About Yakir Englander

Dr. Yakir Englander is the National Director of Leadership programs at the Israeli-American Council. He also teaches at the AJR. He can be reached at: Yakir1212englander@gmail.com

NBN Episodes hosted by Yakir:

Adi Wolfson, "I Am Your Father" (Pardes Press, 2019)

December 27, 2023

I Am Your Father

Adi Wolfson
Hosted by Yakir Englander

The poems in the book I Am Your Father (Pardes Press, 2019) were written during a period of great confusion and pain, culminating in the moment when …

Ran Oron, "He Could See a Bird Outside if He Looked Through His Window" (Persimmon Books, 2023)

December 24, 2023

He Could See a Bird Outside if He Looked Through His Window

Ran Oron
Hosted by Yakir Englander

From his home in Connecticut, Ran Oron observed and drew a pair of ospreys, a couple of birds of prey that return each year to the same nest. With…

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF)'s Ethical Code: A Discussion with Noam Zohar

October 24, 2023

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF)'s Ethical Code

Noam J. Zohar
Hosted by Yakir Englander

In the past week, the entire world has been focusing on the murderous attack by the Hamas organization against the State of Israel and Israel's respon…

Yochai Ataria, "Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik: The Map and the Territory" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)

December 5, 2022

Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik

Yochai Ataria
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik: The Map and the Territory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) is about Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik, both Auschwitz survivors and centr…

Shaul Bartal and Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer, "Hamas and Ideology: Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qara?awi on the Jews, Zionism and Israel" (Routledge, 2017)

December 4, 2022

Hamas and Ideology

Shaul Bartal and Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Sheikh Yusūf al- Qaraḍāwī is regarded as the most influential contemporary Muslim religious figure. His best-selling book, Al-Ḥalal wal-Ḥaram fi al-Is…

Fida Jiryis, "The Cage" (Pardes, 2022)

November 24, 2022

The Cage

Fida Jiryis
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Ha-Kluv (The Cage) is a Hebrew anthology of selected short stories by Fida Jiryis, which she originally published in Arabic. The stories speak of the…

Yoav Ashkenazy, "The Death of Transcendence: Reflections on Jean Améry's 'At the Mind's Limits'" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022)

September 23, 2022

The Death of Transcendence

Yoav Ashkenazy
Hosted by Yakir Englander

The Death of Transcendence (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022) presents a clear and compelling close reading and interpretation of the five essays included in …

Tomer Persico, "In God’s Image: The Making of the Modern World" (Yediot Aharonot, 2021)

April 25, 2022

In God’s Image

Tomer Persico
Hosted by Yakir Englander

In God’s Image: The Making of the Modern World (Yediot Aharonot, 2021) examines the central role that the biblical idea of the “image of God” has play…

Sigal Naor Perelman, "Machluta" (Pardes, 2020)

April 19, 2022

Machluta

Sigal Naor Perelman
Hosted by Yakir Englander

This episode is part of a series of recordings I do with artists and scholars from Israel and Palestine. To allow people from the conflict to make the…

Leslie T. Grover, "The Benefits of Eating White Folks" (Jaded Ibis Press, 2022)

March 22, 2022

The Benefits of Eating White Folks

Leslie T. Grover
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Today I talked to Leslie T. Grover about her book The Benefits of Eating White Folks (Jaded Ibis Press, 2022). The Sickness, a disease with unknown o…

Rani Jaeger, "Abraham the Hebrew Believer: Secularism and Religion in the Work of Avraham Shlonsky (1900-1973)"

December 1, 2021

Abraham the Hebrew Believer

Rani Jaeger
Hosted by Yakir Englander

How can it be that deeply religious poetry is being written by a committed socialist, literary revolutionary and modernist? How sacredness appears in …

Andrea Gondos, "Kabbalah in Print: The Study and Popularization of Jewish Mysticism in Early Modernity" (SUNY Press, 2020)

November 4, 2021

Kabbalah in Print

ANDREA GONDOS
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Long before Kabbalah books lined multiple books shelves in bookstores, Jewish educators in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thought of copious…

Mikhael Manekin, "The Dawn of Redemption: Ethics and Tradition in a Time of Power" (Evrit, 2021)

October 13, 2021

The Dawn of Redemption

Mikhael Manekin
Hosted by Yakir Englander

In The Dawn of Redemption: Ethics and Tradition in a Time of Power (Evrit, 2021), Mikhael Manekin argues that modern Jewish nationalism--widespread to…

Oren Ben Yosef, "Beast Without Purpose: On Post-Domestication and Other Monstrous Rules" (Resling, 2019)

October 13, 2021

Beast Without Purpose

Oren Ben Yosef
Hosted by Yakir Englander

The book Beast Without Purpose: On Post-Domestication and Other Monstrous Rules (Resling, 2019) emerges from the idea of an end to human sovereignty o…

Rawya Jarjoura Burbara, "On Wandering Beaches" (Pardes, 2020)

September 23, 2021

On Wandering Beaches

Rawya Jarjoura Burbara
Hosted by Yakir Englander

On Wandering Beaches (Pardes, 2020) is a novel of journeys, a novel of migration that conceals contradictions that summarize a whole world. Along the …

Shachar-Mario Mordechai, "Make Room for the Rain" (Pardes, 2019)

September 22, 2021

Make Room for the Rain

Shahar-Mario Mordechai
Hosted by Yakir Englander

The poet Shachar-Mario Mordechai was born 1975 in Haifa and he currently lives in Tel Aviv. He has published four volumes of poetry, all of which attr…

Shlomit Naim Naor, "The Things We Are Not Talking About" (2020)

September 13, 2021

The Things We Are Not Talking About

Shlomit Naim Naor
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Shlomit Naim Naor’s poetry is a unique voice in Israel. She is inviting the readers to delve deeper and engage in a dialogue with the Jewish religion …

The Small Literary Press: An Interview with Nana Ariel and Uri Yoeli of Home Press (Israel)

September 13, 2021

The Small Literary Press

Nana Ariel and Uri Yoeli
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Home Press is a tiny local publishing house and press in Tel Aviv Jaffa. Uri Yoeli and Nana Ariel, a couple, established it in their apartment in 2019…

Mati Shemoelof, "The Prize" (Pardes Publishing, 2021)

July 19, 2021

The Prize

Mati Shmuelof
Hosted by Yakir Englander

In 2016, the German government announces a new prize for Hebrew writers around the world, the Berlin Prize for Hebrew Literature, which will return th…

Gavin Van Horn and John Hausdoerffer, "Wildness: Relations of People and Place" (U Chicago Press, 2017)

June 16, 2021

Wildness

Gavin Van Horn and John Hausdoerffer
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Whether referring to a place, a nonhuman animal or plant, or a state of mind, wild indicates autonomy and agency, a unique expression of life. Yet two…

Xenia Svetlova, "On Heels in the Middle East" (Pardes Publishing, 2020)

June 16, 2021

On Heels in the Middle East

Xenia Svetlova
Hosted by Yakir Englander

On Heels in the Middle East (Pardes Publishing, 2020) is the first book of Ksenia Svetlova, an Israeli journalist of Russian origin who covered the Mi…

Jeanne Simons and Sabine Oishi, "Behind the Mirror: The Story of a Pioneer in Autism Treatment and Her Work with Children on the Spectrum" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)

June 1, 2021

Behind the Mirror

Jeanne Simons and Sabine Oishi
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Jeanne Simons devoted her career as a social worker and educator to the study, treatment, and care of children with autism. In 1955, she established t…

Stephen Fulder, "What's Beyond Mindfulness? Waking Up to This Precious Life" (Pardes Publishing, 2019)

April 14, 2021

What's Beyond Mindfulness?

Stephen Fulder
Hosted by Yakir Englander

What is the power and significance of mindfulness and similar practices in conflict zones and conflict situations? Does a person need to challenge the…

Alexandra Kemmerer, "Human Dignity in Context" (Nomos/Hart, 2018)

April 12, 2021

Human Dignity in Context

Dieter Grimm, Alexandra Kemmerer, and Christoph Möllers
Hosted by Yakir Englander

Human dignity is the key term that the Universal Declaration on Human Rights placed at the center of legal discourse on a global level. In 1949, Germa…