On today’s Israel Uncensored with Josh Hasten, Josh discusses the re-imposition of sanctions by the Trump Administration against the Iranian regime. The move, which was applauded by Israeli PM Netanyahu, will further hamper Iran’s tentacles of terror around the world. Also, Israeli teens living near Gaza are marching to Jerusalem to raise awareness about life under almost daily rocket and kite terror. Finally, while Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the US has created a new flavor to show support for several groups including a movement run by known anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, the Israeli branch of the ice-cream giant, has proven its moral compass is pointed in the right direction by saying it won’t be selling the controversial flavor.

Eve is in Florida as part of her speaking tour for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) on the topic of the media (mis)reporting on Israel.  She speaks with retired educator and historian Paul Shaviv after her Shabbat scholar in residence at the Palm Beach synagogue, just before heading back north to the colder climes of DC, Philadelphia and New York.   While Eve doesn’t see eye to eye with Paul on some essentially political issues, (note to many Americans- you can have a respectful disagreement….) he raises some interesting, thought provoking points. Their conversational digressions include ideas on Israel and Diaspora Jews and the miscommunications inherent in the relationship as well as the rise of anti-Semitism especially in his native England.  The gist, though, is that education is at a major crossroads across all spheres, public and private, and a crisis looms large for everyone if it isn’t figured out, and soon.

By 1942 there was no escape from Europe for the Jews, and even if they had managed to run – who would take them in? This second episode on the Holocaust explores the message of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and finally brings American Jewry into the picture of the Jewish Story.

The first purchase of the Jewish people in the land of Israel is Sarah’s burial site. It was Abraham who negotiated for the Machpela out of love for her. Join Rabbi Yishai for some ancient Middle Eastern land haggling in Hebron, and for the mass pilgrimage to the Tomb of the Mammas and the Pappas on Chaye Sarah.

Gil Hoffman goes from polling station to polling station in Jerusalem’s diverse neighborhoods following around the candidates for mayor including Ofer Berkovitch, Moshe Lion and Ze’ev Elkin on Election Day. He hears the candidates hopes and fears in English and takes you behind the scenes on this festival of Israeli democracy. He even visits an empty polling station in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina where he does not see anyone coming to vote.

On today’s Israel Uncensored with Josh Hasten, we mourn the loss of 11 Jews who were murdered in a Pittsburgh Synagogue on Shabbat morning. Josh describes how many on social media used this horrific hate crime as a cynical means to bash Israel, the Trump Administration, or anyone else under the sun, instead of focusing on the white-supremacist neo-Nazi who carried out the shooting. In reality, he says that anti-Semitism is a 3,000+ year-old phenomenon.  At the same time, Israelis living on the Gaza border were also the target of terror/hate having to run for the shelters again this past Friday night as Hamas/Islamic Jihad terrorists fired over 30 rockets into Israeli communities. Josh says that Israel should be not enabling the terrorists in Gaza and halt the supply of aid, especially fuel which ends up being used to launch rockets and missiles against the Jewish State.

Dr. Ari Greenspan has traveled the world looking for people who claim Jewish ancestry, in Africa and further beyond.  He speaks with Eve about some of his wilder adventures and his very esoteric Judaica, collected from places one would never associate with Jewish life.  What does all this mean?  Is this the ingathering of the exiles in a way we never anticipated, or a search for God via Biblical truths that are not necessary ‘Jewish’?

This interview will give the phrase what ‘being a member the Jewish tribe’ a whole new meaning.

How can we draw strength from the tests of Abraham? Are we given tests that we cannot pass? Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel dive into this week’s Torah portion to try and make sense of the confusion of our times.

Should Abraham pray for Sodom? Should he feel bad about ousting Yishmael from his household? Should he listen to God when He commands him to sacrifice Isaac? Rav Mike Feuer joins Rabbi Yishai to discuss a Torah portion full of moral challenges. Then, Risa Rotman’s husband was murdered in the infamous Har Nof Massacre. She joins Yishai to talk about her book “Terror and Emunah in Har Nof.”

Join Rabbis Shlomo Katz and Jeremy Gimpel as they discuss the Torah portion of the week and the Yortzeit of Reb Shlomo Carlebach this week on The Soul of Israel.