Black Lives Matter Protests & Jews of Color
This month we’re talking to Tema Smith about the current Black Lives Matter protests, and how the Jewish community has been and should be working for racial justice. And for our second segment we’re talking with Nissa Mai-Rose about a recent uproar around determining how many Jewish people are also People of Color.
Tema Smith is Director of Professional Development at 18Doors (formerly InterfaithFamily), and a contributing columnist at the forward. She is joining us from her home in Toronto.
Jews and the Black Lives Matter protests
Why will this time be different than all other times? by Tema Smith in the Forward
It’s on us. Jewish clergy weigh in on the aftermath of George Floyd in the Forward
Black Jews, he says, ‘get traumatized twice.’ To cope, he painted their experience. By PJ Grisar in the Forward
Counting Jews of Color
In Mid-May, ejewishphilanthropy published an article called How Many Jews of Color Are There? By Ira M. Sheskin and Arnold Dashefsky. The article is excerpted from a forthcoming chapter in the next American Jewish Year Book, and it refutes a May 2019 demographic report that concluded “at least 12-15 percent” of the nation’s Jews identify as Jews of color — “broadly, anyone who identified as non-white.” Sheskin and Dashefsky argue the number stands closer to 6 percent.
The article prompted a number of responses, including one from Tema Smith, who we just spoke with. We were drawn to talk about this because Nissa Mai-Rose brought our attention to #JOCsCount: A Jewish Communal Sign On Letter. We invited Nissa on to speak with us about her advocacy.
Endorsements
Zahava endorses the singing of the Black Happy Birthday song for Breonna Taylor on her 27th birthday at racial justice rallies, and Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz’s obituary for Rebbetzin Chaya Ausband in Tablet, called “The Female Torah-Teaching Genius of Cleveland.”
Tamar endorses the song Shvuaim by Dikla
Philissa Cramer & Broken Bird
This month we’re talking to Philissa Cramer, the new editor in chief of JTA. For our second segment we’re talking about a short film called Broken Bird.
Show Notes
JTA
Broken Bird
Broken Bird is a moving coming of age film about a black jewish teen by Ariella Kaplan in alma
Rachel Harrison Gordon on Giving Wings to Broken Bird by Stephen Saito in Movable Feast
Rachel Harrison Gordon’s Dazzling Debut Short “Broken Bird” Part of SXSW Collection on Amazon Prime by Greg Carlson in HPR1
‘Broken Bird’ Depicts a Biracial Girl’s Conflict with Culture & Identity by Michael Ford in indie activity
Zahava’s endorsements are the video of Nina Simone recording “Eretz Zavat Chalav U’Dvash” with her band in 1962, and the fact that the members of the Netzach Yehuda unit of the Nachal Charedi in the Israeli Defense Forces have been able to hold minyanim and are offering to say kaddish on behalf of any Jewish mourner who needs it during the pandemic.
Mimi’s endorsements are Simmy Cohen chanting the children’s book “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” and @RogueShul, a shul staff parody account on Twitter.
Tamar’s endorsements are Caucasia by Danzy Senna and a twitter thread on Raavad’s one way rivalry with Rambam.
Hila Ratzabi & Etty Hillesum
This month we’re talking to Hila Ratzabi, a writer and editor based in Israel, about Etty Hillesum, a Jewish writer, academic and diarist who lived in Amsterdam during World War II, and was killed in a concentration camp. For our second segment we’re talking about cleaning for Passover.
So for our first topic we’re joined by Hila Ratzabi, managing editor of Ritualwell, joining us from Israel to speak with us about Etty Hillesum.
Etty Hillesum
Feminize Your Canon: Etty Hillesum by Emma Garman in the Paris Review
Etty Hillesum Cards for sale at Ritual Well
Creating Resilience: Writing and Spiritual Practice Inspired by Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum: God, Sex, and Defiance in a Time of War By Fiona Alison Duncan in Lithub
Cleaning for Passover
The Festival of Cleaning by Judy Batalion in Tablet
How do you clean for Passover?
When do you start?
I always feel like I don’t do a lot of cleaning, but then i really do.
Endorsements
Zahava endorses the Wexler’s Deli episode of Jon Favreau’s series “The Chef Show” on Netflix. Here’s the deli’s website.
Mimi endorses Episodes 8 and 9 in Season 2 of “Transparent” available on Amazon Prime. And the Matzah Scrunchie from Modern Tribe.
Tamar endorses Now that the Water Presses Hard by yehuda Amichai and pesach points
Thanks for listening! If you have a minute, please leave a review for us on Apple podcasts or let us know what you’d like us to discuss on a future episode. You can leave a comment on a post on our facebook page (search for Jewish Public Media) or on our website–jpmedia.co, choose Talking in Shul from the list of podcasts. You can also donate to jewish Public Media at jpmedia.co, which is a great way to support our show and ensure that we’re able to bring you new episodes.
Bonus Episode: Coronavirus & Judaism
On this bonus mini episode, we discuss how the Coronavirus has affected us personally. We also chat about our plans for Pesach in light of social distancing and Zoom Seders.
Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter & Debbie Friedman
This month we talked to Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter, the leader of a new Modern Orthodox shul in Philadelphia called The South Philadelphia Shtiebel. And for our second topic we’re talking about Debbie Friedman, her impact on Jewish music, and on us personally, on the occasion of her ninth yahrzeit.
Dasi Fruchter
South Philly’s historic Jewish community is growing. She opened a new synagogue to serve it.
By Oren Oppenheim in the Philadelphia Inquirer
Rabbanit to Launch South Philadelphia Shtiebel By Selah Maya Zighelboim in the Jewish Exponent
Debbie Friedman
Why is Debbie Friedman’s Miriam’s Song such a banger? By Molly Tolsky in alma
The Eternal Blessing that is Debbie Friedman by Cantor Ellen Dreskin in eJewishPhilanthropy
The Healing of Debbie Friedman by Jonathan Mark in Times of Israel
Debbie Friedman: My Music, My Story Part 1 and Part 2 on YouTube
Endorsements
Zahava endorses How Seattle-area churches, mosques and synagogues are responding to the coronavirus by Neal Morton in the Seattle Times
Mimi endorses Mourner’s Kaddish by Debbie Friedman, no recording available. And The Shmueli Family: A Cartoon Adventure by Gerald Fleming
Tamar endorses The Price of Dominionist Theology by Eve Ettinger in Longreads.
Beyond the Pale and Favorite Jewish Verses
This month our first topic is Beyond the Pale, a recent episode of the TV show Finding Your Roots. And for our second topic, we’re talking about our favorite verses from tanakh and Jewish aphorisms.
Beyond the Pale
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr is show on PBS in which various celebrities learn about their ancestors from Books of Life, assembled by geneaologists and researchers, and hosted by historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. In a recent episode called Beyond the Pale, actor Jeff Goldblum, npr show host Terry Gross, and podcaster Marc Maron each learned about their Eastern European Jewish roots.
Favorite jewish verses/aphorisms
Zahava endorses revisiting a Jewish text you’ve known for a long time but never learned in depth, and learning more deeply about it.
Mimi endorses Tiffany Haddish’s Jewish Genealogy story as chronicled in a Hey Alma article and in her Netflix special, Black Mitzvah.
Tamar endorses Messiah on Netflix (half-heartedly), and The Commentator’s Bible by Michael Cerasic.
Thanks for listening! If you have a minute, please leave a review for us on Apple podcasts or let us know what you’d like us to discuss on a future episode. You can leave a comment on a post on our facebook page (search for Jewish Public Media) or on our website–jpmedia.co, choose Talking in Shul from the list of podcasts. You can also donate to jewish Public Media at jpmedia.co, which is a great way to support our show and ensure that we’re able to bring you new episodes.
Honeycake Magazine and talking about God
This month our first topic is Honeycake, a new Jewish magazine for kids. And for our second segment we are taking about God. Why isn’t God the topic of more Jewish conversation? And how do we talk about God in our Jewish communities?
Endorsements
Zahava endorses the poem “Questions About Angels,” by Billy Collins.
Mimi endorses making your own candles for a cozy winter.
Tamar endorses Alma’s Hanukkah Movie Pitch Challenge and the story of Jacob and the speckled sheep and goats.
Talking in Shul Ep. 59: Covered Up and This American Life
This month our first topic is Covered Up, a documentary about wearing a wig by director Rachel Elitzur. For our second segment we’re talking about a recent episode of This American Life that featured a segment about the Chabad community in Crown Heights in a not so flattering way.
Covered Up
The difficult Jewish compromise by Hana Henrik Fafner in Modern Times.
Rachel Elitzur on facebook, instagram, and twitter.
The Orthodox Woman’s Tireless Search For The Most Natural Wig By Michelle Honig in the Forward
We Come from Small Places
Listen to the segment from This American Life
Twitter thread from @Mottel about the problems with the segment
We Hasidim Aren’t Aliens. And We’re Tired Of The Media Acting Like It. By Leibel Baumgarten in the Forward
Here’s Something New: We Called Out Ira Glass and He Thanked Us by Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt in the Forward
Endorsements
Zahava endorses the Ethiopian Hebrews Series of photographs in the New York Public Library digital collection, and Antwaun Sargent’s piece about the photographs for the Jewish Museum, written during Black History Month in 2018.
Mimi endorses an article from Hey Alma that wonders what if The Great British Bake-Off had a Jewish Week?
Tamar endorses the Modzitz melody for Ein Kitzvah which you can find on the Hadar website (it’s the middle one here), and The Message of Measles by Nick Paumgarten in the New Yorker.
The Spy and Psalms
This month our first topic is The Spy, a new show starring Sacha Baron Cohen on Netflix. And our second topic is Psalms, or tehillim. How do we approach this mainstay of women’s prayer?
Further reading
The Spy
The real story behind ‘The Spy,’ Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Netflix series by Josefin Dolsten in JTA
The Spy review – Sacha Baron Cohen goes undercover in middling Mossad drama by Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian
Sacha Baron Cohen Plays It Straight—Too Straight—in The Spy by Willa Paskin in Slate
Netflix’s ‘The Spy’ is the First Time I’ve Seen My Sephardi Culture On Screen by Linda Maleh in Hey Alma
Tehillim
Psalms as the ultimate self-help tool by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub on MyJewishLearning
Endorsements
Zahava endorses Psalm 121 as set to music by Yosef Karduner, and Madeline L’Engle’s young adult series The Austin Family Chronicles, which include a book called The Moon by Night, after a verse in Psalm 121.
Mimi endorses Schitt’s Creek, When Heroes Fly, the text of Elizabeth Warren’s speech on the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and the work of Jessica Tamar Deutsch.
Tamar endorses Seder HaAvodah by Ishay Ribo and Origin of Yom Kippur: Not Moses, but a Murder in the Temple? By Elon Gilad in Haaretz, Godland by Lyz Lenz.
Apologies and Golda’s Balcony
This month our first topic is apologies. We’re joined by Miriam Steinberg-Egeth, a Jewish advice columnist in Philadelphia to discuss what makes a good apology? What makes a bad apology? As we approach the High Holidays, how are we reflecting on the public and private apologies we want to make and are seeing around us? For our second segment Zahava and Tamar discuss Golda’s Balcony, a Broadway show that is now making the rounds as a film in the Jewish film festival circuit.
Apologies
Inspiration by Rabbi Luban in Country Yossi
Sorrywatch, a website that rates public apologies
The art and science of apologizing by Jacoba Urist in The Atlantic
6 steps of teshuvah by Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Why Won’t You Apologize by Harriet Lerner
Golda’s Balcony
Broadway’s Too-golden Golda Meir by Warren Bass in the New York Times
Endorsements
Zahava endorses the New York Times obituary of Holocaust survivor Eva Kor and the documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele, which features her; and the surprising Jewishness of the actors playing Petra and Rafael on Jane the Virgin.
Tamar endorses a poster for classrooms about how to apologize, and a twitter thread by Dr. Eve Tuck about how to lead an effective Q&A.