Episodes

6d ago

Re-releasing Episode 62 about the Lost Menorah -- just in time for Hanukah to begin tonight. The menorah is one of the most sacred symbols in Judaism, and we know that it really existed in the Second Temple. We know who took it, when, and where. What happened after that remains a mystery.

Oct 15

The living hostages are home. An extraordinary cease-fire deal is hopefully bringing this nightmare to a close. What’s next? Who won and who lost? And where do we go from here?

Jul 13

Last week we looked at emerging threats. This week we’re going for pie-in-the-sky optimism. Can new ideas and leaders in Saudi Arabia and Syria bring forth a better future? Will Zionism move from an emphasis on security to a focus on developing a model society? Enjoy this milestone episode — #200 for Jew Oughta Know!

Jul 6

All the dramatic events since October 7 tell us that “it’s a new Middle East.” Countries are realigning their relationships, old threats are giving way to new ones, and new ideologies are rising. Part 1 of 2 examines the threats: Turkey and radical Islam.

Jun 16

Israel launched Operation Lion Rising, a preemptive strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Ballistic missiles are raining destruction on Israel in a fight with the Jews’ most committed genocidal enemy. This is a historic, dramatic moment with the potential to upend the world.

May 25

Why didn’t Trump visit Israel during his trip to the Middle East last week? On multiple issues Trump has left Netanyahu standing on the sidelines, leaving the prime minister struggling to Make Israel Relevant Again.

Mar 23

Trump attacks antisemitism on the left while encouraging it on the right. Jewish hatred should have consequences. But we shouldn’t use antisemitism as a pretext to erode the rule of law in order to punish political enemies.

Mar 9

What happens to Israel when its most important ally turns away from democracy? When happens when a weakened United States can no longer help Israel defend itself? Where else should Israel turn when the United States allies with autocracies? Is Trump good for Israel — or its biggest long-term threat?

Mar 2

The hostage release “ceremonies” reveal why a solution for Gaza is so elusive. How much of the answer is dependent on the Palestinian’s developing a different national culture?

Jan 21

Three hostages come home. This begins the first phase of a complex cease-fire-for-hostages agreement. Should we be pessimistic or optimistic? Is this a victory for Israel or Hamas? Why did this happen now, and what happens next?

Dec 29, 2024

How “social justice”, “racism”, and “genocide” are re-interpreted and re-defined to demonize Israel, Zionism, and Jews.

Dec 24, 2024

Re-releasing Episode 29 on the historical story of Hanukah. Where does the story come from? What happened? What’s with the miracle of the eight days of oil?

Dec 10, 2024

After 54 years, the Assad dictatorship in Syria has fallen. Iran is humiliated; its theory of power in the Middle East is a failure. And Israel is once again the region’s preeminent power. It’s been a wild few days — here’s what happened and why.

Dec 1, 2024

There’s a cease-fire in Lebanon but no path forward in Gaza, and this raises the question of Israel’s strategic direction. How come Israel can end the war with Hezbollah but not with Hamas?

Nov 10, 2024

Where do Hezbollah and Hamas get their money? State sponsors, legitimate businesses, donations and humanitarian aid, and criminal activity all pour billions into the terrorists’ banks — which are now prime targets for Israel.

Oct 27, 2024

Jews are feeling uneasy about whomever they vote for — Donald Trump or Kamala Harris — because both parties are rife with antisemitism. Whether in the form of conspiracy theories or anti-Zionism, it’s evidence of an ailing society. Can Americans fix this rot in their politics?

Oct 13, 2024

Re-releasing an episode from the archives with a major update. Episode 63 from Season 3 Unsolved Jewish Mysteries explored the theory that Christopher Columbus was Jewish. Now there is a major new DNA finding that provides some answers.

Sep 26, 2024

Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8 last year, laying siege to the north of the country that has killed civilians, burned entire towns to the ground, and driven tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes. Israel is now fighting back in an effort to push Hezbollah off the border and stop the attacks. Let’s look at what’s happening and why now.

Sep 5, 2024

Hamas executed six hostages. Israelis accuse Prime Minister Netanyahu of abandoning them for his own self-interest. They no longer trust the government to get the hostages back or wage this war effectively. So why isn't there a hostage deal? And how is Netanyahu managing to stay in power?

Jul 31, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin addressed the United States Congress amidst a wild week of politics. We’ll examine a few takeaways regarding his own standing, Kamala Harris, the Left, and the upcoming US election.

Jun 16, 2024

Israel’s exceptional hostage rescue operation on June 8 — and how the upside-down world condemned it.

May 20, 2024

President Biden imposed a temporary arms embargo on Israel. He’s holding back certain types of weapons to try to prevent Israel from invading Rafah in southern Gaza. How should we think about this decision?

May 12, 2024

Hamas continues to hold 132 hostages. That’s 132 war crimes committed each and every day they are held. The best way to end this round of war is for Hamas to return them immediately. Instead they are subjected to the whims of international politics, diplomatic maneuvering, and demands on Israel to pay an ever-steeper price for their return.

Apr 28, 2024

It’s not just Israel and the Palestinians who have to make changes to create a Palestinian state. The U.S., Europe, and the moderate Arab countries will need to work together to run Gaza, ensure Israel’s security, and, most importantly, defend decent civilization from the existential threat of Islamic jihadism.

Mar 31, 2024

Israel has to make changes to get to a Palestinian state, but so do the Palestinians. Violent rejectionism, delegitimization of Israel, and the right of return all perpetuate the conflict. To achieve their own state, Palestinians have to give up trying to eliminate Israel.

Mar 24, 2024

If a Palestinian state is the ultimate goal, then Israel, the Palestinians, and the international community are all going to have to do things they really don’t want to do. Today we’re looking at this from Israel’s angle, with the focus on security.

Mar 3, 2024

Israel has fought two wars in Lebanon — is a third one coming? Today we’re taking a brief look at the history of Israel’s involvement in Lebanon.

Feb 18, 2024

Should Israel reoccupy Gaza eighteen years after leaving it? And if not, does the government have a better vision?

Feb 11, 2024

There are hopes for a huge deal in one fell swoop: end the war, return the hostages, make peace with Saudi Arabia, and get a Palestinian state. But is this realistic? What are the dilemmas involved?

Feb 4, 2024

The International Court of Justice issued a ruling in Israel’s trial on charges of genocide. Was it a defeat or victory for Israel — or a little bit of both? A sign of the sober application of international law, or the hypocrisy of politicized demonization of the Jewish State?

Jan 21, 2024

A survey of Palestinian attitudes from December makes for bleak reading: increased popularity for Hamas, more support for armed violence, widespread belief that Hamas will still be in charge in Gaza after the war, and more. Is there any way forward?

Jan 15, 2024

South Africa has brought charges of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. What is this case about, and what does it all mean?

Jan 7, 2024

Diving into the start of 2024: the ground war in Gaza, escalating conflict with Hezbollah, the Houthis attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea, and a return to Israeli domestic politics with a major ruling from the Supreme Court.

Dec 24, 2023

The tragic killing of three Israeli hostages by the IDF raises questions about the military’s conduct during this war. Is Israel adhering to the laws of war?

Dec 17, 2023

There are conversations no longer worth having because their answers have no meaningful impact. Is anti-Zionism antisemitism? Who actually hates Jews? Are Jews indigenous to Israel? Let’s stop debating these distractions.

Dec 11, 2023

Why is the relationship between Israel and the United Nations so bad? Historical events, the makeup of the UN, and its relentless condemnations of Israel explain why Israel no longer considers the global body a neutral actor.

Dec 4, 2023

The West Bank — what many Jews call Judea and Samaria — is another sector of this war that is boiling over with tension and violence. While Israeli forces arrest thousands of Hamas terrorists, fanatical Jewish settlers attack Palestinian civilians. What is going on and how did we get here?

Nov 28, 2023

After seven weeks of fighting, Hamas and Israel agreed to a deal to release some of the Israeli hostages, who have started returning home to great joy and relief. How can we understand this deal in context? What should we make of the role of Qatar as mediator? What does it tell us about Hamas? What are the dilemmas facing Israel going forward?

Nov 17, 2023

“Never Again” evokes the promise of no more genocide, as the world has learned the lessons of history and the Holocaust. But “Never Again” has a different connotation for the Jewish People — and helps us understand the decisions Israel is making in fighting this war against Hamas.

Nov 11, 2023

Hamas’ massacre unleashed a worldwide wave of hatred and vilification against Israel and the Jewish People, summed up in the noxious idea of “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” — a call for the destruction of Israel. Leftist ideology, classic antisemitism, and Israel demonization all play a role in this stunning display of moral blindness.

Nov 5, 2023

Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza is underway. It is difficult, dangerous, and deadly fighting that has already claimed dozens of Israeli soldiers. The goal is to eliminate Hamas. But what about afterwards? Today we’ll look at five options for post-war Gaza.

Nov 1, 2023

In the constant struggle to keep up with what’s happening, how can we understand what we’re seeing on the news? The media ecosystem often accepts Hamas’ claims uncritically, while Israel’s are subjected to days of scrutiny and doubt. Skepticism and patience are our best tools to navigate the complexities here.

Oct 24, 2023

What does Iran have to do with Israel’s war against Hamas? A lot! We’re zooming out to look at Iran and it’s proxy army, Hezbollah, the terrorist group threatening to start a war along Israel’s northern border.

Oct 19, 2023

Day Eleven of the war between Hamas and Israel. For years Israel has brought sick Palestinian children into Israel for lifesaving medical care. Hamas responded by sadistically massacring Israeli children. Today we’re talking about Hamas and its intersection with Gaza’s history, crucial context for understanding how we got to this moment.

Oct 15, 2023

Unimaginable savagery in the worst attack on the Jewish People since the Holocaust. It's a declaration of war by Hamas, the genocidal group dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel. What's going on? How did we get here? What's next?

Aug 13, 2023

Black September cruelly murders 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The local police are helpless to resist, the rescue operation goes wrong, the world watches on live TV, and Golda Meir sees that, once again, Jews are being killed on European soil.

Aug 6, 2023

A civil war in Jordan between King Hussein and the PLO threatens to bring in Israel and its neighbors. Though a victory for Jordan, it created one of the most deadly terrorist groups that Israel would face: Black September. A daring commando operation thwarts an airplane hijacking, but that would prove to be just the beginning of the group’s ambitions.

Jul 17, 2023

The early 1970s saw the rise of the Israeli Black Panthers — a movement of young Mizrahi Jews fed up with systematic inequality and social discrimination that left Jews from the Middle East and North Africa lagging behind the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe. The met their match in Prime Minister Golda Meir, whose disapproval only fueled their efforts to wake Israeli society up to their plight.

Jul 2, 2023

Israel was founded to provide a safe place for Jewish life to flourish. But by the late 1960s, millions of Jews remained trapped in the Soviet Union, refused the emigration visas necessary to leave. The plight of these “refuseniks” kicked off an international campaign to free them, and in 1969, eighteen Jews wrote to Prime Minister Golda Meir explaining why they looked to Israel for rescue.

Jun 26, 2023

Rabbi Moshe Levinger was all in favor of building settlements in the West Bank, but with a twist: he thought confrontation with the Israeli government, rather than cooperation, was the way to achieve a Jewish foothold in their historic land. He set his sights on establishing the first urban settlement in the heart of Hebron: one of Judaism’s oldest cities, now populated exclusively by Arabs.

Jun 11, 2023

Palestinians hit on a winning formula for attacking Israel and publicizing their own cause: airplane hijackings. And Prime Minister Levi Eshkol dies, replaced by Israel’s first (and so far only) female prime minister, Golda Meir. By turns empathetic and aloof, ideological and pragmatic, pioneering and traditional, Golda came into office struggling to reconcile the Israel of her dreams with the changing country before her.

Jun 4, 2023

The Six Day War did not mean the end of fighting, just a new phase. At a summit in Khartoum the Arabs rejected peace, negotiation, and recognition of Israel, leaving violence as the only acceptable option. Egypt and Israel began fighting the War of Attrition, while Yasser Arafat’s PLO terrorist group challenged Israel’s patience and strength. These events and the Occupation engendered a developing new Palestinian identity.

May 14, 2023

Israel's second settlement in the Occupied Territories was Kfar Etzion, established in the West Bank on the ruins of a destroyed Jewish kibbutz. It was the first settlement of the Religious Zionism movement, merging the ideas of Zionist settlement with messianic redemption, and spawned both public support and criticism.

Apr 30, 2023

Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territory began just five weeks after the Six Day War, in a small community called Merom Golan on the Syrian border. This was not a right-wing nationalist endeavor but a left-wing socialist one, intended to reinvigorate the Zionist Movement with the spirit of the early pioneering generations. But wait — isn’t this illegal under international law?

Apr 23, 2023

Today we’re laying the conceptual foundations of the Occupation and Israel’s decisions immediately after the Six Day War. Having found itself in charge of an empire — territory three times its own size, with 1.2 million Palestinians — Israel flailed about for a coherent strategy to meet the challenges posed by the land, the people in it, and competing political agendas of Israel’s leaders.

Apr 9, 2023

In the days and weeks following the Six Day War, Israel made three big decisions regarding Jerusalem: to raze the Mughrabi Quarter to create a central plaza in front of the Western Wall, to bestow exclusive religious rights on the Tempe Mount to the Muslims, and to annex East Jerusalem to create a unified Israeli capital. Each of these decisions had lasting consequences.

Apr 2, 2023

For six days Israel fought. On the seventh day it rested. What was the impact on Israelis, and Jews around the world? How did they come to understand the greatest Jewish military victory in two thousand years? It turns out the reaction was very mixed.

Mar 26, 2023

On June 5, 1967, Israel destroyed the air forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in a matter of hours, kicking off what would become one of the greatest victories of modern military history. Israel thought it was fighting a defensive war for survival but instead captured five Arab territories that tripled its size. It was so surprising that, 56 years later, Israel is in many ways still dealing with the consequences. This episode takes a broad look at the six days of war that kicked off a whole new era.

Mar 26, 2023

Season 7 begins! This is an action-packed season exploring ten crucial years in Israel, 1967-1977. We'll hear about wars and The Occupation, triumphant rescues and the tragedy of the Munich Olympics, the settlements and the rise of the right-wing. We're kicking off with the run-up to the Six Day War and an introduction to some of the ideological ideas crucial for understanding this era.

Mar 1, 2023

Why the sudden burst of horrific violence in the West Bank this week? Hamas is making a play to take over the West Bank, ratcheting up attacks on Israel. And Israeli settler extremists are emboldened by support from their government to ramp up their own attacks on Palestinians, including the destruction of the village of Huwara. A weak Palestinian Authority that can’t provide security…plus increased Israeli raids targeted terrorists…all makes for a highly combustible situation that many fear is now igniting.

Feb 23, 2023

Why are hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting in the streets? Why are global headlines screaming about the end of Israeli democracy? The country is griped by a profound crisis over the independence of its judicial system, as its ultra right-wing government tries to pass legislation reforming the Supreme Court. Come find out how we got here and what Israeli's are so angry about.

Nov 6, 2022

Sep 25, 2022

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan redefined Judaism as an “evolving religious civilization” in need of reconstruction for the 20th century. He emphasized Jewish peoplehood, in all its complexity and diversity, as the central pillar of Jewish life and culture, and as the means of survival for Judaism in modern society. From the Bat Mitzvah to the Jewish community center, Kaplan’s ideas have since permeated into nearly all aspects of American Jewish life.

Sep 18, 2022

Joy. Attachment. Intention. The Baal Shem Tov - Master of the Good Name - inspired millions of Jews in Eastern Europe by uniting ideas in mystical Judaism with daily life. He turbo-boosted Jewish identity with the notion that every individual could be closer to God and play a role in the redemption of the world. Through stories and legends his fame grew into a new movement known as Hasidism, adopted by half the Jews of Europe.

Sep 11, 2022

Baruch Spinoza, it is said, wrote a book "forged from Hell by the Devil himself," rejecting 1600 years of medieval philosophy in favor of pure reason. He so angered the religious authorities that his Amsterdam Jewish community excommunicated him. He advocated for free speech, expression, and worship, ushering us all into the modern age way back in the 1600s. Today we're exploring some of his radical ideas.

Aug 28, 2022

Isaac Luria is taking us into the realm of the visionary and mysterious. We’re looking into the role of kabbalah — mystical Judaism — in our everyday lives. How can an infinite God create our finite universe? How can we mere humans repair a broken world? How did the city of Tsfat in Israel end up as the center of mystical Judaism?

Aug 21, 2022

Maimonides says that you might be perplexed. Your intellect tells you that the stories in the Hebrew Bible can’t be scientifically true, but your faith tells you that they are. Maimonides is here to help! He revolutionized Judaism — from law and theology, to ideas about God and approaching Torah with a rational and universal mindset, there’s something for everyone in Jewish history’s greatest philosopher.

Aug 7, 2022

In 1141 CE, Judah HaLevi mysteriously disappeared on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, giving rise to legends about the scholar who became Judaism's most celebrated poet. He wrote the Kuzari, a stirring defense of the Jewish faith at a time when the Jewish golden age in Spain was under threat from Muslims and Christians vying for control of Andalusia.

Jul 24, 2022

Saadia Gaon single-handedly saved Judaism from splitting apart in the 10th century. He was the first great Jewish medieval philosopher and the spiritual father of Judeo-Arabic culture, defending Rabbinic Judaism against sectarianism and insisting that reason and revelation together seek the truth.

Jul 11, 2022

Jun 26, 2022

Jun 19, 2022

Starting off Season 6 with one of the all-time greatest Jewish thinkers: Hillel the Elder, from the 1st century BCE. The sage who summarized the entirety of the Torah while standing on one foot, Hillel's wisdom was preserved by his greatest admirers, giving us a portrait of a man wise, humble, and inspirational.

Oct 31, 2021

Season Finale. What does it mean to be an Israelite? A Jew? A Hebrew?

Oct 17, 2021

Who wrote the Hebrew Bible, when, and how? Boiling a huge topic down to the basics: a thousand-year long literary tradition built by authors across the centuries, compiling story after story to arrive at what we have today.

Oct 3, 2021

Amidst weeping and rejoicing, the priest-scribe Ezra reads from the Scroll of Teaching before all the people gathered in Jerusalem. The governor Nehemiah records the moment that Judaism burst onto the scene, as the glory of Jerusalem was restored in 445 BCE.

Sep 26, 2021

King Cyrus the Great of Persia sacks Babylon and frees the Jews from their captivity. Now what? Some exiles return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, but find that it isn't quite so easy to reintegrate with their fellow Israelites. Who, now, is a Jew?

Sep 19, 2021

The exile in Babylon upended the essential pillars of Israelite religion: king, god, temple, and land. The Israelites responded with immense theological creativity, reimagining these core tenets to preserve their ethnic identity. Prophets, priests, and scribes wrote new ideas and rituals that pointed to a new theology: monotheism. What we today call Judaism.

Aug 29, 2021

The People of Israel began the Babylonian exile as Israelites and emerged as Jews. How? By responding to the greatest crisis in their history with an explosion of religious creativity and innovation that morphed into monotheism. Today we’re delving into how Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, the destruction of the Temple, and the end of the House of David. It all left the Israelites wondering: now what?

Aug 22, 2021

While repairing the Temple in Jerusalem, King Josiah’s high priest, Hilkiah, found a (supposedly) long lost ancient scroll of teaching. This law book, called torah, legitimized Josiah’s religious reforms. But was this book really found…or did someone close to Josiah write it? Historians are pretty sure we know which book it was, and it helps us understood who wrote the Hebrew Bible, when, and why.

Aug 16, 2021

Where is hell? Ask King Manasseh, perhaps the single worst king in Israelite history. Thankfully he was succeeded by his grandson, Josiah, one of the absolute best.

Aug 9, 2021

King Hezekiah was one of the most beloved kings of Israel, despite a rocky reign that saw the Assyrians take most of Judah. Hezekiah built up Jerusalem (many of his works can still be seen today, including a tunnel under the city) and instituted a series of religious reforms to centralize the worship of Yahweh at the Temple in Jerusalem — another big step towards monotheism.

Aug 1, 2021

After two hundred years, the Kingdom of Israel falls to the Assyrians in 720 BCE. The prophet Amos blames it on social injustice -- the capture of wealth by the rich neglected the poor, violating the covenant with God. The Ten Lost Tribes disappear into history, while refugees make their way to Judah, bringing their stories with them.

Jul 25, 2021

Introducing the prophets! We start with Elijah, the prophet who appears at Passover every year but never actually died. He goes up against the evil queen Jezebel and her husband, Ahab, King of Israel.

Jul 18, 2021

Shortly after King Solomon's death, in 931 BCE, the United Monarchy split into two separate Israelite states: the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The king of Judah threatened to flog the people with scorpions, while the king of Israel built a new religious infrastructure using an image of the golden calf. The Israelite people were now fated for very different destinies.

Jul 11, 2021

The reign of King Solomon was the golden era of the United Monarchy. He built the most important structure in Jewish history: the Temple in Jerusalem. Despite his achievements, he also fell into disfavor with God for his idolatrous practices.

Jun 23, 2021

Last week saw an historic upheaval in Israeli politics as Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted from power after 12 years as Prime Minister, replaced by the most diverse government in Israeli history. What happened? Who are the big players now? What's next?

Jun 13, 2021

How did Jerusalem become the holy city of Judaism? In about 1000 BCE King David set up his royal palace in this small Canaanite city and turned it into the capital of the Israelite people. It was a major achievement during the United Monarchy -- the golden era marking the high point of ancient Israel.

Jun 3, 2021

What’s the deal with Israeli settlements? A look at how the settlements began, why they were built, and why they remain. It’s the great paradox: the Occupation is necessary for Israel’s security but detrimental for its future as a Jewish democracy.

May 23, 2021

The Israelites demand a king. Was this a sign of failure or success? The prophet Samuel warns against it, but Saul becomes the first king of Israel. He soon faces a rival in David, the greatest king in all of Israel's history.

May 21, 2021

Is this a fair fight? This week we're pushing back against the charges that because Israel holds all the power, its attacks on Gaza are unjust.

May 16, 2021

For two hundred years the Israelites relied on judges for leadership, not kings. This era offers a powerful role for women and some of the oldest stories that make it into the Hebrew Bible.

May 13, 2021

Fighting erupted on multiple fronts this week between Israelis, Palestinians, and Arab-Israelis. What's going on? Go beyond the headlines and social media hot takes for an in-depth look at why this is all happening now.

May 9, 2021

Where does the name Yahweh come from? Who got to be considered an Israelite? How can we understand the sacred bond between God and the People of Israel that forms the bedrock of Judaism today?

Apr 25, 2021

How did monotheism start? The Israelites worshipped a national god named Yahweh — the same god that Jews worship today. But where did Yahweh come from? How did the Israelites meet him? And was he their only god?

Apr 18, 2021

How did the Israelites end up in Canaan (modern day Israel)? In the Hebrew Bible the Israelites claim to have taken Canaan through military conquest. But the historical record says that’s doubtful. So what happened?

Apr 11, 2021

It’s the most famous event of Jewish history: the exodus from Egypt of millions of Israelite slaves, thanks to the power of their God and the prophet Moses. But did it ever really happen?

Apr 5, 2021

Egypt ruled Canaan…until it didn’t. With empires collapsing all over the Mediterranean region, new peoples suddenly had the space to emerge. Like the Israelites. But also their arch-nemeses, the Philistines.

Mar 28, 2021

Noah and the Flood, the origins of Abraham and Sarah, and the laws of the Book of Exodus, are just a few examples of how deeply influenced the Israelites were by Mesopotamian culture and ideas, which came from the east centuries before the Israelites arrived on the scene.

Mar 21, 2021

Kicking off Season 5: The First Thousand Years Or So! This episode we’re looking at how the land of Israel was formed millions of years ago, the early humans who lived there, and why the building of a simple stone wall was so extraordinary.

Sep 27, 2020

Season 4 Finale. The miracle that was the creation of Israel is threatened by a recession, cultural fault lines, and a deep sense of gloom. As a terrifying war looms, Israelis are left considering whether the Israeli dream might be coming to a violent end. Could Israel rally together? Or was the dream over after only 19 years?

Sep 13, 2020

For three weeks, known as "hamtanah," Israelis waited as military, diplomatic, and political forces drove them towards war with the Arabs.

Aug 30, 2020

A short primer on Israel's relationship with American Jews and America's presidents in the 1950s and 1960s. Ben Gurion and American Jewry have a little argument, while Kennedy and Johnson develop better relations with the Jewish State.

Aug 24, 2020

Yasser Arafat starts Fatah, a Palestinian militia, to attack Israel. The Arab countries form the Palestinian Liberation Organization (the PLO) to counter Fatah's influence. And Israel finds itself facing a familiar conundrum: what to do about terrorism? A retaliation operation goes awry.

Aug 16, 2020

On August 13, 2020, Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced a peace agreement. This is only the third time an Arab country has made peace with Israel. Here's what you oughta know!

Aug 16, 2020

From stealing fighter jets to stealing secrets, Israel's spies are the stuff of legend. Some ended in triumph, and others tragedy. They all played a critical role in Israel's security during the 1960s.

Aug 9, 2020

Israel’s innovations in water use spread around the world, helping to lift millions out of poverty and famine. The National Water Carrier brought water to every corner of the country. But water was also a source of conflict with its Arab neighbors, as Syria tries to cut off Israel’s access and border tensions rise to dangerous levels.

Jul 13, 2020

The police shot an unarmed member of a discriminated group, riots followed, and a social change movement spread throughout the country. Not the United States in 2020, but Israel in 1959. In the ongoing miracle that was Israel, the Mizrahi — Jews from the Middle East and North Africa — were falling behind. It exposed a fault line in relations between “two Israels.”

Jul 5, 2020

Hebrew, the kibbutz, the military, and politics were achieving big things and undergoing big changes, as Israel entered its teenage years in the 1960s. And David Ben Gurion, the man who personified the Jewish State, made a huge decision.

Jun 29, 2020

Are Jews “white” here in America? The extreme right says no, the radical left yes. The American Jewish experience has been multifaceted. And there are Jews of Color.

Jun 15, 2020

What does Judaism "say" about the racial justice protests of 2020? And what is the history of black-Jewish relations in the United States?

May 25, 2020

Part 5 of 5. Eichmann's trial continues with his defense: I was only following orders. The judges consider a verdict and sentence. The trial had a tremendous impact and changed Israeli culture.

May 25, 2020

Part 4 of 5. After his capture by Israel in 1960, Adolf Eichmann goes on trial in Jerusalem. Holocaust survivors capture the attention of the whole nation as they testify to their harrowing experiences.

May 18, 2020

Part 3 of 5 on Eichmann's trial and capture. In Part 3, the Israeli Mossad team is holed up with Eichmann in their Buenos Aires safe house, while trying to figure out how to smuggle him out of the country.

May 18, 2020

Part 2 of 5 on Adolf Eichmann's trial and capture. In Part 2, how Israel tracked him down in Argentina, and staged the operation to grab him.

May 18, 2020

Part 1 of 5 on a deep dive into the search, capture, and trial of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann. In Part 1, Eichmann is on the run from the Allies after World War Two.

Apr 26, 2020

Does Israel have nuclear weapons?

Apr 19, 2020

Israel enters the world stage in 1956 as a country to be reckoned with. Israel provokes a war with Egypt in secret cahoots with Britain and France. It was a local conflict wrapped in a regional one wrapped in the Cold War struggle for power in the Middle East.

Mar 29, 2020

How should Israel respond to terrorism? The government was divided in its response to attacks from Jordan and Egypt: aggressive retaliation, or restraint and diplomacy?

Mar 22, 2020

Prime Minister David Ben Gurion abruptly quits and heads off to Sde Boker, a desert kibbutz. Meanwhile, the Israeli government is rocked by political scandal, and Ben Gurion ends up right back where he started.

Mar 15, 2020

Is Israel a theocracy? Or just a Jewish democracy that doesn't separate synagogue and state? And who gets to be counted as a Jew in the Jewish State? The second part of our look at how Israel put the "Jewish" in the Jewish State, this time through religion.

Feb 24, 2020

How do you put the "Jewish" in the Jewish State? One way is through secular Jewish culture: the Hebrew language, archaeology, and even the Hebrew Bible itself.

Feb 9, 2020

West Germany offered to pay Israel reparations for the Holocaust, touching off a heated and violent debate over whether Israel should accept. Was it a critical windfall for a poor nation, or nothing more than blood money?

Feb 2, 2020

Who is a Jew, according to the State of Israel? And where do you put all the new immigrants when there isn't enough housing? And what is the impact on Mizrahi Jewish refugees and Palestinian land abandoned during the war?

Jan 26, 2020

The Palestinians weren't the only refugees. Nearly one million Jews were pushed out of the Middle East and North Africa in revenge for the creation of Israel. Ancient Jewish communities were uprooted as hundreds of thousands of Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jews) poured into Israel.

Jan 19, 2020

For the Palestinians who left Israel -- whether by force or voluntarily -- Israel's War of Independence was a nakba (catastrophe). The war's end in 1949 left over 720,000 Palestinian refugees. Why they left, what happened to them, and how much responsibility Israel bears is the focus of today's episode.

Jan 13, 2020

The War of Independence left multiple narratives in its wake, from the Jews who lost 1% of their population to the war, to the Arab-Israelis who fell under martial law.

Dec 8, 2019

Don't know your Prime Minister from your President? Israeli politics has been big in the news in 2019 -- so here's how the government works, and why Israel voted left for the first thirty years of its existence.

Dec 1, 2019

When the IDF seized the town of Lydda from Arab forces during the War of Independence, Ben Gurion ordered the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Was it justified? Was it just?

Nov 25, 2019

The War of Independence continues as the Egyptian army uses the Gaza Strip to make a run for Tel Aviv. They were stopped by the new Israeli Air Force, which had to source parts, planes, and pilots from all over the world.

Nov 18, 2019

Barely a month after declaring independence, a fight on the beach in Tel Aviv almost splits Israel in two. As the army struggles to supply the Jewish side of Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Forces and the Irgun open fire on each other over a ship called the Altalena.

Nov 4, 2019

Within hours of declaring independence, Israel was invaded by five Arab armies. In the middle of an existential war, the government made its first decision: to proclaim Israel open for Jewish immigration.

Oct 27, 2019

On May 14, 1948, just a few minutes before Shabbat, David Ben Gurion declared the new State of Israel. Reading from the Declaration of Independence, which just barely made it to the secret ceremony, he committed the new Jewish State to idealistic and historic principles, while bracing for a war he knew was imminent.

Jul 14, 2019

Straight out of Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant just might be the single greatest missing relic of all time. A fitting finale to Season 3, it disappeared quite suddenly in the 6th century BCE and hasn't been seen since. We go looking for it all over the Middle East and Africa.

Jul 7, 2019

It's the end of the world as we know it. The Messiah might already be here, but who is he, what's going to happen, and when?

Jun 30, 2019

Sixty-four clues. A vast treasure two thousand years old. Billions of dollars in buried gold. All engraved on a copper scroll hidden away in a cave near the Dead Sea that was found in 1952.

Jun 24, 2019

The U.S. military found a treasure trove of Jewish artifacts in the basement of Iraq's intelligence headquarters. Who should get it: Iraq, the United States, or the Iraqi Jewish community in America?

Jun 16, 2019

Around 5,000 years ago someone built a massive, Stonehenge-like structure on the Golan Heights in Israel. But we have no clue who or why -- was it an ancient race of giants?

Jun 10, 2019

Three unsolved mysteries from the Holocaust: the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, who betrayed Anne Frank, and the wartime actions of Pope Pius XII.

Jun 2, 2019

We lost ten Israelite tribes 2,500 years ago, but we might have found a few still around today in some unlikely places.

May 19, 2019

Christopher Columbus might possibly have been Jewish. Either way, Jews played a central role in his 1492 Voyage of Discovery.

May 12, 2019

The original menorah that you use at Hanukah went missing around 1,600 years ago. We know the Romans had it last. Was it destroyed? Misplaced? Hidden in the Vatican? There are all kinds of rumors, feel free to pick your favorite.

May 5, 2019

Something both living and dead has been hidden up in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague for the last 500 years.

Apr 28, 2019

There is legal and diplomatic fighting (with celebrities!) between Chabad, Russia, and the United States over who is the rightful owner of tens of thousands of texts amassed by the leading rabbis of Chabad over the last several hundred years.

Apr 21, 2019

Kickoff to Season 3 on Unsolved Jewish Mysteries. Where is the tomb of King David, ancient Israel's greatest ruler?

Feb 10, 2019

Season finale on the History of Zionism. A look back at the full sweep of Zionism as the Jewish world waits for Ben Gurion to decide on declaring the Jewish State.

Feb 3, 2019

In the push to take back Jerusalem Jewish fighters commit a horrible atrocity at Deir Yassin. The Arabs follow in kind. Just a few days before independence, the future Jewish state is in doubt.

Jan 27, 2019

Palestine descends into civil war between Jews and Arabs immediately following the UN's vote for partition. Jewish communities come under siege while Ben Gurion orders the Jews not to retreat from a single inch of territory.

Jan 20, 2019

Is there a just way to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews? The United Nations considers that question, and November 29, 1947, goes down as an historic day for the Jewish People.

Nov 18, 2018

Jewish resistance, not by killing people, but by rescuing them. The Haganah's difficult Aliyah Bet operation to bring Holocaust refugees to Palestine gets a huge PR boost.

Nov 11, 2018

Menachem Begin pushes the bounds of morality in the final blow of the Jewish resistance against the British.

Nov 5, 2018

The Irgun busts their guys out of prison.

Oct 28, 2018

The Jewish defense groups join together to resist the British, culminating in a defining terrorist attack on the King David Hotel in 1946.

Oct 21, 2018

The Lehi assassinates a high-ranking British official, and the Jews turn on each other in a minor Zionist civil war.

Oct 7, 2018

Hannah Senesh, Haviva Reik, and the only rescue mission sent to Europe by the Yishuv.

Sep 30, 2018

Menachem Begin, a man of many contrasts, bursts onto the scene to take over the Irgun.

Sep 16, 2018

Israel's iconic heroes get their start as special operations soldiers during World War Two, and the Irgun gets a new leader.

Sep 9, 2018

As the threat to European Jewry rises to desperate levels, the Zionist movement launches a secret, high-risk rescue operation, and prepares for war.

Sep 2, 2018

Jewish fighters of the Irgun wage a campaign of terrorism during the Arab Revolt.

Aug 26, 2018

From out in the Atlantic Ocean the Zionist movement suffers serious setbacks in 1939, while the Palestinian national movement plays a destructive zero-sum game.

Aug 12, 2018

The Great Revolt continues as Britain comes up with a novel idea: what if we partitioned Palestine to create two separate states for Arabs and Jews? Interesting idea -- but will anyone go for it?

Aug 5, 2018

Arab nationalism turns towards violence. The Zionists try to defend Jewish immigration. And the British try to preserve stability in the region. Then the Nazis start meddling in Palestine.

Jul 1, 2018

The Zionists in Palestine cut a deal with the Nazis to save Jewish lives. But it will cost Chaim Arlosoroff his.

Jun 24, 2018

The nature of the Arab-Jewish conflict completely changed in 1929, when the Arabs massacred Jews throughout Palestine. With the British in charge, the Arabs rioting, and the Nazis just over the horizon in Europe, the Zionist project was entering a dark and challenging era.

May 21, 2018

Apr 22, 2018

Einstein, Ben-Gurion, Weizmann, and Jabotinsky all bring different ideas about Zionism to the Roaring Twenties in Palestine.

Apr 9, 2018

Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founder of right-wing Zionism, argues with mainstream Zionism over relations with the Arabs, Jewish immigration, and Jewish territory in Palestine.

Apr 2, 2018

The Arab-Israeli conflict begins at Tel Hai on March 1, 1920. These first instances of violence set the precedent for the next century of Jewish-Arab relations.

Mar 25, 2018

Part 2 of the Balfour Declaration. It's vague and messy, but it promises a Jewish homeland. And the Jews and Arabs came so close to reaching an agreement on how to live together in Palestine.

Mar 18, 2018

A hundred years ago the British issued the Balfour Declaration, promising to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Today we're looking at why the British were interested in Palestine in the first place -- from the exigencies of World War One to Christian prophecy.

Mar 11, 2018

The first Jewish fighting unit in nearly two millennia takes to the battlefield of World War One, while an espionage unit back in Palestine goes up against the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

Mar 4, 2018

WANTED: Renewed Jewish Homeland Seeks Socialist, Revolutionary-Minded Gender Equality Activists to Perform Hard Labor, Drain Swamps, Debate Ideology, and Build Out Their Jewish Minds and Bodies on a Collective Farm. Don't Apply, Just Come.

Feb 26, 2018

As the century turns, two waves of Jewish immigration come to Palestine. Immortalized through poetry and the building of lasting institutions like Tel Aviv, these immigrants set the stage for the future Jewish homeland.

Feb 4, 2018

Today I interview Kathy Kacer and Jordana Lebowitz, who have written a book, To Look a Nazi In the Eye. It's an account of Jordana's experience attending the 2015 trial of Oskar Groening, a Nazi SS officer stationed at Auschwitz. Was he complicit in the murder of 300,000 Hungarian Jews? Is it too late for justice? And how did this experience inspire Jordana to devote herself to human rights and Holocaust education?

Dec 18, 2017

You know the story of Hanukah -- or do you?

Dec 10, 2017

How to revive a language that hasn't been spoken for 18 centuries? The Jews had been working to revive Hebrew for decades, but it was the Zionists -- led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his family -- who succeeded in turning Hebrew into the national language.

Dec 3, 2017

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: the Arab natives of Palestine. Who came first -- the Jews or the Arabs? And how did the early Zionists feel about the Arabs?

Oct 2, 2017

It's not enough just to create a new Jewish homeland. We need a New Jew. Physically strong, spiritually renewed, and connected to the land through hard physical labor. The big picture of Zionism that is emerging is that it's a movement to create an entirely new kind of Judaism for a new phase of our history.

Sep 24, 2017

In contrast to Herzl, Ahad Ha'Am wants "a Jewish state, and not merely a state for Jews." As the Zionist movement takes off at the turn of the century, a new branch, the Cultural Zionists, form to bring the Jewish. But events conspire to make the Zionist project more urgent.

Sep 18, 2017

What is Zionism? It's a tree. And Theodore Herzl outlines his vision of what the Jewish state should look like.

Sep 3, 2017

The trial of Alfred Dreyfus in France rallied Western European Jews around the idea of Zionism, and gave one man in particular, Theodore Herzl, a really big dream about creating a Jewish state.

Aug 27, 2017

We begin the story of modern Israel with the assassination of Czar Alexander II in Russia, in 1881. How the Jewish community responded tells us a lot about the origins of Zionism.

Aug 12, 2017

Live recorded at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, I'm kicking off Season 2. I'll be delving into modern Israel -- the rise of Zionism, the creation of Israel, the Palestinian conflict. Look out for the first episodes in August!

Aug 12, 2017

The Book of Genesis comes to an end as the Israelites go back and forth between Canaan and Egypt. Joseph has to decide between revenge and reconciliation. And we close out the era of the patriarchs and matriarchs, who set the Jewish People on their course.

Aug 12, 2017

We know from the story of Moses and the Exodus (and our recent Passover Seders) that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. But how did they get there in the first place? It has to do with Jacob's favorite son, Joseph, his coat of many colors, his 11 jealous brothers, Pharaoh, and dreams.

Aug 12, 2017

On the run from both Laban and Esau, Jacob wrestles with a strange being, earning him the name "Israel". He arrives back in the Promised Land to build an altar to God, but tragedy strikes his beloved wife, Rachel.

Aug 12, 2017

Jacob crosses the threshold on the hero's journey, dreaming of a ladder with angels going up and down. He marries both Rachel and Leah, who then compete with each other to produce male heirs. This is what we call in Hebrew a balagan​.

Aug 12, 2017

Esau sells his birthright -- the family inheritance -- to his younger brother, Jacob, who connives with his mother, Rebecca, to deceive his father, Isaac. But the story is also a metaphor for the historical Kingdom of Judah.

Aug 12, 2017

Abraham sends his servant to find Isaac (the under-appreciated patriarch) a wife. We meet Rebecca, a decisive and kind woman who seizes her destiny to become a Jewish leader.

Aug 12, 2017

Judaism's second holiest site is the cave where Sarah and Abraham are buried. But for someone so connected to the Promised Land, Abraham still felt like a stranger.

Aug 12, 2017

Abraham attempts to sacrifice Isaac but is stopped at the last second. Why did he do it?

Aug 12, 2017

Taking a break from the Bible to catch up on current events in Israel this past week: the evacuation of Amona, a West Bank settlement, and the Knesset's approval of a law that allows Israel to seize private Palestinian land.

Aug 11, 2017

Justice, divine punishment, hospitality, sexual deviancy, kindness to strangers, people getting turned into salt -- all this and more as Abraham argues with God, and opens up a new relationship between the human and the divine.

Aug 11, 2017

We begin the story of a great adventurer: Abram, and his wife Sarai. Starting at the age of 70, Abram will travel across the known world, sell his wife as a mistress to Pharaoh, kill some kings, circumcise himself, exhibit great generosity, try to murder his own son, and buy a crucial piece of real estate. He's also the first Jew.

Aug 11, 2017

So there was a major flood, Noah built an ark, and successfully landed it back on dry land. What happened next connects today's Jews with the Armenian people across a familiar historical narrative. Plus we get the first set of seven laws to govern humanity. Nice!

Aug 11, 2017

The human adventure begins. And almost comes to a crashing halt. From eating from the forbidden tree, to getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden, to lying to God, to murdering brothers, what are these first humans trying to tell us about the nature of humanity, freedom, and moral choice?

Aug 11, 2017

We begin at the beginning! With nothing, and go from there. The Book of Genesis gives us two stories of creation, but they're different. So which is the "real" story?

Aug 11, 2017

There are a lot of books that make up the Hebrew Bible. And everyone from Leonard Cohen to U2 quote them frequently. Get the quick info on what's in the Hebrew Bible, what the whole thing is about, and whether parts of it are true.

Aug 11, 2017

In the year 622 BCE, while cleaning out the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, Hilkiah found a scroll that would change the course of Western civilization. It also made the King of Judah look good. Which raises some questions.

Aug 11, 2017

UNESCO, an agency of the United Nations, recently voted in favor of a resolution condemned by Israel as negating the Jewish historical presence in the Old City of Jerusalem. What's the story? What is UNESCO and what is this resolution about? Why is it happening now? Go beyond the headlines to learn about the background to this issue, and some analysis of the merits of each side.

Aug 10, 2017

The names we call ourselves -- Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews -- says a lot about where we come from and who we believe ourselves to be as a people. Come learn about the origins of these terms and how they have changed throughout history.

Aug 10, 2017

For our second episode, we'll introduce the Jewish calendar -- how the days, months, and years work, why the Jewish holidays move around the secular calendar, and we got to the Jewish year 5,777.

Aug 9, 2017

Welcome to the first episode of a new podcast -- Jew Oughta Know! In this episode we'll cover the basics of what this podcast is about, and get your started on the great journey that is learning about all things Jewish, from history to philosophy to current events.