Podcast: Annika Hernroth-Rothstein On Her Travels to the Most Far-Flung Jewish Communities https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/jewish-world/2019/06/podcast-annika-hernroth-rothstein-on-her-travels-to-the-most-far-flung-jewish-communities/

What this intrepid journalist learned from the pious Jews of Djerba, what it’s like to pray in a synagogue with Tehran’s remaining Jewish community, and more.

June 6, 2019 | Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein
About the author: A weekly podcast, produced in partnership with the Tikvah Fund, offering up the best thinking on Jewish thought and culture. Annika Hernroth-Rothstein is a syndicated columnist for Israel Hayom and a frequent contributor to the Washington Examiner.   

An Iranian Jewish man prays at the Molla Agha Baba Synagogue in the city of Yazd 420 miles south of capital Tehran. AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi.

This Week’s Guest: Annika Hernroth-Rothstein

 

Since the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans until now, a span of over two millennia, most Jews have lived in the diaspora. While frequently far from easy, diaspora life, with its endurance and with the way far-flung communities have remained connected to the Jewish people as a whole, constitutes something of a miracle.

In researching her forthcoming book Exile: Portraits of the Jewish Diaspora, the Swedish-born journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein visited a dozen small surviving diaspora communities, roaming from Iran to Tunisia, Uzbekistan to Siberia, Cuba to Venezuela. In this podcast, Ms. Hernroth-Rothstein joins Jonathan Silver for a conversation about her journeys around the world. You’ll hear what it was like to pray in a synagogue with Tehran’s remaining Jewish community, what she learned speaking with pious Jews in Djerba, Tunisia, 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.

Listen via iTunes Podcasts | Google PlayStitcher | Spotify

 

Background

 

Every Thursday, the Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic will bring to to your car/earbuds/home stereo/Alexa the latest in our efforts to advance Jewish thought. For more on the new podcast, check out our inaugural post here.

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