Tour Guide Confidential

27/10/2024

Last week I was at the Nova Festival massacre site, and I wanted to share this photo essay about my experience there.

A photo essay for the one year anniversary.

20/10/2024

Today, I published a 𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹'𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 called "𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹'𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗰" that provides a historical and anthropological framework for understanding Israel's various religious and ethnic communities. I hope that this will be the first in a series of talks on various minority groups that make Israel so unique and vibrant.

Please help make that possible by renting or buying the lecture at this site:

This first lecture is part of a larger lecture series that explores Israel's cultural diversity and discusses the place of minorities in the Land of Israel country from a historical perspective. Specifically, the video looks at how the various empires that marched through this land their mark and de...

16/09/2024

רוב האנשים אינם מודעים לכך שקיימת היסטוריה ארוכה של אסטרולוגיה במקורות היהודיים, ששורשיה בתנ"ך. הרצאה זו בוחנת את הסוגיות הרבות שהאסטרולוגיה מעלה מנקודת מבט יהודית וכיצד נפתרו הבעיות בימי התלמוד רק כדי להינטש על ידי יהודים מימי הרמב"ם. ובפרט, אני בוחן את הסוגיות של בחירה חופשית, עבודה זרה, נבואה, ושכר ועונשו.

ההרצאה באנגלית עם כתוביות בעברית שצריך להפעיל בCC והיא זמינה להשכרה ב-10$ בלבד ל-14 ימים. אני מאוד אשמח למשוב שלכם ומבקש ממכם בבקשה לשתף את זה כאן בפייסבוק עם חבריכם וגם לכל מי שעשוי למצוא בזה עניין.

תודה רבה!

רוב האנשים אינם מודעים לכך שקיימת היסטוריה ארוכה של אסטרולוגיה במקורות היהודיים, ששורשיה בתנ"ך. הרצאה זו בוחנת את הסוגיות הרבות שהאסטרולוגיה מעלה מנקודת מבט יהודית ...

10/09/2024

https://peoplenotplaces.vhx.tv/products/judaism-and-astrology

This is a lecture on 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 that I worked on for a long time that you will hopefully find as interesting as I did.

Most people do not realize that there is a long history of Astrology in Jewish sources that goes back to the Bible and the accurate prediction of Moses' birth and death by Egyptian Astrologers.

This lecture looks at the many issues that Astrology raises from a Jewish perspective and how they were resolved in Talmudic times only to be abandoned by Jews since the time of Maimonides.

In particular, I look at the issues of 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹, 𝗜𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗿𝘆, whether Astrology is 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗰𝘆, and the place of 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

Note that this lecture can be 𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗 at the low rate of $𝟭𝟬 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀. (In addition to being fascinating to me personally, it is one small way for me to earn some income as this war grinds on.)

I hope that you find it interesting and enjoyable!

*Please also 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘 it with your friends on Facebook and anywhere else!*

Once quite common among Jews, Astrology no longer plays a part in Jewish life. This lecture looks at the history of Judaism and Astrology and how it has changed over time. In particular, we look at whether Astrology calls into question the existence of Free Will, whether it is a type of idolatry, wh...

24/05/2024

I recently sat down with fellow tour guide Michelle Levitz to record the 25th episode of Tour Guide Confidential. We discussed educational and hands-on experiential tourism. as well as October7

Please check it out at tourguideconfidential.com or on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1140848

Tour Guides tell the best stories and Tour Guide Confidential provides the showcase for Tour Guides to talk about this endlessly fascinating profession. Join us for interviews with some of the top-tier tour guides to hear about their unforgettable...

22/05/2024

https://open.substack.com/pub/israelanthropologist/p/liberal-anti-zionism?r=heu4e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This morning, I released a video of a lecture that I put together on the intellectual underpinning of Liberal Anti-Zionism. Please check out the link and the video. Note that the video is only available for free to those who are subscribed to the "Israel Anthropologist" substack, but that there is a rental option that costs only $10 USD for 14 days of viewing.

Please watch this video and share the link to the rental site with any and all who may be interested, or may benefit, from the site. : https://peoplenotplaces.vhx.tv/

This lecture is especially important for current or prospective college students, community leaders, rabbis, and pastors. It will give them the tools they need to understand the internal logic of anti-Zionism. And as they always say, to address a problem, it is essential to first clearly identify it. I believe that this lecture goes a long way towards accomplishing that goal.

A look at the intellectual roots of liberal Anti-Zionism

29/02/2024

My latest thoughts on substack:

Why Jewish Sources Matter

12/02/2024

Latest substack post!

On the Promise and Pitfalls of Educational Tourism

07/02/2024

https://tourguideconfidential.com/ep-24-adam-waddel-educational-tourism/

Hey, friends! I have a new Tour Guide Confidential episode out where Adam Waddell and I discuss educational tourism.

You can check it out at the TGC site (above) or on any of your podcast players (e.g. Spotify, iTunes, etc.)

https://open.spotify.com/show/6E79PKSumYOA4EaQvmKHf2?si=8f84452db0b44d7e

Listen to Tour Guide Confidential on Spotify. Tour Guides tell the best stories and Tour Guide Confidential provides the showcase for Tour Guides to talk about this endlessly fascinating profession. Join us for interviews with some of the top-tier tour guides to hear about their unforgettable guidin...

27/01/2024

My latest substack thoughts.

Please subscribe if you have not yet done so.
Please share with your friends or colleagues who may be interested in my perspective.
Thank you!

The "moral inversion" of accusing Israel of genocide.

24/01/2024

Check out my substack and lecture that I gave last week on the intellectual underpinnings of anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Exploring the underpinnings of academic anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

23/01/2024

My latest substack post:

The Hostage Crisis and Collective Obligations

11/01/2024

Please check out my latest substack post that includes links to a podcast episode that I released earlier today.

Haike Winter sat down with me for the Tour Guide Confidential podcast to share her experience of volunteering in the devastates kibbutz of Nir Oz.

11/01/2024

Here is another way to get to this podcast episode.

In a few hours it will also be picked up by all the major podcast players like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, etc.

In this episode, tour guide Haike Winter, returns to Tour Guide Confidential to share her experience of volunteering in a dairy farm during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Like all tour guides in Israel, Haike was left unemployed by the ...

11/01/2024

Check out my new Tour Guide Confidential podcast episode where I sit down with Haike Winter Tour guide to discuss her experience of volunteering in the cowshed of Kibbutz Nir Oz. This small community was devastated and bore the brunt of the Hamas pogrom on October 7.

Tour Guide Haike Winter describes her volunteering experience in the devastated "Gaza envelope" kibbutz of Nir Oz.

05/01/2024

My latest substack post.

Moving past simplistic binaries.

14/12/2023

Who makes the rules?
A nascent movement to change the IDF's rules of engagement.

Please subscribe to my Substack. I am trying to provide thoughtful commentary and analysis and it would directly help me in this difficult time. when there is no tourism and no end in sight to the war. Thank you!!!

A nascent movement to change the IDF's rules of engagement.

23/03/2023

Back in April 2020, during the early days of Corona, I decided to launch a podcast where I interviewed tour guides about different styles of guiding and best practices, while providing an oral history of the calamity that had befallen our profession. With 21 long-form interviews under my belt, I am very proud of what I accomplished and am thrilled to see that the podcast has crossed the 4,000 downloads mark.

I have been asked probably a hundred times by other guides if I have made any money off of this podcast. While I definitely don't have anything against making money, it was never my primary goal nor is it the only and primary metric. Rather, I hope that people will continue to be enriched by these episodes.

The only reason I stopped working on this podcast was because, on average, it took me 4 days of work to produce one episode. With the return of work, I simply didn't have the time. Also, I am choosing to give precedence to my latest project that I am calling "People not Places". (Please contact me if you are interested in this latest project.)

That said, I have not completely abandoned this project, but I think that if I do any more interviews, I am going to upload them raw and unedited. If there are any tour guides out there who feel that they have something that they want to share, I will be more than happy to find a time to sit down with them.

In the meantime, if you have not listened to the podcast, please do. I think that the discussions on guiding are as relevant today as they were when they were first published.

You can listen to episodes on Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, etc. and on the show's website: tourguideconfidential.com