The Dardik Family: A Child Moves Away From Zionism [Divergence 3/6]

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Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.

This episode is sponsored by an anonymous friend who supports our mission.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Judah, Naomi, and Aharon Akiva Dardik—an olim family whose son went to military jail for refusing to follow to IDF orders and has since become a ceasefire activist at Columbia University—about sticking together as a family despite their fundamental differences.

On Aharon’s 14th birthday, the Dardiks moved from America to the Neve Daniel in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria. Since then, their relationships to Israel have diverged but they have refused to be divided. In this episode we discuss:

• Why did Aharon initially choose to stay anonymous to protect his parents from public pushback?
• How can we identify positive qualities in people we viscerally disagree with?
• Do differences over Israel and Zionism need to tear families apart?

Tune in to hear a conversation about how the Jewish People can learn to think less institutionally and more familially.

Interview begins at 19:08.

Rabbi Judah Dardik is an Assistant Dean and full-time Ramm at Yeshivat Orayta in the Old City of Jerusalem, where he teaches and oversees student welfare. He is also the Dean of the Orayta Center for Jewish Leadership and Engagement. Before making Aliyah, he completed 13 years as the spiritual and community leader of Beth Jacob Congregation, in Oakland, California.

Naomi Dardik, with her husband, Judah, served the Beth Jacob community in Oakland for thirteen years. Now, she leads the team of Relationship Experts at "OurRitual," a young company based in Tel Aviv that is building new ways to help couples access relationship support. She earned her BA in psychology from Barnard College and her MSW from UC Berkeley.

Aharon Akiva Dardik is a philosophy and political science double major at Columbia University. His activism in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza was noted in The New York Times. He formerly lived in Neve Daniel with his family.

References:

“Forgive Me, My King I Did Not Know You Were Also a Father” by David Bashevkin

Beit Yishai by Rabbi Shlomo Fisher

“It Can Be Lonely to Have a Middle-of-the Road Opinion on the Middle East”

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza by Peter Beinart

The Power of Showing Up by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

“Family Ties” by David Bashevkin

“Spending the Seder Alone” by David Bashevkin

Baderech by Rabbi Judah Mischel

“Pesach Letter to My Child” by Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky

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