Tel Aviv Review

Prof. Meira Polliack of the Department of Bible Studies at Tel Aviv University discusses with host Gilad Halpern the conceptual and theological exchanges between Islam and Judaism in the 9th and 10th centuries. Song: Adrian Younge feat. Karolina & Letitia Sadier - Hands Of God This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Shai Ferraro, a religions scholar at Tel Aviv University, explores with host Gilad Halpern the emergence of pagan rituals in contemporary Israel against the backdrop of Judaism's acrimonious relationship with idolatry. Song: Gazoz - Roni This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Esther Carmel-Hakim, a historian of Zionism at the University of Haifa, explores with host Gilad Halpern the central role women played in the Jewish national movement from its early stages, and explains why they've been marginalized by the official historiography. Song: Gal de Paz Band - The Change This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Rachel Werczberger, an anthropologist, religious scholar, and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, explores with host Gilad Halpern the recent evolution of new forms of spirituality in Israeli society, against the backdrop of tradition and the advent of neoliberalism. Song: Shotey Hanevua - Yedia This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Joel Migdal, professor of international studies at the University of Washington, is the author of the recently published Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East. He offers host Gilad Halpern an analysis of how the Middle East turned out to be a microcosm of American foreign policy. Song: Jango - Yoter Mehakol This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Shayna Weiss, a Jewish history scholar and post-doctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University, traces with host Gilad Halpern the origin of gender segregation at beaches in Tel Aviv, and the surprising roles that religion, propriety, and Zionism played in it. Song: Hadorbanim - Shuv Hadisco Kan This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. David Hadar, a literary scholar and post-doctoral fellow at the Open University, analyzes with host Gilad Halpern the influence, overt and covert, of the Jewish-American novelist on the much younger Israeli-Arab author, drawing parallels between their troubled literary personas. Song: Matisyahu - Sunshine This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Nir Arielli, a lecturer in international history and politics at the University of Leeds, UK, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the tumultuous life of his great aunt, Leah Trachtman-Palchan, a Communist activist who was deported from British-ruled Palestine to the Soviet Union only to reconnect with her Zionism decades later. Her edited memoir, Between Tel Aviv and Moscow: A Life of Dissent and Exile in Mandate Palestine and the Soviet Union, has recently appeared in English. Song: Leah Shabat - Sod Hadvarim Hapshutim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Dina Moyal, a historian specializing in the legal history of the Soviet Union, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the trials of Nazi criminals and collaborators in the Soviet Union during and in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, and how it reflects the Soviets' perception of the concept of justice. Song: Maor Cohen - Hachi Yafa Baolam This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Host Gilad Halpern and Professor Yaarah Bar-On; the President of Oranim Teachers College and a historian of the kibbutz movement, analyse the crisis that has all but decimated the once illustrious centrepiece of Israel and Zionism and offers first thoughts about its potential rejuvenation. Song: Yuval Dayan - Tenagen This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israe

Dr Daniel Schiffman, an economic historian and a senior lecturer in the department of Economics and Business Administration at Ariel University, is the co-author of the forthcoming book Economic Advisers and Advice: Crises, Reform and Stabilization in Israel. Together host Gilad Halpern and Dr Schiffman explore the contribution of Jewish-American advisers to the Israeli economy over the years. Song: Rita & Eliad - Im Niga This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Host Gilad Halpern talks to Brian Horowitz, professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, and the co-editor of the recently published Story of My Life, the first of three autobiographies written by Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky, the founding father of Israel's Revisionist right. An unusual figure, Jabotinksy spent most of his public life swimming against the Zionist current, until his untimely death in 1940. Song: Ester Rada - I Wish This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Host Gilad Halpern and Vivian Liska, professor of German literature and the director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, discuss one of the themes featuring in her forthcoming book, German Jewish Thought and its Aftermath: A Precarious Legacy: How can Jewish thought extract itself from a generations-long paradox that sees exile as a blessing and a curse at the same time? Song: Tamuz - Ani Lo Yodea Eich Lomar Lach This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Padraig O'Malley, professor of peace and reconciliation at the University of Massachusetts and author of the recently published The Two State Delusion: Israel Palestine - A Tale of Two Narratives, discusses with host Gilad Halpern, why what for decades was the most likely resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has ceased to have any chances of survival. Song: Leah Shabat - Sod Hadvarim Hapshutim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Explore the Hassidic settlement of Kiryas Yoel, in upstate New York, which offers a unique insight into questions of diaspora and sovereignty.

Dr. Tal Elmaliach, a historian of Zionism at the University of Wisconsin, discusses with host Gilad Halpern how Zionist youth movements played an increasingly significant role in redefining American Judaism in the 1960s. Song: Rami Kleinstein - Tapuchim Utmarim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Ariel Sheetrit, a lecturer in Arabic language and literature at the Ben-Gurion of the Negev and in Arab film at the Open University, is the coordinator of the research group at the Van Leer Institute dedicated to the study of Arabic narratives of migration and journey. She analyzes with host Gilad Halpern how the East-West encounter was seen and construed in "Eastern" eyes, from as early as the 11th century. Song: Totemo - SeeSaw This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Sharman Kadish, a historian of British Jewry and founding director of the charity Jewish Heritage UK, takes host Gilad Halpern through the demographic and cultural evolution of the Jewish community of Great Britain. Song: Hakeves HaShisha Asar - Kshe Ehye Gadol This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Uriya Shavit of the Arabic and Islamic Studies department at Tel Aviv University and the author of the recently published Zionism in Arab Discourses, explores the complex attitude of Islamic and liberal intellectuals towards Israel, combining envy, contempt, appreciation and pure hate. Song: Natan Goshen - Ze Shelanu This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Michael J Cohen, a Professor Emeritus of History at Bar-Ilan University, is the author of the recently published Britain's Moment in Palestine: Retrospect and Perspective. Talking to host Gilad Halpern, he takes a comprehensive look at the tumultuous 30-year mandate on Palestine, which started with great promise but ended up as one of the nails in the coffin of the British Empire. Song: Ram Orion - Hashlama This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Amikam Nachmani, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, is studying Europe's encounter with its Muslim immigrants in the 21st century. He tells host Gilad Hapern how this is not a bilateral relationship, but rather a "love triangle," with the legacy of the Jewish presence being the third pole. Song: Shlikhey HaBlues - Shtaim BaLayla This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Chaim Noy is a professor of communications at the University of South Florida and the author of a new book Thank You For Dying for Our Country: Commemorative Texts and Performances in Jerusalem. He talks to host Gilad Halpern about his meticulous study of the visitor book at Jerusalem's most celebrated former battlefield, and the glimpse it offers into the make-up of Israeli society today. Song: Sivan Talmor - Fire This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Anat Helman, a professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the author of the new book Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s. She explores with host Gilad Halpern the everyday practices adopted by the early Israelis, which reflected their reception of the cultural project of Zionism. Song: Idan Raichel - Ma'agalim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Leonard Saxe, a sociologist and professor of contemporary Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, is a world-renowned expert on Birthright Israel, the program that has brought hundreds of thousands of young Diaspora Jews to Israel. He analyzes with host Gilad Halpern its phenomenal success, which has surpassed the expectations of even its most ardent supporters. Song: Tsemed Reot - Boker Tov Amir This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Orit Bashkin, a Middle East scholar at the University of Chicago, talks to host Gilad Halpern about her original perspective on the history of Jews in the Levant and Egypt, which transcends the common perception of the communities as victims of the inevitable clash between Arab nationalism and Zionism. Song: Ester Rada - Nanu Ney This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dor Saar, a historian of Judaism at Tel Aviv University, discusses the curious case of a 17th-century Jewish theologian and mysticist called Abraham Miguel Cardoso, one of the principal backers of Sabbatai Zevi, the most well-known false messiah in the history of Judaism. Song: Yehudit Ravitz - Gaagua This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Moshe Zimmermann, a historian of modern Germany at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, attempts to draw lessons from the fragile and divided German democracy of the early 1930s for today's Israel, in the wake of a panel discussion entitled "The red lines of Israeli democracy" that was held at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Song: Uzi Ramirez - She's So Young This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Adar Yarum, an art historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the life and journals of Cyriac (Ciriaco) of Ancona, a 15th century traveler credited with bringing the long-lost marvels of the Classical world to Renaissance Italy. Song: Micha Shitrit - Masmerim Venotzot This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Arie Sover, the founding chair of the Israeli Society for the Study of Humor, dissects with host Gilad Halpern the ins and outs of his field, in an Israeli and a global context, ahead of the society's annual conference. Song: Matisyahu - One Day This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Raanan Rein, a historian of Spain and Latin America and Vice-President of Tel Aviv University, explores the tumultuous relationship between Israel and Spain before and after diplomatic relations were established, as late as 1986. Song: Gili Yalo - Hailoga This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Avner Wishnitzer, senior lecturer in Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University, is the author of the recently published Reading Clocks Alla Turca: Time and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire. He analyzes with host Gilad Halpern the tension between tradition and modernity in 19th century Turkey through the introduction of the concepts of standardized time. Song: Si Himan - Bekhol Makom This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Ofer Idels, a doctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University's Department of History, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the heated debate that swept the Jewish community in Palestine ahead of the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Nazi Berlin. Song: Eilad - Spirits (Rukhot) This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Benjamin Z. Kedar, Professor Emeritus of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former Vice-President of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, talks to host Gilad Halpern about his newly published collection of essays about Chaim Weizmann. Prof. Weizmann was Israel's first president and leader of the World Zionist Organization throughout much of the pre-state period, and maintained an active career as a chemist in parallel to his statesmanship. Where do science and state affairs interact? If you ask Weizmann, almost everywhere. Song: Buttering Trio - No Joke This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Jeff Halper, an anthropologist and human rights activist, talks to host Gilad Halpern about his latest book, War Against the People; Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification, in which he analyzes the "securocratic" regime that dominates global politics, with Israel at its forefront. Song: Cohenbeats & KerenDun - What's On Your Mind

Zev Harvey, professor emeritus of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the life and opinions of Prof. Aviezer Ravitzky, one of Israel's foremost Jewish philosophers, ahead of a public event that will take place in his honor at the Van Leer Institute on Thursday, January 14, under the banner "The engaged intellectual and Jewish Philosophy." Song: The Idan Raichel Project - She'eriot Shel Ha'Chaim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Guy Ziv, an international relations professor at the American University in Washington, DC, is the author of the recently published Why Hawks Become Doves: Shimon Peres and Foreign Policy Change. He talks to host Gilad Halpern about the leftward shift of Israel's political establishment over the decades, and Shimon Peres' own journey as the standard-bearer of this shift. Song: Teapacks - Zmanim Ktanim This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Ido Shahar, a lecturer in Middle East history at the University of Haifa, is the author of the recently published Legal Pluralism in the Holy City: Competing Courts, Forum Shopping and Institutional Dynamics in Jerusalem. He lays out for host Gilad Halpern his "organizational ethnography" of Muslim state courts in Jerusalem, how they interact with other legal entities, and how they affect the city's heterogeneous Muslim population. Song: Shai Tsabari - Lavi Oti This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Prof. Ghil'ad Zuckermann, a professor of linguistics at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and Dr. Gitit Holzmann, a lecturer in Jewish philosophy at the Levinsky Teachers' College in Tel Aviv, discuss the linguistic, educational, and political implications and limitations of the crown jewel of the Zionist enterprise: The revival of the Hebrew language. Song: Alma Zohar - Egotrip This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Dr. Roni Weinstein, a historian of Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, explores with host Gilad Halpern the origins of Jewish mysticism (in 16th and 17th century Palestine), which influenced Jewish orthodoxy for centuries to come. Song: Sivan Talmor - I'll Be This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Holocaust survivor Simon Malkes has dedicated his recently published memoirs to the man who saved him, a Nazi officer called Karl Plagge, for whom he lobbied Yad Vashem for recognition as a Righteous Gentile. Malkes tells host Gilad Halpern his story. Song: Ninet - Child

Adi Sherzer, a doctoral fellow at the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, explores with host Gilad Halpern the construction of the Israeli national narrative in the early years, bridging statehood and millennia of Jewish tradition. Song: Karolina, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Loren Oden - Feel Alive

Dr. Orli Sela, an environmental and legal historian at New York University, explores the evolution of the perception of water abundance and its place in the state building effort, before and after the establishment of the State of Israel. Song: The Secret Sea - Afterlife

Dr. Rony Klein, professor of political philosophy at Tel Aviv University specializing in French political thought, explores how late 20th century Jewish philosophers posed a challenge to the ideas of Enlightenment that were the predominant themes in their intellectual sphere. Song: Ivri Lider - Makom Leyoter

Dr. Aviva Tal, professor of Yiddish literature at Bar-Ilan University, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the forgotten history of Jewish criminality in the early 20th century, and how central it was to Jewish life during that period. Song: Evyatar Banai- Matanot

Dr. Ran Zwigenberg, professor of history and Asian studies at Pennsylvania State University and author of the recently published Hiroshima: The Origins of Global Memory Culture, explores with host Gilad Halpern the parallel cultures of commemoration that emanated from the two biggest catastrophes of the Second World War: Hiroshima and Auschwitz. Song: Doda - Elef Kaba'im

Dr. Hadas Cohen, a post-doctoral fellow at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin, discusses with host Gilad Halpern her analysis of the construction of Israeli identity through transgressions and aberrations from it, specifically the case of the "traitress" Tali Fahima. Song: Russo and Weinberg - Travel

Dr. Yakir Englander, a Jewish philosophy scholar at Harvard University and expert on interfaith dialogue, both as an activist and a scholar, reviews with host Gilad Halpern the role of religion in perpetuating and assuaging conflict, in the Israeli-Palestinian context and beyond. Song: Omer Netzer - Couldn't Love You Any More

Dr. Ido Yoav, a sociologist and anthropologist at Sapir College, joins host Gilad Halpern to analyze the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on its 20th anniversary, through the perspective of the sociology of emotions. The lesson: It could happen again, and for the reasons you may think. Song: Gan Khayot - Yareakh Kakhol

Dr. Dara Barnat, a poet and culture scholar at Tel Aviv University, talks to host Gilad Halpern about the universal message of the great 19th-century American poet, and how it influenced future generations of Jewish-American poets in their quest to come to terms with their composite identity. Song: Russo & Weinberg - My Man

Dr. Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler, historian of architecture at Sapir Academic College and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, talks to host Gilad Halpern about the post-colonial perspective she espouses when studying the history of architecture in Israel throughout the 20th century. Song: Marina Maximilian - Tango