This special edition of Sounds Jewish comes direct from Jewish Book Week – where we discuss the meaning of life and what makes a story truly Jewish.

Acclaimed Israeli novelist AB Yehoshua tells us whether writers like him are still listened to in their native land – and why, as Israeli film and television is finding a worldwide audience, he chose to make the protagonist in his new novel The Retrospective a film-maker not a writer.

Novelist Jamie Attenberg tells us about her depiction of Jewish-American life in the suburbs of Chicago in her new book The Middlesteins. She explains why her main character is eating herself to death. What is she trying to tell us about the Jewish attachment to food?

Judith Butler, the philosopher whose ground-breaking work has seen her roam across literary theory, feminism and gender studies, tells us about her controversial stance on Israel, set out in her new book Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism. We ask why she's taken on this most fraught of topics.

Historian Fania Oz-Salzberger explains how why she collaborated with her father, the renowned Amos Oz, on their new book Jews and Words. Why, despite father and daughter being committed secularists, do they consider holy texts to be the most inspirational books of all. (Fania confesses that her father is freaked out by the internet: she has to tweet for him.)

The extraordinary story of Philippe Halsman, the man dubbed the 'Austrian Dreyfus', who went on to become one of the 20th century's most original photographers. Hephizbah catches up with award-winning novelist Austin Ratner to talk about his novel, The Jump Artist.

Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London

Join Jason Solomons and guests, award-winning novelist Naomi Alderman, Middle East analyst at Chatham House and director of International Relations at Regents Park College Yossi Mekelberg, and writer and documentary-maker Alexander Bodin Saphir.

The elections in Israel may be over and the votes counted, but such is the complexity of coalition politics in Israel, the final makeup of Binyamin Netanyahu's government is still being negotiated. But what happened to the predicted surge to the extreme right?

What do the panel make of Gerald Scarfe's controversial cartoon in the Sunday Times, depicting Netanyahu building a wall on the bodies of Palestinians and using their blood as cement?

And as Oscar night approaches, we take a look at two of the shortlisted documentaries, The Gatekeepers and 5 Broken Cameras: both from Israel but with very different takes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We ask the director of The Gatekeepers, Dror Moreh, what motivated six former directors of the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet to talk so candidly.

And the Tricycle Theatre in London is adapting the award-winning 2005 documentary Paper Dolls, the story of Filipino carers-by-day-transvestite-karaoke-stars-by-night in Israel. Naomi Alderman talks about how refreshing it is to see Israel portrayed in terms other than the conflict.

• Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London

Joining Jason Solomons to discuss the fashionable status of Jewish culture this year – and why Jews love Christmas lunch – are Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper, actor and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman and Guardian football reporter Jacob Steinberg.

As more than one commentator noticed, Jews became unexpectedly cool this year – with singers Ellie Goulding and Jessie Ware and countless TV shows, from Jewish Mum of the Year to Strictly Kosher, from Ottolenghi's survey of Jerusalem cuisine to Friday Night Dinner and Grandma's House. Tracy-Ann, one of the judges on Jewish Mum of the Year, argues that it's good to be out and proud. But will Jews just as quickly go out of fashion?

And how do we square that with the resurgence of antisemitism in football stands this year – both here and abroad?

And finally: why plenty of Jews love Christmas dinner but draw the line at Christmas trees.

• Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London.

Joining Jason Solomons in studio this month are Ian Black, the Guardian's Middle East editor, and Mark Gardner, the director of communications for the Community Security Trust.

Even though many more Palestinians than Israelis, most of them civilians, lost their lives, the fear and anguish was intense on both sides. Sounds Jewish takes a look at how it felt for ordinary people in an Israel under threat – and speaks to Jessica Steinberg, the cultural editor of the Times of Israel, who witnessed life in the shelters.

The ceasefire has been called and, so far at least, heeded – against the backdrop of a UN vote on Palestinian statehood. Is the ceasefire just a brief respite or could it signal a new direction for Israeli-Palestinian relations?

And what's the impact on British Jews when conflict breaks out in Israel and Gaza? Mark Gardner explains why he took issue with Steve Bell's cartoon depicting Netanyahu, Blair and Hague and we hear from the chief executive of the Jewish Museum, Abigail Morris, who witnessed the anti-Israel protests outside Sadlers Wells, where dance company Batsheva were performing. She explains why culture is vital to keep dialogue open.

With Hanukah round the corner, we discuss a new compilation album celebrating both Chanukah and Christmas songs from postwar America. Its co-producer, Roger Bennett, tells us why folk legend Woodie Guthrie's rendition of Hanukah Dance is a classic.

• Sounds Jewish is produced with the Jewish Community Centre for London

• An earlier draft of this blogpost mistakenly accompanied this podcast on first publication. This was updated to the later version on 29 November 2012 at 14:17.

• Comments on the podcast will be open for 24 hours from time of publication but may be closed overnight

It's one of the most sinister – and enduring – images of the Holocaust: the serial number tattoo branded on inmates of the death camp Auschwitz.

More than 70 years on, these survivors are dwindling in number – but their descendants are finding a shocking new way of keeping those fading memories alive: by giving themselves the same serial number tattoo as their grandparents. We speak to the director of a powerful new Israeli documentary that explores the phenomenon: Numbered.

Also in this podcast, with the US elections just weeks away and the race tighter than ever, we ask whether Jewish Americans will continue to remain a highly loyal Democratic voting bloc, second only to African Americans. What accounts for this extraordinary and long-running allegiance? And we'll hear some Yiddish-style curses to hurl at the minority of Jews considering a vote for Mitt Romney – performed for us by actor, writer and Yiddish-meister David Schneider.

What is a Jewish Mother? We brace ourselves for what could be a major cringe and appraise Channel 4's latest reality TV show: The Jewish Mum of The Year.

Adi Nes is one of Israeli's leading photographers, but he brings a unique outsider's perspective to his work: born of Iranian parents in Israel and openly gay. Now he focuses his lens on a fictitious village – peopled by actors, volunteers and others – in the Jezreel valley in northern Israel, in his new exhibition, "The Village" at the Jewish Museum in London's Camden Town.

• Sounds Jewish is sponsored by the Jewish Community Centre for London.

We speak to Ankie Spitzer, whose former husband was one of 11 Israeli athletes murdered at the Olympic Games in Munich 40 years ago. She talks about her continued campaign for a minute's silence to be held in their memory. Is the Internation Olympic Committee's refusal a simple case of discrimination?

Plus: the "secret listeners" ordered to eavesdrop on the conversations of German Nazis held captive in the comfort of English country mansions during the second world war. One of those listeners, 93-year-old Fritz Lustig, tells Jason what he discovered more than 70 years ago. And we'll find out why it's now the subject of an innovative piece of theatre set in one of those mansions, Trent Park. We hear from director Julia Pascal.

And we'll be hearing from American indie film-maker Todd Solondz on his latest film, Dark Horse. He talks to Jason about New Jersey, Seinfeld and the improbability of Mia Farrow playing a put-upon Jewish mother.

• Sounds Jewish is taking a summer break but will be back again in September.

* Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London

Joining Jason in studio this month are Rafael Behr, political editor of the
New Statesman, Laura Marks, founder and director of Mitzvah Day and journalist and debut novelist Francesca Segal.

To what extent is the New Statesman's special edition on British Jewish
identity an attempt to make amends for the controversial edition a decade ago which was widely seen as deploying age-old anti-Jewish imagery? And with a guest column by the Labour leader in this New Statesman special edition, we ask how Jewish is Ed Miliband?

Laura Marks, newly elected senior vice-president of the Board of Deputies
of British Jews, is on a mission to tackle what she sees as sexism rife among Britain's Jews. She discusses why Jewish women are not stepping up to the top jobs within the community.

And the close-knit – and claustrophobic world – of north-west London as
depicted in author Francesca Segal's debut novel, The Innocents. But is it just another caricature of the community?

And don't miss the JCC's Big Midsummer Fest on 17th June an evening of music, comedy and film.

• Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London

A special soundscape edition of the podcast pays tribute to the Jewish East End of London.

Some of the sounds are old, archive recordings exhumed for the first time in decades; some are new, reflecting the way that part of London sounds today.

1. The Bagel. Self-styled bagel poet Ben Mandelson, creator of the "baiku" - part bagel, part haiku – and the night-time clientele of Beigel Bake on Brick Lane.

2. Sandra's Story. Sandra Saintus is from a Jamaican family, was raised as a Pentecostal Christian and now runs the Stepney Jewish Day Centre.

3. Giving Life to the Dead. Susie Clapham is a young architect living in Bethnal Green who's become obsessed with the long-abandoned Jewish cemetery on Bancroft Road, Mile End.

4. Memories of Water. Two East Enders remember how they used to bathe, in the kitchen - and in public.

5. In Search of Mike Stern. Once a legend of Petticoat Lane, the market trader even had a cigarette card dedicated to him. Now his voice lives on only in the archives - and in the memories of those who saw him sell.

• Sound design by Lemez Lovas, Yaniv Fridel and Alexa Dura.

• Sounds Jewish is sponsored by the Jewish Community Centre for London

This month Sounds Jewish is celebrating a diamond jubilee: adoring crowds, celebrities, though far too little bunting. No, not that diamond jubilee - it's Jewish Book Week celebrating its 60th anniversary.

First up: Shalom Auslander, a long acclaimed memoirist discusses his first novel, Hope: A Tragedy which features an elderly and foul-mouthed Anne Frank hiding in the main character's attic. Shalom says he wanted to challenge the image of the "pathetic little girl who died".

Israeli short story writer Etgar Keret reads from his new collection of short stories, Suddenly a Knock on the Door. He tells Jonathan why he feels more Jewish than Israeli, and how Israel is going through a golden age of TV drama, inspiring the new Channel 4 hit Homeland.

Multi-award-winning writer Meg Rosoff tells us how a joke about a dyslexic atheist prompted the title of her new book There is No Dog. The book imagines God as a sex-mad, lazy, creative 17-year-old.

And comedy maestro David Schneider, in a fetching polyester tracksuit, explains why Jews and sport don't mix in his Jewish Book Week show My Son, the Gold Medallist: A Short History of the Jews and the Olympics. But hold on – what about Mark Spitz and that bloke from Chariots of Fire?

And following the phenomenon of the Six-Word Memoirs, the brainchild of Larry Smith , we ask our guests to sum up their lives in six words.

And don't forget to look out for the JCC's listening party on Thursday 29 March, Alone together, recreating the forgotten stories of London's East End.

• Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London.

Joining Jason Solomons in the studio are award-winning photographer Judah Passow and writer Keith Kahn-Harris.

To engage or to exclude: we'll discuss the growing row dividing Britain's Jews over how best to relate to British Muslims and ask whether an institution that has hosted speakers with antisemitic views should always be shunned.

The face – or faces – of Anglo-Jewry through the lens of the celebrated war photographer turned communal chronicler, Judah Passow, in his new exhibition No Place like Home at the Jewish Museum in London. From a Jewish cadet at Sandhurst on the eve of his deployment to Afghanistan to a Holocaust survivor in a care home, from the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Gateshead to a lesbian and gay congregation in London, from a tattooed footballer to a kosher butcher, Judah's pictures offer a portrait of a varied, complex Jewish community drawn from every corner of the British Isles. He tells Jason why this historic exhibition is like capturing a national snapshot of a family at a particular moment in its history.

Singer and poet Alicia Jo Rabins is a classically trained violinist who grew up sneaking out to punk gigs as a teenager. Since then, she's turned to an unusual source for inspiration – the female characters of the Old Testament – with her band Girls in Trouble.

Later this month, Sounds Jewish will be coming direct from Jewish Book Week.

• Sounds Jewish is produced in association with the Jewish Community Centre for London

With guests Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, editor of the Jewish Quarterly Rachel Lasserson and, performing in studio, from their album Songs in the Key of Hanukkah musicians Erran Baron Cohen and Jules Brookes.

From the bid for Palestinian statehood back in September to the non-stop protests across the Arab world – we'll look back on a year of turmoil in the region and ask what the impact has been on Israel.

The 'Nazi' jibes by John Galliano and film director Lars von Trier: easily dismissed as the rants of eccentric artists or part of a wider, more worrying picture?

The Jewish cultural moments of the year, from David Grossman's award-winning novel to the revival after half a century of Arnold Wesker's Chicken Soup with Barley – and why the death of Amy Winehouse was especially poignant for British Jews.

It was one of the cult US TV imports this year - Old Jews Telling Jokes. We thought it was time to launch our own British version, celebrating the wit, wisdom – and downright filthy humour – of old British Jews.

Sounds Jewish is taking a break in January but will be back again in February.

• Sounds Jewish is produced in association with the Jewish Community Centre for London

Joining Jason Solomons in the studio this month are Hagai Segal, Middle East politics lecturer at the New York University in London, and artist Jacqueline Nicholls.

Were the summer tent protests in Israel the inspiration for Occupy London and Occupy Wall Street? We hear from Israel-based blogger, writer and performer Robbie Gringras who witnessed the phenomenon at its peak - and we ask where Israel's protest movement goes from here.

The authentic face of modern orthodoxy uncovered in the Israeli hit TV series, Srugim, nicknamed "frum Friends". As the third series kicks off in Israel, Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland met up with creator Laizy Shapira who explains how a show depicting the romantic lives of the religious struck a chord with secular Israelis – and with Arabs.

But away from the TV screens, the clash between holy and unholy is all too real. With ultra-orthodox Jews defacing posters depicting women, and ever stricter rules around "modesty", Jacqueline Nicholls, herself modern orthodox, takes on the religious establishment in her "paper cuts" series – exposing what she sees as misogyny in Judaism's sacred texts, daring to combine holy words with shocking images, some of which are drawn from pornography.

And finally, political cartoonist and artist-in-residence for the Forward Eli Valley tells Jason why he took his character Stuart the Jewish Turtle to the now-dismantled Occupy Wall Street protests, and why he loves to provoke - but draws the line at what Jason calls the classic Jewish schnoz.

A special soundscape edition of Sounds Jewish, as we enter the high holy day season.

Sounds Jewish takes you on an audio journey that is both exhilarating and reflective, from Rosh Hashanah through to Yom Kippur, during what's known as the 10 Days of Penitence – the period between two of Judaism's most important festivals. In this special mix of sound, music and speech, beginning with the sweet optimism of the new year, we'll explore why the mood quickly darkens. The haunting sound of the Shofar reminds us that an intense period of reflection and soul-searching lies ahead, culminating in the moment our fate is sealed in the closing seconds of Yom Kippur.

But what do these themes of sin, repentance and forgiveness really mean to a modern society? And does fasting make you more spiritual during Yom Kippur – or just grumpy?

With speakers including Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, atheist Jay Rayner and a special recording of the liturgy with Cantor Jacyln Chernett, we'll discover how different people interpret this most sacred of periods in the Jewish year. All against the backdrop of a specially commissioned soundtrack composed and arranged by acclaimed performers and musicians Lemez Lovas and Yaniv Fridel.

• Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London

In this special Jewish food edition of the podcast, Jason is joined by the doyenne of Jewish food Claudia Roden and by leading food critic Giles Coren. Together they sample Tunisian Jewish food in the kitchen of personal chef, Fabienne Viner-Luzzato.

Jewish food is at the centre of all Jewish festivals and family gatherings: whether it's chicken soup or lokshen pudding, falafel or bourekas, behind every Jewish dish is a story, of wandering, exile, integration – and bloating ...

Claudia explains why she once filled her kitchen with testicles and argues that Sephardi food, with its origins in Spain and north Africa, is far more gourmet than the peasant food of Ashkenazi cuisine from eastern Europe – while Giles counters with memories of his grandmother's delicious cholent.

They ask if there's any truth to the stereotype of the overcooking Jewish mother and explain why fish and chips is actually a Jewish creation – from London's East End. And we'll have the age-old kneidel debate: heavy or fluffy?

• Produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London, Sounds Jewish will be taking a summer break but will be back to celebrate the Jewish New Year in the autumn.

This month Jason is joined by writer and comedian David Baddiel and the literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Gerald Jacobs.

Baddiel discusses why he and his brother Ivor decided to make a star-studded film, The Y-Word to kick antisemitism out of football once and for all. But Jacobs, a lifelong Spurs fan, argues that the y-word is a badge of honour and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Baddiel also reads from his widely acclaimed new novel, The Death of Eli Gold, and explains why the great American Jewish writers from Philip Roth to Saul Bellow loom so large.

What about Roth's recent win of the International Man Booker? It prompted one of the three judges, Carmen Callil, to resign, accusing Roth of writing about the same subject over and over again, branding his work suffocating and likening it to "someone sitting on your face". Some wonder if what Callil was really saying was that Roth is too Jewish. What do our guests think?

And finally, from social networking to drug running, actor Jesse Eisenberg talks to Jason about his new, unexpected role in his upcoming film Holy Rollers, in which he plays a Hasidic teenager from Brooklyn lured into becoming an ecstasy dealer. Jason and guests discuss the current media obsession with Hasidism, typified most recently by a BBC2 documentary that followed a Stamford Hill Hasid who had served jail time for ... a drugs-related crime.

Sounds Jewish is produced by the Jewish Community Centre for London, who on 14 June will be screening Kick It Out, a film aimed at kicking racism out of Israeli football. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Ivor Baddiel and Itzik Shanan (founder and director of Kick Racism out of Football, Israel).

Audio: Comedian David Schneider is joined by Maureen Lipman, Amy Rosenthal and Rabbi Jeremy Gordon as they gather for an evening of theatre based on the seder's central theme: freedom

Sounds Jewish: In a Jewish Book Week special Jason Solomons meets Maureen Lipman and Anne Frank's last living relative

Sounds Jewish: Joining Jason Solomons are Hagai Segal, Middle East politics lecturer at New York University London, and playwright Ryan Craig, to discuss regional turmoil and Israel on stage and screen

Sounds Jewish: Jason Solomons is joined by Jonathan Freedland as he reviews the Jewish highs and lows of 2010

Audio: This month, Jason is joined by Birds of a Feather writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran

Audio: In a bumper New Year edition of Sounds Jewish, Booker-shortlisted author Howard Jacobson reads from his latest novel, The Finkler Question

Sounds Jewish: Is the pope wading into troubled waters in his relations with Jews? Plus, an important anniversary for female rabbis. Jason is joined in the studio by Peter Stanford and Miriam Berger

Audio: Free speech on campus, the meaning of Yiddish word broigus and a comic turn from motormouth yentas Ronna and Beverly

Audio: In this month's podcast, Jason Solomons is joined in studio by comedian and novelist David Baddiel and Sarfraz Manzoor

Join Jason Solomons in London for Jewish Book Week: with literary stars Kathy Lette, Will Self and Jonathan Safran Foer

Jason Solomons visits the new Jewish Museum of London and talks Jewish dating with Miriam Shaviv and Tim Samuels

Audio: Jason Solomons talks Hanukah and boxing with comedian David Schneider and singer-songwriter Sean Altman

A special edition for UK Jewish Film Festival. The Coen brothers, Inglourious Basterds and more. With Jason Solomons

The Tories' troublesome partnership with rightwing parties in Eastern Europe. Plus, do British Jews and Muslims have more in common than they think? And beatboxing with Chasidic hip-hop reggae star Matisyahu

Bernard Madoff and his Jewish victims, the power of atonement and: is Leonard Cohen the most Jewish musician in the world? Jason Solomons with your monthly show

Sounds Jewish: Do Jewish schools discriminate? Plus Marilyn Monroe and a report on the Jewish queens of Bollywood

Sounds Jewish: Are British Jews ending their love affair with Labour? Plus, are Jewish parents too overprotective? And why Alan Sugar's made Yiddish sexy

Sounds Jewish: A hard-hitting response to Caryl Churchill, the US 'pro-peace' lobby and a Jewish-Arab double act dreaming of Eurovision glory

The second coming of Bibi Netanyahu, how Jews shaped heavy metal and five ways to survive passover with agony aunt Irma Kurtz

In a special edition marking Jewish Book Week, find out why novelist and peace activist Amos Oz believes Israel had the right to attack Gaza

Sounds Jewish teams up with the Islamophonic podcast to look at the impact of the conflict in Gaza

Is Fagin too antisemitic for the London stage, Obama's Jewish allies and – what's the Yiddish for condom? Presented by Jason Solomons and comedian David Schneider

Borat director and Seinfeld co-writer Larry Charles, and Jewish Film Festival artistic director Gali Gold. With Jason Solomons

Sarah Silverman makes an election appeal to Jewish grandmothers, plus a love letter to Art Garfunkel, and has the net made antisemitism worse?

Is Israel about to have a woman PM? Is the Holocaust a suitable subject for a film aimed at children? Plus Joan Rivers on her autobiographical show

Jason Solomons is joined by Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and Ivor Baddiel to tackle the big questions: Is God a woman – and can Jews camp?

Jason Solomons is joined by Tanya Gold and James Max for this month's discussion of The Apprentice and the first ever kvetch choir

Jason Solomons presents the latest edition of our podcast for the Jewish community, looking at the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel

Jason Solomons is joined by Daniel Finkelstein and Jay Rayner for the latest edition of our podcast for the Jewish community

Jason Solomons, Naomi Alderman, and Tim Samuels discuss Amy Winehouse, frumkas, and more from our Voices of Israel series

Jason Solomons hears how the Jewish vote will affect the US elections; and the beauty of silent films (in Yiddish)

The monthly Jewish talk show with Jason Solomons