Some time ago, I had the privilege of hosting Rabbi Meir Azari of the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism on my podcast here on Israel from the Inside. The occasion for that conversation was the publication in Hebrew, of Rabbi Azari’s newest book, on Jewish leadership in this era.
Our conversation, which you’re welcome to listen to in full, was called "From Zion Shall Go Forth Torah" — but of what sort? You’re invited to listen to it here.
More recently, Rabbi Azari invited me to join him on his podcast for the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism, and I gratefully agreed. Our conversation ranged over a wide array of issues pertaining to the mood in Israel, the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Israel’s present government, the “real” reason for the chasm between American Jews and Israelis, and much more.
With the kind permission of the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism, we’re sharing that conversation below.
Below the link to the video, we’re adding an invitation for you to please ask questions based on the video, in the COMMENTS section, and we’ll record a session devoted to responses to your questions, too.
As we note below, once you’ve watched the video below, if you do, if you have questions or issues that you think need following up, please enter them into the COMMENTS section (open to everyone in this case) and we’ll set up a video conversation in which we can respond to all this soon. Thanks!
If you have questions that you would have liked us to discuss in the video above, please enter them in the COMMENTS section, which today is open to all readers. We’ll try to record a session with responses to those questions in the near future.
Though things can always change as things on the ground unfold, our tentative plans for this week include:
Tuesday: What happens when a teacher in a secular kindergarten in the Tel Aviv area tells the kids that it was God who created reptiles without legs? A bit of a WhatsApp theological and political conversation, that offers a humorous but also interesting insight into the priorities and concerns of secular Israeli parents in their 30’s.
Wednesday: Izhar Armoni, an Israeli venture capitalist, had a unique idea about how to repopulate the south (Gaza envelope) and the north, with the populations that were thinking seriously about not returning. What would it take? Making education and communal life better there than they ever had been before, indeed better than they are in much of the rest of Israel. In this week’s podcast, we hear from Izhar about his project, Habaita/Homeward.
Thursday: The Druze and the Jews. In the tragic story about Syria’s Druze community last week and the response of Israel’s Druze population, there’s an important lesson for Diaspora Jews to learn, as well. This week’s essay will address that often unspoken—and admittedly not terribly politically correct—message.
