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About Renee Garfinkel

Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, Middle East television commentator and host of The New Books Network’s Van Leer Jerusalem Series on Ideas. Write her at reneeg@vanleer.org.il. She's on Twitter @embracingwisdom. She blogs here.

NBN Episodes hosted by Renee:

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel January 31, 2023

Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World

Arthur Keefer

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Is the search for meaning a luxury of the modern world or have human beings always struggled to find meaning in the human condition – in the face of suffering …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel January 27, 2023

The Aryan Jesus

Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany

Susannah Heschel

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton UP, 2010) documents the process, and relative ease, with which institutions of higher learning and the religious establishment …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 20, 2022

The Political Economy of Organ Transplantation

Where Do Organs Come From?

Hagai Boas

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
This is the story of organ transplantation, told from the organ’s point of view. Organs for transplantations come from two sources: living or post-mortem organ donations. These sources set different …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 5, 2022

The Grieving Brain

The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

Mary-Frances O'Connor

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
For as long as humans have existed, we have struggled when a loved one dies. Poets and playwrights have written about the dark cloak of grief, the deep yearning, how …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel November 22, 2022

Seek and Hide

The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy

Amy Gajda

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Should everyone have privacy in their personal lives? Can privacy exist in a public place? Is there a right to be left alone, even in the United States? The battle …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel October 25, 2022

Sustainable Agriculture in the Global South: A Religious Response to the Global Food Crisis

A Conversation with Rabbi Micha Odenheimer, Founder and Director of Tevel b’Tzedek

Rabbi Micha Odenheimer

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Micha Odenheimer is the founder and director of Tevel B’Zedek, an Israeli NGO that aims to create Israeli and Jewish leadership passionately engaged in Tikkun Olam – fixing the world – locally …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel October 4, 2022

Suicide Prevention: Grassroots Intervention for High-Risk Groups

A Conversation with Hannah Rothstein

Hannah Rothstein

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Suicide has been on the rise in recent years, most frighteningly among young people. Suicide is second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34. Gay, lesbian, and …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel September 19, 2022

Queering Anti-Zionism

Academic Freedom, LGBTQ Intellectuals, and Israel/Palestine Campus Activism

Corinne E. Blackmer

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Why do some scholars sacrifice truth and logic to political ideology and peer acceptance? With courage and intellectual integrity, queer scholar-activist Corinne Blackmer stages a pointed critique of scholars whose …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel August 30, 2022

Minority Of One

The Unchaining of an Arab Mind

Hussein Aboubakr Mansour

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel August 25, 2022

Addressing Hunger, Food Insecurity--Local Solutions to a Global Problem

A Conversation with Joseph Gitler of Leket, Israel’s Largest Food Rescue Organization

Joseph Gitler

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
We live in a time of food paradox. In a world of historically unprecedented abundance, many don’t have enough to eat. Life-limiting obesity coexists with malnutrition - at the same …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel July 15, 2022

The New Science of Narcissism

Understanding One of the Greatest Psychological Challenges of Our Time—and What You Can Do About It

Keith W. Campbell

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
“Narcissism” is truly one of the most important words of our time―ceaselessly discussed in the media, the subject of millions of online search queries, and at the center of serious …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel July 7, 2022

How Religion Evolved

And Why It Endures

Robin Dunbar

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
What is the evolutionary purpose of religion, and are some individuals more inclined than others to be religious? Our species diverged from the great apes six to eight million years …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel June 27, 2022

Culturally Competent Health Care, Equality in Health Care

The Case of Muslims and Jews in the UK

Ben Kasstan

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The health care sector frequently emphasizes “Cultural competence”, an elastic concept that stretches from the simplest recognition of diversity of patient populations, to include policy implications of patients’ overall worldviews …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel June 20, 2022

Professor of Apocalypse

The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes

Jerry Z. Muller

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Genius or Charlatan? This is the story of Jacob Taubes, the controversial Jewish thinker whose tortured path led him into the heart of twentieth-century intellectual life Scion of a distinguished …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel June 6, 2022

Red Carpet

Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy

Erich Schwartzel

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
From trade to technology to military might, competition between the United States and China dominates the foreign policy landscape. But this battle for global influence is also playing out in …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel May 30, 2022

The Israeli Druze Community in Transition

Between Tradition and Modernity

Randa Khair Abbas and Deborah Court

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Randa Khair Abbas and Deborah Court's book The Israeli Druze Community in Transition: Between Tradition and Modernity (Cambridge Scholars, 2021) gives voice to the Israeli Druze through in-depth interviews with 12 …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel April 27, 2022

Ramadan Violence

A Conversation with Ambassador Dore Gold

Dore Gold

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
A hilltop at the heart of Jerusalem, Israel, is known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. It has been the site …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel April 14, 2022

Agnon’s Tales of the Land of Israel

Jeffrey Saks and Shalom Carmy

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
"As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel March 28, 2022

Under Jerusalem

The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City

Andrew Lawler

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City (Doubleday, 2021) takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel March 11, 2022

Islam and Politics

3rd Edition

Peter Mandaville

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Peter Mandaville's Islam and Politics (3rd Edition; Routledge, 2020) is a basic and comprehensive account of political Islam in the contemporary world. It provides a broad introduction to all major aspects of …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel February 25, 2022

Esther

Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile

Erica Brown

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The Biblical Book of Esther reads like a classic fable, a drama of actors who are recognizable archetypes. There is Esther, the beautiful orphan who becomes queen, Ahasuerus, the buffoon …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel February 15, 2022

In Science We Trust?

An insider Conversation with Health Policy Reporter, Fran Kritz

Fran Kritz

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Americans are deeply polarized on many issues, including science and medicine. Where once was widespread agreement, today the differences are sharp: on one hand, posters announce, “I believe in science!” …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel January 31, 2022

The New Librarianship Field Guide

R. David Lankes

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Can libraries be radical positive change agents in their communities? R. David Lenkes offers a guide for librarians who see their profession as a chance to make a positive difference …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel January 11, 2022

State and Religion in Israel

A Philosophical-Legal Inquiry

Gideon Sapir and Daniel Statman

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either.” The relationship between religion and state presents complex challenges to liberal democracies around the world. In …