As long as you show, in a sense, devotion, and nationalism to the Pahlavi regime, which the Jews did—not all Jews—but a majority of them did. MANYA: Reza Pahlavi took control in 1925 and 16 years later, abdicated his throne to his son Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1935, Persia adopted a new name: Iran. As king or the Shah, both father and son set Iran on a course of secularization and rapid modernization under which Jewish life and success seemed to flourish. The only condition was that religious observance was kept behind closed doors. SABA: The idea was that in public, you were secular and in private, you were a Jew. You had Shabbat, you only married a Jew, it was considered blasphemous if you married outside of the Jewish community. And it was happening because people were becoming a part of everyday schools, universities.  But that's why the Jewish day schools became so important. They weren't learning Judaism. What it did was ensure that in a secular Muslim society, that the Jewish kids were marrying within each other and within the community. It was, in a sense, the Golden Age. And that will explain to you why, unlike the early 1950s, where you had this exodus of Mizrahi Jews, Arab Jews from the Arab world and North Africa, you didn't really have that in Iran.  MANYA: In fact, Iran provided a safe passage to Israel for Jewish refugees during that exodus, specifically those fleeing Iraq. The Pahlavi regime considered Israel a critical ally in the face of pan-Arab fervor and hostility in the region. Because of the Arab economic boycott, Israel needed energy sources and Iran needed customers for its oil exports.  A number of Israelis even moved to Tehran, including farmers from kibbutzim who had come to teach agriculture, and doctors and nurses from Hadassah Hospital who had come to teach medicine.  El Al flew in and out of Tehran airport, albeit from a separate terminal. Taking advantage of these warm relations between the two countries, Roya recalls visiting aunts, uncles, and cousins in Israel.  ROYA: We arrived, and my mom and dad did what all visiting Jews from elsewhere do. They dropped to their knees, and they started kissing the ground. I did the same, and it was so moving. Israel was the promised land, we thought about Israel, we dreamed about Israel. But, at the same time, we were Iranians and, and we were living in Iran, and things were good.  This seems to non-Iranian Jews an impossibility. But I think for most of us, it was the way things were. We lived in the country where we had lived for, God knows how many years, and there was this other place that we somehow, in the back of our minds thought we would be going to, without knowing exactly when, but that it would be the destination. MANYA: Relations between the Shah and America flourished as well. In 1951, a hugely popular politician by the name of Mohammad Mosaddegh became prime minister and tried to institute reforms. His attempts to nationalize the oil industry and reduce the monarchy's authority didn't go over well. American and British intelligence backed a coup that restored the Shah's power. Many Iranians resented America's meddling, which became a rallying cry for the revolution. U.S. officials have since expressed regret for the CIA's involvement.  In November 1977, President Jimmy Carter welcomed the Shah and his wife to Washington, D.C., to discuss peace between Egypt and Israel, nuclear nonproliferation, and the energy crisis.  As an extension of these warm relations, the Shah sent many young Iranians to America to enhance their university studies, exposing them to Western ideals and values.  Meanwhile, a savvy fundamentalist cleric was biding his time in a Paris basement. It wouldn't be long before relations crumbled between Iran and Israel, Iran and the U.S,. and Iran and its Jews.  Roya recalls the Hakakian house at the corner of Alley of the Distinguished in Tehran as a lush oasis surrounded by fragrant flowers, full of her father's poetry, and brimming with family memories. Located in the heart of a trendy neighborhood, across the street from the Shah's charity organization, the tall juniper trees, fragrant honeysuckle, and gold mezuzah mounted on the door frame set it apart from the rest of the homes.  Roya's father, Haghnazar, was a poet and a respected headmaster at a Hebrew school. Roya, which means dream in Persian, was a budding poet herself with the typical hopes and dreams of a Jewish teenage girl.  ROYA: Prior to the revolution, life in an average Tehran Hebrew Day School looked very much like life in a Hebrew Day School anywhere else. In the afternoons we had all Hebrew and Jewish studies. We used to put on a Purim show every year. I wanted to be Esther. I never got to be Esther. We had emissaries, I think a couple of years, from Israel, who came to teach us how to do Israeli folk dance. MANYA: There were moments when Roya recalls feeling self-conscious about her Jewishness, particularly at Passover. That's when the family spent two weeks cleaning, demonstrating they weren't najes, or dirty Jews. The work was rewarded when the house filled with the fragrance of cumin and saffron and Persian dishes flowed from the kitchen, including apple and plum beef stew, tarragon veal balls stuffed with raisins, and rice garnished with currants and slivers of almonds.  When her oldest brother Alberto left to study in America, a little fact-finding work on Roya's part revealed that his departure wasn't simply the pursuit of a promising opportunity. As a talented cartoonist whose work had been showcased during an exhibition in Tehran, his family feared Alberto's pen might have gone too far, offending the Pahlavi regime and drawing the attention of the Shah's secret police.  Reports of repression, rapid modernization, the wide gap between Tehran's rich and the rest of the country's poor, and a feeling that Iranians weren't in control of their own destiny all became ingredients for a revolution, stoked by an exiled cleric named Ruhollah Khomeini who was recording cassette tapes in a Paris basement and circulating them back home.  SABA: He would just sit there and go on and on for hours, going against the Shah and West toxification. And then the recordings ended up in Iran. He wasn't even in Iran until the Shah left. MANYA: Promises of democracy and equality galvanized Iranians of all ages to overthrow the Shah in February 1979. Even the CIA was surprised.  SABA: I think a lot of people didn't believe it. Because number one, the Shah, the son, was getting the most amount of military equipment from the United States than anyone in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf. And the idea was: you protect us in the Gulf, and we will give you whatever you need. So they never thought that a man with a beard down to his knee was able to overthrow this regime that was being propped up and supported by America, and also the Europeans. Khomeini comes in and represents himself as a person for everyone. And he was brilliant in the way he spoke about it. And the reason why this revolution was also successful was that it wasn't just religious people who supported Khomeini, there was this concept you had, the men with the turbans, meaning the religious people, and the you know, the bow ties or the ties, meaning the secular man, a lot of them who were sent by the Shah abroad to Europe and America to get an education, who came back, saw democracy there, and wanted it for their country.  MANYA: Very few of the revolutionaries could predict that Tehran was headed in the opposite direction and was about to revert to 16th Century Shia Islamic rule. For almost a year, Tehran and the rest of the nation were swept up in revolutionary euphoria.  Roya recalls how the flag remained green, white, and red, but an Allah insignia replaced its old sword-bearing lion. New currency was printed, with portraits bearing beards and turbans. An ode to Khomeini became the new national anthem. While the Shah had escaped on an Air France flight, corpses of his henchmen graced the front pages of newspapers alongside smiling executioners. All celebrated, until the day one of the corpses was Habib Elghanian, the Jewish philanthropist who supported all of Iran's Hebrew schools. Charged and convicted as a Zionist spy.  Elders in the community remembered the insurmountable accusations of blood libel during darker times for Iran's Jews. But younger generations like Roya's, who had not lived through the eras of more ruthless antisemitism and persecution, continued to root for the revolution, regardless of its victims. Meanwhile, Roya's Jewish day school was taken over by a new veiled headmistress who replaced Hebrew lessons with other kinds of religious instruction, and required robes and headscarves for all the students.  ROYA: In the afternoons, from then on, we used to have lessons in a series of what she called: ‘Is religion something that you inherit, or is it something that you choose?' And so I think the intention, clearly, was to convince us that we didn't need to inherit our religions from our parents and ancestors, that we ought to consider better choices. MANYA: But when the headmistress cut short the eight-day Passover break, that was the last straw for Roya and her classmates. Their revolt got her expelled from school.  Though Jews did not universally support Khomeini, some saw themselves as members of the Iranian Communist, or Tudeh Party. They opposed the Shah and the human rights abuses of his monarchy and cautiously considered Khomeini the better option, or at least the lesser of two evils. Alarmed by the developments such as Elghanian's execution and changes like the ones at Roya's school, Jewish community leaders traveled to the Shia holy city of Qom to assure the Supreme Leader of their loyalty to Iran.  SABA: They did this because they wanted to make sure that they protected the Jewish community that was left in Iran. Khomeini made that distinction: ‘I am not against Jews, I'm against Zionists. You could be Jewish in this country. You cannot be a Zionist in this country.'  MANYA: But that wasn't the only change. Right away, the Family Protection Law was reversed, lifting a law against polygamy, giving men full rights in divorce and custody, and lowering the marriage age for girls to nine. Women were banned from serving as judges, and beaches and sports events were segregated by gender.  But it took longer to shut down universities, albeit for only two years, segregate public schools by gender, and stone to death women who were found to have committed adultery. Though Khomeini was certainly proving that he was not the man he promised to be, he backed away from those promises gradually – one brutal crackdown at a time. As a result, the trickle of Jews out of Iran was slow.  ROYA: My father thought, let's wait a few years and see what happens. In retrospect, I think the overwhelming reason was probably that nobody believed that things had changed, and so drastically. It seemed so unbelievable. I mean, a country that had been under monarchy for 2,500 years, couldn't simply see it all go and have a whole new system put in place, especially when it was such a radical shift from what had been there before. So I think, in many ways, we were among the unbelievers, or at least my father was, we thought it could never be, it would not happen. My father proved to be wrong, nothing changed for the better, and the conditions continued to deteriorate. So, so much catastrophe happened in those few years that Iran just simply was steeped into a very dark, intense, and period of political radicalism and also, all sorts of economic shortages and pressures. And so the five years that we were left behind, that we stayed back, changed our perspective on so many things. MANYA: In November 1979, a group of radical university students who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seized hostages, and held them for 444 days until President Ronald Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981. During the hostages' captivity, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The conflict that ensued for eight years created shortages on everything from dairy products to sanitary napkins. Mosques became distribution centers for rations. ROYA: We stood in line for hours and hours for eggs, and just the very basic things of daily life. And then it became also clear that religious minorities, including Jews, would no longer be enjoying the same privileges as everyone else. There were bombings that kept coming closer and closer to Tehran, which is where we lived. It was very clear that half of my family that was in the United States could not and would not return, because they were boys who would have been conscripted to go to war. Everything had just come apart in a way that was inconceivable to think that they would change for the better again. MANYA: By 1983, new laws had been passed instituting Islamic dress for all women – violations of which earned a penalty of 74 lashes. Other laws imposed an Islamic morality code that barred co-ed gatherings. Roya and her friends found refuge in the sterile office building that housed the Jewish Iranian Students Association. But she soon figured out that the regime hadn't allowed it to remain for the benefit of the Jewish community. It functioned more like a ghetto to keep Jews off the streets and out of their way. Even the activities that previously gave her comfort were marred by the regime. Poetry books were redacted. Mountain hiking trails were arbitrarily closed to mourn the deaths of countless clerics.  SABA: Slowly what they realize, when Khomeini gained power, was that he was not the person that he claimed to be. He was not this feminist, if anything, all this misogynistic rule came in, and a lot of people realize they, in a sense, got duped and he stole the revolution from them. MANYA: By 1984, the war with Iraq had entered its fourth year. But it was no longer about protecting Iran from Saddam Hussein. Now the Ayatollah wanted to conquer Baghdad, then Jerusalem where he aspired to deliver a sermon from the Temple Mount. Meanwhile, Muslim soldiers wounded in the war chose to bleed rather than receive treatment from Jewish doctors. Boys as young as 12 – regardless of faith – were drafted and sent on suicide missions to open the way for Iranian troops to do battle.  SABA: They were basically used as an army of children that the bombs would detonate, their parents would get a plastic key that was the key to heaven. And the bombs would detonate, and then the army would come in Iranian army would come in. And so that's when a lot of the Persian parents, the Jewish parents freaked out. And that's when they were like: we're getting out of here.  MANYA: By this time, the Hakakian family had moved into a rented apartment building and Roya was attending the neighborhood school. Non-Muslim students were required to take Koran classes and could only use designated water fountains and bathrooms.  As a precaution, Roya's father submitted their passports for renewal. Her mother's application was denied; Roya's passport was held for further consideration; her father's was confiscated.  One night, Roya returned home to find her father burning her books and journals on the balcony of their building. The bonfire of words was for the best, he told her. And at long last, so was leaving. With the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Roya and her mother, Helen, fled to Geneva, and after wandering in Europe for several months, eventually reunited with her brothers in the United States. Roya did not see her father again for five years. Still unable to acquire a passport, he was smuggled out of Iran into Pakistan, on foot.  ROYA: My eldest brother left to come to America in the mid-70s. There was a crack in the body of the family then. But then came 1979, and my two other brothers followed. And so we were apart for all those very, very formative years. And then, in 1984, when my mother and I left and my father was left alone in Iran, that was yet another major dramatic and traumatic separation. So, you know, it's interesting that when I look back at the events of 1979, I think, people constantly think about the revolution having, in some ways, blown up Tehran, but it also blew up families. And my own family was among them.  MANYA: While her father's arrival in America was delayed, Roya describes her arrival in stages. She first arrived as a Jewish refugee in 1985 and found her place doing what she had always done – writing in Persian – rebuilding a body of work that had been reduced to ashes.  ROYA: As a teen I had become a writer, people were encouraging me. So, I continued to do it. It was the thing I knew how to do. And it gave me a sense of grounding and identity. So, I kept on doing it, and it kind of worked its magic, as I suppose good writing does for all writers. It connected me to a new community of people who read Persian and who appreciated what I was trying to do. And I found that with each book that I write, I find a new tribe for myself.  MANYA: She arrived again once she learned English. In her first year at Brooklyn College, she tape-recorded her professors to listen again later. She eventually took a course with renowned poet Allen Ginsberg, whose poetry was best known for its condemnation of persecution and imperial politics and whose 1950s poem “Howl” tested the boundaries of America's freedom of speech.  ROYA: When I mastered the language enough to feel comfortable to be a writer once more, then I found a footing and through Allen and a community of literary people that I met here began to kind of foresee a possibility of writing in English. MANYA: There was also her arrival to an American Jewish community that was largely unaware of the role Jews played in shaping Iran long before the advent of Islam. Likewise, they were just as unaware of the role Iran played in shaping ancient Jewish life. They were oblivious to the community's traditions, and the indignities and abuses Iranian Jews had suffered, continue to suffer, with other religious minorities to keep those traditions alive in their homeland.   ROYA: People would say, ‘Oh, you have an accent, where are you from?' I would say, ‘Iran,' and the Jews at the synagogue would say, ‘Are there Jews in Iran?' MANYA: In Roya's most recent book A Beginner's Guide to America, a sequel of sorts to her memoir, she reflects on the lessons learned and the observations made once she arrived in the U.S. She counsels newcomers to take their time answering what might at first seem like an ominous or loaded question. Here's an excerpt: ROYA: “In the early days after your arrival, “Where are you from?” is above all a reminder of your unpreparedness to speak of the past. You have yet to shape your story – what you saw, why you left, how you left, and what it took to get here. This narrative is your personal Book of Genesis: the American Volume, the one you will sooner or later pen, in the mind, if not on the page. You must take your time to do it well and do it justice.” MANYA: No two immigrants' experiences are the same, she writes. The only thing they all have in common is that they have been uprooted and the stories of their displacement have been hijacked by others' assumptions and agendas. ROYA: I witnessed, as so many other Iranian Jews witness, that the story of how we came, why we came, who we had been, was being narrated by those who had a certain partisan perspective about what the history of what Jewish people should be, or how this history needs to be cast, for whatever purposes they had. And I would see that our own recollections of what had happened were being shaded by, or filtered through views other than our own, or facts other than our own. MANYA: As we wrap up this sixth and final episode of the first season of The Forgotten Exodus, it is clear that the same can be said about the stories of the Jewish people. No two tales are the same. Jews have lived everywhere, and there are reasons why they don't anymore. Some fled as refugees. Some embarked as dreamers. Some forged ahead without looking back. Others counted the days until they could return home. What ties them together is their courage, perseverance, and resilience–whether they hailed from Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, or parts beyond. These six episodes offer only a handful of those stories–shaped by memories and experiences. ROYA: That became sort of an additional incentive, if not burden for me to, to be a witness for several communities, to tell the story of what happened in Iran for American audiences, to Jews, to non-Iranian Jews who didn't realize that there were Jews in Iran, but also to record the history, according to how I had witnessed it, for ourselves, to make sure that it goes down, as I knew it. MANYA: Iranian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who in the last century left their homes in the Middle East to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Many thanks to Roya for sharing her family's story and for helping us wrap up this season of The Forgotten Exodus. If you're listening for the first time, check out our previous episodes on Jews from Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan. Go to ajc.org/theforgottenexodus where you'll also find transcripts, show notes, and family photos. There are still so many stories to tell. Stay tuned in coming months. Does your family have roots in North Africa or the Middle East? One of the goals of this series is to make sure we gather these stories before they are lost. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to find more of these stories.  Call The Forgotten Exodus hotline. Tell us where your family is from and something you'd like for our listeners to know such as how you've tried to keep the traditions and memories alive. Call 212.891.1336 and leave a message of 2 minutes or less. Be sure to leave your name and where you live now. You can also send an email to theforgottenexodus@ajc.org and we'll be in touch. Tune in every Friday for AJC's weekly podcast about global affairs through a Jewish lens, People of the Pod, brought to you by the same team behind The Forgotten Exodus.  Atara Lakritz is our producer, CucHuong Do is our production manager. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Sean Savage, Ian Kaplan, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name, for making this series possible. And extra special thanks to David Harris, who has been a constant champion for making sure these stories do not remain untold. You can follow The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can sign up to receive updates at AJC.org/forgottenexodussignup. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed the episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

Born in Paris in 1974 to his Vietnamese mother and French-Jewish adoptive father. At 6 years old, Chris Tai began his training in diverse styles of Martial Arts, obtained at 17 his black belt in Japanese jiu-jitsu and competed in the first MMA competition in France. In his 20's he traveled to Lhassa, Tibet to deepen his practice in Buddhism at its source. During his stay, he had the opportunity to teach Kung Fu and Qi Gong to some of the Monks. For almost a decade, Chris Tai lived in Madrid working as a photographer in advertising and fashion for numerous high-end companies. Not feeling fulfilled and seeking to make more of an impact in the world, in 2009 he moved to the U.S.Chris Tai invested over 30 years of his life to the discipline of personal development and 40 years in martial art practice. His studies were extensive and he achieved an impressive series of certifications. These include: *Life and Love consciousness coaching with Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks*NLP licensed master practitioner*Clinical hypnosis*Studied Pranayama and Qi Gong for over 30 years*Russian martial art Systema instructor*Combatives Instructor, and MovNat trainer level 1&2*Stick Bodywork therapyIn 2014, Chris traveled to Poland to meet and study with Wim Hof and became the first person certified by Wim Hof, aka “The Iceman” in the U.S. and in France. To further his style of Breathwork he also mentored with Dan Brulé. In 2016, he had the desire to teach the knowledge he had compiled in his lifetime. Hence, he created “Ethos Flow” a method of Breathwork, Movement and Meditation.This easy and simple method he founded, is now taught by coaches in France, Spain and in the U.S.Over thousands of people and hundreds of seminars all around the world have benefited from this practice. Chris Tai considers himself as an eternal student. He continues his love of teaching and encourages people to become their “OWN GURU” by practice and quality of choice. Have a beautiful now.Chris Tai MelodistaFounder of Ethos Flow ABOUT the HOST:Seth Budaiwww.theelementaltrainer.com

The French Revolution brought the promise of equality to many oppressed groups living in France. French Jews, subject to brutal treatment for centuries, sought to benefit from the new freedoms promised by the Revolution. So they enlisted the help of young Catholic attorney Jacques Godard, who ultimately persuaded the Paris Municipal Assembly to legislate equal rights for Jews.   In his new book, "Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Equality During the French Revolution," author and international law expert Gerard Leval brings to life the story of a young man who fought for equality for the French Jewish community more than 200 years ago.   Leval joins B'nai B'rith CEO Dan Mariaschin to talk about Godard's life and impact on the Jews of France, how Godard brought about meaningful change, the history of Jews in France and more.   Thanks for checking us out! Subscribe to the B'nai B'rith podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. And be sure to follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/BnaiBrith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bnaibrithinternational/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bnaibrith/

Holocaust-era diary writing offers a rare glimpse into real-time events and personal reflections that, had they not been written, may well have been swept away in the rapid unfolding of events. The diary of a French Jewish intellectual, Lucien Dreyfus, helps us shed light on one person's grappling with the calamity. In this episode of "On the Holocaust", we'll talk about Dreyfus's life, reflections and fate during the Holocaust as expressed in his wartime diary: “'A Terrible and Terribly Interesting Epoch': The Holocaust Diary of Lucien Dreyfus.” .Featured guest: Alexandra Garbarini, Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Holocaust-era diary writing offers a rare glimpse into real-time events and personal reflections that, had they not been written, may well have been swept away in the rapid unfolding of events. The diary of a French Jewish intellectual, Lucien Dreyfus, helps us shed light on one person's grappling with the calamity. In this episode of "On the Holocaust", we'll talk about Dreyfus's life, reflections and fate during the Holocaust as expressed in his wartime diary: “'A Terrible and Terribly Interesting Epoch': The Holocaust Diary of Lucien Dreyfus.” .Featured guest: Alexandra Garbarini, Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Listening commitment: Just 10 minutes You'll discover a story you'll want to read and put in the hands of young adult readers. While fictional, many aspects contained on the pages in This Light Between Us are true. In the beginning, readers will be delighted with playful, innocent letters exchanged between two unlikely ten year olds. Alex, a Japanese-American, living on Bainbridge Island in Washington becomes pen pals with Charly, a French-Jewish girl, living in Paris. As time marches on, Alex's and Charly's stories are juxtaposed, and are in many ways, surprisingly similar. Learn about the role our Japanese-Americans had in WWII. Transcript and websites mentioned in this episode here.

Robert Ejnes is the Executive Director of CRIF, the umbrella organization of French Jewish institutions. He lives in a suburb of Paris where he is the president of the Jewish congregation there, and he is the president of the Zionist youth organization Bnei Akiva France. He is also a business consultant who holds an MBA from Northwestern University in the United States. He and his wife Genevieve have eight children, most of them living in Israel.

In 1944, a Jewish couple in Paris desperately await news of their missing family. More than 70 years later, the couple's great-grandchildren find themselves facing the same question as their ancestors: "Are we safe?"Following five generations of a French Jewish family, the new play “Prayer for the French Republic” is a sweeping look at history, home, and the effects of an ancient hatred. The powerful world premiere comes from acclaimed playwright Joshua Harmon and director David Cromer. Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Prayer for the French Republic opened Tuesday, February 1 at New York City Center – Stage I and is scheduled to run through March 13.Actor and director David Cromer has received a Tony Award - for direction of The Band's Visit, , Drama Desk Award, three Obie Awards, three Lucille Lortel Awards, a Joe A. Callaway Award, four Jeff Awards, and in 2010 was made a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

This week's guest is Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, Professor of History at Cal State San Marcos where she teaches comparative history with courses focused around Haitian history, revolutionary Europe, women in Jewish history and travel and contact in the early modern world. Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall thought she'd go to law school initially but inspiring debates and discussions with friends in the dorms, including at Oxford University, started to change that. After undergrad, she applied to law school and PhD History programs and got into both! She even interned at the Supreme Court and worked as a legal secretary but the history program ultimately won out. Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall is trained as a historian of France. She became captivated with the 18th century ideals of equality and how they applied to the conflicting existence of slavery in the French colony of Haiti. This led to her own studies of Haiti and the lack of knowledge around Haiti has motivated her to teach about it too. It is clear that Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall loves her students and learning about their backgrounds. She seeks to build community in her classroom and students find themselves immersed in multi-sensory experiences that include the incorporation of food and dance breaks. It isn't surprising that she took home a student-nominated award, the Harry E. Brakebill Outstanding Professor Award which is a top honor at Cal State San Marcos. She has published three books books including her most recent, "Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games”. It is one of the first books about video games written by a historian. In her spare time, and outside of pandemic times, Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall is also active with the San Diego Jewish Film Festival volunteering her time as an academic, speaker and chaffeur. We also talk about her parents who are also academics. You'll have to listen to learn more! Official Bio: Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall is Professor of History at California State University – San Marcos and past winner of the university's Brakebill Distinguished Professor Award. She received her BA in History and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and her MA and PhD in History from Stanford University. Her research specialties include the French and Haitian Revolutions, modern Haitian history, Slavery and Film, French colonialism, French-Jewish history, history and video games, and the history of gender. Her most recent book, Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games, was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2021. Her previous works include the biography The Abbé Grégoire and the Making of Modern Universalism (University of California Press, new in paperback, 2021), and Haitian History: New Perspectives (Routledge, 2012). Note from Rabiah (Host): I had an incredible time speaking with Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall. If you haven't listened already, you'll find her to be enthusiastic and open and quite frankly someone you could talk to all day. One thing that resonated with me is that as a student, she reached out to a respected professor for advice. That's what I did just over a year ago when I was working on my short-term path. That really resonated with me. People want to help. Reach out to them. Also, in talking about her students, I learned she has a true interest in people and their backgrounds. The fact that she teaches non-history majors history and takes the time to know them and care made me think of the pivotal time I had at UCSD when I took science classes for non-science majors and had some incredible professors who also cared (and some who did not). +++++ Find Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSepinwall Book - Slave Revolt on Screen:

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by Stanford University Press. In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. The book, largely written in two columnar strands of text, explores the difference between Levinas's conception of “God on Our Side” and “God on God's Side” to animate two parallel and, at times, conflicting Talmudic readings Levinas engages in. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud. Britt Edelen is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University. He focuses on modernism and the relationship(s) between language, philosophy, and literature. You can find him on Twitter or send him an email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In this episode, Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall about Haiti in history and popular culture. Dr. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall is Professor and Graduate Studies Coordinator in the Department of History at California State University, San Marcos. Her research specialties include the French and Haitian Revolutions, modern Haitian history, Slavery and Film, and French colonialism as well as French-Jewish history. Dr. Goldstein Sepinwall's latest book is Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games (University Press of Mississippi, 2021) and she is also the author of The Abbé Grégoire and the French Revolution: The Making of Modern Universalism (University of California Press, 2005) and Haitian History: New Perspectives (Routledge, 2012).  

To record their last podcast episode of the season, the agents gather at Casino's house for coffee. The agents get an update from Bobby on his mental health, and the standard therapy he's done with Casino. Kettle then opens up about getting plastic surgery to make him look like an amalgamation of Dexter and Corny for his new undercover look. Casino plays a tape from her French/Jewish wedding day with the alleged murderer Chef Luc, which involved confessions, gunshots, cigarettes, stereotypes, wedding vows, and poems. The agents ask for their wedding gifts back. Lastly, Corny plays his recording, which captured his discussion with the Nature's Sunshine CEO Lula Pew and her two strange board members. This tape was weird. Kettle offers a toast to the season, then he and Corny leave Bobby and Casino to their safewords....Improvised by: Jesse Chimes, Isabel Galbraith, Bryan Jackson, and Jamal Newman.Check out PodChef, a Top Chef podcast hosted by Jamal and Bryan! This podcast features the song “The last sipper and a ring” by Subhashish Panigrahi, copyright 2018.

Welcome to the Financial Secrets Revealed podcast episode where Amanda Cassar introduces Babette Bensoussan, the daughter of French Moroccan immigrants to Australia who now advises and coaches organisations and business leaders around the world.Babette is The Decisions-Making Maverick™at MindShifts: Life, Leadership & Business Coach.  She is also a prolific Author, and it then becomes a little hard to nail down a top skill for Babette.I first crossed paths with Babette in a friend's backyard in Sydney, Australia when she supported my fund-raising efforts for The Hunger Project.  I've also utilised her services as a coach personally and now find her a native of my home state of Queensland, having made the move from Sydney.Babette believes her childhood was very 1950's Australia with a breadwinner father and stay at home mother.  She navigated two cultures walking the tightrope between a French-Jewish home life and typical laid back and relaxed Australian school life.She shares with me the lessons she has learned and how she's carved her own niche, along with her views on the financial lessons she's learned over the years.“We educated ourselves be attending various workshops and seminars to improve our own knowledge.” – Babette Bensoussan.LinksMindShifts | Executive Coaching | Energy Leadership | Competitive Intelligence Experts  (Company Website)  BABETTE BENSOUSSAN, MBA | LinkedIn (LinkedIn profile)Babette Bensoussan - Wikipedia (Wikipedia profile)Purchase your copy of Babette's favourite Book: The Richest Man in Babylon: The Success Secrets of the Ancients--The Most Inspiring Book on Wealth Ever Written: Clason, George S.: Amazon.com.au: Books  The Hunger Project Australia (thp.org.au) The Hunger Project, AustraliaOffer Purchase your copy of Financial Secrets Revealed on Amazon: Financial Secrets Revealed: Cassar, Amanda: Amazon.com.au: BooksPurchase your copy of the book on Booktopia:Financial Secrets Revealed, Collective Wisdom from Business Gurus, Financial Geniuses and Everyday Heroes by Amanda Cassar | 9781925648546 | BooktopiaPurchase your copy of the book on Barnes & Noble:Financial Secrets Revealed by Amanda Cassar, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)Follow Catch up with Amanda Cassar, host of Financial Secrets Revealed on Twitter and Instagram @financechicks or on LinkedIn at Amanda Cassar | LinkedInWebsites: https://amandacassar.com.au/ https://www.wealthplanningpartners.com.au/ (company website)https://trustedagedcare.com.au/ (company website) Or follow Babette on Twitter @BabetteBen Or The Hunger Project on or Insta @thehungerprojectau or FacebookSupport the show

Watch the TED talk: https://ideas.ted.com/why-you-think-youre-right-even-when-youre-wrong/Scout Mindset book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089CJ6SVS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1Imagine for a moment you're a soldier in the heat of battle — perhaps a Roman foot soldier, medieval archer or Zulu warrior. Regardless of your time and place, some things are probably constant. Your adrenaline is elevated, and your actions stem from your deeply ingrained reflexes, reflexes that are rooted in a need to protect yourself and your side and to defeat the enemy.Now, try to imagine playing a very different role: the scout. The scout's job is not to attack or defend; it's to understand. The scout is the one going out, mapping the terrain, identifying potential obstacles. Above all, the scout wants to know what's really out there as accurately as possible. In an actual army, both the soldier and the scout are essential.You can also think of the soldier and scout roles as mindsets — metaphors for how all of us process information and ideas in our daily lives. Having good judgment and making good decisions, it turns out, depends largely about which mindset you're in. To illustrate the two mindsets in action, let's look at a case from 19th-century France, where an innocuous-looking piece of torn-up paper launched one of the biggest political scandals in history in 1894. Officers in the French general's staff found it in a wastepaper basket, and when they pieced it back together, they discovered that someone in their ranks had been selling military secrets to Germany. They launched a big investigation, and their suspicions quickly converged on one man: Alfred Dreyfus. He had a sterling record, no past history of wrongdoing, no motive as far as they could tell.However, Dreyfus was the only Jewish officer at that rank in the army, and unfortunately, at the time the French Army was highly anti-Semitic. The other officers compared Dreyfus's handwriting to that on the paper and concluded it was a match, even though outside professional handwriting experts were much less confident about the similarity. They searched Dreyfus' apartment and went through his files, looking for signs of espionage. They didn't find anything. This just convinced them that not only was Dreyfus was guilty, but he was also sneaky because clearly he had hidden all of the evidence. They looked through his personal history for incriminating details. They talked to his former teachers and learned he had studied foreign languages in school, which demonstrated to them a desire to conspire with foreign governments later in life. His teachers also said that Dreyfus had had a good memory, which was highly suspicious since a spy must remember a lot of things.The case went to trial, and Dreyfus was found guilty. Afterwards, officials took him out into the public square; they ritualistically tore his insignia from his uniform and broke his sword in two. This was called the Degradation of Dreyfus. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on the aptly named Devil's Island, this barren rock off the coast of South America. He spent his days there alone, writing letter after letter to the French government begging them to reopen his case so they could discover his innocence. While you might guess that Dreyfus had been set up or intentionally framed by his fellow officers, historians today don't think that was what happened. As far as they can tell, the officers genuinely believed that the case against Dreyfus was strong.Other pieces of information are the enemy, and we want to shoot them down.So the question arises: What does it say about the human mind that we can find such paltry evidence to be compelling enough to convict a man? This is a case of what scientists refer to as “motivated reasoning,” a phenomenon in which our unconscious motivations, desires and fears shape the way we interpret information. Some pieces of information feel like our allies — we want them to win; we want to defend them. And other pieces of information are the enemy, and we want to shoot them down. That's why I call motivated reasoning “soldier mindset.”While you've never persecuted a French-Jewish officer for high treason, you might follow sports or know someone who does. When the referee judges your team has committed a foul, for example, you're probably highly motivated to find reasons why he's wrong. But if he judges that the other team committed a foul — that's a good call. Or, maybe you've read an article or a study that examined a controversial policy, like capital punishment. As researchers have demonstrated, if you support capital punishment and the study shows it's not effective, then you're highly motivated to point out all the reasons why the study was poorly designed. But if it shows that capital punishment works, it's a good study. And vice versa: if you don't support capital punishment, same thing.Our judgment is strongly influenced, unconsciously, by which side we want to win — and this is ubiquitous. This shapes how we think about our health, our relationships, how we decide how to vote, and what we consider fair or ethical. What's most scary to me about motivated reasoning or soldier mindset is just how unconscious it is. We can think we're being objective and fair-minded and still wind up ruining the life of an innocent person like Dreyfus.Fortunately, for Dreyfus, there was also a man named Colonel Picquart. He was another high-ranking officer in the French Army, and like most people, he assumed Dreyfus was guilty. Also like most of his peers, he was somewhat anti-Semitic. But at a certain point, Picquart began to suspect, “What if we're all wrong about Dreyfus?” Picquart discovered evidence that the spying for Germany had continued, even after Dreyfus was in prison. He also discovered that another officer in the army had handwriting that perfectly matched the torn-up memo.It took Picquart ten years to clear Dreyfus's name, and for part of that time, he himself was put in prison for the crime of disloyalty to the army. Some people feel that Picquart shouldn't be regarded as a hero, because he was an anti-Semite. I agree that kind of bias is bad. But I believe the fact that Picquart was anti-Semitic makes his actions more admirable, because he had the same reasons to be biased as his fellow officers but his motivation to find and uphold the truth trumped all of that.To me, Picquart is a poster child for what I call “scout mindset,” the drive not to make one idea win or another lose, but to see what's there as honestly and accurately as you can even if it's not pretty, convenient or pleasant. I've spent the last few years examining scout mindset and figuring out why some people, at least sometimes, seem able to cut through their own prejudices, biases and motivations and attempt to see the facts and the evidence as objectively as they can. The answer, I've found, is emotional.Scout mindset means seeing what's there as accurately as you can, even if it's not pleasant.Just as soldier mindset is rooted in emotional responses, scout mindset is, too — but it's simply rooted in different emotions. For example, scouts are curious. They're more likely to say they feel pleasure when they learn new information or solve a puzzle. They're more likely to feel intrigued when they encounter something that contradicts their expectations.Scouts also have different values. They're more likely to say they think it's virtuous to test their own beliefs, and they're less likely to say that someone who changes her mind seems weak. And, above all, scouts are grounded, which means their self-worth as a person isn't tied to how right or wrong they are about any particular topic. For example, they can believe that capital punishment works and if studies come out that show it doesn't, they can say, “Looks like I might be wrong. Doesn't mean I'm bad or stupid.” This cluster of traits is what researchers have found — and I've found anecdotally — predicts good judgment.The key takeaway about the traits associated with scout mindset is they have little to do with how smart you are or how much you know. They don't correlate very closely to IQ at all; they're about how you feel. I keep coming back to a particular quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince. “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up your men to collect wood and give orders and distribute the work,” he said. “Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”In other words, if we really want to improve our judgment as individuals and as societies, what we need most is not more instruction in logic, rhetoric, probability or economics, even though those things are all valuable. What we most need to use those principles well is scout mindset. We need to change the way we feel — to learn how to feel proud instead of ashamed when we notice we might have been wrong about something, or to learn how to feel intrigued instead of defensive when we encounter some information that contradicts our beliefs. So the question you need to consider is: What do you most yearn for — to defend your own beliefs or to see the world as clearly as you possibly can?

In this week's heavy episode Cathryn reads excerpts from the diary of Hélène Berr. A French Jewish woman living in Paris during World War II. Details of the war, Nazi-occupied France, and Hélène's daily life are discussed. Unfortunately the ending does not conclude triumphantly for the Berr Family.

Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. In the wake of Operation Guardian of the Walls, late last week, host Amanda Borschel-Dan had a startling conversation with antisemitism scholar Adi Kantor from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. Kantor is a research associate at the Europe Research Program and in the institute's ongoing project "Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States.” Her main research fields include right-wing extremism, antisemitism, trauma, identity and intergenerational discourse after 1945. Kantor offers a disturbing look at the trend of increasing antisemitism that is sweeping the globe from all political and societal echelons. It's an upsetting conversation, but an important perspective to hear. Image: A man holds a placard during a protest organized by Jewish associations, who say justice has not been done for the killing of French Jewish woman Sarah Halimi, at Trocadero Plaza near Eiffel Tower in Paris, April 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tova du Plessis was born and raised in a kosher Jewish household in Johannesburg South Africa, She came to the United States to attend college, planning to become a doctor.  She pivoted her professional plan and enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley. She completed externships with Pastry Chef Matt Tinder and Boris Portnoy at The Restaurant at Meadowood in Yountville. During a free period, she traveled to Philadelphia, connected with Michael Solomonov, who hired her as a line cook at Zahav and a sous chef at kosher European restaurant Citron & Rose. After a brief stint as the pastry chef at Avance, she joined The Rittenhouse Hotel as executive pastry chef, overseeing dessert and pastry at Lacroix. Tova opened essenbakery.com in 2016. The bakery focuses on Jewish breads and sweets, including babkas, challah, and rugelach.  She is a four time James Beard award nominee as a semi-finalist for “Outstanding Baker”.  Follow Tova on twitter @ChefTova and @essenbakery and Instagram @tovadup  Abigail Dahan is a Foodnetwork 2020 Chopped Sweets winner. She likes teaching regular folks how to bake like pros. She was born in Paris to a Moroccan Jewish father and French Jewish mother.. Her family moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, when she was young.  She returned to Paris for culinary school and eventually returned to the Philadelphia area.  In 2014, she was selected for Zagat's “30 under 30” list for Philadelphia. Dahan was furloughed as the executive pastry chef at Parc at the beginning of the pandemic and returned part-time early in the summer.  She won “Chopped Sweets” in early March and the episode aired 01 September 2020.  Abby prepared for the competition by watching as many episodes as possible and by memorizing certain recipes. After baking challahs out of her home, Abby started a business. She now teaches virtual baking classes. Follow Abby on Twitter @sugarchefabs Instagram @abbydahan and contact her for classes through her website www.thebakeschool.com 

We recap part 2 of the ninth episode of season 8 of 90 Day Fiancé. Brandon and Julia play pool. Natalie has more affection with trees than she does Mike. Yara proves her pregnancy to Jovi. Amira meets up with the French Jewish. Ryan already knew all of Stephanie's secrets.

Aliko Weste is a culmination of so many things through his identity and through his work. Aliko was born Alika, to a French Jewish mother and Caribbean father. He is a trans, Blaxk, Jew who is dedicating his life to bringing the earth into 5D consciousness. Aliko does this through many avenues. Along with his branding, website, photography and videography business (portfolio linked below), Aliko is also the founder and CEO of U Productions, and Expansion Festival. Expansion festival is an annual festival dedicated to Music, arts, and education through self expression and consciousness. This year it was held online and consisted of 32 workshops over a period of two months. Throughout the year (when it's not covid) with the help of Shoshana Glickman and his incredible team, Aliko produces many smaller events around similar topics, bringing people together in order to manifest the future we desire. In this episode we talk about what it means to be an embodied business owner and healing the wounds of capitalism & white supremacy. We talk about how small business could be a part of creating cultural change and then have an experiment on air for your listening pleasure.   

The Power of Purposeful Storytelling James Taylor interviews Michel Neray and they talk about The Power of Purposeful Storytelling In today's episode Michel Neray they talk about The Power of Purposeful Storytelling. Michel Neray is a global speaker, trainer and consultant. He has helped thousands of individuals craft and perform more effective, ‘purposeful' stories to become more effective leaders, salespeople, coaches, teachers, trainers, speakers, and influencers of all types. He also uses Purposeful Storytelling to more effectively differentiate, position and brand organizations in the market. His is the founder of momondays, a monthly variety show that combines live music, comedy and inspirational storytelling. momondays is now in 14 cities across North America. And when not speaking on stages chances are you'll find him snowboarding down some slopes or canoeing down rapids. What we cover: The Power of Purposeful Storytelling Ways to develop and structure your stories more strategically Using stories to enhance your brand differentiation Why you should strive to be more authentic on stage Resources: Michel's Website Momondays.com Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-power-of-purposeful-storytelling-sl087/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey it's James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to have Michel Neray here for our international speakers summit. Michel is a global speaker, trainer and consultant he's helped thousands of individuals craft and perform more effective, purposeful stories to become more effective leaders, salespeople, coaches, teachers, trainers, speakers, and influences of all types. He also uses purposeful storytelling to more effectively differentiate position and brand organizations in the market. He is the founder of Mo Mondays, which is a monthly variety show that combines live music, comedy and inspirational storytelling. And you'll now find Mondays in 14 cities across North America. And then when not speaking on stages, chances are you'll find him maybe snowboarding down some slopes or canoeing down some rapids. So it's my great pleasure to welcome Michel today. So welcome. Michel Neray Hi, James. Happy to be here. James Taylor So share with us what's happening in your world just now with what's going on. Michel Neray Oh my god, it's beautiful. The weather is warming up and it's hot. And I'm getting calls all over the place. So that's good. And it's great. And we're starting a new venue at mo Mondays right here in my hometown. And I'm excited about that. We've got some awesome speakers and stories lined up and yeah, good, good snowball real momentum. James Taylor How did you get into this well to speaking with it all begin from get begin for you. Michel Neray Oh, gee, okay, well, that's taken me back a long, long way. So let's just say that I used to have an ad agency, my agency and me particularly, we had a lot of high tech clients. This is we're going back a long time back in the 90s. Early 90s, I'm I founded and launched a website that was the world's first first of its kind, kind of like Google, but but focused on creative professionals, people in the advertising world. And as part of that, I got asked to speak at a lot of conferences, international conferences. In fact, I became kind of like the evangelist for the company. And I would go touring, graphic design and art schools around North America. And I would talk to associations and this is just all part of because you know, people we go we're going back a long ways here. I remember being in boardrooms convincing members of the board, that the internet and the web was not a flash in the pan. This was here to say so, okay, we're going back a long time. But anyway, as part of this, I get feedback, say, you know, Michelle, your your talks, your keynotes, your presentations, they're very, they're very motivational. And, and I was insulted. What, me a motivational speaker, no, I have serious content. But I kept on getting this feedback to the point where I started looking at it and and saying, well, maybe there is something to what I do and how I do that is different than your average, you know, technology presenter or your marketing presenter. Because basically, I was teaching people how to use the internet, how to harness it for real customer service and marketing and all kinds of things rather than just do a brochure where we're going back a long time. James Taylor Anyway, do you remember what that first experience was? where you were, obviously, that in the early days, you were kind of speaking as a ways of evangelizing about your company and and what was happening with you know, the technology but you remember that time when you you got that first like speaking game, they were booking you and it was your It was your fee? They were they were they were giving you a fee for this? Can you remember what that that time was and what that felt like? Michel Neray Oh, my God, well, um, you know that that happened gradually. I don't remember. But I do remember a time when I was presenting for the company, as the company evangelist, so they weren't they were paying the company that we're trading certain we're doing services for them. And I was on stage And I realize and oh my god, and it was a mistake. It was it was my calendar popped up. I don't use PowerPoint anymore. But it was back in the days when I was using PowerPoint, my computer and my my calendar pop up said, you know, remember to take my son to karate you know that. And of course, the whole audience saw this. And it was a big laugh, but I rolled with it. And I and I had them as totally engaging. And that was the, that was the moment, I realized, you know what, I know what I'm doing. I'm good at this. They like me, they like my content. I'm entertaining them, at the same time that I'm giving them stuff that they could really take back to their homes and their studios and their offices and use it. And I just, I just felt Okay, I got this. That was a that was a good feeling. James Taylor So you'll know and now really as as the kind of the storytelling guy that's gonna purposeful storytelling. You speak about this? Obviously train, you can consult on this as well. When it comes to two speakers specifically, how can storytelling really come? How can storytelling really work not just for them necessarily being on stage or time in terms of how they think about their brand overall. Michel Neray So that's a key thing. So don't forget, when I started, before, I really focused on storytelling. I was known as the you know, Chief differentiation officer, my focus, even in my advertising days, my focus was how do I help my clients stand out be different differentiate themselves in the market. And what I found was that if you dig deep enough, even for larger companies, but if you dig deep enough, at the end, you always find a story, or four or five. And so over time, I started shifting my own focus from the differentiation kind of doorway to get in to the storytelling doorway to get in in the door. What What happened, what interests people, but what really, what really cemented that for me show it showed me personally how important that was, was this time, I was hired by a national real estate company in the US to present at their national conference in New Orleans. And, and I was doing my talk and and and the reason why they hired me was because my focus was differentiation. Who needs it more than real estate agents who on the surface, do and say what they do the same as everybody else. So they were looking to give their real estate agents, some help in differentiating themselves. And by the way, the same holds true for lawyers, accountants, consultants, coaches and speakers for that matter. The list goes on and on. We all a lot of us. Pretty much all of us. on the site, if we just show our business card and and the title of what we do. It's basically the same as everybody else in our field. So that's what I was being hired to do. Now, I showed them strategies on differentiation. I showed them what the large brands do. We show them some old TV commercials, we had a big laugh, I asked them what the key message was of those commercials. But my premise was, so my ulterior motive was. And this is kind of like the repeatable phrase that I use what makes you different as a person, what is what makes you different and better in your business, your career, your life? You're not other words, again, it comes back to at the heart. There's that personal story. That is the reason why in the how you do what you do that sets you apart in the market. And as part of that story, I shared a story about my mother, my mother went through the Holocaust. She spent the year in Auschwitz, I shared some of the stories that she shared with me and how that affected me as a child growing up. So basically, I grew up. You know, in Montreal, I was a little French Jewish kid. My mother was French. I was a little French Jewish kid in an English Protestant school in a French Catholic province. Basically, that's who I was. And it didn't matter what group of kids I hung out with. I was always the odd kid out even amongst my Jewish friends. It said what? Because my father is Persian. She goes like, like you You know, it didn't matter which group of kids I hung out with, like, what, where you come from. But I shared so I shared that I shared how the experience of my mother influenced me and my father influenced me as a child and how, and how I, kind of in hindsight, I connected the dots to my expertise in differentiation. James Taylor So I'm guessing when giving that story was a beacon personal story to your family, a big conference, a big national conference, a lot of speakers will be very, you know, worried about doing that. Well, that's, that's too personal as to, you know, to me, you know, how does that relate? So, what do you say to those people that can say to you Well, you know, have that criticisms, it? Well, why did you share that story? Is that not too personal or something you want to keep tucked away? Rather than like telling people? Michel Neray Well, absolutely, and I, and I felt the same way. I it took me, it took me a year, many years, 10 years of 10 years of being a professional speaker, before I myself had the courage to share that story. And I started sharing it, because, I mean, we're, we're, we're, I started sharing that story, because I was invited to speak at a conference for immigrants. And, and on personal branding again. And, you know, about a week before the conference, I turned to my wife, I said, You know, I, I, I don't know what I'm, I don't know, if I, I don't understand really what their problems are, I don't know, I, you know, like, does the personal branding stuff, the the basic, or the stat, the corporate strategies that I have to offer? Do I understand what they really need? You know, here I am, I'm white, I speak English. I have the full weight of white privilege on my shoulders, you know, like, do and she said, Michelle, share the story of your parents coming to this country. And I did and it and oh, my God, the room change because they can see that, you know, at the core. We're all human. Yeah, but let me let me go back to the New Orleans story. Because here's where it gets interesting. I shared that story. And yeah, everybody was moved, it had exactly the impact and the effect that I wanted it to. But it wasn't until a year later that I realized to how big an impact it was. So a year later, I was invited to speak at a workshop this time, not a keynote, a workshop for speakers on differentiation and branding. And we're just about to start the workshop. And the doors burst open, like probably the last person to get into the workshop. And he runs up to me as I'm preparing all my stuff. And he said, Michel, remember me? And I said, help me. And he said, I was in the audience last year in New Orleans. And you shared the story about your mother. And I thought, Oh, yeah. And it hit me is that he didn't say, I remember the corporate strategies you presented. He didn't say, I applied what you taught us. And my business went up by 550%. He said, I remember the story you shared about your mother. Wow. Wow. Oh, you asked about differentiation and memorability. That's what people remember. Now, since then, that's all been kind of supported and proven by neuroscience, which is still a new field, you know, in the last 15 years. But oh my god, you need any more proof than that? James Taylor Yeah, I can think now, as you're saying this, I can think about some of my favorite speakers I've seen on stage isn't someone that often isn't, it's going to be an unusual choice for a great speaker, I actually think he had a real power to him was a guy called Edward de Bono. And Edward de Bono would set up there, you know, he had this kind of Oxford dawn kind of profess Oriole type of vibe by him. And he was set up there with I think, was acetates. And he would draw these things and his speech was very slow and but as far away as you get from the Aurora motivational site, but as I think about that now, and that had an impact upon me as I think about that. Now, what do I remember? I remember a couple of stories that he said in there. I don't I don't really remember that. You know, the frameworks. I don't remember many of those other things. But those stories then that inhabit you know, that that were kind of the thing and I suppose this goes all the great reasons Understand this as well, this this idea that you're assigned to just prove out something that all the great religions have kind of figured out parables or stories. That's what gets, especially in an oral tradition as we'll get past time and time again. So I'm interested when you kind of gave that. And I think this is, I think this will resonate with a lot of our folks that are on the summit just now. We I think we probably all have that story, that one story, at least one story, probably a lot more. So. But that one story, where you think, should I tell it? You know, should I should I use this? Because it's kind of personal. But at the same time, there's that there's a big teachable thing in that and it relates the thing I do, what would you say? Is there anywhere? Is there any point you would say? Actually, no, you really want to tell that, that that that kind of personal story, you know, or if you just say, Well, you know, the context when you shoot ocean? Michel Neray So the answer is yes. But not Yes, there are times when you shouldn't Sure, and but it may not be what you're thinking of. Because I do this all the time. Now, I have a really keen sense on when someone is ready to tell their story. So have they fully processed it? Have you fully processed your story? Have you come out the other end? and derive the lesson, the insight, the purpose of it? Can you tie it back to your content? Does it make sense within the context of your of your talk, and what I find is that when you can do all of those things that you can actually use your story in a multiple of different ways to make it make sense for the audience for your topic. And for your purpose, what you were hired to do. You know, I'll give you two very quick stories now. And I'd love to tell you a little bit about the neuroscience behind those because I've been studying this now, for for five, six years. It's incredible. But I'll tell you, so I shared that story about my growing up, and what impact it had on me. And link, you know, connecting the dots as an adult to what I what I learned as a child what how my worldview got framed, to what I do today, what I do especially Well, today, you know, what, perhaps, is my my differentiation as a speaker. And I share that, how I connected those dots, I share that in rooms full of CEOs, I share that in all kinds of rooms, I share that. I've shared that in workshops with event planners, and the penny drops for them at some point, the penny drops for them about why I do my job, my role, whatever it is the way I do it. They all walk out of the room with a with a with a sense of why I do how I do what I do. I know that sounds like a mouthful, but it's why I do how I do what I do. You know why I do my CEO role the way I do it, that sets me apart from other CEOs. And it helps me be a better leader about what's important. What I'm looking for from the people who who report to me while I work with my team members doesn't matter whether it's rooms will CEOs or event planners doesn't matter. It's It's It's how it's I get to know my strengths better in a palpable way that I could then lead my team better. James Taylor So that you mentioned the neuroscience part, you're in that you're in that room, you tell that story in New Orleans, that ripples on the other person that has impact upon them that ripples on to other other people as well. What's going on in that very first instant in terms of that in terms of the brain, you mentioned that can the neuroscience, you know, often speakers, we can get up on stage, we do our thing, hopefully it transforms people in the room, you make it you make an impact in that way as well. But some of its and I this is similar to hear music as well, a lot of music as I work with, they kind of don't want to know exactly how that stuff works. They just know it has an impact. Whereas other speakers, and musicians really want to know. And it's great book, how the I think it's the brain on music or how it works with David Byrne. We just said okay, this is actually what's going on the brain when music happens when you experience music. So what's going on in the brain of that audience member when you're you're telling that story? Why Why does it reverberate in that way. Michel Neray So to understand that we have to go back to a few theories about evolution of human beings. So there are some neuroscientists and sociologists, and anthropologists who believe many who believe now, kind of like commonly accepted now, that storytelling is, is one of the key things that allowed us to get to the top of the food chain. Because all of a sudden, we did not have to have a direct experience of being confronted with a tiger or a lion, or whatever it is, we didn't have to have a direct experience of a cause and, and result for survival in order to learn that lesson. So somehow, our physiology kind of evolved to favor those lessons. So I could learn about what to do or not to do, because ultimately we go we go, we even we go to see movies, we read books, to learn how the the main character transformed, so that we can gain from it even if it's a real, unconscious thing that we do. It's a subliminal thing we do. But we want to learn what they learned so that we can apply it to our lives. That's why we do these things. So we evolved that way. And our physiology has evolved that way to make us crave stories, we we need it literally we need it. The oxytocin, that hormone, you know, the love drug, the thing that that create that comes from empathy, and trust, and all of those good things, by the way, all of those good things that we'd like to have a, during a speech, and be during a sales presentation. Those things get fired when we hear a story, a character based story. So, oxytocin, especially and, you know, these, these are things that make us feel good, that make us naturally try the same, you know, the same things that happen when we met when we kiss or hug. Mm hmm. James Taylor And as a speaker, because obviously, I know your you have your background, you also have this background and your Linguistic Programming as well. So you can you come at it from that perspective. In that position of you being up on that stage telling that story. I guess some people would want to use that were with the as they take their story arc in their speech, as they're up at a certain point. You know, in NLP, I think it's called anchoring without, you know, look to anchor that sensation, anchor that feelings, and then you repeat it. So you kind of weaving in that the NLP training that you've had within your role as a speaker? Or do you see them as quite as quite separate things? Michel Neray Oh, no, they're, they're everything. Oh, they go together so perfectly. Uh, let me say that, Oh, my God, this is one of the things that I teach in my workshops, we talk and if you list so, the thing to know about this, is that in every story, there are actually two storylines, at least, but two main storylines, and I call it the outside story, or the inside and the inside story. And you need to be aware of both of them. So the outside story, and every every story movie book, every story is the same. The outside story is the external circumstances of the story itself. So you know, what happens in the town who interacts with who, you know, where I buy my weapon of choice, and you know, who I plot with? And, and is it going to happen? And then my, you know, in the basement, and are the police aware of this or they fought you know, or whatever it is, okay. That's the external story, the outside story. And I didn't make that I thought I made this up. I thought, I thought, I thought oh, my God, this is brilliant. And I'm talking to some real I interviews a real script writers for for Hollywood. So yeah, we call that the inside story. Anyway, so the inside story is what happens to the character, the track the internal tense transformation of the character. And here we find all those common universal themes that we all relate to. So when I teach my groups, how to be different and universal at the same time, it's because of these two themes. These two external in or outside story and internal source. So the internal stories, what character flaw is keeping the back from What do I want to achieve? What are the skepticisms that I have? What are the fears that I have going forward, which, by the way, in a sales situation, are the same fears and skepticisms that have buyers or potential buyers, from getting over that hump? to actually buy, we need to know what those are, if we could share a story in which we ourselves experience those skepticisms fears, we have 80% of the audience saying, Oh, my God, that speaker understands that speaker is reading my mind. This is scary. James Taylor And I mean, you I know you've spoken. I mean, you've spoken in Israel, and you've spoken in Iran, two places you think very different, you know, different kind of worldviews as well. So how does that relate when you're when you're thinking about the internal story and the external story? Well, there's two different audience isn't the same thing. But you're just ensuring that there's universalities, in both internal and external. Michel Neray So I'll tell you, I have a belief, and the belief is that at our core, everyone around the world, we're human. I know that sounds remarkable, right? But we're human, we have the same fears and concerns as everybody else. So those universal themes are called universal themes for a reason. Now, there are cultural differences. There are ways we package it that we need to be sensitive to for sure. But at the core, they are we have the same fears, fears of acceptance, fears of insecurity, fears of Am I good enough, you're getting the imposter syndrome fears, you know, fears of I've seen, you know, in a sales situation before Yeah, yeah, yeah. People have told me all those things before I even people have asked me for money or whatever, or whatever currency that you want. You know, why is it different this time? Why should I do a leap of faith? Why should I believe this person? Not, you know, James Taylor so these are, these are very, like, when I think here of, you know, great filmmakers. And as you're mentioning some of these things, I think, you know, you know, and I, I do this on my keynotes when I'm sitting if I'm working on new keynote, and I send craft out. And I think about very much like, you know, there's that I think, as I booked the seven key plots, or the seven great plots, or something like that, Michel Neray and yes, that's a book that took 35 years for him to write really, I don't agree with everything that he says, but we'll get into James Taylor which is a great I actually, I use the the, you know, the the, the journey, the hero's journey, baby, common one and last speaker is going to use that, you know, the approaching the cave, there's all those kind of things as well. And you see a lot of filmmakers I work every time I'm watching movie, I'm always kind of in my head thinking, wonder which one of those plots and you can you can see it happening Time, time and time again. So when you're kind of going into crafting, because we're moving now away from the, the neuroscience part and the and the psychological part of it to actually the craft, the craftsmanship, or being a great speaker? How much are you going to going in there kind of plotting out like it like you're like a filmmaker, a TV maker plus story, or using other types of tools and other ways to kind of plot things out? Michel Neray So I'll tell you what I do and what I teach people in my workshops. I think it's very dangerous. To jump too quickly to plotting it out strategically. You really have to understand your own journey first. And a lot of speakers don't take enough time understanding that they want to you know that old adage, about it's not about you, it's about the audience. Well, that is the biggest piece of bad advice I've ever heard. I mean, we know of course, it's about the audience. But it's only about the audience, if it's about you first. And if you can understand what that universal theme is that you yourself experienced, I guarantee you, you, there's only a minimal amount of shaping that you have to do after that. James Taylor And if that's very similar, one of the other summit guests we have is Frederick Heron. And he talks about that law, that idea of kind of sitting before you initially going and going and starting sketching things out, sitting a lot longer when he talks about his theme and you talk about some of these kind of universal themes, sitting with it. And he said once you once you connect with that thing, that theme, it you know, it doesn't quite write itself, but it's such a much cleaner, you know, more simplified, just feels a more natural process in terms of getting kind of getting out in the page or have you look to to kind of break out for your keynotes. Michel Neray Yeah, and when you think about it, there aren't that many universal themes. You know, we're talking about fears and skepticisms and roadblocks and hurdles and things that hold us back in life or, you know, you talk about the hero's journey, I, I like to think of something that I learned from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, one of my favorite authors, he talks about the man in the hole. You know, life is going great. Oh, he fell into a hole. Oh, my God. Now, how is he going to get out of it? Oh, he got out of it. Great. What's different? What did they learn about themselves, as what they need to learn about themselves to get out of the hole doesn't have to be about a man doesn't have to be about a hole. But that idea is, I think, inherent in every story, in every story, and even in all of the other six themes that you that in the in the sort of the seven, the seven types of stories, they're all that that that is a constant. James Taylor So one of the things that man falls in the hole, humor, yeah. So that that's an opportunity for humans. So when when I know when in your trainings and workshops, you talk a lot about the role of humor. And with Mondays, it's, it's a marriage of humor and as an as an inspirational speaker. So talking about what was your take in terms of the role of humor for speakers how, you know, Michel Neray humor, first, physiologically, let's just do this. And this maps back to neuroscience, and NLP and all of those other wonderful things. But just laughing, makes people feel good about themselves. And if they feel good about themselves, they'll feel good about you that builds rapport. If you're able to poke fun, preferably at yourself, not not at the art, but just that humor allows you to broach sensitive subjects. Humor allowed, but but way more than that way my humor provides that entertainment. Even right, we talk about movies and scripts, or even the darkest drama has moments of humor. Yeah, you can't take your audience down the path of a pit and just leave them there. They need literally what's called comic relief. Yeah, they and but humor goes beyond that. Humor humor signals to the audit. Remember, you asked me? Are there times that I would not share a story? Well, yeah, if you can't see the humor in your own story, I'll back guarantee. I was about to say bettan guaranteed marriage together Well, that didn't work. But I was I can guarantee I can guarantee that you're not past your own story. James Taylor You haven't, you haven't come through the other end in order to come through Michel Neray the other end. And so being able to do that signals to the audience, that you're past it so it decreases the burden that they have in watching you and listening to you said oh my god, they're, this feels awful. And this, this, you know, that I, I under You know what, leave, don't leave them there. Let them let them know that it's going to be okay. And and if you lighten it up at the beginning of the story, before you take them down this deep dark hole, it tells them that the ending is going to be okay. There's something for me to learn so James Taylor to this so what about if you know your viewers listeners just now then maybe speaking, coming into the world of speaking something to do the first speaking gig, maybe they'll be speaking for a while. And humor just isn't isn't a part. I mean, I know for myself, I can go into speaking and speaking with my wife, one point said is that we should not don't put jokes because I'm actually not a fan of jokes. But But in that in speeches, but she said you just need to have this needs to be a lightness, more of a lightness, more of a humor. And so I kind of worked on on some on some things on that. So for someone that's listening or watching to this just now, how can they start? If they've got a pre dry talk at the moment? How can they start to add that kind of salt and pepper that spice in there with with humor? Michel Neray Well, it It sounds simple. It's not easy. It? I'll just say that. Unless you're a professional humor writer. We tend to think that Oh, I'm not funny. I don't know how to write jokes, or I may have I mean, I don't know how to tell jokes. And I will challenge everyone who says that. And the challenge is really simple. Have you heard something today? That made you laugh? Smile or grin? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Okay, so good. We know you have a sense of humor. Thank you. You know, you know what you find funny? Cool. That's a start. Now, have you said something in the last 24 hours that made somebody else smile? grin or laugh? Yes, absolutely. Oh, really? Well, James, we're on a good, we're on a roll here. I mean, oh, no laughing is not allowed. You're not allowed. So this is what I'm talking about. We're not talking like, first tap into your own sense of humor. Note start to become more aware of when you laugh, because of what somebody else said. Or when you make somebody else laugh because something you said, Make a note of when like, and this takes a lot of practice, because you need to be present to your talk on stage, you need to be here a lot. You know, a lot of beginning speakers, they don't have that presence, that confidence on stage, but you get there and start to listen for the audience reaction. And when they laugh. Oh, what did I just say there? Maybe I could try it again. And to actually say it deliberately? Or have you pulled up what I call cultivated humor mindset? Yes, it requires you to be a little bit irreverent, and maybe stick your foot in your mouth every once in a while, but it's worth the risk. You'll learn to ride that edge. Very carefully, you'll learn to ride that edge. But you have to develop a little bit more confident in going there. James Taylor Yeah, I think I think that was for me, that was a big, that was a big change where I got very comfortable with like, when the very first keynotes I worked on. And I was doing I remember doing this one particular keynote 10 times one particular month, or giving this keynote one time, and probably by the time by the sixth time. And it was kind of there wasn't really any kind of humor or anything. And at that point, I kind of went, actually, I now feel comfortable enough in the material. And in terms of the things I kind of want to have the core the pillars of what I want to become. Now I want to start improvising. Now, when I start doing improv, I want to start taking things from the room. I want to those conversations that you have with people before you go up on stage. You know, are they taking those things, too, obviously topical stuff that happens as well. You mentioned that something that happened to you, I think it was where you're speaking and the calendar comes up. Invariably, you know us things will happen using it. And it's having that. And I see obviously great comedians, I see it with great entertainers of any of any sort and great speakers. They had their neck competent, and they're comfortable enough with the material that they're doing, that they they have that slightness suffered that agility, and maybe it's the best is the best word I can think of for it just now as well. And also with with no Michel Neray danger with with memorizing you rely on exactly what you're memorized. First of all, you'll write it probably poorly, because you'll write the way you read not the way you speak. So you have to make some adjustments. And so I show people how to do that. But yeah, you're absolutely right. James Taylor So one of the things I noticed when the very first we go on and on your website, when the very first things I noticed right at the top on the wire you see us I think it's US visa and European citizenship, right? Yes, I thought very, very clear. And that was interesting. I haven't seen too many speakers can do that. And really kind of point out like that. So told me what was the thinking behind that? Well, Michel Neray I like to travel. So I want to make it real clear to event planners and you know people in a position to book me for conferences, that it's not going to be a risk to bring the over. I want to lessen the risk for them. I'm available. That's where my mindset is. And, and, and and it's, yeah, you can book me with confidence, you're not going to be caught up with paperwork. So I think it's very, very important. Like it's, it's any kind of sale, you always want to lessen the risk for the purchaser to make it easy to buy. James Taylor Yeah, I always I always think of in my head, I'm thinking of that event planner. And I'm thinking the job is writing on putting a great event together because they have a boss who you know, and they have their customers. And they want that those people coming up saying, you know, James Taylor was a great choice. You know, Michelle Marais was a great choice that, you know, that's, that's, that's them and they can have that the idea of de risking is a very good thing in their book. So but you by having that, it just I mean, it's quite a small thing, but I think it's actually quite quite a powerful thing as well. Michel Neray Yeah, and it also shows that this is my I'm, I'm a world speaker. Yeah. You know, I don't speak in my local community, once a month. And that's it, you know, that's, this is my perspective. So yeah, and my James Taylor platform. So what can, as we kind of start to kind of round up here, let's talk about some things that that speakers can be doing now to, to really help them with that, that kind of storytelling that you were talking about there, and also really to be speaking more, more globally. And this event is all about speaking internationally speaking globally, taking your message out to all the far flung corners of the of the globe as well, what are some things that people can take away just now. Michel Neray So first of all, I would suggest, I mean, if you're not convinced, to incorporate more storytelling into your presentations, regardless of whether you're a trainer, facilitator, or keynote speaker, so a lot, a lot of times people think that oh, I need to pack my presentation, especially if they come from the training world, I need to pack my presentation with tons and tons of value in content. And I would challenge that, because they're not going to remember when they leave. So if you're not convinced yet, in the power of storytelling, not just any storytelling, but what I call purposeful storytelling, then you can skip this session. Hopefully, you understand that you want to get better at it. But people have a hard time. So stories, it's, it's become a big word. So I say scrap the word story, replace it with the word example. When you have a point, can you give me an example? Can you give me an example of how you came up with that? Can you give me an example of when you saw whatever that point is in action, in your own life, or maybe somebody else who's cool, it's just an example. I use that for testimonials. I use that for case studies. In the end, the structure of a proper case study is the same as a Hollywood movie. James Taylor And on that point on that, you know, this idea of exactly like de can, it's just like, okay, no big story thinking exactly. No examples, it just kind of, like kind of relax into a little bit more. I know that many speakers we've had on here. They're kind of professional story collectors, their antenna is always up for like, oh, like, Oh, that's I'm gonna write that one that, Oh, I'm gonna, you know, Evernote, I'm going to click that one. Oh, that's, you know, that they can have that their mind is always very alert potential stories that they could potentially integrate into keynotes or use one of the things. Michel Neray Yeah, and and so once you start getting into the habit of thinking example, rather than big story, you'll start, it doesn't have to be a big, huge, heavy story all the time. Yeah, it could be a quick exam, it could be a three second example, that really shares us that shares a bit of a story. It's fine. So exactly right. And once you started tuning your mind to example, you'll start to own that's an example of that. That's an example of that, and you'll become a story collector. Absolutely. So that's number one. Number two, is don't be afraid to, to show your vulnerability and authenticity. And I know those are big words that you hear them all the time. I'll just show you a quick story about this. One of the best speakers I've ever heard, and he's a friend of mine. And he came to me on Mondays. He speaks to rooms full of CEOs, like always about the seriousness of sales process, spoke at mo Mondays, and I challenged him I said, Adrian, share a story you've never shared before. And he he said, okay, and to his credit, he dug deep. And he shared a story about how we left home, when and left high school in his teens. First night sleeping under a stairwell, he said, You know, I was always afraid of sharing that story because it's it and then he fell in with the wrong crowd and had trouble making ends meet. But don't worry, there's a good ending, went back to school aced his class and making millions in sales and later, but after he shared that story at mo Monday's he started incorporating it into his professional engagements. And he said, Michelle, if there's one time during my entire keynote, where you can hear a pin drop. It's where I share that story. And I realized now that's the story that gives me the credibility for doing what I'm doing now. so incredibly powerful. So number two, you asked for number two. Yeah, don't be afraid to show your mistakes show where you learned your lesson. And the third thing I just want to live leave people with is not only the fourth thing would be put your, your sights on international and worldview. But the third thing is, is really elevate your your talk from a verbal performance to a whole body performance, forget, technique, forget, you know, gesture comment or gesture point, just forget all of that stuff. But just get into, forget that the audience is there. So forget anybody ever said, it's not about you, it's about the audience. Get into your own headspace. Learn who you are, learn, get in touch with your own state. And you will naturally elevate your performance to what I call a whole body performance. I'll leave it there. James Taylor And it's great. I mean, I think that's what we see some of the great stage act as opposed to film actors do as well, they then have it that that place that they're on. And I think one of the I, I saw it recently with, its with an actor, do something and he made that huge RAM is a big theater, he made it feel like it was just you and him in, you know, relaying this story, this this, this example. And he was doing it with this, not just with the speaking but as you said, with his physicality and and bigger movements, smaller movements in terms of placing and things as well, it was a real crafts, you know, there was a craft in that as well. But as you say, when you get started, just you know, try it and try things don't get overly kind of caught up in the, in the mind too much. Michel Neray Don't get caught up in technique. Yeah, just be aware of who you are, you know, some of the most powerful, for example. And then and then, you know, we can go on all day about this. But for example, we're taught to, you know, lock guys with it with the audience, and, you know, really engage the audience that way. But you know, what the most powerful moments is when I'm not looking at the audience, and I'm looking over here and the audience is engaged in what I'm doing right now. That's the most powerful, so we use them judiciously. Of course, that's where the craft come in, but first know what it feels like. James Taylor So just to finish up in my head, what's in your as you're heading out to your next speaking, speaking gig, what is in your speaker bag, what you carry with you is always with you, you make sure it's in that bag, so you can try it and test it things. Michel Neray Well, are you talking about physically or metaphorically, James Taylor physically, Michel Neray so well, physically as as little as possible? I don't use PowerPoint or Keynote, anything, any of the less technology, the better. I don't want to rely on any of those things I want, I want the audience to be focused on me not the screen that's at the back. Technology, no matter I don't even use, you know, at mo Mondays, we don't typically use even a wireless microphone because the battery batteries could go dead. You know, use a wired microphone, learn how to use it. It takes practice. But I so when you ask me what's in my kitbag as little as possible, I want to know who I'm speaking to. So this is where metaphorically what's in my kit bag. I really want to know who I'm speaking to. What are the key concerns that they have, especially the key concerns that they've never shared with anyone? The key concerns that don't show up in the pre questionnaire. That's what I want to know. James Taylor Well, Michelle has been an absolute pleasure. speaking today. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge about speaking. And also just tell you know, that those those stories, there's purposeful storytelling, great theme to to be covering today. And what's the best place for people to learn more about you to connect with you to find out where you're speaking? Maybe come see you speak soon as well. Michel Neray So first of all, thank you James, for asking, and thank you for this session. your your your you know what you're doing that you're awesome. Thank you. So what if people want to get in touch with me? There are two ways basically my website, and I've got two so my speaker website and for training, workshops, keynotes, of course, it's my last name.com and eray.com narroway.com. That's the easiest place and there's a Contact Us form list the keynotes and all kinds of stuff there. And if people are interested in more Monday's because kind of like the the personal expression of what I do. corporately, is mow Mondays and people might be interested in attending them on Mondays or seeing seeing if there's one in their neck of the woods or even hosting one of them. Their own. That's also easy. There went the website mo mondays.com mo mondays.com mo mondays.com. That's, that's it. That's the best place. James Taylor Wonderful. Take care and I look forward to seeing you speak on the stage and hopefully next time I'm in your neck of the woods I'll be I'll be coming into one of those more Mondays as well. Michel Neray Careful, I'll get you on stage. Thank you James. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

On Sunday, October 18, 2020, tens of thousands of Parisians including French President Macron filled Place de la République protesting the grisly beheading of French schoolteacher, Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee at the junior high school in a suburb. Thousands rallied in other major French cities. The Macron Government is taking this latest jihadist attack with seriousness and dispatch going after those Islamists who fomented a fatwa against the hapless late Professor Paty who displayed the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in his civic class as an example of freedom of speech. Those Charlie Hebdo Cartoons inflamed jihadists on January 7, 2015 to attack the former editorial offices killing 11; while another jihadist took hostages at a Kosher supermarket, killing four Jews. The Macron government and most French revere secular education and teachers are held in high esteem in the society. However, this time it appears that the French Interior Ministry and the counterterrorism prosecutors are going after those who are considered “accomplices after the fact” in the commission of this crime shutting down alleged French Muslim anti-Islamophobia civil rights groups and Mosques supporting Islamic separatism in France. Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin declared: “They launched a fatwa against him (Paty).” The father of a schoolgirl and his accomplice—a notorious anti- Zionist agitator, head of the Cheikh Yassin association—fomented revolt against the teacher, Samuel Paty, who showed Mohamed cartoons in a lesson on freedom of speech. Investigators have discovered that they communicated by phone with the 18-year-old Chechen refugee who beheaded the teacher in Conflans Ste. Honorine and was shot nd killed by French police. Turkey’s Erdogan, the presumptive leader of a Muslim Brotherhood alliance has declared a “boycott’ of France, a NATO partner saying that Macron needed his head examined for condoning caricatures of the prophet of Islam. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the French leader has “lost his way.” France announced it was recalling its ambassador for consultations. France’s Jews have responded by calling for solidarity with President Macron, who has called out rising anti-Semitism given the current trial of accomplices in the January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo “massacre" and disturbing testimony by surviving French Jewish hostages at the Hyper Casher Market. Jerry Gordon, a Senior Editor at the New English Review and Producer and co-host of Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix reached out to Nidra Poller, American ex-pat in Paris, writer, translator, author, and journalist for her views. She has written extensively on Islamic Antisemitism, murders of French Jews over the past two decades. She was an early investigator in the Mohamed Al Dura “blood libel” propounded by Palestinian activities and leftist journalists against Israel that occurred in Gaza on September 30, 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada ,the subject of French trials she covered involving the France 2 TV news. See her book, "Al Dura: Long Range Ballistic Myth" (2014) . Poller has been the subject of several Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix interviews by Gordon and host Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant, republished in The New English Review. Beyond the Matrix 28OCT2020 - PODCAST

  Dan LeFebvre (Based on a True Story) and Brian from New Zealand join Flixwatcher remotely to review Dan’s choice Inglourious Basterds.     Inglourious Basterds (2009) is the seventh film from Quentin Tarantino and stars Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl and Mélanie Laurent. Set during World War 2 it tells an alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi leaders - one by a French Jewish cinema owner (Laurent) whose family were murdered by Hans Landa (Waltz) and the second by a group American Jewish soldiers led by Aldo Raine (Pitt) who instill fear into Nazis for their reputation of scalping Nazi officers that cross their paths. Inglourious Basterds has everything you’d expect from a Tarantino film - violence (often and bloody), chapters, borrowing from popular culture, pop soundtrack, meticulous dialogue, and black humour Scores [supsystic-tables id=174] Inglourious Basterds scores strongly across recommendability and engagement - dropping points on repeat viewing in part due to its two hour and 33 minute run time - to score overall a respectable 3.8. What do you guys think? Have you seen Inglourious Basterds? What did you think? Please let us know in the comments below!   Episode #167 Crew Links Thanks to the Episode #167 Crew of Dan LeFebvre  (@DanLefeb) from, Based on a True Story Podcast and Brian from, New Zealand. Find their Websites online at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/ Please make sure you give them some love More about Inglourious Basterds For more info on Inglourious Basterds, you can visit Inglourious Basterds IMDb page here or Inglourious Basterds Rotten Tomatoes page here.   Final Plug! Subscribe, Share and Review us on iTunes   If you enjoyed this episode of Flixwatcher Podcast you probably know other people who will like it too! Please share it with your friends and family, review us, and join us across ALL of the Social Media links below.

Listen as we interview Yale University Professor Dr. Maurice Samuels about his fascinating new book. Explore a forgotten episode of French-Jewish history.

Welcome to the 50th episode of HatRadio! with special guest, David Shore, the creator/writer of the shows: House and The Good Doctor. We start things off with a 26-minute monologue reviewing highlights of HatRadio!'s first year, as well as some encouragement about strengthening our world, and fighting Antisemitism and racism, through positive and complimentary actions with other individuals. The interview with David Shore is truly fascinating. It is because, David, the greatest TV writer in the world today, speaks in philosophical and meaningful terms about his life and career. He states clearly about writing scripts, "it seems pointless to just entertain" and adds, "I do like to exploring ethical question." His scripts have purpose. He thinks a lot about morality and shares hard questions with the viewer. Have a listen to this highly successful man from London, Ontario. He's very thankful for his success and gifts in life, and it's clear from our schmooze, like many great men, he simply does not see himself as such - true humility. HatRadio! The show that schmoozes. HAPPY NEW YEAR. PEACE IN OUR WORLD.  (This show is in memory of Sarah Halimi, a French Jewish woman murdered by a man who won't stand trial because of his marijuana intake. Fight this). _________________________________________________________________  Thanks to Howard Pasternack for editing the show and David Nefesh for writing and performing the HatRadio! song. Thanks too, to Stephanie Kazdan for designing the new HatRadio! Poster. Great comments. Please support Stephanie by purchasing her articles as dishswear.com or through Facebook@dishswear . Credit for music in commercial:"Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This clip from "City of Refuge" introduces listeners to Madeleine Dreyfus — a French Jewish social worker who — at great risk to herself and her family — rescued Jewish refugee children during World War II. Learn more about Madeleine and other incredible rescuers in "City of Refuge" — a 10-part podcast series from Waging Nonviolence: https://wagingnonviolence.org/series/city-of-refuge/

Jacques Schwarz-Bart says that he never fit neatly into any one category. He says, “I knew early on in my life that I could not go down a regular path. It would be hard for other human beings to totally accept me the way I am.”  From the very start, Jacques’ life was unusual. Born in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to a pair of writers (his mother the Guadeloupean novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart and his father, the French-Jewish writer and intellectual André Schwarz-Bart.)  The family traveled widely, living in Senegal, Switzerland, and Goyave, Guadeloupe. Young Jacques was an excellent student, and he was thought to be destined for greatness. In his universe, that meant a life in politics and, after studying at the prestigious Parisian school of Government, Sciences Po, he began a career as a Senator’s assistant in Paris. He was an inspiration: young, successful and smart - a beacon of hope and a shining representative of his multi cultural background in France.  So when he walked away from all that at age 27, moved to Boston and pursued a career in jazz saxophone at the Berklee College of Music, it was not a surprise to him that his family and friends thought he had literally lost his mind. People started to talk, and to invent all kinds of reasons to explain the choice. He says, “I admired them for finding a rational reason for my decision. Nobody could come to terms with the fact that I loved something and I just decided to pursue it despite that fact that I was new and not very good at it.”  It’s true, he was new. He had only picked up a saxophone for the first time a few years earlier. But as he tells it, there was an instant connection between the young Schwarz-Bart and the and horn. He was off and running.  Much like everything else in his life, Jacques musical path has not followed a straight line. His work with Roy Hargrove led him to the world of neo soul, where he worked as a session player with the likes of D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Eric Benet, and Meshell N’degeocello.  But it was stints with Danilo Perez, Ari Hoenig, Bob Moses, and Giovanni Hidalgo that informed his search for authentic, coherent music that built bridges between his cultural and musical worlds. A series of exploratory projects ensued, including the Gwoka Jazz Project (exploring the music of Guadeloupe); Jazz Racine Haiti (bringing together Haitian Voodoo music and jazz); and most recently Hazzan, featuring his original arrangements of Jewish liturgical music.  We got together on a cold January afternoon following his performance at the Winter Jazz Festival in New York to talk about identity, authenticity, and how “the artist is first and foremost someone who has the guts to be himself”.  Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on iTunes and consider supporting the podcast on Patreon! And now you can also listen to the podcast on Spotify!

Rabbi Ira F. Stone, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (www.phillymussar.org/stone.html)presents his lecture "The Greatest Jewish Philosopher That Nobody’s Heard Of: A Meeting with Emmanuel Levinas," before a roundtable audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Although widely known in the world of contemporary secular philosophy, the work of the French-Jewish philosopher, Emanuel Levinas, is hardly known at all in the Jewish world. His work has made little or no impact on contemporary Jewish discourse. Yet, his work is deeply grounded in Jewish texts and thought and, more importantly, offers a powerful way of approaching Jewish life in the post Shoa world. I will try to introduce his life and work and discuss why it is so important for our time. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/OrTzionAZ/ twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audio Library.

Nikki Haley discusses us peace plan at the UNSC Outgoing US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that the US Peace Plan for Israel and the Palestinians brings "new elements to the discussion" and takes advantage of the "new world of technology that we live in". 2. PM criticized for lax response to terror A 21 year old man from Jaljulia was killed and five more were injured Tuesday night in a shooting at a gas station near the Megiddo junction and the police have stated at least initially that they believe the shooting to be criminal in nature, and not terror related. 3. Bill to expel terrorists' families approved The ministerial committee for legislation approved a bill Sunday night that calls to expel the families of terrorists in the West Bank. The IDF central command would be given the right to expel the family of a terrorist from one area of the West Bank to another within a week of an attack. 4. UNSC convenes to discuss Hezbollah attack tunnels The UN Security Council is convening today to discuss the discovery of Hezbollah's cross border attack tunnels. The meeting was called by the United States on behalf of Israel and will seek the international community's condemnation of the Hezbollah terror group. Tension between government bodies is necessary Davidi Hermelin, President of The Int'l Center For Public Diplomacy In Israel speaking at ILTV Studio about the globes business conference in Jerusalem with Netanyahu. 6. Corruption investigator convicted of corruption A top former corruption investigator with the Israeli police has just been sentenced after being convicted last February of failing to report attempted bribes. Major General Menashe Arviv has thus been suspended for four months and will have to perform 200 hours of community service. 7. Agriculture minister bans imports of P.A. produce Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel has just ordered a halting of agricultural imports from the Palestinian authority into Israel and the decision, which was first reported by Israel's channel 2 news Tuesday evening, was said to have been taken by Ariel without consulting with any other government bodies. Food brand ‘Osem' reportedly postpones price hikes Israel's already very high cost of living is about to get higher in a few weeks with the government projecting tariff increases of 5-10% across the board. But thankfully, after meeting with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon at least Israeli food giant ‘Osem' has reportedly decided not to jack up costs. French-Jewish woman assaulted in Paris A French Jewish woman was assaulted yesterday, in Paris, in a suspected Anti-Semitic attack. The 20 year old victim reportedly told police that while on her way home from work, two teenagers insulted her with Anti-Semitic epithets hit her on the head, and then pried her cellphone out of her hands. Israeli combat ventures Itamar Ben Shitrit, Head of Innovation & Management, Combat Ventures speaking at ILTV Studio about helping veterans transition seamlessly into the workplace. 11. Moldovan president visits Israel Amidst the protests, intra-government tensions and various other issues, Prime Minister Netanyahu still found the time on Tuesday evening for a momentous meeting with Moldovan President Igor Dodon. This was president Dodon's first visit to Israel, and the first Moldovan presidential visit to Israel at all, in 14 years. 12. Celine Dion's new TLV collaboration   It looks like the music icon & legendary Canadian singer, Celine Dion, is making her way over to the Holy Land, but not physically just yet.  She's first dipping her feet into the fashion world here in Israel, collaborating with a Tel Aviv based designer and of course ILTV'S Emanuelle Kadosh is here with the details. Hebrew word Of The Day: : MEHIR | מחיר= PRICE Learn a New Hebrew word every day. Today's word is "mehir" which means "price"   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summary Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jewish artillery officer whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason can easily be seen as a precursor to the Kavanaugh trial--yes, trial.  And it is past time that those of us on this side of the Atlantic know of this willful travesty of justice. Known today as the Dreyfus affair, the incident eventually ended with Dreyfus's complete exoneration. No, this podcast is not simply about drawing a parallel between what France did to Dreyfus and what our country is trying to do to Brett Kavanaugh; it goes far beyond that. Links and References Blame Game Life Improving Dramatically; Protests Expanding WWE Politics Contact Please do reach out with comments or questions.  You can email me at will@revolution2-0.org, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google, or Stitcher. Transcript Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jewish artillery officer whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason can easily be seen as a precursor to the Kavanaugh trial--yes, trial.  And it is past time that those of us on this side of the Atlantic know of this wilful travesty of justice. Known today as the Dreyfus affair, the incident eventually ended with Dreyfus's complete exoneration. No, this podcast is not simply about drawing a parallel between what France did to Dreyfus and what our country is trying to do to Brett Kavanaugh; it goes far beyond that. Emile Zola, a contemporary of Dreyfus and a French writer and playwright, published an open letter, “J’Accuse…!”, a bitter denunciation of the heavily biased trial and foregone conclusions in France in January of 1898. In the letter Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the Paris newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. For his accusations against the false accusers, Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty in 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England and continued to defend Dreyfus. Captain Dreyfus was guilty of nothing more than being a convenient target, but he suffered greatly by being disgraced and imprisoned in a penal colony. Zola was guilty of nothing more than attacking the indefensible and defending the unpopular and vulnerable; he also suffered. That sort of thing can’t happen here, can it? After all, we have this centuries-old judicial system that, if anything, is overly protective of the accused. But aren’t we all too capable of attacking targets of convenience in the pursuit of an agenda--exactly what France did to Alfred Dreyfus over 100 years ago? When conservative Justice Clarence Thomas was similarly accused by Anita Hill in 1991, he made it clear that his impassioned denials had less to do with possibly of being on the Supreme Court than his personal reputation and dignity. “This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.” Justice Thomas quite understandably saw this as a race issue. Perhaps it is more about gender and politics. Anita Hill, Dr. Christine Ford and Deborah Ramirez are very progressive females; Thomas and Kavanaugh are conservative males. And is Roe v Wade the political elephant in all of these rooms?

(Something to think about before Hanukkah's gift exchange...]  I read Abraham's penchant for gift giving and hospitality --and his contrasting refusal to accept a discount from the Hebron locals for the prime burial cave-- through the lens of French-Jewish sociologist Marcel Mauss's book The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, his landmark study of the centrality of gift giving in tribal societies. (The book became highly influential on French literary theory, and Mauss himself was the founder of the French Academy for Sociology, along with his famous uncle and mentor, Emil Durkheim, also Jewish, whose Elementary Forms of the Religious Life --which focuses on religion as a community, not a faith, phenomenon-- is still a required classic in the field of religion today.)  What's the difference between systems of gift exchange and of money/barter exchange?  What different obligations are involved?  What does it mean to accept a gift, even today?  What cost is there to chasing sales and Black Friday discounts?  And how does this relate to the Lubavitcher Rebbe's comment that "Abraham knew that nothing comes for free?" (Comments from participants have been edited out as they were not picked up by the microphone.)

Speaker: Dr. Patrick Weil Affiliation: Centre d’histoire sociale du siècle, Universite de Paris 2 Title: "Dreyfus, Vichy, de Gaulle, Chirac: Reflections on the French-Jewish Malaise" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: April 3, 2008 Description: Dr. Patrick Weil reflects on the French-Jewish malaise. He goes on to compare the degree of acceptance and tolerance among different European countries toward Jews and other minority groups.

Dr. Rony Klein, professor of political philosophy at Tel Aviv University specializing in French political thought, explores how late 20th century Jewish philosophers posed a challenge to the ideas of Enlightenment that were the predominant themes in their intellectual sphere. Song: Ivri Lider - Makom Leyoter

Featuring: A recap of NSN's Let There Be Light concert, interviews with representatives from the French Jewish community, great Jewish music, news from Israel and Morning Chizuk with Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser.

Featuring: A preview of NSN's Let There Be Light concert, interviews with representatives from the French Jewish community, great Jewish music, news from Israel and Morning Chizuk with Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser.

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective history of catastrophe, the historian Zosa Szajkowski gathered evidence of the persecution from Jewish leaders in Paris and from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings in Berlin. Many Jews in France and the United States saw his collecting of those papers as a heroic effort; however, in time, this “rescuer” became a thief. Most of the documents he acquired in the 1950s–mostly pertaining to Jewish history in France since the seventeenth century–he stole from the archives. After World War II ended, Szajkowski married and worked at YIVO (also known as the Jewish Scientific Institute), where his prickly personality and unorthodox methods now needed to be curbed, leading to a temporary split from the organization, during which he established himself as a leading scholar of French Jewry. But as he did, the once heroic collector of documents now became an archive thief. By 1949, there were suspicions of his misdeeds in the archives. Lisa Leff is a historian of Europe since 1789 whose research focuses on Jews in France. Her first book, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity, examines the rise of Jewish international aid in 19th-century France. For more information on Dr. Leff, you can visit her American University webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective history of catastrophe, the historian Zosa Szajkowski gathered evidence of the persecution from Jewish leaders in Paris and from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings in Berlin. Many Jews in France and the United States saw his collecting of those papers as a heroic effort; however, in time, this “rescuer” became a thief. Most of the documents he acquired in the 1950s–mostly pertaining to Jewish history in France since the seventeenth century–he stole from the archives. After World War II ended, Szajkowski married and worked at YIVO (also known as the Jewish Scientific Institute), where his prickly personality and unorthodox methods now needed to be curbed, leading to a temporary split from the organization, during which he established himself as a leading scholar of French Jewry. But as he did, the once heroic collector of documents now became an archive thief. By 1949, there were suspicions of his misdeeds in the archives. Lisa Leff is a historian of Europe since 1789 whose research focuses on Jews in France. Her first book, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity, examines the rise of Jewish international aid in 19th-century France. For more information on Dr. Leff, you can visit her American University webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective history of catastrophe, the historian Zosa Szajkowski gathered evidence of the persecution from Jewish leaders in Paris and from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings in Berlin. Many Jews in France and the United States saw his collecting of those papers as a heroic effort; however, in time, this “rescuer” became a thief. Most of the documents he acquired in the 1950s–mostly pertaining to Jewish history in France since the seventeenth century–he stole from the archives. After World War II ended, Szajkowski married and worked at YIVO (also known as the Jewish Scientific Institute), where his prickly personality and unorthodox methods now needed to be curbed, leading to a temporary split from the organization, during which he established himself as a leading scholar of French Jewry. But as he did, the once heroic collector of documents now became an archive thief. By 1949, there were suspicions of his misdeeds in the archives. Lisa Leff is a historian of Europe since 1789 whose research focuses on Jews in France. Her first book, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity, examines the rise of Jewish international aid in 19th-century France. For more information on Dr. Leff, you can visit her American University webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective history of catastrophe, the historian Zosa Szajkowski gathered evidence of the persecution from Jewish leaders in Paris and from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings in Berlin. Many Jews in France and the United States saw his collecting of those papers as a heroic effort; however, in time, this “rescuer” became a thief. Most of the documents he acquired in the 1950s–mostly pertaining to Jewish history in France since the seventeenth century–he stole from the archives. After World War II ended, Szajkowski married and worked at YIVO (also known as the Jewish Scientific Institute), where his prickly personality and unorthodox methods now needed to be curbed, leading to a temporary split from the organization, during which he established himself as a leading scholar of French Jewry. But as he did, the once heroic collector of documents now became an archive thief. By 1949, there were suspicions of his misdeeds in the archives. Lisa Leff is a historian of Europe since 1789 whose research focuses on Jews in France. Her first book, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity, examines the rise of Jewish international aid in 19th-century France. For more information on Dr. Leff, you can visit her American University webpage.

Lisa Moses Leff joins host Jonathan Judaken to discuss her new book, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, wracked by grief and determined to facilitate the writing of an objective history of catastrophe, the historian Zosa Szajkowski gathered evidence of the persecution from Jewish leaders in Paris and from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings in Berlin. Many Jews in France and the United States saw his collecting of those papers as a heroic effort; however, in time, this “rescuer” became a thief. Most of the documents he acquired in the 1950s–mostly pertaining to Jewish history in France since the seventeenth century–he stole from the archives. After World War II ended, Szajkowski married and worked at YIVO (also known as the Jewish Scientific Institute), where his prickly personality and unorthodox methods now needed to be curbed, leading to a temporary split from the organization, during which he established himself as a leading scholar of French Jewry. But as he did, the once heroic collector of documents now became an archive thief. By 1949, there were suspicions of his misdeeds in the archives. Lisa Leff is a historian of Europe since 1789 whose research focuses on Jews in France. Her first book, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity, examines the rise of Jewish international aid in 19th-century France. For more information on Dr. Leff, you can visit her American University webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain’s Jewish Children examines Vichy’s inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy’s ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain’s Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain’s Jewish Children examines Vichy’s inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy’s ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain’s Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain's Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain's Jewish Children examines Vichy's inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy's ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain's Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies.

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain’s Jewish Children examines Vichy’s inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy’s ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain’s Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain’s Jewish Children examines Vichy’s inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy’s ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain’s Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lee‘s new book, Petain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2014) is highly compelling in its breadth, depth of research, and analysis. Focused on the social relationship between French Jews and the state during this critical period of French history, the book emphasizes the notion of a “Plural Vichy,” a regime that was complex rather than homogenous in its ideology and aims, including its antisemitism. Finding evidence of cooperation and accommodation between French Jewish young people and organizations and the state, the author shows the ways in which Vichy was uneven in its policies and practices, particularly in the two years immediately following the defeat of 1940. Drawing on a wealth of local and national archival sources, Petain’s Jewish Children examines Vichy’s inclusion of Jewish youth in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, as well as responses of a range of Jewish youth organizations (including the Jewish Scouts) to Vichy’s ideals and plans. As the book shows, these groups saw in certain Vichy policies and programs for French regeneration (especially the notions of a national cultural revolution and a return to the land) opportunities for the improvement of self, community, and nation. The author also draws on a series of fascinating interviews he conducted with a number of French Jews who lived through this difficult period. Complicating our understanding of years that have been understood predominantly in terms of persecution, resistance, and rescue, Petain’s Jewish Children will be of great interest to scholars of both French and Jewish studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices