Podcasts about Passover Seder

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its latest Term. And over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has continued to duke it out with its adversaries in the federal courts.To tackle these topics, as well as their intersection—in terms of how well the courts, including but not limited to the Supreme Court, are handling Trump-related cases—I interviewed Professor Pamela Karlan, a longtime faculty member at Stanford Law School. She's perfectly situated to address these subjects, for at least three reasons.First, Professor Karlan is a leading scholar of constitutional law. Second, she's a former SCOTUS clerk and seasoned advocate at One First Street, with ten arguments to her name. Third, she has high-level experience at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), having served (twice) as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.I've had some wonderful guests to discuss the role of the courts today, including Judges Vince Chhabria (N.D. Cal.) and Ana Reyes (D.D.C.)—but as sitting judges, they couldn't discuss certain subjects, and they had to be somewhat circumspect. Professor Karlan, in contrast, isn't afraid to “go there”—and whether or not you agree with her opinions, I think you'll share my appreciation for her insight and candor.Show Notes:* Pamela S. Karlan bio, Stanford Law School* Pamela S. Karlan bio, Wikipedia* The McCorkle Lecture (Professor Pamela Karlan), UVA Law SchoolPrefer reading to listening? For paid subscribers, a transcript of the entire episode appears below.Sponsored by:NexFirm helps Biglaw attorneys become founding partners. To learn more about how NexFirm can help you launch your firm, call 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment at nexfirm dot com.Three quick notes about this transcript. First, it has been cleaned up from the audio in ways that don't alter substance—e.g., by deleting verbal filler or adding a word here or there to clarify meaning. Second, my interviewee has not reviewed this transcript, and any transcription errors are mine. Third, because of length constraints, this newsletter may be truncated in email; to view the entire post, simply click on “View entire message” in your email app.David Lat: Welcome to the Original Jurisdiction podcast. I'm your host, David Lat, author of a Substack newsletter about law and the legal profession also named Original Jurisdiction, which you can read and subscribe to at davidlat dot Substack dot com. You're listening to the seventy-seventh episode of this podcast, recorded on Friday, June 27.Thanks to this podcast's sponsor, NexFirm. NexFirm helps Biglaw attorneys become founding partners. To learn more about how NexFirm can help you launch your firm, call 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment at nexfirm dot com. Want to know who the guest will be for the next Original Jurisdiction podcast? Follow NexFirm on LinkedIn for a preview.With the 2024-2025 Supreme Court Term behind us, now is a good time to talk about both constitutional law and the proper role of the judiciary in American society. I expect they will remain significant as subjects because the tug of war between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary continues—and shows no signs of abating.To tackle these topics, I welcomed to the podcast Professor Pamela Karlan, the Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. Pam is not only a leading legal scholar, but she also has significant experience in practice. She's argued 10 cases before the Supreme Court, which puts her in a very small club, and she has worked in government at high levels, serving as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during the Obama administration. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Professor Pam Karlan.Professor Karlan, thank you so much for joining me.Pamela Karlan: Thanks for having me.DL: So let's start at the beginning. Tell us about your background and upbringing. I believe we share something in common—you were born in New York City?PK: I was born in New York City. My family had lived in New York since they arrived in the country about a century before.DL: What borough?PK: Originally Manhattan, then Brooklyn, then back to Manhattan. As my mother said, when I moved to Brooklyn when I was clerking, “Brooklyn to Brooklyn, in three generations.”DL: Brooklyn is very, very hip right now.PK: It wasn't hip when we got there.DL: And did you grow up in Manhattan or Brooklyn?PK: When I was little, we lived in Manhattan. Then right before I started elementary school, right after my brother was born, our apartment wasn't big enough anymore. So we moved to Stamford, Connecticut, and I grew up in Connecticut.DL: What led you to go to law school? I see you stayed in the state; you went to Yale. What did you have in mind for your post-law-school career?PK: I went to law school because during the summer between 10th and 11th grade, I read Richard Kluger's book, Simple Justice, which is the story of the litigation that leads up to Brown v. Board of Education. And I decided I wanted to go to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and be a school desegregation lawyer, and that's what led me to go to law school.DL: You obtained a master's degree in history as well as a law degree. Did you also have teaching in mind as well?PK: No, I thought getting the master's degree was my last chance to do something I had loved doing as an undergrad. It didn't occur to me until I was late in my law-school days that I might at some point want to be a law professor. That's different than a lot of folks who go to law school now; they go to law school wanting to be law professors.During Admitted Students' Weekend, some students say to me, “I want to be a law professor—should I come here to law school?” I feel like saying to them, “You haven't done a day of law school yet. You have no idea whether you're good at law. You have no idea whether you'd enjoy doing legal teaching.”It just amazes me that people come to law school now planning to be a law professor, in a way that I don't think very many people did when I was going to law school. In my day, people discovered when they were in law school that they loved it, and they wanted to do more of what they loved doing; I don't think people came to law school for the most part planning to be law professors.DL: The track is so different now—and that's a whole other conversation—but people are getting master's and Ph.D. degrees, and people are doing fellowship after fellowship. It's not like, oh, you practice for three, five, or seven years, and then you become a professor. It seems to be almost like this other track nowadays.PK: When I went on the teaching market, I was distinctive in that I had not only my student law-journal note, but I actually had an article that Ricky Revesz and I had worked on that was coming out. And it was not normal for people to have that back then. Now people go onto the teaching market with six or seven publications—and no practice experience really to speak of, for a lot of them.DL: You mentioned talking to admitted students. You went to YLS, but you've now been teaching for a long time at Stanford Law School. They're very similar in a lot of ways. They're intellectual. They're intimate, especially compared to some of the other top law schools. What would you say if I'm an admitted student choosing between those two institutions? What would cause me to pick one versus the other—besides the superior weather of Palo Alto?PK: Well, some of it is geography; it's not just the weather. Some folks are very East-Coast-centered, and other folks are very West-Coast-centered. That makes a difference.It's a little hard to say what the differences are, because the last time I spent a long time at Yale Law School was in 2012 (I visited there a bunch of times over the years), but I think the faculty here at Stanford is less focused and concentrated on the students who want to be law professors than is the case at Yale. When I was at Yale, the idea was if you were smart, you went and became a law professor. It was almost like a kind of external manifestation of an inner state of grace; it was a sign that you were a smart person, if you wanted to be a law professor. And if you didn't, well, you could be a donor later on. Here at Stanford, the faculty as a whole is less concentrated on producing law professors. We produce a fair number of them, but it's not the be-all and end-all of the law school in some ways. Heather Gerken, who's the dean at Yale, has changed that somewhat, but not entirely. So that's one big difference.One of the most distinctive things about Stanford, because we're on the quarter system, is that our clinics are full-time clinics, taught by full-time faculty members at the law school. And that's distinctive. I think Yale calls more things clinics than we do, and a lot of them are part-time or taught by folks who aren't in the building all the time. So that's a big difference between the schools.They just have very different feels. I would encourage any student who gets into both of them to go and visit both of them, talk to the students, and see where you think you're going to be most comfortably stretched. Either school could be the right school for somebody.DL: I totally agree with you. Sometimes people think there's some kind of platonic answer to, “Where should I go to law school?” And it depends on so many individual circumstances.PK: There really isn't one answer. I think when I was deciding between law schools as a student, I got waitlisted at Stanford and I got into Yale. I had gone to Yale as an undergrad, so I wasn't going to go anywhere else if I got in there. I was from Connecticut and loved living in Connecticut, so that was an easy choice for me. But it's a hard choice for a lot of folks.And I do think that one of the worst things in the world is U.S. News and World Report, even though we're generally a beneficiary of it. It used to be that the R-squared between where somebody went to law school and what a ranking was was minimal. I knew lots of people who decided, in the old days, that they were going to go to Columbia rather than Yale or Harvard, rather than Stanford or Penn, rather than Chicago, because they liked the city better or there was somebody who did something they really wanted to do there.And then the R-squared, once U.S. News came out, of where people went and what the rankings were, became huge. And as you probably know, there were some scandals with law schools that would just waitlist people rather than admit them, to keep their yield up, because they thought the person would go to a higher-ranked law school. There were years and years where a huge part of the Stanford entering class had been waitlisted at Penn. And that's bad for people, because there are people who should go to Penn rather than come here. There are people who should go to NYU rather than going to Harvard. And a lot of those people don't do it because they're so fixated on U.S. News rankings.DL: I totally agree with you. But I suspect that a lot of people think that there are certain opportunities that are going to be open to them only if they go here or only if they go there.Speaking of which, after graduating from YLS, you clerked for Justice Blackmun on the Supreme Court, and statistically it's certainly true that certain schools seem to improve your odds of clerking for the Court. What was that experience like overall? People often describe it as a dream job. We're recording this on the last day of the Supreme Court Term; some hugely consequential historic cases are coming down. As a law clerk, you get a front row seat to all of that, to all of that history being made. Did you love that experience?PK: I loved the experience. I loved it in part because I worked for a wonderful justice who was just a lovely man, a real mensch. I had three great co-clerks. It was the first time, actually, that any justice had ever hired three women—and so that was distinctive for me, because I had been in classes in law school where there were fewer than three women. I was in one class in law school where I was the only woman. So that was neat.It was a great Term. It was the last year of the Burger Court, and we had just a heap of incredibly interesting cases. It's amazing how many cases I teach in law school that were decided that year—the summary-judgment trilogy, Thornburg v. Gingles, Bowers v. Hardwick. It was just a really great time to be there. And as a liberal, we won a lot of the cases. We didn't win them all, but we won a lot of them.It was incredibly intense. At that point, the Supreme Court still had this odd IT system that required eight hours of diagnostics every night. So the system was up from 8 a.m. to midnight—it stayed online longer if there was a death case—but otherwise it went down at midnight. In the Blackmun chambers, we showed up at 8 a.m. for breakfast with the Justice, and we left at midnight, five days a week. Then on the weekends, we were there from 9 to 9. And they were deciding 150 cases, not 60 cases, a year. So there was a lot more work to do, in that sense. But it was a great year. I've remained friends with my co-clerks, and I've remained friends with clerks from other chambers. It was a wonderful experience.DL: And you've actually written about it. I would refer people to some of the articles that they can look up, on your CV and elsewhere, where you've talked about, say, having breakfast with the Justice.PK: And we had a Passover Seder with the Justice as well, which was a lot of fun.DL: Oh wow, who hosted that? Did he?PK: Actually, the clerks hosted it. Originally he had said, “Oh, why don't we have it at the Court?” But then he came back to us and said, “Well, I think the Chief Justice”—Chief Justice Burger—“might not like that.” But he lent us tables and chairs, which were dropped off at one of the clerk's houses. And it was actually the day of the Gramm-Rudman argument, which was an argument about the budget. So we had to keep running back and forth from the Court to the house of Danny Richman, the clerk who hosted it, who was a Thurgood Marshall clerk. We had to keep running back and forth from the Court to Danny Richman's house, to baste the turkey and make stuff, back and forth. And then we had a real full Seder, and we invited all of the Jewish clerks at the Court and the Justice's messenger, who was Jewish, and the Justice and Mrs. Blackmun, and it was a lot of fun.DL: Wow, that's wonderful. So where did you go after your clerkship?PK: I went to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where I was an assistant counsel, and I worked on voting-rights and employment-discrimination cases.DL: And that was something that you had thought about for a long time—you mentioned you had read about its work in high school.PK: Yes, and it was a great place to work. We were working on great cases, and at that point we were really pushing the envelope on some of the stuff that we were doing—which was great and inspiring, and my colleagues were wonderful.And unlike a lot of Supreme Court practices now, where there's a kind of “King Bee” usually, and that person gets to argue everything, the Legal Defense Fund was very different. The first argument I did at the Court was in a case that I had worked on the amended complaint for, while at the Legal Defense Fund—and they let me essentially keep working on the case and argue it at the Supreme Court, even though by the time the case got to the Supreme Court, I was teaching at UVA. So they didn't have this policy of stripping away from younger lawyers the ability to argue their cases the whole way through the system.DL: So how many years out from law school were you by the time you had your first argument before the Court? I know that, today at least, there's this two-year bar on arguing before the Court after having clerked there.PK: Six or seven years out—because I think I argued in ‘91.DL: Now, you mentioned that by then you were teaching at UVA. You had a dream job working at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. What led you to go to UVA?PK: There were two things, really, that did it. One was I had also discovered when I was in law school that I loved law school, and I was better at law school than I had been at anything I had done before law school. And the second was I really hated dealing with opposing counsel. I tell my students now, “You should take negotiation. If there's only one class you could take in law school, take negotiation.” Because it's a skill; it's not a habit of mind, but I felt like it was a habit of mind. And I found the discovery process and filing motions to compel and dealing with the other side's intransigence just really unpleasant.What I really loved was writing briefs. I loved writing briefs, and I could keep doing that for the Legal Defense Fund while at UVA, and I've done a bunch of that over the years for LDF and for other organizations. I could keep doing that and I could live in a small town, which I really wanted to do. I love New York, and now I could live in a city—I've spent a couple of years, off and on, living in cities since then, and I like it—but I didn't like it at that point. I really wanted to be out in the country somewhere. And so UVA was the perfect mix. I kept working on cases, writing amicus briefs for LDF and for other organizations. I could teach, which I loved. I could live in a college town, which I really enjoyed. So it was the best blend of things.DL: And I know, from your having actually delivered a lecture at UVA, that it really did seem to have a special place in your heart. UVA Law School—they really do have a wonderful environment there (as does Stanford), and Charlottesville is a very charming place.PK: Yes, especially when I was there. UVA has a real gift for developing its junior faculty. It was a place where the senior faculty were constantly reading our work, constantly talking to us. Everyone was in the building, which makes a huge difference.The second case I had go to the Supreme Court actually came out of a class where a student asked a question, and I ended up representing the student, and we took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. But I wasn't admitted in the Western District of Virginia, and that's where we had to file a case. And so I turned to my next-door neighbor, George Rutherglen, and said to George, “Would you be the lead counsel in this?” And he said, “Sure.” And we ended up representing a bunch of UVA students, challenging the way the Republican Party did its nomination process. And we ended up, by the student's third year in law school, at the Supreme Court.So UVA was a great place. I had amazing colleagues. The legendary Bill Stuntz was then there; Mike Klarman was there. Dan Ortiz, who's still there, was there. So was John Harrison. It was a fantastic group of people to have as your colleagues.DL: Was it difficult for you, then, to leave UVA and move to Stanford?PK: Oh yes. When I went in to tell Bob Scott, who was then the dean, that I was leaving, I just burst into tears. I think the reason I left UVA was I was at a point in my career where I'd done a bunch of visits at other schools, and I thought that I could either leave then or I would be making a decision to stay there for the rest of my career. And I just felt like I wanted to make a change. And in retrospect, I would've been just as happy if I'd stayed at UVA. In my professional life, I would've been just as happy. I don't know in my personal life, because I wouldn't have met my partner, I don't think, if I'd been at UVA. But it's a marvelous place; everything about it is just absolutely superb.DL: Are you the managing partner of a boutique or midsize firm? If so, you know that your most important job is attracting and retaining top talent. It's not easy, especially if your benefits don't match up well with those of Biglaw firms or if your HR process feels “small time.” NexFirm has created an onboarding and benefits experience that rivals an Am Law 100 firm, so you can compete for the best talent at a price your firm can afford. Want to learn more? Contact NexFirm at 212-292-1002 or email betterbenefits at nexfirm dot com.So I do want to give you a chance to say nice things about your current place. I assume you have no regrets about moving to Stanford Law, even if you would've been just as happy at UVA?PK: I'm incredibly happy here. I've got great colleagues. I've got great students. The ability to do the clinic the way we do it, which is as a full-time clinic, wouldn't be true anywhere else in the country, and that makes a huge difference to that part of my work. I've gotten to teach around the curriculum. I've taught four of the six first-year courses, which is a great opportunityAnd as you said earlier, the weather is unbelievable. People downplay that, because especially for people who are Northeastern Ivy League types, there's a certain Calvinism about that, which is that you have to suffer in order to be truly working hard. People out here sometimes think we don't work hard because we are not visibly suffering. But it's actually the opposite, in a way. I'm looking out my window right now, and it's a gorgeous day. And if I were in the east and it were 75 degrees and sunny, I would find it hard to work because I'd think it's usually going to be hot and humid, or if it's in the winter, it's going to be cold and rainy. I love Yale, but the eight years I spent there, my nose ran the entire time I was there. And here I look out and I think, “It's beautiful, but you know what? It's going to be beautiful tomorrow. So I should sit here and finish grading my exams, or I should sit here and edit this article, or I should sit here and work on the Restatement—because it's going to be just as beautiful tomorrow.” And the ability to walk outside, to clear your head, makes a huge difference. People don't understand just how huge a difference that is, but it's huge.DL: That's so true. If you had me pick a color to associate with my time at YLS, I would say gray. It just felt like everything was always gray, the sky was always gray—not blue or sunny or what have you.But I know you've spent some time outside of Northern California, because you have done some stints at the Justice Department. Tell us about that, the times you went there—why did you go there? What type of work were you doing? And how did it relate to or complement your scholarly work?PK: At the beginning of the Obama administration, I had applied for a job in the Civil Rights Division as a deputy assistant attorney general (DAAG), and I didn't get it. And I thought, “Well, that's passed me by.” And a couple of years later, when they were looking for a new principal deputy solicitor general, in the summer of 2013, the civil-rights groups pushed me for that job. I got an interview with Eric Holder, and it was on June 11th, 2013, which just fortuitously happens to be the 50th anniversary of the day that Vivian Malone desegregated the University of Alabama—and Vivian Malone is the older sister of Sharon Malone, who is married to Eric Holder.So I went in for the interview and I said, “This must be an especially special day for you because of the 50th anniversary.” And we talked about that a little bit, and then we talked about other things. And I came out of the interview, and a couple of weeks later, Don Verrilli, who was the solicitor general, called me up and said, “Look, you're not going to get a job as the principal deputy”—which ultimately went to Ian Gershengorn, a phenomenal lawyer—“but Eric Holder really enjoyed talking to you, so we're going to look for something else for you to do here at the Department of Justice.”And a couple of weeks after that, Eric Holder called me and offered me the DAAG position in the Civil Rights Division and said, “We'd really like you to especially concentrate on our voting-rights litigation.” It was very important litigation, in part because the Supreme Court had recently struck down the pre-clearance regime under Section 5 [of the Voting Rights Act]. So the Justice Department was now bringing a bunch of lawsuits against things they could have blocked if Section 5 had been in effect, most notably the Texas voter ID law, which was a quite draconian voter ID law, and this omnibus bill in North Carolina that involved all sorts of cutbacks to opportunities to vote: a cutback on early voting, a cutback on same-day registration, a cutback on 16- and 17-year-olds pre-registering, and the like.So I went to the Department of Justice and worked with the Voting Section on those cases, but I also ended up working on things like getting the Justice Department to change its position on whether Title VII covered transgender individuals. And then I also got to work on the implementation of [United States v.] Windsor—which I had worked on, representing Edie Windsor, before I went to DOJ, because the Court had just decided Windsor [which held Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional]. So I had an opportunity to work on how to implement Windsor across the federal government. So that was the stuff I got to work on the first time I was at DOJ, and I also obviously worked on tons of other stuff, and it was phenomenal. I loved doing it.I did it for about 20 months, and then I came back to Stanford. It affected my teaching; I understood a lot of stuff quite differently having worked on it. It gave me some ideas on things I wanted to write about. And it just refreshed me in some ways. It's different than working in the clinic. I love working in the clinic, but you're working with students. You're working only with very, very junior lawyers. I sometimes think of the clinic as being a sort of Groundhog Day of first-year associates, and so I'm sort of senior partner and paralegal at a large law firm. At DOJ, you're working with subject-matter experts. The people in the Voting Section, collectively, had hundreds of years of experience with voting. The people in the Appellate Section had hundreds of years of experience with appellate litigation. And so it's just a very different feel.So I did that, and then I came back to Stanford. I was here, and in the fall of 2020, I was asked if I wanted to be one of the people on the Justice Department review team if Joe Biden won the election. These are sometimes referred to as the transition teams or the landing teams or the like. And I said, “I'd be delighted to do that.” They had me as one of the point people reviewing the Civil Rights Division. And I think it might've even been the Wednesday or Thursday before Inauguration Day 2021, I got a call from the liaison person on the transition team saying, “How would you like to go back to DOJ and be the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division?” That would mean essentially running the Division until we got a confirmed head, which took about five months. And I thought that this would be an amazing opportunity to go back to the DOJ and work with people I love, right at the beginning of an administration.And the beginning of an administration is really different than coming in midway through the second term of an administration. You're trying to come up with priorities, and I viewed my job really as helping the career people to do their best work. There were a huge number of career people who had gone through the first Trump administration, and they were raring to go. They had all sorts of ideas on stuff they wanted to do, and it was my job to facilitate that and make that possible for them. And that's why it's so tragic this time around that almost all of those people have left. The current administration first tried to transfer them all into Sanctuary Cities [the Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group] or ask them to do things that they couldn't in good conscience do, and so they've retired or taken buyouts or just left.DL: It's remarkable, just the loss of expertise and experience at the Justice Department over these past few months.PK: Thousands of years of experience gone. And these are people, you've got to realize, who had been through the Nixon administration, the Reagan administration, both Bush administrations, and the first Trump administration, and they hadn't had any problem. That's what's so stunning: this is not just the normal shift in priorities, and they have gone out of their way to make it so hellacious for people that they will leave. And that's not something that either Democratic or Republican administrations have ever done before this.DL: And we will get to a lot of, shall we say, current events. Finishing up on just the discussion of your career, you had the opportunity to work in the executive branch—what about judicial service? You've been floated over the years as a possible Supreme Court nominee. I don't know if you ever looked into serving on the Ninth Circuit or were considered for that. What about judicial service?PK: So I've never been in a position, and part of this was a lesson I learned right at the beginning of my LDF career, when Lani Guinier, who was my boss at LDF, was nominated for the position of AAG [assistant attorney general] in the Civil Rights Division and got shot down. I knew from that time forward that if I did the things I really wanted to do, my chances of confirmation were not going to be very high. People at LDF used to joke that they would get me nominated so that I would take all the bullets, and then they'd sneak everybody else through. So I never really thought that I would have a shot at a judicial position, and that didn't bother me particularly. As you know, I gave the commencement speech many years ago at Stanford, and I said, “Would I want to be on the Supreme Court? You bet—but not enough to have trimmed my sails for an entire lifetime.”And I think that's right. Peter Baker did this story in The New York Times called something like, “Favorites of Left Don't Make Obama's Court List.” And in the story, Tommy Goldstein, who's a dear friend of mine, said, “If they wanted to talk about somebody who was a flaming liberal, they'd be talking about Pam Karlan, but nobody's talking about Pam Karlan.” And then I got this call from a friend of mine who said, “Yeah, but at least people are talking about how nobody's talking about you. Nobody's even talking about how nobody's talking about me.” And I was flattered, but not fooled.DL: That's funny; I read that piece in preparing for this interview. So let's say someone were to ask you, someone mid-career, “Hey, I've been pretty safe in the early years of my career, but now I'm at this juncture where I could do things that will possibly foreclose my judicial ambitions—should I just try to keep a lid on it, in the hope of making it?” It sounds like you would tell them to let their flag fly.PK: Here's the thing: your chances of getting to be on the Supreme Court, if that's what you're talking about, your chances are so low that the question is how much do you want to give up to go from a 0.001% chance to a 0.002% chance? Yes, you are doubling your chances, but your chances are not good. And there are some people who I think are capable of doing that, perhaps because they fit the zeitgeist enough that it's not a huge sacrifice for them. So it's not that I despise everybody who goes to the Supreme Court because they must obviously have all been super-careerists; I think lots of them weren't super-careerists in that way.Although it does worry me that six members of the Court now clerked at the Supreme Court—because when you are a law clerk, it gives you this feeling about the Court that maybe you don't want everybody who's on the Court to have, a feeling that this is the be-all and end-all of life and that getting a clerkship is a manifestation of an inner state of grace, so becoming a justice is equally a manifestation of an inner state of grace in which you are smarter than everybody else, wiser than everybody else, and everybody should kowtow to you in all sorts of ways. And I worry that people who are imprinted like ducklings on the Supreme Court when they're 25 or 26 or 27 might not be the best kind of portfolio of justices at the back end. The Court that decided Brown v. Board of Education—none of them, I think, had clerked at the Supreme Court, or maybe one of them had. They'd all done things with their lives other than try to get back to the Supreme Court. So I worry about that a little bit.DL: Speaking of the Court, let's turn to the Court, because it just finished its Term as we are recording this. As we started recording, they were still handing down the final decisions of the day.PK: Yes, the “R” numbers hadn't come up on the Supreme Court website when I signed off to come talk to you.DL: Exactly. So earlier this month, not today, but earlier this month, the Court handed down its decision in United States v. Skrmetti, reviewing Tennessee's ban on the use of hormones and puberty blockers for transgender youth. Were you surprised by the Court's ruling in Skrmetti?PK: No. I was not surprised.DL: So one of your most famous cases, which you litigated successfully five years ago or so, was Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the Court held that Title VII does apply to protect transgender individuals—and Bostock figures significantly in the Skrmetti opinions. Why were you surprised by Skrmetti given that you had won this victory in Bostock, which you could argue, in terms of just the logic of it, does carry over somewhat?PK: Well, I want to be very precise: I didn't actually litigate Bostock. There were three cases that were put together….DL: Oh yes—you handled Zarda.PK: I represented Don Zarda, who was a gay man, so I did not argue the transgender part of the case at all. Fortuitously enough, David Cole argued that part of the case, and David Cole was actually the first person I had dinner with as a freshman at Yale College, when I started college, because he was the roommate of somebody I debated against in high school. So David and I went to law school together, went to college together, and had classes together. We've been friends now for almost 50 years, which is scary—I think for 48 years we've been friends—and he argued that part of the case.So here's what surprised me about what the Supreme Court did in Skrmetti. Given where the Court wanted to come out, the more intellectually honest way to get there would've been to say, “Yes, of course this is because of sex; there is sex discrimination going on here. But even applying intermediate scrutiny, we think that Tennessee's law should survive intermediate scrutiny.” That would've been an intellectually honest way to get to where the Court got.Instead, they did this weird sort of, “Well, the word ‘sex' isn't in the Fourteenth Amendment, but it's in Title VII.” But that makes no sense at all, because for none of the sex-discrimination cases that the Court has decided under the Fourteenth Amendment did the word “sex” appear in the Fourteenth Amendment. It's not like the word “sex” was in there and then all of a sudden it took a powder and left. So I thought that was a really disingenuous way of getting to where the Court wanted to go. But I was not surprised after the oral argument that the Court was going to get to where it got on the bottom line.DL: I'm curious, though, rewinding to Bostock and Zarda, were you surprised by how the Court came out in those cases? Because it was still a deeply conservative Court back then.PK: No, I was not surprised. I was not surprised, both because I thought we had so much the better of the argument and because at the oral argument, it seemed pretty clear that we had at least six justices, and those were the six justices we had at the end of the day. The thing that was interesting to me about Bostock was I thought also that we were likely to win for the following weird legal-realist reason, which is that this was a case that would allow the justices who claimed to be textualists to show that they were principled textualists, by doing something that they might not have voted for if they were in Congress or the like.And also, while the impact was really large in one sense, the impact was not really large in another sense: most American workers are protected by Title VII, but most American employers do not discriminate, and didn't discriminate even before this, on the basis of sexual orientation or on the basis of gender identity. For example, in Zarda's case, the employer denied that they had fired Mr. Zarda because he was gay; they said, “We fired him for other reasons.”Very few employers had a formal policy that said, “We discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.” And although most American workers are protected by Title VII, most American employers are not covered by Title VII—and that's because small employers, employers with fewer than 15 full-time employees, are not covered at all. And religious employers have all sorts of exemptions and the like, so for the people who had the biggest objection to hiring or promoting or retaining gay or transgender employees, this case wasn't going to change what happened to them at all. So the impact was really important for workers, but not deeply intrusive on employers generally. So I thought those two things, taken together, meant that we had a pretty good argument.I actually thought our textual argument was not our best argument, but it was the one that they were most likely to buy. So it was really interesting: we made a bunch of different arguments in the brief, and then as soon as I got up to argue, the first question out of the box was Justice Ginsburg saying, “Well, in 1964, homosexuality was illegal in most of the country—how could this be?” And that's when I realized, “Okay, she's just telling me to talk about the text, don't talk about anything else.”So I just talked about the text the whole time. But as you may remember from the argument, there was this weird moment, which came after I answered her question and one other one, there was this kind of silence from the justices. And I just said, “Well, if you don't have any more questions, I'll reserve the remainder of my time.” And it went well; it went well as an argument.DL: On the flip side, speaking of things that are not going so well, let's turn to current events. Zooming up to a higher level of generality than Skrmetti, you are a leading scholar of constitutional law, so here's the question. I know you've already been interviewed about it by media outlets, but let me ask you again, in light of just the latest, latest, latest news: are we in a constitutional crisis in the United States?PK: I think we're in a period of great constitutional danger. I don't know what a “constitutional crisis” is. Some people think the constitutional crisis is that we have an executive branch that doesn't believe in the Constitution, right? So you have Donald Trump asked, in an interview, “Do you have to comply with the Constitution?” He says, “I don't know.” Or he says, “I have an Article II that gives me the power to do whatever I want”—which is not what Article II says. If you want to be a textualist, it does not say the president can do whatever he wants. So you have an executive branch that really does not have a commitment to the Constitution as it has been understood up until now—that is, limited government, separation of powers, respect for individual rights. With this administration, none of that's there. And I don't know whether Emil Bove did say, “F**k the courts,” or not, but they're certainly acting as if that's their attitude.So yes, in that sense, we're in a period of constitutional danger. And then on top of that, I think we have a Supreme Court that is acting almost as if this is a normal administration with normal stuff, a Court that doesn't seem to recognize what district judges appointed by every president since George H.W. Bush or maybe even Reagan have recognized, which is, “This is not normal.” What the administration is trying to do is not normal, and it has to be stopped. So that worries me, that the Supreme Court is acting as if it needs to keep its powder dry—and for what, I'm not clear.If they think that by giving in and giving in, and prevaricating and putting things off... today, I thought the example of this was in the birthright citizenship/universal injunction case. One of the groups of plaintiffs that's up there is a bunch of states, around 23 states, and the Supreme Court in Justice Barrett's opinion says, “Well, maybe the states have standing, maybe they don't. And maybe if they have standing, you can enjoin this all in those states. We leave this all for remind.”They've sat on this for months. It's ridiculous that the Supreme Court doesn't “man up,” essentially, and decide these things. It really worries me quite a bit that the Supreme Court just seems completely blind to the fact that in 2024, they gave Donald Trump complete criminal immunity from any prosecution, so who's going to hold him accountable? Not criminally accountable, not accountable in damages—and now the Supreme Court seems not particularly interested in holding him accountable either.DL: Let me play devil's advocate. Here's my theory on why the Court does seem to be holding its fire: they're afraid of a worse outcome, which is, essentially, “The emperor has no clothes.”Say they draw this line in the sand for Trump, and then Trump just crosses it. And as we all know from that famous quote from The Federalist Papers, the Court has neither force nor will, but only judgment. That's worse, isn't it? If suddenly it's exposed that the Court doesn't have any army, any way to stop Trump? And then the courts have no power.PK: I actually think it's the opposite, which is, I think if the Court said to Donald Trump, “You must do X,” and then he defies it, you would have people in the streets. You would have real deep resistance—not just the “No Kings,” one-day march, but deep resistance. And there are scholars who've done comparative law who say, “When 3 percent of the people in a country go to the streets, you get real change.” And I think the Supreme Court is mistaking that.I taught a reading group for our first-years here. We have reading groups where you meet four times during the fall for dinner, and you read stuff that makes you think. And my reading group was called “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty,” and it started with the Albert Hirschman book with that title.DL: Great book.PK: It's a great book. And I gave them some excerpt from that, and I gave them an essay by Hannah Arendt called “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” which she wrote in 1964. And one of the things she says there is she talks about people who stayed in the German regime, on the theory that they would prevent at least worse things from happening. And I'm going to paraphrase slightly, but what she says is, “People who think that what they're doing is getting the lesser evil quickly forget that what they're choosing is evil.” And if the Supreme Court decides, “We're not going to tell Donald Trump ‘no,' because if we tell him no and he goes ahead, we will be exposed,” what they have basically done is said to Donald Trump, “Do whatever you want; we're not going to stop you.” And that will lose the Supreme Court more credibility over time than Donald Trump defying them once and facing some serious backlash for doing it.DL: So let me ask you one final question before we go to my little speed round. That 3 percent statistic is fascinating, by the way, but it resonates for me. My family's originally from the Philippines, and you probably had the 3 percent out there in the streets to oust Marcos in 1986.But let me ask you this. We now live in a nation where Donald Trump won not just the Electoral College, but the popular vote. We do see a lot of ugly things out there, whether in social media or incidents of violence or what have you. You still have enough faith in the American people that if the Supreme Court drew that line, and Donald Trump crossed it, and maybe this happened a couple of times, even—you still have faith that there will be that 3 percent or what have you in the streets?PK: I have hope, which is not quite the same thing as faith, obviously, but I have hope that some Republicans in Congress would grow a spine at that point, and people would say, “This is not right.” Have they always done that? No. We've had bad things happen in the past, and people have not done anything about it. But I think that the alternative of just saying, “Well, since we might not be able to stop him, we shouldn't do anything about it,” while he guts the federal government, sends masked people onto the streets, tries to take the military into domestic law enforcement—I think we have to do something.And this is what's so enraging in some ways: the district court judges in this country are doing their job. They are enjoining stuff. They're not enjoining everything, because not everything can be enjoined, and not everything is illegal; there's a lot of bad stuff Donald Trump is doing that he's totally entitled to do. But the district courts are doing their job, and they're doing their job while people are sending pizza boxes to their houses and sending them threats, and the president is tweeting about them or whatever you call the posts on Truth Social. They're doing their job—and the Supreme Court needs to do its job too. It needs to stand up for district judges. If it's not willing to stand up for the rest of us, you'd think they'd at least stand up for their entire judicial branch.DL: Turning to my speed round, my first question is, what do you like the least about the law? And this can either be the practice of law or law as a more abstract system of ordering human affairs.PK: What I liked least about it was having to deal with opposing counsel in discovery. That drove me to appellate litigation.DL: Exactly—where your request for an extension is almost always agreed to by the other side.PK: Yes, and where the record is the record.DL: Yes, exactly. My second question, is what would you be if you were not a lawyer and/or law professor?PK: Oh, they asked me this question for a thing here at Stanford, and it was like, if I couldn't be a lawyer, I'd... And I just said, “I'd sit in my room and cry.”DL: Okay!PK: I don't know—this is what my talent is!DL: You don't want to write a novel or something?PK: No. What I would really like to do is I would like to bike the Freedom Trail, which is a trail that starts in Montgomery, Alabama, and goes to the Canadian border, following the Underground Railroad. I've always wanted to bike that. But I guess that's not a career. I bike slowly enough that it could be a career, at this point—but earlier on, probably not.DL: My third question is, how much sleep do you get each night?PK: I now get around six hours of sleep each night, but it's complicated by the following, which is when I worked at the Department of Justice the second time, it was during Covid, so I actually worked remotely from California. And what that required me to do was essentially to wake up every morning at 4 a.m., 7 a.m. on the East Coast, so I could have breakfast, read the paper, and be ready to go by 5:30 a.m.I've been unable to get off of that, so I still wake up before dawn every morning. And I spent three months in Florence, and I thought the jet lag would bring me out of this—not in the slightest. Within two weeks, I was waking up at 4:30 a.m. Central European Time. So that's why I get about six hours, because I can't really go to bed before 9 or 10 p.m.DL: Well, I was struck by your being able to do this podcast fairly early West Coast time.PK: Oh no, this is the third thing I've done this morning! I had a 6:30 a.m. conference call.DL: Oh my gosh, wow. It reminds me of that saying about how you get more done in the Army before X hour than other people get done in a day.My last question, is any final words of wisdom, such as career advice or life advice, for my listeners?PK: Yes: do what you love, with people you love doing it with.DL: Well said. I've loved doing this podcast—Professor Karlan, thanks again for joining me.PK: You should start calling me Pam. We've had this same discussion….DL: We're on the air! Okay, well, thanks again, Pam—I'm so grateful to you for joining me.PK: Thanks for having me.DL: Thanks so much to Professor Karlan for joining me. Whether or not you agree with her views, you can't deny that she's both insightful and honest—qualities that have made her a leading legal academic and lawyer, but also a great podcast guest.Thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring the Original Jurisdiction podcast. NexFirm has helped many attorneys to leave Biglaw and launch firms of their own. To explore this opportunity, please contact NexFirm at 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment at nexfirm dot com to learn more.Thanks to Tommy Harron, my sound engineer here at Original Jurisdiction, and thanks to you, my listeners and readers. To connect with me, please email me at davidlat at Substack dot com, or find me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, at davidlat, and on Instagram and Threads at davidbenjaminlat.If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Please subscribe to the Original Jurisdiction newsletter if you don't already, over at davidlat dot substack dot com. This podcast is free, but it's made possible by paid subscriptions to the newsletter.The next episode should appear on or about Wednesday, July 23. Until then, may your thinking be original and your jurisdiction free of defects. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidlat.substack.com/subscribe

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: http://family-bible-church.org/2025Messages/25Jul06.pdf * Four weeks ago we turned to the final day of Jesus the Messiah's earthly life and ministry with the consideration of Judas' decision to betray Jesus. Since then, we examined the Passover Seder that Jesus held with His disciples and Jesus' example of having a Servant's Heart (to lead by humbly serving). * Today, we finish a two-week look at Luke's account of Jesus warning His disciples of trouble that is coming, with specific warning to Simon Peter, followed by Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Judas' betrayal of Jesus, Jesus' arrest, and Peter's three denials of Jesus. These events are connected; Jesus' warning and example show us that prayer is the key to avoiding temptation, to successfully handling a troublesome situation, and that without it we are likely to succumb to temptation – Judas fails by going through with the betrayal, Peter fails by denying Christ. * Meanwhile, Jesus succeeds! He does not enter into temptation. Rather, Jesus goes forward with carrying out the will of the Father. In the process, Jesus demonstrates great love for us: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” – John 15:12

This episode is sponsored by: My Financial CoachYou trained to save lives—who's helping you save your financial future? My Financial Coach connects physicians with CFP® Professionals who specialize in your complex needs. Whether it's crushing student loans, optimizing investments, or planning for retirement, you'll get a personalized strategy built around your goals. Save for a vacation home, fund your child's education, or prepare for life's surprises—with unbiased, advice-only planning through a flat monthly fee. No commissions. No conflicts. Just clarity.Visit myfinancialcoach.com/physiciansguidetodoctoring to meet your financial coach and find out if concierge planning is right for you.———————Can faith enhance medical practice and renew purpose? Host Dr. Bradley Block welcomes Dr. Jonathan Weinkle, for an in-depth discussion centered around his insightful book, ‘Illness to Exodus'. Drawing inspiration from the rich traditions of the Passover Seder, Dr. Weinkle has developed an innovative Healing Seder, a ritual designed to cultivate compassion and infuse a renewed sense of purpose into the daily lives of healthcare providers. Leveraging his deep Jewish heritage and his extensive experience teaching courses such as Death and the Healthcare Professions, he delves into the transformative potential of simple rituals, such as performing a morning Kiddush over a cup of coffee, which can elevate routine tasks into profoundly meaningful acts. This episode masterfully weaves together themes of faith, compelling storytelling, and actionable advice, providing physicians with valuable tools to rediscover their calling and maintain a purposeful approach to their practice, even amidst the monotony of repetitive patient care.Three Actionable Takeaways:Adopt a Daily Ritual – Use a morning Kiddush or similar practice (e.g., over coffee) to start your day with purpose and resilience.Embrace Patient Narratives – Listen to patients' unique stories, like a Seder tale, to reignite curiosity and care in repetitive care settings.Navigate Faith Conflicts with Empathy – Engage with patients' religious views openly to find common ground and tailor effective care plans.About the Show:PGD Physician's Guide to Doctoring covers patient interactions, burnout, career growth, personal finance, and more. If you're tired of dull medical lectures, tune in for real-world lessons we should have learned in med school!About the Guest:Dr. Jonathan Weinkle is an internist and pediatrician who practices primary care and serves as Chief Medical Officer at Squirrel Hill Health Center in Pittsburgh. A University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine graduate with a Med-Peds residency, he is a clinical assistant professor in Family Medicine and part-time instructor in Religious Studies and Conceptual Foundations of Medicine at Pitt. He teaches Death and the Healthcare Professions and Healing and Humanity, authored Healing People, Not Patients and Illness to Exodus, and runs ‘Healers Who Listen', where he blogs on healing and Jewish tradition. Once considering a rabbinical path, he now integrates faith and medicine to support physicians and patients.LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jonathan-weinkle-3440032awebsite: https://healerswholisten.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/healerswholisten?igsh=eXQ3a2QxMXZncTluAbout the host:Dr. Bradley Block – Dr. Bradley Block is a board-certified otolaryngologist at ENT and Allergy Associates in Garden City, NY. He specializes in adult and pediatric ENT, with interests in sinusitis and obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Block also hosts The Physician's Guide to Doctoring podcast, focusing on personal and professional development for physiciansWant to be a guest? Email Brad at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com  or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more!Socials:@physiciansguidetodoctoring on Facebook@physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube@physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter Visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect, dive deeper, and keep the conversation going. Let's grow! Disclaimer:This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical, financial, or legal advice. Always consult a qualified professional for personalized guidance.

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: http://family-bible-church.org/2025Messages/25Jun29.pdf * Three weeks ago we turned to the final day of Jesus the Messiah's earthly life and ministry with the consideration of Judas' decision to betray Jesus. In the last two weeks we examined the Passover Seder that Jesus held with His disciples and Jesus' example of having a Servant's Heart (to lead by humbly serving). * Today, we look at Luke's account of Jesus warning His disciples of trouble that is coming, with specific warning to Simon Peter, followed by Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. This precedes what is coming next week: Judas' betrayal of Jesus, Jesus' arrest, and Peter's three denials of Jesus. These events are connected; Jesus' warning and example show us that prayer is the key to avoiding temptation, to successfully handling a troublesome situation, and that without it we are likely to succumb to temptation – Judas fails by going through with the betrayal, Peter fails by denying Christ. * The Greek words peirazo (verb) and periasmos (noun) mean "to try, to test, to tempt . Whether it is a test or a temptation depends on the motivation of the one bringing the troublesome situation (e.g. God, Satan, a friend, an enemy) and by the response of the one entering the troublesome situation. James 1:13b-14 says "for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." * This message was presented by Bob Corbin on June 22, 2025 at Family Bible Church in Martinez, Georgia.

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: http://family-bible-church.org/2025Messages/25Jun22.pdf * Two weeks ago we turned to the final day of Jesus the Messiah's earthly life and ministry with the consideration of Judas' decision to betray the Messiah. * Last week, we examined the Passover Seder that He held with His disciples. This was event which He declared for which He had passionately desired. * John begins his account of this event by stating, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." (John 13:1) * As we continue to consider this important event, we need to consider the "Mind of Christ" which Paul declares Jesus revealed through this moment, and His time on earth. That Jesus, being in the very nature (morphae) God emptied Himself and took on the nature of a servant in order to meet our need (Philippians 2:3-8). * Today, we are challenged to follow His example to have a Servant's Heart ... and to continually ask ourselves, "Who is Greater?" * This message was presented by Bob Corbin on June 22, 2025 at Family Bible Church in Martinez, Georgia.

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: http://family-bible-church.org/2025Messages/25Jun15.pdf * Last week we turned to the final day of Jesus the Messiah's earthly life and ministry with the consideration of Judas' decision to betray the Messiah. * Today, we get to focus probably THE most observed portrait of Christ's payment for our sins - the Last Supper. Our observances of this Passover Seder meal that Christ partook with His disciples are commonly referred to as Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. * We are told, in the passage that we studying today, that Jesus was intensely desirous of having this meal with His disciples and leaving it as a portrait for us to remember the cost of the covenant which He was purchasing on our behalf. * This message was presented by Bob Corbin on June 15, 2025 at Family Bible Church in Martinez, Georgia.

The Mystery of Paschal Time. The passing of Pope Francis and his legacy. Can you explain the process of selecting a new Pope? Are Hebrew Catholics permitted to celebrate the Passover Seder in the light of Christ?

We will begin our study today when Jesus gathered His disciples together in the upper room of a home in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Seder meal. This was the time when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, which we observed as a church body last Sunday evening. During this meal, Jesus shared some important teachings…

In this special episode, Nathan and I explore the rich meaning of the Passover Seder, celebrated by Jewish communities around the world. As we reflect on God's mighty acts—liberating the Israelites in Exodus, offering redemption through the cross 2,000 years ago, and continuing to work in our lives today — we invite you to attune your heart to the God of salvation, past, present, and future.Be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a video from TFI! Donate to TFI: https://www.togetherforisrael.org/giv...Visit our Website: https://www.togetherforisrael.orgJoin us for a tour: https://www.tfi.tours

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Elior's First Seder: A Journey of Tradition and Togetherness Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2025-04-19-22-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: השמש זרחה בבוקר אביבי ביפו.En: The sun rose on a spring morning in Jaffa.He: השוק היה מלא צבעים וריחות.En: The market was full of colors and scents.He: רוחות מהים נגעו בעדינות בפני האנשים, ופסי אור השמש השתלבו בין דוכני הפירות והירקות הרעננים.En: Breezes from the sea gently touched people's faces, and rays of sunlight intertwined among the stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables.He: אליאור, צעיר מלא מרץ וחיבה למסורת, פסע בין הדוכנים במטרה מסוימת בראשו: להכין ליל הסדר הראשון שלו.En: Elior, a young man full of energy and a love for tradition, walked between the stalls with a specific goal in mind: to prepare his first Passover Seder.He: התחושה הייתה קסומה אך גם מאיימת.En: The feeling was magical yet also intimidating.He: כך הרבה דברים לקנות, כל כך הרבה פרטים לזכור.En: So many things to buy, so many details to remember.He: עברו מחשבות בראשו: האם שכח משהו?En: Thoughts ran through his mind: Had he forgotten something?He: האם יבייש את עצמו לפני המשפחה?En: Would he embarrass himself in front of the family?He: אבל הוא לא היה לבד.En: But he was not alone.He: תמר, בת דודתו, עמדה לצידו.En: Tamar, his cousin, stood by his side.He: היא הייתה מאורגנת ומנוסה בהכנות לחגים.En: She was organized and experienced in holiday preparations.He: היא חייכה אליו בחום.En: She smiled at him warmly.He: "תראה, אליאור, הנה רשימה שהכנתי," אמרה תמר.En: "Look, Elior, here is a list I prepared," said Tamar.He: "נעבור עליה יחד.En: "We'll go over it together."He: " הם הלכו מהדוכן לדוכן, עוצרים ליד כל אחד לוודא שיש להם את מה שצריך.En: They walked from stall to stall, stopping at each one to ensure they had what they needed.He: "שלום אליאור, שלום תמר!En: "Hello Elior, hello Tamar!"He: " קרא נועם, מוכר מוכר בשוק, לאחר שזיהה אותם.En: called Noam, a well-known vendor in the market, after recognizing them.He: "בואו, יש לי תפוזים מצוינים, וגם מצות הכי טריות בעיר!En: "Come, I have excellent oranges, and also the freshest matzahs in the city!"He: " נועם תמיד שפע עצות מחכימות ושמח לחלוק אותן.En: Noam always had insightful advice and was happy to share it.He: תוך כדי השיחות עם תמר ונועם, אליאור הרגיש איך הרגעים של הלחץ מתפוגגים.En: During the conversations with Tamar and Noam, Elior felt the moments of stress dissipating.He: להפך, בעזרת הצעדים הקטנים והברורים, הוא החל להנות מהחוויה.En: On the contrary, with the help of small and clear steps, he began to enjoy the experience.He: כשהזמן הלך ואזל, החלו הדוכנים להיסגר, אך אליאור לא חשש.En: As time went by and the stalls started to close, Elior was unafraid.He: הוא הצליח לאסוף את כל מה שהיה דרוש.En: He managed to gather everything that was needed.He: תמר הביטה בהנאה, ונועם הוסיף קריצה קטנה, כסימן לעידוד.En: Tamar looked on with pleasure, and Noam added a small wink as a sign of encouragement.He: ליל הסדר הגיע, אלא שאליאור כבר לא היה מודאג.En: Passover Seder arrived, but Elior was no longer worried.He: השולחן היה ערוך בטוב טעם, ושמחת החג מרחפת באוויר.En: The table was set with good taste, and the joy of the holiday floated in the air.He: משפחתו התיישבה סביב השולחן עם חיוך מרוצה, ואליאור הרגיש שבסופו של דבר, המאמץ השתלם.En: His family sat around the table with satisfied smiles, and Elior felt that in the end, the effort was worthwhile.He: הוא הבין שלפעמים, לשתף ולבקש עזרה היא הדרך הכי טובה להשיג הצלחה.En: He realized that sometimes, sharing and asking for help is the best way to achieve success.He: כך, תוך כדי לעיסת חרוסת מתוקה ומצות טריות, אליאור ידע שהשילוב בין עצמאות לשיתוף פעולה נתן לו חג שלא ישכח.En: Thus, while chewing sweet charoset and fresh matzah, Elior knew that the combination of independence and collaboration gave him a holiday he would never forget.He: חוויית החג והלמידה הפכו את הרגעים הללו לבלתי נשכחים.En: The holiday experience and the learning made these moments unforgettable. Vocabulary Words:rose: זרחהbreezes: רוחותintertwined: השתלבוscents: ריחותintimidating: מאיימתembarrass: יביישinsightful: מחכימותdissipating: מתפוגגיםstall: דוכןunafraid: לא חששsatisfied: מרוצהeffort: מאמץworthwhile: השתלםindependence: עצמאותcollaboration: שיתוף פעולהunforgettable: בלתי נשכחיםlist: רשימהvendor: מוכרadvice: עצותpleasure: הנאהencouragement: עידודtaste: טעםsharing: לשתףchewing: לעיסהcombined: שילובexperience: חווייתgoal: מטרהspecific: מסוימתtradition: מסורתpreparations: הכנותBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Pastor Bruce Zachary leads us through the traditional Passover Seder showing us how the entirety of the Old Testament points to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Pastor Bruce Zachary leads us through the traditional Passover Seder showing us how the entirety of the Old Testament points to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Per usual, callers set the agenda this hour. Issues raised include: in a bad world, should you have still have children; if someone says they believe in God, do you really know anything about that person; should you talk politics at the Passover Seder.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Passover Seder // Scott Volk____________________________________________________For More info on Gold Street Garden visit; https://linktr.ee/goldstreetgarden

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Spring's Promise: Unexpected Bonds in a Hospital Seder Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2025-04-17-22-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: בוקר אחד באביב, בית החולים היה מלא באנרגיה של התחדשות.En: One morning in the spring, the hospital was filled with the energy of renewal.He: הפרחים בחוץ פרחו, ואילו בפנים הריח היה של חיטוי ונקיון.En: The flowers outside were blooming, while inside the scent was of disinfectant and cleanliness.He: באחת מהספות בחדר ההמתנה, ישבה מאיה, עיניה נעוצות במסדרון הארוך, ממתינה לביקור אצל סבתה החולה.En: On one of the couches in the waiting room, Maya sat, her eyes fixed on the long corridor, waiting to visit her sick grandmother.He: היא הרגישה עייפה ומלאה דאגות, ולמרות זאת חששה להיעזר באחרים.En: She felt tired and full of worries, yet she hesitated to seek help from others.He: בזמן שמאיה ניסתה להירגע, אליאור, אח מלא חמלה במחלקה, עבר עם עגלת התרופות.En: As Maya tried to relax, Elior, a compassionate nurse in the department, passed by with a medication cart.He: הוא הביט בה לרגע.En: He glanced at her for a moment.He: נראה היה שהיא צריכה מישהו לדבר איתו.En: It seemed she needed someone to talk to.He: אליאור עצמו חיפש חברה אמיתית, מישהו שיוכל לדבר איתו על דברים שמעבר לעבודה המתישה שלו.En: Elior himself was seeking genuine companionship, someone with whom he could discuss matters beyond his exhausting work.He: "תשמעי," הוא אמר בעדינות, "אנחנו מתכננים סדר פסח קטן כאן בהמשך היום, ואת מוזמנת להצטרף.En: "Listen," he said gently, "we're planning a small Passover Seder here later today, and you're welcome to join.He: זה עשוי לתת לך קצת מנוחה.En: It might give you some respite."He: "מאיה היססה.En: Maya hesitated.He: חביבוּת הזמינה שלה היתה מפתיעה ומוכרת בו זמנית.En: The kindness extended to her was surprising and familiar at the same time.He: היא רצתה לנשום לרגע, אז הנהנה בקול דממה.En: She wanted to breathe for a moment, so she nodded in silent agreement.He: בערב, החדר הקטן שבו התקיים הסדר היה שונה.En: In the evening, the small room where the Seder was held felt different.He: האור הצהוב והחם הפך אותו לנקודת מפגש קהילתית.En: The warm yellow light turned it into a communal gathering point.He: אליאור הנחה את הסדר בהדרכתה של תמר, קולגה בחיוך קל.En: Elior led the Seder with the guidance of Tamar, a colleague with a gentle smile.He: היא הצהירה על הקול שחשוב להיות פתוחים לחוויות חדשות ולהיפתח לאפשרויות בלתי צפויות.En: She declared that it was important to be open to new experiences and embrace unexpected possibilities.He: במהלך הארוע, מאיה ואליאור החלו לשוחח.En: During the event, Maya and Elior began to chat.He: הם החליפו סיפורים על רגעים בחייהם.En: They exchanged stories about moments in their lives.He: הם מצאו שדעותיהם על המשפחה והחיים מתחברות בפשטות טבעית.En: They found that their views on family and life connected in a naturally simple way.He: לצד משקאות ומצתות, הם גילו שהם יכולים להוות תמיכה חיונית זה לזו.En: Amid drinks and quips, they discovered they could be essential support for one another.He: בסוף הערב, ליווה אליאור את מאיה לחדרה של סבתה.En: At the end of the evening, Elior accompanied Maya to her grandmother's room.He: "אני מבטיח לבדוק מה איתך בהמשך," הוא אמר, והיא חייכה אליו באמת בפעם הראשונה.En: "I promise to check in on you later," he said, and she smiled at him genuinely for the first time.He: מאיה הרגישה מלאת תקווה וחום.En: Maya felt full of hope and warmth.He: עבור אליאור, היה זה רגע של שייכות שרק חיכה להתממש זמן רב.En: For Elior, it was a moment of belonging that had long awaited realization.He: השינוי מבחינתם היה ברור – הוא מצא ידידות אמיתית והיא מצאה כתף להישען עליה ברגעים קשים.En: The change was clear for both – he found true friendship, and she found a shoulder to lean on during tough times.He: האביב השתלט על החיים, מלא בהבטחות לעתיד טוב יותר.En: Spring took hold of their lives, filled with promises of a better future. Vocabulary Words:renewal: התחדשותdisinfectant: חיטויcouple: זוגcompassionate: חמלהmedication: תרופותcart: עגלהgenuine: אמיתיcompanionship: חברותrespite: מנוחהnod: להנהןcommunal: קהילתיgathering: מפגשguidance: הדרכהembrace: להיפתחunexpected: בלתי צפויquips: מצתותaccompanied: ליווהbelonging: שייכותawaited: המתיןrealization: התממשותessential: חיוניsupport: תמיכהhesitate: היסוסextended: מורחבתdeclaration: הצהרהpossibilities: אפשרויותviews: דעותhope: תקווהwarmth: חוםshoulder: כתףBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Saturday, April 12, 2025, we held our yearly Messiah in the Passover Seder banquet at the Knollwood Country Club in Granada Hills, CA. We were truly blessed to have 260 attend and experience such a beautiful Passover with everyone who came.Our time of worship and praise was uplifting, joyous and celebrative. Everyone who came had such a wonderful time reflecting back on Israel's exodus from Egypt, learning of the Jewish traditions and seeing how Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, observed Passover with his disciples, fulfilling many of the Jewish traditions that are still practiced today.As our Passover seder developed, Rabbi Gary explained how the traditions the Jewish people practice were also observed by Yeshua and used by him to reveal himself as Israel's Messiah.This episode only includes Rabbi Gary's introduction to the Seder. To watch the complete Seder, go to the YouTube link below.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0-f356fy5oSend us a text

A Chronology, from the Passover Seder to the Grave.

Passover Seder by Pastor Jason Duff The post Passover Seder – Matthew 26:17-30 appeared first on Calvary Vista.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Passover in the Rockies: Tradition Meets Adventure Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2025-04-16-22-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: הרוחות הצלולות של הרי הרוקי נשבו באוויר הקריר של האביב, כשהשלג של החורף האחרון עוד נשאר על הפסגות.En: The clear winds of the Rocky Mountains blew in the cool spring air, while the snow from the last winter still remained on the peaks.He: אביב, תמר ואלי עמדו על מרפסת הלודג', מביטים בנוף המרהיב מול עיניהם.En: Aviv, Tamar, and Eli stood on the lodge's balcony, gazing at the breathtaking view before their eyes.He: הנוף היה עוצר נשימה: פרחים פרועים החלו לפרוח בעמקים, והאורנים הגבוהים הקנו תחושת רוגע ושלווה.En: The view was stunning: wildflowers began to bloom in the valleys, and the tall pines imparted a sense of calm and serenity.He: אביב, מנהל הפרויקטים החרוץ, נאנח ברוגע.En: Aviv, the diligent project manager, sighed with ease.He: מולו ניצבו אתגרים לא פשוטים: החופשה של הצוות התרחשה ממש במהלך פסח וצריך היה לדאוג לשילוב המסורות בחג.En: Before him stood some considerable challenges: the team's vacation coincided with Passover and required integrating the holiday's traditions.He: תמר, המנהיגה היצירתית והנלהבת, חייכה בהתרגשות: היא חיכתה לטיול הזה ולחוויות בין הרי הרוקי.En: Tamar, the creative and enthusiastic leader, smiled with excitement: she had been looking forward to this trip and the experiences among the Rocky Mountains.He: לצידה, אלי, המתאם המנוסה, העריך את העבודה שהושקעה בתכנון, אך דאג שהכול יתקתק לפי התוכנית.En: Beside her, Eli, the experienced coordinator, appreciated the work invested in the planning, yet he was concerned that everything would proceed according to plan.He: "בואו נתחיל," אמר אביב, "נשלב את המסורות עם הפעילויות.En: "Let's get started," said Aviv, "let's integrate the traditions with the activities."He: " הם פתחו את המפות והתארגנו על התוכניות בשיתוף פעולה.En: They opened the maps and organized the plans collaboratively.He: תמר שיחקה רעיונות לטיולים בטבע ומשחקי תחרויות.En: Tamar brainstormed ideas for nature hikes and competition games.He: אלי דאג לוודא שכל הפרטים הענייניים יותר מסודרים.En: Eli ensured that all the more logistical details were arranged.He: אבל האתגר הגדול ביותר עמד לפניהם: הסדר של פסח.En: But the biggest challenge lay ahead: the Passover Seder.He: אביב רצה שהסדר יהיה מושלם, כזה שיכבד את המסורת ויראה לכולם את יופיו.En: Aviv wanted the Seder to be perfect, one that would honor the tradition and show everyone its beauty.He: אבל אז קרה דבר בלתי צפוי.En: But then something unexpected happened.He: סופת שלגים פתאומית שפגעה באזור גרמה לעיכובים בהגעת מוצרי מזון כשרים ללודג'.En: A sudden snowstorm that hit the area caused delays in the arrival of kosher food products to the lodge.He: הרצון של אביב לשמר את המסורת התחיל להתערבב עם הדאגות.En: Aviv's desire to preserve the tradition began to mix with his worries.He: אך כאן, כמו בתסריט מתוח, הצוות כולו התגייס יחד.En: Yet here, like a gripping scenario, the entire team came together.He: תמר הציעה להכין מנות מקוריות ויצירתיות מהמצרכים המוגבלים שהיו ברשותם, ואלי ארגן את המטבח החדש ביעילות.En: Tamar suggested preparing original and creative dishes from the limited ingredients at their disposal, and Eli efficiently organized the makeshift kitchen.He: באותו לילה, מעבר לשלג שירד בחוץ, הצוות התכנס סביב שולחן הסדר המאולתר.En: That night, beyond the snow falling outside, the team gathered around the improvised Seder table.He: למרות כל האתגרים, היה זה סדר פסח מלא בחום ובאחווה.En: Despite all the challenges, it was a Passover Seder full of warmth and camaraderie.He: אביב הוביל את הטקס בפשטות ובאהבה.En: Aviv led the ceremony with simplicity and love.He: הסיפור של יציאת מצרים קיבל פתאום משמעות חדשה: לא רק יציאה לעבר חירות, אלא גם יכולת להסתגל וליצור מחדש.En: The story of the Exodus from Egypt suddenly took on a new meaning: not only a journey toward freedom but also an ability to adapt and recreate.He: החוויות שעברו יחד חיזקו את רוח הצוות ואת הבנתו של אביב את חשיבות הגמישות והעבודה המשותפת.En: The experiences they shared strengthened the team's spirit and Aviv's understanding of the importance of flexibility and collaborative work.He: גם כאשר התנאים אינם מושלמים, אפשר למצוא פתרונות יצירתיים, וכל אחד תרם את חלקו.En: Even when conditions are not perfect, creative solutions can be found, and everyone contributed their part.He: וכך, amidst the spring beauty of the Rocky Mountains, the team found not just professional growth but also personal resilience and understanding.En: And so, amidst the spring beauty of the Rocky Mountains, the team found not just professional growth but also personal resilience and understanding. Vocabulary Words:winds: רוחותbalcony: מרפסתgazing: מביטיםpeaks: פסגותbreathtaking: עוצר נשימהserenity: שלווהdiligent: חרוץcoincided: התרחשהenthusiastic: נלהבתlogistical: העניינייםSeder: סדרsnowstorm: סופת שלגיםkosher: כשריםscenario: תסריטimprovised: מאולתרcamaraderie: אחווהExodus: יציאת מצריםflexibility: גמישותresilience: חוסןintegrating: שילובtraditions: מסורותadapt: להסתגלrecreate: ליצור מחדשbloom: לפרוחscenario: תסריטmakeshift: חדשcollaboratively: בשיתוף פעולהbrainstormed: שיחקהspirit: רוחhonor: יכבדBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Originally recorded and released April 15, 2025 Passover Seder Join us for this critical and special Passover Seder broadcast! Be part of this meaningful evening of remembrance, reflection, and celebration as we honor God's faithfulness throughout history. AOG: https://buff.ly/FN2q8KE YouTube: https://buff.ly/AbARBd5 Rumble: https://buff.ly/5wU0zpb X: https://buff.ly/pOrqR2R #prophecy #Amandagrace #Christian #Christianity #Jesus #faith #inspirational #Arkofgrace #prophetic #seder #passover #communion #bodyofchrist #passoverseder #history #mealtime #God #JesusisLord #Holyspirit #amen

Each year, thousands of Greater Bostonians observe Passover through Seder, the ceremonial meal of prayers, blessings and wine retelling the story of the Jews' exodus from ancient Egypt. It's a tradition passed down from generation to generation all over the world, but it didn't reach the White House until 2009. Author Richard Michelson wrote about this unique seder in his new children's picture book, “Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama's First Presidential Seder.”

04.13.2025 | The Passover Seder | Glenn Hubbart by River In The Hills Church

On this Friday edition of Sid & Friends in the Morning, Sid ramps up the hype heading into one of the holiest weeks of the year for Jews worldwide, the celebration of Passover and the telling of Moses' heroics, leading the Israelites out of slavery under the Pharaoh in Egypt to the promised land of Israel after 40 days and nights trekking through the dessert. To proud Jews, the Passover Seder is more than just a meal, but a guide to the continued survival of the Jewish people. In other news of the day, House Republicans pass the budget framework for President Trump's "big, beautiful bill", the Supreme Court rules that the Trump administration must facilitate the return of a Maryland man that seemingly was mistakenly deported, the NYPD introduces its new "Quality of Life Division", and New York Governor Kathy Hochul is demanding that Long Island schools do away with their mascots and logos that reference Native Americans who formerly populated the greater Long Island area. Yehuda Kaploun, Caroline Glick, Curtis Sliwa, Anthony Cumia and Cory Zelnik join Sid on this Friday installment of Sid & Friends in the Morning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode delves into the significance of Passover, its traditions, and how it is celebrated, drawing parallels between the celebration and Christian beliefs, particularly the resurrection of Jesus. Robby and Dr. Date The WordCarson invites listeners to reflect on what Passover means to them personally and to contribute to the conversation. They also explores the metaphorical meanings behind the elements of the Passover Seder, such as the bread and wine, and encourages participation in an upcoming Seder.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Passover in the Bunker: A Tale of Resilience & Celebration Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2025-04-11-22-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: נעם הביט סביבו בבונקר התת קרקעי.En: @Noam looked around the underground bunker.He: קירות בטון אפורים הוסיפו אווירה קרירה ומלחיצה, אבל הוא ידע שהיום חייבים להוסיף קצת חום ואור לחג הפסח.En: The gray concrete walls added a cool and tense atmosphere, but he knew that today they needed to add some warmth and light for Passover.He: לצידו עמד איתן, ותוך כדי שיחה עם רינה הם ניסו למצוא פתרונות יצירתיים להכין את שולחן הסדר בסביבה הלא רגילה הזו.En: Beside him stood Eitan, and while talking to Rina, they tried to find creative solutions to prepare the Seder table in this unusual setting.He: "נעם, יהיה בסדר," אמר איתן עם חיוך מרגיע, למרות שבליבו גם הוא חשש מהרעיון של לערוך סדר בפעם הראשונה בבונקר.En: "Noam, it will be okay," said Eitan with a reassuring smile, although in his heart, he was also apprehensive about the idea of holding a Seder for the first time in a bunker.He: "רינה היא גאון בלאלתר," הוסיף וקרץ לכיוונה.En: "Rina is a genius at improvising," he added and winked at her.He: רינה כבר הכינה רשימה של דברים חיוניים שצריך להביא.En: Rina had already prepared a list of essential items to bring.He: "אנחנו צריכים מצות, יין, ביצים, חזרת... וגם איזה קישוט קטן," היא אמרה, מתארגנת ליציאה לקניות.En: "We need matzah, wine, eggs, horseradish... and also a little decoration," she said, getting ready to go shopping.He: לפתע היא הבחינה שהגשם בחוץ החל להתחזק.En: Suddenly, she noticed the rain outside began to intensify.He: "צריך למהר," לחשה בחשש.En: "We need to hurry," she whispered anxiously.He: הגשם הפך לשיטפון איטי והתקרב אל פתח הבונקר.En: The rain turned into a slow flood approaching the entrance of the bunker.He: נעם חש בלחץ עולה בתוכו.En: Noam felt his anxiety rising.He: איך יצליח לפתור את הבעיה החדשה הזו?En: How would he solve this new problem?He: הוא ניסה לחשוב במהירות והביט באיתן ובינה.En: He tried to think quickly and looked at Eitan and Rina.He: "הבנו את הבעיה," איתן העיר.En: "We understand the problem," Eitan remarked.He: "נזיז את הכל לתוך החדר הפנימי.En: "We'll move everything into the inner room.He: אם נחשוב חיובי, נצליח להרגיש חירות גם כאן." אמר כאשר עיניו נצצו.En: If we think positively, we'll manage to feel freedom even here," he said as his eyes sparkled.He: רינה הזדרזה לאסוף את כל שהביאה מהשוק הקטן שנמצא לא רחוק.En: Rina hurried to gather everything she had brought from the small market not far away.He: "יש לנו יין כמעט כשר, ירקות טריים וקצת דגים," היא הכריזה עם חיוך.En: "We have almost kosher wine, fresh vegetables, and some fish," she announced with a smile.He: הקבוצה השפילה ללב הבונקר.En: The group headed deeper into the bunker.He: כשבתוך הבונקר, הם הסתדרו סביב שולחן קטן שעמד במרכז החדר.En: Inside the bunker, they arranged themselves around a small table in the center of the room.He: הכלים היו פשוטים אך האווירה התחילה להתחמם.En: The utensils were simple, but the atmosphere began to warm up.He: נעם התאפק לא לחזור לתחושות העצב והדאגה שהטרידו אותו והחל להתרכז בשמירה על אחדות השמחה הקולקטיבית.En: Noam resisted the urge to return to the feelings of sadness and worry that troubled him and started focusing on maintaining the collective joy.He: כשהליל הסתיים, ולא היה שטף מים שלא הצליחו להוריד את הרוח החגיגית, נעם הסתכל סביבו וידע שמצא את התשובה.En: As the night ended, and there was no flood that managed to wash away the festive spirit, Noam looked around and knew he found the answer.He: "הלא חשוב היכן אנו, אלא איך אנו מרגישים," הוא אמר.En: "It's not important where we are, but how we feel," he said.He: הם הצליחו לערוך סדר פסח בלתי נשכח, כשכל אחד תורם את חלקו והם ביחד הופכים את הבונקר למבצר של שמחה וחיבור.En: They succeeded in conducting an unforgettable Passover Seder, with each person contributing their part, together turning the bunker into a fortress of joy and connection.He: כך, הם למדו שלעתים קרובות, הגמישות והרוח האנושית חשובות יותר מכל תוכנית מושלמת.En: Thus, they learned that often, flexibility and the human spirit are more important than any perfect plan.He: זה היה חג שלא ישכח לעולם.En: It was a holiday that would never be forgotten. Vocabulary Words:underground: תת קרקעיbunker: בונקרconcrete: בטוןtense: מלחיצהwarmth: חוםcreative: יצירתייםsolutions: פתרונותreassuring: מרגיעapprehensive: חששimprovising: לאלתרessential: חיונייםintensify: להתחזקanxiously: בחששflood: שיטפוןanxiety: לחץinner: הפנימיvegetables: ירקותutensils: כליםresisted: התאפקcollective: קולקטיביתunforgettable: בלתי נשכחfortress: מבצרflexibility: גמישותspirit: רוחperfect: מושלמתconducting: לערוךnoticed: הבחינהsparkled: נצצוmarket: שוקapproaching: התקרבBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

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With 59 hostages still in Gaza, both dead and alive, Jon Polin, the father of slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, doesn’t believe it’s appropriate for any Jew to have a festive Passover celebrating freedom this year. "The point," he says, "is let's lean into the pain this year, and not even try to sugarcoat it for our kids" Polin and his wife Rachel became prominent international advocates for their son Hersh’s release until the tragic news of his murder by Hamas terrorists in an underground tunnel last August. The couple continue to advocate tirelessly for the release of the remaining hostages. On the Haaretz Podcast, Polin spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about how his family is facing their difficult first Passover Seder since Hersh’s death and how he believes others should treat the holiday. “We've talked about symbolic things that people should do: Maybe put a lemon on your table. A lemon because it's yellow, the color of the hostage struggle, and because it's bitter - to reflect the bitterness that the hostages and their families and all the Jewish people are going through,” he said, also suggesting “instead of just dipping our greens in the salt water, let's drink some salt water, because we know from testimonies of recently released hostages that is what they are drinking." In recent weeks, Polin made headlines in Israel by calling for members of the coalition to refrain from wearing yellow ribbon pins symbolizing solidarity with hostage families and on the podcast, explained his rationale. “If you're in a position of authority and you are not willing to do the things necessary to bring home hostages, that's your political choice. But then, don't wear the pin.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with filmmaker, Accidental Talmudist and longtime “Jewish Journal” contributor Salvador Litvak. Litvak's Passover classic, “When Do We Eat?” stars Max Greenfield, Ben Feldman, Shiri Appleby, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Lerner, and Jack Klugman. Litvak directed the film that he co-wrote with his wife and partner, Nina Davidovich Litvak.    The Litvaks' second movie was “Saving Lincoln.” Their new film “Guns & Moses” is out this summer.    “The perennial fifth question of the Passover Seder is, ‘When do we eat?'” Litvak, who is also the author of “Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time,”  says. “There's all these holiday movies… but there was no Passover movie.”    When the Litvaks made “When Do We Eat?” they were connected to Judaism, but not yet Orthodox.    “The movie's probably a little bit edgier than we would make it today,” Litvak says. “One of the main plot points is that one of the kids doses his dad with a strong hallucinogen at the Passover seder, but also the movie contains wonderful spiritual teachings.”   He adds, “[Our dream: that] it would become the Jewish, ‘It's a Wonderful Life,' the movie that people watch every year.”   Salvador Litvak shares the backstories behind “When Do We Eat?” and his new Jewish joke book. the connections between Judaism and food, and his recipe for Sal-mon. He also talks about creating The Accidental Talmudist, how that community embraced his Passover classic film aka “My Big Fat Jewish Seder.”    “My mom always used to say there's two kinds of people: those who get into conversations in the checkout line at the supermarket and those who don't,” Litvak says. “We are [the first] kind.”   Learn more at SalvadorLitvak.com, AccidentalTalmudist.org, and GunsandMosesMovie.com. Check out Salvador's new book, “Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time.”   For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

We have no idea what we're accomplishing on Seder night. Our sages tell us that it's Hashem's favorite night of the year. The entire Passover Seder is about gratitude. There's an individual message for everyone in the family as well as our guests. No one is left out.

Passover Seder

Welcome to our special Passover episode, where we explore the profound layers of the Passover Seder, a ceremony that beautifully encapsulates over three millennia of Jewish history and identity. In this episode, we discuss the fifteen steps of the Seder, from Kiddush to the festive meal, and delve into the powerful narratives and symbols that connect us to our ancestors.We share a humorous yet insightful exchange between a rabbi and an astrophysics professor, which cleverly illustrates the depth of Talmudic study compared to the simplification of complex ideas. The conversation highlights how Jewish traditions and teachings are much more than historical records; they are vibrant memories passed down through generations, forming a continuous link back to the Exodus from Egypt.We reflect on how the presence of multiple generations at the Seder table turns these historical events into a vivid collective memory, extending back hundreds of years and forward into future gatherings. This episode also touches on the intriguing absence of certain words in Biblical Hebrew, such as "history," which is replaced with "memory" — a concept deeply ingrained in Jewish culture.Join us as we discuss how the Passover Seder transcends mere historical recounting, acting instead as a dynamic memory that engages with the past as a living part of our present and future. We conclude with a powerful message on transforming pain into blessing, inspired by the life of Henrietta Szold, who turned personal hardship into a legacy of love and humanitarianism.Main Takeaways:The Seder as a Link Across Time: The Passover Seder is not just a ritual but a bridge connecting 3,300 years of Jewish history through family stories and traditions passed down through generations.Memory Over History: The episode explores why the Hebrew language prefers the term "memory" over "history," emphasizing personal and collective identity formation through remembered experiences rather than impersonal historical events.Cultural Insights: A look at how the absence of certain words in Hebrew, like "history" and "civility," reflects deeper cultural values, with "memory" (zachor) and "chutzpah" taking prominent roles.Humor and Wisdom: The interaction between the rabbi and the professor serves as a metaphor for the depth and complexity of Jewish teachings and the importance of continual learning and interpretation.Transforming Pain into Blessing: Inspired by Henrietta Szold's story, the episode underscores a fundamental Jewish principle of using persoSupport the showGot your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.comSingle? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.Donate and support Rabbi Bernath's work http://www.jewishndg.com/donateFollow Rabbi Bernath's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernathAccess Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

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The Passover Seder isn't just a tradition....it's an invitation. Not just for guests around your table, but for you. An invitation to show up emotionally, spiritually, and vulnerably. This class explores five Seder moments that, when fully embraced, can transform your night from ritual to revolution.We'll journey from the cracked matzah to the humble matzah, from our collective memory to our personal growth, from the bitterness of trauma to the sweetness of faith. Discover why incompletion is a gift, how humility is the key to freedom, and why the Seder might just be history's original group therapy session.5 Key Takeaways:Invite Yourself In The opening words of the Seder aren't about inviting others—they're about inviting yourself. Your full, vulnerable, questioning, present self. This is your moment to enter the story, not as a spectator, but as the protagonist.Celebrate What's Broken Yachatz teaches that brokenness isn't a defect—it's a doorway. By honoring what's missing, we create space for growth, connection, and Divine presence. Real healing begins when we stop pretending to be whole.You Are Part of a 3,337-Year Legacy While other civilizations forget, we remember. The power of the Seder is memory with mission: to remind us that no matter where we are, freedom is always the next chapter if we have the courage to write it.Humility is Freedom's Secret Ingredient Matzah isn't just flat—it's freeing. The opposite of ego isn't weakness; it's openness. Freedom requires the courage to say, “Maybe I don't know everything.” That humility invites new beginnings.Freedom Begins in the Heart Egypt isn't just a place—it's a mindset. It's the voice that says, “This is how it's always been.” But G-d gave us a hidden “escape hatch”—a shift in perception, a crack of hope, a step toward healing. Your freedom begins when you stop being “right” and start being real.#Passover #seder #freedom #matzah #Jewish #Judaism #pesachPassover Seder, Freedom, Matzah, Humility, Jewish Identity, Vulnerability, Brokenness, Personal Growth, Group Therapy, Jewish Memory, Healing, Transformation, Ego, Yachatz, Exodus, Egypt, Legacy, Soul WorkSupport the showGot your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.comSingle? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.Donate and support Rabbi Bernath's work http://www.jewishndg.com/donateFollow Rabbi Bernath's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernathAccess Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

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Joan discusses how to plan your Passover Seder in New York City, highlighting three notable restaurants. Talia's Steakhouse and Bar offers a traditional kosher Passover experience with communal Seders at their restaurant and the Jewish Center. Bubby Tribeca provides a non-kosher comfort food Seder for a relaxed, self-led meal. Lastly, Mark's off Madison caters to foodies with a gourmet take on traditional Jewish American dishes, and an extensive Passover catering menu. Joan provides details on the menus, costs, and reservation information for each venue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Passover: A Tale of Tradition, Ingenuity & Togetherness Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2025-03-29-22-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: השמש האירה בעדינות על הכפר הקטן השוכן בהרים הירוקים של ישראל.En: The sun gently illuminated the small village nestled in the green mountains of Israel.He: האביב כבר כאן, ושקדיות פורחות בכל מקום.En: Spring was already here, and almond trees were blooming everywhere.He: הרחובות הצרים של הכפר נראו כמרוצים מפתגמים, והכפריים עמלו בשוק המקומי על ההכנות לליל הסדר.En: The narrow streets of the village seemed satisfied with proverbs, and the villagers worked in the local market preparing for the Passover Seder.He: אביבה התהלכה בשוק, רשימה בידה, עיניים ממוקדות ומבט נחוש.En: Aviva walked through the market, list in hand, eyes focused and determined.He: היא הייתה יודעת בדיוק מה היא צריכה בשביל הסדר.En: She knew exactly what she needed for the Seder.He: החג הזה היה כה מיוחד עבורה.En: This holiday was so special to her.He: בכל שנה משפחתה התאספה לליל הסדר בבית שלה, והיא ידעה שעליה לוודא שהכל יהיה מושלם.En: Every year, her family gathered for the Seder at her house, and she knew she had to make sure everything would be perfect.He: "שלמי על המצות?En: "How much for the matzah?"He: " שאלה אווירה את בעל החנות המקומית.En: Aviva asked the local shop owner.He: "מצטער, גבירתי," ענה האיש בקצת חוסר נוחות, "יש לנו רק כמות מסוימת שנותרה, ואני לא בטוח שתספיק לכל הצרכים שלכם.En: "Sorry, ma'am," the man replied with a bit of discomfort, "We only have a certain amount left, and I'm not sure it will be enough for all your needs."He: " התחיל מתח באוויר.En: Tension started to build in the air.He: נועם, אחיה של אביבה, החליף מבטי מבוכה עם אליאור, החבר החדש בכפר, שעמד לצידה.En: Noam, Aviva's brother, exchanged embarrassed looks with Elior, the new friend in the village standing next to her.He: "אחי, בוא נרגע," אמר נועם בקול מרגיע.En: "Brother, let's calm down," said Noam in a soothing voice.He: "אנחנו יכולים להסתדר בלי להיות מושלמים הפעם.En: "We can manage without being perfect this time."He: " אליאור, שהיה מעט חושש להשתלב בקהילה, החליט לפתע להתערב.En: Elior, who was a bit apprehensive about integrating into the community, suddenly decided to intervene.He: "יש לי רעיון," הוא אמר בהיסוס קל.En: "I have an idea," he said with slight hesitation.He: "אולי נוכל להכין יחד משהו חדש ויצירתי כדי להחליף את מה שחסר.En: "Maybe we can create something new and creative together to replace what's missing."He: " אביבה נעצרה לרגע, מבטה מתרכך קצת.En: Aviva paused for a moment, her gaze softening a bit.He: "טוב, אולי," היא אמרה, אפילו שלא הייתה משוכנעת במלואה.En: "Well, maybe," she said, even though she wasn't entirely convinced.He: כך הם עשו.En: And so they did.He: בעזרת תמיכת נועם והיצירתיות של אליאור, הצליחו להפוך את החסרון ליתרון.En: With Noam's support and Elior's creativity, they managed to turn the lack into an advantage.He: הם המציאו מתכונים שזכו למחמאות רבות וגרמו לאורחים לחייך בהשתאות.En: They invented recipes that received many compliments and made the guests smile in amazement.He: בערב הסדר, כשכולם ישבו מסביב לשולחן המסורתי, חשה אביבה שלמרות ההתחלה הקשה, הצליחה ליצור חוויה מיוחדת וקסומה.En: On the evening of the Seder, when everyone sat around the traditional table, Aviva felt that despite the difficult start, she had managed to create a special and magical experience.He: היא הבינה שבסופו של דבר, החשיבות האמיתית היא לא בפרטים הקטנים, אלא במהות הגדולה של החג – הביחד, השמחה, והזיכרונות המשותפים.En: She realized that ultimately, the true importance was not in the small details, but in the larger essence of the holiday – togetherness, joy, and shared memories.He: היא חייכה לעצמה.En: She smiled to herself.He: אמנם התחילה לחשוב שהיא צריכה שינוי קטן בגישה.En: Indeed, she began to think she needed a small change in approach.He: לפעמים, היא הבינה, לקרוא להמציא את המסלול מחדש זה אולי הסדר הטוב ביותר.En: Sometimes, she understood, reinventing the path might just be the best order. Vocabulary Words:illuminated: האירnestled: שוכןblooming: פורחותsatisfied: מרוציםproverbs: פתגמיםpreparing: הכנותdetermined: נחושconvince: לשכנעtension: מתחdiscomfort: חוסר נוחותintervene: להתערבhesitation: היסוסcreative: יצירתיadvantage: יתרוןcompliments: מחמאותamazement: השתאותrealized: הבינהultimately: בסופו של דברdetails: פרטיםessence: מהותtogetherness: ביחדapproach: גישהreinventing: להמציא מחדשgentle: עדינותtraditional: מסורתיblossoming: פורחgathered: התאספהcertain: מסויםsoothing: מרגיעsupport: תמיכתBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Learn More About Passover http://www.jewishndg.com/passoverChabad NDG Passover 2024 http://www.jewishndg.com/sederYou can sponsor a needy person or family this Passover. They need your support, it goes a long way!  https://ndg.chabadsuite.net/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=9I made a special Haggadah that will help you go through the Seder step-by-step by yourself without any previous knowledge of the ability to read Hebrew. https://www.jewishndg.com/media/pdf/1153/hmhQ11536358.pdfIf you would like to sell your Chametz for the privacy of your own home http://www.jewishndg.com/holidays/passover/sell_chometz_cdo/jewish/Sell-Your-Chametz-Online.htmSupport the showGot your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.comSingle? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.Donate and support Rabbi Bernath's work http://www.jewishndg.com/donateFollow Rabbi Bernath's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernathAccess Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

This is the third-best seder ever, after Moses and Yeshua, and it will take less than an hour! Restoration presents this free Video Messianic Passover Guide, which is now available on the Restoration App, Facebook, and YouTube. You can use it at home and share it with your friends. Passover begins at sundown on April 12 and ends at sundown on April 19 (only 7 days in the written Torah)! Happy Passover and enjoy!Link: https://restoration.subspla.sh/gk7gxgd#thehappyrabbi #restorationseattle #JewishinSeattle #passover #seattle #pesach #messianic #jewish

This is the third-best seder ever, after Moses and Yeshua, and it will take less than an hour! Restoration presents this free Video Messianic Passover Guide, which is now available on the Restoration App, Facebook, and YouTube. You can use it at home and share it with your friends. Passover begins at sundown on April 12 and ends at sundown on April 19 (only 7 days in the written Torah)! Happy Passover and enjoy!Link: https://restoration.subspla.sh/gk7gxgd#thehappyrabbi #restorationseattle #JewishinSeattle #passover #seattle #pesach #messianic #jewish

On this episode, host Rockne Roll first speaks with Danielle Frandina, a curriculum developer at Facing History and Ourselves, about Facing History's approach to teaching about contemporary antisemitism and how parents can get involved supporting their students. Later, Roll connects with Celia Janoff and Reuben Cohen from the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation about why philanthropy can also be a young person's undertaking and why working together to support their community means so much more than going it alone.Frandina will be speaking at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's upcoming K-12 Parent Advocacy Night Monday, Apr. 7 at 7 pm at Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland. Registration is free and available at jewishportland.org/aprilparentadvocacynight.Learn more about Facing history and their work at facinghistory.org.Tickets for the OJCYF Benefit Dinner are available at ojcf.org/programs/benefit-event. Learn more about OJCYF at ojcf.org/programs/ojcyf.Sign up for JFGP's free “How to Host a Passover Seder” webinar, scheduled for Thursday, Apr. 3 at 7 pm, at jewishportland.org/passoversederwebinar.Check out JFGP's Passover Happenings page at jewishportland.org/passoverhappenings.

What's the secret to hosting an effortless yet impressive spring gathering? Whether you're planning a Passover Seder, an Easter dinner, or a casual dinner party, having a well-thought-out menu makes all the difference. Welcome your guests with a springtime feast, and this week we've taken the guesswork out of hosting with four beautifully curated menus that will make your next dinner party a breeze. By the end of this episode, you'll:Get inspired by four unique, balanced menus that include a starter, salad, main dish, side... plus dessert - everything you need for an unforgettable meal!Discover flavorful recipes (that work!) like a modern twists on deviled eggs, and an upgrade for scalloped potatoesLearn smart hosting tips, from what to make ahead to platingTune in now and get inspired to create a spring meal that's unforgettable! LINKS:1) Sonya's Passover MenuStarter: Vegan chopped liver from Aly Miller for The Nosher, and vegetarian chopped liver from Busy in Brooklyn Salad: Asparagus, sugar snap, radish salad with dill and parsley by Kaleb Wyse (alongside smoked fish)Main: Charred chicken with blood oranges and sweet potatoes by Nate Appleman from Bon Appetit, and/or Alison Roman's braised brisket with horseradish and shallots Side: Fall apart caramelized cabbage by Andy Barghani Dessert: Almond cake with strawberry rhubarb compote, and a completely flourless Passover almond cake with strawberry compote by Chaya Rappoport2) Kari's Midwestern Easter Menu with modern twists: Starter: Parsi deviled eggs by Niloufer Ichaporia King from Samin NostratBone-in ham from Alexandra Cooks (and here's an excellent carving video for that ham!), and soft rolls from Mel's Kitchen CafeScalloped potatoes from Love and LemonsSpinach, strawberry salad...

In was April, 2008. A small group of tired, homesick campaign staffers are quickly trying to put together a small Passover Seder. And who walks in...then-Senator Barack Obama. And thus began a meaningful journey to the first Seder ever held in the White House, by the first African American President of the United States, organized by one of those original campaign staffers, Eric Lesser.This remarkable story is re-told in the just released children's book, Next Year in the White House by Richard Michelson and this week Rabbi Pont got to catch up with Richard and Eric for a fascinating conversation. A perfect pre-Passover listen!

In this powerful exploration of the Passover story from Exodus, we're reminded of the high cost of freedom and the transformative power of God's love. The central theme revolves around the final plague in Egypt, where the blood of a lamb protected the Israelites from death. This vivid imagery foreshadows Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb, whose sacrifice offers us salvation and deliverance from sin. We're challenged to consider: Are we truly living under the 'blood of the lamb,' or are we merely adjacent to it? The message urges us to fully embrace our freedom in Christ, leaving behind the 'Egypt' of our past sins and shame. Through the symbolism of the four cups in the Passover Seder, we see how Jesus fulfills every aspect of God's promise - sanctification, deliverance, redemption, and praise. This teaching invites us to examine our lives, abandon our unnecessary burdens, and walk confidently in the freedom Christ has purchased for us.

Imagine being spat on as you walk across your college campus simply because you're Jewish or being asked whether you're a “good Jew” or a “bad Jew.” As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document the experiences of Jewish students on campus over the past year. The findings are deeply troubling: nearly a third of Jewish students in the U.S. reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity, and 43% avoided expressing their views on Israel due to fears of antisemitism. In the second installment of this two-part series, meet two students whose experiences reflect these alarming statistics: Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan and Vice Chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network, and Daniel Solomon, a junior studying political science and urban studies at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Resources: -AJC's Center for Education Advocacy -5 Takeaways from AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report -Go Behind the Numbers: Hear directly from American Jews about what it's like to be Jewish in America  Test Your Knowledge: -How much do you really know about how antisemitism affects Americans? Take this one-minute quiz and put your knowledge to the test. Start now. Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  Unpacking Trump's Gaza Plan The Oldest Holocaust Survivor Siblings: A Tale of Family, Survival, and Hope Israeli Hostages Freed: Inside the Emotional Reunions, High-Stakes Negotiations, and What's Next Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Evan Cohen and Daniel Solomon: Manya Brachear Pashman: As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document Jewish students' experiences during their time on campus. Last year, the report found that 43% of Jewish college students avoided expressing their views about Israel on campus or to classmates because of fears of antisemitism. 22% of Jewish students report feeling or being excluded from a group or an event on campus because they're Jewish, and 32% of American Jewish students said they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity.  Here to share their perspective on the ground are two students who have become advocates for their Jewish peers. Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan, is the vice chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network. And Daniel Solomon, a junior political science and urban studies major at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Evan, Daniel, welcome to People of the Pod. Evan Cohen:   I wish it was under better circumstances, but, you know, it's a pleasure to be here. Daniel Solomon:   Thank you so much for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman: So gentlemen, I just read a bunch of findings from the most recent report. Do they seem too high or too low based on your national vantage points? Evan? Evan Cohen:   So I think these findings are, sadly, not that surprising. We've seen and experienced an unprecedented amount of antisemitism over the past year and a half, give or take. Clearly, it's rising. Clearly students are experiencing this on their campuses, myself included. I definitely think that, you know, there's probably some cases where students are experiencing it more. In some cases it's less, but I think, you know, in general, it's way too high, like we should not be seeing as much antisemism on campuses. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, what do you think?  Daniel Solomon:   You know, the numbers seem about right. I have the opportunity of helping lead AJC's Campus Global Board, which really has a very wide perspective across the world and also across the United State. And we recently just met as a board in Lisbon where we discussed at length new trends over the past year in college antisemitism and around the world. And this really holds. We really found that this data is reflective of what we find in our qualitative experiences. Manya Brachear Pashman: One finding I did not just share at the beginning is that roughly 35% of American Jewish college students or recent graduates report having personally experienced antisemitism at least once during their time on campus. Did either of you have a personal encounter of your own over the past year?  Evan Cohen:   So a number of months ago, I was walking through the center of campus with a rabbi and a friend of mine, and we were spat at. And the unfortunate reality is, not only were we spat at, but when I tried to report this, I was basically told that, without identifying the individual by name, there was nothing that the university could do. And this was extremely frustrating, because we were spat at. That was a deeply upsetting experience.  It's something that no one should have to go through just for being Jewish, but the fact that there was almost nothing that could be done about it. Besides, you know, maybe you know, here's how we can support you, which was not something that I was particularly in need of. It was disappointing to see that there was no strong response to that. Daniel Solomon:   So shortly after October 7, my friends and I in our apartment, we held a small gathering, and you know, some friends brought mutual friends, and their friends brought mutual friends, which is totally fine. And so someone who I didn't know came up to me and looked at my door frame, and I have a mezuzah on my door frame. And she said, is that your Jew thing?  Which, yes, it is, but it's called a mezuzah. And she said, Well, are you a good Jew or a bad Jew? And I said, What do you mean by that? And I knew exactly what she meant by that. She meant, are you a Zionist? Or are you an anti-Zionist Jew? And the conversation ended shortly thereafter, and we asked her if she would leave.  Manya Brachear Pashman: This report came after the protests and the encampments that roiled college campuses, mostly in the spring of 2024 of the Jewish students who witnessed anti-Israel demonstrations after the October 7 terrorist attacks, 51% said that these protests or encampments made them feel unsafe on campus. How did your universities handle the encampments that popped up on your campuses? Evan Cohen:   There was an encampment on our campus, it sprung up the morning of the first Passover Seder of last year. And I remember receiving a text at six in the morning or something. I woke up, the first message I saw was, Evan, Do you know what's going on? And I said, Oh my god, another thing to deal with. You know, it's about to be Passover like we're supposed to be preparing for the Seder. And, you know, I think that at our university was handled extremely poorly, you know? We were told the encampment is contained, yet it grew in size, you know.  So at first it took over the main part of the center of the Diag, which is the main center of campus area at the University of Michigan, and slowly crept out into farther and farther areas of that center of campus Diag. And it was really disappointing, because at the end of the year, when it's finally warm, students are out there, they're hammocking, they're playing sports, even just reading and studying. And at that point, there was nobody besides those in the encampment. And so it really destroyed the end of year atmosphere that everyone always looks forward to. And again, like I said, I think it was handled very poorly. The university did not contain it. The university waited until after graduation.  They were hoping, I believe they were hoping, that if they waited until after graduation, there wouldn't be disruptions at the graduation. While I personally did not graduate last spring, I  had friends who did, and there were disruptions at that graduation. So clearly, that strategy did not work, did not pay off.  Sometime after graduation, they announced that the encampment was being removed because of fire hazards. Now these fire hazards were hazards the entire time the encampment was there, I saw students plugging in various electronic devices, keeping themselves warm with space heaters.  That's not something that you're supposed to be able to do there, and I do have experience, because I've had to reserve that space for, you know, pro-Israel activities in the past, and so I very much understand, first, what the rules and regulations are and how that process works. Very clearly, these rules were violated. And not only that, there was clear antisemitic imaging and speech that was spewing out of this encampment.  Daniel Solomon:   So, you know, first and foremost, our campus is a very big advocate of free speech, just collectively. So, you know, when the encampment originally went up, you know, the university made sure to emphasize the fact that, you know, it is free speech. But free speech, you know, has, you know, consequences, in the sense that setting up an encampment is against the university policy.  So, within those guidelines, you know, the encampment was up for probably a day or two, and then I remember one evening, the members of the encampment started yelling to globalize the Intifada. And this was sort of the call on the university's end to say this is actually not okay. This is when it teeters on free speech and free expression. And, you know, voicing your opinions, however different they might be than most, this is actually when it gets into hate speech. And so that's sort of the moment that our university leadership really, really took, took control of the encampment, and it ended shortly thereafter.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Of course, most antisemitic content and the anti-Israel vitriol is primarily spread online and on social media, and the data back that up, almost seven in 10 American Jews, 67% reported seeing or hearing anti semitism online or on social media in the past 12 months. The number jumps to 83% for young American Jews between the ages of 18 and 29 so your peers, how has social media, the digital landscape, shaped your encounters with antisemitism? Daniel Solomon:   Social media is a big part of of our generation, and a part of how we how we bond together. Similar to other universities, Brown has a platform called side chat. Other universities, they might be called Yik Yak or something else. But the only way to access this app, which is a private a private company, not, you know, affiliated with brown, but the only way to actually access the brown only channel in Sidechat is to use your Brown email. So it's sort of an anonymous message board where anyone can post whatever they feel, whatever they think. Sometimes it's funny memes. Sometimes it's satire.  In the context of the post October 7 world on Brown's campus, it was nothing, but, you know, atrocious really. It was really just a cesspool and a hotbed of antisemitism. And anti-Israel rhetoric that absolutely veered into antisemitism, but also really just classic, flat out antisemitism, you know, pointing out Jews in in, in great positions of authority in the country, and on college campuses specifically, and sort of trying to connect dots that really aren't connectable. And so Side chat was really just a really terrible hotbed of antisemitism.  And then also, you know, those who were more bold antiSemites would really just blatantly, you know, leave comments in Instagram posts, you know, with their profile name visible, so you knew exactly who they are. And so, you know, the digital, the digital landscape, was absolutely a pretty crucial part of what comprised, you know, the anti semitism happening.  You know, as I mentioned before, the campus, the campus that we see now is really the one, is really the one that I that I remember, you know, in my freshman year, the one that I made some of my closest friends, on the one where I developed some of my, you know, some of my academic ambitions. The campus that I really fell in love with is the one that I'm seeing now, and much different than the situation that we were in last year. Evan Cohen:   I could talk about, you know, two specific examples. One example was the president of our SJP chapter. Sometime, I want to say, around last March, posted something to her personal public account that said something along the lines of death to everyone who supports the Zionist state, death and more, death and worse. And I believe that Regent Acker, who was on the podcast relatively recently, actually spoke about this, I think.  And that was deeply disappointing to see, because, you know, studies have shown. I even read a study recently, I think it said that about 80% of American Jews support Israel, meaning they believe in Zionism, the right for Israel to exist safely and securely, for Jews to live there in our ancestral homeland. And so to say that, you know, that's basically calling for the death of Jews, the death of fellow classmates, fellow students. So that was, you know, extremely challenging to see and to deal with.  And ultimately, there were effectively no consequences. The student graduated last, last spring. And you know, we saw, we saw nothing, no repercussions from this, this activity. Another example of online anti semitism. What I experienced was during a trip to Israel last May. As part of this trip, I was going to be bearing witness to the atrocities of October 7, and so we were sharing, me and another student from the University were sharing some of our experiences, and a screenshot was taken of us, and then over, over, on top of it were overlaid messages like settlers scum, and these students were celebrating genocide.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Evan, how have these encounters, both on campus with the encampments and on social media? How have they informed your time working with Hillel on an international level? Evan Cohen:   You know, it's very clear that antisemitism is extremely prevalent. It's clear that anti-Zionism, anti-Israel sentiment, is very prevalent, and that we need to be constantly working toward combating it and supporting students on different campuses, this manifests in different ways. So it requires different tactics, different strategies, depending on what school you're at, depending on what your individual needs are.  But now being in this leadership position, it's amazing to be able to try to offer that support and use my experiences to then help other students on their campuses deal with the troubles that they are going through and what they are experiencing. Manya Brachear Pashman: I want to point out that a lot of this happened after the October 7 terrorist attack. A lot of what you're talking about, of course, the survey itself. But antisemitism doesn't just come from anti-Israel corners and Evan I know there were instances of demonstrators waving Nazi flags in Howell and Fowlerville outside a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Those are small towns about 30 or 40 miles away from Ann Arbor. Have there been expressions of antisemitism from the far right on Michigan's campus? I think Evan Cohen:   I think it was like the 2022-2023, academic year, the students received hate mail specifically targeting Jews, saying that Jews run the media, that they're responsible for COVID messages similar to that. I want to say that was even around the High Holidays timeframe. And so this was found like, you know, passed out around off campus, student housing. And so a number of students received messages like that. You know, we also saw post October 7 swastikas on or near Jewish buildings, for example, at Hillel one time. And so, you know, we're definitely seeing anti semitism from both sides.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Daniel, your campus Antisemitism Task Force, for lack of a better term, it initially formed in response to hatred from the far right. Is that right or is that correct? Daniel Solomon:   Yeah. So when I was a when I was a freshman, in my freshman fall, a terrible anti semitic threat was sent to the campus rabbi and executive director of the Brown-RISD Hillel that serves both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, and that's sort of where we sort of came together and started really having very proactive and very productive meetings with with Brown's administration.  Partially, I, you know, I will plug just a little bit that. I think that part, you know, the reason why I was so zealous to get involved was the training I received with American Jewish Committee, with the LFT program, the Leaders for Tomorrow High School Program.  So we really came together. Started having these conversations with Brown's administration, and created this really, really positive relationship, which I think is a pretty Hallmark component of being a Brown student, is this really, is this really great relationship that we formed? And I think that, you know, leading into October, 7, part of what made Brown's response so effective was that we had this really dynamic relationship with administrators already, and that, you know, there's really no gap in between Brown's institutional Jewish leaders and Brown's administration.  We have, you know, an incredibly supportive administration. And I think that was something that we saw following the incident and fall of 2022, and something that we continue to see all throughout you know, the post October 7 world. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, I'll ask you the same question I just asked Evan, how has that experience, that experience on Brown's campus, informed your time on AJC's Campus Global Board? Daniel Solomon:   To be honest, it's actually a little bit of the opposite. I feel as though my time on AJC's campus global board has really provided such an incredible opportunity to understand the global landscape of campus antisemitism. And also, of course, you know, we want to emphasize the global landscape of Jewish joy that's happening on college campuses, because that is definitely not in short supply. Manya Brachear Pashman: You know, I'm curious, do you get questions from your peers back home, your younger peers, questions about whether or not your campuses are the right choice, the right fit for them?  Evan Cohen:   I think it's really important to mention that the Jewish students on campus do absolutely have a home here. We're working extremely hard to ensure that there is Jewish joy on campus, and there are organizations here to support Jewish students. It's imperative that Jews come to campus, that we continue to build a supportive community and that, you know, we're not just hiding, we're not just shying away from this. We're actively working towards improving campus and campuses drastically improved in the 2024-2025 school year compared to the 23-24 school year. So, you know, we're standing strong. We're standing proud, and we're not going to back down.  There is a thriving Jewish community, and we're here to support you. We want you to come here. The University of Michigan has such a large Jewish population in part because a long time ago, the Ivy League schools had quotas on the number of Jews who could attend, and so the University of Michigan did not as such. We have a very strong Jewish community here, and I highly recommend coming here as long as you can bear, as long as you can bear and withstand the cold. Manya Brachear Pashman: Thank you both for joining us, and reflecting on the difficulties of 2024. May 2025 be more peaceful on your campuses.  Evan Cohen:   Thank you very much for having me.  Daniel Solomon:   Thank you for having me.