Wartime Diaries
Episodes
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- Short Episode
- 00:26:47
- 2023
Omer Ohana
The war has brought many new people into the limelight: For nearly three months we’ve been hearing countless stories of…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:11
- 2023
Issa Kassissieh
It’s a sad Christmas Eve in Jesus’ homeland. The alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, the streets of Nazareth, the churches…
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- Short Episode
- 00:20:40
- 2023
Shira Masami
More than 200,000 Israelis – from both the South and the North – have been forced to leave their homes…
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- Short Episode
- 00:22:29
- 2023
Riyad Ali
Since the start of the military operation in Gaza, countless reports by journalists embedded with the IDF troops have appeared…
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- Short Episode
- 00:18:18
- 2023
Adam Ben Shabath
As has been said many times in the past, identity is like an onion: There are layers of family and…
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- Short Episode
- 00:20:48
- 2023
Shalom Weil
As of today, more than 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war. Each one of those deaths, of…
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- Short Episode
- 00:25:05
- 2023
Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin
Many of you have probably heard, or read about, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, the parents of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin,…
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- Short Episode
- 00:24:41
- 2023
Elliot Cosgrove and Mishy Harman
Last week, our host Mishy Harman was interviewed by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove for the Park Avenue Synagogue Podcast. And as…
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- Short Episode
- 00:17:19
- 2023
Doron Krakow
This war is a humbling experience for us all. People — no matter who they are or what they normally…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:11
- 2023
Hagit Maoz
Almost immediately after the start of the attack of October 7th, as rockets were being launched at Jerusalem, and sirens…
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- Short Episode
- 00:19:02
- 2023
Datya Itzhaki
In the summer of 2005, the government of Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. The roughly 8,000 residents of the 21…
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- Short Episode
- 00:14:50
- 2023
Hai Ashkenazi
53-year-old Hai Ashkenazi from Tel Aviv is an archeologist, but never imagined he would find himself excavating a 21st-century Kibbutz….
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- Short Episode
- 00:15:41
- 2023
Ronit Farm
Normally Chavat Ronit – or Ronit Farm – is a high-end event venue north of Herzliya. Ra’anan Arizon’s seventy dunams…
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- Short Episode
- 00:18:47
- 2023
Chaya Gilboa
Chaya Gilboa is a Talmud teacher, an activist, a flaming redhead, and was – for the last three years –…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:20
- 2023
Faiz Abu Sabehan
Over the last five weeks we’ve spoken to many families of hostages. That’s how we met Faiz Abu Sabehan, whose…
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- Short Episode
- 00:20:57
- 2023
Mishka Ben-David
Mishka Ben-David might seem – at first – like a harmless and cuddly grandpa, but the truth is that he’s…
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- Short Episode
- 00:09:55
- 2023
Agi Mishol
77-year-old Agi Mishol is one of Israel’s most prominent, beloved and widely-read poets. Over the years she’s won practically every…
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- Short Episode
- 00:23:41
- 2023
Sahar Vardi
Israel is in the midst of a brutal war it didn’t want and didn’t initiate. And here at Israel Story…
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- Short Episode
- 00:14:58
- 2023
Louish Rijal
Among the thousands of people who had the terrible misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time…
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- Short Episode
- 00:19:23
- 2023
Angela Buchdahl and Shlomo Nisanov
The nature of the attacks on October 7th, together with certain subsequent reactions around the world, have blurred the lines…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:22
- 2023
Gidon Lev
There’s a lot of Holocaust rhetoric in the air. ‘Never Again’ slogans have resurfaced, Netanyahu has said – on several…
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- Short Episode
- 00:07:21
- 2023
Noga Friedman
45-year-old Ido Rosenthal from Moshav Ben Shemen served in an elite commando unit and was killed on the first day…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:11
- 2023
Matti Friedman
The war caught everyone by surprise, of course, and since it broke out at the tail end of the chagim,…
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- Short Episode
- 00:13:03
- 2023
Alon Shalev
Many people sprung into action since October 7th. And yet, at the very same time, many Israelis feel… lost. Not…
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- Short Episode
- 00:11:55
- 2023
Tomer Oshri
During normal times Tomer Oshri – a 48-year-old history teacher from Jerusalem – works at JDC-Israel and runs an educational…
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- Short Episode
- 00:17:58
- 2023
Adva Gutman Tirosh
Even today, nearly three weeks after the devastating attacks of October 7th, there are still hundreds of people who are…
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- Short Episode
- 00:10:37
- 2023
Raz Newman
Israel has, of course, branded itself as the Start-Up Nation. And in many ways, Raz Newman is the classic Israeli…
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- Short Episode
- 00:19:49
- 2023
Sivan Avnery
For months Sivan Avnery – a physical therapist from Kfar Shmaryahu – was active in the demonstrations against the judicial…
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- Short Episode
- 00:14:52
- 2023
David Broza
There’s a long tradition of musicians and entertainers performing on the frontlines during times of war. And, indeed, almost immediately,…
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- Short Episode
- 00:17:35
- 2023
Yarnin Peled
Wars are often told through numbers – of the dead, the wounded, the missing, the misplaced. But behind each one…
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- Short Episode
- 00:14:51
- 2023
Mor Maisel
This war has forced many people to reevaluate their identities and political sensibilities—not an easy task during these shocking and…
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- Short Episode
- 00:16:24
- 2023
Hedai Offaim
During this dark time, Israeli civil society has risen to the occasion. Hedai Offaim – a chef, farmer and social…
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- Short Episode
- 00:12:21
- 2023
Ofer Tamir
After the entire team of Kibbutz Kissufim’s dairy farm was murdered, Ofer Tamir from Nahalal rushed down south to rescue…
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- Short Episode
- 00:11:58
- 2023
The Eulogy for Roi Rotberg
In 1956, Moshe Dayan – then the IDF’s Chief of Staff – delivered a eulogy for a fallen member of…
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- Short Episode
- 00:12:35
- 2023
Katherine Leff
Despite everything, life continues amid the horror. For Katherine Leff, this meant going ahead with the day she’d been dreaming…
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- Short Episode
- 00:13:16
- 2023
Itai Kramer
At age 50, Itai Kramer is no longer obligated to serve in the reserve forces, yet he volunteered anyway. Itai…
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- Short Episode
- 00:14:17
- 2023
Ariel Markose
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been called up to reserve duty. But what about the families they leave behind?…
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- Short Episode
- 00:13:31
- 2023
Sasha Ariev
Everything in this corner of the world has changed since Saturday, October 7. All around us, friends, family, colleagues, people…
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- Episode 94
- 00:28:25
- 2023
A Life After Death – Part II
“When someone dies,” Gal Zaychner writes, “there are all kinds of things you have to take care of: You have…
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- Episode 93
- 00:30:29
- 2023
A Life After Death – Part I
In a series of heartwrenching essays, told over the course of two episodes, Gal Zaychner returns to the most painful…
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- Episode 92
- 00:21:01
- 2023
Meir Argov
Meir Argov was born as Meir Grabovsky in Rîbnița, Bessarabia, in 1905. At the age of 14, while his family…
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- Episode 91
- 00:27:30
- 2023
Herzl Rosenblum
Herzl Rosenblum was born in 1903, a year before the death of his namesake, Theodor Herzl, who – of course…
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- Episode 90
- 00:34:30
- 2023
Yitzhak Meir Levin
Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin was – in every way possible – Hasidic royalty. He was born in 1893 in the…
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- Episode 89
- 00:21:32
- 2023
Moshe Kol
Moshe Kolodny, who’d later on change his surname to Kol, was born in 1911 in the heart of the Pale…
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- Episode 88
- 00:21:58
- 2023
Pinchas Rosen
Pinchas Rosen, or Felix Rosenblüth (as he was called in his youth), was born in Berlin in 1887, and grew…
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- Episode 87
- 00:25:25
- 2023
Sa’adia Kobashi
Sa’adia Kobashi was born in the small village of Khubesh, Yemen, in 1902. During Passover of 1909 his father Yihye,…
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- Episode 86
- 00:20:59
- 2023
Daniel Auster
Daniel Auster was born in Galicia in 1893 and earned a law degree from the University of Vienna before making…
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- Episode 85
- 00:22:56
- 2023
David Remez
David Remez was born as Moshe David Drabkin in what is today Belarus, in 1886. As a boy he studied…
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- Short Episode
- 00:08:27
- 2023
Bonus: The Broadcast
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered?” introduces us to all 37 signatories of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, through the recollections of their closest…
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- Episode 84
- 00:21:46
- 2023
Rachel Cohen-Kagan
Rachel Cohen-Kagan was born in 1888 into the Zionist Lubarsky family of Odessa. Her father, Ya’akov, was one of the…
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- Episode 83
- 00:20:39
- 2023
Mordechai Schattner
Mordechai Schattner was born in Eastern Galicia – then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – in 1904. He was a…
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- Episode 82
- 00:22:58
- 2023
Zorach Warhaftig
Warhaftig was an important leader of the Mafdal – the National Religious Party. During WWII, he saved the lives of…
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- Episode 81
- 00:20:23
- 2023
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion, perhaps the most influential Jewish leader since Moses, needs no introduction. Here though are a few facts about…
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- Short Episode
- 00:03:12
- 2023
We Hereby Declare
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered?” looks at our founding moral compass – Megillat Ha’Atzmaut, or the Declaration of Independence. Through the descendants…
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- Episode 80
- 00:29:06
- 2023
Introducing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered?”
Israel’s Declaration of Independence was forged amid strife and turmoil. It was a birth that, everyone knew, would trigger war….
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- Episode 79
- 00:37:29
- 2023
My Dad, David
David taught his son, Mishy, life’s most fundamental lesson – one that is also the deep premise of Israel Story:…
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- Episode 78
- 00:50:01
- 2023
Hello Operator
On June 29, 2007, Apple released its first iPhone. Less than sixteen years later, our world is an entirely altered…
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- Episode 77
- 01:23:27
- 2023
Free as a Bird
These are – it goes without saying – tumultuous times here in Israel. But especially now, we believe it is…
