Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis

What if there is never a State Commission of Inquiry into the failures that led to October 7 and the many mistakes made during the war that followed? Will Israel learn the lessons it needs to learn?

Israeli voters are unlikely to get everything they want when a new government is finally cobbled together. We might get a Commission of Inquiry, but no progress on the Haredi draft. We might see progress on the Haredi draft, but at the expense of turning a blind eye to Jewish violence in Judea and Samaria. We might address that violence, but at the cost of Judicial Reform creeping forward once again.

It’s far too early to know.

But if we do indeed get a Commission of Inquiry, what would we learn? A good part of what would come out, I suspect, is now revealed in In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Elliot Kaufman—two veteran reporters and accomplished authors.

I was stunned by this book.

As much as we’ve heard about the missteps leading up to Hamas’ monstrous attack, there are many errors that haven’t yet been widely reported. What happened hour by hour on the morning of October 7—where the Prime Minister was and wasn’t, which Israeli generals were on the ball and which weren’t, what was understood and what was missed—when all of that is brought together in a riveting narrative like this, it’s impossible not to emerge shaken, with a much deeper understanding of the magnitude of the failure.

Yet we also emerge astounded by the accomplishments of this band of bitter enemies who led Israel from one of its darkest days into days that, if far from perfect, helped to change the geopolitical map of the Middle East.

In the War Room has just been released, and it could not have appeared at a more pivotal moment. We’re delighted to have Yonah Bob back on the podcast to share key insights from the book—and, in doing so, remind us how crucial it is for Israel’s future that the country as a whole begins to absorb what Bob and Kaufman have uncovered.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Yonah Jeremy Bob is the senior military and intelligence analyst as well as the book review editor for The Jerusalem Post.

Hailing originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Yonah has close connections with many Israeli intelligence figures and previously worked in the Israeli military international law division, at the Israeli Embassy to the UN, and in the Israeli Justice Ministry. He is the author of Justice in the West Bank? and Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East. He also edited and translated A Raid on the Red Sea, an intelligence thriller whose principal author is Amos Gilboa, a former IDF deputy chief of intelligence.

You can hear more from Yonah in previous podcasts on Israel from the Inside:

* Two existential threats: faith in the country if the hostages don’t return, and Israel’s long not-so-secret war with Iran (November 23, 2023)

* There is still no government Commission of Inquiry, but two damning reports have recently been released (March 17, 2025)

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

During this holiday season, we will be on a slightly reduced publication schedule. Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will continue to appear as always, but our other regular content will be pared back as we turn our attention to welcoming the New Year—which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region, and the world at large.

We all know that many of us spend a good deal of time eating together during this period of the Jewish year. It seems so utterly natural that we rarely ask ourselves why—but today’s podcast guest, Nissimi Naim Naor, offers profound insights into the role of food in our lives, our communities, and our healing.

If you haven’t listened to the conversation above with Rabbi, chef, educator, and Casualties Notification Officer in the IDF reserves Nissimi Naim Naor, I suggest you begin with the video below. It’s heartbreaking in many ways, but it serves as a powerful reminder of how food enables us to broach subjects we might otherwise find impossible to discuss.

In the video, Gili, the woman on the right, prepares the cookies and meatballs that her daughter, Yaeli, loved. Yaeli was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 at her IDF base at Nahal Oz, when, despite repeated calls to their commanders, no one came to rescue her or her comrades.

After you’ve watched the following video, continue with today’s podcast conversation with Nissimi Naim Naor, a man who embodies so many different elements of Israeli life that speaking to him feels almost like one is speaking to “Israel.”

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Nissimi graciously shared these recipes with us so that we might share them with you.

Nissimi has asked us to share with our listening audience that he will be in the United States, speaking and teaching, several times this year.

He will be on the East Coast and in Washington, D.C. between Oct 29 – Nov 11; then he is scheduled to be on the East and West Coasts twice more between February and May 2027. Those interested in contacting him about meeting with groups to lecture or to teach are invited to write him at [email protected].

Nissimmi is a chef, ordained rabbi, educator and speaker, who blends his love of food and people with his commitment to building connections through culture, Jewish identity, and tradition. He is the creator and TV host of A Pot of Longing, as well as Shalom Hartman Institute’s People of the Cook: Your Kitchen as a Beit Midrash.

Rooted in the flavorful traditions of his grandmother Miriam’s kitchen and honed in some of Israel’s most celebrated restaurants, Nissimmi’s culinary journey is steeped in Jewish heritage, stories, and memories. As a creator, educator, and enthusiastic eater, he explores a central role food plays in shaping Jewish identity, weaving together rich historic knowledge, Jewish texts, and, of course, carbs.

Beyond the kitchen, Nissimmi holds degrees in philosophy, economics, political science, and law. He received his rabbinical ordination from the Hartman Institute and serves as a Casualties Notification Officer in the IDF reserves, having dedicated over 200 days to this role since October 7th.

Nissimmi lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Shlomit, and their three daughters. He also leads the Siah Yitzhak congregation in the Katamon neighborhood.

To find out more about Nissimmi’s recipes and workshops we invite you to visit his website here.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

During this holiday season, we will be on a slightly reduced publication schedule through the upcoming holiday season. Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will continue to appear on schedule, but our other regular content will be pared back as we turn our attention to welcoming the New Year—which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region, and the world at large.

For the record, I haven’t (yet) seen the movie NAZA. I will, when it’s available, but even without seeing it, there is plenty that can be said.

If you’ve missed all the controversy over the past few days, here’s the gist:

NAZA is a brand new documentary film directed by Israeli investigative journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (co-creators of the Oscar-winning No Other Land). Taking its title from a Hebrew military acronym for “pre-calculated acceptable collateral damage” (נזק אגבי, nezek agavi), the film (apparently—again, I haven’t seen it) features dark, anonymous rooftop interviews in Tel Aviv with 24 Israeli military and intelligence “whistleblowers.”

The documentary claims that military operations in Gaza rely heavily on automated, AI-driven targeting systems and that senior officials intentionally authorize strikes despite knowing they will result in mass civilian casualties. The film premiered to intense global attention at the Venice International Film Festival, receiving a record-setting 25-minute standing ovation and winning the festival’s prestigious Special Jury Prize.

Outside Israel, critical acclaim has been near-universal. Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes, where NAZA (as of this writing) has a 100% approval rating based on initial reviews. Critics praised its “chilling, meticulous exposure of bureaucratic warfare,” describing it as “an inarguable and haunting piece of investigative filmmaking.”

In contrast, the IDF rejected the film’s central claims, denying that AI dictates target selection and questioning the credibility of anonymous sources. Meanwhile, government figures fiercely condemned the project; Culture Minister Miki Zohar (not one of the world’s most sophisticated theorists of liberal democracy) accused the directors of treason, pushed to strip public funding for critical cinema (apparently seeking to out-Putin Putin), and called for revoking the filmmakers’ Israeli citizenship—a demand backed by other right-wing ministers, though predictably denounced internationally and by the film’s producers as an authoritarian attempt at censorship.

As is now par for the course, the discourse about the movie has become binary. It’s either all true, and Israel is monstrous; or it’s all false, and the IDF is still the most moral army in the world and the creators of the film are liars and self-hating Israelis. The (patently absurd) 25-minute, record-breaking standing ovation is either a well-deserved accolade for the bravery of the film’s creators or (my view, in this particular case) a weird Stalin-esque display of “correctness.” Has anyone reading this ever applauded for 25 minutes for anything, ever? I doubt most have ever applauded for 10 minutes—try it—it’s an absurd eternity.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

So what’s the truth here? We don’t know yet, as most people who matter haven’t yet seen the film. But here’s what the smart money would say: I’m going to bet that with time, what we’ll discover is the following – some of it is true, much of it is exaggerated, some of it is patently false.

Why do I assume that some of it is true? Well, partly because during the course of this war I’ve spoken to several reservist sons and daughters of friends who’ve told me about the use of AI in the selection of targets over Lebanon. They stated it matter-of-factly, as in “this is much more efficient than having a plane send photos back to base to have a human review them and then select targets, after which either that same plane or a different one takes out the targets.” As they told it to me, the plane takes the picture, AI analyzes it instantaneously and selects targets, and the same plane on the same run just takes out the targets.

And why not? If we’re all using AI to make birthday cards and family calendars, as well as for almost everything else, why would the IDF not be using AI to kill terrorists? Not using AI would be absurd.

Does that mean that it’s also used in Gaza? I’d assume so. Does it mean that humans are not involved in any of the decision-making? I find that implausible. Does that mean that the IDF approved an operation in which it assumed that there would be 500 civilian deaths? I can’t possibly imagine that.

But one day, we’ll know. I may not be around, and you may not be around. But one day, we’ll know.

What we do know, though, is that the screening of the film and the award it received were political theater at its best. What stood out about how the Venice jury handled NAZA was their willingness to elevate a fiercely contentious, politically incendiary documentary to the main competition level, culminating in awarding it the Special Jury Prize. While it’s true that documentary entries at major festivals often receive side-program honors or specialized non-narrative awards, this jury treated NAZA as a premier work of high cinema—which it obviously is not—evaluating it alongside major narrative feature films.

That, plus the ovation, for a movie in which there are only unnamed anonymous sources, and no one goes on record with their name, is suspect in the extreme.

A word about anonymous sources. Years ago, there were several Israeli organizations that became famous (or infamous) for posting “testimonies” of soldiers who “claimed” to have been involved in deeply unethical actions during their time in the army. Naively, in retrospect, I assumed that even if these reports were somewhat one-sided, they must have had an element of truth to them.

Once, in the course of a conversation with a student, this subject came up, and the student said to me that he assumed that most of it was BS. “Why would that be?” I asked him. “After all, they must vet the stuff that goes on the website, no?”

“No way,” he said. And with that, he took out his laptop, went onto the website, and submitted a “testimony” about what he’d “done,” even though in his army service he’d been an intelligence officer who had never once been in the field. He clicked “send.” A day or two later, I passed him in the hall, and he asked to come into my office. He opened up his laptop, showed me the website, and there was his (entirely fictitious) “testimony,” alongside all the others.

Does that mean that all of them were lies? I assume not. Does it mean that relying exclusively on people who won’t use their names is problematic? It does.

What’s the truth here?

One day, we’ll probably know. Maybe.

It’s the inevitably binary nature of the conversation that most people are having that made Dani Buller’s video, a portion of which is above, with the full video just below, so noteworthy. Dani Buller (you can read about his background here) is a well-known and very talented Israeli content creator, whose nuance (in general, and in this video in particular) is well worth noting. Watch his video—even a couple of times, as he moves very quickly.

Note how he acknowledges that his balance will get him “cancelled” by many.

Buller’s video, like Naftali Bennett’s post which we’ll get to below, illustrates that even in an exhausted, angry, divided Israel, nuance still manages to survive, at least in some quarters.

To state the obvious, as Buller points out, one cannot begin to understand this country’s mindset without revisiting October 7, time and again.

Which brings me not to NAZA, but to FAUDA (which Buller also mentions in passing).

Season 5 of FAUDA is now out on Netflix. I’ve seen all the seasons of FAUDA, about which a great deal could be said. It’s good TV, and more importantly, it’s long been a fascinating window into Israel’s mindset and the widely Israeli-acknowledged moral fog surrounding anti-terrorism. So if you haven’t seen it but aren’t in principle opposed, I’d suggest you start plowing through all five seasons. We’ll come back to FAUDA in other posts down the road.

I know many people who won’t watch FAUDA, mostly because it’s violent (yes, terrorism and…

As the Jewish year draws to a close—a period intended for intense, and even uncomfortable, personal and national reflection begins. With that in mind, we open with a brief snippet of a longer conversation (that appeared on Israeli social media here) between the host, Dudu Sa’aday, and his guest, Rabbi Benny Lau.

NOTE, THOUGH:

Even a very brief video like the one above has a great deal of subtext, without which one really can’t understand it. Thus, even if you’ve already viewed the video, take a look at the background below before you watch it again.

First, who are these people, and then, why does this conversation matter?

Rabbi Dr. Binyamin “Benny” Lau is a prominent Israeli Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, author, and public intellectual known for bridging religious and secular divides in Israeli society. A scion of a distinguished rabbinic family, he holds a Ph.D. in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University and served as a combat soldier in the IDF’s Golani Brigade.

For 18 years, Rabbi Lau served as the rabbi of the Ramban Synagogue in the German Colony in Jerusalem. He is the co-founder and head of 929: Tanach B’Yachad, a massive national initiative promoting daily Bible study across diverse sectors of Israeli society.

Rabbi Lau represents a liberal, pluralistic voice within Modern Orthodoxy, dedicated to accessible Torah study that engages both secular and religious Israelis. As a frequent media commentator and prolific author, he advocates for reconciling democratic principles with Jewish values, offering a moderate counterweight to political and religious extremism—an example of which we see in today’s video.

The host of the conversation we see above is Dudu Sa'ada. Sa’ada is the Chairman of the Besheva Media Group, which produces the widely circulated Religious Zionist newspaper Besheva as well as the annual Jerusalem Conference. In addition to his leadership role, he regularly hosts digital video podcasts, interview series, and political panels for Besheva Online (of which the clip above is a portion), and Arutz Sheva (Channel 7), a well-known right-leaning Israeli news outlet.

And why does this conversation matter?

What we see here is a highly contested, though polite, conversation between two people clearly identified with the Orthodox community in Israel.

It is critical to note that when Rabbi Lau asks Sa’ada, “Am I in favor of the settlement project?”, the implication is “of course I am.” In ways that are often not clear to Diaspora Jews, even among very moderate, law-abiding, and democratically committed Israeli religious leaders like Rabbi Lau—who is on record advocating for the embrace of Reform and Conservative Jews from the Diaspora—the settlement project is non-negotiable.

Rabbi Lau points out that while it must be implemented in law-abiding ways, the principle and the project itself remain entirely legitimate. After all, from their perspective, isn’t that how most of the country was built? They attack, we defend, we win, we capture land, and we build. End of story. That is how the Galilee became part of Israel in 1948, and that is how Judea and Samaria became Israeli in 1967.

To say that one is opposed to the settlement project is to place oneself squarely outside the vast majority of the religious community in Israel—a rapidly growing segment of Israeli society. To understand Israel today means understanding that reality.

So who is “Zambish”?

Early in the video, we hear Sa’aday say something about how Benny Lau probably only approves of settlements if “Zambish” established them, implying that Zambish must be some left-leaning, anti-settlement personality.

The reality is very different. “Zambish” is the nickname of Ze’ev Hever, who was arrested for his role in a plot to bomb Palestinian buses and other targets across the West Bank. He was convicted and sentenced to prison in the 1980s, though his sentence—like those of several other members of the group—was heavily commuted, leading to his release after serving fewer than seven years.

Hever has not in any way strayed from his drive to expand the settlement project. In recent years, however, departing from his tactics of the 1970s and 1980s, he has spearheaded efforts to establish and expand agricultural farms and outposts aimed at securing large tracts of land. Furthermore, he continues to support connecting major settlement blocs (such as the E1 area connecting Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim) and expanding the Jewish footprint across Judea and Samaria.

So why does Sa’aday mention his name with such implied derision? Because Hever explicitly favors working in cooperation with the Israeli government, security establishment, and legal apparatus to build infrastructure systematically, rather than relying solely on confrontation or unauthorized wildcat outposts that risk political backlash.

This establishment-oriented approach has created tension between the old guard—represented by Hever and the Yesha Council—and younger, more radical fringe groups, such as the Hilltop Youth. Because Hever opposes lawlessness and physical violence directed against IDF soldiers or state authorities, more militant elements view the mainstream establishment as overly moderate or compromising, even though their long-term territorial goals align.

What’s emerging here?

It’s been happening for a while, but when even overt settlement supporters in the American government like Ambassador Mike Huckabee have lost their patience and are saying “terror is terror” as they demand that the Israeli government do something, conversations like the one above are bound to become increasingly common. Huckabee and others have managed to engender a conversation that Israel’s government has no interest in exploring.

Where conversations like the one we see above will lead, of course, depends almost exclusively on how the Israeli public votes on October 27.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

The next video, shared by Yair Golan of The Democrats (formerly the Labor Party), is another salvo in the public feud between Sara Netanyahu and Golan.

The controversy stems from comments made by Sara Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s wife, during a media interview. She insinuated that Golan—leader of the opposition Democrats party and a former military general—had advance knowledge of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. She questioned why Golan was “dressed and ready” early that morning to rescue victims while others, including the Prime Minister, were unaware of the attack. (On October 7, Golan voluntarily drove to southern Israel and personally rescued several people from the Nova music festival site—an act of heroism hailed across the political spectrum.)

Golan denounced her comments as a baseless conspiracy theory meant to turn heroes into traitors and shift blame away from the government’s security failures. He threatened a 2.5 million shekel ($825,000) defamation lawsuit, demanding a full public apology and a donation to Nova festival survivors. Sara Netanyahu refused to apologize, denied alleging treason, and issued her own counter-threat to sue Golan for libel.

Where this will go remains to be seen (the Netanyahu family has been successfully sued for libel in the past). But with that background, we can now fully understand the innuendos of this campaign video, in which Golan seeks to turn the Prime Minister’s wife’s gaffe into a political advantage.

HaYom Harat Olam (“Today is the birthday of the world”), says the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. The beginning of the new year is the beginning of a new world for us, too—a time to reflect on the kind of people we wish to be and the imprint we hope to leave on the world during our time here.

October will also mark the start of a new period for Israel. Whether it brings a change in direction or more of the same remains to be seen. That, too, is ultimately up to …

It was around a Shabbat table a few weeks ago that today’s guest, Tamar Frank, and I got to talking. As we chatted, she shared her experiences in a program designed to build bridges between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews, as well as at a well-known American summer camp. She attended both programs hoping to foster connections across ethnic lines in Israel and across the ocean with Jews abroad.

What she discovered is that it was much harder—perhaps even impossible—than she had imagined.

As we gather at this season to formulate our hopes and prayers for the coming year, it is critical to recognize and better understand the challenges we face.

I’m grateful to Tamar for her willingness to share these stories, and I hope that when it comes time for her children’s generation to do the same, our world will be a much more tolerant place.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Tamar Frank was born and raised in Jerusalem. She is an alumna of the Derech Prat Leadership Institute and served as the Jerusalem Youth Organizer for the Lev Ehad volunteer organization, helping people in distress during the recent war with Iran. Tamar attended summer camp in the US as both a camper and a staff member. She is a recent high school graduate currently attending the pre-military academy Mechinat Ein Prat, and her family belongs to Kehilat Hakhel in the Baka neighborhood.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

With Rosh Hashanah just days away, a quick note that we will be on a slightly reduced publication schedule through the upcoming holiday season. Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will continue to appear on schedule, but our other regular content will be pared back as we turn our attention to preparing for and welcoming the New Year—which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region, and the world at large.

Every now and then, I try to think of ways of explaining to people how complex life is for Israelis of all ages. And there are parts of it that we, of course, all talk about. We talk about how complicated it is for the soldiers who are doing hundreds of days of reserve duty, how hard it is for their families, their spouses, their children, their businesses. We've talked about how hard it is for parents who watch their kids go off to the army and worry and worry some more. We've talked about all different kinds of things, but there are also, of course, parts of Israeli society that just don't make the press because they're just not the kind of thing that the press covers. And a few Shabbatot ago, a few Saturdays ago, we were sitting with friends who were over for Shabbat lunch, and they were at our place with their daughter, whose voice you will hear momentarily. Her name is Tamar Frank. And we were just talking. She's just graduated high school, going off to mechina. You'll hear about all that in a minute. And she shared with me 2 things that had happened in recent times, not immediately in the past, one more recent, one less recent, that struck me as being such an important window into how complex life is for Israelis in Israel when they're trying to have relationships with people who are not Jewish Israelis, and for Israelis when they go abroad who are trying to have relationships with people who maybe see the world differently and the kinds of responses that they get. And I just thought that it would be really wonderful for our listeners to be able to hear a whole side of what it means to grow up here and being a young person here, an adult here, in ways that you don't think about. So I asked Tamar if she'd be willing to have this conversation, and she very graciously agreed to. So, hi.Hi.How are you?I'm good. How are you?I'm good. I'm really glad that you're doing this. I think it's really important. Before we get going, why don't you just tell people who are listening whatever it is you want them to know about you? Like, you cannot talk about what you have done in the army yet because you did not do the army yet. So where you were raised, all that kind of stuff, whatever you want to tell people, and then we will jump in.Okay. So hi, my name is Tamar. My parents, Adam and Lynn, met aliyah before I was born, got married here. I have 2 older siblings. We live in Jerusalem. I speak English at home. That is why I am able to have this conversation in English. I speak Hebrew with my friends. I finished high school. I'm religious. I'm going to a pre-army program, mechina.Which one?Ein Prat in Kibbutz Or Haner, which is on the border with Gaza. After that, I'll be hopefully drafting to the army. I'm planning on drafting to combat. Don't know where yet, but I have my hopes and dreams.Okay. Right. We're going to talk about that combat thing a little bit more when we get towards the end. Well, I'm going to ask you this now. If we had had this conversation 3 years ago before October 7th, I mean, then you were obviously much younger. You were in the middle of high school. But let's say you had been 18 then. Would you have been— would you have been so determined to go to combat?Not as much as I am now. Not at all.You've got a brother who's done the Army in combat since then. Just finished. But something about the experience of the last almost 3 years has changed your desire of what you want to do in the Army?Definitely. I mean, I want to be part of, of feeling safe here, and I want to give back to the people who were in combat, who gave us so much, and because of them we're able to be here. Obviously, the Army is amazing in every aspect and not just combat, but I feel like there's something that kind of draws me to that, especially with the hostages, feeling that I couldn't do anything. I couldn't get them back. My brother, who was in combat, felt the same, but at least he could physically try to do something. And I wanted to be part of that. I think before October 7th, I thought about it. Definitely was on my mind. I thought it was very cool, but people would have convinced me not to do it if there wasn't October 7th.Okay, so we're not going to go into any details, but I will say that your family is very close with the families of one of the hostages in a story that did not end well, to put it very mildly. So I'm sure that that was also part of what influenced you, because it wasn't just like for many people out there, they read about the hostages, they saw the posters, they saw their images in the Ben Gurion Airport when they left or came home. For your family, this was very agonizing and very personal and very upfront. And I'm sure, you know, I have kids a little bit older than you, obviously, but raised kids your age. I'm sure that that experience had something to do with how your feelings have changed.Definitely. No doubt. So now we're going to talk about one thing that happened while you were in high school. Shortly after October 7th. And we're going to talk about one thing that happened really pretty much after you'd finished high school, relatively recently. So let's talk about the first one first. Let's give people a little bit of background. You're in an organization, in a program. You'll describe it however you want to describe it. Tell us a little bit that you want to tell us about what this program, organization, whatever you want to call it, did, what your role in it was, why you chose to participate in it. What you liked about it, what you didn't like about it, and then we'll come to October 7th and the aftermath.All right. So I was in a program that brought Jewish and Arab kids from around Jerusalem together once every about 2 weeks to get to know each other, to play around, ne…

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, it is no exaggeration to say that the Jewish people is hurting. Bitterly divided and uncertain about the future in Israel, worried and beset by enemies in the Diaspora, we are a people much in need of a restored sense of purpose.

We have had the privilege of hosting Rabbi David Stav—Chief Rabbi of the city of Shoham, as well as founder and chairman of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization in Israel—on Israel from the Inside several times in the past.

With stridency and extremism running rampant in the world at large, and in Israel in particular, we invited Rabbi Stav, one of the preeminent, widely admired, and forward-thinking religious leaders in Israel, to share his thoughts with us about what Judaism is—or at least, what it should be—about.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Rabbi David Stav is an Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi and a prominent voice for a more inclusive and accessible approach to Jewish life in Israel. He has served as the Chief Rabbi of Shoham since the 1990s and is the chairman and co-founder of Tzohar, an organization dedicated to strengthening connections between Israeli society and Judaism. A graduate of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav and qualified as a rabbinical judge, Rabbi Stav has also taught in several educational institutions and served in leadership roles at Ohr Torah Stone. In 2013, he was a candidate for Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. His work focuses particularly on religious pluralism, Jewish identity, marriage, conversion, and bridging the divide between religious and secular Israelis.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

With Rosh Hashanah just days away, a quick note that we will be on a slightly reduced publication schedule through the upcoming holiday season. Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will continue to appear on schedule, but our other regular content will be pared back as we turn our attention to preparing for and welcoming the New Year—which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region, and the world at large.

I mentioned in my column yesterday about the IDF soldiers who refused to enter an APC with a female paramedic that Israel is in desperate need of a moderate religious leadership. Was Rabbi Menachem Froman, z’l, “moderate”? That depends. But that he was out of the box, and a model of something very different, is beyond question.

Froman (1945–2013) was one of the most enigmatic, iconoclastic, and visionary figures in modern Israeli history. A founding pioneer of the Gush Emunim settlement movement and the long-time chief rabbi of the mixed religious-secular city of Tekoa in the Judean Hills, Froman defied every conventional political category in the Middle East. Deeply anchored in Hasidic mysticism and the teachings of Rav Kook, he viewed the Israeli-Palestinian struggle not as a secular conflict over real estate, but as a holy clash that required a deeply religious resolution. Driven by an unwavering belief in human divinity, he aroused fury when he spent decades building personal, spiritual, and diplomatic ties with Muslim clerics, PLO leaders, and figures within Hamas, arguing that true reconciliation could only spring from mutual reverence for the sacred land and its God.

Today, we speak with the author of a new, fascinating biography of Froman.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Mordy Miller is an Assistant Professor at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, where he teaches in the International MA Program in Israel Studies at the Sde Boker Campus. His research explores the intersection of theology and politics in contemporary Israel, with particular attention to Kabbalah, messianism, and the role of digital media in shaping religious and political discourse.

He received his BA with distinction in Philosophy and Jewish Thought from Shalem College, his MA from the Hebrew University as a Mandel Excellence Fellow, and his PhD from Ben-Gurion University. During his doctoral studies he was a Kreitman Fellow and an Open University Fellow.

He has held postdoctoral fellowships at Brandeis University and Ben-Gurion University, and has taught at Shalem College, Ono Academic College, Gratz College, and at Ben-Gurion University’s Eilat campus. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Schocken Institute.

His recent book on Rabbi Menachem Froman, published by Yediot Books, received the Mifal HaPais Award. He is currently completing two academic books on Kabbalah and contemporary Israeli thought.

His work has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and Harvard Theological Review. He lives in Lehavim with his wife and two children.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

With Rosh Hashanah just a week and a half away, a reminder that during the holiday season, we will be on a slightly reduced schedule Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will of course continue to appear on schedule, but other content will be reduced as many of us devote time to preparing for and welcoming the New Year, which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region and the world at large.

If you listen to the rhetoric of virtually all of Israel’s political parties—from the left (or what is left of the left) to the middle to the right, from secular to religious—you hear the refrain: “The two-state solution is dead.”

They’re probably right, for many different reasons.

But what comes next? A one-state solution in which Jews will ultimately be a minority? The “encouraged emigration” that the right speaks about? That’s an international non-starter, a moral morass, and utterly unrealistic. So, then, just sustain the status quo?

But is the status quo really sustainable? How can we know? And if it’s not, what do we do?

In this era of grandstanding and bluster, of political machinations over serious thinking, Meredith Rothbart and her colleagues at Amal-Tikva are working to create the infrastructure for a different reality—one that my grandchildren and her children might actually choose to live in.

We hear today from a woman who brings passion, deep intelligence, moral nuance, and a very keen sense of realism—all grounded in her religious worldview—to work that we should all hope will succeed.

In this season of elections, international opprobrium, violence, and war, it’s easy to imagine many of us saying, “Really? At a time like this, who’s going to think about peacemaking?”

That, of course, is what too many of us also said on October 6.

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If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

With Rosh Hashanah just a week and a half away, a reminder that during the holiday season, we will be on a slightly reduced schedule Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will of course continue to appear on schedule, but other content will be reduced as many of us devote time to preparing for and welcoming the New Year, which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region and the world at large.

Meredith is the co-founder and CEO of Amal-Tikva, which works to build the infrastructure needed for peacebuilding to become a professional field capable of achieving lasting, scalable social change within and across Israeli and Palestinian societies. She often describes Amal-Tikva’s work as serving as the “stage hands” for peace.

She moved to Israel from Allentown, PA in 2008, and studied at Nishmat, a center for advanced Torah study for women. She first encountered the depth and complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during her military service, where she served in COGAT as a liaison to foreign governmental and nongovernmental organizations working on civilian infrastructure projects for Palestinians in the West Bank.

Meredith holds an MA in International and Community Development from Hebrew University, a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from University of Pittsburgh. She is a fellow in the Shai Doron Future Leaders of Jerusalem Fellowship at the Jerusalem Foundation and alumnus of Jerusalem-based Nishmat, a center for advanced Torah study for women.

She serves on the advisory board of the B8 of Hope, a Swiss foundation supporting grassroots peacebuilding, and has addressed the UN Security Council, the White House, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was featured on PBS Global Perspectives. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and children.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.

A few weeks ago, I shared some thoughts on the question of whether or not each of us is prepared to acknowledge that we were wrong in positions that we held, in beliefs that we considered sacrosanct.

In response to that column, a reader wrote a deeply thoughtful and respectful note. They asked if I was prepared to acknowledge that I (and my co-authors) w…