Recorded November 20, 2025 Photo: Sandy withbook, by Liora

Among her many role, Sandra Gartner has been co-producer of Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre for 20 years, an actor with the company, and is co-producer with filmmaker Nora Jacobson on her latest project. Sandra also writes for RutlandMagazine and other publications. Not surprisingly, she has a wonderful way of telling stories. In this conversation she picks up threads of her life in Vermont and New York City; her life in theatre, journalism, and the Rutland, VT Jewish community.

• Sandra was a Youth Ambassador to Israel in 1966, at 16 years old, and “came back a changed person”. She maintains great affection for the land and people not withstanding that the current situation “doesn’t sit well” with her. The book she is holding in this photo is To Life: A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women, based on an oral history project she undertook with Ann Zinn Buffum and which was contributed to the Jewish Women’s Archive. S2 E3 Notes: NFTY (NationalFederation of Temple Youth) is based on the tradition of European youth movements and pursues “tikkun olam [repair of the world], personal growth, youth empowerment, and deep connections, all rooted in Reform Judaism.”
• AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is the heavy weight political lobby for Israel maintaining unwavering support for the Israeli government.
• Peace Now, established in 1978 by 348 Israeli senior reserve army officers is “the largest and oldest movement in Israel that works to promote peace through a two-state solution for two peoples”. Three years later, Americans for Peace Now (APN) was established to support it. With century old ties to labor movements and progressive causes, Ameinu, (Our People) “was founded in 2005 to reimagine the role of a progressive Zionist voice in the American Jewish community.” Ameinu perceived the need to strength ties with their Israeli counterparts via The Third Narrative. While Peace Now remains active in Israel, in 2024, APN and Ameinu merged forming the New Jewish Narrative promoting peace, justice, and a progressive Israel.
• Jewish Women’s Archive/To Life: A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women Follow the link to see Sandy’s work.

Recorded November 12, 2025 Courtesy Photo: Irit

Irit Librot takes us through her early years in Haifa immediately following the creation of the State and the subsequent move to the US where “the streets are paved with gold” (spoiler: didn’t turn out that way). We get a strong andinspiring picture of Irit’s mother, Rachel Dziecholska Rotkovitch, who lived, studied, and worked in Poland, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and the US. You can read aboutRachel in the alumni magazine of the American University in Beirut, photos p.51, write up p.64.

Irit’s own experience of October 7 and the war is temperedby her time in Israel and the reactions of those in her close community here, where, as you can see from the show notes, her life is infused with music and dance.

S2 E2 Notes:

• UVJC Healing Circles, discussed in Season 1 Episode 4: Gene Kadish.

• Mussar: The book Irit refers to is Everyday Holiness, by Alan Morinis, Trumpeter, 2007, and the course is from the Mussar Institute.
• Vivian Silver: Here’s a link to the GroundWork episode “Vivian Silver’s Legacy: From Grief to Action”, an interview with her son, Yonatan Zeigen.
• Holding Liat, the film referenced on the captivity and release of Liat Beinin Atzili.
• The orchestra referenced is Firqat Alnoor (“Orchestra of Light/Fire”) “an Arabic classical music orchestra composed of Jewish and Arab musicians from diverse social and geographical backgrounds across Israel.” Enjoy.
• Umm Kulthumm. Can’t say enough. Check her out on Wikipedia and I dare you not to listen to The Voice.
• The singer Irit references is Ziv Yeheskel and here’s a link to him singing Sawaah with The Jerusalem Orchestra East & West. And the dance is the Dabka. Looks simple enough. And then… (first link is Wikipedia, second one is a lesson)
• Times of Israel is, indeed, both a publication and a podcast. I’ve heard it critiqued from more than one perspective, so, maybe it is, as Irit, claims, presenting all sides.

Recorded November 7, 2025 Courtesy Photo: Keshaand baby, VT Statehouse

Kesha Ram-Hinsdale, as we establish at the outset, is ourVermont Senate Majority Leader, and yet here, she is not talking state politics – she’s just an ordinary Jew. Her story, as a self-proclaimed HinJew, is awash with streams of migration and displacement on both sides of her family. Looking at the origins of Israel, we focus often on the fallout from the mid-century dissolution of the British Empire. At the same time, Kesha’s family was uprooted by the divisions left on the Indian subcontinent by the British exit.

She speaks movingly about the legacy of her grandfather, Sir Ganga Ram, the role of art in giving her a sense of place in Israel, and how her dual legacy has shaped her thinking on democracy and human rights.

Hi! I’m happy to be back with a second season of OJT. Here, in Episode 0, I have a few words about the "why” of the podcast and some thoughts on this season in the short S2E0 audio.

And let me tease Episode 1 – we start out with a great conversation with VT Senator Kesha Ram-Hinsdale.

I’ve been asked a few times why I’m doing this podcast and I'd be glad to tell you. I felt from the beginning of the Gaza War that I needed a better connection with other Jews. I had been part of the Upper Valley Jewish community, and then I wasn't.And it was, and still is, such a fraught time and so confusing with the rise in antisemitism, the rise in pro-Palestinian sentiment, and no end to conflict in sight. I was trying to sort out my own history and my own feelings, and I started going back to the UVJC and what I realized was that it wasn't just me – a lot of people just really needed to sort things out.

And it’s not because there is a shortage of analysis andexpertise. There's great stuff online, really knowledgeable people from a historical perspective, theological, social perspective. But I feel that it isn’t just the experts who need to have these conversation – it’s also us ordinary Jews. Moreon this topic, including online resources, with a soon-to-be-linked Substack.

Happy listening, and please, do, subscribe! Thank you.

Recorded September 3, 2025 Courtesy Photo: Roberta Berner, with her husband, Rich Abel

Roberta has accomplished so much, one would think she lived three lives rather than lived in three places: the deep South, Midwest, and for 27+ years, here in the Upper Valley. She didn’t mention, but I will, that she was awarded a Shem Tov award this year from the NH Jewish Federation. Roberta is a Board Trustee and the immediate past President of the Upper Valley Jewish Community (UVJC) where she leads the Caring and Chesed (loving kindness) Committee and reportedly makes the best Saturday morning coffee. Her remarks on Israel and being Jewish at this moment are touching, difficult, and central to what so many of us are experiencing.

For my part, I’m taking a pause here after Episode 6 to reflect on where OJT can go from here, line up a new season of guests, and enjoy the glorious Vermont fall. Happy New Year, Shanah Tova u’Metuka – an even better year and a sweeter year – to you all.

Episode 6 Notes:

• DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution): According to an AI Overview on Google, “The DAR has evolved to be open to all races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds.” Roberta’s reference reflects what was a truism for us growing in mid-century – that Jews need not apply.
• Shir Shalom, Woodstock VT A Reform Congregation The Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF) Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace. “Those who have paid in blood cry out: WE MUST end this war. …there is no other way. Stop the killing. Stop the cycle of revenge…It is time to choose peace and reconciliation.”
• Dr. Meron Medzini, Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gave classes at Shir Shalom;his son was a tour guide when Roberta visited in 2019.
• “Israel: A Lesson in Democracy” taught by Hanan Miron about Israeli “judicial reform” in 2024.
• Military leaders on the conflict in Gaza, mid-2025. See also Episode 5.
• It’s Time, seealso reference in Episode 3.
• UVJC Healing Circles, discussed in Episode 4:Gene Kadish.

Recorded August 6, 2025

Ilsa Pinkson-Burke and Briane Pinkson grew up going to “shula”, a Cooperative Jewish Children’s School teaching Jewish history, ethics, art, music, and politics – everything except Hebrew, liturgy, or religion. The school was in the tradition of their parents and grandparents, Yiddish-speaking “left-wingers from the twenties and thirties”. Most weekends they all went to political demonstrations, andonce – once – they made a field trip to a synagogue. Today, both sisters feel a need to reenforce their sense of Jewish community and to learn more about the history of Israel, while distancing themselves from Zionism.Episode 5 Notes:

· Rabbi Dov Taylor leads Chavurat ki-tov and canbe reached at rabbit@mymakom.org

· Jewish Voice for Peace, New Hampshire/Vermont Chapter: “We envision a world where all people — from the U.S. to Palestine — live in freedom, justice, equality, and dignity.”

• o A Letter from Over a Thousand Rabbis Worldwide

• o Organizational responses to the suffering andstarvation in Gaza:

  • Statement from the Reform Movement
  • Statement from the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly
  • Statementfrom 80 Orthodox Rabbis (unlike the other statements, this one was international and signed by individuals)
  • Israeli military and security leaders strongly denounce government-directed military action in Gaza, demand an end to pointless death and destruction, and a deal to return the hostages
  • Artists and intellectuals: much reporting on statements, overt or covert boycotts, and reactions from within Israel. Hard to trace back to the statements by artists and intellectuals.

  Camp Kinderland “Summer camp with a conscience since 1923”

Recorded August 12, 2025 Photo: by LA

Being a Jew is central to Gene’s identity. He seeks to be abetter Jew as a way to be a better person, practices kyudo, goes to sabbath services as a way of meditation, and attends to the little things. In this interview, he contrasts what was worth dying for prior to the nation state, and what is so valued today. Gene is also one of the organizers of the Healing Circles held by the Upper Valley Jewish Community since October 7.

Episode 4 Notes:

Peter Beinart appearing on Jon Stewart show

Books referenced:

• Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, by Peter Beinart, 2024. Here’s a link to the author’s substack where he talks about the book.

• The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance, by Shaul Magid, 2023. Here’s a link to a discussion with Magid at Harvard Divinity School.
• Impossible Takes Longer – Israel at 75, by Daniel Gordis, 2023. Here’s a link to a discussion on the book. See also Gordis’s Substack where he surfaces media from across the Israeli spectrum that reflect the national discourse: Israel from the Inside including this 22 minute standup routine on PTSD by Udi Kagan.

Newspapers:

• Ha-aretz, English Edition
• Times of Israel

Organizations supporting a shared future: (just those mentioned in this Episode)

• New Jewish Narrative
• Standing TogetherNew Israel Fund