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Israel votes on October 27th, and Noam couldn’t think of a better way to count down than by ranking Israel’s eight biggest political earthquakes. He covers the most dramatic moments; Menachem Begin’s earth-shaking 1977 upset, Netanyahu’s razor-thin 1996 debut and the four-elections-in-two-years chaos of 2019 to 2021. It’s all here: upsets, rivalries, one speech that rewrote Israeli politics, and Noam’s own prediction about what happens next.
This episode is sponsored in memory of Melvin S. and Blanche E. Bernstein.
If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History, email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
Here's a link to sources.
Link to Menachem Begin's 1981 speech (in Hebrew).
How Iraq’s nuclear program forged Israel’s “Begin Doctrine”
Why Israeli Elections Never Produce a Clear Winner
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This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
Named for a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai embodies the story of Jewish resistance and renewal. From its desperate stand against Egyptian forces in 1948 to its survival on October 7, 2023, the kibbutz has repeatedly faced destruction and chosen to rebuild. Its bronze statue of Mordechai Anielewicz symbolizes enduring defiance, while its thriving beehives and honey represent the sweetness of life reclaimed from tragedy, a powerful testament to resilience, solidarity, and hope.
Links to Unpacking Israeli History's series on Masada.
Masada: The siege that became a legend (Part 1)
Masada: The making of a myth (Part 2)
Link to sources.
This episode is generously sponsored in honor of Dr. Andrew and Marci Spitzer. It is also sponsored by, and made in partnership with, Jewish National Fund-USA. If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
Since 1901, Jewish National Fund-USA has strengthened the land and people of Israel through bold initiatives that secure the country’s North and South. By preserving heritage sites like The Yad Mordechai "From Holocaust to Revival" Museum, Jewish National Fund-USA invests in Israel’s future, driving tourism, generating jobs, and helping communities thrive. Find more information about visiting The Yad Mordechai "From Holocaust to Revival" Museum and other parts of Israel below.You belong in Israel. Find your Jewish National Fund-USA tour or mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep5_yad_mordechai
Educators can explore Israel on Jewish National Fund-USA's special mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/tour/index/educators-mission-to-israel-2026?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep5_yad_mordechaiJewish National Fund-USA's
Alexander Muss High School in Israel offers semester, summer, and mini-mester academic experiences for North American teens. Find out more: https://www.amhsi.org/?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep5_yad_mordechai
Learn more about the Jewish National Fund-USA's work preserving heritage sites in Israel: https://www.jnf.org/our-work/heritage-site-preservation?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep5_yad_mordechai
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This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
What do Israelis who live in the West Bank really believe, and what do outsiders misunderstand about them? Noam Weissman sits down with Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen, a West Bank rabbi and settler, for a candid conversation about Religious Zionism, Jewish identity, the settler movement, Palestinian identity, and competing visions for Israel’s future.
This episode is sponsored by Andrea & Larry Gill. If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
-------------
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
Three years after October 7, Noam Weissman visits the Tkuma car graveyard, Kibbutz Be’eri, and Netiv Ha’Asara to ask how Israelis remember tragedy while rebuilding their homes and lives. Through conversations with survivors and community members, this episode explores grief, resilience, Zionism, Jewish memory, and the responsibility to tell the stories of those who were lost, as well as those determined to carry on.
Here are links to episodes about the October 7th massacre by Hamas from our archive.
Behind October 7: Gaza’s History from 1967 to 10/7
The Nightmare of October 7, 2023 (part 2)
The Aftermath of October 7 (part 3)
This episode is sponsored by Andrea & Larry Gill. If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
-------------
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
In the third and final episode of our series on religious Zionism, Noam Weissman explores how every major debate within religious Zionism, from West Bank settlements and the Haredi draft to the relationship between faith, ethics, and nationalism, leads back to Rav Abraham Isaac Kook.
Noam is joined by scholar Yehudah Mirsky, author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution, to discuss the mystic, chief rabbi, and foundational thinker whose complex legacy continues to shape Israeli religious and political life.
This episode is sponsored by Jewish Lives, a prize-winning series of biographies from Yale University Press. To learn more about Rav Kook's life, identity, and legacy, you should check out Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution by Yehudah Mirsky at www.jewishlives.org and you can use the special promo code KOOKPOD to get 30% off.
If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Istragram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
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For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
UPDATED: In part 2 of his series on Religious Zionism, Noam traces a movement as it moves from the sidelines to the center of Israeli life, and asks what happens when religious certainty collides with political reality. The story moves through the founding of Gush Emunim, the theological rupture of Oslo, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the earthquake of the 2005 Gaza disengagement. It ends by examining where the movement stands today. This is a story about land, redemption, and the danger of being too certain you know God's plan.
Here is a link to sources.
Special thanks to Yair Ettinger, author of Frayed, for his help with this episode.
This episode is sponsored in memory of Leo M. Bernstein. Thank you to The Bernstein Foundation for their generous support and partnership.
If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
-------------
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
In Part 1 of our series on Religious Zionism, Noam Weissman traces how Jewish longing for Zion evolved into a religious movement that reshaped Zionism. From early rabbinic thinkers to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the founding of Israel, and the Six-Day War, this is the story of how religion and Zionism became intertwined. What happens when a dream of redemption collides with the realities of a modern Jewish state, and what does that mean for Israel today?
Here is a link to sources.
Special thanks to Yair Ettinger, author of Frayed, for his help with this episode.
This episode is sponsored in memory of Leo M. Bernstein. Thank you to The Bernstein Foundation for their generous support and partnership.
If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Istragram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
-------------
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
What does it mean to be a Zionist? Yossi Klein Halevi has asked, and lived that question in radically different ways. He tells Noam Weissman about his journey from the Jewish Defense League and the Zionist right to the settler movement and political center, and explains how his views on Israel, the Palestinians, democracy, and Jewish identity have evolved.
Yossi Klein Halevi
If you like this podcast, you’ll love SAPIR, the quarterly journal of ideas edited by Bret Stephens. Subscribe for FREE at sapirjournal.org/noam.
If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. Connect with Noam on Instagram at Noamlweissman_. And check out our episodes on Youtube.
This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
-------------
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
Tel Hai is a small historic site in the Galilee where, in 1920, a tense standoff between Jewish farmers and Arab fighters erupted into a deadly firefight. Among the dead was Joseph Trumpeldor, a one-armed war hero already legendary before Tel Hai. Within days, the battle became one of the founding myths of the State of Israel, immortalized by Trumpeldor's famous last words and a national narrative of sacrifice. Noam Weissman unpacks what actually happened at Tel Hai, how the myth was built and fought over, and why Yitzhak Rabin once stood at the same site decades later to argue for a very different lesson.
Here's a link to sources.
Check out Noamlweissman_.
This episode is sponsored in memory of the very special Melvin S. and Blanche E. Bernstein. If you want to sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli History email [email protected]. It's also sponsored by, and made in partnership with, Jewish National Fund-USA.
Since 1901, Jewish National Fund-USA has strengthened the land and people of Israel through bold initiatives that secure the country’s North and South. By preserving heritage sites like Tel Hai Courtyard, Jewish National Fund-USA invests in Israel’s future, driving tourism, generating jobs, and helping communities thrive. Find more information about visiting Tel Hai Courtyard and other parts of Israel below. You belong in Israel.
Find your Jewish National Fund-USA tour or mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep4_tel_hai_courtyard
Educators can explore Israel on Jewish National Fund-USA's special mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/tour/index/educators-mission-to-israel-2026?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep4_tel_hai_courtyard
Jewish National Fund-USA's Alexander Muss High School in Israel offers semester, summer, and mini-mester academic experiences for North American teens.
Find out more: https://www.amhsi.org/?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep4_tel_hai_courtyard
Learn more about the Jewish National Fund-USA's work preserving heritage sites in Israel: https://www.jnf.org/our-work/heritage-site-preservation?utm_source=partner_opendor&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boruchin&utm_content=ep4_tel_hai_courtyard
Check out our episodes on Youtube. This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
-------------
For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
Will the war ever truly come to an end? Can two populations with so much pain find common ground? Or is the hurt too deep, too vast to overcome? There are no questions more urgent than these, and there is no better guest to wonder with than Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian activist and author of Hamas And Its Two Million Hostages.
In this special crossover episode originally aired on Wondering Jews, Ahmed shares with Noam his own own tragic story of loss, why he holds Hamas responsible for the plight of the Palestinian people, and what Israel--and the world at large--can do to truly bring about peace.
Follow Noam on Instagram: noamlweissman_
Check out our episodes on Youtube. This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand.
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For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:
Borderlines with That Semite
Jewish History Nerds
Soulful Jewish Living
Stars of David with Elon Gold
Wondering Jews
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