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What an ER doctor and musical trendsetter Miri Ben-Ari, a Jay Z collaborator, have in common
Being a successful musician is a lot like being a trauma room physician. You need to collaborate harmoniously with others, practice a lot and perform expertly in real time.
One might think that performing on some of the world’s largest stages and at high-profile venues like the White House is nothing like working in a tight space in a hospital emergency room. One involves art, the other science; one happens in public, the other behind closed doors; one appears beautiful and clean, the other can be messy and bloody. But the two actually have a lot in common.
Dr. Tal Patalon, the head of Kahn Sagol Maccabi (KSM), the Research and Innovation Center of the Israeli HMO Maccabi Healthcare Services, highlighted this when she hosted Grammy Award-winning violinist, producer and UN Goodwill Ambassador of Music Miri Ben-Ari on her podcast, “A Matter of Life and Death.”
“It is as though I am meditating on the highest frequency when I am in front of a live audience,” Ben-Ari said. “It is like an out-of-body experience.”
Patalon, an active clinician specializing in family and emergency medicine, said, “The same thing happens to me when a patient comes in. Every decision is one of life and death. You have to be in the moment. You have to give your everything to perform at your max.”
Musical trendsetter Ben-Ari has brought the violin to the fore in commercial pop music, collaborating with artists including John Legend, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson and Jay Z.
The unusual and popular podcast — now in its third season, but the first in English — is an opportunity for Patalon to talk with thought leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds and fields, including medicine, academia, technology and the corporate world, and she brings to listeners unusual conversations that wind their way from the esoteric to the profound. Recent guests on the program have included astrophysicist Avi Loeb, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, and psychologist and happiness expert Tal Ben-Shahar.
KSM has unique access to Maccabi’s professional medical data and conducts medical research, helping scientists, tech companies and entrepreneurs through various partnerships; uses a unique cloud-based platform that relies in part on AI technology; operates a bio-bank with over 1 million biological samples that assist companies in genetic sequencing and genetic research; and supports a range of other big data and clinical research projects.
Patalon thinks broadly, seeking inspiration from all corners.
Born in Tel Aviv, violinist Ben-Ari, 44, grew up playing classical music and at one point studied under the legendary Israeli violinist Isaac Stern.
“But something switched for me when I heard a recording of Charlie Parker,” Ben-Ari said. “He wasn’t playing the saxophone; he was talking to it. I wanted to do that with the violin. So I studied jazz in the United States and played with the best.”
Ben-Ari, who remained in the United States and lives in New Jersey, felt she was finally in her zone. “Now I could do me. I could integrate, harmonize and collaborate,” she said.
Miri Ben-Ari, left, was a guest of Dr. Tal Patalon, the head of Kahn Sagol Maccabi (KSM), the Research and Innovation Center of the Israeli HMO Maccabi Healthcare Services, on her podcast “A Matter of Life and Death.” (Courtesy of KSM Research and Innovation Center)
Over the past two years, Ben-Ari has branched out even further by working with African artists such as Nigerian producer Young D and Tanzanian superstar Diamond Platumz, who plays bongo flava — a melange of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles.
“It’s been fascinating working with African artists,” Ben-Ari said. “Africa is so close to Israel, so it was natural for me to go in this direction. The music is different in each country, and in each region of the continent.”
Patalon asked Ben-Ari on her podcast what it has been like to move from classical music training to experimentation with so many genres.
“I actually gave a TED talk about how to take a skill from one place to another,” Ben-Ari said. “You first have to have a firm foundation, then you can let your imagination take over and think outside the box.”
But it’s not easy, she said. “You find your own individual way of expression. It takes a lot of chutzpah, drive, persistence, dedication and bravery to keep continuing when you get a lot of no’s along the way.”
According to Patalon, the process bears some similarities to medicine. Just as Ben-Ari had to have years of classical training behind her to be able to innovate as she does, trauma care doctors need to have their basics intact before trying new approaches, Patalon said. One can only innovate on top of a deep foundation of expertise, experience and competence.
“It’s more than just knowing the basics. You need to be able to do them as an automatic response behavior. I need to know how to resuscitate a patient with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back,” she said. “We have to be experts.”
At the end of every podcast episode, Patalon asks her guest whether they think about death and how they would like to be remembered.
Ben-Ari said that the prospect of death doesn’t regularly occupy her: “I am busy with life, and I don’t think about what will happen after I die.”
When Patalon asked Ben-Ari what she would like the epitaph on her gravestone to say, she said she didn’t want an actual place of burial.
“I don’t believe in graves,” Ben Ari said. “I want to be an NFT or something technological like that. I would want there to be one private one just for my child, and a different version for my fans.”
Patalon suggested that she wasn’t surprised that Ben-Ari doesn’t think much about death, noting how common it is for people to fear death because they fear pain and losing relationships with loved ones — and are afraid of the unknown.
In the last episode of her popular podcast, Patalon offers some intriguing insights into the future of medical treatment: how technology will help predict a person’s medical future, how therapies can be tailored to the individual’s level, and the ethical questions that arise from these advances.
Ultimately, Patalon concludes, our well-being will be determined by what we do outside medical establishments: “I hope that we will all learn how to take the time to introspect, to develop relationships that are meaningful, because at the end of the day that’s what really keeps us happy.”
To listen to this episode and others from Season 3, visit ksminnovation.com/podcast.
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Cooper Union settles antisemitism case with 10 Jewish students who were barricaded in library after Oct. 7
(JTA) — The Cooper Union has settled a Title VI case of antisemitic discrimination dating back to a highly publicized incident in which Jewish students were trapped in a school library by protesters after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
The Manhattan engineering college has agreed to pay an unspecified sum to 10 affected Jewish students, create a Title VI coordinator position who will monitor cases “including discrimination or harassment based on antisemitism or anti-Zionism,” and ban masks at protests.
“This landmark settlement is the result of the extraordinary courage of the students who came forward to demand accountability from Cooper Union,” Ziporah Reich, an attorney with the pro-Israel legal group The Lawfare Project, said in a statement announcing the settlement. The Lawfare Project sued the school on behalf of the Jewish students.
Reich’s statement continued, “Jewish students deserve to learn without being targeted, harassed, or excluded because of who they are or what they believe. This case sends a clear message that universities have a legal duty to protect them and will be held accountable when they fail to do so.”
In a statement, Cooper Union’s president Steven W. McLaughlin said the settlement “reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a campus where every student in our community feels respected, safe, and included.”
McLaughlin, who became president last year following the resignation of the school’s previous president, continued, “We are dedicated to continuing our efforts to confront discrimination of any kind, including antisemitism, and to fostering a productive culture of curiosity and compassion. Settling this litigation is an important step as we move forward.”
Cooper Union Hillel/Midrash, a student-run Jewish organization that several of the plaintiffs belong to, did not immediately return a request for comment.
In the immediate weeks after Oct. 7, The Cooper Union was one of the first colleges thrust into the national spotlight for alleged antisemitic behavior on campus. Viral video showed Jewish students having barricaded themselves in the campus library for 20 minutes while pro-Palestinian protesters pounded on the doors and shouted slogans.
Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Education opened a Title VI civil rights investigation into the school. The Jewish students separately sued the school over their treatment, a suit The Cooper Union attempted to have thrown out. Last year a judge ruled the lawsuit could continue.
The settlement comes as the Trump administration has more aggressively prosecuted other elite colleges for fostering antisemitic environments, freezing federal grants and forcing large payouts. It also comes days after New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, reversed an executive order for the city to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of antisemitism.
As part of The Cooper Union’s settlement, the private school’s new Title VI coordinator “will implement all applicable guidance” established under Biden to consider IHRA in discrimination cases, the school’s statement said.
The post Cooper Union settles antisemitism case with 10 Jewish students who were barricaded in library after Oct. 7 appeared first on The Forward.
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Following pressure from Jewish leaders, Australian PM Anthony Albanese announces inquiry into Bondi attack
(JTA) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday the launch of a Royal Commission inquiry, the country’s highest level of inquiry, into the antisemitic terrorist attack on Bondi Beach last month.
The wide-ranging inquiry will also investigate the “nature and prevalence of antisemitism” in the country, provide recommendations to law enforcement to combat antisemitism and counter the “spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism in Australia,” according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office.
“I’ve repeatedly said that our government’s priority is to promote unity and social cohesion, and this is what Australia needs to heal, to learn, to come together in a spirit of national unity,” Albanese told reporters on Thursday. “It’s clear to me that a royal commission is essential to achieving this.”
The announcement of the inquiry comes weeks after two attackers motivated by “Islamic State ideology” killed 15 people and injured dozens more at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney. Until now, Albanese had largely dismissed mounting pressure from the victims’ families as well as Jewish groups to launch a Royal Commission.
“I’ve listened, and in a democracy that’s a good thing. To listen to what people are saying and what people are saying is, yes, we’re concerned,” Albanese told reporters. Last month, Albanese also announced a review of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
In the government’s press release, it also pointed to its previous actions in the wake of the attack, which have included tightening gun ownership laws and introducing legislation to curb hate speech.
The president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, said that the Australian government had “made the right decision” in establishing the royal commission in a statement.
He added that the group expected the commission to “allow an honest examination of government policies and the conduct and policies of key institutions and figures in major sectors of our society in contributing or failing to adequately respond to the unprecedented levels of antisemitism in Australia over the past two years or more.”
He added, “This is the only way that Australia’s time-honoured standards of decency and fairness can be upheld.”
The inquiry will be led by former High Court judge Virginia Bell, whose appointment raised concerns among some Jewish leaders in Australia who pointed to her role in a ruling that was cited by the New South Wales Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a ban on a pro-Palestinian march in August, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The Prime Minister has been told directly by leaders of the Jewish community that they have serious concerns about this appointment,” said former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in a post on X. He did not elaborate on his opposition to Bell in the post.
Following the attack, Albanese also invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia. While the invitation was welcomed by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, some Labor party members and progressive Jewish groups called for Albanese to rescind his invitation.
The announcement of the inquiry comes as Gefen Bitton, an Israeli living in Australia who was critically injured while trying to confront the Bondi attackers alongside Ahmed al-Ahmed, was slated to be flown to Israel on Wednesday for continued medical treatment.
It also comes as al-Ahmed, a Muslim man who received widespread support from the Jewish community after he was shot while disarming one of the attackers, was feted in New York City by the Chabad movement, whose emissaries were holding the Hanukkah event and were among the dead. Al-Ahmed arrived in New York City on Tuesday where he visited the Ohel, the gravesite of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s late leader Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, before being honored at a gala recognizing defenders of the Jews.
“Ahmed did what he did that day because he believed that God placed him at the scene for a reason, and that’s what gave him the strength to save lives,” Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, whose son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was killed in the attack, told Chabad.org. “This is something people from all walks of life can and must learn from.”
The post Following pressure from Jewish leaders, Australian PM Anthony Albanese announces inquiry into Bondi attack appeared first on The Forward.
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Trans screenwriter Our Lady J condemns anti-Zionism in LGBTQ spaces: ‘Zionism is not a dirty word’
(JTA) — Prominent transgender writer, actress and producer Our Lady J took aim at anti-Zionism within the LGBTQ community in a post on Instagram Tuesday.
“Until the LGBTQ community distances itself from all forms of antisemitism, including antizionism, our allies will continue to fall away, and we will remain defenseless in the face of attack,” wrote Our Lady J in the Instagram post.
The post, which at some point had its comments turned off, has ignited controversy in queer spaces, where anti-Israel sentiment has prevailed in recent years. “Check out Our Lady J’s Zionist page and unfollow them on Instagram,” wrote one user on X, while another referred to her as a “turncoat prick.”
Thousands of users also flooded the comment sections of posts from the LGBTQ magazine Them on Instagram and Facebook about her statement. “You can’t use trans rights etc to cover up a genocide,” wrote one user on Instagram.
In recent years, queer activism has grown increasingly aligned with anti-Zionist activism, a trend that has placed many Zionist Jews in the LGBTQ community at a crossroads. Over the summer, Pride celebrations were widely marred by debates over Israel. In Brooklyn, a Pride interfaith service was canceled allegedly over some groups’ opposition to the hosting synagogue’s “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.”
In December, the pro-Israel LGBTQ group A Wider Bridge shut down its operations amid financial strain. While not cited as a reason for its closure, the group also faced criticism from other LGBTQ groups for “pinkwashing,” a claim that efforts to highlight Israel’s record on LGBTQ rights are used to distract from or justify its policies towards Palestinians.
Our Lady J grew up in an evangelical Christian family and, around 2015, became the first trans writer to be hired in a television writers’ room for the hit TV show “Transparent,” which follows the story of a Jewish family in Los Angeles whose parent comes out as trans. The show’s fourth season, while filmed in Los Angeles, shows the family traveling to Israel.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTLV0AJCXLu/?img_index=1
In her post, Our Lady J claimed that “Zionists have always been at the core of LGBTQ progress,” citing prominent pro-Israel Jewish activists including Magnus Hirschfeld, Elizabeth Taylor, Larry Kramer and Eli Windsor.
“Zionism is not a dirty word. It is the belief in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Any definition of Zionism that aligns it with oppression or imperialism is a strategic attempt to undermine Jewish self-determination,” continued Our Lady J.
She concluded, “Not only does antizionism erode Jewish solidarity, it erases LGBTQ history, preventing us from understanding the foundation our own self-determination was built on.”
The post Trans screenwriter Our Lady J condemns anti-Zionism in LGBTQ spaces: ‘Zionism is not a dirty word’ appeared first on The Forward.