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

This week we're speaking with author and journalist Andrew Lawler, who recently published the fabulous “Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City.”

Host Amanda Borschel-Dan absolutely devoured the book and highly recommends it to anyone interested in Holy Land history, archaeology, or even just tales of unbelievable, but real characters. It’s a real trip along the timeline of Jerusalem archaeologists, spanning from the 1860s through today.

We get a sense of the crazy people behind the digs, government involvement and the sparks of geopolitical conflict that still simmer.

Image: Author Andrew Lawler (Samir Al-Sharif)

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

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

This week, we're speaking to Danna Stern, the managing director of Yes Studios.

This is the studio that brought us "Fauda" and "Shtisel," "On the Spectrum" and "Your Honor," and many hours of viewing pleasure in this new era of streaming platforms and often shorter, sharper series.

We discuss what makes a successful Israeli show and when it can be 'translated' into success abroad, such as Kan 11's grocery store mockumentary "Checkout," being distributed by Yes.

Stern feels that Netflix's recently canceled "Hit and Run," from the "Fauda" team, can be considered a success, given the parameters that brought it about, and waxes poetic over her own recent viewing favorites, "Squid Game" and Apple TV's "Ted Lasso."

IMAGE: Yes Studios' Danna Stern (right), with Niv Majar (middle) and Naomi Levov of 'On the Spectrum,' during a 2019 awards ceremony in Monte Carlo (Courtesy Yes Studios)

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This week on Times Will Tell, we sent our New York-based film and culture critic Jordan Hoffman on an odyssey to ascertain how best to fulfill the American Jewish "mitzvah" of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas.

Our tireless correspondent went deep into the heart of Chinatown and sampled dim sum and hot and sour soup. He also explains how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is currently affecting the city that never sleeps, and who gets no (wonton) soup from him. 

We hear about Columbus Park, a unique snapshot of New York at its finest, and where to go to get the best tea (and potential prezzie) ever. 

In the second half of the show, Hoffman explores what's screening in local theaters. What's worth the hype -- and what decidedly is not. And finally, he explains where those New Yorkers who want to fulfill the Xmas mitzvah to its fullest can have a most goyische evening out. 

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: People are seen in the window eating at a Chinese restaurant decorated with menu items on its shop front on January 10, 2020, in New York City. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

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

We're speaking this week to Bishop Glenn Plummer, a minister, pastor and bishop of the Pentacostal Church, with Lazar Berman hosting, putting on his Christian Affairs correspondent hat.

Plummer was appointed in 2019 as the first Pentacostal bishop of Israel, representing the predominantly Black church that has nearly nine million adherents worldwide.

He was mandated, said Plummer, to "come and embrace Israel," from his position as one of the top African American, pro-Zionist clergy in the US.

Berman and Plummer discuss his first few months in Israel, when certain Jewish Israelis felt threatened by his presence and intentions. They also discuss the roots of the Pentacostal Church, evangelical Christianity, Black-Jewish relations in the US and Plummer's plans and experiences in Israel until now.

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

IMAGE: Bishop Glenn Plummer, the Pentacostal minister who moved to Israel during the pandemic, on a boat in the Galilee (Courtesy Bishop Plummer)

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

We're speaking this week to flag football players who gathered in Jerusalem this week to play in the IFAF Flag Football world championship. 

Organized by American Football in Israel founder Steve Leibowitz, who brought flag football to Israel in the 1980s, the championship gathers hundreds of athletes from all over the world to the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, for three days of games.

Given the pandemic, it was a last minute decision to hold the championship in Israel, after other countries had to cancel. Leibowitz tells us that it was only back in May that he began organizing the games in Jerusalem, a plan that was nearly abandoned with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

But Leibowitz and other government agencies prevailed, and the players arrived late lat week, quarantining for three days, sticking to their own team tents when not on the field, and only gathering together when it's time to play.

According to them, it's all worth it.

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

IMAGE: Flag football players competing in IFAF Flag Football world championship in Jerusalem, December 7, 2021 

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

This week, we're speaking to the Djamchid Sisters, Shay-Li Djamchid and Eden Djamchid, sisters in life and in music, who have been composing, playing and singing together for the last 15 years, since they were teens.

Their new single, "B'Yadayim Shelcha," ("In Your Hands") was recently released as part of their second album, "A Thousand Suns."

It's an album that's been long awaited by local 88FM listeners, as well as their fans around the country. 

During the conversation, the two sisters speak about being born in Jerusalem into a musical family. Shay-Li picked up the guitar when she was still in grade school, and began writing songs and music on her own. Her younger sister Eden, only by a year and a half, began learning how to play the cello at the age of five, when she was still in kindergarten.

The two began playing and singing together from their bedrooms in their teens and performing soon followed, with a serious approach to their music from the very start.

This latest collection of songs, say the sisters, reflects where they are in life now, older, wiser, still full of hopes and dreams. 

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

IMAGE: The Djamchid Sisters, Eden Djamchid (left) and Shay-Li Djamchid (Courtesy Omri Rosengart)

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

This week, we're speaking to Samekh Zakout and Uriya Rosenman, the Arab rapper and Israeli educator who banded together in the last year to put their frustrations, thoughts and ideas into two raps so far, the first of which, “Bo Nedaber Dugri,” (Let’s Talk Straight), a six-minute, 28-second rap, went viral when released in May.

They had been working together for months, but the impetus for releasing the first rap in May were the riots that raged through Israel's mixed cities.

Now the two have released their second rap, "Munfas," and are on the road in Israel, speaking to Arabs and Jews, sometimes together, about what this country needs in order to find different solutions for future generations.

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

IMAGE: Samekh Zakout, left and Uriya Rosenman of Dugri, the straight-talking rap pair who aim to find a different narrative for young Arabs and Jews in Israel.

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

Thanksgiving has long been celebrated by American immigrants living in Israel, but what about Israelis, native Sabras, who don't know from pilgrims and pumpkin pie? Why would they celebrate this holiday about all foods related to pumpkin, stuffing and cranberries?

This week, we're speaking to Israelis who have long celebrated Thanksgiving, chef Snir Eng Sela and Tel Aviv resident Yael Cnaan, who speak about how and why they celebrate this very American holiday.

There's also a conversation with Gavi Nelson, the founder of Eating Around Israel, who exports his spice mixes, and created his own Middle Eastern version of pumpkin spice.

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

IMAGE: Chef Snir Eng Sela's pumpkin pie at his bistro, Gouge and Daniel, where he often ends up eating most of the pie he makes, as Israeli customers often shy away from this most American of Thanksgiving desserts.

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

This week, we’re speaking to two musicians who will be performing at the upcoming 22nd Oud Festival, opening November 18 in Jerusalem. 

Wisam Gibran is a composer, poet and oud player who will be performing with poet Ronny Somekh this year, bringing their music and words to the stage. It's not the first time at the Oud Festival for Gibran, a Palestinian from Nazareth who performs globally, and who enjoys the particular mix of people and place at the annual event.

Singer Nataly Oryon, from Jerusalem, will be performing for the first time at the Oud Festival, bringing her mix of Greek music and song to the stage.

Greek is a language Oryon learned on her own, having fallen in love with its musicality and tone. The music she sngs is classical and traditional Greek music, and other tunes she's discovered along the way both in Greece and back home in Israel.

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

IMAGE: Musician Wisam Gibran on the oud, his instrument of choice during the upcoming Oud Festival in Jerusalem (Courtesy Wisam Gibran)

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

This week, we’re speaking to David Kichka, founder and producer of the Israeli Cuisine Festival, opening November 11 for two weeks around the country.

Kichka, a culinary entrepreneur who has produced different food events in Israel over the last decade, speaks about the Michelin-starred chef meals,  market tours, hummus, olive oil and wine tastings that make up this first-time event.

There are chef meals and talks in several Dan hotels, dinners created by chefs Ezra Kedem and Erez Komarovsky in their pastoral homes, street food meals and 17-course dinners, the whole gamut of dining experiences.

Kichka also delves more fully into his definition of Israeli cuisine, looking at the chefs who study abroad and bring their knowledge home, adding to the Israeli vibe that has helped create the local culinary culture.

"It's okay to be an immigrant country," said Kichka, pointing to the "salad of origin" of Israelis, coming from different places and adding their tastes to the local gastronomical melting pot. "It's become part of our identity."

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

IMAGE: David Kichka, the culinary entrepreneur behind the new Israeli Cuisine Festival (Courtesy David Kichka)

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