The bombings at the Boston Marathon occurred two weeks ago. But law enforcement is continuing to put the pieces together — as is the public. This episode of HTMH has us discussing our impressions and our feelings of what happened.
We usually use this space to ask you to support us by shopping on Amazon by clicking on one of the banners on this site. And you can certainly do so. However, if you have some disposable income, we’d like to encourage you to look at helping the folks in Boston and other tragedies which have occurred over the past few weeks. If you’re looking to help those affected by the tragedy in Boston, you can contribute at http://www.onefundboston.org. During the episode we discuss the fertilizer plant explosion in Western Texas as well; you can help that community through The American Red Cross.
Hi! We’ve been away for a long while. Why is that? You’ll just have to listen to find out…
We’re in the midst of the Jewish holiday of Passover — a holiday of springtime, slavery, freedom, multimedia events and education. And, of course, of eating matzah. And, for some, quinoa.
Join us for more details as to how one of our co-hosts has observed Passover in the past — and how it’s going down this year!
We wish you a Merry Christmas / we wish you a Merry Christmas / we wish you a Merry Christmas and a … wait, whaaaat?
Yes. Christmas. I’m Jewish, she’s Muslim. And this is a Christmas episode. Why? Just because.
We do, however, talk about a couple of other things: Faiqa (the one who isn’t Jewish) wrote an article about the winter holiday of Hanukkah (the one that is Jewish) — and got some flack about it. And the recent shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, CT was on our minds as well.
But we end it by celebrating Christmas — yes, Christmas — through a way both of us could connect. How? You’ll see…
It’s a very special episode of Hey! That’s My Hummus! Why is that? Because Shiny isn’t a part of it!
This past week was The Aiming Low Non-Conference in Atlanta, GA. And Faiqa not only was there, but she was also a roundtable leader at the (non) conference! While at the conference she spent time with yet another roundtable leader, Neil Kramer (@Neilochka), who is known for his blog Citizen of the Month. This was an opportunity to talk about many fascinating things — as happens when two great minds meet.
Listen as Neil discusses rubbing famous elbows on his visit to Memphis and Graceland! About his writing career! About ironing shirts! And so much more!
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Hey! It’s us. We’ve missed you. Have you missed us? Yes? Good.
It’s been a bit of time since our last podcast as we’ve been busy during these final few weeks of summer (summer trips to California and NYC to be a panelist at BlogHer ’12, *ahem*). But we’re still thinking about you (honest!), and we’ll be back soon enough to deliver you some of the best new content you can find on a Jewish/Muslim podcast.
But first — did you know that we’re heading towards the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan? It’s one of the reasons Faiqa’s evenings have been busy — as she fasts all day and observes a feast after sundown. And this weekend begins Eid al-Fitr! Which, in English, means the “Holiday of Fitr!” (As you can sense, Shiny wrote this paragraph.)
As we wish Faiqa an Eid Mubarak, let’s go back into our archives and listen to an episode from last year where she and I discuss our two very different (yet simultaneous) fasts which we observed. Two religions, one joint craving for pizza.
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And since we’ve made it to that point, we’re taking a quick break this week — no new show. However, we’re re-packaging an old show. Well, two, actually. We’ve taken segments from two of our earlier shows (from all the way back in 2011) and repackaged them. Why? Because it’s a great way to hear us talk about topics which fascinated us back then (and still do now.)
Our first segment is from April 2011 — we talked about “Whitewashing Hollywood,” which is what happens when a white actor plays the part of an ethnic character. It’s one of the best kinds of segments — which are the ones where Faiqa and Shiny vehemently disagree.
And then we move to the end of last summer — when we had a story about a woman who was in the middle of a controversy when she was denied access to an amusement park ride because she was wearing a hijab. We talked about our own outward religious/cultural identities — as well as our own theme park experiences.
Even if you’ve heard these before — listen again! Nostalgia is cool.
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On this episode, we’ll be talking about this week’s tragic shooting at a high school in Ohio which left 3 students dead, some more with injuries, and a community severely affected trying to figure out what went wrong. What were the factors which led up to this act of violence? Was it the shooter’s access to a gun? Was it his upbringing?
It’s a somber topic, and there are certainly many questions left unanswered. Please let us know what you think — by posting to our Facebook Wall or by tweeting us.
Here comes a Faiqa-less episode — her son was under the weather (and we hope he feels better!). Fortunately, Shiny’s wife, Kyra, fills in on this episode of HTMH. Kyra was involved with a National Geographic Channel special called Hitler’s G.I. Death Camp, chronicling the happenings in the Berga concentration camp where 350 American P.O.W.’s were subjected to forced labor and inhumane conditions. You can find out more about it and see a clip here. The program debuts on Sunday, December 18 at 9:00pm ET/PT.
We also switch gears and discuss Lowe’s home improvement’s decision to stop advertising on TLC’s series All-American Muslim. Faiqa writes a powerful blog entry about it here.
… and that’s it for 2011! Thanks for listening and participating — we’ll see you in 2012!
Well, it’s the week after Thanksgiving. Which means we’ve entered “The Holiday Season” — whatever that means!
And what exactly does it mean? What happens on that fateful Friday after Thanksgiving? Why do consumers go all crazy about getting that magical price on a plasma TV by camping out in the freezing cold for hours before? Is this truly the way to spend the holiday? We talk a bit about how “Black Friday” has now become a part of our collective lives in the USA.
And after all of that — we (your favorite Jew and Muslim) delve into the “War on Christmas” — in which certain retail outlets have opted to use a more ecumenical “Seasons Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas” to include a more diverse base of customers — and in which some have returned to “Merry Christmas” out of pressure by those who feel that Christmas has become an endangered species. We have our own views on it as non-Christians. Listen and discover!
Eid Mubarak! Muslims have been marking the end of Ramadan over the past few days worldwide with Eid-al-Fitr, perhaps the biggest holiday within the calendar. It also is the beginning of the month of Shawwal. Because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycles, it’s an observance which actually begins at sundown. Similar to Jewish holidays — which also follow a lunar calendar.
Faiqa has a wonderful post about Eid-al-Fitr at her blog. She also discusses the ongoing issues with determining exactly when the calendar date should fall in different parts of the world.
(cc) Ethan Ableman via Flickr
But as we’ve discussed on the show, it’s quite interesting to see what Judaism and Islam have in common where it comes to our way of keeping time. Although we both have calendars based on the moon with twelve months apiece, the Jewish calendar throws in leap years to keep the lunar years consistent with the solar calendar. That’s why Passover and Hannukah fall around the same times every year, while Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr are several weeks earlier year after year. (The Jewish calendar has a 19 year cycle in which seven of those years include a whole extra month… but your head will likely explode if I explain all of this right now.)
The point of this is that Judaism is beginning a new month as well — the month of Elul. It’s the last month of the Jewish calendar, and it has a bit of significance. First of all, the name is an acronym for the Hebrew Ani l’dodi v’dodi li – which means “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me.” Sweet, no? Also, it that it is the last month of the Jewish year, it’s a preparation month for the more solemn New Year (Rosh Hashanah) which comes in one month. And to get people into that state of mind, the shofar is sounded every day (aside from the Sabbath).
Okay. The real point of this is that Faiqa and Shiny are very busy right now. Celebrating. Observing. So we don’t have a new podcast for you this week. However, we do have some gifts — as per the tradition of Eid.
First: a girl with some amazing lungs blowing the shofar:
Second: An awesome Eid celebration / dance number coming from… Canada?
And third: Faiqa and Shiny have put together a reel of previously unreleased bonus footage from Hey! That’s My Hummus! Some are extended topics we discussed off-air; some are snippets of us from behind the scenes, and some are just… well, embarrassing outtakes which ended up getting cut. Enjoy! (Note: These twelve minutes are available on the website only and are not on iTunes.)
We love hummus, but we don't always talk hummus. If a Jew and a Muslim walked into a podcast you get, well... this podcast. This site is a community forum for our podcast which you can listen to here or download on iTunes. If you have interesting stuff to contribute, please let us know via the contact form on our About page.
