Untangling Judaism from Zionism: Rabbi Cat Zavis on Jewish Moral Courage

Untangling Judaism from Zionism: Rabbi Cat Zavis on Jewish Moral Courage

Rabbi Cat Zavis is a spiritual leader, activist, attorney, and rabbi at Beyt Tikkun — an anti-Zionist Jewish congregation in the Bay Area. In this episode, we explore the process of untangling Judaism from Zionism — and what it means to reconstruct Jewish moral and spiritual life in the aftermath of deep political and theological rupture. We discuss her personal journey through social justice work, Jewish education, Palestinian solidarity organizing, and rabbinic leadership, as well as the broader tensions inside contemporary Jewish life. Topics include: - childhood moral formation and empathy - confronting Palestine within Jewish institutions - "liberal Zionism" and its limits - fear, propaganda, and institutional pressure - Jewish identity, empire, and political theology - moral courage, repair, and spiritual reconstruction BEYT TIKKUN SYNAGOGUE https://beyttikkun.org/ ⭐️PLEASE LEAVE A RATING AND REVIEW OF THE SHOW ❤️ SUPPORT THE SHOW EZRA LIPP / THIN VEIL ON PATREON [https://www.patreon.com/c/EzraLipp]  🇵🇸GET INVOLVED  JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE [https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/] CONNECTING GAZA [https://www.connectinggaza.org/] 🎙 LISTEN / WATCH / FOLLOW THE THIN VEIL THE THIN VEIL ON ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS [https://www.ezralipp.com/the-thin-veil-links] THE THIN VEIL ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinVeilWithEzraLipp] THE THIN VEIL ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/thethinveilwithezralipp/] ✍️REACH OUT / SEND FEEDBACK THETHINVEILPOD@GMAIL.COM 👋 FOLLOW EZRA EZRA ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp] EZRA ON FACEBOOK [https://www.facebook.com/ezra.lipp] EZRA'S WEBSITE [https://www.ezralipp.com/] EZRA ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp] 🎵 THEME MUSIC BY MAGIC IN THE OTHER MAGIC IN THE OTHER WEBSITE [https://www.magicintheother.com/] MAGIC IN THE OTHER ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother] MAGIC IN THE OTHER ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://patreon.com/EzraLipp]

The Bus Back to Haifa: Yassar Dahbour on Exile, Memory & Return

Yassar Dahbour is a Palestinian refugee from Haifa, a Sacramento-based political organizer, president of the Palestine American League [https://www.instagram.com/palestineamericanleague/], and co-founder of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights [https://www.instagram.com/srcpalestine/]. Born in a refugee camp in Syria after his family was expelled from Haifa during the Nakba, Yassar grew up surrounded by Palestinian political life, refugee memory, and the dream of return. His father, Ahmad Dahbour, was a renowned Palestinian poet whose work was shaped by exile, revolution, and the longing for Palestine. In this episode of The Thin Veil, Yassar shares his family’s story of displacement from Haifa, his childhood in a refugee camp, his father’s poetry and role in the Palestinian movement, and what it felt like to finally visit Palestine using an American passport. We also discuss why Oslo did not offer return for Palestinians from Haifa, the experience of being detained at Ben-Gurion Airport, the destruction of his family’s apartment and archive in Gaza, the collapse of Western media narratives, and what a free Palestine means to him. At the center of the conversation is a story from Yassar’s grandmother: when the children cried in the refugee camp, she would tell them that tomorrow, a bus would come and take them back to Haifa. YASSAR'S ORGANIZATIONS PALESTINIAN AMERICAN LEAGUE [https://www.instagram.com/palestineamericanleague/] SACRAMENTO REGIONAL COALITION FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS [https://www.instagram.com/srcpalestine/] ⭐️PLEASE LEAVE A RATING AND REVIEW OF THE SHOW ❤️ SUPPORT THE SHOW EZRA LIPP / THIN VEIL ON PATREON [https://www.patreon.com/c/EzraLipp]  🇵🇸GET INVOLVED  JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE [https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/] CONNECTING GAZA [https://www.connectinggaza.org/] 🎙 LISTEN / WATCH / FOLLOW THE THIN VEIL THE THIN VEIL ON ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS [https://www.ezralipp.com/the-thin-veil-links] THE THIN VEIL ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinVeilWithEzraLipp] THE THIN VEIL ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/thethinveilwithezralipp/] ✍️REACH OUT / SEND FEEDBACK THETHINVEILPOD@GMAIL.COM 👋 FOLLOW EZRA EZRA ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp] EZRA ON FACEBOOK [https://www.facebook.com/ezra.lipp] EZRA'S WEBSITE [https://www.ezralipp.com/] EZRA ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp] 🎵 THEME MUSIC BY MAGIC IN THE OTHER MAGIC IN THE OTHER WEBSITE [https://www.magicintheother.com/] MAGIC IN THE OTHER ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother] MAGIC IN THE OTHER ON YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://patreon.com/EzraLipp]

Liberation Through Solidarity: Matthew Solomon on Palestine, Abolition and Interconnected Struggles

Filmmaker, musician, writer, and abolitionist Matthew Solomon joins Ezra to discuss his new documentary Seeds for Liberation, a film that centers Palestine while tracing the connections between Zionism, U.S. imperialism, policing, Black liberation, the Chicano movement, Indigenous resistance, and broader anti-colonial struggle. Matthew’s previous documentary, Reimagining Safety, explored abolitionist approaches to policing, prisons, crisis response, and community care. In this conversation, we talk about how that work shaped his understanding of Palestine, what he had to unlearn as an anti-Zionist Jew, and why the fight for Palestinian liberation is inseparable from other struggles against empire, racial capitalism, militarism, and colonial violence. We also discuss Jewish deprogramming after October 7th, the limits of conditional solidarity, the question of who Seeds for Liberation is for, and what real safety might look like beyond police, prisons, punishment, and fear. Seeds for Liberation Film [https://www.seedsforliberationmovie.com/] Reimagining Safety Film [https://www.reimaginingsafetymovie.com/] Matthew Solomon on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattytheglue] The Thin Veil / Ezra Lipp’s Patreon Support Ezra’s Work and The Show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/EzraLipp] The Thin Veil with Ezra Lipp The Thin Veil on all Podcast Platforms [https://www.ezralipp.com/the-thin-veil-links] The Thin Veil on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinVeilWithEzraLipp] Ezra Lipp’s Sites https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp [https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp] https://www.ezralipp.com [https://www.ezralipp.com] https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp [https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp] Thin Veil Theme Music by Magic In The Other  https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother [https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother] https://www.magicintheother.com [https://www.magicintheother.com] https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother [https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://patreon.com/EzraLipp]

Jewish Trauma Is Not A Weapon: Julie Wolk on Reclaiming Ashkenazi Ancestry Beyond Zionism

Julie Wolk [https://juliewolk.me/] is a facilitator, strategist, and creator of Ashkenazi Ancestral Journeys [https://ashkenaziancestraljourneys.org/], a spiritual pilgrimage and heritage program that brings Ashkenazi Jews to Poland to reconnect with ancestral lands, Jewish memory, diasporic culture, grief, and political histories that Zionist narratives often teach us to bypass. In this conversation, Julie and Ezra discuss what it means to turn toward Eastern Europe not only as a site of Holocaust memory and “the dark place,” but as a place of Jewish life, culture, language, resistance, food, medicine, prayer, and song. They talk about March of the Living and the weaponization of Holocaust trauma, the Jewish Labor Bund and the concept of doikayt, the erasure of Ashkenazi culture through Zionism, and the possibility of building a Judaism rooted not in nationalism or fear, but in solidarity, memory, and accountability. At the heart of the conversation is a question Julie’s work asks with urgency: can Jewish historical trauma be metabolized rather than weaponized — softening us into empathy and “never again for anyone,” rather than hardening us into victimhood, nationalism, militarism, and the dispossession of Palestinians? Julie is also the Co-Founder, former Co-Director, and current Board President of Wilderness Torah, now Adamah-SF. Earlier in her career, she worked as an environmental and social justice organizer with USPIRG and Rainforest Action Network. More about Julie Wolk [https://juliewolk.me/] Julie on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/juliewolk] Learn about Ashkenazi Ancestral Journeys [https://ashkenaziancestraljourneys.org/] Additional Resources Mentioned Molly Crabapple -  Here Where We Live Is Our Country [https://bookshop.org/p/books/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-the-story-of-the-jewish-bund-molly-crabapple/2d1023a8b6a838ab?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=dsa_nonbrand&utm_content={adgroupname}&utm_term=aud-1885352274184:dsa-19959388920&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12440232635&gbraid=0AAAAACfld41cVzS09ekjy_qYV7rywMm9Z&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vnQBhCxARIsADcZyxItoEx4NsoT6hp4nCgkctxzVNp8LFJ-uQdHd64koDeemS4mZq0nhqEaAv9hEALw_wcB]: The Story of The Jewish Bund [https://bookshop.org/p/books/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-the-story-of-the-jewish-bund-molly-crabapple/2d1023a8b6a838ab?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=dsa_nonbrand&utm_content={adgroupname}&utm_term=aud-1885352274184:dsa-19959388920&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12440232635&gbraid=0AAAAACfld41cVzS09ekjy_qYV7rywMm9Z&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vnQBhCxARIsADcZyxItoEx4NsoT6hp4nCgkctxzVNp8LFJ-uQdHd64koDeemS4mZq0nhqEaAv9hEALw_wcB] Naomi Klein - How Israel Has Made Trauma a Weapon of War [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/05/israel-gaza-october-7-memorials] The Thin Veil / Ezra Lipp’s Patreon Support Ezra’s Work and The Show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/EzraLipp] The Thin Veil with Ezra Lipp The Thin Veil on all Podcast Platforms [https://www.ezralipp.com/the-thin-veil-links] The Thin Veil on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinVeilWithEzraLipp] Ezra Lipp’s Sites https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp [https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp] https://www.ezralipp.com [https://www.ezralipp.com] https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp [https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp] Thin Veil Theme Music by Magic In The Other  https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother [https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother] https://www.magicintheother.com [https://www.magicintheother.com] https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother [https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://patreon.com/EzraLipp]

Medicine Under Siege: Dr. Musallam Abukhalil on Gaza’s Silent Emergency

What does it mean to practice medicine in Gaza while hospitals collapse, chronic illness goes untreated, children carry water instead of going to school, and entire communities struggle simply to survive? In this episode of The Thin Veil, Ezra speaks with Dr. Musallam Abukhalil, a physician in Gaza and founder of United for Dignity Alliance, a Palestinian-led humanitarian organization providing emergency aid, medical care, psychosocial support, education, and storytelling initiatives in Gaza. Dr. Musallam joins from Nuseirat in central Gaza for a deeply moving firsthand conversation about practicing medicine amid catastrophe, the hidden “silent emergency” of chronic illness and untreated disease, trauma and mental health, community resilience, and why people directly affected by crisis should lead their own recovery. Support United for Dignity Alliance [https://www.unitedfordignity.org/] The Thin Veil / Ezra Lipp’s Patreon Support Ezra’s Work and The Show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/EzraLipp] The Mixtape for Palestine Concert benefiting United For Dignity Alliance Sunday 5/31/2026 Ivy Room, Albany CA Tickets on Sale now! [https://bit.ly/mixtape4palestine] The Thin Veil with Ezra Lipp The Thin Veil on all Podcast Platforms [https://www.ezralipp.com/the-thin-veil-links] The Thin Veil on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinVeilWithEzraLipp] Ezra Lipp’s Sites https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp [https://www.instagram.com/ezralipp] https://www.ezralipp.com [https://www.ezralipp.com] https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp [https://www.youtube.com/@Ezralipp] Thin Veil Theme Music by Magic In The Other  https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother [https://www.instagram.com/magicintheother] https://www.magicintheother.com [https://www.magicintheother.com] https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother [https://www.youtube.com/@magicintheother] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://patreon.com/EzraLipp]