If there is one episode you listen to this season, let it be this one. It revolves around these questions: how do we heal the world? How do we practice love?

Today, we're speaking with Hadar Cohen, an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic, and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. Hadar comes from a 10th-generation Jerusalem family with lineage roots in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq, and Iran.

Hadar's story is one that we don’t often hear in the mainstream conversations in the Global North, because she comes from the Sephardic Jewish lineage: the branch of Judaism that originated in Spain at the time of Moorish Al Andalus, more closely related to the traditions of the Near East, rather than Europe.

Going Places is an audience-supported platform. You can become our member for as little as $6 a month. Visit us at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.

Thanks to our Founding Members:

RISE Travel Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to create a more just and equitable world through travel education
Radostina Boseva, a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San Francisco

What you’ll learn in this episode:

The Jewish mystical concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world
How Judaism is rooted in social justice
What it means to be an Arab Jew
How spirituality gives us the courage to face injustice
What Sephardic Jews have in common with their Muslim peers
Differences between Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews
The erasure of Arab Jews from the region's history
What is Jewish anti-Zionism
Debunking the myth of 'Arabs versus Jews'
How Hadar uses her platform to heal the world
Hadar's research in Andalusia and Morocco
What it was like growing up Syrian Arab Jew in Jerusalem

Featured on the show:

Follow @hadarcohen32 on Instagram
Listen to Hadar's podcast, Hadar's Web
Learn more about Hadar's work on her website
Read Hadar's writing on Substack
Check out the Tikkun Olam episode on the On Being show
Watch Edward Said's 1991 interview

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Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down with travelers, journalists, creators, and people living and working in destinations around the world. Hosted by Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel journalist, photographer, and writer who's worked with National Geographic, The New York Times, BBC Travel, and more.

Learn more about our show at goingplacesmedia.com.

Healing the World with Arab Jewish Mystic Hadar Cohen