Beyond the Pale | Jewish Culture and Politics

BEYOND THE PALE explores cutting edge Jewish culture and offers local, national, and international political debate and analysis from a Jewish perspective.

Sundays, noon to 1 p.m., on WBAI/New York, 99.5 FM

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November 03, 2013 — Today’s Beyond the Pale is the first of what we hope will be a monthly re-broadcast of Disorderly Conduct, co-hosted by Jesse Myerson and Alexis Goldstein. On today’s show our co-hosts examine (and proceed to demolish) the right wing’s take on the financial crisis: that it was all the fault of poor people (aided and abetted by The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, and The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), known as Freddie Mac).

Next Myerson and Goldstein report on a trade deal--the Transpacific Partnership (TPP)-- that is being secretly negotiated (secret that is, only to us citizens, but not to corporate lobbyists). The TPP will mark the end of national sovereignty and the beginning of corporate sovereignty in international trade.

The show ends with Reuters.com contributor Cate Long explaining the key issues in dispute in the Detroit bankruptcy filing. Is there any way to protect the interests of pensioners?

September 29, 2013 — Today's show is a rebroadcast of our April 17 2011 show. For details and audio, click here.

Beyond the Pale September 22, 2013 — Hosted by Eve Sicular — First, Eve speaks with director Moshe Yassur about world premiere Yiddish-language production of "Waiting for Godot" by the New Yiddish Rep company, and Yassur's own remarkable decades in theater from Yiddish to Ionesco.

Next, we hear musician Benjy Fox-Rosen, recently returned from his Fulbright scholarship in Moldova, singing first a traditional Romanian doyna, followed by a witty yet foreboding allegory by Bessarabian Yiddish songwriter Zelig Barditshever (1898-1937), "Eyle Toldes Noyekh" ("This is the History of Noah").

Then Eve talks with Professor Olga Gershenson about her latest book, Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema & Jewish Catastrophe -- a history of films made & suppressed, of political intrigue, cultural encoding, and artistic struggle from late 1930's Stalinist times to post-perestroika.

Next, director Peter Miller describes his new documentary "AKA Doc Pomus," profiling the legendary tunesmith (ne Jerome Felder), screening soon in theaters across the country; NYC run opens October 4 at Village East Cinemas.

Our second live in-studio music performance is Jacob Garchik's solo trombone paraphrase of "Dialogue with My Great-Grandfather" from his CD "The Heavens: Atheist Gospel Trombone Album."

Finally, Eve speaks with Dr. Barbara Siminovich-Blok about correspondences between traditional Chinese medical meridians and Jewish prayer practice of wrapping tefillin (based in part on "Tefillin: Ancient Acupuncture Point Prescription for Mental Clarity" by Dr. Steven Schram).

Beyond the Pale September 15, 2013 — Hosted by Marissa Brostoff and Kiera Feldman. First, we talk about the two-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street with Nathan Schneider, author of Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse and God in Proof.

Next, we're joined by theater critic, Columbia School of Journalism professor, and Beyond the Pale collective member Alisa Solomon about her latest book, Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof.

Finally, we speak with Nancy K. Miller, who teaches in the English program at the CUNY Graduate Center, about her memoir Breathless: An American Girl in Paris.

September 8, 2013 — September 8, 2013 - The war at home and the war abroad, co-hosted by Alex Kane and Lizzy Ratner.

In the first segment, we speak to Matt Apuzzo, Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist and author of Enemies Within, about the secret New York City Police Department intelligence unit that spies on Muslim New Yorkers.

Next, we speak with Middle East expert Phyllis Bennis about the illegality and dangers of the Obama Administration's plan to launch military strikes against the Assad regime. And we conclude with a conversation with Code Pink's Medea Benjamin about anti-war activists' push to stop another war.