Ordinary Jews. Talking. Season 2, Episode 1: Kesha Ram-Hinsdale

S2: Episode 1: Kesha Ram-Hinsdale–Recorded November 7, 2025 Courtesy Photo: Kesha and baby, VT Statehouse.

Kesha Ram-Hinsdale, as we establish at the outset, is our Vermont Senate Majority Leader, and yet here, she is not talking state politics–she’s just an ordinary Jew. Her story, as a self-proclaimed HinJew, is awash with streams of migration and displacement on both sides of her family. Looking at the origins of Israel, we focus often on the fallout from the mid-century dissolution of the British Empire. At the same time, Kesha’s family was uprooted by the divisions left on the Indian subcontinent by the British exit. She speaks movingly about the legacy of her grandfather, Sir Ganga Ram, the role of art in giving her a sense of place in Israel, and how her dual legacy has shaped her thinking on democracy and human rights.