Welcome to this week’s Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from the Times of Israel.

This week, we're thinking about Passover, the spring holiday that begins Friday night, April 15.

We speak with two Jerusalem-based teachers and writers who have spent a lot of time studying the Haggadah, the Jewish text read during the Passover seder.

First up is Rachel Sharansky Danziger, a teacher, writer and daughter of Natan Sharansky, the Soviet dissident whose battle for freedom formed the very background of his daughter’s life.

She speaks about the disjointed storytelling of the Haggadah text, and how to think about that story as she teaches it, and her own family history, to her children.

We also speak with Sarah Yehudit Schneider, a teacher of Hasidic philosophy and Kabbalah whose Haggadah, "A Small Still Voice" was recently published.

She shares ideas and thoughts about matzah as a meditative focus and the telling of the Passover story as a form of narrative therapy.

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: An Israeli family seen during the Passover seder on the first night of the eight-day long Jewish holiday of Passover, in Tzur Hadassah on April 22, 2016 (Courtesy Nati Shohat/Flash 90)

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Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week we speak with Eyal Sherf, an actor, singer and cantor who specializes in everything related to Broadway, and in particular, its musicals.

The Israeli-born Sherf trained as an actor in England and New York, and has performed on various stages. He also realized early on that the performance aspect was just as interesting to him as the creative process of musical theater, delving into the work that went into the shows, their histories and putting that all together into shows melding information and music.

He now performs shows around Israel that combine performance and lectures, fulfilling his own passion for musical theater.

He takes us through several shows, from "The Sound of Music" and "West Side Story" to "Fiddler on the Roof" and a few others, discussing their histories, creators and why they still resonate so much, to this very day. 

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

This Times of Israel podcast is sponsored by Thirty-Six, in which host Justin Hayet scours Israel to find the 36 most wonderful, interesting people doing the most wonderful, interesting things. Subscribe to Thirty-Six on your favorite podcast platform.

Image: Actor, singer and cantor Eyal Sherf onstage at Habima in Tel Aviv (Courtesy)

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Welcome to a bonus episode of Times Will Tell for an archaeology update of an item that, if verified, may be one of the greatest discoveries of the century.

On Thursday, March 24, Dr. Scott Stripling held a press conference in Houston, Texas, unveiling what he claims is the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text discovered in ancient Israel.

He has discovered what he claims is a 2 cm x 2 cm folded lead curse tablet or defixio that he dates to the late Bronze Age, before or around 1200 BCE. If this dating is verified, it would make the text centuries older than the previous record holder for Hebrew in the Land of Israel.

However, there are some challenges: In 2019, it was discovered outside of a carefully excavated stratified context while his team was re-examining a dump pile from 1980s excavations at Mt Ebal that were held under Prof. Adam Zertal. The earth had been dry sifted then, and in 2019 Stripling’s team resifted it, in a wet sifting technique that was developed at the Temple Mount Sifting Project, where Stripling once worked. 

The folded interior of the tablet has undergone hi-tech scans in a lab in Prague at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The dating of the tiny tablet is mostly based on epigraphical analysis of these scans, along with analysis of the lead and potential ancient sources for it.

The scans were read by a few epigraphers, including Haifa University Prof. Gershon Galil, and Stripling says it holds 40 letters. The reading includes the words "arur" (cursed) and "YHWH" (the tetragrammaton or the name of God). 

The problem is, Stripling has not released images and the tablet has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. So the academic community still has to weigh in. In the meantime, you can hear what Stripling has to say about it here.

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

This Times of Israel podcast is sponsored by Thirty-Six, in which host Justin Hayet scours Israel to find the 36 most wonderful, interesting people doing the most wonderful, interesting things. Subscribe to Thirty-Six on your favorite podcast platform.

IMAGE: Close-up of the outside of the arguably Late Bronze Age lead curse tablet discovered on Mt. Ebal in 2019. (Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research)

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Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week we speak with composer Andy Teirstein about his new contemporary classical music album, “Restless Nation” and play selections from it.

Like his music, Teirstein is hard to categorize. Born in New York City to a Jewish family, he quickly diverted from his classical piano and violin lessons and formed folk bands in his youth. Later, he joined a wilderness school's itinerant bus and he traveled around the United States while hiking, working in local communities -- and absorbing their music.

These travels and his subsequent varied occupations can be heard in his compositions, whether as a field hand, a clown, an actor, or a university professor. The inspiration for the new album's pieces comes from all over the globe, too, including here in Israel.

We’ve played selections of “Restless Nation” throughout the conversation. One piece includes Israeli oud player Yair Dalal and was inspired by a camel trek with Bedouin in the Arava Desert which ended each night with fire-side jam sessions deep into the night.

[caption id="attachment_2732495" align="alignnone" width="600"] Fire-side musical jam with Bedouin, oud player Yair Dalal and composer Andy Teirstein. (courtesy)[/caption]

There is a whole cast of other leading musicians recorded on the album, including Teirstein himself on a haunting harmonica solo in his piece, "Letter to Woody," based on archival documents he found in the Woody Guthrie library.

Today, Teirstein is a professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is also active in coexistence arts initiatives, such as the Translucent Boundaries project, which was founded in Israel and since expanded globally. It seeks to bring together the music and dance from peoples who share borders.

A big thanks to Navona Records for granting permission for use of the album tracks.

"Restless Nation" can now be streamed or purchased. Choose your platform here.

Watch "Cluck Old Hen" here.

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

This Times of Israel podcast is sponsored by Thirty-Six, in which host Justin Hayet scours Israel to find the 36 most wonderful, interesting people doing the most wonderful, interesting things. Subscribe to Thirty-Six on your favorite podcast platform.

Image: Composer Andy Teirstein during a desert trek in Israel with oud player Yair Dalal. (courtesy)

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Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

We speak with Merav Oren, a serial entrepreneur and culinary creator, and now the CEO at Foodish, the new culinary arm of ANU, the renovated and rescaled Museum of the Jewish People (formerly known as Beit Hatfutsot).

Foodish is bringing the story of Jewish food to the forefront, with recipes, stories, photos, videos and a Foodish culinary map.

There are podcasts as well, hosted by Oren with chefs and celebrities, speaking about their relationship and memories of food, and visits with culinary luminaries, such as the recent visit by food writer Joan Nathan to Israel.

Oren speaks about the goals of Foodish, which sends its team out to families who want to record their recipes for posterity, making sure those lists of ingredients and instructions are never completely lost.

She shares stories and anecdotes, sharing information about this fulsome food endeavor.

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

This Times of Israel podcast is sponsored by Thirty-Six, in which host Justin Hayet scours Israel to find the 36 most wonderful, interesting people doing the most wonderful, interesting things. Subscribe to Thirty-Six on your favorite podcast platform.

IMAGE: Foodish CEO Merav Oren, left, with food writer Joan Nathan, during Nathan's recent visit to Israel, hosted by Foodish, the culinary arm of Anu -- Museum of the Jewish People (Courtesy Merav Oren)

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We’re speaking this week to 'Fauda' series creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz, as well as documentary filmmaker Oren Rosenfeld, whose 2018 film 'The Real Fauda,' delved into the series' global popularity.

Issacharoff and Lior Raz spoke to journalists this week just before taking off for Budapest, where the show will shoot part of the fourth season.

Viewers have been waiting since 2020 for the latest installation of this series. While Israelis will be able to watch the fourth season of "Fauda" in Hebrew starting summer 2022, Netflix has yet to announce a date for the US release of the show, which has rocketed Issacharoff and Raz to TV stardom.

The new season follows an Arab citizen of Israel who is suspected of having a terrorist history, and whose sister is an Israeli police officer.

The plot -- which spirits viewers to Lebanon, Jenin, Israel, and Belgium -- was inspired by a true story that happened in Israel many years ago, said Issacharoff.

The creators said writing began before the last year's violence.

The pair recently announced a $50 million partnership with former Disney executives, and their production company Faraway Road is working on several films and TV series. 

IMAGE: 'Fauda' co-creators Lior Raz (left) and Avi Issacharoff at a March 6, 2022 press conference about the upcoming fourth season of 'Fauda' (Courtesy Rafi Daluya)

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Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week we're marking International Women’s Day by speaking with the Director of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, Dr. Tamar Elram.

Born in England, Elram moved to Israel as a child with her family and lived in Jerusalem. A trained gynecologist, Elram has served in leadership positions at the Hadassah hospitals for the past decade. In November 2017 she became the director of Mount Scopus.

We discuss the powerful female history behind the Hadassah hospitals and Elram's own hard-won wisdom around what she calls “Awareness-Based Leadership.” We also have a frank conversation about important developments in women’s health perspectives and how the #metoo movement has affected the field of gynecology.

IMAGE: Dr. Tamar Elram, CEO of Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital (Arnon Bosani)

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We’re speaking this week to Israeli rap impresario Shaanan Streett, the founding member of hiphop/funk band Hadag Nahash, currently celebrating its 25th year.

During our conversation in Streett's Jerusalem studio, we discuss reaching this career pinnacle, the band's improbable start and finding the balance between the songs of protest and, as Streett says, "the importance of having fun."

We also talk about Streett's new solo album and his first Arabic single,"Arabiyaty ElMaksura," sung entirely by Streett in Arabic, the language he's been working on for the last decade. 

Streett also recently published his first book, a fictional work about Jerusalem skateboarders and graffiti artists. We discuss the art of writing and interpreting dreams, something he does with friends in his "Dream a Dream" podcast and finally, his ongoing relationship with the city of Jerusalem, where he was raised and still lives and works.

IMAGE: Rapper, writer and dream interpreter Shaanan Streett (Courtesy)

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This week, in honor of The Times of Israel's 10-year anniversary, Times Will Tell is speaking with founding editor David Horovitz.

We here at The Times of Israel want to thank all of you for giving us a chance a decade ago and so we’re peeling back the curtain for a glimpse behind the scenes.

Horovitz speaks about what it was like to launch a media platform in a crowded tough market. We talk about our five language platforms and deep dives into investigative journalism. We hear about the state of Israel generally, and finally, what gives Horovitz confidence in the future.

Image: Founding The Times of Israel editor David Horovitz in our Jerusalem office. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/ToI)

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We’re speaking this week to Anneke von der Lippe and Uri Barbash, the Norwegian actor and Israeli director of the current Netflix series, "The Girl From Oslo," which racked up views and placed in the top ten of series watched in 36 countries during its first week on the streaming platform.

The 10-part series tells the story of a kidnapping of a young Norwegian woman and her two Israeli friends. The Norwegian Pia’s mother, Alex, played by von der Lippe, travels to Israel to make contact with two friends — Arik, an Israeli politician played by Amos Taman, and her Palestinian friend, Layla, played by Raida Adon.

It’s a show that takes on many subjects; ISIS, Israel, Hamas, Oslo, Palestinian and Israeli conflict, personal relationships, husbands, wives and children, terror and mourning, for a sweep of emotions and drama.

IMAGE: Anneke von der Lippe (left) and Amos Taman (right) as Alex and Arik in 'The Girl from Oslo,' currently on Netflix.

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