Teller From Jerusalem

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TFJ Season 2 Episode 31 How to Avoid Humiliating Others (II) Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Our second installment on how to avoid shaming others takes note that the desire to humiliate adversaries is particularly common in politics. Just because someone is competing with you for the same seat, gives no right to violate privacy and humiliate. Many other key rules are discussed and the children's ditty, "Sticks and Stones may Break my Bones, but Words will Never Hurt me" is dismissed as incorrect. Lastly, caution is issued over the damage that can be so readily and devastatingly achieved via social media and online with opportunities to attack anonymously and with an absence of gatekeepers.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 30 On the Wings of Eagles - The Secret Evacuation of Yemenite Jewry Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

Israel's Law of Return was designed to solve the problem of persecuted Jews who had nowhere to flee, for no country would allow them entry. They would all be welcomed in Israel. Israel did not just open her doors, but actively took part in dangerous rescue missions to bring entire populations to Israel where they could be resettled in safety. One of the most famous missions was Operation Magic Carpet which, in the span of one year, clandestinely airlifted nearly 50,000 Jews from Yemen, where they were suffering attacks and lived in constant danger.

Transporting Yemen Jewry to one central place where they could be extracted, required the impoverished people to trek at least 300 kilometers by foot through deserts and mountains as they were attacked along the way and suffered from hunger and disease. A motley group of young air force veterans from WWII, piloted transport planes, licensed to carry no more than 60 people, with 600 passengers on board. The entire flight from southern Yemen to Israel was fraught with danger, flying above Arab territory and always with a need to refuel along this hostile route. Conducted in total secrecy, a miracle was achieved without the loss of a single loss of life on these exceptionally perilous flights.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 29 How was Israel to defend herself against five attacking Arab countries? Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

The British Mandatory government enforced a ban not only on Jews entering the country, but also on Jews acquiring weapons or manufacturing arms under the penalty of death.

Where was Israel to acquire weapons to defend herself? There were risky efforts to smuggle in weaponry and clandestine production in Israel. But the production that was done locally was neither the volume nor the dimension that Israel required. But Jewish innovation which was the hallmark of the War of Independence met this challenge as well.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 28 From the Partition Plan to the Inevitable War to Establish a Jewish State on its Ancestral Land Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

The Partition Plan of November 1947 has a glaring error insofar as that it never occurred; and there never was a partition between a Jewish and an Arab country. The significance of the Partition Plan was that it delineated a point from which both sides could begin their struggle. For the Zionists it was never more than a starting point as no one believed that it was the ending point for the map according to the Partition Plan was unrealistic and absurd. From the Arab position the Partition Plan was not even a starting point, but rather a non-starter.

The Arabs had pledged that they would rid the land from the Jews, and the chiefs of staff of the Arab neighbors plus army contingents from Iraq and Saudi Arabia that do not even border Israel, met to devise a strategy how to annihilate the Jewish menace. Proof that as Weizmann had spoken and Alterman had composed into poetry, Israel was not going to be delivered on a "silver platter."

TFJ Season 2 Episode 27 Humiliating Others (1) Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

Teller From Jerusalem was horrified when a Google search for "public humiliation" rendered clips and even websites devoted to shaming others. The actual evil of public shaming has scant representation – even in an age where social media has made the humiliation of others instantaneous and ubiquitous. The first of our installments on this subject will focus upon how to avoid shaming others. In our discussion regarding revealing the former criminal behavior of someone who is now leading an ethical, law-abiding life, we will tangentially explore some recent literature of two who were rehabilitated and told their stories.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 26 The Miraculous Vote that Brought the State of Israel into Being May 24, 2023

Show notes

The UN was about to vote on partition and surprisingly the Soviet Union supported it as did the US (The United States means President Truman, the State Department was opposed). The world was shocked by the sudden Soviet support of the partition plan affording a home for the Jews, for this contravened all of Stalin policy heretofore. Although Israel was not yet ready to defend itself militarily against its Arab enemies, the constellation of countries willing to support the partition vote would never repeat itself. It was a "now or never" situation for Israel and she rallied all of her influence and contacts behind mustering the 2/3 majority required. (By error, I referred in the recording to Andrei Gromyko as Alexei Kosygin, his colleague in the Politburo.)

TFJ Season 2 Episode 25 Second Reflections on the Balfour Declaration with Ambassador Daniel Taub May 10, 2023

Show notes

TFJ is very proud to welcome Ambassador Daniel Taub who served as Israel's ambassador to the UK from 2011 – 2015. An academic scholar (attending both Oxford and Harvard Universities) playwright extraordinaire, and blessed with an outstanding sense of humor which has made him beloved and adored in all of his postings. Ambassador Taub marshals his encyclopedic knowledge and treasure trove of anecdotes to enlighten and edify regarding one of the most seminal events in the ultimate establishment of the State of Israel.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 24 The Sinking of the Patria Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

Even after the conclusion of WWII Zionist fulfillment faced enormous hurdles. They British had every intention of maintaining the same blockade of Jews to Palestine which they enforced during the war denying the Jews haven that would have saved their lives. Jewish lives was simply not as important as antagonizing the Arab world and threatening the importation of oil to Britain. And if illegal immigrants managed to sneak in, the British would capture and deport them. The Patria was crammed with 1800 Jewish refugees that were to be deported from the port of Haifa to Mauritius when a bomb placed aboard caused the ship to instantly sink.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 23 Consideration Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

A considerate individual thinks about the needs of others and recognizes that they are greater than your own needs or conveniences. Primarily, it means not living with a "me-first" approach. On this episode we shall explore consideration regarding driving, being punctual and not wasting other people's time. We will also discuss the rabbinic concept of "say a little, but do a lot" and not raising other people's expectations, only to disappoint them in the end. Good manners also govern how we should refrain from conduct that will annoy others, and how to properly compliment a fellow person.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 22 The Refugee Problem Consequential of Israel's War of Independence Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

Israel's War of Independence resulted in three distinct refugee problems: 70,000 Israelis that were displaced from their homes and villages because of the war, 700,000 Arabs that fled Israel because of the war, and over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands that had to flee for their lives. Teller From Jerusalem filters between the truth and the propaganda concerning the misery and suffering of those disposed. It is very telling how Israel and her neighbors reacted to the refugees of their respective peoples. Were they embraced as brethren or manipulated to become a political opportunity and ultimately a time bomb.

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