Tel Aviv Review

Prof. Sander Gilman, who teaches history at Emory University in the United States, is an extremely prolific academic with a vast spectrum of fields of expertise. He discusses his cleverly entitled study, “Aliens vs Predators: Cosmopolitan Jews vs Jewish Nomads.” This episode originally aired March 20, 2015.

Why do we believe? After writing books about the god of Islam and Jesus of Nazareth, religion scholar Reza Aslan takes on the biggest question of all: What does “God” mean, anyway? Aslan comes to the surprising answer that God looks a lot like humans. Does this make him a deep believer or an atheist? Is God everywhere or nowhere? Find out in this interview about his latest book, “God: A Human History.” 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. Find the extra segment for this episode at: patreon.com/telavivreview

Dr. Erica Weiss, Tel Aviv University anthropologist and author of “Conscientious Objectors in Israel: Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty”, tackles the concept of conscientious objection in Israel – a democratic society that honors the freedom of conscience while fighting for its survival. This episode originally aired March 15, 2015.

Dr Martina Weisz, a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, discusses the place of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese colonial project, which started immediately after the momentous expulsion of the Jews from these countries, in the late 15th century.   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. Eran Shalev of the Department of General History at the University of Haifa, author of American Zion: The Old Testament as Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War, traces the theological and ideological origins of the special relationship between Israel and America. This episode originally aired March 7th, 2015.

Prof. Uriya Shavit, the head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and of the Religious Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, discusses his new book Scientific and Political Freedom in Islam: A Critical Reading of the Modernist-Apologetic School, which explores Islamic theologians' efforts to harmonize religion, science and modern systems of government. 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. Laura Schor, a historian at Hunter College in New York and author of The Best School in Jerusalem: Annie Landau’s School for Girls 1900-1960, discusses with host Gilad Halpern the extraordinary character of Annie Landau, a British ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who was a high-profile public figure in Jerusalem during one of its most tumultuous periods. This episode originally aired March 6, 2015.

Prof. Daphna Hacker, an associate professor of law and gender studies at Tel Aviv University, discusses her new book Legalized Families in the Era of Bordered Globalization, which explores a phenomenon that is as understudied as it is widespread. 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. Sarab Abu Rabia-Queder, a researcher at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University, specializes in the impact of higher education on Bedouin women. Herself of Bedouin origin and an activist for Bedouin rights, she talks to host Gilad Halpern about the nomadic people who live mainly in the south of Israel, and how they straddle the line between tradition and modernity, and between their Arab identity and the State of Israel. This episode originally aired Feb. 27, 2015.

Dr Michal Kravel Tovi, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, discusses her new book When the State Winks: The Performance of Jewish Conversions in Israel, an ethnographic account of the arduous conversion process female migrants from the former USSR choose to undergo in the hope that it would accelerate their integration into Israeli society. 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. Danna Piroyansky, author of Ramle Remade: The Israelization of an Arab Town 1948-1967, discusses the very Israeli concept of ‘mixed cities’ – the result of government-sanctioned mixing of Jewish and Arab populations. How did it come about in Ramle, a town in the south-eastern coastal plain that was 100 percent Arab Palestinian up until the 1948 War of Independence, and was subsequently populated with Jewish immigrants? This episode originally aired Feb. 21, 2015.

Dr. Leon Wiener Dow, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, discusses his new book, The Going: A Meditation on Jewish Law, an autobiographical and theological exploration of the relationship between God, law prayer, practice and community in Jewish law. Check out the extra segment for this episode on patreon.com/telavivreview 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.

This episode originally aired on Feb. 20, 2015. Dr. Jonathan Rubin, a historian of the Medieval Levant at Tel Aviv University, specializes in the production of knowledge in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th and 13th centuries. He talks to host Gilad Halpern about how the Crusaders' encounters with local societies - beyond the initial indignation - led to theological, economic, and scientific developments.

With a severe humanitarian and economic crisis, another Gaza war could well be on its way. But Gaza is not only the packed, imprisoned and impoverished strip of misery. It is a place where high school students learn Shakespeare, whose residents have been to hell and kept their pride. Why isn't it a Singapore by the sea, and is there any hope or route to improvement? Veteran journalist Donald Macintyre brings years of firsthand reporting to his deeply informative and equally colorful book Gaza: Preparing for Dawn. 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.

This episode originally aired Feb. 13, 2015 Dr. Ephraim Chamiel, a lecturer and scholar of Jewish thought in the modern era, explains who were the Jewish philosophers who sought to harmonize modernity and tradition. His book, "The Middle Way: The Emergence of Modern Religious Trends in Nineteenth-Century Judaism," is available in English.

Michael Broyde, professor of law at Emory University and former rabbinical judge, discusses the constitutional, legal and societal implications of track two arbitration in the contemporary United States, which are the topic of his new book Sharia Tribunals, Rabbinical Courts and Christian Panels: Religious Arbitration in America and the West. This episode comes with bonus material for patrons only: www.patreon.com/telavivreview 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.

This episode originally aired Feb. 6, 2015 Prof. Anita Shapira, one of Israel's most eminent historians of Zionism, discusses her biography of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding prime minister.

Rise and Kill First reveals Israel's deadliest secrets. The history of targeted assassinations precedes the establishment of the state and continues to the present. Israel has killed terrorists, political figures, nuclear scientists, former Nazis and a UN negotiator; questions still swirl around the death of Arafat. When does Israel strike, and when does it abort a mission? Ronen Bergman's exposé obtains material never before released, and he talks with people who never talk. Here he discusses why and how Israel imposes the death penalty outside of any courtroom, based entirely on its own rules. 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.

This episode originally aired on Jan 31, 2015. Dr. Oren Meyers of the Department of Communications at the University of Haifa, co-author, together with Eyal Zandberg and Motti Neiger, of Communicating Awe: Media Memory and Holocaust Commemoration, analyzes with host Gilad Halpern the disproportionate role Holocaust-related imagery plays in the Israeli media debate. 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.

Liat Maggid-Alon, a historian of the modern Middle East at Kibbutzim College and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, discusses a paper she recently presented at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, focusing on the newly emerged stratum of upper-middle-class Jews in early-to-mid 20th century Egypt. The Egyptian-Jewish bourgeoisie serves as an ideal case study to explore how modernity, religion, nationalism and minority politics intermingled. Receive extra segments, book discounts, and other patron-only perks by supporting the show on Patreon. Click to find out how a handful of dollars a month can help. 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.