Yossi Klein Halevi

However, I do feel confident in saying that nearly everyone in this sanctuary can in fact be defined by a Jewish holiday.

This is an idea that the scholar and writer Yossi Klein Halevi came up with about ten years ago.

What he said is that nearly all of us are either Purim Jews or Passover Jews, and it doesn't actually have to do with whether you've ever even celebrated those holidays.

It's about the way with which you view what it means to be a Jew and how you relate to the rest of the world.

In choosing just one, we lose our ability to create a Judaism that will both keep our authenticity and keep us safe, that will help us maintain the specialness of our Jewish values without devaluing the real threat to our lives.

But I think that perhaps there is a third alternative.

It strikes me that Yossi Klein Halevi's idea of Purim Jews and Passover Jews is not unlike Rabbi Hillel's famous quote in the Talmud.

First, Hillel says, "If I'm not for myself, who will be for me?" Protection, bravery, putting ourselves first.

The past three years have highlighted fundamental differences in what we believe to be true, although this gap was already growing before the tragedy of October 7th and its terrible aftermath.

The journalist Yossi Klein-Halevi argues that this estrangement was inevitable, given our drastic differences in context.

Israelis have to be tough, he observes.

American Jews have to be flexible.

Having not seen this film, I did not feel like I had anything to add to this discourse, nor did I think that many of the people who did actually contributed much to it.

That's until I listened to Yossi Klein Halevi and Danielle Hartman's most recent episode on Ark Media's For Heaven's Sake podcast.

They, too, have not seen the film.

But while they themselves have been critical of Israel's conduct of the war at certain times, they also point out facts that clearly illustrate that the standing ovation, both at the event and outside of it, has more to do with the people clapping than the accusations themselves.

[Instrumental music]

Hi, friends.

This is Danielle Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi from the Shalom Hartman Institute, and this is our podcast, For Heaven's Sake, in collaboration with Ark Media.

Today is Tuesday, September 15th, and our theme, which echoes the conversation of every single Israeli today, the theme is Nazah, When a Film Is the News.

Hi, friends.

This is Daniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi from the Shalom Hartman Institute, and this is our podcast, For Heaven's Sake, in collaboration with Ark Media.

Today is Tuesday, September 15th, and our theme, which echoes the conversation of every single Israeli today, the theme is Nazah, when a film is the news.

For those of you who don't yet know what Nazah is, go on any news site, whether social media, news, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post.

Same man, several sincerely held Zionisms.

Yossi Klein Halevi, thank you so much for speaking with me.

Yossi, uh, awesome to be in conversation with you.

It's great to be with you, Noam.

Fascinating.

I wanna, uh, I wanna just tell you something that Yehuda Mirsky, who wrote a remarkable, uh, biography on Rav Kook, said about your book, Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist.

He s- he said to me that all young people who are incredibly passionate about their ideas should read Yossi Klein Halevi's Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist.

'Cause you're somebody who you went through this experience of s- of seeing something that is right-wing, that is strongly right-wing, and it's not that you said, "Hey, I don't wanna be part of Zionism at all." You said, "I don't wanna be part of," for you, this type of Zionism.

So let us raise a generation of Jews who understand the necessity of Jewish power, because it is a necessity, and also wrestle with the right ways to use it.

Let us raise a generation that understands both the thrill and responsibility of the Jewish state, as Yossi Klein Halevi says.

And on that note, I invite each of you to travel with us to Israel this April break.

We already have 41 people registered, and there's plenty of room for you.

It's about making decisions and directing your resources to magnifying and to actualizing them.

[upbeat music] Hi, friends, this is Daniella Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi from the Shalom Hartman Institute, and this is our podcast, For Heaven's Sake, in collaboration with Arc Media.

Today is Tuesday, September 8th, and our theme for today, in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah, the new year, which is coming, we called it New Year, New Hope.

So much of what we've been doing these last three years has been responding, and in many ways we're punching bags.

And nonetheless, Israel got blamed for the Iraq war in the minds of so many people.

And I was in Israel six weeks before we went in, and I remember sitting with Yossi Klein-Halevi, Now, people know is observing a long, venerable analyst of of these matters and him saying to me, I don't understand what your country is.

I mean, he's an American.

He was born American.

Hi, friends.

This is Daniella Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi from the Shalom Hartman Institute, and this is our podcast, For Heaven's Sake, in collaboration with Arc Media.

Today is September 1st, Tuesday.

And Yossi, it's nice to be back.