Ninety years ago this week, Hebrew was heard on airwaves as the Voice of Jerusalem had its first broadcast. The feint echoes of the thing are worth listening for today.

We discuss: 1) What this thing with Iran is 2) Whether we’re seeing a new, more Strangelovian Prime Minister Netanyahu, and 3) What life underground in the homefront tells us about Israeli society at this strange moment

Today marks the thirtieth day since we buried Ran Gvili, the hostage who came home last. Noah explores how wars end in Israel, and what the end of this war is like for all of us going through it.

Uri Lupolianski was the first ultra-Orthodox mayor of Jerusalem, and he was convicted of corruption. A week after his death, Noah says that he was also a reflection of all of us, at our imperfect best.

We discuss: 1) What to make about Bondi Beach and the many, many violent things around the world that maybe led up to it 2) What does Hanukkah mean in 2025?

We discuss: 1) whether we are headed towards what some experts call a “mental health tsunami” 2) Kibbutz Be’eri’s decision not to preserve the wrecked houses where almost a hundred of their loved ones were murdered

We discuss: 1) the Prime Minister’s request that the President pardon him 2) what to make of the movie, The Sea, which took all the important Israeli prizes this year, for its depiction of a kid living under occupation, trying to get a glimpse of the sea

We discuss: 1) our slow slouch seemingly back towards war on four fronts 2) what to make of three new political parties that have set themselves up, as we near the start of Knesset election campaigns

We discuss: 1) the spike in young Jewish thugs, throwing rocks, beating with sticks, setting fires, and sparking fear among Palestinians on the West Bank 2) the UN Security Council’s decision to endorse US President Trump’s 20 point plan for peace in the Middle East

We discuss: 1) the storm of protest and worry over the discovery that the army’s chief attorney leaked a video incriminating reserve soldiers, and (2) the rising swell of Jewish spirituality and religion after October 7th and whether it is something to celebrate or fear (or both)