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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish world — right now. Eleven years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his much-quoted "Iranian nuclear duck" speech at AIPAC warning against United States plans for a nuclear deal. Fast forward to today and we hear reports that the United States is now looking for a “less for less” deal to stave off that Iranian duck’s final launch. This week alone, Iran made international headlines as it claimed it had developed a hypersonic missile capable of traveling at 15 times the speed of sound. We were likewise told that Iran will head a naval alliance in cooperation with other Gulf states. And we heard that Iran is set to reopen its embassy in Saudi Arabia. There are new truces in the region and a re-embrace of Syria in the Arab League. And that’s just the beginning. This week, Dr. Jonathan Spyer, the director of research at the Middle East Forum and editor of Middle East Quarterly, gives us a whirlwind tour of the new alliances threading through a tangled region. A freelance security analyst for Janes Information Group and a columnist at the Jerusalem Post, Spyer is also an on-the-ground journalist who has entered Syria, Lebanon and Iraq numerous times and is the author of the 2018 book “Days of the Fall: A Reporter's Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars.” And so this week of increased news out of Iran, we ask Jonathan Spyer, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Dr. Jonathan Spyer on a reporting trip in Mosul, Iraq, September 2017. (courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish world — right now. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened his cabinet meeting with an announcement that his government will draft a decision to establish a new ministerial committee -- that he will head. In his remarks, Netanyahu stated, “The fight against the cost of living tops our government's list of national priorities. We will take determined and strong action to lower prices in all areas." Our What Matters Now guest this week points out that this new Netanyahu-led committee is perhaps the fifth such task force the government has established to study the cost of living since 2011. But lawyer and "people’s lobbyist" Rachel Gur is ready to take up the fight to lower Israel's outlandishly inflated prices. Gur moved to Israel from the United States at age 17 and served in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. After demobbing, she earned an L.L.B. and B.A. in political science from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and an L.L.M in Legal Theory from New York University Law School. (She also married The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.) Like any reputable lobbyist, she knows how to walk the halls of power: From 2011 until a few years ago, Gur served in senior positions in the Israeli government. Today the Director of Public Policy for Lobby 99, Gur is an expert in the fields of Israeli legislation, regulation, and public policy. But what makes Lobby 99 different from other pressure groups is that we, the people, set the agenda. This week, as the cost of living is again on the cabinet’s agenda, we ask Rachel Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Rachel Gur, Director of Public Policy for Lobby 99. (courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. This week, Jews all over the world will mark the holiday of Shavuot by reading from the Book of Ruth. In this biblical tale, disaster and famine strike and an elderly widow called Naomi loses her two sons. Childless, she tells her daughters-in-law to return to their parents’ homes in Moab and says that she will make her own way back to her family in Bethlehem. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, regretfully leaves. The other, Ruth, says the famous lines, “Where you go I will go, and where you slumber I will slumber. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” And with that, she joins the People of Israel and eventually becomes the ancestor of the much-heralded King David. The Book of Ruth was written about 2,500 years ago. However, argues our guest this week, it couldn’t be more relevant today as a model of “creative halacha.” Israel Prize-winning Bible scholar Prof. Yair Zakovitch joined The Times of Israel this week in his Hebrew University book-lined office to discuss the societal context of the Book of Ruth and the halachic “problems” it solves. The author of best-selling works on the Bible was born in the pluralistic northern city of Haifa in 1945 and joined the faculty of Hebrew University in 1978. When awarded the Israel Prize for Bible in 2021, then Education Minister Yoav Gallant said, "Yair Zakovitch is one of the most original Bible researchers in the country and the world." To bring the Bible to the next generation, Zakovtich helped found the Hebrew University's Revivim program, a prestigious teacher-training program for outstanding university students, who sign on to teach in state schools post-graduation. In our in-depth conversation on the Book of Ruth, we hear how the scroll's author — in opposition to the writers of the contemporary prophets — offers a scripture of compassion in solving that era's challenge with intermarriage. We also hear about today’s rampant biblical illiteracy and why it is immensely important for secular Israelis to readopt the Bible for themselves. This Shavuot week, we ask Prof. Yair Zakovitch, What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Prof. Yair Zakovitch in his Hebrew University of Jerusalem office, May 23, 2023. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. On Thursday this week, tens of thousands of marchers -- including several government ministers and MKs -- marked the 1967 reunification of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty with participation in the annual Flag March. While most of the masses sang, danced, and yes, caused a ruckus through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, much like every year in the recent past, at times parts of the mostly under-30, largely male crowd acted like a tinderbox eager for a spark. What was different this year is a group of left-wing activists blocked a main artery from the West Bank bloc of Gush Etzion to prevent marchers from reaching the capital. Perhaps taking a page out of the judicial overhaul protests, they stood with massive banners, chanting, "Fascism will not pass; the marchers will not pass." This push-pull political situation in Israel is the stuff scholars of contemporary history dream of. And for Dr. Sara Hirschhorn, an American historian and public intellectual who focuses on the Israeli ultranationalist movement, a research visit to the Holy Land couldn’t have been better timed. Hirschhorn is currently an inaugural fellow at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center for Antisemitism Research and an instructor in Jewish and Israel Studies at Rutgers University. In addition to her research into Israeli extremism, she also focuses on Diaspora-Israel relations and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Her first, award-winning book, "City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement" (Harvard, 2017) will soon be followed up on with an in-progress manuscript entitled "New Day in Babylon and Jerusalem: Zionism, Jewish Power, and Identity Politics Since 1967."We sat together this week and in our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the increasing extremist symbolism of the Jerusalem Day Flag March. We also drill down on how Israel’s far-right parties are now considered mainstream as part of the Knesset coalition. And, we discuss how by simply envisioning what the world could look like the day after peace breaks out, we may actually get there. This week we ask Dr. Sara Hirschhorn, What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Dr. Sara Hirschhorn in the Nomi Studios in Jerusalem. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. Israel stands unified this week as hundreds of Gaza rockets rain on the country. Unusually of late, even Israel’s political echelon has put aside its differences to stand together during the IDF’s Operation Shield and Arrow. That’s really good news for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose own coalition has increasingly taken to covert -- and overt -- threats against the stability of his government. But even after this conflict with Palestinian Islamic Jihad is put to rest, Netanyahu still has a battle on his hands: He must pass the budget or, as mandated by law, see his government topple. When the budget does pass, and most think it will, only then will we see where the prime minister really stands on hot-button issues such as the judicial overhaul legislation package, according to senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur, our guest this week. “One of the terrible costs Netanyahu will pay for suddenly being in control again, for being in a position where his own coalition partners can’t topple him and demand from him everything they want and embarrass him, shatter his popularity and just destroy everything for him, is that the buck stops with him,” said Rettig Gur on Wednesday. We sat down during a pocket of tense calm, just before the rain of rockets began. In our in-depth conversation, we speak about how Israeli leadership fares under rocket fire — for better and worse. We then turn to Netanyahu’s next operation, the budget, which has a fast-approaching expiration date of May 31. In this week of rare political and national unity, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Times of Israel senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur at Jerusalem's Nomi Studios, May 10, 2023. (Jamal Risheq/Israel Story)   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. The Knesset reconvened this week and anti-judicial overhaul protestors ramped up their demonstrations with Thursday’s nationwide Day of Disruptions. While these protests were going on nationwide, a panel appearing on Israel’s Channel 14 talked about the upcoming protest outside former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak’s house that night. Barak, the panel agreed, is the puppet master who is pulling all the strings in the anti-judicial overhaul movement. He is to blame for the mess the country is in and only if Barak agrees to the reform, they said, will all protests stop. Even as Fox News captures headlines throughout the world for skewed coverage, Israel’s version, Channel 14, is slowly capturing an increasingly larger audience. So, I sat down this week with Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren to make sense of Israel's Hebrew-language media map. A three-decade veteran of Israeli journalism, Goren started out as an investigative reporter at the Ha'aretz group, moved on to become the news and magazine editor at Yedioth Aharonot and then editor-in-chief of Ma'ariv's website. Goren also crossed into the tech world, developing and maintaining dozens of media websites -- including The Times of Israel and Zman Israel, where she is also the editor-in-chief since its foundation. Now celebrating four years, Zman Israel, The Times of Israel's sister Hebrew website, covers politics, economy, environment, diplomacy and the rule of law. With a staff of highly experienced journalists, the current affairs website focuses on investigative reporting, exclusive news and in-depth analysis. In our in-depth discussion -- recorded on World Press Freedom Day -- Goren explains the lay of the land in Israel's Hebrew-language media and suggests that all of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three ongoing court cases are tied to its control. In this week of dueling narratives, we ask veteran journalist Biranit Goren, What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren at an event celebrating ToI's 10th anniversary, May 1, 2022. (Ariel Jerozolimski) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf announced Wednesday that he will advance legislation to make Zionism a “guiding and crucial value” in government decision-making. But what exactly is Zionism? In this week of Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen and Independence Day, we invited Prof. Gil Troy to The Times of Israel’s Jerusalem office to discuss the nationalist movement's ever-shifting role in the Jewish world. Among his other scholarly pursuits, the American historian has written several books on Zionism, including 2018's "The Zionist Ideas; Visions for the Jewish Homeland — Then, Now, Tomorrow," and is currently re-releasing early Zionist thinkers’ works. During our conversation, Troy speaks about "coming out of the closet" as a Zionist after many years on faculty at McGill University in Montreal. We speak about the changing definitions of Zionism, past, present and future, including the increasing lack of Zionism and pro-Israel support among Diaspora Jews. In a Zionist emotional roller coaster of a week, we ask Gil Troy, What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: McGill University History Prof. Gil Troy in The Times of Israel's office, April 25, 2023. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/ToI) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. This episode is being published during a uniquely Israeli window of time that occurs between Yom Hashoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day — and Yom Hazikaron — our Memorial Day for fallen soldiers. This is a liminal space naturally inhabited by our What Matters Now guest this week, former director general of the Justice Ministry Emi Palmor. A specialist in international human rights and government policy, she is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and — when not lecturing at law schools and leadership programs, or concentrating on her part-time work on the Facebook Oversight Board — she is also the volunteer head of Natal, an apolitical nonprofit organization that specializes in the field of war and terror-related trauma. This week, headlines were again made about looming judicial overhaul legislation, this time, regarding a potential legal counsel bill that would make ministry legal advisors a discretionary role in ministries. As she is a 24-year veteran of the Justice Ministry, six of which she spent as its director general under several ministers from different parties, we, ask Emi Palmor, What Matters Now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Former Justice Ministry director-general Emi Palmor is now a member of the select Meta Oversight Board and head of the nonprofit PTSD organization Natal. (courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. This week, like every week, antisemitism has captured media headlines around the world, ranging from "'Death to the Jews' chants heard at Berlin rally" to "Bone-chilling antisemitic display in Poland sparks condemnation."  These modern iterations of antisemitism are, of course, of concern to Israel’s national Holocaust memorial museum Yad Vashem. But it was yet another headline this week that caused Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan to speak out, "'Polish propaganda': Critics assail deal to resume Israeli youth trips to Poland." As a guardian against the distortion of Holocaust memory, in the past year, the Buenos Aires-born Dayan, a former head of the settler movement and a past Consul General of New York, has spoken up in several other cases, including when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made comments this summer that evoked Nazi ideology. Speaking with The Times of Israel on Thursday, Dayan says, he sees results. This week, days before Israel marks Yom Hashoah, the national Holocaust memorial day we ask Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Dani Dayan in the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem (Alex Kolomoisky) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — except this week. Ahead of Passover, as some Jews all over the world change sets of dishes, blowtorch their stoves and, of course, cover every last counter and corner with aluminum foil, we wonder: when did the practice of this crazy religion get its start? So I invited Ariel University's head of the Institute of Archaeology Prof. Yonatan Adler to our Jerusalem office to speak about his new book, “The Origins of Judaism.” In our lengthy conversation, we hear how he treats the origins of the practice of Judaism as an archaeological excavation, working backward in time to gather physical and textual proof of the observance of the laws and commandments charted out in the Torah. This is a topic that has engaged Adler for well over a decade -- including his doctoral research for "The Archaeology of Purity" -- and he continues to explore it through his Origins of Judaism Project. Adler, who obtained rabbinical ordination through the Israeli chief rabbinate in 2001, treats this question through a scientific assemblage of data points collected throughout the centuries and the guiding archaeological principle that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." While Adler hasn’t yet found evidence for foil-covered kitchen counters, at the end of our discussion he does speak about the earliest evidence for the observance of Passover, and that matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. Image: Ariel University's Dr. Yonatan Adler. (courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. Suddenly, about three months ago when Justice Minister Yariv presented the judicial overhaul package, it seemed like everyone in Israel's pro-reform camp began speaking about Canada as a justification for the coalition's controversial bills. That made this week’s What Matters Now guest, former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, take notice. Cotler joined me at The Times of Israel's Jerusalem offices this week to discuss how the use of Canada as an example in support of the judicial overhaul package is basically "fake news." The veteran human rights lawyer discusses how Canada worked through its own constitutional crisis in the 1980s, how Israel is setting itself up for trouble with the International Court of Justice and his fervent hope that the Jewish state will reach 75 with a consensual, ratified People’s Constitution. In a week in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis spontaneously took to the streets to vote against the judicial overhaul with their feet, find out What Matters Now to international legal authority Irwin Cotler. What Matters Now 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 What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. On Thursday, Israelis watched as Shikma Bressler, a world-renowned physicist, was arrested during the nationwide “Day of Paralysis,” a day of ramped-up civil protests against the government's judicial overhaul. Bressler, who is also one of the top leaders of the grassroots protests against the widespread changes to the judiciary, was dragged toward a police car as bystanders shouted, "shame, shame, shame." Following Bressler's short detainment, social media lit up with the news and, among other responses, Labor leader MK Merav Michaeli tweeted, “In a normal country Shikma Bressler would be given the Israel Prize.” I met with Bressler, 42, at her Weizman Institute office in Rehovot on Wednesday this week to hear how the scientist, a co-founder of the Black Flags protest movement and head of a collaborative project with CERN, originally activated her activist gene. We hear what she sees as the next steps in stepping up civil disobedience, even as she believes we're already in a form of a civil war. With her mild, almost professorial manner, she explained that Israel is quickly nearing the point of no return. That things are much worse than most international observers can imagine. During our lengthy conversation, Bressler also laughingly told me that three years ago in her initial protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she coined the chant “De-mo-crat-ya.” This week, we ask Dr. Shikma Bressler, What Matters Now? IMAGE: Physicist Dr. Shikma Bressler, co-founder of the Black Flag protest movement. (Eldad Rafaeli, Photoactive) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. Wednesday night on primetime news, Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented his long-awaited "People’s Framework," a platform meant to be the basis for working toward a compromise on the judicial overhaul. A few hours later, the platform was rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and judicial overhaul legislation continues apace. This week on What Matters Now, we learn how the new legislation could affect issues of religion and state. We hear from attorney and Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, the head of Hiddush: For Religious Freedom and Democracy, which describes itself as "a non-denominational, non-partisan Israel-Diaspora partnership uniting people across political and religious spectrums." Before founding Hiddush 12 years ago, Regev served as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a global umbrella organization of the Progressive, Reform, Liberal and Reconstructionist movements, and was the founding chair and executive director and legal counsel of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). Prophetically, back in 2015, Regev told The Times of Israel -- after facing off and winning a Supreme Court case against the future MK Simcha Rothman, the author of much of the judicial overhaul --  “it starts and ends with people fighting for the Declaration of Independence.” This week, we hear What Matters Now to religious rights activist Uri Regev. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. Image: Attorney and Reform Rabbi Uri Regev (far right), head of Hiddush: For Religious Freedom and Equality, in the Israeli Supreme Court. (Courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. As Israel celebrated Purim this week, putting on costumes and trading sweet treats with neighbors and friends, we took a brief, humorous break to speak with Benji Lovitt and Joel Chasnoff, comics, educators and speakers who recently launched a new book, “Israel 201, Your Next-Level Guide to the Magic, Mystery and Chaos! of Life in the Holy Land," written to mark Israel’s 75 years of existence. “Israel 201” (Gefen Publishing) is Chasnoff’s fourth book, and Lovitt’s first, and the 265-page book is an ode to life in Israel, with all its ironic, annoying and heartwarming aspects. It's a comic -- at times -- and in-depth primer to some daily aspects of life in Israel that are rarely discussed in book form. And as Israel grapples with the vagaries of the planned judicial overhaul, a new government and its 75th birthday, we talk about their path to this manuscript and What Matters Now. What Matters Now 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 What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. On Wednesday, stun grenades, tear gas, water cannons and horse-mounted police were deployed against Israelis protesting the judicial overhaul. Images of a wall of citizens of all ages holding Israeli flags, standing defiantly opposite a line of mounted armed law enforcement headlined Israeli media and were seen all over the world. These images are galvanizing, and to many, terrifyingly indicative of what will follow once the government’s reforms are passed. Because despite the massive protests, according to many experts including The Times of Israel’s senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur, they’re sure to go through. This became more clear when, on Wednesday night, Israelis who had seen liberal Tel Aviv in turmoil that day, tuned in to primetime news at 8 p.m. to see whether this increased violence and chaos on the streets was a watershed moment. Would it prompt Prime Minister Netanyahu to slow down the judicial overhaul that was rocketing ahead through the Knesset even as tear gas was deployed on Israeli citizens? Netanyahu, like a father chiding his miscreant children, compared the anti-overhaul protestors, who are stopping traffic and disrupting the nation, to those rampaging Israelis who had torched the Arab village of Huwara on Sunday night. Netanyahu is clearly determined to charge ahead with the overhaul package — even while parts of Israel are burning. So this week, we ask Rettig Gur, how did we get here and What Matters Now? What Matters Now 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 What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. A year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is Israel maintaining its policy of neutrality? Is the Russian presence in Syria still a good enough reason for the Jewish state to decline underdog Ukraine’s repeated requests of anti-missile defense systems? To find out answers to these questions, I turned to Middle East and Russo-Ukraine expert, Ksenia Svetlova. Svetlova immigrated to Israel from Moscow at age 14. Later, as a fluent Arabic-speaking journalist, for years she was able to use her Russian passport to report from areas most Israelis will never see in the Middle East. In 2015, she renounced that Russian passport and stepped away from journalism to join the Knesset in the Zionist Union party, headed by Tsipi Livni. Svetlova served there until 2019. This week, a year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I made Svetlova a cup of hot tea in Jerusalem and I found out What Matters Now ahead of a new phase of the war in Ukraine-- and the legal battlefield here in Israel. Tune in to the podcast episode to hear diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman weigh in on Svetlova's statements. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. Image: Ksenia Svetlova in the West Bank (courtesy) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. On Monday, tens of thousands of Israelis took a day off work to protest outside the Knesset against the proposed judicial overhaul that was -- at the very same time -- being discussed at a stormy session of the Constitutional Committee inside. The crowd was a sea of blue and white Israeli flags. Mostly secular, they sang, shouted, laughed and cried together against the bills that were, despite all their raucous energy, indeed passed for preliminary readings. Many in Israel who support the judicial overhaul say that by adopting practices from other countries’ judicial systems, they are bringing the country in line with the standards of the international community. Many who oppose the legislation do agree to a need for reform, but say they are frightened that in cherry-picking from around the globe -- an override clause from Canada, a law from Norway and elements from the United States -- we will be headed toward a “Frankenstate.” In 2013, Princeton University Prof. Kim Lane Scheppele coined the visceral term in her article, "Not Your Father’s Authoritarianism: The Creation of the "Frankenstate.'" In that essay, she writes, “A Frankenstate is an abusive form of rule, created by combining the bits and pieces of perfectly reasonable democratic institutions in monstrous ways, much as Frankenstein’s monster was created from bits and pieces of other living things. No one part is objectionable; the horror emerges from the combinations.” This week, I made my way to the heart of old Jerusalem to the Israel Democracy Institute where I asked IDI vice president Suzie Navot, professor of Constitutional Law, what could happen if other legal systems are grafted on Israel’s judiciary. Born in Uruguay, Navot made aliya to Israel at age 14. A polyglot, she has taught at the Sorbonne as a visiting professor as well as on the faculties of the Striks Faculty of Law at the College of Management and the National Security College in Israel. Navot specializes in constitutional law, law of institutions, parliamentary law and comparative constitutional law, which gives her unique insight into what could happen if indeed this global mosaic of legislation does pass. After this tempestuous week, we hear What Matters Now to leading Israeli legal expert, Prof. Suzie Navot. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute Prof. Suzie Navot at the IDI, December 2022. (Michal Fattal/IDI) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to our second episode of What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. In a rare moment of agreement, Israeli media from all sides of the political spectrum is closely following the proposed legislation for judicial overhauls — some of which will have their first preliminary votes early next week. And while almost everyone seems to agree that there is a need for a judicial overhaul, many ask, why so extreme and why so fast? For weeks we've reported on protests in the street, sharp rebukes from legal experts, and businessmen threatening to take their money elsewhere. The President of Israel Isaac Herzog waded in and asked legislators for a pause for reconsideration and potential compromise. But one who doesn't think the overhaul is all that radical is the Member of Knesset who wrote the bills that are being determinedly pushed through, Simcha Rothman from the Religious Zionism party. For the past decade, Rothman, a lawyer by training, has worked towards this legislation through his advocacy work at Meshilut, the Movement for Governability and Democracy. A fixture in the halls of the Knesset, Rothman has written books and lobbied for what he terms a stronger democracy -- through a rebalancing of power from the Supreme Court to the Knesset. A member of Knesset since 2021, Rothman is clearly one of the most driven lawmakers in the new coalition. As the chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, he is fast-tracking these first points of reform, which include judicial appointments, curbing the Supreme Court’s test of reasonability, a slim override clause and severely limiting the High Court of Justice’s ability to strike down Basic Laws. This week, days before a first vote on Monday for two proposals, I made my way through the labyrinth of the Knesset to speak with Rothman and hear why these reforms, and why so quickly. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: MK Simcha Rothman gives his first remarks at the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem, August 3, 2021. (Noam Moskovitch/Knesset Spokesman) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to our inaugural episode of What Matters Now, a new weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World -- right now. Now, I don't know about you, but even for newshounds like me, sometimes the 24/7 headline barrage zooms by so fast that I feel like I don't catch all the nuance. There are so many hot-button issues that understanding the arguments for and against them feels like a Herculean task. So each week, we'll sit for an in-depth conversation and find out what matters now to one journalist, thinker or newsmaker. For this first episode, I turned to philosopher and author Dr. Micah Goodman. While his books are read by the country's leaders, he's made a career of explaining Israel and all her nuances -- even to Israelis themselves. Goodman is the author of the best-selling "Catch-67," as well as "The Wondering Jew" and several surprising bestsellers on canonical Jewish texts, including works on Maimonides. For this perplexed journalist, understanding this moment in Israel meant having tea with my friendly neighborhood philosopher. What Matters Now 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.

This week on Times Will Tell, host Amanda Borschel-Dan takes you with her to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to view for the first time seven new contemporary art sculptures in an exhibit called Disrupted Layer. The seven pieces were all created by artist Zohar Gotesman, who was inspired by archaeological artifacts from the museum’s collection. They are distributed throughout the archaeology wing, much like stops on a treasure map. As you’ll hear, some pieces blend in more than others. Gotesman and Borschel-Dan were joined by the exhibit's co-curators, Sally Haftel Naveh and Tali Sharvit, whom you’ll also hear during this slightly longer-than-usual podcast in which we tour the exhibit and match first impressions with the artist's real intentions. Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: Curator Tali Sharvit (from left) with artist Zohar Gotesman and co-curator Sally Haftel Naveh clown around next to the first of seven contemporary art sculptures inspired by the Israel Museum's archaeology wing. (Zohar Shemesh)   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.