Jew Oughta Know

Jason Harris

From ancient history to current events, take yourself on a journey through the story of the Jewish People, from someone who has led hundreds of Jewish young professionals on trips throughout Israel. From the beginning of creation to modern Israel, each short episode is geared to appeal both to someone looking for the Jewish 101, as well as to those looking to go a bit beyond the basic story they already know. Check out the website at https://jewoughtaknow.com/. Enjoy!

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206 episodes
Updated January 25

Episodes206

Newest first

Dec 4, 2023 · 22 min
166. Israel at War, Explained: The West Bank
The West Bank — what many Jews call Judea and Samaria — is another sector of this war that is boiling over with tension and violence. While Israeli forces arrest thousands of Hamas terrorists, fanatical Jewish settlers attack Palestinian civilians. What is going on and how did we get here?
Nov 28, 2023 · 18 min
165. Israel at War, Explained: The Hostage Deal
After seven weeks of fighting, Hamas and Israel agreed to a deal to release some of the Israeli hostages, who have started returning home to great joy and relief. How can we understand this deal in context? What should we make of the role of Qatar as mediator? What does it tell us about Hamas? What are the dilemmas facing Israel going forward?
Nov 17, 2023 · 22 min
164. Israel at War, Explained: "Never Again"
“Never Again” evokes the promise of no more genocide, as the world has learned the lessons of history and the Holocaust. But “Never Again” has a different connotation for the Jewish People — and helps us understand the decisions Israel is making in fighting this war against Hamas.
Nov 11, 2023 · 25 min
163. Israel at War, Explained: "From the River to the Sea"
Hamas’ massacre unleashed a worldwide wave of hatred and vilification against Israel and the Jewish People, summed up in the noxious idea of “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” — a call for the destruction of Israel. Leftist ideology, classic antisemitism, and Israel demonization all play a role in this stunning display of moral blindness.
Nov 5, 2023 · 22 min
162. Israel at War, Explained: The Options for Gaza
Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza is underway. It is difficult, dangerous, and deadly fighting that has already claimed dozens of Israeli soldiers. The goal is to eliminate Hamas. But what about afterwards? Today we’ll look at five options for post-war Gaza.
Nov 1, 2023 · 22 min
161. Israel at War, Explained: The PR War
In the constant struggle to keep up with what’s happening, how can we understand what we’re seeing on the news? The media ecosystem often accepts Hamas’ claims uncritically, while Israel’s are subjected to days of scrutiny and doubt. Skepticism and patience are our best tools to navigate the complexities here.
Oct 24, 2023 · 21 min
160. Israel at War, Explained: Iran & Hezbollah
What does Iran have to do with Israel’s war against Hamas? A lot! We’re zooming out to look at Iran and it’s proxy army, Hezbollah, the terrorist group threatening to start a war along Israel’s northern border.
Oct 19, 2023 · 23 min
159. Israel at War, Explained: Hamas & Gaza
Day Eleven of the war between Hamas and Israel. For years Israel has brought sick Palestinian children into Israel for lifesaving medical care. Hamas responded by sadistically massacring Israeli children. Today we’re talking about Hamas and its intersection with Gaza’s history, crucial context for understanding how we got to this moment.
Oct 15, 2023 · 23 min
158. Israel at War, Explained. Oct 15
Unimaginable savagery in the worst attack on the Jewish People since the Holocaust. It's a declaration of war by Hamas, the genocidal group dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel. What's going on? How did we get here? What's next?
Aug 13, 2023 · 21 min
157. Israel 1967-1977: Scenario 21
Black September cruelly murders 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The local police are helpless to resist, the rescue operation goes wrong, the world watches on live TV, and Golda Meir sees that, once again, Jews are being killed on European soil.
Aug 6, 2023 · 22 min
156. Israel 1967-1977: Black September
A civil war in Jordan between King Hussein and the PLO threatens to bring in Israel and its neighbors. Though a victory for Jordan, it created one of the most deadly terrorist groups that Israel would face: Black September. A daring commando operation thwarts an airplane hijacking, but that would prove to be just the beginning of the group’s ambitions.
Jul 17, 2023 · 24 min
155. Israel 1967-1977: The "Not Nice Boys"
The early 1970s saw the rise of the Israeli Black Panthers — a movement of young Mizrahi Jews fed up with systematic inequality and social discrimination that left Jews from the Middle East and North Africa lagging behind the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe. The met their match in Prime Minister Golda Meir, whose disapproval only fueled their efforts to wake Israeli society up to their plight.
Jul 2, 2023 · 21 min
154. Israel 1967-1977: The Eighteen
Israel was founded to provide a safe place for Jewish life to flourish. But by the late 1960s, millions of Jews remained trapped in the Soviet Union, refused the emigration visas necessary to leave. The plight of these “refuseniks” kicked off an international campaign to free them, and in 1969, eighteen Jews wrote to Prime Minister Golda Meir explaining why they looked to Israel for rescue.
Jun 26, 2023 · 24 min
153. Israel 1967-1977: Settlements: Hebron
Rabbi Moshe Levinger was all in favor of building settlements in the West Bank, but with a twist: he thought confrontation with the Israeli government, rather than cooperation, was the way to achieve a Jewish foothold in their historic land. He set his sights on establishing the first urban settlement in the heart of Hebron: one of Judaism’s oldest cities, now populated exclusively by Arabs.
Jun 11, 2023 · 23 min
152. Israel 1967-1977: Golda
Palestinians hit on a winning formula for attacking Israel and publicizing their own cause: airplane hijackings. And Prime Minister Levi Eshkol dies, replaced by Israel’s first (and so far only) female prime minister, Golda Meir. By turns empathetic and aloof, ideological and pragmatic, pioneering and traditional, Golda came into office struggling to reconcile the Israel of her dreams with the changing country before her.
Jun 4, 2023 · 24 min
151. Israel 1967-1977: The Three No's
The Six Day War did not mean the end of fighting, just a new phase. At a summit in Khartoum the Arabs rejected peace, negotiation, and recognition of Israel, leaving violence as the only acceptable option. Egypt and Israel began fighting the War of Attrition, while Yasser Arafat’s PLO terrorist group challenged Israel’s patience and strength. These events and the Occupation engendered a developing new Palestinian identity.
May 14, 2023 · 23 min
150. Israel 1967-1977: The Second Settlement: Kfar Etzion
Israel's second settlement in the Occupied Territories was Kfar Etzion, established in the West Bank on the ruins of a destroyed Jewish kibbutz. It was the first settlement of the Religious Zionism movement, merging the ideas of Zionist settlement with messianic redemption, and spawned both public support and criticism.
Apr 30, 2023 · 25 min
149. Israel 1967-1977: The First Settlement: Merom Golan
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territory began just five weeks after the Six Day War, in a small community called Merom Golan on the Syrian border. This was not a right-wing nationalist endeavor but a left-wing socialist one, intended to reinvigorate the Zionist Movement with the spirit of the early pioneering generations. But wait — isn’t this illegal under international law?
Apr 23, 2023 · 25 min
148. Israel 1967-1977: The Occupation Begins
Today we’re laying the conceptual foundations of the Occupation and Israel’s decisions immediately after the Six Day War. Having found itself in charge of an empire — territory three times its own size, with 1.2 million Palestinians — Israel flailed about for a coherent strategy to meet the challenges posed by the land, the people in it, and competing political agendas of Israel’s leaders.
Apr 9, 2023 · 25 min
147. Israel 1967-1977: The Jerusalem Decisions
In the days and weeks following the Six Day War, Israel made three big decisions regarding Jerusalem: to raze the Mughrabi Quarter to create a central plaza in front of the Western Wall, to bestow exclusive religious rights on the Tempe Mount to the Muslims, and to annex East Jerusalem to create a unified Israeli capital. Each of these decisions had lasting consequences.

Jew Oughta Know

166. Israel at War, Explained: The West Bank

165. Israel at War, Explained: The Hostage Deal

164. Israel at War, Explained: "Never Again"

163. Israel at War, Explained: "From the River to the Sea"

162. Israel at War, Explained: The Options for Gaza

161. Israel at War, Explained: The PR War

160. Israel at War, Explained: Iran & Hezbollah

159. Israel at War, Explained: Hamas & Gaza

158. Israel at War, Explained. Oct 15

157. Israel 1967-1977: Scenario 21

156. Israel 1967-1977: Black September

155. Israel 1967-1977: The "Not Nice Boys"

154. Israel 1967-1977: The Eighteen

153. Israel 1967-1977: Settlements: Hebron

152. Israel 1967-1977: Golda

151. Israel 1967-1977: The Three No's

150. Israel 1967-1977: The Second Settlement: Kfar Etzion

149. Israel 1967-1977: The First Settlement: Merom Golan

148. Israel 1967-1977: The Occupation Begins

147. Israel 1967-1977: The Jerusalem Decisions