Evolve
Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
We found 4 episodes of Evolve with the tag “israel”.
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Episode 49: Bestselling author Jay Michaelson on his new book of fiction, covering the Israel-Hamas war, campus antisemitism, and more
January 25th, 2024 | Season 1 | 1 hr 4 mins
creative writing, fiction, hamas, israel, jewish, judaism, middle east, war
Bestselling author and journalist Jay Michaelson returns to discuss his first book of fiction, "The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales" (03:30). The linked short stories explore the nature of heresy, queerness, kabbalah, mysticism and the sometimes-thin line between erotic desire and religious yearning. We also delve into some of Michaelson's recent op-eds for the Forward and Rolling Stone, which explore the ethics of war, the charged nature of the term genocide, the debate about campus antisemitism and more (31:40).
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Episode 47: For Us, By Us: The Trans Halakhah Project
November 30th, 2023 | Season 1 | 51 mins 5 secs
israel, jewish, judaism, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist
Halakhah is for Orthodox Jews. It means Jewish law: what you can and can’t do. Right? Not according to Laynie Soloman a passionate teacher of Jewish text and thought at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yehshiva. Soloman says that Halakhah isn’t law, per se, since law – especially when it comes to queer and trans folks – can serve as an instrument of oppression. Rather, Soloman speaks of Halakhah as “Jewish practice and its surrounding discourse,” i.e. what Jews do.
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Episode 43: Reconstructionist Jews and the Struggle Over Israel’s Future
July 20th, 2023 | Season 1 | 1 hr 5 mins
israel, jewish, judiasm, politics, protests, zion, zionism
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., Reconstructing Judaism's president & CEO, and Rabbi Maurice Harris, Reconstructing Judaism’s Israel affairs specialist, have each just spent extended stays in Israel, immersed in conversations about its future as well as its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. They make an impassioned, moral defense of sustained engagement with Israel, even as they take a principled opposition to the government's attempts to strip away the country’s democratic character.
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Episode 37: The Israeli Government’s War on Women
January 31st, 2023 | Season 1 | 57 mins 19 secs
coalition, israel, judaism, netanyahu, politics, ultra orthodox
According to our guests, Israeli legal scholars and activists Gila Stopler and Yofi Tirosh, this is a moment of crisis for Israel. They detail how the sudden, dramatic drop in women represented in government is shaping an agenda that could dramatically curtail women’s rights. Can the legal system — itself under assault — or popular protests prevent the worst fears from occurring?