April 27, 2008

Broadcast Date: 
Apr 27 2008

Legal scholar Noah Feldman, who consulted on the writing of the Iraqi constitution, on Islam and democracy; a history of the Sarajevo Haggadah; and all your matzoh questions answered by a member of the Manishewitz clan.

Episode segments
  • The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State
    Global Justice, International Politics, Middle East
    Noah Feldman, author of The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, is a Professor at Harvard Law School.  A scholar of constitutional law, Feldman was involved in the crafting of the Iraqi constitution.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Noah Feldman explains why, contrary to the notions of so many in the West who understand sharia only in terms of restrictions on women and corporal punishment, the call for an Islamic state is a call for the rule of law and for justice.

  • The Sarajevo Haggadah
    Holidays, Arts & Culture, Literature
    Geraldine Brooks is the author of People of the Book.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Geraldine Brooks imagines the journey of the very real Sarajevo Haggadah from Andalucia through Italy and Vienna to Sarajevo, where it was saved twice by Muslims, first during World War II and more recently during the Bosnian war.

  • Why is matzoh square?
    Holidays, Literature
    Laura Manischewitz Alpern is the author of Manischewitz:The Matzo Family, The Making of An American Icon.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    We talk with the great granddaughter of Dov Behr and Nesha Rose Manischewitz, founders of the Manischewitz Passover food dynasty, about how Jews got matzoh before Manischewitz, why matzoh is square, why only men (and older women) can make matzoh, and other mysteries.