This series, which is broadcast on KALW 91.7 FM on Thursday afternoons at noon, features many of the remarkable artists and thinkers who continue to speak at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

We are always working to update this page so that it more accurately reflects the current broadcast season. We also invite you to visit our Podcast channel where new JCCSF lectures (Binah broadcasts included) are added regularly.

Tal Ben-Shahar: The Science of Happiness
Tal Ben-Shahar’s Positive Psychology class was the most popular course at Harvard University. The author of the international bestsellers Being Happy: You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Lead a Richer, Happier Life and Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment, Ben-Shahar teaches executives of multi-national companies, at-risk populations and the general public how to flourish.
Recording date: Monday, March 4
Broadcast date: Thursday, March 28

Dan Rather
Former CBS News anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent Dan Rather is the embodiment of the intrepid broadcast journalist. In his new memoir, Rather Outspoken, he comes out swinging at CBS for showing an“absence of executive backbone” during its investigation of Abu Ghraib and reveals how his determination to air a potentially damning story about then-President George W. Bush’s spotty military record led to his firing from CBS News.
Recording date: Thursday, March 14
Broadcast date: Thursday, April 4

Cheryl Strayed
In conversation with Barbara Lane
In the wake of her mother’s death, with her family scattered and her marriage in tatters, author Cheryl Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. The story of how that 1,100-mile hike broke her down and built her back up again, chronicled in her bestselling book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, has resonated with audiences around the world.
Recording date: Tuesday, April 2
Broadcast date: Thursday, April 11

Michael Feinstein: The Gershwins and Me
Michael Feinstein was just 20 years old when he got the chance of a lifetime: a job with his hero, Ira Gershwin. The two became close friends. Feinstein blossomed under Gershwin’s mentorship, and Gershwin was reinvigorated by the younger man’s zeal for the legacy he and his brother George had created. Feinstein shares unforgettable reminiscences from his book The Gershwins and Me.
Recording date: Sunday, March 3
Broadcast date: Thursday, April 18

Charles Phan
In conversation with Jonathan Kauffman, San Francisco editor of Tasting Table
Get some culinary inspiration from Charles Phan, the James Beard Award-winning chef of The Slanted Door, one of San Francisco’s top dining destinations. Chef Phan shares tips from his cookbook Vietnamese Home Cooking, which introduces traditional Vietnamese fare to home cooks by focusing on fundamental techniques and ingredients. Infused with personal stories from his early days as a refugee to his current culinary success, Phan takes us on a journey of Vietnamese cuisine from pho to banh mi to street food.
Recording date: 19 November 2012
Broadcast date: Thursday, 25 April 2013

Garry Marshall
In conversation with David Wiegand
Garry Marshall shares stories of a lifetime in television and film. Marshall began his career as a writer for The Tonight Show, The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show before emerging as one of TV’s biggest hitmakers in the ’70s. He created the classic TV shows Happy Days, Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley. He’s also a prominent film director whose movies include Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries.
Recording date: September 6, 2012
Broadcast date: Thursday, May 2

Ted Allen
In conversation with Joey Altman, chef, TV host and cookbook author
Ted Allen, host of the top Food Network show Chopped, frequently appears on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and was the food and wine specialist on Bravo’s Emmy award–winning Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He was also a judge on the first four seasons of Bravo’s Top Chef and on Food Network’s Iron Chef America. His latest book is In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks.
Recording date: May 21, 2012
Broadcast date: Thursday, May 9

Mary Roach
In conversation with Jack Boulware
Go on the trip of a lifetime through the digestive tract with best-selling science writer Mary Roach. Have you ever wondered why crunchy food hits the spot or how much the stomach will hold before it bursts? Find out in Roach’s new book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.
Recording date: Sunday, April 21
Broadcast date: Thursday, May 16

Hedrick Smith: Who Stole the American Dream?
As the middle-class continues to be undermined, attaining a steady job with decent pay and health benefits,home ownership and a secure retirement has become more fantasy than reality. In his new book, Who Stole the American Dream?, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times journalist and Emmy award-winning PBS producer Hedrick Smith reveals the trail of political and corporate decisions that got us to where we are, and what can be done to restore our hope for a better life for future generations.
Recording date: Monday, April 22
Broadcast date: Thursday, May 23

Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn’s latest novel Gone Girl tells the story of a young woman who disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary and who may, or may not, have been killed by her husband. As he discovers,the truth is more twisted and disturbing than the murder of which he’s accused.
Recording date: Tuesday, April 23
Broadcast date: Thursday, May 30

Jaron Lanier: Who Owns the Future?
Known as the father of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier draws on his expertise and experience as a computer scientist, musician and digital media pioneer to predict the revolutionary ways in which technology has transformed our culture. In his new book Who Owns the Future?, Lanier examines the effects that network technologies have had on our economy and charts the path toward a new information economy.
Recording date: Thursday, May 16
Broadcast date: Thursday, June 7

Eliot Spitzer: Money, Politics & Democracy
Former New York State Attorney General and Governor Eliot Spitzer, aka “Sheriff of Wall Street,” is a long-time critic of financial malfeasance, having prosecuted abuses among major Wall Street firms as well as numerous other industries. Spitzer addresses the corrosive effect money has on American politics and the evolving role of Jews in politics from outsiders to the ultimate insiders.
Recording date: Monday, April 29
Broadcast date: Thursday, June 13

Mark Russ Federman
In conversation with Joyce Goldstein
Lovers of lox unite! Join Mark Russ Federman, the third-generation owner of Russ & Daughters, the beloved appetizing store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, for a celebration of its long history. In Russ & Daughters: The House That Herring Built, Federman shares his immigrant family’s rags-to-riches journey from a pushcart on Hester Street in 1907 to a landmark institution of Jewish cuisine.
Recording date: Sunday, March 10
Broadcast date: Thursday, June 20

Sayed Kashua
Israeli-born Arab novelist Sayed Kashua writes satirical columns in Hebrew for Haaretz newspaper and a local Jerusalem weekly, HaIr, as well as the Israeli hit sitcom, Arab Labor, which critics have called “the Seinfeld of the Middle East.” In a humorous, tongue-in-cheek style, Kashua addresses the problems faced by Arabs in Israel, caught between two worlds.
Recording date: Wednesday, March 13
Broadcast date: Thursday, June 27