What’s up with Treyf – “a debatably Jewish podcast”?

treyfpodcast

Exciting new voices are starting to be heard in the Canadian Jewish community. Saying they are tired of being excluded from expressing their views by the Jewish establishment, young Canadian Jews are turning to other media. Treyf Podcast is one of them. Learn more…

A couple of years ago, two young Canadian Jews had a provocative idea: a series of critical podcasts about Jewish media and politics in Canada.  They called it  Treyf Podcast. (Apparently ‘ Treyf’ is a Yiddish word for non-kosher food, or for not kosher in the more metaphorical sense, as in not legitimate.”)

Since then, Sam Bick and David Zinman have produced dozens of podcasts ranging from 20 to 40 minutes covering projects and perspectives otherwise sidelined by Jewish media.

Treyf Podcast is recorded at CKUT in Montreal (on occupied Kanien’kehá:ka territory). In the shadow of the cross of secularism, Sam Bick and David Zinman reflect on the political discussions that are happening (and not happening) in North American Jewish communities.

TREYFfaces

Zinman (from Thornhill, Ontario) and Bick  (from Montreal) both have very conventional Jewish Canadian backgrounds, but are now non-practicing Jews with decidedly unconventional views.

In January, the two were interviewed by Jewschool – a US website devoted to progressive voices, about their backgrounds, their project, their activism and their favorite podcasts.

“The character of Jewish media seems like it’s really shifted over the last 60 years from having a predominantly leftist (and often revolutionary) viewpoint to a reactionary right-wing one”, says  Zinman. The established Jewish media, continues Zinman, has ” a colonial outlook (…) not just in support for colonialism in Palestine but participation in the ongoing genocide and erasure of indigenous peoples on this continent.”

“With Treyf, we’re trying to intervene in the political discussions of the Jewish community from a perspective deeply opposed to that of complicity.”

– David Zinman, Treyf co-founder

So… what are Treyf podcasts talking about?

Here are three recent 30 minute audio interviews available as Treyf podcasts.

  1. Interview with Carleton University professor Mira Sucharov about her recent resignation as a columnist at the Canadian Jewish News, and her growing discomfort with liberal Zionism.

 

 

2. Interview with Bernie Farber, former head of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) whose mandate was to defend the rights of Jews in Canada, about how CJC was taken over by the Jewish establishment who merged it into the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) mostly focussed on defending Israel.

 

3. Interview with Seattle based trans Jewish activist Dean Spade about growing up Jewish in the rural south, resisting the co-optation of our identities, and how the US left seems to have moved away from talking about capitalism and poverty.

 

Treyf podcasts still numbers its listeners in the hundreds, rather than the thousands who are subscribers to the CIJA newsletter. Let’s see if those numbers grow over the next year.

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Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue. We invite comments from readers. Both Zionists and non-Zionist opinion is welcome as long as it is expressed in a respectful way. If you support our educational mission, why not join? Or make a donation? Or learn more about what we do?  Contact us at membership.ctip@gmail.com.

 

 

2 comments

  1. One of the problems of us Jews is that we all have opinions we want everyone to hear about, but they are lame and boring and not enough people are willing to listen.

    Peter, thank you on behalf of the entire Jewish people for taking interest in that podcast and your help in offsetting the talkers/listeners gap crisis of the Jewish people

  2. Hey Ahik, on behalf of all Canadians I thank you for your thanks on behalf of all Jews.

    I know, as do you, that Jews have a proud tradition of discussion and debate. Canadians are excited to know that many young Jews feel increasingly uncomfortable with the self censorship in the Jewish mainstream media. Thanks again.

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