The Road to Gender Equity with Ting Ting Cheng and Nadine Epstein

Women still do not have equal rights to men in the United States, leaving them vulnerable to changing political winds. What needs to be done to finally achieve this critical goal? Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein is hosting a series of informal “dinner party” conversations, exploring long-term strategies that could lead to true gender equity. The focus is not on politics but on big picture legal, organizational and cultural change. In this inaugural conversation, Epstein talks with civil rights attorney Ting Ting Cheng, Director of the Equal Rights Amendment Project at Columbia Law School.

“The Road to Gender Equity” series is in memory of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose legal strategies, based on the 14th Amendment, helped strengthen the rights of American women.

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The U.S. Senate: America’s First and Last Lines of Defense with Ira Shapiro and Rabbi Eric Yoffie

Today’s Senate looks very different from the Senate of the 1960s and 1970s, a time when those serving in Congress put “country over party.” Ira Shapiro, a former longtime Senate staffer and author of the new book The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America, discusses the many functions of the Senate, how it’s failed to provide leadership and what lies ahead of the 2022 elections and beyond. Shapiro is in conversation with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President Emeritus of the Union of Reform Judaism about how we can return to a time when Senators worked across the aisle.

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The Politics of Being Gay with Congressman Barney Frank, Eric Orner and Ann F. Lewis

Barney Frank was the first member of Congress to voluntarily acknowledge being gay in 1987. Frank joins his former congressional aide, Eric Orner, author of the new graphic novel Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank, in conversation about growing up Jewish, his lifelong crusade for civil rights and his 30+ years in the U.S. House of Representatives. With Ann F. Lewis, a champion for women’s rights, a former White House Director of Communications, and the congressman’s sister.

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Zionophobia: A Wide Open Conversation with Judea Pearl

What is Zionophobia and how is it different from Antisemitism—and what can be done about it? Is Israel key to the survival of the Jewish people? Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein speaks with Judea Pearl, who grew up in Israel and is the father of journalist Daniel Pearl who was killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.

This program is part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.

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Let’s Get “Nosh-talgic” with Rachel Packer

Jewish traditions and food have always gone hand-in-hand. From celebrating the holidays to mourning the passing of a loved one, food not only provides nourishment but comforts us as well. Join Rachel Packer, founder of MatzoBall Fitness, for a conversation about the love language of Jewish food and food as an expression of the Jewish soul. She also discusses “poverty cuisine” and how many of the traditional dishes we enjoy today were created out of the meager staples available to Jews at the time.

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Every Child is Our Child: Foster Care and Adoption with Rabbi Susan Silverman, Rob Scheer and Rita Soronen

Jews have always been called upon to protect the most vulnerable. Today, the need is greater than ever, with approximately 700 children entering foster care every day and over 20,000 teens aging out of foster care each year. Rabbi Susan Silverman, founder of Second Nurture, which seeks to encourage and support those fostering and adopting children and teens, and Rob Scheer, founder of Comfort Cases, an organization whose mission is to bring dignity and hope to youth in foster care, speak about the challenges and struggles facing children in search of their forever families. Silverman and Scheer also share their own moving stories of foster care and adoption. In conversation with Rita Soronen, President and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

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