Jewish History

TJS S4 Interlude Yom Ha’atzmaut: whom do you serve?

Like Bob Dylan said, everybody’s gotta serve somebody and like the Sages said – it will be your stomach, your country or your God. Here are some thoughts on our independence and our mission for this joyous celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israeli Independence Day 5781!

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TJS S4E15 Yom Kippur War III – breaking the concept

Sometimes the ideas we hold most dear are those which prevent us from seeing t hat which is most important. Here is an episode about the ‘concept,’ the security analysis paradigm which stopped Israel for from recognizing its danger almost until it was too late. Learn about the Schoenau ultimatum in which Syrian-based Arab terrorists…

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Conversation with Yehudah HaKohen – politics, liberation and the tribes of modern Israel

Here is a raw take from a great pre-Passover holiday conversation. Apologies for the lack of polish – sometimes this holy day takes all you’ve got! Join Rav Mike Feuer and Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen of Vision magazine for this special crossover episode on the Israeli Knesset elections, politics, religion and more. What is right wing…

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TJS S4E14 Yom Kippur War part II The Cherbourg Boats

Long before there was a start-up nation the Jews were the can do people, but a constant crisis-solving posture poses problems of its own. Here is part two in our effort to build the context for the surprise of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It is a story of technological revolutions, unstoppable confidence and…

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TJS S4 Interlude: Haggadah – interview with Mark Gerson

Telling the story of the Exodus is something so simple that we do it every year, and so complicated that we never get it quite right. With all the effort we put into preparation for a kosher Pesach, it is worth dusting off the Passover Haggadah a couple of weeks early in or to prepare…

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TJS S4E13 Yom Kippur War part I – the context for surprise

If we call what happened in the 1967 a war of the spirit, then what occurred seven years later was a struggle of psychology. Here is the first episode leading up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It explores the booming economy, the Israeli Black Panthers and the emergence of a new leader of Egypt,…

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TJS S4 Interlude: Vengeance, an conversation with Thane Rosenbaum

The desire to get even is as old as Cain and Abel, so what new could possibly be said about it? Here is an interview with author Thane Rosenbaum, author of Payback: The Case for Revenge, where we explore the nature of vengeance, its relationship to justice and how it informs our actions.

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TJS S4 Interlude Adar: doing more with joy

It is Adar once again, believe it or not! Here at the end of a Covid-crazy year the call to increase joy can also be heard as a call to do more joyfully. Here are some thoughts about how to embrace the ‘more’ which lies ahead in a way which will bring some happiness to…

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TJS S4E12 The 1972 Munich Massacre

The whole world watched in horror as the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by the Black September terrorist group raised the bar on international terror to previously inconceivable heights. The events cannot be forgotten, and their consequences are with us down to this day.

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TJS S4E11 Black September

There is a narrative battle which has been raging for decades between Arab and Jew in the land of Israel, and sometimes it breaks out into open warfare. This is the story of the abortive attempt by Palestinian Arabs to overthrown the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the role it plays in giving an international…

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