JUF Podcasts

Brubeck and his sons perform for Father’s Day at Ravinia on Sunday, June 19. A jazz legend, Dave Brubeck celebrated his 90th birthday last year by composing more music. Many know his iconic compositions: Take Five, The Duke, and Blue Rondo a la Turk. Thanks to a recent Milken Archive release, more can now access some of his Bibically inspired works— The Gates of Justice and The Ten Commandments. Here, he speaks about his life in music, his passion for social justice, and seeing the world in both war and peace.

Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem, tells a Chicago audience about his ambitious goal to bring 10 million tourists a year to a city that he says has one of the “best brands in the world.” “Over 3.5 billion people on earth long to come to Jerusalem at least once in their lifetime. Yet when you check and see, how are we in fulfilling that potential, there’s a huge, huge gap,” Barkat told a group of Chicago Jewish leaders at a May 17 meeting at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. “You’re all shareholders of the city of Jerusalem. Our goal is to think how we can create a better Jerusalem for the benefit of the next generation,” he said.

Turkish Consul General Fatih Yildiz provides a perspective on the values guiding Turkey’s regional and global foreign policy—a policy that during the past several years has produced a serious deterioration in that nation’s relationship with Israel. “Strengthening of our relations with Iran and Syria is being misportrayed as at the expense of Israel. Relations with Israel are very dear to us.” “We highly appreciate Turkey’s role in the region,” responded Shahar Arieli, Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, while criticizing the numerous anti-Israel statements by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. “We want to improve the relationship with Turkey and bring it back to where it was.”

The 16th annual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture--held March 21 at the DePaul University Lincoln Park Student Center--featured Professor Moshe Halbertal, Gruss Professor at New York University School of Law and Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Halbertal spoke about the relationship between law and narrative in the Talmud in the context of forgiveness. Father Thomas Baima then read a response from Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., who could not be in attendance. Halbertal is recipient of the Bruno Award of the Rothschild Foundation and the Goldstein-Goren Award—best book in Jewish Thought in the years 1997-2000. His most recent book is By Way of Truth: Nachmanides and the Creation of Tradition (published in Hebrew). The program was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago, The American Jewish Committee, Chicago Board of Rabbis, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. The 2011 co-sponsor is DePaul University: Catholic Studies, Religious Studies, Center for Interreligious Engagement, Center for Intercultural Programs, Office for Institutional Diversity and Equity, and University Ministry.

Rabbi Andrea London reflects on congregational leadership. Beth Emet The Free Synagogue is a cornerstone of Evanston’s Reform Jewish community—an institution that has blazed trails since its founding some 60 years ago. Under the leadership of Rabbi Andrea London since last summer, the congregation now is undertaking a new era of change. “Change is inevitable, but growth is optional,” London says in an interview with JUF News Executive Editor Aaron B. Cohen. “I want to take that option, because things are going to change, and if you stay the same, the world is going to continue to move past you until you’re irrelevant.”

Federation agencies working in the health and human services arena—including CJE SeniorLife, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Child and Family Services, Jewish Vocational Service, and Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center—are working hard to fulfill their caring missions at a time of ever more stringent funding, especially from the State of Illinois. At the February 7 meeting of the Jewish Federation’s Government Affairs Committee, representatives from those agencies outlined their policy priorities—and funding woes—in start and compelling terms

I wish one could hammer home the optimism that I think is truly justified, both about the American Jewish situation, the world Jewish situation, and about Conservative Judaism in particular, says Prof. Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary,

Israeli scholar and author Dan Porat discusses history, education, and how people come to understand and interpret the past in a conversation with JUF News Executive Editor Aaron B. Cohen and JUF staff. In his new book, The Boy: A Holocaust Story, Porat presents the stories of three Nazis and two Jews, a teenage girl and a young boy, whose lives intersect with the famous photo of the little boy raising his hands in the Warsaw ghetto.

Israeli writer Etgar Keret, well-known throughout Israel and the world for his short stories, graphic novels and scriptwriting for film and television, visited Chicago Aug. 26 for an evening at the School of the Art Institute. Listen as Keret reads a selection of his short stories followed by an informal conversation about his work with Rachel S. Harris,

Recent events that have focused world attention on relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are sapping energy from where it needs to be focused—on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. That was the assessment of Member of Knesset Yoel Hasson, of Israel’s Kadima Party, who was in Chicago this week.

Speaking to JUF’s Lawyer’s Division dinner, Steven B. Nasatir, President of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, describes Israel’s position in the recent Gaza flotilla provocation.

Anthony Julius, one of the world’s leading authorities on anti-Semitism in the 21st Century, speaks with JUF News Executive Editor Aaron B. Cohen. Julius’ newly-published book, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England is a landmark study of the subject. Julius, who has achieved distinction both in the practice of law and the fight against global anti-Semitism,

Anthony Julius, one of the world’s leading authorities on anti-Semitism in the 21st Century, speaks with JUF News Executive Editor Aaron B. Cohen. Julius’ newly-published book, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England is a landmark study of the subject. Julius, who has achieved distinction both in the practice of law and the fight against global anti-Semitism,

Armed with only an acoustic guitar, Rick Recht set out to conquer one of the most difficult foes in the Jewish world— the apathy of the youth. He travels the country, from congregation to camp to concert hall, singing his uplifting brand of rock and roll. He tramsmits the words of the Torah, along with an appreciation for and enthusiasm about them.

Chicago Federation Chairman David Sherman and President Steve Nasatir had an hour-long debriefing with Haitian President Rene Preval and First Lady Preval, accompanied by Amos Radian, Israel's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and Honorary Consul General of Israel to Haiti Gilbert Bigio.