Afleveringen
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Chaya Leah Sufrin and Yael Bar tur are two of the most influential Jewish women in America. Known for their compassionate and thoughtful discussions, they discuss topics ranging from antisemitism to The Social Security Act of 1935. Their guests include luminaries such as Barbara Bush, Oprah Winfery, Bill Cosby, and whatever that guyâs name is who was married to Kim Kardashian for like two weeks. Seriously, AI is dead. It was a bubble and always will be. Itâs headed to the garbage bin of history with My Space, Ivy League Universities, and democracy. Unfiltered word vomit is the new intelligence. If typos could talk, this is what they would sound like. Please enjoy 1 hour and 2 minutes of it.
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Today is a heartbreaking and terrifying day for Jews in Americaâand for anyone who cherishes the values of decency, freedom, and civilization itself.The cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim last night in Washington, D.C., has shattered any illusion that the hate-filled rhetoric weâve been hearing was just talk. It wasnât. For those of us who have been warning that this kind of incitement would spill into violence, this is our worst nightmare come true. And yet we still hear people whispering, some quite loudly, that the Zionists had it coming.
This was not random. This was the deadly consequence of a climate that has normalized antisemitism under the guise of politics. Some people think violent antisemitism is the result of the the war in Gaza. We know it's the other way around - the war in Gaza is the result of violent antisemitism.
In this episode, which we recorded a few days ago before these horrific events, we sat down with Jonah Plattâactor, podcast host, and passionate Jewish advocateâto talk about Judaism, Israel, generational disconnects, and what it means to be a vocal Jew in todayâs climate. Check out his excellent podcast, Being Jewish with Jonah Platt.
We cover the following topics:
* From Hollywood to Jewish Advocacy
* The Role of Family in Jewish Identity
* Whatâs Going Wrong with Jewish Education?
* Jewish Students and the New Face of Antisemitism
* Chabad, Cheese Plates & Jewish Hospitality
* Why Arenât More Jews in Hollywood Speaking Up?
* Fighting Disinformation & Misguided âAlliesâ
In the end, Jonah reminds us: donât wait for celebrities to save us. We are done staying silent about this, and hope you can join us. Don't worry about being on the right side of your favorite Instagram influencer, worry about being on the right side of humanity.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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We got the top Jew everyone! Eric D. Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), previously the President and CEO of Hillel International, and also a former congressman for the great state of Ohio. Take that resume to your Jewish mother!
In case you donât know, the Jewish Federations of North America is the umbrella organization for the different Jewish organizations, and they respond to the needs of Jews in the US, Israel and around the world. The Federation raises about 2 billion annually, which is enough for a couple of Air Force Ones I reckon.
Eric was kind enough to sit with us for over an hour to discuss the state of Jews in America today, why 80% of Jews support Israel, and why we can't afford to be divided. He patiently answered all our dumb questions including: do the Jewish organizations bear any responsibility for he outbreak of antisemitism? Should we care what the world thinks? And how should we save the Jews with a million, ok a billion, dollars.
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Happy Motherâs Day! This week, we invited the women who have been listening to us blabber for over 40 years â our biggest fans and fiercest critics: our own moms!
Please enjoy our conversation with Chanie Perelmuter and Liora Bar tur. We talk childhood, community, Holocaust (of course) and bra shopping. And please, call your mother!
Want to help us grow? Rate us 5 starts and review us on Apple or Spotify
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Today is the specialest day in Israel. We just exited Memorial Day for soldiers and victis of terror, the saddest day of the year by far, and went straight â and I mean straight, within minutes â into Independence Day, the happiest. 24 hours of pain and heartbreak, followed by a short ceremony that throws us into a celebration of what we have gained thanks to those we lost. Itâs a rollercoaster, like most things here. Hereâs a video I took today at the market during the national moment of silence for the fallen. Itâs chilling and frankly pretty cool to watch an entire country stop in their tracks to remember. We do this 3 times a year: once on holocaust memorial day (last week) and twice on memorial day. On other days if you hear a deep siren, you should run for shelter.
In this episode, Chaya Leah invites listeners who are her children to complain about her, Yael reviews the cafeteria at the Holocaust museum in Poland, and we debate the merits of uphill battles, as recommended by Douglas Murray.
Special thanks for our genius editor Mickey for removing as many sniffles, coughs and in general as much auditory grossness as he could find from this one. It was a lot worse before he got involved, trust me.
Good for the Jews is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
By the way, you know the show is called Ask A Jew, right?? So send us your questions, big or small, offensive and funny, to: [email protected].
Ready for some visual stimulation? First off, here;s CLâs favorite Tel aviv dogwalker doing his morning roll call:
And released hostage Agam Berger blowing our minds at the Holocaust ceremony in Auschwitz:
Did someone say Poland? here are the photos from my trip of my familyâs home, factory and places of burial.
Oh wait, I also traveled all around Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee. Want to see?
Thanks for reading Good for the Jews! This post is public so feel free to share it.
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Happy Good Friday! Shh, we have a serious guest, everyone behave please in the comment section. Today we welcome Jacob Mchangama. Jacob is the author of the breezy beach read âFree Speech â A History from Socrates to Social Mediaâ, research professor at Vanderbilt University where he is also the founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech institute, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression theFIREorg.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON SUBSTACK!
ASKAJEW.SUBSTACK.COM
Hereâs what we cover:
* Anne Frank is from Denmark, right?
* Free Speech in the ancient world
* When is speech actual violence?
* The optimistics and pessimistic case for free speech
* Back when the ACLU was cool
* Immigration and speech
* Canât we just make antisemitism illegal
* The vibe shift
* Mahmoud Khlalil
* The future of free speech
Hereâs your feel-good story for the week: An IDF reservist found this sweet pup in Gaza, who apparently ran over when he heard the soldiers speaking Hebrew. The soldier quickly discovered that this is no other than Billy, a dog that was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. He belonged to Rachel Dancyg, the ex-wife of hostage Alex Dancyg who was murdered in Gaza. Rachelâs brother, Itzik Elgarat, was also abducted from the kibbutz and murdered in Gaza. Some sweetness in the midst of it all.
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This week in honor of Passover, we welcome the coolest Rabbi I know (after Chaya Leahâs father of edJEWcation), Rabbi Gavriel Bellino of NYCâs 6th street shul.
There are tons of photos, videos and musing that go with this episode from my visit to Israel. please check them out on substack at askajew.substack.com and/or on Instagram @askajewpod.
If you live in NYC you should absolutely visit 6th Street Shul (yes, this is Yael!) Its super welcoming and lowkey, and they throw some great parties. They also have the best Instagram account (operated by the Rabbi).
We talk about being a born-and-bred NYC Rabbi, issues facing Judaism today, spirituality, Kosher sushi, gays, women and David Schwimmer.
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This week we welcome returning guest and the youngest person we know, Blake Flayton, to talk about his new book: 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College. We talk to Blake about how to win over Gen Z (with social justice!), whether or not we should we be gatekeeping the the antisemitism discourse, and why we donât want to see anymore Holocaust moviesâŠ.for now.
You can follow Blake on Substack, X and Instagram, check him out calling out campus antisemitism in The NY Times before it was cool, and of course buy the book - everyone should read it, not just the kids! Also listen to his excellent podcast with Einat Wilf, We Should All Be Zionists.
Also:
* AI Therapy
* Finally the world is waking up! oh wait nvm
* What Birthrigtht gets wrong
* You say Dual Loyalty like itâs a bad thing
* Fighting Antisemitism from the left - Blakeâs latest essay on Substack:
* Keep your friends?
* Enough with the Holocaust movies
* Iâd rather be 9 peopleâs favorite thing than 100 peopleâs 9th favorite thing
* Are we all just talking to ourselves on Instagram? The problem with social media Zionism.
* The Insta-fada!
* Woke Anne Frank
* Stop what youâre doing and learn Hebrew
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Gâday from the Land Down Under! Promise this is our first and last Australia joke in these show notes. Today we welcome the Jewish Hugh Jackman (ok, I lied), Josh Szeps to Ask A Jew! Josh is the host of Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, and host of Szeps Live on Substack every Tuesday at 9pm (thatâs normal time, not whatever they use in Australia). We loved having Josh on, even though heâs a lefty and that makes us feel unsafe. But itâs hard not to love him, and you will too. Also it doesnât hurt that heâs kind of a hottie.
Aside from a 40 minute standard chit-chat about aviation, we cover:
* Do they even have months in Australia??
* We forgive you, Mel Gibson
* Shabbas Gay
* Why donât people fall in Australia?
* The moon looks different in Australia
* How much money does Elon Musk have in Australia
* Ok Josh, spill it - what happeend to the Malaysian Airline??
* Aviation Today - with Josh Szeps
* Can you introduce us to the cast of Love on The Spectrum?
* The Princess Bride 2
* Australia replaced its Prime Minister with a paper straw
* 39 minutes in and weâre still talking about planes
* Joshâs grandmootherâs amazing holocaust story (sorry we mocked her for it)
* Antisemitism in Australia
* WHEREâS THE JEWS??
* Oh look a bunch of Jews disagreeing about Israel
* Josh is wrong about Israel and french fries
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The world needs to stop talking about Jews and the only way that will happen is if Barak Obama and Jennifer Aniston have a baby.
PHOTOS, CONVO, AND MORE ON SUBSTACK! askajew.substack.com
Also:
* Chaya Leah makes a stunning confession
* Purim Hangover
* Covid anniversary
* Hasidic fashion and the horrors of Brandy Melville
* The strange life of supermodels
* Save us, Barak Obama and Jennifer Aniston!
* Shitty Columbia students
* You donât hate the universities enough
* Not all slopes are slippery
* CL book recommendation: Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
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You demanded, we supplied! This week we are honored to have Prof. Russ Roberts join us on Ask A Jew. Russ is the host of the wildly successful podcast EconTalk (where he talks about everything from tariffs to the Opera), president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, and a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Heâs also the author of many books, including How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness , and the economics-based novel, The Price of Everything. It is only natural that this internationally renowned economist and influential podcaster sit down with us to explain, like, what is economics anyway.
We discuss tariffs, AI, Jerusalem, incentives, empathy, and prayer, among other things. We also dive into whether or not being a Jew and a Zionist makes sense from an economics stand point, and which careers we should all invest in when the robots come for our jobs.
Make sure to check out âEconTalk: Conversations for the curiousâ wherever you get your podcasts, follow Russ right here on Substack Russ Roberts, and take a sneak peak at his new book currently titled The Agnostics Guide to Jewish Prayer.
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Whoâs this, disprespecting us on our podcast?? Itâs our very own rare earth mineral, The Free Press columnist and host of the wonderful Breaking History podcast, Eli Lake! Did he even say thank you once? I donât know. Probably at the end. Does it even matter? We hope you enjoy the episode. If you didnât, itâs because Chaya Leah didnât bring her translator.
Want more AAJ fun? Join the conversation on Substack! askajew.substack.com
Hereâs what we cover:
· Yael learns something astonishing about how Chaya Leah views Volodymyr Zelenskyy and J.D Vance
· Youâre not a Russian agent, youâre just stupid.
· Trump is playing 4D Uno
· This wouldnât have happened under King David
· Eating s**t is the bed rock of diplomacy
· The axis of idiocy - people who love Gaza and Putin
· A digression into terrorist rectums
· Go prove you donât have a sister
· Ugh, have you even heard of traveling medicine shows?
· Truth is for losers
· Plato Vs. the Torah
· What to tell an ugly bride?
· A great story whose details Yael canât remember
· How antisemitic does someone have to be for you to cut them off?
· The Oscars pissed us off, even though they havenât started yet
· A ray of stupid sunshine
· Letâs dig into Meir Kahane because none of this has upset people enough
Want to help us grow? Share this episode and give us a 5 star rating or comment wherever you get your podcasts!
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Look. The words are done. They have just run out. So we filled the void with various mouth noises, about everything from the orthodox child labor, Meir Kahane, the Grand Canyon and Apple Cider Vinegar. Listen, some weeks are so icky, itâs ok to order a 7-11 Big Gulp on Uber Eats in the middle of a recording. Or is it? Anyway, please excuse our mess, but you get it, right?
* The story of Ariel Bibasâs best friend from kindergarten
* The new Hollyowod Jews who are punching back. Donât you just love to see it?
* Friend of the pod talking Kahane with Israelis
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This week we welcome our pals and confidants, Kat Rosenfield and Phoebe Maltz Bovy, co-hosts of Feminine Chaos!
Kat is a novelist, culture writer, and frequent contributor to the Free Press, where you should read whatever she writes, no matter the topic.
Phoebe is the opinion editor of the Canadian Jewish News, contributor to The Globe and Mail, author of the book The Perils of âPrivilegeâ and a Canadian-American patriot.
We talk Kosher Superbowl halftime shows, beauty and aging, The Golden Girls, and more! Donât forget to check out Feminine Chaos on Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.
JOIN US ON SUBSTACK TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING! askajew.substack.com
âââââ WANT TO HELP US GROW? CONSIDER GIVING US A 5 STAR REVIEW ON APPLE OR SPOTIFY âââââ
Links:
A very Kosher halftime show
Katâs piece in the Free Press about Men and pregnancy loss
Golden year: What I learned watching The Golden Girls for the first time in 2024
Some Jewish unaothorized covers of Austalian hits from the 80s
Bonus: The piece Kat was working on when we recorded about the show Apple Cider Vinegar, titled âWhy Women Fall for Wellness B******tâ. Have you watched it? Discuss! I ended up binging it over the weekend and thought it was great. The trailer doesnât do it justice in my opinion.
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Happy Valentines Day! Thatâs a Jewish holiday right? Well, weâre celebrating Rebbe Saint Valentine anyway.
In this festive episode we get all googly-eyed over our guest Aleeza Ben Shalom, a matchmaker and relationship coach who you all know from Netflixâs âJewish Matchmakingâ, and author of the new book Matchmaker Matchmaker: Find Me a Love That Lasts, which you should buy at least 2 copies of.
We dive into Aleeza's advice to "date âem til you hate âem", untangle love and values, and hear why Chaya Leahâs grandfather (who was himself a matchmkaer) would force men to stare into the mirror as they described their ideal girl.
The interview with Aleeza starts around 41 minutes in, but first, you have to sit through our thoughts on Trumpâs plan for Gaza, travel tips for Somaliland, and a pitch for a new reality show to find the next palestinian leader.
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Want to help us grow? Give us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
âââââ
Also:
* Gaz-a-Lago
* Somaliland and Puntland, see you at the beach!
* Some TV recommendations, old and new
* Who is Ian Sommerholder?
* Love doesnât care about your feelings
* Down with Disney!
* Indepndence is overrated
* The Jewish ick
* Unrealistic expectations, and Chaya Leahâs grandfatherâs advice for men (Iâm not a pimp, Iâm a shadchan!)
* Skip the dinner date
Check out Jewish Matchmaking on Netflix, and follow Aleeza on Youtube and Instagram, Did you know wâere on Instagram too? Sometimes we forget. But check us out.
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We totally thought Richard Hanania was a Jew, and by the time we found out heâs Palestinian (gasp!) it was too late to cancel. Just kidding, we loved talking to Richard about everything from the online right-wing âtrollosphereâ, antisemitism (which he gets his fair share of), Twitter politics, elite human capital, disappearing pronoun bios, and in general why everything is just more stupid now.
Follow Richard on X/Twitter , check out the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, and subscrie to his Substack here.
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We sit down to recap the events of the week, which feels like a decade.
Check out videos and shownotes on askajew.substack.com
Also:
* Chaya Leah wants to deport Yael
* The hostage releases are so emotional. And that emotion is rage.
* Where do they keep the laminating machines in Gaza?
* Let the sunshine in
* Is Elon Musk a Nazi? And do we prefer quality or quantity in our antisemites
* Advice to secret Nazis: play it smooth.
* Jeremy Corbynâs cat goes to hell
* Inauguration nation
* Leave it to the president of Ireland to make a holocaust memorial antisemitisc
* January 6 hostages? Dude. dude.
* Equal opportunity haters
______________
Want to help us grow? Give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! âââââ
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That feeling you have in the pit of your stomach? Weâre all there. A mix of hope, fear, anger and grief. An American friend asked me if Iâm happy about the hostage deal, and it was hard to use that word in this context. Though I support the deal (like most Israelis) and believe it is the moral choice, it makes me sick to my stomach that we even had to negotiate with these b******s, not to mention give them anything that doesnât drop from the wing of an F-15. More about that, and our listener Zoom in a minute. In the meantime, we present you this rare, early-release, joy-to-the-ears kvetch fest with two of our favorite ladies and co-hosts of Normally, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz. You may know these ladies from either of their frequent apperances on Fox News, CNN, the NY Post, and any other place where people pay them to say what they think about things. They each also have two great podcasts of their own, The Karol Markowicz show (thatâs, uh, Karolâs) and Getting Hammered.
Thanks for reading Good for the Jews! This post is public so feel free to share it.
The next few weeks will be rough
As of today, 33 hostages are set to be released in the phase of the deal, with each day bringing new challenges and mind-f***s from the enemy. There are total of 98 hostages in Gaza, aged 2 to 86, and there is no guarantee that we will ever move into the 2nd or 3rd phases of the deal that are meant to bring them all home.
To clarify how evil Hamas is (in case you donât get it in our podcast, we can be a little subtle sometimes), they are set to release the first group of hostages in about 12 hours, and they still havenât told us who they are. Nor have they told us who is alive. For example, you all may have heard about little Kfir Bibas, who just celebrated his 2nd birthday as a hostage. He was kidnapped at the age of 6 months, and he and his brother Ariel (5) and mother are expected to return in this phase of the deal. We donât know if these babies will return home in their motherâs arms or in body bags.
As many have said before me including head of the Shin Bet, the deal isnât good - but itâs the right deal. I donât think we could live with ourselves if we didnât push for it, not just for our 98 brothers and sisters, but for our sense of solidarity and responsibility to one another. Every Israeli feels like they have been missing a limb for the last 15 months, and we need to be able to be whole again to move on. This may sound sentimental, and not like the tough, calculated soldiers that people expect us to be. But in a sense, the reason people put on a uniform to begin with and run into the line of fire is to save strangers and protect families, and who would we be if we didnât do that now?
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Listener Zoom
Another weepy Zoom coming your way! Please join us Monday at 9pm EST for a much-needed group therapy session. Will you learn anything? Maybe, I donât know. If you want to learn ask Dan Senor for a Zoom. Will you share all the feels and laughs with friends and strangers and leave feeling uplifted? 100%. Will send a separate email with details so watch this space.
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Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, host of the FDD Morning Brief, and formerly a terror finance analyst for the US Treasury. Thereâs a lot to talk about this week, especially the hostages, an upcoming ceasefire deal that brings up all kinds of feelings, and of course - Houthi dance moves. Follow Jonathan on X and donât forget to check out the Morning Brief wherever you get your podcasts.
Good for the Jews is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
If youâre feeling anxious about a potential hostage deal, thatâs probably the right reaction. As I write this, it seems like a hostage deal will be signed in the coming hours, with the first phase being the gradual release of 33 hostages - whose condition is unclear. We the public (and probably others close to the negotiation table too) have no idea who is dead and who is alive, how long this will take (looks like weeks at the least), whether or not it will even happen, and of course what the outcome will be. Itâs like diffusing a bomb over the course of several weeks, every wrong move can create an explosion. There are more unkowns than knowns, and iâve even gone back to edit this last paragraph in the last few minutes based on new information. We will cry tears of happiness for every life that can be pulled out of that hellhole, and tears of heartbreak for every one left behind. Anyway, to quote my friend Lishay Lavi, whose husband and father of her 2 young daughters is a hostage and is not on the first phase list: âThere is no euphoria or celebration here. We fight till the very last hostage is home.â I may write a longer post about this later.
Thanks for reading Good for the Jews! This post is public so feel free to share it.
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This week we welcome on of our favorite podcast hosts and top 5 favorite lesbians, non-Jew Katie Herzog! Katie is the co-host of the wonderful Blocked and Reported podcast about internet drama with Jesse Singal, which makes her a victim of antisemitism by association.
Join the conversation on Substack today! Askajew.substack.com
We discuss:
* Wigs
* Head nipples
* Whatâs the difference between Seattle and Portland
* Hurricane Helene
* America needs a good enemy
* New Yearâs Resolutions
* Meditation changed my life or whatever
* Katie Arafat
* Katie is a Bird Flu prepper
* Jews and dogs - a mismatch made in heaven
* Podcast couples therapy
* Donât buy the merch
* Do Jews surf?
Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Follow Katie on X and most importantly, start listening to Blocked and Reported! We really want to give them a
We still have a few copies of the Queers 4 Palestine calendar left! Order now.
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