On the Nose

Slam Frank—the satirical play about a Latina “Anita Franco” stuck in the attic with a colorblind cast (à la Hamilton) of daft identitarians—reopened last week Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in Manhattan. While some audience members have reportedly been shocked by its irreverent take on a child hero of the Holocaust, some viewers on both the left and the right are convinced that the play reflects their sensibilities and political leanings. The play’s author, Andrew Fox, has declined to say anything about his personal politics, but touchstone books of Jewish reactionary grievance like David Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count and Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews are part of the show’s dramaturgy.On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel talks to theater critic Alisa Solomon and New York Times columnist M. Gessen about their differing interpretations of the play. The three argue about what the play actually intends to say about the contemporary left, whether the playwright’s own political leanings matter to the read of the play itself, and whether the proliferation of interpretations is a feat or a liability.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Links and Further Reading“‘Slam Frank,’ a Daring Satire, and ‘Crooked Cross’ Demand Our Attention,” Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times“The Composer Making a Hip-Hop Musical About Anne Frank,” Kelefa Sanneh, The New YorkerInformation on Gazi Kodzo, the author of the original “Anne Frank/white privilege” tweetJews Don’t Count by David Baddiel, People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn, and a Jewish Currents review of both books by Linda Kinstler“Actress Dasha Nekrasova Fired By Gersh, Dropped From Movie Amid Backlash Over Podcast Interview With Far-Right Political Commentator Nick Fuentes,” Matt Grobar, DeadlineAndrew Fox on i24Slam Frank reviews in the Times of Israel and the Jewish Journal“Springtime for Hitler,” The ProducersSlam Frank’s Bondi post and Andrew Fox’s apology“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in ‘The Ally,’” On the Nose, Jewish Currents“Anne Frank, the Exhibition” at the Center for Jewish History“Nosegate,” On the Nose, Jewish CurrentsRegister for JC Live!Register for the New Jewish Institutions Skill-building Boot Camp!Transcript forthcoming.

As we make our way through the Days of Awe, On the Nose is turning over our feed to an episode of Ways of Awe, an exploration of the high holiday liturgy written by artist and educator Maia Brown and writer and organizer Shelby Handler, and based on translations originally shared with the Kadima Reconstructionist Community in Seattle, WA. This episode explores the “Kol Nidre” prayer recited on Erev Yom Kippur, in which all vows from the year before are nullified. In this episode, the hosts spoke with Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg and Rabbi Xava De Cordova.This episode was edited by Maia Brown, with audio engineering by Daniel Guenther. Thank you to Ross Kirshenbaum of Levoneh for composing our show music and to Peter Lippman and Jimmy Austin for playing on the track, and to Jenny Asarnow for their field recordings. Thank you to the Jack Straw Cultural Center Artist Support Program, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Smart Ventures Program, and Signal Fire Coop. Thank you to Hannah Epstein for design.Thank you to all those who lent their prayer-voices to the Kol Nidre episode including: Noraa Kaplan, Sharone Sayegh, Moyshe Oysher. Thank you to Jeannie Wells-Yablonsky from the Seattle Symphony for her rendition of Kol Nidre. An excerpt from “Kol Nidre,” performed by Sharone Sayegh in the Iraqi Sephardic tradition, was produced by Reboot in partnership with Hillel International for Higher Holidays 2020 and is reproduced here with permission.Links and Further Reading“Jewish Emptiness: Kavannot for Kol Nidrei,” Rabbi Xava De Cordova, RitualWell“The Case Against Kol Nidre,” Adam Soclof, JTA“Kol Nidre: Past, Present, and Future,” Richard-Steiner, Jewish Studies, an Internet JournalKol Nidre entry in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia “A Brief History of the Kol Nidrei Prayer,” Cantor Deborrah Cannizzaro“Exploring Kol Nidre,” David Schwartz, Sefaria“The Geonim,” Eli Barnavi, My Jewish LearningThis Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared by Rabbi Alan LewRegister for JC Live!Register for the New Jewish Institutions Skill-building Boot Camp!Transcript can be found here.

On September 8th, the UK announced sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including an import trade ban, sanctions on companies and individuals, bans on advertising the sale of stolen land, and restrictions on arms export licensing. They were joined in the adoption of these policies by France and Canada, and nine other European countries released a statement announcing intentions to support the effort. This unprecedented raft of policies was largely framed as an attempt to salvage the two-state solution and to counter planned settlement expansion into the E-1 Corridor, which would split the West Bank in two.On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Ryvka Barnard, deputy director of the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign; Emily Hilton, international policy director at Diaspora Alliance; and Maya Rosen, associate editor of Jewish Currents, about these latest developments. They discuss the issues with limiting sanctions to the settlements in one-state reality, potential loopholes in implementation, and the reactions from the UK Jewish establishment and the Israeli settlement movement.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingJoint Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Two-State Solution“UK, France among 12 states backing sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements,” Al Jazeera“Trump didn't oppose UK sanctions on Israeli settlements,” Barak Ravid, Axios“The Wrong Way to Fight Antisemitism in Britain,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents“Polling reveals Palestine a major factor in progressive voters ditching Labour,” Palestine Solidarity Campaign“The Making of a Coal Boycott,” Andreas Malm and Maxy Guedes, Jewish Currents“Burnham confirms top level government meeting to bolster security for Jewish community over High Holy Days,” Lee Harpin, Jewish News“America Should Follow UK and Sanction West Bank Settlements,” New Jewish Narrative statement“J Street Welcomes UK, France and Canada’s Decision to Ban Imports From West Bank Settlements,” J Street statement“What is the Police and Crime Bill and how will it change protests?,” BBC“The Settler Community Responds to UK Sanctions,” C14Register for JC Live!Register for the New Jewish Institutions Skill-building Boot Camp!Transcript forthcoming.

Organizing is hard, not just for the ways we are knocked down by our opponents, but also for the ways we often turn on our comrades in anger and despair. In the recently published book For Louder Days, Yotam Marom—a veteran of Occupy Wall Street, co-founder of IfNotNow, and movement facilitator who has worked with Sunrise, Dream Defenders, Uncommitted, and more—diagnoses how the left’s ambivalence about power leads to a number of bad habits. We tear down our leaders or pretend there are no leaders at all; we avoid conflict and hard choices, which leads to bad strategy; we draw the boundaries of belonging too narrowly. On this episode of On the Nose, Marom talks to Arielle Angel about all the ways we turn on each other instead of playing to win—and how we might shift our orientation away from the “politics of powerlessness.”Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingFor Louder Days by Yotam MaromJewish Diaspora Movement Skill-Building Boot Camp Registration“Who Speaks for Black Voters?,” On the Nose, Jewish CurrentsHate by Seyda Kurt“Why Israelis are leaving in record numbers,” Hila Amit, +972 MagazineTranscript forthcoming.

This episode of On the Nose is for subscribers and members only. Subscribe for $4/month here. If you’re already a subscriber, check your email for instructions on accessing this episode.A recent article in Haaretz announced that a left-wing youth group called Hamahanot Haolim, part of the socialist Zionist movement, is planning a kibbutz-style settlement in the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. According to the article, organization director Ilan Gazit said that “he is aware of the damage West Bank settlements do to Palestinian rights, but argued that since new settlements will be built in the Jordan Valley in any case, it’s preferable to have as many of them as possible populated by leftists.” Gazit elaborated: “We aren’t ashamed of this and we aren’t hiding it. This is in line with our worldview: A strong security border is needed in the east that will be defensible and create a necessary condition for peace. We are leftists who believe in equality between people and are guided by a humanistic, socialist, democratic worldview.”On this premium episode of On the Nose, Israeli American social worker and co-founder of the Unsettled podcast Asaf Calderon talks to Arielle Angel about the fallacy of the “good guy at the checkpoint,” and what this announcement says about the shifting relationship between Israel’s so-called left and the settlement enterprise.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“Israeli Left-wing Youth Group Plans Kibbutz-style Settlement in West Bank,” Yair Foldes, Haaretz“What the Soldiers Did in Gaza,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents“The Anti-Politics of Disengagement,” Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents“Revising the Dream,” Mari Cohen, Jewish CurrentsTranscript forthcoming.