The Israeli Judicial Reform protests come the same week 18 years after the Gush Katif protests and 2,000 years after the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. What can we learn from Tisha B’Av and the Nine Days about modern Jewish and Israeli unity? Sometimes the echoes of history are so loud that they…
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The unity government wasn’t born yesterday, it has a long history in Israel. Tune in to this ongoing exploration of the evolution of Israel’s electoral system to learn about the government shared by ex-underground fighter Yitzhak Shamir of Likud and Shimon Peres of Labor through the 1980s, how it held together Mizrachi pride, religious tension…
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In politics as in physics – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s signing of the Camp David Accords with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat did not produce a singular response, but it did send shock waves through every aspect of Israeli society. Among the idealists of the settlement movement,…
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Rav Mike’s annual shiur in honor of the yartzheit of his father, Charles M. Feuer, ob”m. Gratitude is one of the keys to happiness, especially in dark times. Join Rav Mike as he explores the connection between the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah candles and our ability to give thanks, and helps us let the light…
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We spoke about the suburbs and the shadows, now it is time to talk about Zionism. The ‘Golden decade’ was a time of reorganization in general, and particularly in relation to the newborn State of Israel. Here is an episode whose characters will seem strikingly familiar today – non-Zionists, Zionists and anti-Zionists.
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The commandment around which seder night revolves is the telling of the story of the Exodus. Many people today struggle with questions of historicity, meaning – did this really happen? Here is an episode on why the real questions of the Exodus lie in the future and not the past, along with some insights on…
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There are times in the history of peoples and nations when the decisions made shape the future. The three years after Israel’s foundation saw its population double through immigration, the way in which the immigrants were received set the mode for many years to come.
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In the first two years after Israel’s independence, the Jewish population doubled. Such massive immigration put almost fatal stress on the resources and social fabric of the young state. Before we can discuss the practical implications we need to consider the meaning of kibutz galuyot – the ingathering of the exiles. Help me make history…
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Hatred of the Jews is the oldest and most pervasive form of prejudice which humanity knows. In this episode Rav Mike uses the comments of Haman to ask not only why we are hated, but also what we can do about it. Help me make history by becoming a supporter at www.patreon.com/mfeuer Illustration attribution www.maxpixel.net/Aggression-Viole…ss-Attack-656795
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Part I presented America as an environment of formation for American Zionism, part two adds the other element of evolution – competition. The struggles between American Zionists and first the European Zionist leadership and then the heads of the new State of Israel still define our political landscape today. Help me make history by supporting…
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