Israel Beat

The 1963 March on Washington is known mainly for the I Have a Dream speech, but other speakers included Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a refugee from Germany who aided Holocaust survivors and later, aided the civil rights movement. Plus, a prayer by Rabbi Uri Miller, and Dr. Martin Luther King’s appeal for freedom for Soviet Jewry. Including rare audio. * Related podcast: History of Pro-Israel Rallies NOTES...

Is Bob Dylan’s song Neighborhood Bully a pro- Zionist anthem? Hear the inside story of the celebrated singer-songwriter’s `concerts in Israel and his 1980s song Neighborhood Bully. Is it a witty defense of a beleaguered Jewish State, or just misinterpreted poetry? Plus Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rock out in Jerusalem, Ariel Zilber and more. NOTES: * Neighborhood Bully lyrics - BobDylan.com *...

Fun facts about your favorite Passover themed films, submitted by the listeners. Learn the behind-the-scenes tidbits about Cecil B DeMille’s Ten Commandments such as his Jewish connection and his prior silent movie classic. Also, the animated Prince of Egypt and how it was received upon release, the comedy When Do We Eat from the Accidental Talmudist, Rugrats, Jabotinsky, Sesame Street and more. N...

When Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia, Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) took refuge in the Land of Israel. Hear rare audio from him and his daughter Princess Tsehai and how the Jewish community helped the exiled emperor. Gideon Force, led by Orde Wingate and Jews from the Land of Israel helped return the king to his throne. Get full access to Jewish History Moment podcast with Ben Bresky at benbresky....

Interview with Eilat Lieber, director of the Tower of David Museum who spearheaded the move to reopen the Rockefeller post-Oct. 7th and share it’s splendor with the public. From ancient menorah symbols to statues of Egyptian pharaohs and carvings from the Temple Mount, this is a fascinating tour of a little-seen architectural gem. Get full access to Jewish History Moment podcast with Ben Bresky at...

On this Tu Bishvat special, meet Avi Friedman and Ariela Solomon as they talk about their inspiration for buying a tract of land in Israel’s north to revolutionize farming methods and teach a Jewish environmentally friendly way of connecting to the land of Israel and the people of Israel in modern times. Galilee Eco Center official website Get full access to Jewish History Moment podcast with Ben...

Join me as I travel to the Hasidic village of Kfar Chabad where I visited the rebbe’s office in 770 and wrote a kvitel. Learn about the etrog trees, and the humble beginnings of the displaced persons from the shtetels turned Israeli farmers. NOTES: * Founding of Chabad - The Rebbe’s Capital City * This Man Knows His Citrus—His Etrog, to Be Exact - Chabad.org * Vintage (1961) documentary on Kfar Ch...

The ruins of ancient Beersheba attest to the importance of the city where Abraham lived. But the most intriguing artifact is the horned altar. This is one of the idolatrous “high places” King Hezekiah ordered torn down. Or was it King Josiah? Find out as we delve into the historical debate between Prof. Yohanan Aharoni, a refugee from warn-torn Germany and founder of the Tel Aviv University Instit...

Yael Driver is the editor of the new book Dance of the Fire: The Jewish Brigade in WW2: Facts, Myths, Appraisal , based on the memoir of her father Shlomo Shamir, covert commander of the Brigade. She sheds some light on little-known daring missions to rescue Holocaust Survivors following the Brigade’s fighting against the Axis Forces. She explains how these Jewish volunteers from the Land of Israe...

Interview with Cynthia Hannah of the new online course, The Land God Chose: What the Bible ACTUALLY says about Israel . Cynthia has spent over a decade studying Hebrew Scriptures and the wisdom of Chassidic, Kabbalistic, and Torah masters in Jerusalem. But it was after October 7th that she felt a profound calling to create a course that would cut through media distortion and reveal what the Bible...

The diary of Glikl Bas Leib of Hamburg, begun in the 1690s, holds invaluable historic insight into Jewish life in Europe. Meet Mat and Julie Tonti who are turning Glikl’s Yiddish writings into a graphic novel for modern readers. The husband-and-wife team discuss their journey to Germany where they visited Hamburg, Hamelin and other towns to investigate the life, love and loss of a woman whose expe...

The underdogs of basketball defeated the Soviet team in a dramatic game that led to the championship. Meet Tal Brody, the American Jew who made Aliyah and led the team to victory when he uttered the now famous words, “we’re on the map, a nd we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything .” The dramatic reaction of Israel beating the Russian Soviet Union Red Army team led to chee...

The Hasidic Jews who founded Bnei Brak on an empty plot of land near Tel Aviv in 1924 left their middle-class homes and businesses to fulfill their dream of living in the Land of Israel. Meet Rabbi Isaac Gerstenkorn, the city’s first mayor, who describes the struggles with Polish authorities, desert raiders, and the harsh winds which threatened to blow out the Shabbat candles. Learn about the city...

Interview with musician Yativ Leucher on the Aharit Hayamim festival a “Jewish indie rave festival” held every year in Gush Etzion. He tells the story of his grandparents who helped found Kibbutz Masuot Yitzhak and were taken hostage by the Jordanians during the War of Independence in 1948. His grandmother Rachel Doron was separated from her infant son when she stayed behind to broadcast “Malkah n...

Learn about the picturesque agricultural community of Beit Zayit, just north of Jerusalem, founded by hard working Jewish immigrants, one of whom discovered ancient fossilized dinosaur tracks. Learn about the struthiomimus, a two-legged dinosaur that once roamed the land. These are the only dinosaur track fossils discovered anywhere in Israel or the Middle East and one of the only such finds of th...

Meet Nili Salem, author of the new book Awesome Blast: 40 Days of Shofar Intentions, Soul-Healing, and Spiritual Return . She discusses the history of the ram’s horn in Jewish tradition and spiritual religious ritual. Plus her adventures as a Jewish educator in remote places including having her shofar confiscated by the authority in Peru, slaughtering a lamp with the Bene Efraim community of Indi...

Israeli’s flourishing metropolis had humble beginnings as a barren sand dune. Learn about the seashell lottery which started the first Hebrew city and the personalities that built it such as Akiva Aryeh Weiss of the Ahuzat Bayit association, Rabbi Yehuda Margusa who settled Jaffa, Jacobus Henricus Kann, the assimilated financier, Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche, the interpreter, Zerah Barnett, the yeshiva...

Travel with me to a picturesque harp workshop to meet the husband-and-wife team of Micah and Shoshanna Harrari who build hand-crafted wooden harps based on the Bible. Learn about the history of the ancient Megiddo lyre, King David’s harp, the secret of the Psalms and hear music from one of the 10-stringed instruments. Plus, the snow-storm story of how the Harraris ended up in Israel. For more info...

Col. David “Mickey” Marcus gave his life defending Jerusalem during the War of Independence. Find out how a Jewish kid from the rough streets of Brooklyn ended up a West Point graduate and part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II. His work with Holocaust refugees inspired him to join the fledgling Israel Defense Force. The film Cast a Giant Shadow is based on his legacy, starring Kir...

Dr. Ido Noy was an art historian specializing in medieval Jewish art. But when COVID-19 hit, he rediscovered his childhood passion for Garbage Pail Kids and found others who grew up in the 1980s felt the same. Released in Hebrew as Havurat HaZevel, this fad continues to have a lasting impact on Israeli politics in election campaigns satirizing politicians from both the right wing and left wing. Th...

Interview with Rabbi Mordechai Gershon on the first ever English translation of the seminal Hasidic work Bat Ayin. Find out how this forgotten treasure of Kabbalistic thought has grown in popularity in recent years. Today thousands attend the annual memorial of Rabbi Avraham Dov Ber Auerbach of Avritch (circa 1760 – 1840) who left a prominent career in Ukraine to return to the Land of Israel and l...

Interview with living legend Moshe “Musa” Berlin on klezmer music from its roots in Ashkenazic Yiddish-speaking shtetels to its development at Lag BaOmer celebrations in Israel where it fused with Sephardic and Mediterranean traditions. The famous clarinetist talks about his childhood, life as a Jewish musician, his influences which include Shlomo Carlebach and Artie Shaw, and thoughts on modern H...

The history of Israeli fighter jets starting with the Nesher, which was developed because France imposed an embargo on sending Israel the Dassault Mirage during the Six Day War. Learn about Holocaust survivor Marcel Dassault, the secret blueprints provided by a Swiss ally, and the innovative weapons developed by the Jewish State. Then there was the Kfir, the state-of-the-art plane of the 1970s pio...

This is a classic interview from 2004 with Leona S. Green, author of the New Traditional Egalitarian Haggadah which adheres to the authentic Jewish text while making it inclusive for all to enjoy the seder. Learn about her Orthodox upbringing from immigrant parents, her involvement with Zionism, and how a father’s love for his daughter inspired her create this unique and user-friendly Haggadah. No...

Thank you to the following people who sent in their Pesach reminiscences of seder nights from their youth which range diverse Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions from Jewish communities around the world. Learn about food, songs, and fond family memories from the festival of freedom. * Batya from Poland * Toby from Ohio * Rachel from Romania * Dov from Jerusalem * Suzi from Bulgaria * Yadidya * Shi...