Israel Story

By Israel Story

Religion & Spirituality Judaism

What's Israel Story about?

Israel Story is an award-winning podcast that tells true stories you won't hear on the news. Hosted by Mishy Harman, the bi-weekly show brings you extraordinary tales about ordinary Israelis. The show is produced in partnership with The Jerusalem Foundation. For Hebrew episodes, see סיפור ישראלי, or go to our website: israelstory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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LAST EPISODE

80: Introducing “Signed, Se...

03.27.2023

We’re excited to introduce our brand new series, a fresh look at Israel’s founding moral compass - Megillat Ha’Atzmaut, or the Declaration of Independence. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and by signing up for our newsletter at ...

Israel Story episodes:

03.27.2023 80: Introducing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered?” We’re excited to introduce our brand new series, a fresh look at Israel’s founding moral compass - Megillat Ha’Atzmaut, or the Declaration of Independence. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and by signing up for our newsletter at ...
03.20.2023 [From The Vault] 13: Sacred Plants In honor of the first day of Spring, we bring you two stories of how we change nature and nature changes us, from wildflower picking in Israel to ayahuasca retreats in Peru. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
03.13.2023 [From The Vault] 35: Whither Thou Goest Ruth the Moabite has become a feminist icon, a symbol of acceptance and dedication. In today’s episode, we will hear three modern-day incarnations of Ruth’s story – a trio of tales about determined women who will follow their hearts to ...
03.06.2023 79: My Dad, David David Harman believed in people, in social justice and in our ability to overcome almost anything. He was an eternal optimist, a patient peacemaker and a living history book. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and ...
02.27.2023 78: Hello Operator As younger and younger kids around the world demand - and get - their own phones, we harken back to a completely different telephonic reality. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and by signing up for ...
02.13.2023 [From The Vault] 6: What's Love Got To Do With It? Our new Season Seven episodes will come out every other Monday. But throughout the season, in our off-weeks, we’ll be replaying some of our favorite episodes from the show’s first six seasons. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, ...
02.06.2023 77: Free as a Bird Today’s episode has three stories that are ostensibly about birds, but are really about the heights to which the human spirit can soar, and the depths to which it can plunge. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, ...
02.05.2023 Here We Go Again! The long wait is finally over. Israel Story's Season Seven starts tomorrow! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
01.11.2023 Subscribe for Bonus Content Today! All Israel Story episodes are - and will remain - free. But if you want special bonuses, behind-the-scenes extras, conversations with producers and more, become a paying subscriber today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
12.30.2022 Here's to a Story-Filled 2023! Especially now, it is crucial that the diverse voices we showcase on our show be heard and amplified. And in order to do so, we need your help! Please pitch in by going to our site, israelstory.org, and hitting the ...
12.23.2022 Major Announcement! Something very exciting is happening at Israel Story, and we want you to be the first to know! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
01.19.2022 76: Going, Going, Gone In our season finale, we tell four short stories of things that, like our current season, are coming to an end: From a toddler parting with a “special friend” to a couple seeing their life's work go up in flames, ...
01.13.2022 You Tell Us! We’re one episode away from the end of Season Six, and it's time for our annual listener survey. Understanding who you are, what you want to hear and what you think about our work is crucial to us. Your feedback ...
12.31.2021 75: Sbarro - Twenty Years Later On August 9, 2001, 22-year-old Izz al-Din al-Masri blew himself up at a Sbarro branch in downtown Jerusalem, killing 15 people and injuring over 130. This particular terrorist attack is still etched in the nation's collective memory. In our episode ...
12.17.2021 74: Shatnez In Israel, there are many things that usually don't - and according to some, never should - mix: Jerusalemites and the beach, Tel Avivis and the Kotel, HaPoel and Macabbi fans, Haaretz and Yisrael HaYom readers. But our episode today ...
12.06.2021 73: DIY 'Doing It Yourself' is part of the Israeli DNA. But our episode today tells the story of what is perhaps the most inspiring, audacious and famous example of Israeli ingenuity in recent history. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, ...
11.29.2021 Free Bonus: Yalla Banaat It’s Giving Tuesday, and we really hope you’ll support our show. But because we don’t want to ask for your help without giving something in return, we produced a special bonus, as our way of saying thank you. Stay connected ...
11.25.2021 Free Bonus: Turkey Time! Mishy goes to the Freedom Farm near Netanya, and chats with Dani Pudim, the educational director. Together they meet Shirley, Iris, Orna, Maital and Orly - the farm’s five turkeys. Stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and by ...
11.15.2021 72: Lost and Found - Part II In an episode that explores a central religious taboo and pushes the boundaries of what many might deem acceptable within Jewish tradition, we ask whether Cat Stevens was on to something when he sang that the "first cut is the ...
11.08.2021 71: Lost and Found - Part I Forgotten glasses, a misplaced eye (!) and an ancient jacuzzi? In today’s episode - the first in a two-part series on losing and finding - we explore what we find when we lose things, and what we lose once we ...
11.04.2021 Free Bonus: Behind the Scenes of “Soul Food” On Christmas Eve 2014, Erwin Prabhu and Tali Aronsky met in a wine shop in Jerusalem. This was the start of an unusually close bond. In our most recent episode - “Soul Food” - we heard Tali’s side of the ...
10.25.2021 70: Soul Food While we (sadly!) won't be sampling fried okra, collard greens or macaroni and cheese, our seventieth episode introduces us to two women for whom soul and food are completely intertwined. Yochai Maital and Zev Levi scored and sound-designed the episode ...
10.20.2021 Free Bonus: Behind the Scenes of “Pigging Out” You probably never thought an innocent story about the history of the pig industry in Israel would be upended by a massive exposé revealing decades of pedophilia and abuse. Think again. While working on our most recent episode, a seemingly ...
10.11.2021 69: Pigging Out BLTs and pork chops are not the first things that come to mind when you think about Israel. But, as it turns out, the Holy Land and swines go way back. In today’s episode, we go down a piggish path ...
09.27.2021 68: No Place Like Home Sukkot is the Jewish holiday of temporary homes. And in our episode today we hear two very different stories - the first about one of Israel's most popular children's books and the second about a South Sudanese asylum seeker. But ...
09.14.2021 Free Bonus: How Estee Got Her Zumba Back In our season opener - 'A Day at the Y' - we heard from forty-nine people hailing from eleven different countries. But we actually spoke to hundreds and hundreds of folks, whose stories you didn't get to hear. One of ...
09.06.2021 67: A Day at the Y What many of us missed most during the pandemic was a sense of community. So, for our Season Six opener, we went to a place which is all about community - in fact, it's even called a community center - ...
09.01.2021 And... We're Back! At the end of a sweltering summer, and just in time for the New Year, we are coming back! Season Six Starts next week. Join us for yet another wonderful Israel Story journey. Here's a little taste of what's coming ...
03.16.2021 Bonus: "America" This is the time of year when all our producers are out and about, travelling around the country, interviewing people, and preparing the stories we’ll hear next season. But since we never like to be out of touch for too ...
02.08.2021 Bonus: R&R, Revisited On Friday morning, Rut Dayan passed away, a month and a day shy of her 104th birthday. And in celebration of her long, meaningful and impactful life, we replay R&R; - a story of an improbable friendship from our 2016 ...
01.29.2021 66: Game Changer With the fate of the 2020 - now 2021 - Tokyo Olympic Games still up in the air, our season finale tells the story of a dream to introduce a sport to a nation, and a nation to a sport. ...
01.26.2021 65: The Stories We Killed Like everything else in life, stories die. And, more often than not, we are the killers. Today we give you a behind-the-scenes peek into some of the stories you didn't get to hear this year. Skyler Inman produced this episode, ...
01.21.2021 64: Tell Saki - Part II We conclude our two-part Tell Saki story by returning to the soldiers after the battle and following their respective journeys - full of pain and regret, but also full of longing and camaraderie - in the years since the Yom ...
01.12.2021 Bonus: The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God, Revisited As a little respite from the intensity of war explored in our two-part Tell Saki series, we replay a short piece of fiction by our beloved Etgar Keret. And, as a special bonus, we include highlights of a conversation we ...
01.05.2021 63: Tell Saki - Part I We embark on a two-episode journey back to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and specifically to one small hill - a dormant volcanic tell - in the southern Golan Heights. There, we follow a group of young IDF soldiers who, ...
01.01.2021 Bonus: The Most Beautiful Book Ever Written, Revisited On the very first day of 2021, when so many of us are busy making New Year’s resolutions and embarking on new and hopeful journeys, we re-air one of our favorite stories, all about a quixotic, improbable, yet inherently optimistic, ...
12.24.2020 62: Round Trip Many of us would normally be on the move around this time of year. But 2020 has, of course, been everything but normal. So in our episode today, we bring you two less-than-normal travel stories about people going back home ...
12.15.2020 Bonus: The Queen Rania Tree, Revisited As a special Hanukkah treat, and just before we enter the final stretch of the season, we travel back in time to revisit - and update - one of our all-time favorite episodes, “The Queen Rania Tree.” The original story ...
12.11.2020 Bonus: The Pitcher, Revisited In celebration of Hanukkah, we revisit - and update - one of our fan favorites. An episode that - much like the tale of Hanukkah itself - is all about a miraculous jug of liquid. The original music in ‘The ...
12.01.2020 61: The Princess Most Israelis remember the 2005 disengagement from Gaza as a dramatic moment of national upheaval. But for Hodaya Azulay of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, the drama was of a different nature altogether - it marked a traumatic turning point ...
11.26.2020 Bonus: Man, I Feel Like A Woman, Revisited Sandwiched between our two equine-centric episodes, we travel back in time to revisit - and update - one of our all-time favorite episodes, “Man, I Feel Like A Woman.” The original episode was reported by Molly Livingstone, and produced by ...
11.17.2020 60: Horsing Around Cowgirls with oversized belt buckles and horse breeders fantasizing about producing world champions are not exactly what come to mind when you think of Israel. But today we take you into arenas, rings, and stables around the country to uncover ...
11.03.2020 From the Vault: Rabin Is… With all the excitement surrounding the U.S. elections, it’s perhaps easy to forget that this week also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the assasination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And, as we work on our next new episode, we ...
10.27.2020 59: The Last Laugh Forty years after Carl Sagan’s ‘Golden Records’ began their long voyage into the depths of outer space, Eyal Gever - an Israeli high-tech-wunderkind-turned-conceptual-artist - received an unusual call: NASA asked him to create the first artwork to be printed in ...
10.13.2020 58: The Dreamer David Ben Shabat hates being called a prophet. As he sees it, he’s just a guy who stumbled upon a deep truth and wants to share it with the people. But, come to think of it, isn’t that precisely the ...
10.06.2020 Bonus: Love Syndrome, Revisited Now that "Alone, Together" is over, and before we turn to stories that - gasp - have little to do with the virus, we revisit and update our most popular episode ever - "Love Syndrome." On March 22, 2020, as ...
09.22.2020 57: “Alone, Together” Part VII - Something Like A Brother Stories matter. They have the power of connecting us over time and space. And in the finale of our “Alone, Together” miniseries, we see how a podcast episode turned two strangers - a man from Migdal HaEmek, Israel, and a ...
09.08.2020 56: "Alone, Together" Part VI - Six Feet (Under) Israel's one thousandth COVID-19 casualty passed away this weekend. And for all of us, death has sadly been an ever-present part of life over the past six months. In the penultimate episode of our "Alone, Together" series, we bring you ...
08.25.2020 55: “Alone, Together” Part V - Enjoy Your Stay Around the world, the tourism industry essentially dried up during the pandemic. But in Israel there was one category of hotels - the so-called “Corona Hotels” - that actually thrived. And depending on whom you ask, they were either a ...
08.11.2020 54: “Alone, Together” Part IV - The Lifesavers The global pandemic has introduced us to many “lifesavers”—doctors, nurses, and medical staff who are on the frontlines day in and day out. But what happens when those ‘superheroes’ need to be saved themselves? And can saving a life end ...

Older episodes

Israel Story

What's Israel Story about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Israel Story episodes:

80: Introducing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered?”

[From The Vault] 13: Sacred Plants

[From The Vault] 35: Whither Thou Goest

79: My Dad, David

78: Hello Operator

[From The Vault] 6: What's Love Got To Do With It?

77: Free as a Bird

Here We Go Again!

Subscribe for Bonus Content Today!

Here's to a Story-Filled 2023!

Major Announcement!

76: Going, Going, Gone

You Tell Us!

75: Sbarro - Twenty Years Later

74: Shatnez

73: DIY

Free Bonus: Yalla Banaat

Free Bonus: Turkey Time!

72: Lost and Found - Part II

71: Lost and Found - Part I

Free Bonus: Behind the Scenes of “Soul Food”

70: Soul Food

Free Bonus: Behind the Scenes of “Pigging Out”

69: Pigging Out

68: No Place Like Home

Free Bonus: How Estee Got Her Zumba Back

67: A Day at the Y

And... We're Back!

Bonus: "America"

Bonus: R&R, Revisited

66: Game Changer

65: The Stories We Killed

64: Tell Saki - Part II

Bonus: The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God, Revisited

63: Tell Saki - Part I

Bonus: The Most Beautiful Book Ever Written, Revisited

62: Round Trip

Bonus: The Queen Rania Tree, Revisited

Bonus: The Pitcher, Revisited

61: The Princess

Bonus: Man, I Feel Like A Woman, Revisited

60: Horsing Around

From the Vault: Rabin Is…

59: The Last Laugh

58: The Dreamer

Bonus: Love Syndrome, Revisited

57: “Alone, Together” Part VII - Something Like A Brother

56: "Alone, Together" Part VI - Six Feet (Under)

55: “Alone, Together” Part V - Enjoy Your Stay

54: “Alone, Together” Part IV - The Lifesavers

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