Episode 58: A Palestinian Scientist and Reconstructionist Rabbi Are Working Together to Rebuild Gaza

Reconstructing Judaism — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Tareq Abu Hamed, Ph.D., and Rabbi Michael Cohen talk about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel’s Negev region. The nearly 30-year-old academic and research institution brings together students and faculty from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and elsewhere to build relationships and solve pressing environmental challenges. Arava is partnering with a Palestinian organization on a new plan to meet needs for water, sanitation, hygiene and energy in a devastated Gaza Strip that’s years away from being rebuilt. Abu Hamed and Cohen each share how they hold on to hope in a seemingly hopeless time for those dedicated to regional peace.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guests: Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Rabbi Maurice Harris, and Rabbi Michael Cohen.

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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

Reconstructing Judaism — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

After 20 years of work, Jay Michaelson —scholar, rabbi, lawyer, activist, meditation teacher —has published his first book of fiction, “The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales” (03:30). The linked short stories focus on a range of Jewish characters: Men and women, Orthodox and secular, straight and gay, Israeli and American. Yet each carries a secret desire that could be described as queer, and their stories explore the nature of heresy, queerness, kabbalah, mysticism and the sometimes-thin line between erotic desire and religious yearning. Michaelson would probably have preferred we discussed “The Secret That Is Not a Secret” for the full episode. Yet, we’re living in a post October 7 world and Michaelson, who’d stopped writing about Israel about a decade ago, felt compelled to jump back in. In the Forward and Rolling Stone, he’s written about the ethics of war, the charged nature of the term genocide, the debate about campus antisemitism and the fates of the two Ivy League presidents forced to resign after public uproar. We delve into some of these op-eds (31:40) and discuss how’s he taken care of himself during one of the most emotionally trying times of his life.