The Jewish Diasporist

In this episode we spoke to Ollie Schwartz, the cultural organizer, who founded Pushcart Judaica , an online and traveling market that specializes in ethical Judaica produced by local artists and makers. Ben met Ollie during the Center For Jewish Nonviolence’s May 2023 Delegation to Palestine (See Episode 7 for more). From 2018 to 2022 Ollie served as one of the co-directors of Linke Fligl , Yiddi...

In this episode, Zach spoke to Steve Ogin, one of the lead organizers of the Yiddish cultural movement in the United Kingdom. We'd like to apolgize for the delays in our regular biweekly publishing schedule. We have been working hard, and have had difficulties editing at the rate we'd like. Nevertheless, we have several though provoking episodes recorded for the coming weeks so stay tuned! Yiddish...

Ben and Zach speak to Joe, a member of the Jewish Voice for Solidarity group, which is based in Prague, Czech Republic, Alongside their various local actvities, they recently drafted and presented an interesting document, a satire playing on the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which all Jewish Diasporists will find an interesting read. Perhaps this humourous spirit, or the fact that we record...

This is a re-release of our conversation with artist and former University of Oregon Hillel organiser Alana Green, conducted in November 2023. Stay tuned for more on this subject :) Subscribe to our collaborative YouTube Follow us on Instagram Instagram If you like the work we're doing here, please consider supporting us on Patreon ! Big thank you to Aly Halpert for continuing to allow us to use h...

(Note: This Interview was recorded before 6/7, when the University of California (UC) found an Orange County Judge to declare a restraining order on the UAW in order to suspend the legal strike action.) Over the past months, encampments were set up to demand fiscal transparency and divestment from Israel’s militarism. Although this mass movement has commonly been accused of spreading antisemitism,...

Note: This episode was recorded on May 14, 2024, prior to the arrests made at the UC Berkeley "Hind's House" encampment. For this episode, we interviewed Zalman Tzipporah, a Bundist student and organizer, who has been attending University at Berkeley CA, but in past months has been completing a Semester in Berlin. In our conversation we explored Zalman's road to Bundism and how these ideas have sh...

In this episode we spoke to Levi Zapata, Katie Kaestner-Frenchman and Lìdice, three organizers of Colectivo Sirpad (סרפד), a Queer Anti-Zionist and Diasporist group in Spain. In our conversation we delved in to the rich Jewish history of the country and explored how Jews have contributed to and pushed against the formation of Spanish national culture. By diving into the history and present of Seph...

Esteemed Professor Avi Shlaim joins Zach to speak about the study of history and Arab-Jewish identity! Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew simonandschuster.com/books/Three-Worlds/Avi-Shlaim/9780861544639 Recent interviews by Prof. Shlaim: youtube.com/watch?v=lfDhaWlqXf8&pp=ygUUYXZpIHNobGFpbSBhcmFiIGpld3M%3D youtube.com/watch?v=gvhL2Sy5FEQ&pp=ygUUYXZpIHNobGFpbSBhcmFiIGpld3M%3D youtube.com/...

Zach and Jordan (a first time combo!) speak to Zandi and Julia, two activists from South African Jews for a Free Palestine, about what their group can offer to our present moment, locally and globally. We also touch on the connections between Jewishness in a particular context between racism and settler-colonialism, providing context and frameworks for wider perspectives from Jews of colour. Some...

In this episode, Jordan sits down with two scholars of Jewish diaspora life, Ben Yanowitz and Zach Smerin, to discuss the historical and cultural diversity of Jewish life. They discuss the role of various Jewish diasporas in shaping the social, ecological, and technological adaptions employed by Jews across cultures and times. If you’d like to learn more, check out Jewish Ecology on Substack: http...

The video of this episode: youtube.com/watch?v=xS25N1ymTS4 As of April 1st; the Jewish Diasporist has officially turned 1 year old! In this brief episode, Ben and Zach discuss how their understanding of Diasporism has evolved over the past year, as well as the podcast’s growth. They also hint at the future of the Jewish Diasporist, and the conversations which will happen in this new year. Patreon:...

In this episode, we are joined by Zevi Slavin, the creater of the YouTube project Seekers of Unity. We talk about the etymology of Chasidism, with its roots in Chesed — loving kindness — and how Zevi’s own journey has brought him to a diasporist understanding of the unity at the heart of both Jewish and non-Jewish mysticism. Zevi joins Ben and Jordan Yanowitz as they together paint a picture of th...

(Recorded 1/30/2024) In this episode, we are joined by Rivka, Andrey, Roman and Meir from Kompass Media, a critical Russian-language media and activist collective based in Israel-Palestine! We talk about the trials of two diasporas, parallels between Palestine and Ukraine, the connection to Eastern European homelands, as well as future of leftist organising - in their local communal context and th...

(Interview Recorded January 27th) After months of genocidal violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza, hope for a better future for the people of Palestine/Israel has never seemed further from reach, but what is the place of diaspora in all this? Friend of the show, Habeeb, once again joins us to explore the impact of the current crisis on Palestinian society, and to put current events in th...

Ben Rogaly, a Professor of Human Geography at the Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, joins Zach today to speak about urban geography, music, migration and diaspora, as well as the recent and ongoing Jewish left organising in Britain! Notes: Prof. Ben Rogaly: profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p28173-ben-rogaly Moushumi Bhowmik: thetravellingarchive.org en.wikipedia....

[REUPLOAD: ORIGINALLY UPLOADED 25.11.23] Patreon: patreon.com/TheJewishDiasporist YouTube: / @jewishdiasporistmakingmensches Instagram: instagram.com/thejewishdiasporistpod/ Endless Gratitude to Aly Halpert for the intro music: open.spotify.com/artist/5ilJZ0nHG41CYddwNuP3f6?si=EH0Uy2JATLK0w-x-IAIIRA Noodnik, the Magazine of the Austrian Union of Jewish Students: noodnik.at

Our next stop in our travels across the diaspora, with its rich Jewish past, present and future, is Vienna! To tell us about it we have Eidel, member of the JÖH (Austrian Union of Jewish Students) board, an editor of it's Noodnik magazine, a Stadttempel synagogue tour guide, and organiser of the Likrat dialogue project. Patreon: patreon.com/TheJewishDiasporist YouTube: youtube.com/@JewishDiasporis...

This is the second part of our collaboration with Jessie and Elana from Making Mensches! This time, we exploree the roots of their politics and development as explicitly anti-Zionist Jewish educators. We wish to connect this to a broader discussion: How should diasporists relate to Zionism? How does it differ from Anti-Zionism? As mainstream discourse has become hyper-polarised, we are excited to...

How can Jewish identity inform labor organizing and what might a Jewish labour movement look like in the 21st century? This week we spoke to Laura Jaffee and Ely Flores, two Jewish labour organizers with the SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, who are based in Syracuse New York. With our guests we explore the strategy and structure of the historical and present labour movement to bett...

Making Mensches Presents: Diasporism as Action. This is the first episode of a collaboration between our two podcasts which in the spirit of building a united Jewish left, we are hoping to eventually develop into a wider partnership. As they interviewed us: "We talk about how The Jewish Diasporist podcast started and what it means to identify as a "diasporist," a bit about the founders personal ba...

Today, many on the Jewish left see Jewish politics and Labor politics as fundamentally distinct; however, for decades beginning in the mid 19th century, specifically Jewish labor movements thrived across the diaspora. Due to a variety of factors, these were largely integrated into their national movements, and ceased to have an identity of their own by the mid-20th century. Nevertheless, Jews cont...

In past weeks much of the world has been watching the events in Israel-Palestine unfold in justifiable. Yet just weeks before, another war and ethnic cleansing took place in relative silence. The Caucasus is a region in which the interconnected phenomena of nationalism, militarism and authoritarianism have been allowed to run their course in recent decades with little international outrage. For th...

The last weeks have been quite difficult for us. Another escalation between the Israeli government and Hamas has already led to the deaths of thousands of civilians, and there’s no end in sight. While a few of of the 200+ hostages have been released, an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza will only open a new chapter in the sufferring of the Palestinian people. This will bring little safety for Jewish...

With all that is going on in the world right now, its important to maintain your own well being, to show yourself some self love – take some time to relax. In the words of the non-practicing Jew, John Kabat-Zinn: "It is indeed a radical act of love just to sit down and be quiet for a time by yourself." Join us to explore the role of love in binding communities together and building a better world....

We sat down with Elly Oltersdorf, Outreach Coordinator for Achvat Amim, which is an organisation that provides programs for young adults to engage in meaningful partnerships with Palestinians and Israelis in the movement for self-determination for all. Achvat Amim was born out of a Socialist Zionist tradition, therefore we explored the contradictions between Zionism and Diasporism, while also high...