Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  After the Hamas massacre of October 7, the Israeli military took three weeks before it responded with a ground invasion of Gaza, a span longer than most outside observers seemed to expect. What was happening? In that time, Israel’s […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  When Israeli officials examined shells and munitions that have been fired into Israel recently by Hamas, they realized that they look like they were not made in Gaza. Similarly, when IDF inspectors looked at some of the rocket launchers […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  After years of acrimony, several recent meetings between Israeli and Turkish leaders seemed to suggest the possibility of a gradual thaw in relations between the two most powerful nations in the Middle East. Such a reconciliation, combined with a […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  On October 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur, the forces of Egypt and Syria invaded Israel and launched the Yom Kippur War. Fifty years and one day later, Hamas terrorists invaded southwest Israel, killed some 1400 Israelis, took some 200 […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Pidyon shvuyim, the redemption and release of captives, is an old and urgent task that Jewish communities are obliged to meet. It is an obligation derived from the Hebrew Bible, developed in the writings and reflection of the rabbinic […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Jews typically honor the dead by saying the phrase zikhrono li-vrakhah, “may his memory be a blessing.” But when a Jew is murdered because he is a Jew, he is considered a martyr, and his name is then honored by […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Sixty years ago, outlawing racial segregation was a dominant civil-rights priority of liberals. Today, in the name of racial equality, many progressive thinkers and activists champion policies and actions that promote segregation. The story of how that moral transformation […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Israel’s success in military cyber-operations and cyber-security, from disrupting Iranian nuclear development to covert intelligence gathering, is well known. It has given birth to a cluster of companies that have made Tel Aviv a global hub for cyber-security. Alon […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  “When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty; then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall make restitution […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, you can also find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Tonight begins Rosh Hashanah, when Jewish communities celebrate the new year and, as part of this celebration, read chapter 22 of Genesis. This contains the famous story in which God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac to a […]