#19: Is Israel's Orthodox Monopoly Ending?

#2: The Paradox of Power: Sources for this episode: https://static.hartman.org.il/dev/uploads/2020/07/Elana-Stein-Hain_For-Heavens-Sake-Ep-1_Summer-2020.pdf by For Heaven's Sake

40 min listen

#6: The Israel We Imagine: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss the necessity of yearning for peace and and the courage to imagine the Israel we want to see in the world on this special Rosh Hashanah episode. by For Heaven's Sake

36 min listen

#28: Land of Contradictions: Navigating the Arab-Israeli/Jewish-Israeli Divide: What are we to make of Israel, a country that one moment finds itself caught in a war with Hamas and then just a week later forms a governing coalition with an Arab Islamist party? And what are we to make of Israel's law against Palestinian family reunification within the state of Israel—is this an act of discrimination, or a necessary self-protection against the Palestinian demand of a "right of return?" In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss what it means to live in a country that contains these contradictions and the ways in which religion can help heal the wounds between Muslims and Jews. by For Heaven's Sake

46 min listen

#16: Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs: A New Contract?: The complex relations between Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis are at a turning point. A convergence of events – Corona, the Abraham Accords and Israeli political gridlock – has created an unprecedented opportunity for opening the Israeli mainstream to 20 percent of Israeli citizens on the periphery. Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore the possibility of a new social compact between Israeli Jews and Arabs and what that means for Israel's future. by For Heaven's Sake

30 min listen

#22: We Can Have a Better Jewish Conversation About Iran: The debate around the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was one of the most acrimonious in recent American Jewish history. Since then, much has changed in both America and the Middle East. The Trump administration suspended the deal and reinstituted massive sanctions against Iran; now, the Biden administration seems intent on returning to the deal. In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss how the Jewish community can reopen the debate with greater civility and mutual respect, and explore what Jewish tradition teaches us about navigating our most intractable disagreements. by For Heaven's Sake

42 min listen

#9: The Israeli-Gulf States Peace: What About the Palestinians?: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore what Israel's recent peace treaties with the UAE and Bahrain could mean for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. by For Heaven's Sake

33 min listen

#1: Tolerating the Intolerable: Sources for this episode: https://static.hartman.org.il/dev/uploads/2020/07/Elana-Stein-Hain_For-Heavens-Sake-Ep-1_Summer-2020.pdf by For Heaven's Sake

39 min listen

#11: Healing a Divided Nation: How does one begin to heal a deeply divided society, and is it even possible? Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore bridging political polarization as a civic and Jewish value. by For Heaven's Sake

32 min listen

#3: Israel and its Critics by For Heaven's Sake

35 min listen

#4: Making Peace with Ourselves: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss the normalization of Israel's relationship to the United Arab Emirates and how it informs Bibi's legacy and the ways in which peace can be achieved. by For Heaven's Sake

35 min listen

#14: The Return of the Crisis Narrative: For millennia, the threat of antisemitic persecution has made an acute sense of vulnerability one of the defining features of the Jewish experience. More recently, the stability and belonging--the "at homeness"--that the American Jewish community enjoys has largely supplanted this crisis narrative. Today, rising antisemitism in the United States has North American Jews increasingly defining their existence through a lens of crisis. Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss the impetus and ramifications of this perceptual shift on Jewish identity and Zionism in North America. by For Heaven's Sake

32 min listen

#20: Post-Election Update: Center vs. Right: As the dust settles from Israel's fourth election in two years, the direction of the country's political movements has evolved and changed in ways worthy of reflection and evaluation. In the first part of this special, two-part election series, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi define and discuss Israel's political center and its right wing as two 'tribes' shaping the national discourse. by For Heaven's Sake

30 min listen

#12: Israel and American Jewry Post-Election: An Intractable Divide?: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain examine the political divisions between American and Israeli Jews and discuss whether and how we can move beyond our respective ideological echo chambers towards productive dialogue. by For Heaven's Sake

31 min listen

#13: The Future of Holocaust Memory: Why and how do we, as Jews, remember the Holocaust today? Is "never again" a universal rallying cry against dehumanization, or is it an affirmation of Israel's Jewish sovereignty? In this week's episode, Netanyahu's controversial nomination of Brigadier General Effi Eitam as chairman of Yad Vashem sparks a passionate discussion between Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain about the core lessons of the Holocaust and Judaism's ancient emphasis on remembering evil. by For Heaven's Sake

30 min listen

#10: What Makes a Politician "Pro-Israel?": Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain compare and discuss their understandings of pro-Israel political leadership. by For Heaven's Sake

32 min listen

#7: How Does a Nation Repent?: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore the meaning of national atonement and discuss how they would like to see Israel approach collective repentance on this special Yom Kippur episode. by For Heaven's Sake

35 min listen

#18: Can a Joke Be Dangerous?: When does a joke stop being funny and become offensive and even dangerous? Many in the Jewish community are asking this question after Saturday Night Live comedian Michael Che chided Israel's claim to 50% vaccination success saying, “I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.” In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi and Elana Stein Hain discuss whether Jews are being overly sensitive, or whether we need to recognize that with attention will come criticism, and possibly jokes. by For Heaven's Sake

30 min listen

#19: Is Israel's Orthodox Monopoly Ending?: The decision by Israel’s Supreme Court recognizing Reform and Conservative conversions performed in Israel has reignited attention around issues of state and religion, especially in the eve of what has become a bi-annual national election. In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain analyze this landmark decision - discussed in the Supreme court for over a decade - which recognizes that perpetuating Orthodox authority over issues of personal status violates Israel's legal commitment to human freedom and dignity for all of its citizens, regardless of nationality, religion, ethnic, or sexual identities. by For Heaven's Sake

38 min listen

#21: Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha'atzmaut, and the Space in Between: What is the connection between Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'atzmaut? Why do we mark these Israeli holidays in this order, and what does it feel like to move between them? In this very personal episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss their own experiences of Israel’s “high holidays” and the annual national experience of moving, in the space of a few hours, from a day of mourning to a night of celebration. by For Heaven's Sake

32 min listen

#23: Special Episode: Welcome to the Israeli Rollercoaster: Gaza, going for another round. Riots by Arab Israelis, the burning of synagogues, Jewish and Arab lynch mobs roaming the streets, and the seeming end of hope for a new era of coexistence between Israel's citizens. How did we get here? Where do we go next? In this special episode of the podcast, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain check in with each other and talk about how one can respond to a moment like this. by For Heaven's Sake

41 min listen

#5: Should Israel Accept Diaspora Students During a Pandemic?: In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss the thousands of gap-year students who are this week travelling to Israel to learn, at a time when many American schools have cancelled all in-person classes. by For Heaven's Sake

33 min listen

#8: What the Pandemic Tells Us About Haredim and Jewish Peoplehood: Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain examine the Haredi response to rising Covid-19 cases in Israel and what it reveals about the nature of, and dynamics between, community and peoplehood. by For Heaven's Sake

36 min listen

#29: Is “Apartheid” the New Normal?: The criminalization of Israel is becoming a mainstay for growing parts of the progressive American Jewish discourse. Many liberal American Jews accuse Israel of apartheid, even ethnic cleansing and genocide, against Palestinians. For Jews on the right, there is an ever-growing sentiment that Israel has lost the democratic liberal camp and with it the next generation of American Jews. In the first of two episodes on this topic, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore why the discourse has become so toxic and confront the urgent challenge of a moral, nuanced, and diverse Israel conversation, within and between Israel and North America. by For Heaven's Sake

47 min listen

#17: Israeli Society and the Haredim: A Turning Point?: Anger is growing among Israelis across the political spectrum over Haredi or ultra-Orthodox behavior in response to Corona, with massive disobedience to government health regulations despite soaring Haredi infection rates. But why has Haredi society failed so badly to meet the Corona challenge? What are the conflicting values at the heart of the Haredi dilemma? And what does it mean for the coming elections and, more profoundly, for the future of Israel? In the latest episode of “For Heaven’s Sake,” Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi and Elana Stein Hain unpack one of the most vexing challenges facing Israel. by For Heaven's Sake

29 min listen

#27: The Prime Minister’s Kippah: Almost overlooked in the dramatic political changes of the last two weeks is an historic moment in Israeli history: Naftali Bennett is the first Orthodox prime minister of Israel. Not everyone in the religious Zionist community is thrilled. Some accuse Bennett of betraying religious Zionism through his preference for political pluralism over an exclusively right-wing coalition. In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore how Bennett's so-called betrayal opens up tantalizing questions about the direction of religious Zionism and for Israeli Jewish society as a whole. by For Heaven's Sake

35 min listen

#24: Special Episode: This War is Different: This is not Israel’s first war with Gaza, but this time it feels different. World opinion and American opinion have been more vocal in its criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians, and many Americans, especially on the left, have lost patience with Israel. In today’s special episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain talk about where we go from here, and whether it’s possible for Israel to be a moral voice while it continues to fight asymmetrical wars. by For Heaven's Sake

45 min listen

#37: Hanukkah, Interfaith, and the Israeli Psyche: What happens when an ancient holiday is rebranded for modern audiences? For Israelis, Hanukkah was reinvented as a celebration of Jewish heroism, of our ability to persevere against overwhelming threats, with the Maccabean warrior as the precursor to the IDF. In contrast, in North America Hanukkah has been rebranded as a universal battle against religious suppression, with the Hanukah lights as beacons for interfaith ecumenism and religious tolerance. What does this dichotomy say about the two largest Jewish communities in the world? by For Heaven's Sake

42 min listen

#25: The Return of American Jewish Vulnerability: Of all the concerns about the Jewish future, many of us took at least one aspect of Jewish life for granted: the safety and well-being of American Jewry. But now antisemitism is back at the center of the American Jewish agenda. The recent conflict in Gaza has been the pretext for physical assaults against Jews in New York and Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country. Synagogues have been vandalized. Some American Jews are afraid to display Jewish symbols publicly.In this episode, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain discuss a responsible Jewish approach toward contending with vulnerability and power. by For Heaven's Sake

44 min listen

#42: Responding to Amnesty's Apartheid Report: In this episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi debate the appropriate response to the recent Amnesty International report declaring Israel an Apartheid state. What are the “right” responses after being likened to a Nazi state? Is this the time for a nuanced argument or a time to fight back? Can we acknowledge some legitimacy in the report without accepting the entire denouncement? Who will have to deal with the lingering effects and fallout from this report? Elana Stein Hain joins the discussion to contextualize this challenging moment through the lens and history of Torah, looking at the difference between rebuke and defamation. by For Heaven's Sake

41 min listen

Yom Kippur, 9/11, and the Mistakes of the Past: As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 during the Days of Awe, Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain take stock of how American and Israeli reality has been shaped by the tragedy and the wars that followed. Yom Kippur is a summons to examine our mistakes and begin anew. What were the missteps after 9/11 that all of us, regardless of our politics, need to examine together? by For Heaven's Sake

37 min listen

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#19: Is Israel's Orthodox Monopoly Ending?

#19: Is Israel's Orthodox Monopoly Ending?

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