Unpacked

Can Israelis and Palestinians stop fighting over who belongs and start asking how both can belong? Palestinian peace activist Samer Sinijlawi shares how five years in an Israeli prison shaped his path toward reconciliation, why he condemned Hamas after October 7, and what each side must surrender for peace. In a rare and unflinching conversation, he confronts apartheid, statehood, the right of return, and the future both peoples must share.

[The Jazz Singer clip plays.] Jonathan: That’s Al Jolson. That’s Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. From Unpacked, this is Jewish History Nerds, the podcast where we nerd out on awesome stories in Jewish history. I’m Jonathan Schwab. Yael: And I’m Yael Steiner, and we’re coming to the close of our summer celebrating and studying the United States on the occasion of its 250th birthday. Today I think you’re going to bring us into the 20th century.

Jewish refugee scientists fled H!tler and helped America build the weapon they feared Germany would create first. When that threat disappeared, Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer faced a terrifying reality: they had opened a door they could not close. The Manhattan Project began as a desperate race for survival and ended with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and a moral reckoning that haunted the brilliant minds behind the atomic bomb.

Noam Let’s say the the the fringes on the I guess you could call it the right in Israel start becoming more mainstream in Israeli society and they they do annex the West Bank or they do create settlements in Gaza. How does that impact your work? Jason Isaacson Negatively, in a word. Noam Hey everyone, welcome to Wondering Jews with Mijal and Noam. Mijal I’m Mijal. Noam And I’m Noam, and today we are continuing our exploration of Jewish communities across the globe.

Jewish tradition treats Hebrew as far more than a language. Its letters are said to have existed before creation, forming the building blocks of the universe itself. From the Torah and Sefer Yetzirah to gematria and the meaning behind the number 18, see why Hebrew words are believed to hold clues about reality and how the words we speak can build, repair, or destroy the world around us.

B. Z. Goldberg with members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Moscow, 1946. Standing on the left: Leyb Kvitko and David Bergelson. Sitting, left to right: Itsik Fefer, Joseph Yuzefovich, Peretz Markish, Goldberg, Solomon Mikhoels, Leyb Strongin, Aron Kushnirov, Shmuel Halkin. (Central Archive of the Federal Security Service, Moscow.) The Jewish calendar is full of anniversaries, but so is the regular calendar.

It may be the middle of summer on the Gregorian calendar right now, but on the Jewish calendar, we are approaching the end of the year. The month of Elul begins this year at sundown on August 13. Although Elul contains no major Jewish holidays, it is quite an important period of reflection and preparation for the High Holidays, which begin with Rosh Hashanah on the first of the following Hebrew month, Tishrei.

Noam Hey everyone, it’s Noam. Before we get into this episode, I want to say a quick word. My guest for today, Maytal Kowalski, is the executive director of JSpaceCanada, and in this conversation we talk about her personal experience of what life is like for Jews in Canada today. We talk about anti Semitism, Zionism, and what it means to hold progressive and Zionist identities at the same time. I think too often we ignore that part of the conversation.

Why does Israel heavily restrict DNA testing, even while leading the world in genetic research and housing one of the biggest ancestry companies? Viral posts claim the rules are hiding a secret about Jewish origins, but the reality leads somewhere far more unexpected. From disputed paternity cases to questions of religion and identity, Israel’s DNA restrictions reveal a complicated clash between ancient traditions and modern science. You can find this video on our YouTube channel Unpacked.

Yael: And all the rabbis gather, and the first course is clams. And then the evening continues, and there is shrimp, and there are frog’s legs in cream, and there are numerous other types of bivalves, as Rabbi Wise later describes them, and chaos ensues. Schwab: Well, they’re a kosher option even. From Unpacked, this is Jewish History Nerds, the podcast where we nerd out on awesome stories in Jewish history. I’m Yael Steiner. Schwab: And I’m Jonathan Schwab.