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Jan 11, 2021, 4:13 PM

Who Built Jerusalem? Architects of a New City

A remarkable view of one of the world's most beloved and troubled cities, Adina Hoffman's Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City (FSG, 2017) is a gripping and intimate journey into the very different lives of...

May 18, 2020, 3:53 PM

The Biggest Book Club in Israel*

Are you Zoomed out? Blessed, but fatigued as well, by all the online classes, lectures, shiurim and “Quarantini” happy hours with friends? Need an interesting, informative conversation you can simply listen to on your daily walk? Then check out The...

Jul 30, 2019, 8:26 PM

Podcasts For Professors

Whether you love movies or you love love – or whether you are merely intellectually curious - you can now hear from the scholars of the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem without ever leaving your home. Van Leer scholars’ range...

Nov 18, 2018, 7:24 PM

Culture Café: An Unexpected Musical Delight

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. -- Confucius Everyone loves some kind of music. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. We take it with us in our pockets, listen while we drive; we...

Nov 4, 2018, 6:01 PM

“Coming to you from an undisclosed Location…”

Looking for sounds to soothe your soul? Check out Radio Free Nachlaot, available online 24/6, with quality rock & roll, Jewish and Israeli music, and inspiring talk – minus any news or politics to spoil the vibe. Radio Free Nachlaot is...

Oct 29, 2018, 4:35 PM

War Against The Jews: the American Front Expands

The Shabbat massacre of Jews in their synagogue in Pittsburgh is heartbreaking. To our great sorrow, we have grown accustomed to violence against Jews on Israel’s borders and in its streets. We are no longer surprised by violence against Jews...

Oct 16, 2018, 9:56 PM

Musical subcultures and Self-Harm: Goths, and Metalheads

“Turn that music down!” Parents of teenagers have long been appalled, repelled and even frightened by their children’s musical choices. In their time, Jazz was considered decadent, Elvis Presley downright scandalous. Hip-hop and rap music were widely criticized for their violent...

Oct 11, 2018, 6:17 PM

A Secret On Jaffa Road

It was an ordinary Monday evening, and Jaffa Road was busy with people shopping and eating, strolling and drinking, stopping by street entertainers, pleasantly passing time. We headed for #34 Jaffa Road, whose grungy front door didn’t look at all...

Oct 3, 2018, 6:30 PM

Pay Attention! Or think outside the box?

This is the week we heard about last month, the week in which ordinary life was to resume, the not-now-later-time, “after the chaggim.” The long holiday season is over. Kids are back in school. We’ve arrived at the time...

Sep 14, 2018, 2:04 PM

A Matter of Life and Death

“Dying has become a problem for us,” the professor said, and I laughed, surprised. “For US!”, I replied, “hasn’t dying always been a problem?” The knowledge of our own mortality is a uniquely human problem. Yom Kippur focuses on it....

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About Me

Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, television commentator and podcast host of the Van Leer Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/van-leer-institute/

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