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How should we really be talking about Israel - in the classroom, or anywhere else? This week, Uri speaks to Dr. Noam Weissman, Executive Vice President of OpenDor Media, where he spearheads the educational vision and leads content creation across all divisions. Noam heads a team of content creators and educators for the Unpacked brand which reaches millions of young Jews each year with articles, videos and social media content. He is also the host of the popular Unpacked podcasts “Unpacking Israeli History” and “The Power Of” as well as the host of the YouTube channel, Today Unpacked. For more, see: https://jewishunpacked.com/deir-yassin-the-battle-for-truth/ https://jewishunpacked.com/the-altalena-israels-almost-civil-war/ https://jewishunpacked.com/the-kastner-trial-why-a-jew-who-saved-many-was-put-on-trial-for-working-with-the-nazis/ https://jewishunpacked.com/kfar-qassem-a-wound-that-still-bleeds/

NY Times - the gift that keeps giving. Last week, you may have read: “For Strictly Observant Jews in Brooklyn, the Sabbath Expands," an article that highlights the new, expansive eruv covering most of Brooklyn. Within hours, there were hundreds of comments on the article, many of which were disparaging and mocking towards Orthodox and Chasidic Jews. This week, Uri and Rivky break down the article and comments, but they also go further - are loopholes a bad thing? And just as importantly, what do ritualistic mitzvot mean to us, as observant Jews? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/nyregion/brooklyn-observant-jews.html

The new Netflix movie “You People” is a romantic comedy centering around Ezra Cohen, a white Jew, who falls in love with Amira, a black Muslim. Very much in the style of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, or Fiddler on the Roof, there are culture clashes and tension, much of which stems from Amira’s dad, played by Eddie Murphy, and Ezra’s mom, played by Julia Louis Dryfus. The movie touches on a lot of hot button issues that are very much in the news (or, "the culture"), and much negative feedback in the Jewish community centers around particular lines on scenes. This week, Uri and Rivky ask,  what were the filmmakers trying to achieve with this film, what does this say about American culture and society, and what does it say about the state of Jews in America?

This week Uri is joined by Aliza Abrams Konig.  They start by reminiscing about Aliza's previous appearance on Talking Tachlis, and they touch on a number of hot button issues including lab grown meat, the Netflix movie You People, and Joe Rogan's recent antisemitic comments.  They then spend most of the conversation discussing Aliza's experience having a child with a surrogate, including various issues relating to Jewish law, and common misconceptions.   This is a different podcast where Aliza goes into more detail about her experience. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simultaneously-navigating-surrogacy-a-kidney/id1610003724?i=1000557506816

Last week, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier released a thoughtful, interesting piece about a new vision he entitled Ethical Orthodoxy. In this episode, Uri and Rivky sit down with Shlomo to ask him about this manifesto. They ask what its impetus was, what failures he sees in the religious world, and the practical ways he would want to build an Orthodox community around this worldview. Read more here: Ethical Orthodoxy: A Manifesto: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0fjD6QnfLBJDtzLzCc3UkTGKm4k5uVYFkJmtS9xC18PR1mMGrpsSwxH1wwJ4DgEuxl&id=100005452486362 Ben Shapiro - Modern Orthodoxy's Moral Failure - https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/modern-orthodoxys-moral-failure/2022/12/12/ Lookback window: https://hareiani.com/tag/lookback-window/

Wow, the NY Times sure has been publishing a lot of recent articles about Orthodox Jews. Uri and Rivky ask, what's that about? And what does it have to do with identity, journalism, and Elon Musk's Twitter takeover? Recent NY Times piece about Chasidic schools: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/nyregion/hasidic-orthodox-jewish-special-education.html NY Times about Yeshiva University: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/nyregion/yeshiva-university-lgbtq-club.html   Astral Codex Ten: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/the-media-very-rarely-lies

THE OFFERING opens in theater and on demand starting this Friday, January 13th. Watch the trailer @ https://youtu.be/oMc-iybcRdc Uri discusses the film and some of its Jewish themes with one of the stars of the film Emily Wiseman, director Oliver Park, Writer/Producer Hank Hoffman, and Producer/Story Developer Yoni Yunger.

George Santos was elected to the US Congress in New York’s 3rd District, representing parts of Long Island and a small part of Queens, and is to be sworn into office today, on January 3rd 2023. In mid-December, the NYT exposed Santos’s lies, including: false degrees from NYU and Baruch, non-existent work stints at Citi Group and Goldman Sacks, a fake charity, financial crimes. But most interesting to us, he also falsely claimed to be Jewish, and that his grandparents fled the Holocaust. This week, Uri and Rivky discuss, is Santos different than other politicians? Is the fact that his lies are worse mean that he can’t be trusted in this position of power? Are his lies, including his Jewish identity, offensive? And what does his claim to Jewish ancestry says about the place and perception of Jews in America today?

Kanye. Kyrie. And...Dave Chappelle? Maybe? This week, Rivky and Uri talk about this “resurgence” of antisemitism and ask, what the heck is even happening? And what was with Chappelle’s monologue? Funny? Not funny? Cruel? Offensive? Funny and offensive? And...the three men involved here - Kanye, Kyrie, and Chappelle, are not only three famous entertainers, but three black entertainers. Does that mean anything? If so, what does it mean?   Chappelle's Monologue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-gO0HSCYk The movie Kyrie posted: https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/kyrie-irving-antisemitism-non-apology-for-movie-17555214.php Meyers Leonard scandal: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2935262-heats-meyers-leonard-uses-anti-semitic-slur-during-call-of-duty-live-stream    

This week, Uri and Rivky dive into the Supreme Court affirmation action cases being brought, in particular, on behalf of Asian students, who claim that in an attempt to help black American students, Asian American students are being discriminated against, and not given spots in these colleges that are instead going to the recipients of affirmative action. Some have compared these to the famous quotas that many Ivy League colleges had for Jews in the early to mid 20th century. They ask, how do we feel about affirmative action - as people, as Americans, and as Jews?

This week Rivky and Uri are joined by the indomitable Mordechai Levovitz to discuss the latest craze taking over TikTok- Orthodox Jewish musical group The Miami Boys Choir.  They try to understand what could be fueling this trend, and they ask, is it good for the Jews?   Times of Israel article - https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-miami-boys-choir-churned-out-generations-of-child-stars-where-are-they-now/   Rolling Stone article - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/miami-jewish-boys-choir-tiktok-viral-1234602435/

Last Sunday, the New York Times ran a front page article, “Failing Schools, Public Funds: Hasidic Students in NYS Are Deprived of Basic Skills.” The article describes the abysmal track record that many Hasidic schools have on standardized tests, their lack of secular education, and the government funding these schools receive without abiding by the government’s academic standards. There are also accusations of teachers hitting students, the hiring of unqualified teachers, censoring of secular textbooks, inaction from politicians due to Hasidic voting blocs and influence, and the extreme challenges faced by members of the community who leave the fold, but find that they are equipped with the basic skills needed to navigate the outside world. Rivky and Uri ask, what is this article really about? And what is the point of education? https://yuobserver.org/2022/09/what-the-pride-alliance-failed-to-learn-from-jewish-history/ https://yucommentator.org/2022/09/the-dangers-of-liberalism-and-why-yu-should-change-its-charter/ https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTp3R7h5JeieCsugLhZbvPjKjuKcIZnIELjThuwFI4rCSDBqaCK02E0oz1eqXTP8pUeb1TV21WITDWm/pub https://twitter.com/SruliFruchter/status/1537098109875998720 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html