The Next Stage

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The Next Stage

What makes a nation-state 'Jewish'? Are Jewish & Palestinian aspirations mutually exclusive? What are the next objectives of Jewish liberation?

How can the State of Israel be used as a tool for the Jewish people to advance a larger historic revolution?

29/01/2025

The spiritual leader of Israel's anti-colonial struggle against Britain never stopped pushing to use the conditions created by Zionism's success to achieve the Jewish people's deeper historic yearnings.

Z'ev Golan joins Yehuda HaKohen to discuss his personal relationship with Sternist freedom fighter Dr. Israel Eldad. The two address Dr...

23/01/2025

What's it like to grow up as the son of a man who dedicates his entire being to his people & country?

Prime Minister Yitzḥak Shamir was a Jewish national hero. When the British ruled Palestine, he served as a leading figure in the anti-colonial struggle to free the country. After the State of Israel was established, he was recruited into the Mossad. Later he entered politics and became Israel's seventh prime minister - where he still saw himself as a fighter for Israel's freedom.

In anticipation of the new documentary, Shamir: War, Peace & [a] Dream, Yehuda HaKohen is joined by former Minister of Agriculture Yair Shamir to discuss his father's life and legacy, as well as his own experiences growing up as the son of a national hero.

What's it like to grow up as the son of a man who dedicates his entire being to his people & country?

31/12/2024

In an effort to go deeper into the Ḥanukah story, Yehuda HaKohen shares a class taught by his teacher, Rav Moshe Kaplan, on the ideological conflict in Judean society between the Maccabi underground and the Seleucid Greek Empire (based on the teachings of HaRav Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook).
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Guest: Rav Moshe Kaplan. Explore the hidden meaning behind the Greek 'defilement' of the Temple oils (and the subsequent armed resistance...

25/12/2024

Applying Frantz Fanon's basic framework from 'The Wretched of the Earth' helps us to better understand Seleucid-Greek rule in Judea, as well as the popular guerrilla uprising that rose out of the Jewish people.

Yehuda Hakohen is joined by Aryeh Shapiro for a discussion applying Frantz Fanon's teachings on colonization and anti-colonial struggle to the Maccabean Revolt commemorated on Ḥanukah (Aryeh had recently written a piece for Vision Magazine applying Fanon's ideas to the Ḥanukah story).

Maoz Tzur outro music by Yehonatan Roth.
✊🏼❤️‍🔥🏹 #חנוכה # #חנוכהשמח

Applying Frantz Fanon's basic framework from 'The Wretched of the Earth' helps us to better understand the Ḥanukah story & Israel's revolt against Seleucid-Greek rule in Judea ...

09/12/2024

Could passing responsibility for regional peace to the Jews most deeply rooted in our collective story help Israel to create better relationships with our neighbors?

Member of Knesset Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism) joins Yehuda HaKohen to discuss his efforts towards regional peace and how he represents Israel to the Islamic world.

The two also discuss how the larger process of the Jewish return to the stage of history and its potential meaning for humanity.

Could passing responsibility for regional peace to the Jews most deeply rooted in our collective story help Israel to create better relationships with our neighbors?

31/10/2024

Rav Benny Eisner was a cherished student of HaRav Zvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook and a beloved teacher to thousands.

In addition to spreading a revolutionary Torah to Jews in Israel & the Diaspora, Rav Benny served as an example for how we can meaningfully participate in the story of the Jewish people.

On the anniversary of Rav Benny leaving our world, Yehuda HaKohen discusses his teacher and shares a recording of another teacher, Rav Moshe Kaplan, speaking after the funeral.

In addition to spreading a revolutionary Torah to Jews in Israel & the Diaspora, Rav Benny Eisner served as an example for how we can meaningfully participate in the story of the Jewish people.

22/10/2024

It's important that Jews engage our Torah through the ideological lens of Israel's prophets & sages.

It's important that the Jewish people engage our Torah through the ideological lens of Israel's cherished prophets & sages.

21/10/2024

While most Israelis now reject the notion of ceding land, our further advancement requires the construction of a new ideological paradigm.

Following nearly a year of war since the Hamas attacks on Simḥat Torah of last year, Yehuda HaKohen is joined by Rav Gavriel Reiss to discuss how Israeli society has changed during the war and what limitation still block Israel's further development.

Rav Gavriel also shares some ideas on the deeper meaning of the simḥa we're meant to experience on the Sukkot festival.

While most Israelis now reject the notion of ceding land, our further advancement requires the construction of a new ideological paradigm.

10/10/2024

The all encompassing Divine light of Yom Kippur can help us to discover our unique roles in history.

Ahead of Yom Kippur - the holiest day on the Hebrew calendar - Yehuda HaKohen shares a 2013 class he taught at Machon Meir on how...

26/09/2024

What are the values pushing some Jewish students on North American campuses to call for an end to Israel's current multi-front war?

Yehuda HaKohen is joined by Columbia University student organizer Aharon Dardik, who spent his formative years in a Judean/West Bank Jewish community but now struggles for a ceasefire as Israel fights on multiple fronts.

What are the values motivating some Jewish students on North American campuses to call for an end to Israel's current multi-front war?

18/08/2024

Is Tu B'Av merely the Jewish 'Valentines Day' or is that understanding part of our deep colonization?

Rina bat Eliyahu asks Yehuda HaKohen for a deep dive into the six actual reasons that the people of Israel historically celebrate the 15th day of Av.🫀🇮🇱

Rina and Yehuda HaKohen: Is Tu B'Av merely the Jewish 'Valentines Day' or is that understanding part of our people's deep colonization?

15/08/2024

Could students of postcolonial studies benefit from examining the Zionist movement as an example of both settler-colonialism & national liberation?

Yehuda HaKohen is joined by Professor Derek Penslar of Harvard University for a conversation about the unique relationship between Ashkenazi Jews, Orientalism, anti-Semitism, Zionism, colonialism & postcolonialism.

The two also discuss aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the distinction between the Zionist movement and the ancient Jewish concept of “Shivat Tzion” (the “Return to Zion”) expressed through various liberation movements throughout the centuries.

Could postcolonial studies benefit from examining the Zionist movement as an example of both settler-colonialism & national liberation?

08/08/2024

Why was the Judean freedom movement vilified in rabbinic literature and in the writings of Josephus?

Ahead of Tisha b’Av – Israel’s national day of mourning for the destruction of the Jewish people’s national framework nearly 2,000 years ago – Yehuda HaKohen shares a 2015 class he taught on how the Judean freedom movement (the Zealots) came to be vilified by historians and even many rabbis following its crushing defeat at the hands of the Roman empire.

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Why were the Zealots vilified in rabbinic literature and in the writings of Josephus? Ahead of Tisha b’Av - Israel's national day of...

05/08/2024

Is there a uniquely Jewish balance one can strike between tribal rootedness & universalism?

After hosting Rav Gavriel Reiss in Phoenix, Rav Shmuely Yanklowitz of the Valley Beit Midrash joins Rav Yehuda HaKohen for a follow up conversation on the need to create a critical mass of young Jewish organizers able to show up for other oppressed and marginalized groups as their full "Israelite" selves.

The two also discuss the importance of being rooted in one's identity and values while open to constant learning and growth.

Is there a uniquely Jewish balance one can strike between tribal rootedness & universalism?

01/08/2024

Who were the major Zealot personalities leading Israel's Great Revolt against the Roman Empire?🔥✊🏼🏹

The Next Stage with Yehuda HaKohen: An exploration of the major Zealot personalities leading Israel's Great Revolt against the Roman Empire.

15/07/2024

Despite his contributions to the Jewish people as a leading Fighter for the Freedom of Israel, a Mossad N**i hunter & Israel’s strongest prime minister, Yitzḥak Shamir has essentially been written out of history.

Yehuda HaKohen shares the story of Shamir, who fought for the freedom of Israel his entire life and exemplified an inner strength and sense of responsibility to Jewish history sorely lacking from Israel’s current political leadership.

Yehuda HaKohen shares the story of Prime Minister Yitzḥak Shamir, who fought for the freedom of Israel his entire life and exemplified an...

11/06/2024

Can Israel truly receive a fair trial according to the moral standards of the West if Western civilization is fundamentally rooted in a Christian worldview?

Yehuda HaKohen is joined by Professor Jeremy England to discuss his recent piece, Live by the Law or Die on the Cross, and the extent to which Israel could hope to survive and thrive as a Jewish state in a Western-led global order inherently based on a Christian ideological paradigm.

Could Israel truly receive a fair trial in the West if Western civilization is fundamentally rooted in a Christian worldview?

10/06/2024

It's important that Jews engage our Torah through the ideological lens of Israel's prophets & sages.

In a special pre-Shavuot bonus episode of The Next Stage podcast, Yehuda HaKohen addresses several misconceptions regarding Israel’s Torah that have resulted from the many layers of colonization that the Jewish people experienced in exile.