Share
Wandering Jews: A Travel Podcast That Entertains & Informs
Travel far enough and you meet yourself
Latest episode
43. Berlin’s Museum Island – A Dream of Home and the Cracks in the Walls
37:13||Season 1, Ep. 43Step onto Berlin’s Museum Island, where the Enlightenment dreamed of a universal home for human creativity—and where Jews helped shape that vision with boldness, generosity, and imagination. Yet amid its temples of art and reason, the island also reveals the cracks: the shadows of exclusion, erasure, and the breaking of the very ideals it sought to enshrine.Join J2 Adventures’ Wandering Jews as we explore a place that inspires the human spirit, even as it exposes the profound limits of the Enlightenment’s promise. Links for Additional Readings:The James-Simon-Galerie – Official Overview (Museumsinsel Berlin)https://www.museumsinsel-berlin.de/en/buildings/james-simon-galerie/ Haskalah / Jewish Enlightenment – Jewish Museum Berlinhttps://www.jmberlin.de/en/topic-haskalah-enlightenment “James Simon: Art Collector & Owner of the Nefertiti Bust” – The Collectorhttps://www.thecollector.com/james-simon-a-generous-patron-of-the-arts-and-modest-social-benefactor/
More episodes
View all episodes
42. Don Quixote: An Honorary Member of the Tribe?
33:03||Season 1, Ep. 42Our journey begins in Madrid’s Plaza de España, standing before the weathered bronze figures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as Miguel de Cervantes watches from above. We explore why this "Impossible Dreamer" became a profound symbol for the Jewish experience, from the 19th-century Yiddish schlemiel to the "Prince of Dreams" in modern Israeli pop. From the shadow of the Expulsion to the stages of Broadway, we trace the knight’s journey and the "messianic yearning" that makes this 400-year-old character feel like a member of the Tribe. Links for Additional ReadingThe Secret Jewish History of Don Quixote by Benjamin Ivry (The Forward, 17 February 2014)Why You Should Read ‘Don Quixote’? by Ilan Stevens (Ted Ed, 18 October 2018)Don Quixote: An Honorary Wandering Jews – A Spotify Playlist41. Architecture of Aspirations: The Jewish and Democratic Heart of Jerusalem
32:29||Season 1, Ep. 41Discover how the Israeli Supreme Court’s design serves as a "physical articulation" of the state’s democratic architecture and the values it aspires to uphold. From the "square" of human law to the "circle" of timeless justice, we explore a building rooted in Jerusalem stone yet open to the future. Join us as we discuss how this landmark translates the ancient command "Justice, justice shall you pursue" into a modern judicial shield for all inhabitants. Links for Additional ReadingThe Israel Supreme Court – A Virtual TourJewish or Democratic? Israel’s Former Top Judge Reflects on Values, Aharon Barak, My Jewish LearningThe Israel Religious Action CenterThe Israel Democracy Institute40. From Bouzouki to Belonging: The Sound of Greece Heard All The Way to Israel
35:37||Season 1, Ep. 40Greek music fills Israeli weddings, cafés, and stadiums — but why? Israel doesn’t just listen to Greek music; it needs it. Listen to ‘Wandering Jews’ as we uncover how a “foreign” sound became a cultural safe harbor, revealing the Israeli search for identity and belonging. Through stories of exile, trauma, and survival, Greek music became a borrowed and reimagined sound of a Mediterranean home. What we listen to, it turns out, tells us who we want to be. Links for Additional Readings:Rosa Eskenazi, The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish WomenYehuda Poliker – My EyesThe Mediterranean Israeli Identity, A.B. Yehoshua, the European Institute of the Mediterranean39. The Storytelling Tree: The Knesset Menorah and the Roots of Inspiration
22:10||Season 1, Ep. 39Join us at “Wandering Jews” as we step beneath the branches of Israel’s “Storytelling Tree”—the Knesset Menorah—and uncover the roots that nourish a nation’s identity. From biblical heroes to modern pioneers, this monumental sculpture weaves centuries of struggle, hope, and renewal into bronze. Explore how art, memory, and moral vision intertwine to shape Israel’s civic heart. Links for Additional ReadingThe Knesset Menorah, Wikipedia (including pictures)The Man Who Made The Menorah, Eli Abt, The Jewish Chronicle December 7, 2023 The Story Of The Menorah: From Temple To State Seal, Yael Steiner and Jonathan Schwab, Unpacked38. Ramle At the Crossroads: Choices Made and Challenges Ahead
20:46||Season 1, Ep. 38*Ramle* is an ancient crossroads, shaped by numerous empires along the historic ‘Way of the Sea.’ Its history and human mosaic highlights a modern reality: it is one of Israel’s most heterogenous cities, where a diverse *Jewish majority* lives alongside a significant *Arab minority*. The city's vibrant tension yesterday and today is a microcosm of the larger challenges and potential of Jewish-Arab coexistence within Israel.Wandering Jews will visit Ramle and probe lessons in how the past's multicultural mosaic continues to inform the present's complex politics and aspirations for a shared tomorrow. Links for Additional Reading:Migration Patterns in Mixed Cities in Israel: Socioeconomic Perspectives, The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in IsraelThe Municipality of Ramla – Financial Status and Human Capital Management, The Israel State ComptrollerArchaeology in Israel: Ramla, Jewish Virtual Library37. Vienna and Its Jewish Luminaries: Insiders-Outsiders in the City of Dreams
22:57||Season 1, Ep. 37Explore the dramatic irony of turn-of-the-century Vienna, a city that both nurtured titans of Jewish thought and art—from Freud to Mahler—and became the hotbed for modern, racial antisemitism. Discover how Jewish luminaries defined Viennese modernity while simultaneously facing an increasingly hostile political and social climate. This episode delves into the genius and the heartbreak of the "Wandering Jews" whose contributions and fates molded and reflected the modern European experience. Links for Additional Reading:Our City! Jewish Vienna - Then to Now, The Vienna Jewish MuseumAmbivalent Modernity: the Jewish Population in Vienna by Albert Lichtblau, Issues in Contemporary Jewish HistoryHow To Deal With Anti-Semitic Legacies And Historically Burdened Places In Public Urban Spaces? The Case Of The Lueger Monument In Vienna, OppAttune