You should never put bananas in the refrigerator
And a preview of our next episode
Of Jews, gentrifiers, and bananas: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on the antisemitic undercurrents to (some) degrowth
For reasons that shall soon become clear, I keep thinking about the bananas article. Bananas in more than one sense. A recent New York Times op-ed, “The Human Cost of Your Breakfast Banana,” recounts the corruption and even horrors of the banana sector:
“Each year hundreds of millions of people worldwide eat bananas, a fruit that’s rich in vitamins and minerals. But here’s what the average consumer should know: Every bite contains a drop of the banana industry’s bloody history.”
Fair enough, you might think. Chiquita sounds, from that article, like bad news. Plus, bananas are sort of meh as a food. Convenient (the built-in wrapper) and affordable but if I never ate one again I wouldn’t mind…
As public schools become more progressive, ‘classical’ Jewish education is on the rise
It’s time to head back to school—but this year, for some Jewish students in North America, school is going to look a little different. Some will be receiving what’s known as a “classical” education: a curriculum based on a return to fundamentals, a focus on time-tested great books and a rejection of mandates that emphasize diversity and inclusion.
There are plenty of classical schools popping up, including Jewish ones. The Emet Classical Academy in Manhattan is welcoming its first-ever cohort of students this fall, with its founders kickstarting their work earlier than expected due to parents and students feeling unsafe in the public system. Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, the chief education officer of the Tikvah Fund, which operates the school, joins to explain why his team felt compelled to create a new space for Jewish students of all backgrounds.
And before that, Rabbi Eric Grossman, head of school at the Akiva School in Montreal, sits down with Avi and Phoebe to talk more broadly about this trend toward classical education in Jewish circles and beyond. To wit: if most of Jewish education is based on the Torah and Mishnah, how much more classical can you get?
Coming up on the podcast
Joshua Leifer, whose new personal history book Tablets Shattered: The End of An American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life got a surge of attention after a Brooklyn bookstore employee decided Zionists weren’t welcome—and then found himself accused of being antizionist on the brink of making aliyah to Israel—joins Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy for a conversation you can hear later this week. Before that, check out his recent interview with Orthodox radio host Zev Brenner: