Jewish Story

TJS S4E5 Israel after 1967 part I: In new territory

Abundance is always a blessing, so long as one has the capacity to receive it. In the weeks and months after their victory in the Six Day War of June of 1967, the Israeli government struggled to absorb the meaning and practical implications of everything which they had just acquired. This episode begins our exploration…

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TJS S4 Interlude: Interview with Dr. Michael Oren

In this interlude I am joined by special guest Dr. Michael Oren, author of Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East among many other books. The topic at hand is how the Six Day War helped shaped the special relationship between Israel and the United States. Along the…

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TJS S4 Interlude: Sukkot

If you feel a bit like the world might be falling apart, then look to the sukkah for how to hold it together. Here are a few thoughts for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot on faith, joy and how to build a better world. Chag sameach!

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TJS S4E4 The early struggle for Soviet Jewry

It is a truism that struggle brings out unexpected powers from within us, and what’s true in life is true in history as well. The struggle to liberate Soviet Jewry will be a formative element of our story for decades to come, so here is the first chapter. Learn about Jacob Birnbaum and the Student…

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TJS S4 Interlude – Ten Days of Teshuva

Here is a thought to help focus your practice during these powerful Ten Days of Repentance in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. May we all be blessed with a sweet, healthy and productive year! Shana tova, Rav Mike.

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TJS S4E3 American Jewry after 1967 part III, the Ocean Hill-Brownsville strike

There are stories which are turning points in a larger tale, and there are those which prove to be tempests in a tea cup. The story of the 1968 NYC school strike could be read as both. Either way, this episode offers a look at a microcosm of Black/Jewish relations in 1968 which will have…

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TJS S4 Interlude R’ Yitz Greenberg and the God of History

How we chew and swallow what history shoves down our throat can define us as individuals and nations. Here is an interview with R’ Yitz Greenberg, foundational thinker on post-Holocaust theology. In it we explore how American Jewry began to process the memory of the Holocaust, the impact of the SIx Day War on their…

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TJS S4E2 American Jewry after 1967 part II From Auschwitz to Jerusalem

As each decade passes, the Holocaust retreats in time and grows in memory and this is not a linear process – some years count more than others. This episode looks at American Jewry’s relationship to the Shoah before and after the Six Day War and adds an important piece for understanding how Israel and Auschwitz…

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TJS S4E1 American Jewry after 1967 part I The Wisdom of the Moment

History is all about telling the story after the fact, but there is a particular wisdom to be gained in the heat of the moment which is easily lost in hindsight. The first episode of season four begins to explore the impact of the Six Day War on American Jewry through the wisdom of the…

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TJS S3E33 Six Day War part VII On the Seventh Day

Just as surely as Shabbat follows the six days of the week, there was a day after the Six Day War. When the guns ceased and the discussion began, the framing of Israel’s victory became the new battlefield. The final episode of the season traces the path to UN Resolution 242, and uncovers some of…

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