Perfect Jewish Parents

What does it mean to celebrate Hanukkah when Israel is at war and at a time of rising antisemitism across the globe? Hanukkah is the first Jewish holiday since the tragic attack during Simchat Torah on October 7th. Joshua Ladon and Masua Sagiv welcome Mishael Zion, founder of Kehillat Klausner in Jerusalem and research fellow at Hartman's Kogod Research Center, to explore what stories we are telling our young people and how they differ from last year. 

Source sheet for this episode

Mentioned in this episode:

Sources Article: From Mourning to Resilience: Community Rabbis Face Israel at War

Josh's Brother's Band, Animal Farm

Public discourse about Israel and Gaza is peppered with ideological language. Young people are engaging with a world where complex, academic, and historically significant terms such as Zionism, colonialization, and apartheid have been overly simplified and reduced to polarizing social media memes. Tomer Persico, research fellow at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and Rubenstein fellow at Reichman University, joins hosts Joshua Ladon and Masua Sagiv to help parents, educators, and caregivers better understand the context and rhetoric that young people are navigating so that we can engage in sophisticated, rich conversations with our children and students. 

 

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Tomer's Viral Videos: 

The denial of Jewish humanity is antisemitism 

What's the deal with the anit-Israel left?

As the Israel-Hamas war continues and we grapple with the implications and trauma of October 7, parents, caregivers, and educators are fielding increasingly complex questions from children and students. Hosts Joshua Ladon and Masua Sagiv are joined by Elana Stein Hain, Rosh Beit Midrash and Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and co-host of the award-winning podcast For Heaven's Sake. Together they offer a glimpse into how parents and educators may be thinking through these ethical questions and share some of the Jewish resources and rituals that they turn to for wisdom, comfort, and inspiration.

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The repercussions of the brutal attack by Hamas and ongoing war in Israel weigh heavily on young North American Jews. Online and on campus, some paint recent events in stark black and white, while others demand context and complexity in the face of evil. As Jewish students struggle with grief and pain, they’re exploring their connections to the Jewish people and grappling with how to respond to divergent perspectives, antagonism, or even hate. Tilly Shemer, Hartman's Senior Vice President of Wellspring and a seasoned Hillel professional with over twenty years of campus experience, joins hosts Joshua Ladon and Masua Sagiv to delve into the challenging question: "Are these recent events black and white, or where does the gray begin?"

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The ongoing war with Hamas has flooded our communities with grief, sorrow, and anger. In a series of special episodes, Perfect Jewish Parents hosts Masua Sagiv and Joshua Ladon explore the core questions and values these difficult moments illuminate so that parents, caregivers, and educators can navigate complex conversations with young people and meet this important moment.

This is Perfect Jewish Parents: Israel at War.

In this first episode recorded on October 16, Joshua and Masua respond to the evil of Hamas's attack by asking, "What are the positive values we want to bring to this world and be known for?”

Referred to in this episode:

Sivan Zakai, who recently held an emergency webinar on how to discuss the current war with children, was featured in our previous episode: "How Do We Talk About Israel?"

In our episode "How Do We Respond to Unanswerable Questions?", we talked with Scott Hershkovitz about his recent book, which includes a chapter all about revenge and how to honor this emotional need appropriately.

Yehuda Kurtzer talks about the obligation to bury one's deceased, and how that responsibility affects the global Jewish community at this moment, in his introduction to the Identity/Crisis episode: "A Nation That Can't Sleep"

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What role do books and ritual objects play in cultivating a Jewish home? How do you tell if a Jewish book—for kids or adults—is any good? David Zvi Kalman, Director of New Media for the Shalom Hartman Institute, co-producer of Perfect Jewish Parents, and owner of Print-O-Craft Press joins hosts Joshua Ladon and Masua Sagiv for the final episode of the season. They discuss the idea of “Jewish books" and the nature of play and creativity in Jewish life. Tune in as they take a look back at the inaugural season of Perfect Jewish Parents.

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Does religion play a role in educational achievement and social fulfillment? Ilana M. Horwitz (Ph.D., Stanford University) author of God Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success, joins Perfect Jewish Parents hosts, Masua Sagiv and Joshua Ladon, to reflect on the ways Judaism impacts academic success, the connection between religion and community, and her academic work impacts how she raises her two daughters.

There are different paths to creating and raising a Jewish family and often fertility struggles are hidden and historically stigmatized. Elana Frank, CEO and founder, of the Jewish Fertility Foundation and host of the popular fertility podcast, Fruitful and Multiplying, joins Perfect Jewish Parents hosts, Masua Sagiv and Joshua Ladon, to discuss challenging the standard narrative of how to create a Jewish family as well as her fertility journey.

Israel can be a source of great joy but also the subject of tough conversations that either inflame passions or are so daunting that we avoid them altogether. Scholar, teacher educator, and educational consultant Sivan Zakai, the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, joins hosts Masua Sagiv and Joshua Ladon to explore how and what we can talk about when speaking with our children about Israel.

Feeling a sense of connection to the Jewish people can be a powerful inheritance, and it can spark questions, frustration or disappointment. What does it mean for us to be connected to, and maybe even responsible for, people in other countries who we don’t know and with whom we might not agree?

Tal Becker (Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and Legal Adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) joins Perfect Jewish Parents hosts, Masua Sagiv and Joshua Ladon to talk about the challenges and opportunities of fostering a sense of peoplehood in Jewish children.