Ordinary Jews. Talking

S3 Episode 3: Sarah Villanueva

Recorded February 12, 2026   Photo: courtesy Sarah Villanueva is a Jew, a doula, a congregational leader, and an human with a passionate and compassionate heart. In graduate school she took a course on World Religions which the professor introduced by saying that the best case scenario would be that you want to convert every time you learn about a new one. Take a listen and you will hear how her own strong faith has shaped her path. Notes: Beth Jacob Synagogue [https://www.bethjacobvt.org/] is “… an inclusive, community-led congregation fulfilling the spiritual, educational and social needs of its members by nurturing a range of religious practices and traditions, Jewish values, and Tikkun Olam.” Learning on one foot: Sarah refers to the text While Standing on One Foot: Puzzle Stories and Wisdom Tales from the Jewish Tradition, by Nina Jaffe and Steve Zeitlin, Henry Holt and Co, 1996 which was used in her conversion class. The story of standing on one foot is this, per Chabad [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/689306/jewish/On-One-Foot.htm#:~:text=One%20famous%20account%20in%20the,not%20infrequently%2C%20and%20this%20individual]: “One famous account in the Talmud tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said: " ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!’" (Shabbat 31a) Death doula is defined as a non-medical companion focused on holistic, emotional, and spiritual need.  Hind Rami Iyad Rajab   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Hind_Rajab]was five years old and fleeing Gaza City in their car when she and six members of her family were attacked by Israeli forces on January 29, 2025. Only Hind remained alive, calling for help, for three hours. It took 12 days for searchers to find her and the bodies of two Red Crescent paramedics killed while trying to rescue her. More at the link along with information on how her story was covered and investigated and with links to three award-winning films by Dutch-Syrian, Tunisian, and Jordanian-Palestinian filmmakers.

S3 Episode 2: Miki Hertog-Raz

Recorded January 13, 2026   Photo: Liora & Circus Smirkus courtesy photo Miki describes himself as a circus performer, specifically, an acrobat and clown. It was in that capacity that he had his first encounter with Palestinians in a Jewish/Palestinian collective in the Galilee when he was in 5th grade. Today he provides an Israeli perspective on America – and an American perspective on Israel. We spoke while he was back in Norwich, Vermont, on break from his last year as an undergrad at New York University. Notes: * Circus Smirkus [https://www.smirkus.org/] Miki’s circus alma mater * Roth Center for Jewish Life: home of the Upper Valley Jewish Community [https://www.uvjc.org/] * Kolot Chayeinu [https://www.kolotchayeinu.org/] New York City temple where Miki and Mamdani attended Yom Kippur services this past fall. * Standing Together [https://www.standing-together.org/en] is a joint Palestinian/Israeli movement that seeks ““A society in which we all enjoy real security, adequate housing, quality education, good healthcare, a liveable climate, a decent salary, and the ability to age with dignity.” See also their podcast, The Long Answer [https://linktr.ee/thelonganswer]. * Silent protests: where Israelis lined up insilence carrying poster-board sized photos of Gazan children killed in the war, documented in the Oscar-nominated short film Children No More [https://www.imdb.com/video/vi782879513/?ref_=tt_vids_vi_1] (link goes to trailer and it’s streaming now). You can read aboutthe protests in this story from NPR [https://www.npr.org/2025/05/07/nx-s1-5383047/israeli-protesters-against-war-draw-attention-to-children-killed-in-gaza#:~:text=ESTRIN:%20When%20Israel%20broke%20a,we%20were%20about%2020%20people.] and this article Don’tpress the button: A peaceful protest against Gaza bombings [https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-06/gaza-israel-war-peace-protest-campaign.html#:~:text=A%20moral%20obligation%20to%20act,significant%20impact%20on%20public%20opinion.%E2%80%9D] from the Vatican News. * Unapologetic: The Third Narrative (UTTN) [https://open.spotify.com/show/5CT8QicPO31pe7AX0jA4Wp?si=55aa423f12cd4737]: Was this quote on taking a train from Haifa to Beirut in Season 2,Episode 8, the conversation with Sally Abed [https://www.patreon.com/posts/from-grassroots-145982759]? I asked the creators and they replied that at 1:22:34 of Episode 8! Sally Abed mused: "How does our life look like? Will we have like, I don't know, a train to like Beirut again?" And continues to say, "We need political imagination." * It’s Time [https://www.timeisnow.co.il/english] They are “…over 60 peacebuilding and shared society organizations, working together with determination and courage to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a political agreement that will ensure both peoples' right to self-determination and secure lives. “Because it’s time. Now, amidst our anger, griefand pain, after long years of fear and violence, of struggle, of occupation and of terrorism. The war that broke out on October 7th must be the last war, and it can be: the war after which will come peace.”

S3 Episode 1: Alan Bern

Recorded December 20, 2025   Photo: Shendi Copitman “ So I got an accordion, I put it on my back, and I went to Europe ... “ Do tune in to hear how Alan’s story intertwines music and speech with creativity, compassion, and being Jewish in today’s world. Listen in to hear how the “other” in Other Music Academy is not what you might think and how transcultural work is more about mycelium than bridges. Alan and I met in the courtyard of Etz Hayyim Synagogue [https://www.etz-hayyim-hania.org/] and this episode was recorded in the city of Chania [https://www.google.com/search?q=chania%2C+crete&rlz=1C1RXQR_enUS1147US1147&oq=chania%2C+crete&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIKCAEQLhixAxiABDINCAIQLhivARjHARiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIGCAUQRRg9MgYIBhBFGD0yBggHEEUYPdIBCDI4OTZqMGo3qAIIsAIB8QU2VzhHQPON2Q&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]on the island of Crete. It is the first of this  3rd “season” with the tagline of“voices from afar (and not so far).”  Give yourself a treat by checking out Alan's work in Weimar and selected music, linked below. Projects: ·      The Other Music Academy [https://othermusicacademy.eu/en/]: “…an open and inclusive society which invites the most diverse kinds of people to help actively create our common culture and our roles within it.”  ·      Yiddish Summer Weimar [https://yiddishsummer.eu/]: “YSW is guided by a four-part mission: to research, teach, create and present traditional and new Yiddish culture in an intercultural context… In recent years, YSW has increasingly focused on creating new Yiddish culture projects with young people and renowned artists.” Music: short bites ·      The Semer Ensemble Trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOXYCPzq7Ro]: Forgotten music recorded by Jewish artists in Berlin in the 1930s on the Semer Label brought back to life for today by an all-star, 8-person ensemble. ·      The Other Europeans Trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYBUwTPTuzA]: What happens when 14 musicians from 8 countries join forces to recreate the unique musical synthesis of Jewish and Roma music that once animated all weddings and celebrations in Romania and Moldova? ·      The Kadya Girls Choir [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwh1uTQGTDk&list=RDRwh1uTQGTDk&start_radio=1] – Shtern Faln (Stars are Falling): A truly unique project that brought together Jewish, Christian and Muslim girls from Israel and Germany to sing new Yiddish choir songs composed by Alan Bern based on the touching poetry for young people by Polish Jewish poet Kadya Molodovsky. Music: full feasts ·      Glikl Oratorio: A Her-Story [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8qTEayFwF8&list=RDp8qTEayFwF8&start_radio=1]: A full-length New Jewish Music oratorio composed  in 2023 by Alan Bern, with a libretto by Diana Matut, based on the incredible life story of Glikl of Hameln, a Jewish woman who lived in Hamburg at the turn of the 18th century and left behind candid, fascinating memoires about her life. ·      The Kadya Trio [https://youtu.be/cvFRuv_CNp8]: Alan Bern’s new songs based on the poetry of Polish Jewish poet Kadya Molodovsky, arranged for and exquisitely performed by a world-class trio with Sveta Kundish (voice), Mark Kovnatskiy (violin) and Alan Bern (piano,accordion) recorded live in concert at the 33rd Jewish CultureFestival in Krakow, Poland. ·      Brave Old World – Reunion! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXFyKYUmMa0]: From 1990 to the mid-2010s, Brave Old World expanded the horizons of New Yiddish Music throughout the world. This online reunion, recorded in 2021 byToronto’s Ashkenaz Festival, looks back on 30 years of unparalleled music making and friendship. About Alan: ·      Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bern]: “In recognition of his leadership of YSW, Alan Bern was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany … in 2022, the Thuringia Order of Merit in 2017 and the Weimar Prize in 2016.” ·      See also Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/alan.bern/],Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/uravreml/] References from the interview: ·      New Israeli historiography [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Historians]“The New Historians[a] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Historians#cite_note-1] area loosely defined group of Israeli [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel] historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history and played a critical role in refuting some of what critics of Israel consider Israel's foundational myths [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundational_myth],[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Historians#cite_note-2] including Israel's role in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_expulsion_and_flight] and Arab willingness to discuss peace.” While subject to criticism today, their work punctured the myth that Palestinians themselves, along with Arab nations, were responsible for the Nakba [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba]. [Wikipedia] ·      Martin Buber, I and Thou, 1923, English translations in 1937 (Smith) and 1970 (Kaufman), 36th edition, Charles Scribners, 1970.

S2 Episode 4: Fran Miller

Recorded December 1, 2025   Photo: courtesy Fran Miller Fran moved up to Vermont from New York City in the fall of2019 to work at the Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems [https://cafs.vermontlaw.edu/]. Outside her professional work she is active in pro-Palestinian causes including as a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In this interview, she discusses her turnaround from seeing Israel in an ideal light to upholding the social justice ideals of her father who supported Israel yet impressed on her the Jewish value of working on behalf of the underdog. S2 E4 Notes: * The Farmland Access Legal Toolkit , [http://farmlandaccess.org/] is a project of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems [https://cafs.vermontlaw.edu/]housed at Vermont Law and Graduate School.      Jewish Voice for Peace in New York City [https://www.jvpnyc.org/] and Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont/New Hampshire [https://www.jvp-vtnh.org/] * The New Alliance Party is no longer active. Fran recommends this C-SPAN [https://www.c-span.org/organization/new-alliance-party/6830/] piece to hear directly from some of the party's leaders regarding its views. * Timing of the First and Second Intifadas: The First started in December, 1987 and lasted six years, roughly until the signingof the Oslo Accords in September, 1993. The Second started in September, 2000 and lasted until February, 2005. * Palestinian House of Friendship [https://palestinianhouseoffriendshipcom.wordpress.com/] is a “non-profit, non-governmental, politically independent humanitarian ommunity organization in the West Bank city of Nablus, dedicated to serving the needs of children, adolescents, and their families.” * Voices from Palestinian Israel and from Palestinians and Jewish Israelis: GroundWork [https://groundworkpodcast.com/]  The Long Answer [https://open.spotify.com/show/33c36sw8rJvqCdKtxTy2Pp?si=a94a8600c3fe4618]   Unapologetic: The Third Narrative [https://open.spotify.com/show/5CT8QicPO31pe7AX0jA4Wp?si=3689bfa112db4e98] * J Street [https://jstreet.org/] on Israel’s Nation-State Law per Google AI Overview: “JStreet [https://jstreet.org/press-releases/j-street-saddened-and-disturbed-by-passage-of-israels-nation-state-law/] strongly opposed Israel's 2018 Nation-State Law, expressing deep sadness, anguish, and concern that it prioritized Jewish identity over democratic equality, downgraded Arabic's status, and promoted Jewish settlement at the expense of minorities, undermining Israel'sfoundations as a democracy for all its citizens.”  For another  example, see The Two-Way Street: Reflections for Rosh Hashanah [https://jstreet.org/the-two-way-street-reflections-for-rosh-hashanah/]. * “1948: Creation & Catastrophe [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwy-Rf15UIs]”, a 2017 documentary produced by Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and Andy Trimlett.  Here’s a link to a review by The Jerusalem Fund [https://thejerusalemfund.org/2023/07/1948-creation-catastrophe-documentary-review/] which praises aspects of the film yet criticizes reliance on still-limited Israeli archives, to the exclusion of direct Palestinian testimony. A more recent film, “1948: Remember, Remember Not” – has not yet aired although it was produced in 2023 by Kan 11 in Israel and has had festival showing. According to Ha’aretz [https://www.haaretz.com/life/2024-11-27/ty-article/.premium/after-previous-censorship-israeli-film-board-approves-screenings-of-1948-war-documentary/00000193-6d80-d7ae-ad9f-efa7f18c0000?gift=1a2e02bbc340491f81e5a3a13d243a09] (gift link), this film by Neta Shoshani relies on oral histories from both Jews and Palestinians, addressing the perceived failing of the earlier film. * Fran’s other references: Noura Saleh Erekat [http://www.nouraerakat.com/], Linda Sarsour [https://www.lindasarsour.com/], MPower Change [https://www.mpowerchange.org/], Adalah Justice Project [https://www.adalahjusticeproject.org/]   * Liora’s references: JStreet (above), New Israel Fund [https://nif.org/], Alliancefor Middle East Peace [https://nif.org/] (AllMEP) – and more across other show notes and the to be published Substack. * Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, 2024, mentioned across several podcasts. Here’s a link to the author’s substack [https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/my-new-book] where he talks about the book.

S2 Episode 3: Sandra Gartner

Recorded November 20, 2025   Photo: Sandy withbook, by Liora Among her many role, Sandra Gartner has been co-producer of Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre [https://vtactrep.org/] for 20 years, an actor with the company, and is co-producer with filmmaker Nora Jacobson [https://www.offthegridproductions.com/] on her latest project. Sandra also writes for RutlandMagazine [https://www.rutlandmagazineonline.com/] and other publications. Not surprisingly, she has a wonderful way of telling stories. In this conversation she picks up threads of her life in Vermont and New York City; her life in theatre, journalism, and the Rutland, VT Jewish community.   * Sandra was a Youth Ambassador to Israel in 1966, at 16 years old, and “came back a changed person”. She maintains great affection for the land and people not withstanding that the current situation “doesn’t sit well” with her. The book she is holding in this photo is To Life: A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women [https://jwa.org/blog/to-life], based on an oral history project she undertook with Ann Zinn Buffum and which was contributed to the Jewish Women’s Archive [https://jwa.org/]. S2 E3 Notes:       NFTY [https://nfty.org/] (NationalFederation of Temple Youth) is based on the tradition of European youth movements and pursues “tikkun olam [repair of the world], personal growth, youth empowerment, and deep connections, all rooted in Reform Judaism.” * AIPAC [https://www.aipac.org/] (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is the heavy weight political lobby for Israel maintaining unwavering support for the Israeli government. * Peace Now [https://peacenow.org.il/en], established in 1978 by 348 Israeli senior reserve army officers is “the largest and oldest movement in Israel that works to promote peace through a two-state solution for two peoples”.  Three years later, Americans for Peace Now (APN) was established to support it. With century old ties to labor movements and progressive causes, Ameinu, (Our People) “was founded in 2005 to reimagine the role of a progressive Zionist voice in the American Jewish community.” Ameinu perceived the need to strength ties with their Israeli counterparts via The Third Narrative [https://thirdnarrative.org/]. While Peace Now remains active in Israel, in 2024, APN and Ameinu merged forming the New Jewish Narrative [https://www.newjewishnarrative.org/] promoting peace, justice, and a progressive Israel. * Jewish Women’s Archive/To Life: A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women [https://jwa.org/blog/to-life] Follow the link to see Sandy’s work.