Annika Hernroth-Rothstein on the Miracle of Jewish Continuity

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of Rome, most Jews, for most of Jewish history, have lived in the Diaspora. What are the survival strategies, built up over centuries, that allowed far-flung Diaspora communities to endure and to remain connected to the broader Jewish people?

In researching her forthcoming book, Exile: Portraits of the Jewish Diaspora, Swedish-born journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein visited a dozen communities from Iran to Tunisia, Uzbekistan to Siberia, Cuba to Venezuela, to profile Jewish life in small communities around the world. And what she learned about the miracle of Jewish continuity is sure to fascinate and inspire you. In this podcast, Ms. Hernroth-Rothstein joins Jonathan Silver for a conversation about her journeys around the world. You’ll hear about what it was like praying in a synagogue with Tehran’s remaining Jewish community, what she learned speaking with pious Jews of Djerba, and how, while fleeing a warrant for her arrest in Venezuela, she was reminded that wherever Jews find themselves in the world, they are family.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble as well as “Shining Through the Rain” by Big Score Audio.

This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at the Tikvah Center in New York City.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Since the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of Rome, most Jews for most of Jewish history have lived in the diaspora.
0:16.0	In today's conversation, we look at the survival strategies built up over centuries that have allowed
0:21.9	diaspora communities to endure and to remain connected to the broader Jewish people.
0:26.6	Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest today is Anika
0:31.3	Hernroth Rothstein, a Swedish investigative journalist and writer who's profiled a dozen
0:36.7	diaspora communities in her
0:38.3	forthcoming book, Exile, Portraits of the Jewish Diaspora.
0:42.5	Anika did not spend her time in the English-speaking world or in the cushy environs of Western
0:47.2	Europe.
0:47.5	She brings us more interesting portraits from the Jewish diaspora in Iran, Tunisia, Uzbekistan,
0:56.5	Siberia, Cuba, and her most recent reporting and writing from Venezuela, where the Jews are really in the crosshairs of the political
1:01.3	turbulence there. In our conversation, we discuss the legacy of communism, the characteristics
1:06.4	that the Jewish communities assume when they're situated within larger Muslim nations
1:10.7	that are constituted to uphold Sharia.
1:13.4	What it's like to celebrate Purim in Tehran,
1:16.8	the role that Zionism plays in these communities, and much else.
1:20.4	If you enjoy this conversation, you can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on iTunes,
1:25.0	Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.
1:27.2	I hope you'll leave us a five-star review to help us
1:29.6	grow this community of ideas. I welcome your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes
1:35.0	at podcast at ticfund.org. And of course, if you'd like to learn more about our work at Tickfah,
1:40.5	you can visit our website, Tickfund.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
	...

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