Sep 14 2023

Trans Halakha (44:24)

Nathan Goldman talks to three members of SVARA’s Teshuva-Writing Collective—Laynie Soloman, Alyx Bernstein, and Rabbi Xava de Cordova—about reimagining halakha for trans life.

Aug 31 2023

Nosegate (28:36)

Arielle Angel talks to Rebecca Pierce, Jody Rosen, and Alisa Solomon about Bradley Cooper’s turn as Leonard Bernstein—wearing a prosthetic nose.

Aug 17 2023

The Jewishness of Oppenheimer (47:05)

In an episode presented in partnership with The Nation’s podcast The Time of Monsters, Mari Cohen, Jeet Heer, David Klion, and Raphael Magarik discuss Christopher Nolan’s new biopic about the infamous physicist.

Aug 3 2023

Camp Kinderland at 100 (57:18)

Judee Rosenbaum and Mitchell Silver talk to Arielle Angel about the storied summer camp, founded by Jewish unionists in 1923.

Jul 20 2023

Chevruta: Be Fruitful and Multiply? (30:26)

Torah scholar Laynie Soloman and feminist theorist Sophie Lewis study a Talmudic text that complicates the biblical injunction to procreate.

Jul 6 2023

What Indian Ethnonationalists Learned From Israel Advocates (35:10)

Aparna Gopalan, Azad Essa, and Nora Caplan-Bricker discuss how the hasbara playbook offers a template for defenders of supremacist politics everywhere.

Jun 22 2023

The Struggle to Stop Cop City (38:01)

Micah Herskind, Keyanna Jones, and Josie Duffy Rice join Claire Schwartz from Atlanta to talk about the fight to prevent the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest and the construction of the US’s largest police training center.

Jun 8 2023

The Plight of Masafer Yatta (26:57)

Alex Kane talks to Palestinian journalist Basel Adra about the West Bank hamlets where over 1,000 Palestinians live in fear of being expelled by Israel.

May 25 2023

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Jewish Matchmaking (47:09)

Arielle Angel, Nathan Goldman, Mari Cohen, and Aparna Gopalan discuss Netflix’s Jewish Matchmaking and the questions it raises about contemporary Jewishness.

May 11 2023

Still No Justice for Shireen Abu Akleh (25:19)

One year after her killing, Jewish Currents examines the life and death of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the broader context of Israeli assaults on press freedom.

Apr 27 2023

Fighting Anti-Trans Legislation in Missouri (38:38)

Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Rori Picker Neiss about what it's like to advocate for a trans child in a red state.

Apr 13 2023

The Politics of The Last of Us (37:45)

Arielle Angel, Nathan Goldman, Dahlia Krutkovich, and Hazem Fahmy discuss the right-wing vision of HBO’s The Last of Us and its relationship to Israel/Palestine.

Mar 30 2023

Unpacking Israel’s Political Crisis (46:06)

The team behind the Jewish Currents Tuesday Newsletter considers how the anti-occupation left views the Israeli protests and the roots of the Israeli right’s rage against the judiciary.

Mar 23 2023

Two Paths for the Jewish Bachelor Contestant (32:43)

Mari Cohen and Dahlia Krutkovich join guests Hannah Srajer and Xandra Ellin to discuss how The Bachelor’s approach to featuring a Jewish contestant reveals the show’s investment in Christian whiteness.

Mar 9 2023

The Trouble with Germany, Part II (40:51)

Joshua Leifer talks to journalist Hebh Jamal and lawyer Nadija Samour about Germany’s intensifying crackdown on Palestinian identity and activism.

Feb 23 2023

Representation and Exclusion at Israel’s Anti-Government Protests (33:27)

Alex Kane talks to activists Orly Noy and Sally Abed about who the Israeli demonstrations against Netanyahu’s plan to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court are really for.

Feb 9 2023

You People (33:51)

Arielle Angel, Rebecca Pierce, Jasmine Sanders, and Sam Adler-Bell discuss the over-the-top Jewish outcry over Netflix’s new Black–Jewish romcom.

Jan 26 2023

Fables and Lies (43:37)

Rebecca Pierce joins Jewish Currents editors to discuss the visions of 20th-century American Jewish family life in Oscar contenders The Fabelmans and Armageddon Time.

Jan 11 2023

Chevruta: Debt (41:54)

Rabbinical student Allen Lipson and members of the Debt Collective study a rabbinic responsum from 14th-century Spain that explores questions about state force and economic consent in debt collection.

Dec 21 2022

Who Is Tom Stoppard’s “Jewish Play” For? (44:56)

Jewish Currents discusses Leopoldstadt’s tired revelations with critics Alisa Solomon and Gabrielle Hoyt.