The “With Great Freedom” Edition
We discuss: 1) Whether families of terrorists should pay for the crimes of a loved one 2) Whether we need to change how we bury our dead 3) How we understand the main Passover commandment – to see ourselves as if we ourselves left Egypt, in this moment of viruses and violences, of refugees and unrest
“The Centre Cannot Hold” Edition
We discuss: 1) The wave of violence that lately rocked Israeli cities, the worst in 17 years 2) The chairwoman of the coalition who bolted to the opposition, leaving the future of Israel’s government uncertain
I Can Imagine
The word לתאר means “to describe” as well as “to imagine.” Guy explains how to use this verb and teaches a slang term to use when rolling your eyes at someone
The “New Worlds & Old” Edition
We discuss: 1) The summit bringing together the foreign ministers of Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, the US and Israel 2) Should we worry about “the Jewish character” of Israel? 3) On Israel’s greatest cult movie, what accounts for the decades of popularity of so bleak and disagreeable a film?
The “Three of Four Estates” Edition
We discuss: 1) Zelenskyy’s address to Knesset Members and the Israeli public 2) How the new government did in its first semester of legislating 3) What we make of a series of articles finding the NY Times’s coverage of Israel to be biased against us
It’s Just Awful
A listener wrote asking, “what can we say in Hebrew when we see the horrendous footage from Ukraine?” Guy explains some of the words and phrases we can use, and what to say when we are left speechless
The “What to Remember, What to Forget” Edition
We discuss: 1) Yad Vashem’s decision not to be the venue for a speech by Ukraine’s President 2) The mysterious disappearance from news feeds of the Pegasus surveillance software scandal 3) Whether time has come to retire the notion of Amalek
Your Israeli Soundtrack for March
Brand new tunes from Static & Ben-el, Omer Adam, Agam Buchbut and a special tribute to one of our beloved listeners who recently passed away
I Need to Inquire About This
I need to make some בירורים, inquiries about someone, לברר a few things about him. This is Guy's second episode dedicated to the root ב-ר-ר
The “Showing Up” Edition
We discuss: 1) Whether Israel should throw open its borders to refugees from Ukraine 2) The decision by police to close the sexual assault investigation of one of the LGBTQ+ communities' leading lights 3) The govt’s decision to spend ten million shekels to “strengthen Shabbat” and the huge backlash against it
Let Me Make This Clear to You
In Hebrew, ?הייתי ברורה means ,“was I clear?” Guy's school principal would lecture them after they did something wrong, and she would end with ?הייתי ברורה. This episode is dedicated to the word ברור
Why Are They Allowed?
Israelis google lots of questions with the word מותר. To whom are they turning for answers? Doctors, experts, rabbis and others knowledgeable people. They want to know what’s allowed and what’s forbidden