Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. This week we’re speaking with Max Gross, the author of the award-winning “The Lost Shtetl.” The book came out in October 2020 and we had a great no-spoilers interview with him then that was written by our writer Renee Ghert-Zand. Since then, it’s won a bunch of Jewish book awards.

Podcast host Amanda Borschel-Dan recently read the book and loved it, so we’re having a fresh conversation in which we’re lifting up the curtain and spoiling away.

WARNING: If you intend to read this crazy novel about a shtetl that somehow drops off the face of the Earth and misses the Holocaust, the Cold War, fast-food, consumerism, and the internet revolution, stop now and do not listen to this episode!

Otherwise, you’ll hear Gross answer all sorts of frank questions about this enchanting, sobering book, that had us crying on the final page.

See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. The holiday of Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, is here and one of the major themes surrounding this day that marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai is conversion.

So we’re speaking with Seth Farber, an American-Israeli rabbi and social activist, who is a leading expert in conversion and how it went awry in the Jewish state.

Farber was ordained by Yeshiva University and after moving to Israel, he earned a PhD in Jewish History from Hebrew University. In 2002, Farber founded the organization ITIM (“Passages” in Hebrew), which helps up to 5,000 people a year navigate the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in vital life cycle events. According to Farber, Itim works to build a Jewish and democratic Israel in which all Jews can lead full Jewish lives -- including the increasing numbers of Jews who are not recognized as such by the State of Israel.

Farber is also a founder of Giyur K’Halacha, Israel’s largest non-governmental, Orthodox conversion program, which we'll hear all about.

Illustrative image: A woman converts to Judaism at the Rabbinic Court in Jerusalem on July 21, 2003. (Flash 90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi everyone I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan and welcome to Times Will Tell, a weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week we’re speaking with the Israel Antiquities Authority’s senior researcher Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini about the Nabateans' Incense Road, today a World Heritage Site. We’ll talk about the fall of the Nabatean trade route — possibly due to an epidemic — and other precious commodities in the ancient Holy Land including how globalization influenced antiquity.

For over 20 years, Erickson-Gini was the IAA’s Southern Negev sub-district archaeologist and she has conducted numerous archaeological excavations and surveys in many parts of the Negev and even Petra.

In 2019, Erickson-Gini excavated in a large area south of Ashkelon's Agamim neighborhood where she discovered evidence of wine and garum production from 2000 years ago. We’ll talk about that, too.

Erickson-Gini is also an adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. If you ever have a chance to hear her speak, it’s a thrill.

IMAGE: Tourists visiting Al-Khazneh "the Treasury" in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, November 11, 2016. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the spirit of coexistence during the holy month of Ramadan, we held a special “Behind the Headlines” online discussion exclusively for The Times of Israel Community (join here). This week on our weekly Times Will Tell podcast, we bring you excerpts of the fascinating dialogue. 

In 2019, ToI Editor David Horovitz conducted a fascinating joint interview with Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi and Palestinian scholar Prof. Mohammed Dajani after the publication of Klein Halevi’s book, “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.”

In a rare moment of bi-national solidarity, the two neighbors — one a former Jewish Defense League activist now working for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence; the other a former Fatah member whose academic career was destroyed after he took students to Auschwitz in 2014 — agreed to disagree, and vowed to work together as Dajani developed a doctoral program training journalists and religious leaders in reconciliation and interfaith dialogue.

Almost two years and an international pandemic later, where do the two neighbors stand now? And what can they tell us that may offer a truly viable model for resolving the broader conflict?

IMAGE: Prof. Mohammed Dajani (left) and Yossi Klein Halevi at The Times of Israel's office in Jerusalem, May 2019 (ToI staff)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi everyone, this is Amanda Borschel-Dan and welcome to Times Will Tell, a weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. In honor of this week’s April 20 "4-20 Day" — the day which marijuana enthusiasts have adopted to raise awareness for the causes of cannabis legalization and medical marijuana — we’re speaking with Saul Kaye who is a mover and shaker in Israel’s cannabis legalization and technology drive.

Kaye was trained as a conventional pharmacist prior to moving to Israel in the 1990s and establishing a pharmacy in Jerusalem. But around a decade ago, he began opening his mind to the use of medical marijuana when a severely ill friend had exhausted all other options.

Now he is the CEO of CannaTech and ICan, two Israel-based initiatives working on medical marijuana efforts.

We speak about how the brains and brawn of StartUp Nation are still largely untapped, and so is the some $1 billion potential economic boost that deregulation could provide.

After our conversation with Saul, we will hear a special report from Dubai brought to us by The Times of Israel’s Ops and Blogs editor Miriam Herschlag. It was first broadcast on TLV1’s Promised Podcast.

Illustrative image: A worker tends to cannabis plants at a growing facility for the Tikun Olam company near the northern city of Safed August 31, 2010. (Abir Sultan/Flash 90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To mark Israel's Independence Day on Thursday, The Times of Israel's weekly podcast, Times Will Tell, is concentrating on the troubling new trend of anti-Zionism among young Diaspora Jews and we're speaking with author and educator Ben. M. Freeman, whose new book, “Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People” explores how progressive society has turned Zionism into a form of racism.

But all is not lost: In his new book, Freeman also offers ways in which Jews can remain liberally minded and reclaim Israel and their Jewish pride for themselves.

"I believe very fundamentally that it is not possible to be anti-Zionist and to be proudly Jewish. I think that it is just not possible because I see anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism, a form of anti-Jewish racism," Freeman tells The Times of Israel.

Glasgow-born Freeman, 34, is an educator based in Hong Kong who was inspired to found a "Jewish Pride movement" by his personal experiences in coming out of the closet and claiming for himself LGBTQ+ pride.

In addition to personal anecdotes and self-help encouragement, the book is an informative dive into the history of anti-Semitism. Spoiler, it began well before the advent of Christianity.

He discusses how Jews in many eras, including our own, have internalized this pervasive systemic anti-Semitism, to the detriment of themselves and the Jewish people as a whole as whole communities assimilate based on the myths and biases of anti-Jewish racism.

Likewise, we speak about the racial labeling of Jews and the concept of "light-skinned Jews who pass as White" versus "White Jews." It's not as clear-cut as it sounds. Finally, he gives encouragement for seeding the Jewish Pride movement throughout the Diaspora and spotlights a rainbow collection of seven young activists who have taken up the gauntlet.

The Times of Israel podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel. This week, in honor of Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, we’re speaking with Dr. Liat Steir-Livny, who is a senior lecturer in Holocaust, film and culture studies at Sapir Academic College and the Open University.

Steir-Livny, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, is the author of five books and innumerable articles on the Holocaust in contemporary popular culture, including "Is it O.K to Laugh about it? "(Vallentine Mitchell, 2017), which analyzes Holocaust humor, satire and parody in Israeli culture.

We speak about the rampant use of Holocaust humor that has proliferated over the past 20 years in Israel, why it is flourishing and what it symbolizes.

Whereas Israelis have accepted Holocaust humor as an integral part of the parlance, Steir-Livny has found that abroad it is still clearly "verboten" and like "poking the bear."

Steir-Livny has found that the phenomenon is cross-generational and can be found on all media platforms. On Twitter, for example, Steir-Livny has discovered a treasure trove of "humorous" Anne Frank references. Found out what they represent.

We also discuss the increasing trend of the Zikaron Basalon or Remembrance in the Living Room grassroots gatherings and their role today. Spoiler, Steir-Livny credits the program with "saving" Holocaust Remembrance Day.

We also speak about recent headlines calling for Yom Hashoa to be turned into a fast day.

The Times of Israel podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Scene from 'Jojo Rabbit,' a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, adapted from Christine Leunens's 2008 book 'Caging Skies.'

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast of The Times of Israel. This week, just ahead of Passover, we’re speaking about a new Israeli Reform movement prayer book called "Tfillat HaAdam." It combines Jewish traditions with new liturgy that deals with modern issues including pluralism, democracy and women’s rights.

"Tefillat HaAdam" is a compilation of modern Israeli poetry (such as the Hannah Senesh poem that gave the book its title) and literature, alongside traditional blessings and new blessings altogether, such as a communal blessing for one coming out of the closet.

We're speaking with its two editors, Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx and Rabbi Dr. Alona Lisitsa. Both rabbis teach liturgy at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. Rabbi Marx is a 10th generation Jerusalemite, whereas Rabbi Lisitsa was born in Kiev. She is also the first female rabbi in Israel to join a religious council, in Mevasseret Tsiyon in 2012.

We speak about the prayer book, the status of Liberal Judaism in Israel today, and to close, each rabbi will offer up a gem to spice up our Passover seders.

PHOTO: Rabbi Dr. Alona Lisitsa and Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx, the editors of the new Israeli Reform movement prayer book, Tefilat HaAdam. (Omri Stark)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Times Will Tell, The Times of Israel weekly podcast. This week we're speaking with author and scholar James McGrath, a professor in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis.

We'll speak about his new book, “What Jesus Learned From Women,” a project that was spurred by a curious graduate student's question. 

The book is an interesting hybrid of classical historical/theological scholarship and imaginative historical fiction as McGrath works out just how a selection of women influenced Jesus’s thinking. 

His previous books include, "Theology and Science Fiction" and "The Only True God: Monotheism in Early Judaism and Christianity."

IMAGE: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1655 by Johannes Vermeer.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week in honor of International Women’s Day, we're taking up menstruation rights on Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel, and speaking with Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, the co-founder of the advocacy group, Period Equity (https://www.periodequity.org/).

Weiss-Wolf is a lawyer and the vice president and the inaugural women and democracy fellow of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. Her work focuses on gender, politics— and menstruation, including the ongoing campaign to squash the “tampon tax” in all 50 United States.

She speaks about the need for discrete, open-access to menstrual products for all those who need them, including the growing transgender population. For many, the financial burden of purchasing these products presents a dilemma -- food for the family, or a hygienic means of disposing of bodily fluids.

Weiss-Wolf's 2017 book “Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity” is great fun to read and incredibly enlightening. (Spoiler: Walt Disney even had a finger in the period pie.) We have a frank conversation about menstruation and its role -- or lack thereof -- in popular culture. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.