New Books Network Podcast

Israel Studies June 6, 2023

A Train to Palestine

The Tehran Children, Anders' Army and Their Escape from Stalin's Siberia, 1939-1943

Randy Grigsby

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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In October 1938, eight-year-old Josef Rosenbaum, his mother, and his younger sister set out from Germany on a cruel odyssey, fleeing into eastern Europe along with thousands of other refugees …

Jewish Studies June 4, 2023

Jewish and Romani Families in the Holocaust and its Aftermath

Eliyana R. Adler and Katerina Capková

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Diaries, testimonies and memoirs of the Holocaust often include at least as much on the family as on the individual. Victims of the Nazi regime experienced oppression and made decisions …

Jewish Studies May 30, 2023

The White Terror

Antisemitic and Political Violence in Hungary, 1919-1921

Béla Bodó

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The White Terror was a movement of right-wing militias that for two years actively tracked down, tortured, and murdered members of the Jewish community, as well as former supporters …

British Studies May 30, 2023

Friends of Israel

The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity

Hilary Frances Aked

Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Is there such a thing as “the Israel lobby,” and how powerful is it really? Hilary Frances Aked's book Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity (Verso, 2023) provides a forensically researched …

Biblical Studies May 28, 2023

Armageddon

What the Bible Really Says about the End

Bart D. Ehrman

Hosted by Frances Sacks

A New York Times bestselling Biblical scholar, reveals why our popular understanding of the Apocalypse is all wrong—and why that matters.You’ll find nearly everything the Bible has to say about the …

Jewish Studies May 27, 2023

The Shamama Case

Contesting Citizenship Across the Modern Mediterranean

Jessica M. Marglin

Hosted by Geraldine Gudefin

In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate …

Jewish Studies May 26, 2023

Undesirables

A Holocaust Journey to North Africa

Aomar Boum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not …

Jewish Studies May 25, 2023

A Brilliant Commodity

Diamonds and Jews in a Modern Setting

Saskia Coenen Snyder

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

During the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands of diggers, prospectors, merchants, and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London. The primary …

Jewish Studies May 23, 2023

Great Biblical Commentators

Biographies, Methodologies, and Contributions

Avigail Rock

Hosted by Michael Morales

The vast and vibrant world of biblical commentary has, over the generations, shaped not only our understanding of the Tanakh, but Judaism's worldview and values as well. The biblical commentator …

Jewish Studies May 20, 2023

Flights of Spirit

Elly Gotz

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Today I talked to Elly Gotz, author of the memoir Flights of Spirit (Azrieli Foundation, 2018). Sixteen-year-old Elly Gotz hides with his family in an underground bunker in the Kovno ghetto in …

Jewish Studies May 19, 2023

Romania and the Holocaust

Events, Contexts, Aftermath

Simon Geissbühler

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

From summer 1941 onwards, Romania actively pursued at its own initiative the mass killing of Jews in the territories it controlled. 1941 saw 13,000 Jewish residents of the Romanian city …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel May 17, 2023

Impossible Takes Longer

75 Years After Its Creation, Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founders' Dreams?

Daniel Gordis

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

In 1948, Israel’s founders had much more in mind than the creation of a state. They sought not mere sovereignty but also a “national home for the Jewish people,” where …

Jewish Studies May 11, 2023

Living with the Law

Gender and Community Among the Jews of Medieval Egypt

Oded Zinger

Hosted by Drora Arussy

Living with the Law: Gender and Community Among the Jews of Medieval Egypt (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023) explores the marital disputes of Jews in medieval Islamic Egypt (1000-1250), relating medieval gossip …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel May 10, 2023

Bruno Schulz

An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History

Benjamin Balint

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

The twentieth-century artist Bruno Schulz was born an Austrian, lived as a Pole, and died a Jew. First a citizen of the Habsburg monarchy, he would, without moving, become the …

Jewish Studies May 7, 2023

Peak TV's Unapologetic Jewish Woman

Exploring Jewish Female Representation in Contemporary Television Comedy

Samantha Pickette

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman: Exploring Jewish Female Representation in Contemporary Television Comedy (Lexington Books, 2022), Samantha Pickette analyzes the ways in which contemporary American television is establishing a …

Jewish Studies May 6, 2023

To Know Torah

The Book of Genesis

Ephraim Chamiel

Hosted by Michael Morales

Would you like to learn about the Pentateuch from a Jewish point of view, digging deep into the plain meaning of the Bible's stories and commandments? To Know Torah is an enlightening …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel May 3, 2023

Third-party Peacemakers in Judaism

Text, Theory, and Practice

Daniel Roth

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

In the race to discover real solutions for the conflicts that plague contemporary society, it is essential that we look to precedent. Many of today's conflicts involve ethno-religious tensions that …

Ukrainian Studies April 29, 2023

Babyn Yar

Ukrainian Poets Respond

Research Center Coordinator Ostap Kin

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

In 2021, the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the massacres of Jews at Babyn Yar. The present collection brings together for the first time the responses to the tragic …

Almost Good Catholics April 27, 2023

Remember the Sabbath (with Senator Joe Lieberman)

Keeping God’s Commandment for a Day of Rest

Joseph I. Lieberman

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Today I talked with Senator Joe Lieberman—who ran for Vice President in 2000 with Al Gore, and for President in 2004 in the Democratic primary—about his book, The Gift of …

Jewish Studies April 22, 2023

Beyond the Pale

The Holocaust in the North Caucasus

Crispin Brooks and Kiril Feferman

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Crispin Brooks and Kiril Feferman's edited volume Beyond the Pale: The Holocaust in the North Caucasus (U Rochester Press, 2020) is the first book devoted exclusively to the Holocaust in the North Caucasus …