Israel Story

Many of you have probably heard, or read about, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, the parents of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped from the Nova Party. In many ways they’ve emerged as the face of the hostage families - they’ve met with Biden and the Pope, they were on the cover of Time Magazine, Rachel has spoken at the UN and at the ‘March for Israel’ Rally in Washington D.C. And in all those places, as well as in countless other interviews, speeches and meetings, they’ve told the heartbreaking tale of the two text messages Hersh sent on the morning of October 7th, one saying “I love you” and the other “I’m sorry.” He wrote those messages from within a shelter, where he was hiding with 28 other partygoers. Eighteen of them were killed, and Hersh - whose left arm was blown off - was badly wounded. Shortly thereafter, Hersh and three others from the shelter were loaded onto Hamas pickup trucks and taken into Gaza. It has now been 55 days.

The end song is Tefilat Haderech ("The Traveler's Prayer") by Shai Tsabari.

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Last week, our host Mishy Harman was interviewed by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove for the Park Avenue Synagogue Podcast. And as this is, in a way, Mishy's wartime diary, we decided to share it with our listeners too.

Today is Giving Tuesday, and we really need your support. As you probably know, almost as soon as the war began, we pivoted our entire operation and launched our Wartime Diaries series, in which we bring you voices that try to capture slivers of life right now. These episodes reach the largest number of listeners we’ve ever known, and we are extremely touched by the outpouring of love coming our way. If you feel that - in some small way - we have helped you get through these terrible weeks, if our episodes have given you some comfort, or hope, or understanding, please go to our website - www.israelstory.org - and help us continue doing what we do. 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and may we all know quiet and calm days to come. 

The end song is Abba Sipur ("Story Father") by Miki Gavrielov.

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This war is a humbling experience for us all. People — no matter who they are or what they normally do — are simply trying to pitch in wherever they can. We’ve thus seen ex-generals jump into their private cars and go save civilians from the carnage of October 7th, former ministers and senior politicians volunteer to pick cherry tomatoes on farms near Gaza, and rock stars jam for a single soldier on an army base.

Likewise, Doron Krakow — the President and CEO of the JCC Association of North America, who in normal times runs an organization that employs tens of thousands of professionals — immediately got on a plane and came to Israel in order to do one thing: Be a grandpa.

The end song is "America" by Berry Sakharof and Rami Fortis.

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Almost immediately after the start of the attack of October 7th, as rockets were being launched at Jerusalem, and sirens sent the city’s one million residents into shelters, the heads of the Israel Museum initiated an emergency protocol for the first time since the Gulf War in 1991.

The idea was to protect the nation’s most priceless cultural and historical treasures, the building blocks of our collective identity. The very first step of that protocol was to secure the Museum’s most prized possession, its indisputable star, its “Mona Lisa” – the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Of all the estimated 500,000 treasured items in the Museum’s collections, from Monets to Picassos, from the Chalcolithic hoard of Nahal Mishmar to the House of David inscription from Tel Dan, it was the 2200-year-old scrolls that were packed up and rushed into the museum’s most protected safe. And it was Hagit Maoz, the Curator of the Shrine of the Book where the scrolls are normally housed, who was tasked with this delicate operation.

The end song is Imperiot Noflot Le'at ("Empires Fall Slowly") by Dan Toren and Hemi Rudner.

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In the summer of 2005, the government of Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. The roughly 8,000 residents of the 21 Jewish settlements within the Gaza Strip were forced to leave their homes and their communities, which – for decades – they had actually been encouraged and incentivized to inhabit.

The move brought the country to the brink of a civil war. This was especially palpable in the tense relations between the residents of Gush Katif (as the main block of Gaza settlements was known) and their neighbors from the other side of the fence — the largely left-leaning residents of the kibbutzim of Otef Azza, all the same kibbutzim that — eighteen years later — suffered most in the Hamas attack of October 7th.

Now, many of the former residents of the Gaza settlements who never stopped dreaming of returning to the sand dunes of the Strip feel at least partially vindicated. Had their communities not been dismantled back in 2005, they claim, the army would have still been in Gaza, and none of this calamity would have occurred. One such voice is that of 63-year-old Datya Itzhaki, who used to live in the Gush Katif settlement of Kfar Yam.

The end song is Imma Im Hayiti ("Mom, If I Could") by Hanan Ben Ari.

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53-year-old Hai Ashkenazi from Tel Aviv is an archeologist, but never imagined he would find himself excavating a 21st-century Kibbutz. Yet in the insane reality that has become our life since October 7th, archeologists too are part of the war effort, and the term “destruction layer” has accrued a contemporary and chilling meaning.

The end song is She'eriot shel Hachaim ("Residue of Life") by The Idan Raichel Project.

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Normally Chavat Ronit – or Ronit Farm – is a high-end event venue north of Herzliya. Ra’anan Arizon’s seventy dunams are full of quaffed lawns, picturesque trees, instagramable gazebos, a gorgeous pond and a lot of peaceful nature. All of that makes the farm an idyllic setting for upscale weddings and parties. Now, however, it has been converted into an “emotional” emergency room. With all its different stations and activities, it feels like a summer camp for adults, except for the fact that all the campers are survivors of the Nova party at Re’im. The end song is Lirot et Ha'or ("To See The Light") by Efrat Gosh.

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Chaya Gilboa is a Talmud teacher, an activist, a flaming redhead, and was – for the last three years – the CEO of the Jerusalem Philanthropic Initiatives, which works with local civil society. On October 11th, Chaya turned 40, but instead of any kind of celebration, she was leading a team at the Jerusalem Chamal – the epicenter of the city’s volunteer efforts.

The end song is Anashim Shkufim ("Transparent People") by May Zamosh.

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Over the last five weeks we’ve spoken to many families of hostages. That’s how we met Faiz Abu Sabehan, whose 53-year-old brother-in-law, Farhan al-Qadi – a father of eleven – has been kidnapped into Gaza. Faiz is a Bedouin politician, and has twice served as mayor of Rahat, the largest Arab city in Israel. He’s also an educator – a teacher, a principal and an administrator. Much like his political patron, Mansour Abbas, Faiz holds a complex position – he’s in favor of fully integrating into Israeli society on the one hand, but remains steadfast and uncompromising when it comes to central tenets of Islam on the other.

Being the mayor of Rahat is one of the most difficult jobs in the country – the city is poor, under-policed and sees more than its share of violence. In fact, Faiz himself has survived multiple assassination attempts. Some of what he says is challenging and might make certain listeners feel uncomfortable. But nevertheless we felt that it’s important to bring his voice too, as an Israeli, as a Bedouin leader and as a family member of a hostage.

The end song is Shir Ahava Bedoui (“Bedouin Love Song”) by Tzlil Mechuvan.

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Mishka Ben-David might seem – at first – like a harmless and cuddly grandpa, but the truth is that he’s lived many secret lives. He has somehow managed to seamlessly transition from community organizing to academia to horse breeding to an illustrious career as a senior Mossad agent. Today, however, he spends most of his time writing. Over the years he has authored 21 books – a combination of spy novels, love stories, philosophy treaties, and literary criticism. Many of them are local best-sellers and have been translated into surprising languages such as Turkish and Korean. In 2017 he published “The Shark,” a dystopian tale which begins with a Hamas attack on Kibbutz Kfar Azza that is eerily similar to — and in fact almost exactly predicts — the horrors of October 7th.

The end song is Halo Noda (“Isn’t It Known?”) by Danny Sanderson.

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