Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).
This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!
Thursday, June 2, 2022
In 2022, Shavuot begins at sunset this Saturday night, June 4 and ends at sundown on Monday, June 6 outside of Israel and on Sunday night in Israel and Melanie Phillips The ‘broken windows’ strategy for combating Israel demonization and 8 of 10 videos from Prague and The Radio Show Must Go On: Jewish Icon Nachum Segal Is Undaunted After Studio Blaze By Ziona Greenwald, J.D. and the portion of Nasso on Shabbat
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
In 2022, Shavuot begins at sunset on Saturday, June 4 and ends at sundown on Monday, June 6 outside of Israel and June 5th in Israel.
( Hebrew: שָׁבוּעוֹת, Šāvūʿōṯ, lit. "Weeks"), commonly known in English as the Feast of Weeks, is a Jewish holidaythat occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan(it may fall between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar).
In the Bible, Shavuot marked the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel( Exodus 34:22). In addition, Orthodox rabbinic traditions teach that the date also marks the revelation of the Torahto Moses and the Israelitesat Mount Sinai, which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism, occurred at this date in 1314 BCE. [2]
The word Shavuot means "weeks", and it marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer. Its date is directly linked to that of Passover; the Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and desire for the giving of the Torah. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.
Shavuot is not explicitly named in the Bible as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai, although this is commonly considered to be its main significance.[9][10]
What is textually connected in the Bible to the Feast of Shavuot is the season of the grain harvest, specifically of the wheat, in the Land of Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer.5:24, Deut.16:9–11, Isa.9:2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot.[5]
The last but one Qumran Scroll to be published has been discovered to contain two festival dates observed by the Qumran sect as part of their formally perfect 364-day calendar, and dedicated to "New Wine" and "New Oil", neither of which are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but were known from another Qumran manuscript, the Temple Scroll.
Scriptural
Names in the Torah
In the Bible, Shavuot is called the "Festival of Weeks" (Hebrew: חג השבועות, Chag HaShavuot, Exodus34:22, Deuteronomy16:10); "Festival of Reaping" (חג הקציר, Chag HaKatzir, Exodus23:16),[12] and "Day of the First Fruits" (יום הבכורים, Yom HaBikkurim, Numbers28:26).[13]
Shavuot, the plural of a word meaning "week" or "seven," alludes to the fact that this festival happens exactly seven weeks (i.e. "a week of weeks") after Passover.[14]
In the Talmud
The Talmud refers to Shavuot as ʻAṣeret (Hebrew: עצרת,[15] "refraining" or "holding back",[16] referring to the prohibition against work on this holiday[16] and to the conclusion of the holiday and season of Passover.[17] Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Hellenistic Jews gave it the name "Pentecost" (Koinē Greek: Πεντηκοστή, "fiftieth day").[18]
In the largely agrarian society of ancient Israel, Jewish farmers would tie a reed around the first ripening fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the time of harvest, the fruits identified by the reed would be cut and placed in baskets woven of gold and silver. The baskets would then be loaded on oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, and who were led in a grand procession to Jerusalem. As the farmer and his entourage passed through cities and towns, they would be accompanied by music and parades.[19]
This text begins by stating: "An Aramean tried to destroy my father," referring to Laban's efforts to weaken Jacob and rob him of his progeny (Targum Onkelos and Rashi on Deut. 26:5)—or by an alternate translation, the text states "My father was a wandering Aramean," referring to the fact that Jacob was a penniless wanderer in the land of Aram for 20 years (Abraham ibn Ezra on Deut. 26:5).
The text proceeds to retell the history of the Jewish people as they went into exile in Ancient Egypt and were enslaved and oppressed; following which God redeemed them and brought them to the land of Israel.
The ceremony of Bikkurim conveys gratitude to God both for the first fruits of the field and for His guidance throughout Jewish history (Scherman, p. 1068).
Modern religious observances
A synagoguesanctuary adorned in greenery in honor of Shavuot
Nowadays in the post-Temple era, Shavuot is the only biblically ordained holiday that has no specific laws attached to it other than usual festival requirements of abstaining from creative work. The rabbinic observances for the holiday include reciting additional prayers, making kiddush, partaking of meals and being in a state of joy. There are however many customs which are observed on Shavuot.[20] A mnemonic for the customs largely observed in Ashkenazi communities spells the Hebrew word aḥarit (אחרית, "last"):
אקדמות – Aqdamut, the reading of a piyyut (liturgical poem) during Shavuot morning synagogue services
חלב – ḥalav (milk), the consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese
רות – Rut, the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services (outside Israel: on the second day)
ירק – Yereq (greening), the decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery
The Aqdamut (Aramaic: אקדמות) is a liturgical poem recited by Ashkenazi Jews extolling the greatness of God, the Torah, and Israel that is read publicly in the synagogue right before the morning reading of the Torah on the first day of Shavuot. It was composed by Rabbi Meir of Worms, whose son was murdered during the First Crusade in 1096. Rabbi Meir was forced to defend the Torah and his Jewish faith in a debate with local priests and successfully conveyed his certainty of God's power, His love for the Jewish people, and the excellence of Torah. Afterwards he wrote the Aqdamut, a 90-line poem in Aramaic that stresses these themes. The poem is written in a double acrostic pattern according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet. In addition, each line ends with the syllable ta (תא), the last and first letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alluding to the endlessness of Torah. The traditional melody that accompanies this poem also conveys a sense of grandeur and triumph.[22]
Azharot
Sephardi Jews do not read Akdamut, but before the evening service they sing a poem called Azharot, which sets out the 613 commandments. The positive commandments are recited on the first day and the negative commandments on the second day.
Yatziv Pitgam
The liturgical poem Yatziv Pitgam (Aramaic: יציב פתגם) is recited by some synagogues in the Diaspora on the second day of Shavuot. The author and his father's name appear in an acrostic at the beginning of the poem's 15 lines.[23]
In keeping with the observance of other Jewish holidays, there is both a night meal and a day meal on Shavuot. Meat is usually served at night and dairy is served either for the day meal[25] or for a morning kiddush.[30]
Among the explanations given in rabbinic literature for the consumption of dairy foods on this holiday are:[31][32]
Before they received the Torah, the Israelites were not obligated to follow its laws, which include shechita (ritual slaughter of animals) and kashrut. Since all their meat pots and dishes now had to be made kosher before use, they opted to eat dairy foods.
The Torah is compared to milk by King Solomon, who wrote: "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11).
The gematria of the Hebrew word ḥalav (חלב) is 40, corresponding to the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses spent on Mount Sinai before bringing down the Torah.
According to the Zohar, each day of the year correlates to one of the Torah's 365 negative commandments. Shavuot corresponds to the commandment "Bring the first fruits of your land to the house of God your Lord; do not cook a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 34:26). Since the first day to bring Bikkurim (the first fruits) is Shavuot, the second half of the verse refers to the custom to eat two separate meals – one milk, one meat – on Shavuot.
The Psalms call Mount Sinai Har Gavnunim (הר גבננים, mountain of majestic peaks, Psalm 68:16–17/15–16 ), which is etymologically similar to gevinah (גבינה, cheese).
There are five books in Tanakh that are known as Megillot (Hebrew: מגילות, "scrolls") and are publicly read in the synagogues of some Jewish communities on different Jewish holidays.[33] The Book of Ruth (מגילת רות, Megillat Ruth) is read on Shavuot because:
Shavuot is harvest time [Exodus 23:16], and the events of Book of Ruth occur at harvest time;
The gematria (numerical value) of Ruth is 606, the number of commandments given at Sinai in addition to the Seven Laws of Noah already given, for a total of 613;
Because Shavuot is traditionally cited as the day of the giving of the Torah, the entry of the entire Jewish people into the covenant of the Torah is a major theme of the day. Ruth's conversion to Judaism, and consequent entry into that covenant, is described in the book. This theme accordingly resonates with other themes of the day;
Another central theme of the book is ḥesed (loving-kindness), a major theme of the Torah.[34]
Greenery
According to the Midrash, Mount Sinai suddenly blossomed with flowers in anticipation of the giving of the Torah on its summit. Greenery also figures in the story of the baby Moses being found among the bulrushes in a watertight cradle (Ex.2:3) when he was three months old (Moses was born on 7 Adar and placed in the Nile River on 6 Sivan, the same day he later brought the Jewish nation to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah).[31]
For these reasons, many Jewish families traditionally decorate their homes and synagogues with plants, flowers and leafy branches in honor of Shavuot.[35] Some synagogues decorate the bimah with a canopy of flowers and plants so that it resembles a chuppah, as Shavuot is mystically referred to as the day the matchmaker (Moses) brought the bride (the nation of Israel) to the chuppah (Mount Sinai) to marry the bridegroom (God); the ketubah (marriage contract) was the Torah. Some Eastern Sephardi communities read out a ketubah between God and Israel, composed by Rabbi Israel ben Moses Najara as part of the service. This custom was also adopted by some Hasidic communities, particularly from Hungary.[36]
The Vilna Gaon cancelled the tradition of decorating with trees because it too closely resembles the Christian decorations for their holidays.[35]
All-night Torah study
The practice of staying up all Shavuot night to study Torah – known as Tiqun Leyl Shavuot (Hebrew: תקון ליל שבועות) ("Rectification for Shavuot Night") – is linked to a Midrash which relates that the night before the Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead. They overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already waiting on the mountaintop.[37] To rectify this perceived flaw in the national character, many religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah.[38]
The custom of all-night Torah study goes back to 1533 when Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch, then living in OttomanSalonika, invited Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz and other Kabbalistic colleagues to hold Shavuot-night study vigils for which they prepared for three days in advance, just as the Israelites had prepared for three days before the giving of the Torah. During one of those study sessions, an angel appeared and taught them Jewish law.[39][40][41] It has been suggested that the introduction of coffee throughout the Ottoman empire may have attributed to the "feasibility and popularity" of the practice of all-night Torah study.[42][43]
Any subject may be studied on Shavuot night, although Talmud, Mishnah, and Torah typically top the list. People may learn alone or with a chavruta (study partner), or attend late-night shiurim (lectures) and study groups.[44] In keeping with the custom of engaging in all-night Torah study, leading 16th century kabbalistIsaac Luria arranged a recital consisting of excerpts from the beginning and end of each of the 24 books of Tanakh (including the reading in full of several key sections such as the account of the days of creation, the Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Shema) and the 63 tractates of Mishnah,[45][46] followed by the reading of Sefer Yetzirah, the 613 commandments as enumerated by Maimonides, and excerpts from the Zohar, with opening and concluding prayers. The whole reading is divided into thirteen parts, after each of which a Kaddish d-Rabbanan is recited when the Tiqun is studied with a minyan. Today, this service is held in many communities, with the notable exception of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. The service is printed in a book called Tiqun Leyl Shavuot.[47] There exist similar books for the vigils before the seventh day of Pesach and Hosha'ana Rabbah.
In Jerusalem, at the conclusion of the night time study session, tens of thousands of people walk to the Western Wall to pray with sunrise. A week after Israel captured the Old City during the Six-Day War, over 200,000 Jews streamed to the site on Shavuot, it having been made accessible to Jews for the first time since 1948.[44][48][49][50]
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Melanie Phillips The 'broken windows' strategy for combating Israel demonization
A culture self-destructs if its people choose not to defend it. Bad people get away with really bad stuff when everyone else chooses to look the other way.
( JNS) The "broken windows" theory of policing, which was responsible for a stunning drop in crime in New York in the 1990s, was based on a simple proposition. This was that bad people are encouraged to commit serious crimes if lesser social nuisances such as litter, vandalism or fare evasion are ignored.
This transmits the fatal signal that those in authority are giving a free pass to disorder. To stop serious offenses, there must be a consistent message that there will be zero tolerance for breaking anyof the rules that keep a society civilized.
The "broken windows" theory might well also be applied to politics. The classicist and commentator Victor Davis Hansen has published a bone-chilling analysis of America that suggests it is inexorably going down to destruction.
American politics, he writes, resembles the violent last days of the Roman Republic. The traditional bedrocks of the American system—a stable economy, energy independence, vast surpluses of food, hallowed universities, a professional judiciary, law enforcement and a credible criminal-justice system—are dissolving.
All this is true. But as he also notes, "all these catastrophes are self-induced. They are choices, not fate."
This indeed is key. A culture self-destructs if its people choose not to defend it. Bad people get away with really bad stuff when everyone else chooses to look the other way.
The same dismal and demoralized cultural trajectory is taking place in Britain, although not as explosively as in America.
Successive British governments have chosen not to take the action necessary to control the country's borders or prevent the Balkanization of British society through Islamist intimidation. They have chosen not to show zero tolerance of the various lunacies and bullying of identity politics, thus giving a green light to ever-more socially and culturally destructive behavior.
In foreign policy, we are witnessing the terrifying results of the failure to apply zero tolerance to breaches of the rules of civilization. The West's eagerness to profit from Russia's mafia state and its even more suicidal appeasement of Iran have resulted in Russia's terrible onslaught on Ukraine, and the genocidal Iranian regime arriving at the point of nuclear-weapons breakout.
The failure to learn the lesson of the "broken windows" theory is particularly apparent over the tsunami of anti-Semitism engulfing Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
This has come about because the West has chosen not to display zero tolerance of Palestinian lies intended to demonize Israel, write the Jewish people out of their own history and steal their country.
Instead, these lies have been uncritically recycled by the Western media, which have thereby been doing the Palestinians' dirty work for them in transforming Palestinian Arab aggressors into victims and their Israeli victims into bloodthirsty oppressors.
This was graphically underlined over the recent killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in a firefight between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin.
It remains unknown whether Abu Akleh was killed by a Palestinian or Israeli bullet. And the Israeli police say they only moved to control her funeral procession when it was in danger of being hijacked by a crowd bent upon hysterical incitement. Despite this, the Western media denounced Israel for killing Abu Akleh and wantonly brutalizing her mourners.
Worse, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also adopted this malicious and unfair narrative. Over both the Palestinians and Iran, the Biden administration appears anxious to display "zero tolerance" of Israel's interests rather than those intent on wiping it off the map.
Meanwhile, there's a huge and continuing spike in anti-Semitic attacks in America and Britain. These things are all connected.
Following the Akleh furor, Israel's Consul General in New York Asaf Zamir pointed out on CNN that anti-Semitic incidents in New York City had quadrupled in the last year, saying: "You automatically blame Israel for things we haven't done. That turns into anti-Semitic attacks at the end of the day and anti-Semitic sentiments in the United States."
Anti-Semitism can never be eradicated. Much more, though, could be done to push it underground by making it wholly unacceptable. This is where the Jewish world itself has been falling down badly. It has failed to show "zero tolerance" for those responsible for promoting it.
Many in the Jewish world have worried for years about the rise in anti-Semitism and have spent millions of dollars trying to combat it. Yet in general, this has proved ineffectual because Israel's defenders have always sought to play defense rather than adopt the only strategy that works—to go onto the offense.
Under the "broken windows" theory, police officers didn't wait around for the murder rate to spike but took measures to show they wouldn't tolerate lesser infractions. But defenders of Israel only react when anti-Semitic attacks have erupted, having ignored the poisonous subculture in which they have been incubated.
While Israel's defenders have confined themselves to playing catch-up, their foes have been pro-actively and aggressively reshaping the cultural and political landscape.
Palestinianism has worked because of a strategy, applied over decades and backed by huge funds, to seed an entirely false narrative among gullible Western liberals that has reversed aggressor and victim and demonized Israel and its defenders.
Those defenders need to adopt a similar pro-active and aggressive strategy against Israel's foes but on the basis of truth rather than lies.
That means creating an infrastructure that seeks to frame public debate rather than just react to it. The principal aim should not be to tell people about Israel and the Jewish people (important though that remains). Its main purpose should be to alert the public to the key fact of which they are almost wholly unaware—that they are being lied to, and that the cause they may be supporting in good faith is an evil and genocidal one.
It is astounding, for example, that Israel's defenders aren't regularly publicizing the eye-watering and deranged anti-Semitic cartoons, sermons, and statements that are perpetually pumped out by Palestinian media and carefully translated and displayed on the websites of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and Palestinian Media Watch.
Such material provides a weapon with which to target the Israel-haters' Achilles heel—their narcissistic self-regard. For what's of prime importance to such individuals is their self-belief as people of conscience committed to anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and so on.
An effective pro-Israel strategy would name and shame all such offenders—media outlets, specific journalists, academics and other cultural leaders—by rubbing their noses in what is being said by the Palestinians they champion, in order to expose such "progressives" as facilitators of racism, ethnic cleansing and Arab imperialism.
Most people in the West have no idea that the Palestinians they support are spewing out Nazi-style incitement against Israel and the Jewish people. That's because no one—in the Jewish world or anywhere else—is making use of such material to ask how any civilized person could ever support such people. Instead, an increasing number of liberal Jews are themselves also supporting them.
Media monitors like the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) and Honest Reporting do excellent work in exposing the lies, but who outside the Jewish community hears about their work? A joined-up strategy would ensure that political and other figures whose utterances are news-worthy give these findings a megaphone. It might even give them a TV station.
All this would require an enormous investment of money, people and time. Most importantly, though, it would need the pro-Israel world to adopt a totally different mindset—creating a strategy to break the enemy's windows before they break any more of your own.
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for "The Times of London," her personal and political memoir, "Guardian Angel," has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, "The Legacy." Go to melaniephillips.substack.com to access her work.
8 of 10 videos from Prague
The Portion of Naso
The portion of Naso, the longest portion in the Torah, is a continuation of the portion of Bamidbar. It deals with the census of the tribe of Levi and the different tasks given to its various families. The laws of the "sotah" (a wife suspected of having committed adultery) and the "nazir" (a person who voluntarily chooses to abstain from certain activities as a means of ascending to a higher degree of holiness). In the second half of the portion, we read of the sacrifices offered by the head of each tribe on the occasion of the dedication of the sacrificial altar.
In between the two major sections of this portion we find three verses that constitute a subject in and of itself- and each of the three verses is written as if it were a complete portion. These three verses are included in the repetition of the Amidah and constitute the "priestly blessing": "Bless us with the threefold blessing as found in the Torah".
In a Torah which I found in Eastern Europe the scribe, in order to emphasize the threefold blessing, wrote the priestly blessing in the form of a triangle
The Radio Show Must Go On: Jewish Icon Nachum Segal Is Undaunted After Studio Blaze
photo Credit: Nachum Segal Network The studio in the aftermath of the devastating fire earlier this year.
You might not know him, but chances are you know his voice. It's a voice that launched his career as a Jewish radio host back in his Yeshiva University days on the campus radio station. Over the last almost four decades, as host of JM in the AM (short for "Jewish Moments in the Morning"), Nachum Segal has become a trusted voice on matters the frum community cares about. On the show, which now airs exclusively on the Nachum Segal Network, the online and app-based platform he built, he interviews makers and machers, presents the day's news, and debuts the latest in Jewish music; the network also features an array of other programming.
Unfortunately, shortly before Pesach, a fire gutted Segal's Lower East Side studio, located just blocks from his home. Despite the challenges and need to improvise – who better to do that than a veteran of live hosting? – Segal's show hasn't missed a single day on the air, and he has vowed to rebuild the space.
The Jewish Presschatted with Segal about the ordeal, his inspiring attitude, and the secret to his success.
Tell us about how you've been managing to keep your show going since the fire. Where is your temporary nerve center?
Having all the equipment and paperwork and mementos and so much nostalgia completely destroyed in an instant is very difficult to deal with and poses many challenges. The studio burned down on a Sunday. The next morning my colleague Mayer Fertig hosted JM in the AM and I called in to discuss what [had] happened. By Tuesday morning, we put together a makeshift studio in our apartment in NYC and I was hosting JM in the AM. We have not missed a minute of programming despite being displaced the way we were. About a week later, we built a makeshift studio in Teaneck, NJ. That has been our main headquarters as we rebuild our old space.
How did you first discover what had happened, and what was that moment like?
At 1 p.m. we got the news that our youngest child had passed his road test and we were celebrating at home. Ten minutes later we got a call that the studio was on fire. We ran over to discover the chaotic scene of a street filled with fire engines and personnel.
The moment was surreal. You don't even believe that it's happening.
Did you ever consider giving up – walking away from this amazing platform you built?
Every possible strategy seemed to go through my mind that day and during the subsequent days. I don't think I ever considered giving up, but I did think of just how difficult it would be to start from scratch and rebuild.
You've inspired a lot of people with your positive attitude and determination to pick up the pieces after the fire. To what do you credit your inspiration and positivity?
A lot of people pointed out how lucky [I and my team] were that no one was in the studio and that G-d took out His anger on stuff and not people. It is hard not to be somewhat positive when you have that perspective being repeated constantly. We have stayed on the air during blackouts, [Hurricane] Sandy, blizzards, and through many challenging times. This is no different. We have to pick up the pieces, as difficult as it is.
Nachum Segal with Avraham Fried in 2017.
Your show has always relied partly on fundraising. Now you need more funds than ever to be able to rebuild. How is that campaign going?
Our campaign was very successful and had participants from all around the world. The outpouring was welcome and overwhelming.
Tell us about your plans for the new studio. Where will it be? Is there anything different you want to incorporate into the space?
Our studio was built in 2002. We are looking to build a new one in the same space that will reflect 2022 technology.
You've been in the Jewish media business for over three decades. For better or worse, what has changed since you started out and what hasn't?
Technology has changed the way we reach people and it has allowed us to have a global audience. We are no longer a local radio program. What has not changed is the thirst listeners have for good and inspiring programming. People want to be entertained, informed, and inspired.
The proliferation of media outlets and platforms, Jewish ones included, can make anyone's head spin. What do you think keeps listeners tuning in to your programs?
They know that they will always have a live, dependable, and current broadcast. We are a proven commodity, a comfortable shoe if you will. People will not quickly give up a show that continues to satisfy their broadcast needs.
Your show focuses a lot on Israel and the connection between American Jewry and the Jewish State. Why is that important to you?
I feel that it is essential that we constantly remind Diaspora Jewry that Israel is the center of the Jewish world. That is a sea of change from the past 2,000 years of the Jewish world being Diaspora-centric. Also, the constant reminder that "The future of the Jewish people is in the State of Israel" is critical. We are constantly preaching it and hoping that listeners plan for the eventuality of living there.
How do you measure your success and your impact on the community?
Listener response over 40 years indicates that we have had and continue to have a great impact on the greater Jewish community. I think we have caused much discussion in the community on issues like chesed, Israel, inclusion, and many more.
I would imagine you've been subjected to your share of backlash from those with different views on some of the issues you speak about. How do you deal with that?
At this point, people know my positions and appreciate the consistency behind them. When you have an opportunity for decades to display true sincerity behind what you have to say and listeners see that you are not wavering from your core beliefs, they become much more tolerant and appreciate your opinions more.
Favorite interview of your career?
Favorite? That is a question I am never prepared to answer. There are too many of them!
As a master interviewer, how does it feel to be on this side of the conversation?
I very much enjoy it when people want to know about my career or my positions on matters.
JM in the AM airs weekdays from 6-9 a.m. EST and is archived daily on nachumsegal.com and the NSN app, which also features other Jewish programs of interest. There's also a dial-in option: (602) 562-4400. To support the campaign to rebuild the studio, go to https://campaigns.causematch.com/donatefjb-fire.
See you on Monday as Sunday is Shvout. Shabbat Shalom and Hag Samach for Shvout. Outside of Israel, Shavuot is also on Monday
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