Podcasts about jewish heritage a living memorial

Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, was born in Florence, Italy to Polish and Hungarian Holocaust survivors before emigrating with his family to Brooklyn, New York at three years old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, was born in Florence, Italy to Polish and Hungarian Holocaust survivors before emigrating with his family to Brooklyn, New York at three years old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 389: Dark times call for bright lights, and we're excited to announce Tablet's Hanukkah Bazaar, taking place Sunday, Dec. 3 in New York City, featuring 40+ amazing vendors. Find out more at hanukkahbazaar.com.  Today we head Across the Jew.S.A to Washington D.C., for a special dispatch from this week's March for Israel.  We also talk with Israeli writer Etgar Keret. Known for his short story collections, he's pivoted in the weeks since the Oct. 7 attacks and is channeling his energy and talents toward helping his fellow Israelis who are looking for hope, and a bit of entertainment.  And finally, Stephanie catches up with her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sister, LeElle Slifer, who has several relatives who were abducted or murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7. LeElle tells us why it's been so important to share her family's story widely here in the U.S.  Join our Beautifully Jewish Craft-Along. We're meeting virtually every Monday in November to craft in support of children being treated in Israel's hospitals and the brave men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces. Find out more at tabletmag.com/craftalong. Listen to the Testimonies Archive for more eyewitness audio accounts from Israel, and read Tablet's coverage here.  Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. To book us for a live show or event, email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Visit the Contemporary Jewish Museum on December 9 for Shabbat at Jewseum to celebrate Hanukkah with a day of art, stories, and community. Book tickets at thecjm.org.  Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to see their new exhibit, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater is presenting Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust. You can see the show November 14 to December 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org.  The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards honor up to 15 Jewish teens from across the United States with an award of $36,000 to recognize their impact and leadership to repair the world. Learn more at DillerTeenAwards.org. Be proudly Jewish with our book, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, covering everything from Jewish history and pop culture to holidays and food. Get a 20% discount on Newish Jewish and the entire Artisan Books Hanukkah shop with code UNORTHODOX.

13 firefighters are recovering after they were injured battling a 3-alarm fire in Manhattan's Little Italy last night. Also, a new cookbook dedicated to New York City's diverse Asian food scene hits the market. Plus, Uber and Lyft have agreed to a $328 million-dollar settlement with New York's State Attorney General to settle allegations of wage theft. WNYC's Janae Pierre catches up with a former driver, Malang Gassama, to discuss the impact of the settlement. Finally, a new exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in lower Manhattan seeks to introduce children to the history of the Holocaust. WNYC's Jessica Gould reports.

This week on Unorthodox, we talk with writer and political advisor Dan Senor about his new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World (a follow up to his 2011 book, Startup Nation, also co-written with Saul Singer). This interview will also air on Senor's podcast Call Me Back. We also speak with Gila Sacks, daughter of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who joins us to talk about what her father might have said about the present moment.  Join our Beautifully Jewish Craft-Along! We're meeting virtually every Monday in November to craft in support of children being treated in Israel's hospitals and the brave men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces. Find out more at tabletmag.com/craftalong. Listen to the Testimonies Archive for more eyewitness audio accounts from Israel, and read Tablet's coverage here.  Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. To book us for a live show or event, email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to see their new exhibit, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater is presenting Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust. You can see the show November 14 to December 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org.  The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards honor up to 15 Jewish teens from across the United States with an award of $36,000 to recognize their impact and leadership to repair the world. Learn more at DillerTeenAwards.org. Be proudly Jewish with our book, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, covering everything from Jewish history and pop culture to holidays and food. Get a 20% discount on Newish Jewish and the entire Artisan Books Hanukkah shop with code UNORTHODOX. 

This week on Unorthodox, we're continuing our travels Across the JEW.S.A. We head to Miami, where newer communities are redefining Jewish life in Florida. Across the JEW.S.A. is created with the support of the Jewish Federations of North America. You can catch up on some of the other stops we've made at tabletmag.com/jewsa.  We're also sharing highlights from the Jewish Priorities conference that Liel and Stephanie moderated at The Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. The conference was inspired by “Jewish Priorities: Sixty-five proposals for the future of our people,” a collection of 65 essays from notable Jewish thinkers about the most pressing issues facing Jews today. Join our Beautifully Jewish Craft-Along! We're meeting virtually every Monday in November to craft in support of children being treated in Israel's hospitals and the brave men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces. Find out more at tabletmag.com/craftalong. Listen to the Testimonies Archive for more eyewitness audio accounts from Israel, and read Tablet's coverage here.  Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to see their new exhibit, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, opening October 15th. Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater is presenting Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust. You can see the show November 14 to December 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org.  The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards honor up to 15 Jewish teens from across the United States with an award of $36,000 to recognize their impact and leadership to repair the world. Learn more at DillerTeenAwards.org. The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History teaches the powerful and true stories of Jewish life in America as an antidote to antisemitism. Visitors of all backgrounds can engage with the varied and vibrant history of American Jews. Find out more at TheWeitzman.org.

This week on Unorthodox, a mixup with a third (reich) party vendor.  We speak with Israeli actress Swell Ariel Or, who you may remember from the show Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. She moved to the United States just weeks ago, and gives us her perspective on the war as an Israeli living abroad. You can donate to the Israel Reservist Fund that Or started at: www.israelreservistfund.com.  Ani Wilcenski, Tablet's audience editor, helps us make sense of the social media landscape since the war in Israel began and sheds light on what our role is amidst it.  We're also joined by artist Jeanette Kuvin Oren, who you may remember from last year's Hanukkah episode. She tells us about the art classes she's been teaching to displaced children in Israel.  Join our Beautifully Jewish Craft-Along. Over the next 6 weeks, we're going to meet virtually to craft in support of children being treated in Israel's hospitals and to support the brave men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces. Find out more at tabletmag.com/craftalong.      The croched star in this week's episode art is by Adi Assas who you can find on Instagram: @adidiloops Listen to the Testimonies Archive for more eyewitness audio accounts from Israel, and read Tablet's coverage here.  Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to see their new exhibit, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, opening October 15th. Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater is presenting Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust. You can see the show November 14 to December 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org. 

This week on Unorthodox, we're processing our emotions about the war on Israel alongside our listeners. We talk with Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm, host of the podcast Good Faith Effort, about turning to Jewish law and ethics for insight on how to deal with a dark and violent moment.  Our second guest this week is the actress Lisa Edelstein. She joins us to discuss her newest project, the PBS series Little Bird, as well as her experience as a Jewish actress in Hollywood.  Listen to the Testimonies Archive for more eyewitness audio accounts from Israel, and read Tablet's coverage here. Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Hadassah is hosting “Inspire Zionism: Tech, Trailblazers and Tattoos,” a two-day online event featuring panels with inspiring Zionists, hosted by our own Stephanie Butnick. To join the conversation October 25 and 26, register at go.hadassah.org/inspire.  The Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust's newest exhibit is ‘Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark.' Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater presents Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust, running Nov. 14 to Dec. 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org.

Vote for us in the Signal Awards! We're finalists for our Across the JEW.S.A: Louisville, Kentucky, episode (vote here!) and for our limited series podcast The Franchise: Jews, Sports, and America (vote here!). This week on Unorthodox, we're battling the Spelling Bee.  Our beloved co-host Liel Leibovitz joins us as our first guest to tell us about his new book, How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book. Listeners have a very special opportunity: preorder the book (from the publisher, your local bookstore, or anywhere else), upload a picture or screenshot of your receipt to tabletm.ag/preorder and fill out the short, accompanying form. You'll then get invited to a special virtual event with Liel and will get entered to win one of 10 gift packages curated by Liel himself!  We also interview Leore Dayan, the creator and screenwriter of Normal, a new, semi-autobiographical Israeli TV show from Israeli production company Dori Media that's currently available to stream on ChaiFlicks. Leore is the grandson of Israeli military legend Moshe Dayan and the son of famed director Assi Dayan. He shares with us how his complicated family legacy impacted him and informed Normal.  We love to hear from you! Send us emails at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Check out our Unorthodox tees, mugs, and hoodies at tabletstudios.com.  Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. To book us for a live show or event, email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS: Hadassah is hosting “Inspire Zionism: Tech, Trailblazers and Tattoos,” a two-day online event featuring panels with inspiring Zionist women, hosted by our own Stephanie Butnick. To join the conversation October 25 and 26, register at go.hadassah.org/inspire.  Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to see their new exhibit, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, opening October 15th. Plan your visit at www.mjhnyc.org.  The National Yiddish Theater is presenting Amid Falling Walls, a tribute to the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust. You can see the show November 14 to December 10 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Get tickets at nytf.org. 

This week on Unorthodox, we're celebrating Sukkot in style. We head to the Malina sukkah, where we hear from Joshua's parents, Fran and Robert, about their family traditions.  We're also sharing the second installment of Beautifully Jewish, our series celebrating Jewish material culture, the ritual objects that inspire us, and the people who make them. Stephanie and Tanya explore how something as temporary as a sukkah can be a beautiful and meaningful structure, with the help of Rabbi Adam Baldachin of Shaarei Tikvah, artist Yaeli Vogel (Unorthodox listeners get 10% off using that link), and the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. You can see photos and more at tabletmag.com/beautifullyjewish. Then we're bringing you the latest installment of The Archive, our series exploring the collections of the National Library of Israel. We learn how Napoleon left his comfort zone and ended up in Israel, a story that ends with the French giving away the Rosetta Stone in exchange for a ride home.  And finally, we hear from producer Josh Kross, who never really connected with Sukkot until he moved upstate and reconsidered how his rural home is sort of like a permanent sukkah.  Share your favorite beautifully Jewish things in our Unorthodox Facebook group, via email at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or on social media using the hashtag #beautifullyjewish. Leave a message on our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Special thanks to Josh Mack and Rebecca Frank of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The Aryeh Steinberger sukkah panels panel loan by Jehuda, George, Robert and Paul, sons of Jeno and Piroska Lindenblatt. Lower panel loan by Magda Tewner, granddaughter of Aryeh Steinberger. In addition, the Museum acknowledges with appreciation Irene White, and Richard and Alexander Platschek and Perel Rosenfeld, children of Andor Platschek Weiss.  Check out our Unorthodox tees, mugs, and hoodies at tabletstudios.com.  Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. To book us for a live show or event, email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS: Hadassah is hosting “Inspire Zionism: Tech, Trailblazers and Tattoos,” a two-day online event featuring panels with inspiring Zionist women, hosted by our own Stephanie Butnick. To join the conversation October 25 and 26, register at go.hadassah.org/inspire.  NLI, the National Library of Israel, proudly supports our series The Archive. Discover the treasures, collections, and stories of the National Library of Israel here. American Jewish University (AJU) invites you to join them for their fall semester of online learning. To learn more and register, visit aju.edu/open and use code Unorthodox for a 10% discount.

In celebration of Israel's 75th birthday, guest host Dov Wilker, AJC's Atlanta director, sits down with retired Major League Baseball catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics. Lavarnway reflected on the Jewish pride he felt representing Israel on the international stage, how he has dealt with the antisemitism in his career, and the importance of building connections between the Jewish state and the Diaspora. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  __ Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Ryan Lavarnway ___ Show Notes: Watch: Catch the full video conversation with Ryan Lavarnway, recorded live on Yom Ha'atzmaut as part of AJC's Advocacy Anywhere  Test your knowledge: Quiz: How much do you really know about Israel? When was Israel founded? Who was the first Israeli to win a Nobel Prize? Which country was the first to recognize the State of Israel? Start the quiz! Listen: Israel at 75: 7 Things You Should Know About Israel: Listen to these seven episodes of AJC's People of the Pod featuring leading Israeli and American scholars, experts, and influencers that will help you learn more about the complexities, triumphs, and challenges facing Israel today. Julianna Margulies on Holocaust Education and Fighting Antisemitism: Emmy Award-winning actress Julianna Margulies recently partnered with the New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, to help create the Holocaust Educator School Partnership. To date, the partnership has trained two university fellows to teach the history of the Holocaust to 1,700 middle and high school students in New York City Public Schools. In a poignant interview, Margulies shares her motivations for expanding the program, personal experiences of how antisemitism has affected her family, and reflections on her first visit to Israel and Yad Vashem. 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 enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. __ Transcript of Interview with Ryan Lavarnway: Manya Brachear Pashman: Sometimes it just makes more sense for my AJC colleagues to guest host. When it comes to sports, I always try to hand the mic to AJC Atlanta Director Dov Wilker. This week, in honor of Israel's 75th birthday, Dov sat down for a live conversation in front of a virtual audience with Major League Baseball Catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics. Ryan talked to Dov about the pride he felt representing Israel on the international stage and the importance of building connections between the Jewish state and the Diaspora. I might not know a lot about baseball, but as someone about to visit Israel for the first time, Ryan's recollections and reflections brought tears to my eyes. Here's an instant replay.  Dov Wilker: Let's get it started in the beginning, Ryan, how did you get into baseball? And does your Judaism intertwine with that, or is that a separate story? Ryan Lavarnway: So, I started playing baseball when I was five years old. And my dad always played baseball, he was always doing pickup games on the weekends playing high-pitch softball, but the story of why I got started was my kindergarten teacher told my parents that I was not good at sharing, and that I should get involved in a team sport. So they signed me up about as early as I could sign up, when I was five years old. And I took to it really quick and the rest is history. Dov Wilker: You know, that's good advice for my seven year old who is also not very good at sharing. So I appreciate that.  And what about the role of Judaism in your life? Was Judaism something that was important to you from an early age? Or has that sort of become more important to you as you got older? Ryan Lavarnway: No, it really wasn't. My mom is Jewish, and she always loved Christmas. They had a white Christmas tree in her house with blue ornaments. And my dad would describe himself as a disenchanted Catholic. So growing up, we celebrated holidays from all religions. But there was no religion involved. We celebrated just to have a nice meal together, to have a reason to give presents and celebrate or light the candles. We went through the motions. Sometimes I joke that we celebrated Hallmark holidays.  And it wasn't until really until high school that I started to grow into my own as an adult and start to search for more. And in high school, I ended up going to temple for the first time with a high school teammate's mother who had MS and couldn't drive herself. So we kind of needed each other because I needed someone to go with, and she needed someone to drive her. And that was really my first experience. As an adult, when I started searching for more meaning behind –Why do we celebrate these holidays? And what do they mean? And where's the community that I want to be a part of? Dov Wilker: What state did you go to high school in? Ryan Lavarnway: I grew up in California, LA County, in the valley. My wife likes to make fun of me every time I talk about home, she references that SNL skit The Californians– she's like, Oh, you, you were on the one oh one and the four oh five.  So I grew up in Southern California. A lot of Jewish players on my youth league teams, on my little league teams, you know, Bar Mitzvah season for me, you know, when you're 13, 15, in that season of your life, I had a ton of friends that were Jewish, we had a great community here. But my family, again, we were more of the Hallmark holidays. Dov Wilker: So when you were in high school, when sort of you started getting more into your Judaism, but also, you know, as you were playing, did you ever experience antisemitism on the field when you were younger, or even when you were older? Ryan Lavarnway: When I was younger, not so much. And I think the reason that I was able to kind of dodge those bullets was because my dad was Catholic, and my mom was Jewish. So as we studied the Holocaust in school, I felt, you know, and to me, I'm almost embarrassed looking back, but this is my truth.  I would step away and I would say, Well, I'm half Catholic, so the people that were hurt and the people that were, killed in and, and antisemitism is against, that wasn't me. But then I could also step on the other side and be like, Well, I wasn't the evil villain, either. It wasn't my people that were causing all this pain. And that helps me avoid feeling, and feeling hurt by the antisemitism as a kid. But what that also did was, it kept me from feeling the benefits of the community.  And it wasn't until later, and we can get into this, when I played for Team Israel and I fully embraced being Jewish–and publicly–that I started facing antisemitism for the first time and really internalizing it and feeling it personally. But then that was also the first time, with that came, the feeling, the sense of community and feeling like I'm your brother, and you're my brother, you're my sister, and like we're all in this together. So I feel like they go hand in hand. Dov Wilker: So let's dive into that, the Team Israel stuff a little bit. Your first experience with the team came about in 2017, 2016.  Ryan Lavarnway: 16, yeah. Dov Wilker: 16. So how did that all start? I mean, you're a Major League Baseball player, you're a world series champion, and you get a phone call from some guy who was like, hey, like, we've got this team we want to create it? Or, was it, the World Baseball Classic is gonna be a big thing and you want to find a way to be a part of it and you're a great catcher, but you might not be picked for team USA. How does this all work? Ryan Lavarnway: So, yeah, I got a phone call from some guy that I'd never heard of. Peter Kurtz. I don't know if it initially came through my agent or how he first got ahold of me. But I got a call in 2012. And I had just made it into the big leagues as a rookie the year before. I had like half a year of service time, still trying to prove myself and establish myself as a major leaguer. And he said, Hey, we have this Team Israel. And we play baseball, surprise, you never heard of us. Which I think was everyone's reaction. But you qualify for the team, because your mom's Jewish. So what do you think?  And I was like, Well, what's the WBC because 10 years ago, it wasn't very popular yet, it's still growing. He's like, Well, we have to qualify to get into the tournament, because we only have one field in our whole country. And we're ranked 64th in the world. But we think we can do it. What do you think? The qualifier's in September, can you be there?  And I was like, Well, it sounds like an amazing opportunity. Let's do it. But if I get called up again, this year, I'll be in the big leagues, so I can't be there. So September 2012, came in when I was in the big leagues. I wasn't able to go, but I had the seed planted in my mind of this, this is a possibility. This is a thing. So four years later, they just missed qualifying in 2012, they had a lead in the last inning.  And my now best friend from this team, Josh Zeid, ended up blowing the lead.  Flash forward four years later, 2016, I get another call, Hey, we're going to try to qualify again. We just missed it last time, we think we're really going to make it this time. Can you be there? And this time, my answer was, well, I'm probably going to be in the big leagues. But if for whatever reason I'm not, heck yeah, let's do it. And then the skies parted. It was the first year in six years, I wasn't in the big leagues in September. And I was available. And I went and played. And what I remember, showing up, when I first got there was Josh Zeid spoke very passionately to the group about how blowing that lead four years earlier, is still eating him up inside. And it was the lowest of lows for his career and everything he had done pitching in the big leagues. That was the moment he wanted to change. And his impassioned speech really spoke to the rest of us about oh, man, this is maybe more important than we thought. Dov Wilker: So I want to jump back to something that you said, which I find very profound. This random person calls you and says, Hey, your mother's Jewish, you qualified to be on the team. How do you respond to that? Right? You started off by saying that you got more into your Judaism when you were in high school and but, how do you feel, what is that? And by the way, have you ever been to Israel before? Was there any sort of connection to Israel, as all of this is sort of taking place? Ryan Lavarnway: I had not ever been to Israel. When he first called me in 2012, my wife and I were engaged to be married. By the time 2016 came around, we had been married. My wife was raised Jewish, she had a bat mitzvah, she had been on Birthright. We had a Jewish wedding. I was more involved in the Jewish community locally in Denver, and had really embraced, on a personal level, that I'm a Jewish man, and I want to raise a Jewish family. I want to be involved in the Jewish community in Denver. I still had yet to say that publicly.  Because playing for the Boston Red Sox, our media training, at least 10 years ago, this was before athletes branding themselves and having their own brand was really acceptable. Especially in baseball, baseball is one of the last sports to embrace that.  So the Boston Red Sox media training involved: if anything is even potentially controversial—just keep it to yourself. The Red Sox is the brand, don't tarnish it. And Boston itself as a city is a little closed minded, I would say. I think people that know Boston could agree with this, that they're not the most forward thinking city.  Dov Wilker: No offense to anyone in Boston that's listening. Ryan Lavarnway: No, I love the city of Boston. Trust me, I love Boston. It's one of my favorite places. I still feel at home there. I've got my Red Sox World Series ring on the table right here.  But like, I know, some of my black teammates didn't feel comfortable, and black visiting players don't feel super comfortable there. So it's just it's just the way Boston is a little bit. So I just kept to myself.  When I announced I was going to play for Team Israel, was the first time that I really feel that it was public. And I feel maybe in a way that's the first time I dove all the way into the deep end of embracing it. Because you have to say to the world, right? If you are privately Jewish, in a sense, you could say that maybe it's–you're hiding it a little bit. Or it's just you're just not announcing it. So I finally announced it to the world. I finally experienced antisemitism for the first time in a way that I really internalized and personalized and I was really embraced by the Jewish community and it was really wonderful in that way. Dov Wilker: Two things --one is, AJC has a campaign that we created called Jewish and Proud. And it's something that we've been sort of pursuing as a result of the rise of antisemitism in our society. So I couldn't agree with you more. I think that that's so important. It's why, in fact, one of the reasons that I wear my kippa— one of the reasons is that I've got a hair problem in the back. But the second reason is that I feel it's an important identifier, because I'm very proud to be Jewish. And I want people to be able to know that. But I'm one of the things you just said was that, it's when you started to experience antisemitism, really publicly. So could you share a little bit about that? What was that like, or what type of experiences you might have had? Ryan Lavarnway: Yeah, so there was a couple of experiences that were more subtle. And it was more of people questioning, like, Oh, I didn't realize you were Jewish, or like, I didn't know that about you. And I felt like, I felt like they felt permission to express their questioning, or they felt like they had the right to have an opinion. Which ultimately, what's the difference? I'm the same exact person you've known for years. And now you think you have a different opinion about me.  And just the fact that they even made a face or had a slight different tone when they talked to me. It made me feel like well, why? Why did something change? Why did anything have to change?  There were more obvious experiences. Baseball is a very Christian sport, at least on the professional level. I think that we have 12 Jewish major leaguers this year, and that's a record. Out of 780  players in the major leagues, 12 are Jewish, so it's very much a minority. So every Sunday, a chaplain comes in and holds baseball chapel, in the dugout or in the clubhouse, for both teams, and they do it in English and in Spanish. So it's a really established institution within baseball. And it's great for those players. But it's not my thing. And I kind of established, ‘that's not my thing,' was my go to response when I was invited, because they tried to include everybody. And one time I remember I was in Gwinnett, Georgia, the AAA team for the Braves. Dov Wilker: Yeah. So it's up the street from where I live right now. Ryan Lavarnway: Yeah. And I was invited to baseball chapel. And I said, Well, it's not my thing. And the chaplain really pushed back,  like, why wouldn't you go? And I was like, Well, I'm Jewish. So you know, I don't need to go to baseball chapel. We have our own thing on the weekend. And, he said, Well, I've dealt with heathens like you before. And I don't remember what happened with the rest of the conversation.  But it left me feeling really awful, that he would call me that. And I honestly didn't even know what heathen meant. So I went and I looked it up in the dictionary on my phone. And I think technically, by the definition, heathen just means non-believer. But the way he said it made me feel like he was talking down to me, like I was less than and, for a supposed man of God, I didn't think that was very ethical, or I didn't really like the way he handled it.  So small experiences like that. And then there was one other time I was in AAA, I don't remember what team I was with. But one of my teammates in the outfield was expressing some other backwards opinions about some other groups that he thought maybe I might relate to—which I didn't. And he also went on to add –also, if we're going to be friends, I'm gonna have to tell you, you're wrong at some point. Because you don't believe in Jesus Christ. And I was like, okay, guy, well, then we're just not going to be friends after this.  So there have been experiences, some of them have been more subtle, some of them have been more obvious. In my experiences, I feel like antisemitism falls into two major categories. It's either ignorance, or it comes from hate. And I approach them in two separate ways. I think if it stems from ignorance, I try to educate them. It shouldn't have to be my job and anybody that is a Jewish person, it shouldn't have to be your job either. But if we don't do it, who will? And I think it goes the same way with anybody that is the receptor of any sort of ignorant hate, you know, whether it's black people, or gay people, anybody that experiences that, it shouldn't have to be your job to educate people. But again, if you don't, who will? So when someone makes a joke that might be hurtful or someone comes from a place of not understanding why it might be hurtful, I try to educate them, like this is where the history of that joke or the history of that ignorance comes from.  And then in general people, they don't want to be ignorant and they don't want to be hurtful. So most of the time they back off. The other time is when it comes from hate. And I don't know if you can necessarily change people's hearts. I take one of my cues from Hank Greenberg, who was one of the more famous baseball players in history. He was a big, strong, intimidating person, he would stand up to it. And he took the approach, at least from the stories that I've heard, of, you deal with a bully, you stand up to them, and you maybe intimidate them back, and then they'll back down. And I think that's one way or the other way is, if it stems from a place of hate so much that you're in danger, then that's when you kind of try to avoid it, or you reach out to authorities in some regard.  Dov Wilker: Ryan, I appreciate you sharing that. Unfortunately, for me, it's not surprising to hear what you shared. And I'm sure for many in our audience, they wouldn't have expected it. And yet, it also might not be a surprise. It's also one of the reasons AJC created a tool. It's an online glossary called Translate Hate, for those experiences to be able to explain to people what the root of the antisemitism that they might be sharing comes from. I absolutely agree with you about the two types of antisemitism that you've experienced. I'm curious if you ever, did you ever talk to the other 11 Jewish players in the majors about their experiences? Or that you sort of just assume that they had similar ones? And did you ever experience it from the fans? Ryan Lavarnway: No, in general, a lot of most of the fans have been really supportive, or don't bring it up at all. So fan wise, it's been really, really positive. And as far as talking to other players about it, when we're with Team Israel is when I interact with the other Jewish players the most. And we're really just enjoying the experience and really positive. So any experience I speak of is really personal. And you'd have to kind of talk to them about theirs. Dov Wilker: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. So let's talk a little bit more about what it was like to represent Team Israel. What was it like? I mean, here you are, you've sort of done very cool things in the majors, you got to be a part of this team, this unique gathering of the diaspora Jews essentially to represent the Jewish homeland. Here we are again, on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, talking about that. Was the team received well by the other countries in the World Baseball Classic? These are other ballplayers that, you know or were you sort of shunned aside a little bit? Ryan Lavarnway: So the first thing is, when I first started to play for Team Israel, I can be totally honest about this. I signed up because it was a great baseball opportunity. Playing in the World Baseball Classic was, I had never played international baseball before. So it seemed like a cool thing to do. And it would add to my baseball resume. Representing a people, a culture, and a country, it didn't even enter my mind. I didn't know what it would mean to me. So I signed up for a baseball opportunity. We played in Brooklyn in a qualifier.  And it started to hit me when I stepped on the field with Israel across my chest. And we stepped onto the line for the national anthems before the game. And we took off our hats and we put on kippas. And it was the first time that a sports team had ever done that, or at least a baseball team had ever done that. It was really interesting. And I looked into the stands and there was–Brooklyn's a home game for for Israel, right, there was a bunch of Jews in Brooklyn, and there was a few yeshiva schools with kids with the tallit and the kippa. And it hit me that these kids have never had a team like this, where they can relate to every player on the field.  And everything that I know about representation and how the more things you can relate to in leaders, or the more things you can relate to in role models, the more meaningful and impactful it will be for you as a young person. It really hit me that I wanted to be the person for them. I wanted to be their role model. And then it hit me again when we got to Israel, because after we qualified for the tournament, they brought us to Israel and filmed a documentary about it. They did a great job. I don't get five cents if you download it on Amazon but check it out because they did a great job.  Going to Israel really, really it hit home for me. We got to Israel and we had a practice on the only field in the country. And I have this sense of meaning that's growing and my heart is expanding another size like the Grinch on Christmas, when his heart grows two sizes. And after our practice, we have a press conference with the Israeli media. And they let us have it. They were initially not excited to have us represent them. They pushed back really hard. Who are you to represent us? We don't even play baseball, you guys are outsiders. Who do you think you are? And we were all like, Oh, my God, like, we thought we would be at this press conference, and it was going to be a love fest where they were so happy that we made it into the tournament. And that was very much not the case.  So that gave us pause a little bit. But we also appreciated that they didn't just accept us because we were winners. They wanted us to prove it, like prove that you mean it and prove that you're gonna represent us well. So we went to Seoul, South Korea was the first round. And we started to win. And we counted out before we started, I don't know if you remember the article that ESPN posted. They called us the Jamaican bobsled team of baseball, has-beens, wannabes, never-weres, that perfectly fulfill the role of “team that has no business being there, and somehow found a way to win minus, they haven't won yet.” That was what the article said.  And that was maybe the best thing that ever happened to us because we got a very, very solid collective chip on our shoulders. And we had a lot of players that felt like maybe they had been overlooked in their careers or hadn't got the opportunity or hadn't performed to their potential. So we had a lot of players that already had a chip on their shoulder. And now as a group, we had one. So we went out there, and we started to win. And we beat Korea, and we beat Taiwan, and we beat the Netherlands. And everybody's now freaking out. We're a Cinderella story. And the other teams were great. The other teams, you know, you qualified for Israel, whatever.  We move on to Tokyo. And as we advance to the second round, now the Israeli media is like, we're so happy you're representing us. Thank you for being respectful and giving positive energy on the worldwide stage and for playing so great. And now we have this positive thing. So the Israel media finally embraced us, as we continued to send the message that we want it to grow the game within Israel, not just win, and not just say, wham bam, Thank you, ma'am, we're out of here. But we all had the intention to be around for a while.  And then we beat Cuba. And the Cuban media was pissed. And I think they were probably embarrassed that they lost. And that was the first time that another country's media had been like, well, you guys are all American. You guys are America. American's B-team. And that was the first time we really got pushed back. But realistically, nobody on Team Israel would have made America's B-team or America's C-team or America's D-team or E-team or F-team. Like us we were a collection of has-beens, never-weres and wannabes that qualified for Israel. And then most of that team from 2017 signed up for the Olympics and we established Israeli citizenship and went back to Israel a second time.  And every time that we've been to Israel, we make the commitment to grow the game we go, and we host clinics for the youth. Most of the prize money for the team has gone to building new fields or funding international tournament travel for the youth. And participation in baseball in Israel has doubled since the first time I wore an Israeli uniform. Dov Wilker: There's so much that was said. I'm so grateful that you shared all of that. Ryan Lavarnway: I have no idea if I answered your question.  Dov Wilker: I'm not even sure what my question was anymore. So it's the perfect answer. By being members of the Israeli team at the Olympics, did the Israeli Olympic Committee do anything to share about the massacre of the 72 Olympics? Was that at all a part of sort of, in general, was there sort of learning, teaching, touring that that Israel did, that the the institutions there to help you all sort of have a better understanding if you'd never been there before, sort of different challenges and things like that on the global scale?  Ryan Lavarnway: Yeah, there absolutely was. So we all had to go to Israel a second time to establish our citizenship, which I think was the right thing to do. You know, you can't just mail us a passport overnight, right? So we went to Israel again, we went to all the fields, we coached kids. We went to Independence Hall, we did all the things.  What we also did was we had to go to their athletic Institute to be put through a battery of testing. They wanted to make sure we were healthy, and that we weren't going to die on the field. And I don't know if you remember the old Gatorade commercials, where they had a tube hooked up to your mouth and the EKG machine, all the wires coming off and you're running on a treadmill. We did that.  And we're running on this treadmill. We're dripping sweat, we're panting. Our hearts are beating and we're all like, do you understand baseball? Like, we don't have to do this. But they put us through all the crazy testing. It was really awesome. And while we were at the Institute, we got to meet some of the Judo athletes, some of the windsurfer athletes and we went straight from there to the Israel Olympic Experience, which is like a museum for Olympics in Israel. It's not a very big museum. Dov Wilker: They've got some gold medals... Ryan Lavarnway: I believe, and don't quote me, because I'm not sure on the facts. But I believe they had 13 medals, before Tokyo and four gold, I want to say. Judo and windsurfing I believe, I might be wrong.  But going through that Olympic experience, it really gave us context for understanding the history of Israeli athletics. And the tragedy that happened in the 70s.  Dov Wilker: I'm glad to hear that. I'm curious: in Israel, what was it like for you the first time, the second time? Did your opinions change when you became an Israeli citizen? I'm not going to ask for your political analysis of the current situation there, I don't think that'd be fair. How has that experience changed for you and your family? You're married. Did anybody join you in Israel? Ryan Lavarnway: So the first time I went, my parents were nervous. Because if you watch the American news cycle, you would think that Israel feels like a dangerous place. And they were like, Are you sure you want to go, especially right now. So I went into it a little nervous. not knowing what to expect, and you land on the ground. And I was like, I've never felt more safe in my life. This place is beautiful. It's amazing. We spent, the first time I went, we spent four days in Tel Aviv first, beautiful city, right on the water, we stayed in this beautiful beachfront hotel. And then we went to Jerusalem, and going to Jerusalem. And this is going to be a pained metaphor, so please forgive me. But in the same way, the first time that I stepped into the old Yankee Stadium, or Wrigley or Fenway Park, you can just tell it's different.  You can just smell the significance in the air, you just know, like, I am among history, so many important things have happened here. And I get to experience this in the modern world. And it just feels, like your heart beats different, the air smells different. So going to Jerusalem was that for me, and especially getting to the Western Wall, I swear to God, I felt God for the first time. And it was just this transformational experience. I think I cried. I think they caught it on video for the documentary, which is cool for me to live through and get to see again, because that was a really, really meaningful moment in my life. But going there, for the first time, yeah, my wife came with me. This was before we had our daughter, years before we had our daughter. But it was really, really meaningful and transformational for me to go for the first time.  When I went back the second time, I got to experience it all again. You know, you don't have that transformational experience, because you've already changed as a person, and you're changed forever. So it was really cool to go back again. And then they handed me my passport. And I have this goatee so I kind of felt like Jason Bourne, where I have two passports now, like, which I am going to use. Except they both have the same name. It's very, very, very cool. Dov Wilker: So I'm gonna go for some rapid fire questions… Ryan Lavarnway: Oh wait, I have one more. I think it's a good answer. And I don't like to express my political opinions. But what I'd like to tell people is, if you either voted– in America, if you're an American citizen, you either voted for our current president, or you voted for the last president, you didn't vote for both. And either currently or four years ago, you were unhappy with the decisions that the government was making. I don't think that made you feel less proud to be an American.  And I would encourage you to use the same opinion, when you think of Israel. Whether you agree with what the current current government is doing or not, does not have to color your opinion of whether you agree with the concept of Israel. When I think of Israel, I believe in what Israel is about, and it being a safe haven for the Jewish people worldwide, whether I agree with what the current government is doing or not. And I think it's very easy to judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. And that goes the same with a country that you personally identify with also, so I just wanted to throw that in there. Dov Wilker: I so appreciate you saying that. I was speaking to a group of high school students recently. And I shared with them that, you know, we're talking about the current situation, and I said, you know, Israel welcomed in Ukrainians as citizens, not as refugees. If you read Israel's Declaration of Independence, it refers to the survivors of the Holocaust and those who were expelled from other lands. And so the in-gathering of the safe haven for the Jewish people is so important for us to be able to continue to remember the role that Israel plays in our lives. We're, you know, we're fortunate to live in the United States today. But we see that people need Israel more and more depending on where they live, not everybody is as fortunate and there are many people who have moved to Israel because of the antisemitism that they themselves might have experienced here. So I think it's a really powerful statement for you to make and something that I hope, I'm guessing that if you shared it here, you share it with all of your audiences, but if not, I hope that that's something you continue to share with your audiences.  All right, well, it's no easy transition to my rapid fire, so I'm just gonna do it. Ryan Lavarnway: Just rip off the bandaid. Dov Wilker: There you go. Favorite Israeli snack? Ryan Lavarnway: Shawarma. Dov Wilker: Oh. Snack? You have a very different appetite than I do, my friend. Ryan Lavarnway: I have a very big appetite.  Dov Wilker: Favorite city in Israel? Ryan Lavarnway: Jerusalem.  Dov Wilker: Favorite baseball memory. Ryan Lavarnway: Two answers: World Series win, or my debut with Cincinnati.  Dov Wilker: Okay. Most challenging part of being a catcher. Ryan Lavarnway: Hitting in the ninth inning. Dov Wilker: You know, you talked about the small numbers, the mighty numbers of Jews in Major League Baseball today. Is there an association between the Jewish ballplayers in the major leagues and other professional sports? Is there any reason, maybe it's based on a city that you live in? Or it's sort of an overall, I know like, there's the Jewish Coaches Association, something like that? Is there anything like the Jewish professional ballplayers association, that gets you together, perhaps to be able to encourage others like you to play for the Israeli teams in other sports that they're professionals in. Ryan Lavarnway: Not that I've experienced yet, but that might be a cool idea to start. I'd be up for it. If you want to talk off of this broadcast. Dov Wilker: It's my new side project at work. Ted, thank you for the approval.  And I guess my final question for you, Ryan, is, we're here today, Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's 75th birthday. What type of closing message do you have about the importance of Israel, you already talked about the safe haven for the Jewish people, but sort of the future of American Jewry. Any parting words of wisdom that you'd like to share? Ryan Lavarnway: My biggest thing is, participate, and be proud. And you need to be public, because the only way that we can get the benefit of the community and strengthen numbers is if we support each other, and we're aware of who each other are. I've received so much benefit in my life from embracing the community and stepping out into the public. And it's really changed my life. And it's changed how I view myself as a man. And it's changed the direction that I want to raise my family. And it's been such a positive change. And I've had such a positive embrace from the community. And I want others to experience that. And I never would have experienced it if I didn't go out of my way to participate in Team Israel. So I encourage anybody watching, go out, get involved, anything in your community, a team you can get involved in. It's been so positive for me, and I hope it can be so positive for you as well. Dov Wilker: Well, Ryan, on behalf of American Jewish Committee, thank you very much for joining us for this wonderful conversation.  

Emmy Award-winning actress Julianna Margulies recently partnered with the New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, to help create the Holocaust Educator School Partnership. To date, the partnership has trained two university fellows to teach the history of the Holocaust to 1,700 middle and high school students in New York City Public Schools. In a poignant interview, Margulies shares her motivations for expanding the program, personal experiences of how antisemitism has affected her family, and reflections on her first visit to Israel and Yad Vashem. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  ___ Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Julianna Margulies ___ Show Notes: Learn more about: The Museum of Jewish Heritage's exhibit The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do The Holocaust Educator School Partnership Vote: Vote for The Forgotten Exodus at The Webby Awards: AJC.org/Webby Test your knowledge:  Test your knowledge of antisemitism in America: Stopping antisemitism starts with understanding how dangerous it is. Take our quiz and learn how antisemitism impacts American Jewish life. Read: Breaking Down and Fighting Holocaust Trivialization: Holocaust trivialization is not always obvious; a casual observer might miss it without an understanding of the terms, symbols, and relevant history. Here is what you need to know. Listen: Surviving the Unimaginable: A Child's Story of the Holocaust: In this powerful episode, we sit down with Sam Harris, who is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. As a young child, Sam watched in horror as his family was taken to Treblinka and murdered, but he and his two older sisters were able to beat the odds. Listen as Sam recounts the unimaginable struggles he faced during one of the darkest periods in human history and how his experience motivated him to play a central role in the founding of the Illinois Holocaust Museum. What to Know About Israel's Judicial Reform Effort and Protests: Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed pause on a series of contentious judicial reforms that have triggered mass protests, condemnation from wide swaths of Israeli society, and expressions of concern from American leaders and Jewish organizations. Guest host Belle Yoeli, AJC's Chief Advocacy Officer, sits down with AJC's Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson to discuss what this means for the future of the Middle East's only democracy.   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 enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. __   Interview Transcript - Julianna Marguiles: Manya Brachear Pashman: Last year, Emmy Award winning actress Julianna Margulies hosted a Holocaust memorial special called “The Hate We Can't Forget", which featured the stories of four Holocaust survivors. In that documentary, Julianna sounded the alarm that Holocaust education across the country was severely lacking. After filming, Julianna partnered with the Museum of Jewish Heritage: a Living Memorial to the Holocaust here in New York, to help create the Holocaust Educator School Partnership, or HESP. Julianna is with us now to explain what that is and what she hopes it will accomplish.  Julianna, welcome to People of the Pod.  Julianna Margulies: Thank you so much for having me.  Manya Brachear Pashman: So please tell our audience: what is the Holocaust Educator School Partnership or HESP? Julianna Margulies: HESP's an easier way to say it, actually Jack Kliger, who is the CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, he calls he calls them the Hespians. So HESP is a program that I started with the Museum of Jewish Heritage after I hosted that CBS documentary on the Holocaust, when I realized how little education there was in our country.  And with the rise of antisemitism and Holocaust deniers, I just felt, I felt despair, to be honest with you. I just thought it's ignorance, because people are not educated. And when you do not learn history, history repeats itself. And so after I hosted it I thought to myself, what can I do? I'm just one little person. I'm not a humongous star, but I have a bit of a platform. And I thought well, let me try and use my voice and the small platform that I have to make change.  So luckily, I knew Jack Kliger. And I said, I hosted this Holocaust Remembrance documentary for CBS and MTV, and they paid me. I didn't even think I was gonna get paid to be honest with you, because it was, of course, a labor of love to do it. And I felt weird taking money for it. And so I took the hefty check that they gave me, and I said, let's figure out how to educate our children. Because these are seeds that you have to plant early. So that when these people become adults, this idea that conspiracy theories and the rest of it, they won't penetrate, because you already have that education and the knowledge inside of you to say, that's crazy, no.  And also, it wasn't just about antisemitism. For me it was about–and this is how we're approaching it with HESP. It's about genocide. It's about racism. It's about homogenizing human beings. It is about putting people in a category who are different than you and saying you don't belong. So it really spans the spectrum of the entire world and all the people in it.  For me, antisemitism is incredibly frightening because family members of mine were Holocaust survivors. I'm a Jew. I'm raising my son Jewish. And I just felt like I had a call to action after I hosted that documentary and watching the documentary, I learned a lot. But really, I think it's about hate. And as we like to say at HESP, never again. Manya Brachear Pashman: It's scary, right? Raising Jewish children is scary, as a mom, I mean, it's wonderful and rewarding and rich, but scary. Julianna Margulies: Well, it wasn't to me at all until I did this documentary and my girlfriend who lives right around the corner from me and her son goes to St. Ann's. She said, Well, how does your son get to school? I said, it takes the subway. We live downtown and he goes to school uptown. Her son goes to school in Brooklyn and she said, Oh, I won't let them on the subway. And I said, Why? And she said, Because he loves to wear his Star of David around his neck, and I'm afraid.  And I just couldn't believe I was hearing those words. It's 2023. We live in New York City. And many people have asked me why I've started this program in New York City. Because isn't New York City the center of the Jews. They talk about that. The fact of the matter is, we're in the second semester of this program that I started, and it is shocking how many seventh, eighth and high school students do not know anything about the Holocaust.  In fact, two weeks ago, one of my interns was teaching the hour course on the Holocaust and the history of the Holocaust, and an eighth grade boy up in the Bronx asked if there were any Jews still alive, after 6 million were killed. So that's where we're at.  Manya Brachear Pashman: So it's an hour long course. But there's more to it than that. Can you kind of walk us through the components of this, this partnership? Julianna Margulies: Yes. So, we take college and graduate students who apply to the program in our first semester, it was just starting out, and we had to do, and it is a paid internship, where they take an eight-day crash course at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on teaching the Holocaust, through one of our professional Holocaust professors there, they then go to schools that we contact, and give, from seventh to eighth grade all the way through high school, one-hour classes, on what the Holocaust was, what it did to the Jewish race, and how it was part of what World War II is about?  Manya Brachear Pashman: Do they step into the classroom and take the place of a teacher for a period basically?  Julianna Margulies: So they come into the classroom, there, we talk to the principal first and the teachers and it's usually in a history period, it depends on the school's curriculum, and they step into the classroom. And they give this hour lesson and children get to ask questions. On occasion, although they are dying out now, we are able to bring in a Holocaust survivor.  My idea now is, because the Holocaust survivors are dying out is, I would like to bring in the children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors to tell the stories of their ancestors so that the stories don't get lost, and they don't die out. Because as we're seeing antisemitism isn't dying out. Manya Brachear Pashman: So does it go beyond the classroom, or does it stop there? Julianna Margulies: It does. So because it's affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage, we desperately feel that no child money should never be an issue when it comes to education. So we then after the class, a lot of scheduling is involved, but they're so on it at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.  But then we supply buses and bring the children to the museum, which is beautiful, it's downtown and all the exhibits are quite something right now. It's this incredible, The Hate We Know. And it shows the very beginning of before World War II happened and then you get to see this journey that they took all the way after. After the Holocaust and after World War II is over.  So they get to go and experience what we were teaching in their class and they get to ask questions. And it's been really heartening because we had an eighth grade class. I forget if it was the Bronx or in Brooklyn, they were so taken by the class that was taught.  They chose, for their eighth grade project, an entire exhibition based on the Holocaust and what Jews went through and it was absolutely just gut-wrenchingly beautiful. They made me so proud. They sent me all the pictures of it, I was away working. So I couldn't go. But these kids were beaming.  And they felt like they were doing something. I think the idea for me of what HESP is, and any kind of Holocaust education, I think because there's such darkness surrounding it. And I can understand why parents would be nervous to let a seventh and eighth grader learn about it, I understand the fear. But what I'm trying to implement into the program, is this idea of heroes. Who are these heroes that stood up in the face of evil, Jews and non Jews alike.  And right now, in our country, I actually feel it's more important that the non Jews are standing up for the Jews, the way that I marched for Black Lives Matter, the way that we all marched for women, you know, this is a universal problem. And we all need to stand behind it.  And if all the communities that are so oppressed joined together, power in numbers, and let's look at it more as shining a light on something that will make you feel heroic, to stand up to evil. Manya Brachear Pashman: How many kids has the program reached so far? Julianna Margulies: I'll tell you what's been really amazing to watch. So the first semester, we were small. And we had our two interns who did an incredible job, and they reached over 1700 children, and I always look at any kind of philanthropy, the way I look at acting, which is if I'm on stage, and I reach just one person in the audience, then I've done my job. And that's how I feel about this program. So knowing that they've reached 1700 children, maybe half of them didn't care or weren't listening or weren't moved. But there certainly were a handful that were. And what it also did was, when I went to the museum to congratulate our interns, when they graduated, we publicized it and took some pictures. And our next semester, we had 20 applicants.  And in fact, I was just talking with —AJC's been really helpful. They're helping me expand it throughout the country. But it was Laura Shaw Frank, who said, What I love about this, and she's a holocaust historian, she said is that it's young people teaching young people, because they respond, kids respond to young teachers. And so to have these 20, 21, 22 year old interns walking into a classroom, full of, you know, 9th graders, 10th graders, 11th graders, and talking at their level, is actually incredibly helpful.  Manya Brachear Pashman: I learned something from the documentary. AJC has this wonderful resource called Translate Hate. It's a glossary that's online and it teaches people about antisemitic tropes and terms that have been around Yes, since the dawn of time. And new ones too. It's constantly updated. And I learned a new term in that documentary called Godwin's Law. And I hope that we add it to Translate Hate later this year. And Godwin's Law is: the longer an online conversation goes on, the likelihood of a comparison to Nazis or Adolf Hitler rises 100%. I thought that was so interesting. And so social media does play such a significant role in school children's lives. TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, probably a few have been invented that I don't know about yet. What role do you believe social media companies should be playing in reining in this antisemitic rhetoric, if any role at all? Julianna Margulies:  Well, I think that I think they need to be responsible for misinformation, and hate speech. I'm all for the First Amendment. But where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the line here? I mean, children are sponges. And you plant one little seed, and it can be a good seed or a bad seed. And it's also you know, social media is toxic.  I know I'm not a big social media person. I had to join Instagram when I wrote my memoir, because Random House said, Wait, you're not on social media. So I joined the lesser of all evils, because I figured the only people following me on Instagram are people who like me, right? So I'm not gonna get a lot of hate mail there.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  Think again, Julianna.  Julianna Margulies: I know, I know, I actually realized–don't read the comments. But I do believe that it is their job to filter out the hate and the misinformation, I really do. I do not think they should be allowed to. I'm going to peddle these incredibly damaging, and life threatening conspiracy theories. It's not helping anyone, it's making people more angry. I know how I feel just scrolling through Instagram. You know, I as an adult, who is not into any of it, and who feels very secure in who I am. And in my position in life with my family, and who I am as a person to my friends, and my child and my husband, I start feeling insecure. So if I, a confident woman in her 50s is feeling insecure, scrolling through Instagram, I can't imagine what it's doing to children. Manya Brachear Pashman: I love the way that you put it in the film, that just a little bit of Holocaust knowledge can actually be dangerous, that it's because it's just enough for someone to invoke it for political reasons or to make a point, but not enough to take responsibility and to try to prevent it from ever happening again.  Was it important that this partnership that you are funding, be robust, be in depth, be more than just an hour long course?  Julianna Margulies: Absolutely. I mean, obviously, it's very difficult to teach everything in an hour. So the idea is that those who hear about it and learn about it from that course, will further their interest in it, and that the schools will eventually realize this is something we need to teach. This should be a mandatory class in our history program, the same way we learn about how America was founded, you know, like this is just as important, especially because it's just not that long ago. You know, this, this is quite recent.  If you look at the big scale of our world, and how many years it's existed. This is not that long ago. And I, I do believe that institutions, Holocaust museums, all over this country, are doing a tremendous job in showing what it was like, I mean, you know, we're, we're, we're doing an exhibition in October because it's the 80th anniversary of the Danish rescue. And at MGH they're doing an incredible job. I'm on the advisory board now. They're doing the Danish rescue, and it's for children and families. It's not, there's no age, it's age appropriate for everyone. And it's showing the heroes that saved 7200 Jews, and- Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you could tell our listeners a little bit about what that Danish rescue is, what you're referring to. Julianna Margulies: So the Danish rescue. You know, it's interesting. I just read this book that Richard Kluger wrote, it's coming out in August, called “Hamlet's Children,” and it's all about the Danish rescue. And very few people know about it. I didn't before I read the book.  So Denmark was in a very tricky place in World War II. They had made a treaty with Germany and they were in a place where they were Nazi occupied, but they had made a deal with King Christian had made a deal that the Nazis could not harm their Jews because they were their Danish brothers and sisters, and they were not to be touched. Now, here's a country that is under Nazi occupation. And they hated it. And they sort of were grinning and bearing it.  And then towards the end, when the Nazis realized they were losing the war, when America came in, and England came into the war, and they realized that this was going to be a losing battle.  The Danes realized that their Danish Jewish brothers and sisters were in trouble. And boatload by boatload at midnight, they rescued 7200 Jews to Sweden, which was neutral.  I think what's so important about that story, and I think for people who have gone to Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, where I just was this past December, to see all these points of light, what would have been had 6 million Jews not been murdered? Where would the life, where would the tree have gone? How far would it have grown?  And the 7,200 Jews that were saved, their families have lived on. And it's to show- it's about the tree of life, which was being chopped down before it could even begin.  And it's such a heroic story of how they did it. We even have the actual boat that we've refurbished. That's actually in Mystic, Connecticut, because we couldn't get it to New York yet, but we will eventually.  It is such a sort of miraculous story. And it wasn't just adults who saved these, these Jews. Everybody in Denmark rose to the occasion. And when you go to Yad Vashem, I mean, I, I had just finished reading the book and I walked down the path of the righteous at Yad Vashem, and I saw a plaque.  So for those of you listening who don't know what the path of the righteous is, it's the path of all the heroes, the non Jews that stood up to the Nazis and protected the Jews from the Nazis. And there was this beautiful plaque to the Danish rescue, and I just, you can't help but weep. I mean, it's— where are those heroes? And so that's the light I want to shine on HESP and our Hespians is that these are heroes, let's be heroes.  What's amazing to me, is in my business, you know, I'm an actress and all the big movies are about heroes. So why aren't we turning that into- Okay, so that's what makes money, right? Heroes. So let's make this about being a hero. Not about being an antisemite, or whatever labels they have for people who love the Jewish people, who are Jews. Let's turn this into a moment of heroism, and change the narrative so that our children grow up wanting to be heroes.  Manya Brachear Pashman: I want to hear more about this trip to Israel. I've encountered many Holocaust survivors who don't talk about their experience until they make a trip to Israel. And then they feel empowered, obligated to tell their horrific story. I'm curious what you witnessed, what you experienced in Israel, both at Yad Vashem, but also in the greater country at large.  Julianna Margulies: Yeah, it was a magical experience. And we really crammed a lot in 10 days, because we wanted to make sure and when are we going to be back here? Let's do it. Right. So we actually hired a professor to take us around for 10 days. And really, we went to Tel Aviv, we went to the Negev, we went to Jerusalem. We even actually took a day trip to Jordan and went to Petra, which was mind boggling. We went to Masada. I mean, we did it all. We met with political consultants to try and understand the politics. And we went everywhere and learned about so much. And first of all, I think the thing that struck me the most– my sister was born in Jerusalem. In 1960, my big sister, and she, they left when she was one and I had never been to Israel, because we moved here. My parents moved back to New York. But I always felt this Oh, my sister was born in Jerusalem, I have to go.  And we actually had meant to go for my son's Bar Mitzvah. But COVID happened and there was lockdown. So that didn't happen. Then the next year, we were gonna go and it was, Omicron. And so this year, it actually I'm glad I waited till he was 15. Because I actually think he got a lot more out of it. But one of the things that hit me the hardest was how young the country is. Manya Brachear Pashman:   75. Julianna Margulies: It is so young. Because I grew up in England for a great part of my life, and every time I'd come back home, I think how young our country is, like, God, it's so young here. You know, I love America. But some of the ideas, it's like, how can we move past this in, there's still this sort of, it's very young, we live in a young country, Israel is very young. But it's founded on such a strength of community and belonging.  And I remember just landing in Tel Aviv, and I looked at my husband, we're walking through the airport. Now we are with our people, it's like, I've never felt like I belong more. Most people don't think I'm Jewish. Most people think I'm Greek or Italian because of my name. But I didn't grow up Jewish. You know, my mother, they're both 100% Jewish, but my mother's family tried to keep their Jewishness quiet. Because her grandmother, who had fled from Prussia, persecuted for being a Jew didn't want to cause any reason for someone to harm her. So they didn't celebrate Passover and Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. They just stayed very quiet. And they didn't talk about it.  They spoke Yiddish and they had Jewish food but they didn't advertise their Jewishness, because that caused tremendous pain in their family. And so for me once I became an adult, I wasn't Bat Mitzvahed. And I married a Jewish man who said, I want to raise our son Jewish, and I want a Jewish wedding. And I said, Great, I'm in, let's do it. That's fine. Okay. But as I've sort of grown into the role of my life, as not just the actress and the independent woman, but also as part of a unit, part of a family.  We do Shabbat on Fridays, even if it's just to light the candles, and to say goodbye to the workweek, and to say hello to our friends and family. Putting down phones. It's the tradition of Judaism. Because I'm not a religious person, I've always felt any kind of religion is a little bit sexist.  And even though I played a Hasidic Jew in a movie years ago, called “The Price Above Rubies,” and I went to Boro Park and and I did some research on the women there because .. I guess I was confused as to why you would love this life, because to me, it felt suffocating, incredibly sexist, and demoralizing to be a Hasidic wife.  And then to see their pride and joy in their work, and how they felt about themselves. Iit was quite eye opening. You know, I was judging, I was definitely judgy about it. And I learned a really good lesson, you know. But I have found tremendous joy in the traditions of our Jewish heritage.  And our son knows, Friday nights, he can invite any friend over, but we're gonna, before the pizza comes, we're going to just do our blessings, light the candles, and kiss each other. There's something about tradition that is so lost in today's world, that gives a sense of meaning. And, and a route to the family.  Manya Brachear Pashman: This has been a fascinating conversation.  Julianna Margulies: Thank you.  Manya Brachear Pashman: I know that it could go on for hours longer. But thank you so much for joining us. Julianna Margulies: Thank you for doing this podcast. I really love it.  Manya Brachear Pashman: I really hope this program expands across the country. Julianna Margulies: Thank you so much for having me.  

Clem's moxie starts with his mother's efforts to keep him alive and safe from the Nazis in Poland during World War II. As a child, Clem witnessed his mother's fierce bravery and moxie in the face of Nazi atrocities, alongside the kindness of Catholic nuns in the convent where he was hidden for two years.After the war, Clem and his mother immigrated to the United States to start anew in New York City. He became a psychologist and psychoanalyst and has maintained a private practice for over 35 years.in 1969 he cofounded the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, an organization dedicated to training in relational psychoanalysis and integrative psychotherapy. The Institute's students provide low-cost, high-quality therapy to patients of all backgrounds. He currently serves on its board of directors. Part of Clem's moxie is in how he works through his childhood trauma and shame. He helps others find self-acceptance and peace through his clinical practice. He believes that being in relationship with others is the key to healing and wholeness.He has published books and articles on dream interpretation and psychotherapy and a memoir When the Birds Stopped Singing, in which he explores the trauma and tragedy that he lives with to this day. Clem writes that he acknowledges “that along with the privilege of survival comes the obligation to live one's life to its fullest and honor those who did not survive."He is a sculptor and portrait photographer and finds his creative life part of his healing and self-expression. He contributed a chapter to the book The Power of Witnessing, entitled “My Lost Father,” in which he explores the creation of a life-sized sculpture of the father he lost at the age of four and never knew.He is a volunteer lecturer at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.For more information, visit Clem's website.This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Associated Lightening Rod and Thorunn Designs.

January 27th marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day in 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated. The Remembrance Day is a day to commemorate the 6 million Jewish lives that were lost at the hands of the Nazi German regime, and the millions of other Europeans the Nazis saw as racially inferior. This included Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti populations, people with disabilities, and Polish people.But this commemoration of 78 years since the end of World War II can't be separated from the fact that recently some high profile celebrities and politicians have made antisemitic remarks, and there's been a rising trend of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews.According to the Anti-Defamation League, Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in the US in 2021. We hear from Toby Levy, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, and Jack Kliger, the President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust about rising antisemitism and the importance of reflecting on history and remembering victims and survivors. Then, we hear from Mattie Kahn, writer and author of the forthcoming book, Young and Restless, about the story of her great uncle Arthur Kahn, the first Jewish victim of the Holocaust

January 27th marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day in 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated. The Remembrance Day is a day to commemorate the 6 million Jewish lives that were lost at the hands of the Nazi German regime, and the millions of other Europeans the Nazis saw as racially inferior. This included Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti populations, people with disabilities, and Polish people.But this commemoration of 78 years since the end of World War II can't be separated from the fact that recently some high profile celebrities and politicians have made antisemitic remarks, and there's been a rising trend of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews.According to the Anti-Defamation League, Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in the US in 2021. We hear from Toby Levy, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, and Jack Kliger, the President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust about rising antisemitism and the importance of reflecting on history and remembering victims and survivors. Then, we hear from Mattie Kahn, writer and author of the forthcoming book, Young and Restless, about the story of her great uncle Arthur Kahn, the first Jewish victim of the Holocaust

Rudolf Vrba was sent to Auschwitz at the age of seventeen, and, because he was young and in good health, he was not killed immediately but put to labor in the camp. Vrba (originally named Walter Rosenberg) quickly discovered that the scale of the killing was greater than anyone on the outside knew or could imagine, and Jewish communities were being deported without understanding their fate. Jonathan Freedland chronicles Vrba's story in his new book, “The Escape Artist.” The young Vrba had a “crucial realization, which is [that] the only way this machine is going to be stopped—this death machine—is if somebody gets the word out,” Freedland told David Remnick. Freedland recounts how, against terrible odds, Vrba managed to escape the camp, and provided direct testimony of the Holocaust that reached Allied governments.  This interview was recorded at a live event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

Rudolf Vrba was sent to Auschwitz at the age of seventeen, and, because he was young and in good health, he was not killed immediately but put to labor in the camp. Vrba (originally named Walter Rosenberg) quickly discovered that the scale of the killing was greater than anyone on the outside knew or could imagine, and Jewish communities were being deported without understanding their fate. Jonathan Freedland chronicles Vrba's story in his new book, “The Escape Artist.” The young Vrba had a “crucial realization, which is [that] the only way this machine is going to be stopped—this death machine—is if somebody gets the word out,” Freedland told David Remnick. Freedland recounts how, against terrible odds, Vrba managed to escape the camp, and provided direct testimony of the Holocaust that reached Allied governments. This interview was recorded at a live event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

We begin our discussion of Act 3 of a three-act book, and I share my professional opinion of NaNoWriMo. I also share a rare recording from Ernest Hemingway, which offers his opinion on writer organizations. https://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Season-Fernanda-Melchor/dp/0811230732 (Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season) - Featured Author https://curiousfoxbooks.com/index.php (Curious Fox, Berlin, Germany) - Featured Bookstore https://mjhnyc.org/new-york-jewish-book-festival/ (New York Jewish Book Festival : Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust) https://www.endlessinkbooks.com/blogs/news/short-story-contest-2022-horror-comedy (Short Story Contest 2022 Horror Comedy!!!) https://publishers.org/news/aap-statshot-annual-report-for-2021-book-publishing-revenues-up-12-3-for-the-year-reaching-all-time-high-of-29-33-billion/ (AAP StatShot Annual Report For 2021: Book Publishing Revenues Up 12.3% For the Year, Reaching All-Time High of $29.33 Billion - AAP) https://nanowrimo.org/ (NaNoWriMo) https://forms.aweber.com/form/64/1857023764.htm (Free Style Sheet Templates) https://medium.com/@rosemi (Free Writing Tips) Music licensed from Storyblocks: “More Jam Please” by Raighes Factory "A Cafe In Monaco" by Scorehouse Media "A Dreamy Slumber" by Tencher Music "Bay Area Bop" by Q-Rock "Happy Walk" by Simon Jomphe Lepine "Vintage Funky Intro" by Jon Presstone

The newest exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust — is The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do. Museum President and CEO Jack Kliger explains why it's the right time to show these artifacts, and the proliferation of hate speech. For more, visit mjhnyc.org

“Sometimes in the Jewish imagination, but definitely in the broader public imagination, people reduce all of Jewish history to the Holocaust. And so I think one of the responsibilities that curators have is to show the rich panoply of Jewish experience beyond just 1939-1945…and to create access points to those histories.” — Jason Steinhauer History Club founder Jason Steinhauer is a curator with such deep and varied experience that it's hard to know where to start. Do we begin with the popular Clubhouse conversations he hosts on Thursday nights? His new book about how social media and the Web have changed the past? Or with any one of the curatorial/archivist roles he's had at places like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Museum of Chinese in America? Instead, the conversation begins with a curatorial experience centered on a topic core to his identity, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Jason was part of the team behind an award-winning exhibition about American Jews in the Second World War. He brings a perspective to history — and how we experience stories from the past — that incorporates media, tech, culture and his own Jewish faith. Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:Growing up a “museum nerd”Unique pressures of curating for a Holocaust museumHow one begins to curate Jewish storiesWhat curators of Jewish history need to consider that other curators do notWhat makes a good historian and how that is different from what makes a good curator of historyCare for physical objects in a digital worldInside his book, “History, Disrupted”Consuming accurate, high-quality historical content on the Internet (and does Instagram count?)Founding History Club and curating conversations thereWhat inspires his Clubhouse conversationsThe through-line of his careerHow history might judge the current daySpeed round: Jason's culture picks

This episode explores how to celebrate Hanukkah and time-honored traditions when navigating food allergies with food allergy advocate and Jewish Heritage champion, Stacey Saiontz. Hanukkah's rich traditions remain special as Stacey explains how she alters recipes to keep her family safe while serving delicious holiday foods. She also shares tips and tricks for managing school celebrations. To keep you in the know, below are helpful links:Recipe: Vegan SufganiyotRecipe: Eggless Challah BreadRecipe: Vegan and Gluten Free Potato LatkesFAACT's Pinterest Board for Cultural Allergy-Friendly RecipesThe Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the HolocaustUnited States Holocaust Memorial MuseumFDA's Food Safety Tips for the Healthy HolidaysYou can find the FAACT Roundtable Podcast on Pandora, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher,  iHeart Radio, Podcast Chaser, Deezer, and Listen Notes.Visit us at www.FoodAllergyAwareness.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube. Contact us directly via Email.Sponsored by: DBV TechnologiesPlease note that today's guest was not sponsored by ALK or compensated in any way by the sponsor to participate in this specific podcast.

Rabbi Michael Harvey served Reform congregations from 2015 until 2020, in both West Lafayette, Indiana and The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He currently studies at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, within the Doctor of Science in Jewish Studies program and he hopes to earn his PhD in Jewish Studies.Ordained by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2015, Rabbi Harvey earned a Master's degree in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and a Bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston University. Throughout his tenure at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Harvey served congregations, small and large, in Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.Rabbi Harvey is a certified Prepare & Enrich marital and pre-marital counselor and has served as a chaplain at both Norton Hospital and Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. He is committed to interfaith education and social justice, locally and nationally. His dedication to both these areas can be seen in the work he has done with world-renowned organizations such as the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, the American Jewish World Service, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, and the Chautauqua Institution. Additionally, Rabbi Harvey was invited by Dr. Rabbi Gary Zola to become a member of the rabbinic advisory council for the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, called “The B'nai Ya'akov Council.”Wherever Rabbi Harvey has served, he has always sought ways to marry his passion for social justice with the needs of his immediate community. In the absence of an interfaith council in his previous posting in St. Thomas, Rabbi Harvey created and directed the Interfaith Council of the Caribbean, which represented over 15 faith communities in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. Additionally, he sat on the boards of the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, The Family Resource Center, and The United Way.In West Lafayette, he brought his attention to the needs of the community, and served as the director for the Interfaith Leaders of Greater Lafayette, which was integral in bringing interfaith panel discussions to the community on topics as important as nativism, mental health, and addiction. Rabbi Harvey also sat on the executive board for the Indiana Board of Rabbis which provides educational and pastoral needs to the entire state. Additionally, he sat on the boards of the Lafayette Jewish Community Religious School, the Jewish Federation of Greater Lafayette, Family Promise of Greater Lafayette and the local United Way Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program. Rabbi Harvey was also a member of the Downtown Ministers, the Lafayette Transitional Housing Caring Committee, the Tippecanoe County Opioid Task Force, and the Medical Ethics Committee for IU Health Arnett Hospital. Rabbi Harvey regularly works with Legal Aid, Lafayette Urban Ministry, Greater Lafayette Indivisible, Mom's Demand Action, and the YWCA to better the Greater Lafayette community.Rabbi Harvey is the author of many articles featured in both local and international sources, such as The Jewish Daily Forward and ReformJudaism.org. He is the recipient of several awards, including the HUC-JIR Robert L. Adler Prize, awarded for contributions to the community, and the “Faith, Family, Friends, Bridging our Community Award” given by US Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress, Stacey Plaskett.Additionally, Rabbi Harvey created and participated (before COVID-19) in a bi-monthly podcast with a local Episcopal Priest, entitled: “A Priest and a Rabbi Walk into a Bar” which discusses religious issues and interfaith subjects. 

This week, it’s the full Oppenheimer. First, Mark interviews McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic who recently wrote an article about the future of Mormonism—“the most American religion”—and America. He talks about his own Mormon faith, confirms Mark’s assessment that Jews and Mormons have a lot in common, and asks how to ready his home to invite kosher-keeping Jewish friends over for a meal. Then, it’s everything you’ll ever need to know about what Jewish law says about pets! Mark offers a reading from a book called Pets in Halacha: A Comprehensive Halachic Guide for Pet Owners, by Rabbi Chaim L. Belsky. There’s still time to order Tablet’s The Passover Haggadah: An Ancient Story for Modern Times before Passover! Upcoming virtual events: Thursday, March 25 — Stephanie will be prepping for Passover with Jake Cohen, author of the new cookbook Jew-ish.Join them for cooking and conversation, presented by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, at 5 p.m. EDT. Register here. Later that evening, Stephanie will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Thursday, April 29 — Stephanie will be moderating Rachel Bloom and Tovah Feldshuh in ‘A Conversation Between a (Television) Daughter and Mother,’ presented by The Jewish Museum and the Jewish Book Council, 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Find out about all our upcoming events at www.tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our.Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our  Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: American Jewish World Service supports more than 500 social justice organizations fighting for justice around the world. AJWS is currently twice-matching all donations; find out more and make your donation at AJWS.org/unorthodox. Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger is working to ensure that everyone in this country can feed themselves and their families with dignity. All donations are being doubled through the month of April; make your donation at MAZON.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re kicking off our Passover celebrations, live from the Oppenheimer home. Mark is joined by four of his children as they sit around the Seder table and wonder where, exactly, all these Passover traditions came from. Helping them along the way are co-hosts Stephanie and Liel, and a near minyan of all-star guests. First, historian and Tablet columnist Jenna Weissman Joselit expounds on the material culture associated with the home-based holiday—Seder plates, matzo covers, and afikoman bags—and wonders why Jewish ritual objects don’t always rise to the level of beauty of our other cherished home items. (Stephanie offers some beautiful holiday favorites: Seder plates from Isabel Halley Ceramics, Judaica Standard Time, Via Maris, and Apeloig Collection.) Then we talk to family therapist (and Mark’s sister-in-law!) Dr. Jessica Grogan, who tells us how the rigid archetypes of the Four Children can serve as a useful counter-example for how we see our own children. Adam Teeter of Vinepair shares the secrets of how wine can unlock memories through your olfactory system. Rabbi Gabi Weinberg from The Bnai Zion Foundation shares a story about the significance of buying matzo—and keeping the receipts—in his family. Dovid Bashevkin explains why Passover is such a big deal in the of Jewish holidays. The hosts interview Ben Freeman about his new book, Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, and makes the case that Passover is a holiday all about Jewish pride. And finally, our favorite cantorial student, Jacob Sandler, returns to the show to teach the hosts that there is more fun to be had after the Seder meal, specifically in the singing of “Hallel.” Check out last year’s Passover episode, “Our Socially Distanced Seder Guide,” for more on hosting a Seder on your own or for the first time. Need a Haggadah? Check out Tablet’s The Passover Haggadah: An Ancient Story for Modern Times. Upcoming virtual events: Thursday, March 25 — Stephanie will be prepping for Passover with Jake Cohen, author of the new cookbook Jew-ish. Join them for cooking and conversation, presented by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, at 5 p.m. EDT. Register here. Later that evening, Stephanie will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Thursday, April 29 — Stephanie will be moderating Rachel Bloom and Tovah Feldshuh in ‘A Conversation Between a (Television) Daughter and Mother,’ presented by The Jewish Museum and the Jewish Book Council, 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Find out about all our upcoming events at www.tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our.Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: Kol Foods has everything you need to create a kosher, ethical, sustainably-sourced Passover Seder spread, from delicious briskets to 100% grass-fed lamb shank bones. Use promo code UNORTHODOXPESACH for 10% off your entire Passover order at KOLFoods.com. “The Telling: How Judaism's Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life” is a new book by Mark Gerson all about the Passover Haggadah. This book enables readers to make the Seder what it should be: the most interesting, inspiring, and memorable night of the Jewish year. Find out more and get your copy at thetellingpassover.com. American Jewish World Service grantees are leading the effort to promote human rights, empower women and girls to fight for equal rights, and advance environmental justice in the face of climate change. AJWS is currently twice-matching all donations; find out more and make your donation at AJWS.org/unorthodox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unorthodox, Charles Barkley does the hora. Our Jewish guest is Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, who stars in the new Apple TV+ psychological thriller Losing Alice, Israel’s latest international TV export. Zurer tells us about being part of that other hit Israeli show, Shtisel, and about the unlikely acting role that got her cast by Steven Spielberg in his 2005 film, Munich. Our Gentile of the Week, Father James Martin, joins us again on the show, this time to tell us about his latest book, Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone. Our favorite Jesuit priest and America Magazine editor at large comes bearing simple and universal tips for understanding prayer and incorporating it into our lives, whatever they look like. (You can also listen to Father Jim live with Judy Gold in 2018, and, more recently, helping us ring in the Jewish New Year in 2020.) We’re taking votes for our Jewish Name of the Year bracket! Join our. Facebook group to submit your votes. Get the Tablet Haggadah in time for Passover. Click here for information. Join us for our virtual events! Thursday, March 11: Stephanie and Mark will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches' Book Festival at 7:30 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 25: Stephanie Butnick will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Thursday, April 29 — Stephanie Butnick will be moderating Rachel Bloom and Tovah Feldshuh in ‘A Conversation Between a (Television) Daughter and Mother,’ presented by The Jewish Museum and the Jewish Book Council, 7 p.m. EDT. Register here. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our. Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unorthodox, we’re sharing an episode of “Hearing with Tali Farhadian Weinstein,” a podcast from Pushkin Industries. Tali is an Iranian-Jewish prosecutor running for District Attorney in Manhattan, and her show features interviews with policy experts, journalists, and community members. In this episode of Hearing, Tali talks to former Unorthodox guest Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan's Central Synagogue about the points of intersection around faith, personal identity, and the fight for racial justice. To hear more episodes of Tali's show, check out www.pushkin.fm/show/hearing-with-tali-farhadian-weinstein/. Join us for these upcoming ‘Unorthodox’ virtual events! Wednesday, March 10: Mark, Stephanie, and Liel will be returning to the Washington Hebrew Congregation virtually to discuss The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia at 8 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 11: Stephanie and Mark will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches' Book Festival at 7:30 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 25: Stephanie Butnick will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EST. Register here. As always, send us comments and questions at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: Kol Foods has everything you need to create a kosher, ethical, sustainably-sourced Passover Seder spread, from delicious briskets to 100% grass-fed lamb shank bones. Use promo code UNORTHODOXPESACH for 10% of your entire Passover order at KOLFoods.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unorthodox, we’re celebrating Purim and breaking the mold. First, Stephanie welcomes her special Purim co-hosts, friends of the show Kylie Unell and Abigail Pogrebin, who help her tell the story of Purim and offer their takes on some of the holiday’s larger themes. Next, Stephanie is joined by Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V., a fictionalized redefining of the story of Vashti. She explains that the binaries we’ve been taught — “that Vashti is wanton, wicked, selfish; and Esther virtuous, brave, selfless” — don't match up with what we actually find in The Book of Esther. From Vashti to Esther: Liel sits down with English professor Shaina Trapedo, who wrote about Purim-inspired beauty pageants for Esther in America, a new collection edited by former Unorthodox guest Stuart Halpern. She tells us about the surprising history of Jewish beauty pageants in America, and explains why the Esther aesthetic is more complex than it may seem. And finally, Mark checks in with former guest Shay Khatiri to find out what it’s like to be named after Ahasuerus. There’s just one week left to enter our Jewish Name of the Year bracket! Do you have a great Jewish name or know someone with a great Jewish name? Email your suggestions to unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Join us Tuesday, March 2 at 2 p.m. EST for Zibby Owen’s next virtual book club. Stephanie will be joining Zibby to talk to Melissa Gould about her memoir Widow-ish, her story of young widowhood, grief, and finding love again. Sign up at zibbyowens.com/virtualbookclub. As always, let us know what you think of the show. Send us comments and questions at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. We’ve got virtual events! Tuesday, March 2: Stephanie will be discussing Tablet's first book, The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List, at the Springfield JCC at 7 p.m. EST; Register here. Wednesday, March 10: Mark, Stephanie, and Liel will be returning to the Washington Hebrew Congregation virtually to discuss The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia at 8 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 11: Stephanie and Mark will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches' Book Festival at 7:30 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 25: Stephanie Butnick will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EST. Register here. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: Kol Foods has everything you need to create a kosher, ethical, sustainably-sourced Passover Seder spread, from delicious briskets to 100% grass-fed lamb shank bones. Use promo code UNORTHODOXPESACH for 10% of your entire Passover order at KOLFoods.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Sunday, June 14, 2020, WBAI 99.5 FM City Watch Host Jeff Simmons spoke with New York State Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Heritage of Pride Interim Executive Director David Correa, and Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Jack Kliger. The show also featured an interview by WBAI Correspondent Celeste Katz Marston with US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez.

Karen Franklin, Director of Family Research at the Leo Baeck Institute and a consultant at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, presents her Valley Beit Midrash lecture "The Untold Story of the Lehman Family and its Aid to Refugees: 1933-1945" before an audience at Temple Beth Shalom (tbsaz.org/) in Sun City, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Few people know of the role of Herbert H. Lehman, Governor of the State of New York, and a son of Mayer Lehman (a founder of company that was to become Lehman Brothers), and a vast network of his relatives, in assisting hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing Germany and Austria from 1933 to 1941, and helping them establish themselves in their new countries in the years that followed DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP For more info, please visit:
www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/
 
twitter.com/VBMTorah 
www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ www.facebook.com/templebethshalomaz/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audio Library.

Karen Franklin, Director of Family Research at the Leo Baeck Institute and a consultant at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, presents her Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Tracing Ancestors in Eastern Europe: Strategies and Examples" before an audience at Temple Chai (https://www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: This lecture offers Jewish genealogy basics and tips, strategies for research, and a review of useful genealogy web sites. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/2v5zlv2 For more info, please visit:
www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/
 
twitter.com/VBMTorah 
www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ https://www.facebook.com/templechaiAZ/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audio Library.

On this week’s episode of People of the Pod, we talk to AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen about the findings of a new AJC survey on antisemitism in France. Then, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we go to the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to tour its current exhibit on Auschwitz and discuss its recent decision to offer free admission to any New York City public school student and up to three family members in response to the uptick in antisemitic attacks on the streets of Brooklyn. Show notes: AJC Survey on Antisemitism in France: https://www.ajc.org/news/ajc-paris-survey-french-jews-non-jews-agree-on-scope-of-antisemitism

Around 9am on January 27th, 1945, the Red Army liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in south-western Poland.  Over 1 million Jews and tens of thousands of others were killed at this sprawling complex of 48 concentration and extermination camps.   The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust has mounted a groundbreaking exhibition  - bringing together more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs from around the world.   Beliefs Producer Jay Woodward visited the exhibit - “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away” and spoke with Museum president Jack Kliger.  

Rose Fogel survived the Lodz Ghetto. She and her daughter Debbie Lewis visited the special exhibition "Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, and spoke with Peter Haskell about the personal impact of the exhibition.

On the occasion of a special exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Michael Glickman (Museum President & CEO) explores the history the Lodz Ghetto photographs of Henryk Ross, and special guest Michael Goldstein (Museum visitor) recounts the stunning experience of walking through the exhibition and encountering a photograph of his father in the ghetto. Interspersed throughout the episode are clips from the testimonies of Holocaust survivors Irene Sulzman, Rozalia Berke, and Brandla Small. Visit mjhnyc.org/memoryunearthed for more on this special exhibition. Stories Survive: Conversations is narrated by Peter Haskell and produced by the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The Museum is New York's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget.

As we reflect on the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), Ruth Zimbler shares her story with Peter Haskell. Ruth was born in Vienna in 1928. On November 10, 1938, during Kristallnacht, she and her brother Walter watched the destruction of the largest synagogue in Vienna from their apartment. Ruth and Walter were on the first Kindertransport (Children’s Transport) out of Vienna in December 1938. Their father, who worked for the Jewish Community of Vienna, facilitated the journey to den Haag, Holland. Ruth and her family eventually made it to New York in late 1939. Stories Survive: Conversations produced by the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The Museum is New York's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. www.mjhnyc.org

Host Aaron Kominos-Smith welcomes Chris Lopez. First Chris describes his multiple jobs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. He discusses dealing with working in an environment surrounded by both sadness and hope. We then talk about the positive impacts running has had on Chris’s life both physically and emotionally (and learn that true runners would never call it jogging). Check out Chris’s running groups at http://www.therisenyc.com and http://nyc.informalrunning.com Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or your favorite Podcast app so you never miss an episode! Follow us: Twitter @ButIAlso Instagram @ButIAlso Facebook: www.facebook.com/ButIAlso