Recent Episodes
Holy Site, Holy Month
Prof. Daniella Talmon-Heller discusses how and why practices of pilgrimage and temporal rituals evolved in the first few centuries of Islam's existence
When Politics Got Nasty
How did America's political culture move from civil disagreement to visceral rage? Noam Gidron argues that intense, emotional partisanship is distinct from routine ideological differences, and possibly more dangerous. And America isn't the only country torn apart by politics.
About the Hosts
Gilad Halpern
Gilad is a journalist, broadcaster and media historian. He is also a founding co-editor of the Tel Aviv Review of Books magazine, an English-language online quarterly, and an Idit Fellow at the University of Haifa, researching the history of the Jewish press in Mandatory Palestine. Previously he was Managing Editor for Ynetnews and Assignments Editor for Haaretz English Edition. His work appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Al Monitor, Time Out magazine, the Jewish Quarterly and the Jewish Chronicle.
Dr. Yael Berda
Dr. Yael Berda is Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Hebrew University, and a fellow at Middle East initiative at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She received her PhD from Princeton University; her MA from Tel Aviv University, and her LLB from Hebrew University faculty of Law. Previously a practicing Human Rights lawyer, representing clients in Military, District and Supreme courts in Israel, her most recent books are Living Emergency: Israel's Permit Regime in the West Bank and Colonial Bureaucracy and Contemporary Citizenship: Legacies of Race and Emergencies in the Former British Empire.
The Poisoned Fruit of Facebook
Facebook may not be the source of all evils - but at least many of them. Siva Vaidhyanathan argues that while Facebook has some charms, it holds special responsibility for major social and political ills today