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J-Crew, it's Leo.

1:02

Let me set the scene for you. It's

1:04

9pm on Monday, and producer Josh Gross and

1:06

I are sitting in our apartment on Gordon

1:08

Street in Tel Aviv. That sound you hear

1:10

in the background, that's the bus stop right outside our

1:13

apartment. Josh is drinking an ice cold

1:15

martini I just made for him, and I am drinking

1:17

some excellent wine from the Judean hills. There's

1:20

more hummus and pita on the table than you

1:22

would actually believe, and we could see the Mediterranean

1:24

from our balcony. We're

1:27

here with Tanya Singer and Ellie Blyer, two of our

1:29

favorite Jewish writers, and we're going to be talking about

1:31

the Jewish culture. Now listen, these are

1:33

extraordinary times, and so we feel we

1:35

need to step out of the ordinary ourselves. We

1:39

need to take a step back and look at the world from

1:41

a different perspective. And we're going

1:44

to do that by sharing a

1:46

few of our favorite Jewish stories, and we're going to

1:48

share a few of our favorite Jewish stories. And we're

1:50

going to share a few of our favorite Jewish stories, and we're going

1:53

to share a few of our favorite Jewish stories.

1:55

And so we feel we need

1:57

to step out of the ordinary

1:59

ourselves. So here's what we're going to do. Starting

2:02

this coming Monday, we are going to

2:04

share with you one

2:06

new episode of Unorthodox

2:09

every day of the week. They

2:12

won't be the usual fare with the three

2:14

of us telling stories about our lives and

2:16

telling jokes about Belgium and bagels and welcoming

2:18

a Jew and a Gentile. Instead,

2:21

these daily installments will

2:23

be long-form dispatches from

2:25

Israel. These past

2:27

few days we have seen and we

2:29

have heard some truly incredible

2:32

things here. Some

2:34

heartbreaking, some inspiring, some

2:37

frankly both. And

2:39

we want to take you with us. So

2:41

tune in Monday and join us for

2:43

the very first installment of our special

2:45

week-long series of reports from Israel as

2:48

we begin with an intimate and harrowing

2:50

tour of Kfar Azah, one

2:53

of the kibbutzim that was worst

2:55

hit on October 7. But

2:58

before we even go there, we

3:00

have Hanukkah to celebrate because the

3:02

business of spreading light and love

3:04

cannot wait. So today

3:06

we have something very special in

3:08

store for you. In fact, we

3:10

have nine stories of people who

3:12

stepped up and shone brightly and

3:14

warded off the darkness. Some

3:17

of them are Mavericks. Some are

3:19

tragic heroes. Some made

3:22

really small but significant

3:24

contributions and others sacrificed

3:26

everything. But all are

3:28

reminders of the true meaning of

3:30

this wonderful holiday, Chanukah,

3:32

a holiday that reminds us

3:34

that real-life miracles happen every

3:37

single day. So

3:39

happy Chanukah friends and let

3:42

us begin to celebrate. Hey

4:00

everyone, it's producer Josh Cross and as Lael

4:02

just told you, we're recording this from Israel.

4:05

I even surreptitiously recorded those prayers you

4:07

heard at the beginning of the episode

4:10

at the shul Lael's great grandfather started.

4:12

Shh, don't tell please. But

4:14

as I watched them light the candles, I

4:17

realized you can't spark the eight lights of

4:19

Hanukkah without a shamash. So first up, as

4:21

a helper, Lael gives us a reminder about

4:23

the real meaning of Hanukkah. It's

4:42

a modern day Hanukkah miracle.

4:45

This year, millions of American Jews

4:47

will be celebrating the Festival of

4:49

Light for the very first time.

4:53

I don't mean it literally, of

4:55

course. Hanukkah is everyone's

4:57

favorite Jewish holiday, dovetailing neatly

4:59

with Christmas and involving such

5:02

pleasant duties as gobbling latkes

5:04

or lighting pretty candles and

5:06

exchanging gifts. But

5:08

save for the Orthodox and the

5:10

exceptionally Jewishly educated among us, few

5:13

American Jews know or even care

5:15

that much about the real meaning of

5:17

Hanukkah. A story much

5:19

darker than our cheerful modern traditions

5:21

let on. Until

5:24

now. America

5:27

and the aftermath of Hamas's October

5:29

7 attacks is a

5:31

very different country for secular Jews.

5:34

And this year, many of us

5:36

will have an opportunity to rethink

5:38

a holiday we thought we knew

5:40

well. What then

5:42

is Hanukkah really about? And

5:44

why is it suddenly so relevant? Here's

5:48

the short, short version. One

5:50

sunny morning in 167 B.C.,

5:53

the Jews of Mudin, a suburb

5:55

of Jerusalem, were summoned to the

5:57

town square. Their imperial

5:59

over-the-air overlords, the Seleucids, had

6:01

taken over the empire built

6:03

by Alexander the Great, and

6:05

their first order of business

6:07

was the swift and total

6:09

Hellenization of everyone and everything.

6:12

Just make a quick sacrifice to Zeus,

6:15

the victorious Greeks told the Jews, and

6:17

we can all go about our day.

6:19

Come on now. Then, as

6:22

now, there were plenty of Jews in

6:24

attendance who thought it was a pretty

6:27

great idea, who found this proposition acceptable

6:29

if not downright charming. Greek

6:32

culture, with its handsome statues

6:34

and its chic fashion and

6:36

its manly sports, was attractive,

6:39

and it was nice for the Jewish minority,

6:42

tucked away in a dusty corner of

6:44

the Middle East, to feel, well, normal,

6:47

part of the big wide

6:49

world out there. One

6:51

Jew, however, was not inclined

6:54

to comply. He was

6:56

Matityau the priest. Not

6:58

much into idolatry, this bearded zealot

7:01

drew his sword and killed not

7:03

only the fellow Jew about to

7:05

honor the Greek gods, but also

7:08

the Seleucid governor overseeing the ceremony,

7:11

launching a war that ended with

7:13

a stunning victory for the fanatics

7:16

and that now famous magical

7:18

menorah burning bright for eight

7:20

nights. But Matityau's war

7:22

wasn't just a rebellion against the

7:25

empire. It was also

7:27

a reminder to his generation of sophisticated

7:29

Jews eager to fit in that

7:32

assimilation wasn't really an option. Because

7:35

the Greeks weren't interested in the

7:37

gorgeous mosaic of diverse peoples and

7:39

cultures, they demanded submission,

7:42

and anyone who insisted on the

7:44

dignity of difference was erased.

7:48

Most Jews were too wowed by

7:50

the empire's razzle dazzle to realize

7:52

the simple truth. It

7:54

took a shocking war to remind them

7:57

that they were Jews forever

7:59

standing in the air. a thwart history,

8:01

resented for refusing to replace

8:03

their ancient ways with something

8:05

more modern, slick, and

8:07

ephemeral. And now,

8:10

millennia later, American

8:12

Jews are finally learning the same

8:14

lesson. Before

8:16

October 7, many of us

8:19

lived lives of quiet and content

8:21

assimilation. Sure, we told ourselves,

8:23

a bunch of loopy kids

8:25

on campus may be shouting some offensive

8:28

slogans and the media may be just

8:30

a tad bit biased, but if you

8:32

said and did all the right things,

8:34

you could still be part of America's

8:37

gilded elites. And

8:39

then came the attack, and suddenly

8:41

the gilded elites proved to

8:43

be much more like the Seleucids than

8:46

anyone might have imagined. With

8:48

Jewish students assaulted in colleges across

8:50

the country, with Hamas propaganda passing

8:53

for news and with thousands of

8:55

our neighbors marching around waving terrorist

8:57

flags and cheering on the destruction

8:59

of the world's sole Jewish state,

9:02

American Jews these days are

9:04

having their Mati-Tiahu moments. You

9:07

could see them, us, falling

9:09

into synagogues we'd never visited before, or

9:12

buying Star of David necklaces to make

9:14

sure that we're easily identified as Jews,

9:17

even though, or precisely because, we

9:19

may pay for it with a nasty look

9:21

or some unkind word or even a slap

9:23

to the head. You

9:25

can hear them, us, in dinner

9:28

parties and on social media, helping each

9:30

other recover from the betrayal of so

9:32

many people we thought were our friends.

9:35

And last month, 300,000 of us,

9:38

the largest gathering of Jews in

9:40

American history, marched on the Mall

9:42

in Washington DC to make sure

9:45

we were counted as Jews. The

9:49

men and women who followed the ancient

9:51

priest to victory, that first

9:54

Hanukkah so long ago, never

9:56

looked back. The dynasty

9:58

Mati-Tiahu founded the... Goshmuna'im

10:01

governed over a proud and independent

10:03

Jewish community for more than a

10:05

century. Future scholars

10:07

of American Jewish history may very

10:09

well look back on this Hanukkah,

10:13

2023, and determine that it was

10:15

here and now that a new

10:17

century of religious and cultural awakening

10:20

began. This

11:00

year we felt like we needed something a

11:03

little different for Hanukkah. And so,

11:05

tablet did something we've never done

11:07

before. We rented out a big,

11:09

beautiful event space in Manhattan. We

11:11

gathered 40 of our favorite vendors

11:13

who make things like jewelry, Judaica,

11:15

horseradish. And we brought together more

11:17

than 1,500 people for

11:19

our first ever Hanukkah Bazaar. It was

11:21

so good, especially during this war and

11:23

this dark time, to see so many

11:25

people focused on joy and happiness. So

11:27

we pulled out our audio equipment and

11:30

we started to ask people what Hanukkah

11:32

means to them. I

11:35

think this Hanukkah is kind

11:37

of a harken

11:39

back to the original

11:41

Hanukkah, sorry. We're kind of the new

11:43

Maccabees in our own way and facing

11:45

the same kind of hatred and pressure

11:47

to conform that our ancestors did. So

11:49

I think this Hanukkah is even more

11:52

relevant to us now than it has

11:54

been for many years. Hanukkah

11:58

is a Zionist holiday. It's

12:02

more important now than ever

12:04

to celebrate the story of

12:06

protecting what it means to

12:08

have a place of your own. This

12:11

is the first Hanukkah where for

12:13

me I wake up and feel

12:16

Jewish from the minute I wake up until

12:18

the minute I go to sleep. Other

12:21

years you can kind of forget

12:23

about Judaism throughout the day if you're

12:26

not super religious,

12:28

but this year is really, at

12:31

least for me, the first year where every

12:34

waking moment is you're

12:37

reminded of your

12:39

Judaism. You

12:42

know we see the story of the Maccabees,

12:45

they're like the original Jewish activists who stood

12:47

up to an army many times their size

12:50

and when they did a miracle happened. So

12:52

it's a good remembrance

12:54

for us of a story

12:57

of resistance and resilience that

12:59

is unfortunately ever I

13:02

think an important issue. Monica

13:05

I think it's pride in

13:07

the face of fear and this is where I

13:09

get a little bit corny but there's a quote

13:11

I forget who said it, courage is not the

13:13

absence of fear, it is courage in the face

13:16

of fear and I think that's what Hanukkah looks

13:18

like this year. People choosing to put the menorah

13:20

in their window even though you

13:22

might have to think twice unfortunately and so

13:24

I'm really excited to see that from everybody

13:26

in the room and a lot of others.

13:39

Hey it's producer Eli Blier. As

13:42

we all know Jews in Israel and around the

13:44

world are doing everything they can at this moment

13:47

to give of themselves in some way or another.

13:50

Our next piece is about just that. I

13:52

spent time on a makeshift army base far

13:54

in the field near the Gaza border where

13:57

Israeli civilians traveled from around the

13:59

globe. country to donate their time and

14:01

energy so that they can

14:03

make IDF soldiers fancy

14:05

coffee. Okay,

14:24

so let me set the scene for you. We're

14:26

on a base, probably a kilometer

14:28

away from the Gaza border, and

14:31

there are four small, very

14:33

high-end espresso machines set up on

14:35

a table underneath a tarp

14:37

to protect us from the blazing

14:39

hot sun. And there are like a hundred

14:42

soldiers, a lot of them 18 years

14:44

old, pimply-faced, no more than a few

14:46

months in the army, and they are about

14:48

to go into war. There are

14:50

baristas that have traveled here from around the

14:52

country from all ages, working

14:55

at some of the most high-end cafes

14:57

or some of the best home brewers.

14:59

And they came here today just to

15:01

make coffee for these soldiers. The

15:04

person who you're hearing now, that's Eyal

15:06

Shanee. No, not the famous chef,

15:09

it's the Eyal Shanee who has

15:11

been preparing these coffee events since the start

15:13

of the war. Eyal's a

15:15

huge coffee connoisseur, and this day in

15:17

particular was special. Eyal's dad passed away

15:19

a year ago, and his dad served

15:21

in this very unit, and soldiers who

15:23

served with his dad in the 1973

15:26

Yom Kippur War came to this base

15:29

next to Gaza today to support

15:31

Eyal and tell him stories about his family.

15:55

It's good, it's good, it's very good. Better than

15:57

what you usually have on base. Yeah,

16:01

it's better than the base in

16:03

100 times, I can tell you. I

16:06

love it, people help us and give

16:08

us good food and donate us. It's

16:10

really warm my heart, warm

16:12

my heart. You

16:14

are doing a mitzvah, we call

16:17

it. I only finished my tihonot,

16:19

now what? What is it? Yeah,

16:21

basic training three weeks ago. And

16:24

now you're in the middle of a war. Yeah. Scared,

16:27

are you excited? No, I'm not

16:29

scared. My

16:37

name is Liran and I just love

16:39

making coffee. I don't do this professionally,

16:42

but the second I saw this, I said to

16:44

myself, I gotta be at one at least. And

16:46

here I am today, and this is

16:49

why I love coffee, it actually makes me happy.

16:52

And your boss gave you the day off. I'm

16:54

the boss. Oh!

17:07

Okay, so here's the thing you need to know about the

17:09

army. Coffee there, it's not just

17:11

a pastime, it's not like this cute hobby, it

17:14

is a religion. It is what gets

17:16

soldiers through the day, literally. We

17:18

spend a lot of time on that base talking

17:20

about all the different ways that soldiers make coffee

17:22

and consume coffee and what they put in their

17:24

coffee. And a lot of people, even

17:26

though they had a really fancy espresso sitting right in front of

17:29

them, kept coming back to one

17:31

kind of coffee. This coffee goes

17:33

by a few different names in the

17:35

army, some call it black

17:37

coffee, others Turkish, some call it nachle,

17:39

which is actually a brand of black coffee. And

17:42

here's the thing you need to know about black

17:45

coffee. It's the furthest thing away from espresso that

17:47

you can imagine. You literally dump

17:50

this fine kind of smelly powder

17:52

into water on a camping stove, turn

17:55

the fire up all the way, and

17:57

wait until it boils right to the top of the fin

17:59

john. Then it goes down, then

18:01

it goes up again. How many times do you

18:03

let it go up and down? No one knows. Some

18:06

say seven, some say three. Some say put the sugar

18:08

in first. Some say don't put sugar in at all.

18:11

There's a huge debate about black coffee in the army.

18:13

And so I asked the soldiers, well,

18:15

what do you think about it? Well after

18:17

drinking burnt coffee for well over

18:20

a month, good coffee. Yeah,

18:22

very nice coffee. Yeah. There's

18:24

some guys over there that were very, very defensive

18:26

about their ability to make black coffee very well.

18:29

This is an age old

18:31

debate on how to brew coffee.

18:33

Yeah, whatever. They can make

18:35

you some coffee, Sade. Sade

18:37

coffee. Sade coffee. Listen, I

18:39

mean, if I put you in a room with those other guys,

18:41

I think there would be a fight. No,

18:43

no, there will be no fight because I'm

18:46

accepting of everyone's opinion, even though

18:48

there are shit. Last

18:50

war, no, the one before that, we were actually

18:52

issued. No, it's 31. It's

18:55

like 39. So

18:59

you signed me for being here, right?

19:01

No, I'm not volunteering. Not yet. Not

19:04

yet. So in one year. In one year, yeah,

19:06

I'll be a volunteer. You will? No, I

19:08

won't. Can

19:10

we say that, that I will not volunteer

19:12

for another war? So this

19:15

is not your first rodeo? Not at all.

19:17

Not even my second. Not even my third. God

19:20

damn it. So you said this is your last

19:22

rodeo. For some reason, I don't believe that because

19:24

I see a lot of people here volunteering and

19:26

they're way over 40. You really

19:28

think you're done after this one? I think

19:30

it's a personal choice. Am I

19:32

done? Will I be? I don't know.

19:35

You're asking me in the midst of

19:37

an intense emotional storm. I

19:40

was in Germany when I got the call

19:42

and packed up everything and came

19:44

here. Everyone here has a story.

19:47

And I mean, we don't know what's going to happen in an hour, let

19:50

alone what am I going to do in a

19:52

year. I can say right now that, yeah, I'm

19:54

done. I've seen too much. Now

19:56

there's the next and the

19:58

next generation already. here. Just

20:01

gonna pass things on and hope

20:03

that they'll hang on for as long as I did. Do

20:06

do do do do do do do do do

20:08

do do do do do do do do

20:11

do do do do do do do do do do

20:13

do do do do do do do. Do

20:21

you know a teen leader changing the

20:23

world? The deadline is

20:25

approaching for the Diller Teen Tikkun

20:28

Olam Awards, which honor young changemakers

20:30

who embody the value of Tikkun

20:32

Olam, repairing the world. 15 recipients

20:36

from across the U.S. will receive $36,000

20:38

each to

20:41

honor their community service and leadership.

20:44

Nominate a teen today or they

20:46

can apply directly by January 5th.

20:49

Learn more at

20:51

dillerteenawards.org. Time

20:58

for some pod man. Our last live

21:00

appearance of the year will take place on December

21:02

15th and 16th when Le'El and

21:04

I head to Kul Ami in Tucson, Arizona for

21:07

a bunch of events all Shabbat long, presented by

21:09

the Bill Gray Lecture Series. We're so excited and

21:11

hope to see you there. You

21:13

can find our full schedule at

21:16

tabletmag.com/Unorthodox Live. To bring us to

21:18

your community in 2024, email Tanya

21:20

Singer at tsinger at tabletmag.com. While

21:22

you're listening, how about leaving us

21:25

a review? Apple Podcast Reviews really

21:27

help new listeners find us. And

21:30

while you're at it, subscribe to

21:32

our brand new newsletter at TabletM.ag

21:34

slash Unorthodox Newsletter. When

21:53

our next guest Hadar Kess was 14, she

21:56

lost her father in a tragic car accident.

22:00

When she grew up, she learned just how

22:02

difficult life could be for orphans. So

22:04

she started an organization called Khameneiot,

22:07

or Sunflowers, to help Israeli

22:09

children who lost their parents help

22:11

each other cope with this devastating

22:14

loss. Sadly, after

22:16

October 7, her work and her

22:18

group became much more crucial than ever.

22:21

Here's Hadar. I

22:23

lost my father when I was 14. In

22:27

a sudden car accident, I

22:30

didn't find any support, any place to support,

22:33

not the welfare, not the teacher

22:35

in school, anything. And I

22:38

found myself in a risky situation,

22:40

unfortunately. Afterwards, I established

22:42

Khameneiot, Khameneiot, and Sunflowers in

22:45

Hebrew, because I understood

22:47

there is no place to help

22:49

orphans from civil circumstances. And

22:52

when I started it, I needed to

22:54

first start doing research. So

22:57

we have done the first research in the entire

22:59

world, who actually connects between

23:01

orphanhood and being children at risk,

23:03

or youth at risk. And

23:06

we found out orphans are four times

23:08

more likely to get arrested, just in

23:10

times more likely to fall out

23:12

from school. So we built a

23:14

very special model that helps

23:16

the orphan and the entire family. It's

23:20

the combination between support group to youth

23:22

program, and we're

23:24

working helping the 750 families

23:27

all over Israel every week.

23:30

We're in the tragic and

23:32

the scariest event we could ever

23:35

thought would happen to us as

23:37

a nation. And it's

23:39

a hard event for all of us. When

23:42

I'm talking about Khameneiot, about Sunflowers, we

23:44

understood we have to build like

23:46

a national program that helps,

23:49

of course, the new orphans

23:51

in direct ways, but not only. So

23:54

we're right now opening five

23:57

new branches in the south of

23:59

Israel. And we're also opening

24:01

a new community for

24:03

teachers and for

24:06

guardians in order to

24:08

bring them to help those children.

24:10

And we're also helping the education

24:13

ministry to build programs

24:15

for the teachers to help the

24:17

orphans. So we're working from the macro

24:19

to the micro. We're

24:21

having a lot of difficult stories right now, but

24:25

although everything is

24:27

so sad right now in Israel and

24:29

very complicated, I assume we're going to

24:31

have a stronger country. And

24:33

it's very exciting for us as

24:35

a nation to see all of

24:37

the help from the U.S. and

24:40

from everyone all over the world.

24:42

Right now, the situation in Israel,

24:44

I assume everything eventually will

24:46

be better. Hi,

25:07

it's producer Ellie again. For

25:09

this next segment, we wanted to bring you

25:11

a slice of life from our Testimonies Project,

25:13

which you can listen to in full by

25:16

visiting testimoniesarchive.com. Just

25:18

after October 7th, I interviewed the

25:20

mother of Nova Music Festival victim,

25:22

Oriah Ricardo. Oriah was

25:24

just 26 years old when she was murdered. She

25:26

had a beautiful smile and was full of life. She

25:29

was a sister, a girlfriend, and a loving

25:31

daughter. And as Oriah's Shloshim approached,

25:34

which is the end of the 30-day

25:36

mourning period, I was invited

25:38

to rejoin the family as they marked this

25:40

date. It

25:43

was important for the family to mark the Shloshim

25:45

religiously, while also bringing Oriah's

25:47

memory and life to the forefront. We

25:50

began at her grave site in the Qesariya

25:52

Cemetery, where intimately everyone

25:54

joined in prayer and song, led

25:57

by Oriah's mother, Hani, a music

26:00

teacher herself. After

26:02

the people closest to Oria gathered in

26:04

a private space nearby to share

26:06

memories of her and they also

26:08

shared in a private concert by Oria's

26:10

favorite musician, the Israeli rapper

26:12

Tuna. Now Tuna is

26:14

a big deal in Israel, a

26:17

legit superstar and without knowing

26:19

the Ricardo family or his biggest fan

26:21

Oria, he agreed to take

26:23

part in this meaningful moment. Have

26:25

a listen. First two Oria's mom, Hani,

26:28

and then two Oria's favorite artists,

26:30

Tuna. in.

29:00

I asked Tuna's manager,

29:02

why did they come

29:05

here? What

29:14

brought them across Israel to perform at

29:16

the Shloshim of Oriah, who is someone

29:18

they had never met? Yes.

29:21

Yes. Yes. Yes.

29:24

Yes. Yes. Yes. These

30:26

days we throw around the word

30:28

hero a lot, sometimes

30:31

without any real good reason

30:33

or justification. But our

30:35

next story is a story of a

30:37

real Israeli hero and a

30:40

truly amazing human being, Awad Darawshah,

30:42

a young Muslim man from a

30:44

village up north who always wanted

30:46

to save lives. Here's

30:48

his uncle, Muhammad Darawshah, telling

30:50

us the story of Awad and

30:52

what he did on October Awad

30:59

was just a handsome

31:01

23-year-old boy. All

31:03

what he wanted to do in life is to save

31:06

lives. And that's

31:08

why he started to study to be a

31:10

paramedic at age 16. Then

31:13

he went to study medicine in Georgia.

31:15

Corona had bad luck.

31:17

He came back and didn't want

31:20

to waste time. So he went to his

31:22

passion and he also became

31:24

an ambulance driver. He

31:26

did what he wanted to do. He ran

31:28

from one incident to another, saving

31:31

lives. Actually

31:33

the last thing he started, he

31:35

started doing an undergraduate degree

31:38

in business administration because he wanted to

31:40

have his own ambulance company. That

31:43

was his dream. He just wanted

31:45

to be in this and wanted to do

31:47

it bigger and wanted to do it more.

31:50

He's the type of person that always

31:53

looked at whatever other

31:55

people needed and he was there. So

31:58

every time in the family we needed someone to do it. to

32:00

volunteer some activity. He knew

32:02

which kid to turn to. It was him. He

32:05

did that when he was 12, when he was 16.

32:08

And also now when he was 23, he was

32:10

always there to organize a group of

32:12

people to go and clean up the

32:15

graveyard in the village, go up and

32:17

visit elderly people on holidays to

32:19

check on them if they need blankets or

32:21

they need food. He

32:23

simply was 100% human being. His

32:27

humanity was bigger than his

32:30

profession, I think. I think he

32:32

wanted to be a paramedic

32:34

because, as I said, he

32:36

wanted to be there to help people in need

32:38

at real time. That's him. That's

32:40

the boy. And on

32:42

October 7th, he was stationed already

32:45

from the two nights before at

32:48

the Supernova place where the party

32:50

took place in the South

32:52

just by the borders of Gaza that

32:55

was attacked by Hamas. His

32:57

company sent him there together with

33:00

three other ambulances, a team of

33:02

six people, six paramedics

33:04

and ambulance travelers. And

33:07

they were handling people that scratched

33:09

their leg or someone that drank

33:11

too much and got

33:13

dizzy or had to evacuate one

33:16

person that overdosed the hospital and

33:19

enjoying the music while giving care

33:21

with a lot of smiles and

33:23

fun in that kind of situation.

33:26

But, you know, him and his

33:28

team were the only six people in the

33:30

party that were supposed

33:32

to stay awake

33:34

and without alcohol, away from alcohol,

33:37

and sleep well and be in full

33:39

attention to the medical needs

33:42

of the partygoers. The

33:44

night before, he spoke to

33:46

his mother and he said, tomorrow

33:48

at noon, my shift ends. So

33:51

prepare lunch. And he said to her,

33:54

I'm going to give you the hug I have been giving

33:56

you in two days. His

33:59

mind was... A few

34:01

hours he will be home and

34:04

his mother remembers him as the hugging

34:06

boy and that was the last thing

34:08

he talked to her about. And

34:12

on October 7th when hell broke loose,

34:14

there were two waves of attack on

34:17

the party. The first was with some rockets

34:21

and the people started coming to the

34:23

medical station that his team

34:25

put on the party

34:27

site. He started

34:29

running from all

34:32

sorts of people that couldn't come physically to

34:34

the site. And when

34:36

his team started realizing that the incident

34:38

is bigger than handling, the

34:40

medical station

34:43

commander asked everyone

34:45

to evacuate the scene, realizing

34:47

that it's too dangerous for

34:49

them because they started seeing people

34:52

falling from bullets that

34:54

were flying up. Lots

34:56

of bullets flying around them and they

34:59

begged him to leave. They came to

35:01

us and they talked to us about how they came

35:04

back to him and asked him to leave and tried to

35:06

pull him with his clothes

35:08

to leave and he refused to

35:11

leave. He said that too

35:13

many injured people and medical

35:15

staff need to stay there. He

35:19

said to them because he speaks Arabic he thinks

35:21

he's going to manage and

35:23

he refused to evacuate, actually pushed his

35:26

team to leave because he realized the danger

35:29

for them as

35:31

being Jewish staff members and he

35:33

understood exactly what was happening. And

35:37

he said, you go, I speak

35:39

Arabic, I think I'll manage. And

35:43

when they started running away, looked

35:45

back at him, he was running

35:47

from one person to another

35:49

with bandages in his hands. And

35:53

they saw him getting shot and falling

35:55

down and they didn't know what happened

35:57

to him. And

36:00

it took us six days to understand that actually

36:02

he died because we didn't know if his body

36:05

was kidnapped He was injured

36:07

if he was alive or he was dead

36:11

it took six days until we received

36:13

the body and Because

36:17

there was a concern that some of the bodies

36:19

were booby-trapped And

36:22

that's why they couldn't evacuate all the

36:24

bodies from the sea and

36:27

he had two bullets and one

36:30

of them was in his heart and the

36:32

other one is in his stomach He

36:35

came back and would do this With

36:39

this legacy of fighting for

36:41

the lives of others until he paid his own life

36:45

He didn't lose his humanity for a second.

36:48

He knew he was treating Jewish kids He

36:51

cared less about their ethnic

36:54

religious cultural identity He

36:57

wanted to do What

36:59

his medical duty and medical oath Told

37:03

him to do fight

37:05

for people's lives No

37:07

matter what and his no matter what was Until

37:10

you died by doing that

37:29

you Hey,

37:42

J crew, it's Tanya here You know

37:44

those nights when you're too wiped out to cook and end

37:46

up getting pizza for dinner Can you imagine

37:48

how moms in Israel feel? Our

37:50

next guest created a way to get pizza

37:52

from Israeli pizzerias families who needed a little

37:54

help with dinner Deanna Abrams

37:57

lives in America and was so upset

37:59

after October October 7th, she just wanted to

38:01

do something to help. So she created

38:03

pizza for moms. I'll let her tell you

38:05

all about it. So

38:12

we actually woke up at child

38:14

this morning to a WhatsApp message from our

38:17

close friend in Israel saying

38:19

it is worse than the Yom Kippur War.

38:22

We are very scared, we don't know

38:24

what's happening. And immediately we reached out,

38:26

we called, we are hooked to the

38:29

news, and just wanted

38:31

to do something to help her. But when you're

38:34

across an ocean, you feel helpless.

38:37

So I thought, if she lived next door, what would

38:39

I do? I would send her

38:41

a meal. And so I reached out and I

38:43

said, hey, I'm sending you

38:46

dinner. She called with a

38:48

message of this was one small thing

38:50

that made my challenging day so much

38:52

better. And after talking to her,

38:54

I said, that's something the EBI can do. I

38:56

will send you dinner every Monday night, from now

38:58

until however long I need to. And she said,

39:01

actually, there's 21 other families

39:03

in my key bus that are

39:05

in the same position as me. Can you send

39:08

dinner to them? And so with that, that's how it

39:10

took off. I said, of course, I can get 21

39:12

friends to send dinner to

39:14

your friends. Posted a message on my

39:16

Facebook wall and said, hey, I'm looking

39:19

to send 21 dinners to my friend

39:21

and her key bus

39:23

who wants to help me and send a personal message to

39:25

them. That's kind of what made it unique, was

39:28

send them a note of support with the pizza.

39:31

And within, I would say, an hour, I

39:33

had way more than 21 friends saying, who

39:35

should I send the money to? Where can

39:37

I write my notes? And we

39:39

hadn't even set up anything. We weren't expecting

39:42

it to take off that quickly. But within

39:44

24 hours, we had Google

39:46

Forms in place. We had payment method

39:48

ready to go. In less

39:50

than, I'd say, 48 hours, we had

39:52

the notes written. And pieces were being

39:54

delivered to my friend's key bus. And then it

39:56

spread to her sister and her sister's friend's key bus.

39:58

And then it spread to us. another friend who

40:00

has students and families throughout the north

40:02

of Israel and all of their friends

40:04

and so within a week we

40:07

were delivering to over a

40:09

hundred and fifty families just the

40:11

first week. Pizza owners, one

40:13

of them contacted us and said who are

40:15

you this is a gift from God

40:17

because all of our catering has just

40:20

stopped and you were able to

40:22

provide us with a few weeks worth

40:24

of fun that we weren't

40:26

going to have. So this

40:28

week we're actually delivering hopefully delivering to

40:30

a Druze village as well as an

40:32

Israeli village and we should have about

40:35

hopefully a hundred and fifty families this

40:37

week. It ranges on the size of

40:39

communities we have communities that are requesting

40:41

our help that one of them said

40:43

they have 450 families so that's not

40:45

happening this week because we need more

40:47

funds but usually any community ranges between

40:49

60 to 175 families. I think

40:54

we're at almost 3,000 but that

40:56

doesn't include we also deliver Shabbat dinners

40:58

to soldiers on both fronts so

41:00

if you include that those are

41:02

not pizzas we take a break

41:04

for Shabbat we've delivered close to

41:06

5,000 meals. You go

41:09

to pizza4mom.com and you will find

41:11

all the information there to donate

41:14

to write a note to send Shabbat

41:16

dinner all the information is there. Simplify

41:29

your giving with the Jewish communal fund

41:31

the nation's largest Jewish donor advised funds.

41:33

In good times or during times of

41:36

crisis JCF enables you to respond quickly

41:38

and handles all record-keeping for your philanthropy.

41:41

Open a fund with as little as $5,000

41:43

and let JCF streamline your charitable giving. Act

41:45

by December 29th to lock in the maximum

41:47

charitable deduction for 2023. Get started at jcfny.org

42:06

Danielle Butten is the founder and CEO

42:08

of the AFIYA Foundation, an organization that

42:10

donates surplus medical supplies from the U.S.

42:13

to communities in need all over

42:15

the world. They've done work

42:17

in places like Ghana, Haiti, and Ukraine. And

42:19

Danielle tells us about the work that AFIYA

42:21

is now doing to help Israel. My

42:28

name is Danielle Butten, and I

42:30

am the founder and the CEO

42:32

of the AFIYA Foundation. The biggest

42:34

hospitals and health centers of New

42:37

York donate their surplus-rescued supplies

42:39

to AFIYA. So we're talking

42:41

about millions of pounds of medical

42:43

supplies. We are the only nation in

42:45

the world that throws away perfect

42:48

sterile medical supplies, well with

42:51

an expiration date if they have

42:53

been in the room with a

42:55

patient. So the opportunity is billions

42:58

of dollars worth of supplies that could

43:00

be rescued and redirected. And

43:02

then we send our

43:04

supplies to sites in need

43:06

worldwide. Importantly, we do two

43:08

things. We support existing health

43:10

care systems that face the crisis every

43:13

single day of not having enough supplies.

43:15

And we also show up for

43:18

disasters, manmade or natural. So

43:20

October 7th hits

43:23

the horrors and the crisis

43:25

of that day, and we

43:27

knew we could respond. The JDC started to

43:29

work with the Ministry of Health in Israel.

43:32

And what's so different about this moment in

43:34

time is so

43:37

often during war, we saw this in

43:39

Ukraine or in other disasters,

43:42

there's no integrated list of

43:45

what is needed nationwide.

43:48

And what's extraordinary and not

43:50

surprising at all about Israel

43:53

is the Ministry of Health instantly

43:55

began collecting needs from hospitals

43:58

and health centers countrywide. and

44:00

the JDC is helping with the

44:02

integration of that list and sharing

44:05

it with organizations they

44:07

trust and they know can help them

44:09

fulfill. And so we have

44:11

this incredibly well-vetted list. Simultaneous to

44:13

this, there were so

44:15

many people activated

44:18

and sending in supplies

44:20

and finding cargo planes and filling

44:22

stuff up. And to be totally

44:24

frank, I have no idea where

44:26

this stuff ended up because getting

44:29

custom cleared in Israel is

44:32

a sophisticated, complicated,

44:34

rightful process. They

44:36

don't need a bunch of stuff that is

44:38

being hauled to Israel with really

44:40

good intention behind it, but

44:42

it has to match needs that

44:44

they are very precise about and

44:46

should be. And so

44:49

we began the process of looking at

44:51

this list and realized

44:54

that not only were we going to

44:56

be able to use supplies that AFI

44:59

has in-house, but we also realized

45:01

we need to start purchasing some biomedical

45:03

equipment. And so we were able to

45:05

raise $2 million. We're trying

45:07

to raise five to be able to

45:09

purchase inventory that matches some of the

45:11

needs. We don't usually buy supplies. We

45:14

have all of them donated to us,

45:16

but this is such an unusual circumstance

45:18

that we're using every connection we have

45:20

to be able to support them by

45:23

sending in supplies that are not requested.

45:25

It is going to bottleneck custom

45:27

clearance and it

45:29

is not as helpful as strategies. And

45:32

I think the best way to get involved is

45:34

to donate funding to those

45:37

who are involved and doing

45:39

this work because we

45:42

are getting the supplies in and

45:44

we are procuring and shipping. I

45:46

think also to volunteer in sites

45:49

where all hands are on

45:51

deck, we need volunteers to help us

45:53

sort through medical supplies. This is incredibly

45:55

helpful. I believe firmly

45:58

that action is the answer. antidote

46:00

to trauma. So we

46:02

are all watching

46:04

this story of terror and

46:07

fear and horrors

46:09

unfold and if you can

46:11

find your own way to

46:14

activate it helps it

46:17

helps and I can't say that

46:19

enough it can be anything but

46:21

activate. Hey

46:38

the best thing about Chanukah it's

46:40

Sufganiyot the delicious fried donuts that

46:42

we eat because well you know

46:44

oil. Once upon a time

46:46

not so long ago they used to be

46:48

simple things just a good injection of jam

46:50

and a bit of powdered sugar but over

46:52

the last decade or so Israelis have turned

46:54

Sufganiyot into an arms race of sorts trying

46:57

to see who can make the most elaborate

46:59

most amazing most over-the-top most I can't believe

47:01

I'm eating that donut and so

47:03

we sent our senior fried food correspondent the

47:06

OG Josh of this podcast Josh Cross

47:08

accompanied by native Israeli Lael to

47:10

the streets of Tel Aviv to

47:12

investigate the latest in the quest

47:14

to make the perfect Sufganiyot. Josh

47:22

Cross where are we right now? As

47:25

I said many other times but never

47:27

meant it for real I met your

47:29

moms in a nice apartment overlooking Hayakon

47:31

over the beach and I'm

47:33

seeing some dude paddle boarding out

47:35

there and maybe a

47:37

jetty and stuff and nobody's in the Sheridan pool but

47:40

I would know if they were. Well

47:42

and hello also to my mother. Hello

47:46

I'm so honored that

47:48

I have such a guest my

47:51

son Lael and Josh. All

47:53

right listen we're not here to have a good

47:55

time we are here to work and we have

47:57

a very specific challenge ahead of us.

48:00

because it is the second night of

48:02

Hanukkah, right here in Tel Aviv. And

48:04

I've told Josh Cross the story of

48:06

a certain trend in Israel in recent

48:08

years to make supekaniyot,

48:10

or jelly donuts, which used to

48:13

be plain, beautiful, deep-fried doughy things

48:16

injected with a healthy dose of

48:18

strawberry jam and coated in

48:20

powdered sugar. This is it in my simple

48:22

youth. But at least here, we

48:25

have experienced an arms race of

48:27

sorts. We have experienced a race to

48:30

see who could make the

48:32

most ridiculous supekaniyot. And so

48:34

my mother went out and bought

48:37

four supekaniyot. And

48:39

producer Josh Cross reluctantly

48:43

will now sacrifice for

48:45

our people. And he will

48:47

begin this taste test, just like Hanukkah, we will

48:49

start here and end there. Josh

48:51

Cross kindly eat the first

48:54

supekaniyot. So this one seems

48:56

to be a traditional jelly.

48:59

Now, the consistency is far better than

49:01

like this is no Duncan stuff. Sorry,

49:03

producer Robert. Now, here's the question

49:06

in this context, is this like fine sushi where

49:08

you definitely can't take a bite? You have to

49:10

eat the whole thing. Okay.

49:13

So here's what it sounds like. Can

49:17

I talk to your mom? Yes, you may. Fuck that.

49:20

Okay. So

49:22

now we have we've established a baseline. It

49:25

is delicious. What would you say about the

49:27

dough? It is spongy. It

49:29

is. This is Coco the dog also

49:31

wanting a bite but will not receive

49:33

one. A donor is supposed

49:35

to be not quite rubbery,

49:37

but close to that in those the sponginess.

49:40

It's not airing. And I

49:42

would say that is exactly what it was supposed to be. Ratio,

49:44

the filling to dough ratio.

49:48

If I were eight years old, I

49:50

would be disappointed. At

49:53

an adult age. It's

49:56

exactly correct. It's what it should be.

49:58

I think we've established. a good baseline.

50:01

It is time now to

50:03

take a bite of the second mystery, Sufgeniya. Describe it,

50:05

first of all. This looks like

50:07

it has some kind of tan cream. If

50:09

we were in America, I would think it

50:11

was coffee of some sort. But

50:13

do we know what it is? We do not. Okay,

50:16

well, I'm going to try it and we'll find out. Oh,

50:18

that's halvo. Halvo. That's halvo,

50:20

halvo. Yeah. Yeah,

50:23

yeah. That is

50:25

also good. Excellent.

50:28

Okay, so now

50:30

we're progressing here. We've

50:32

done the thing. The halvo is

50:35

also very delicious. Does it work well? I

50:38

have no notes. Well,

50:41

then I think the only thing to do

50:43

is to jump right in to

50:45

number three. Describe what you're looking at here.

50:48

I would have to guess it was

50:50

caramel or something, but it could be something

50:52

else. I'm going to say again, either

50:54

hazelnut cream or dulce de leche. Dulce

50:58

de leche, like it's got that color. So

51:00

it's one of those. And again, the dough

51:02

on each of these is the same with

51:04

just a different topping. So we'll see. I

51:08

think that's dulce de leche. It's

51:11

delicious. Halvo

51:13

still beats it, I think, of the three that we've

51:16

had so far. But

51:19

we can't be certain because there's

51:22

something here that I'm looking at that is tantalizing

51:26

for it is topped and stepped with

51:29

green cream, like

51:32

moss green cream. I

51:35

mean, that's got to be pistachio. I

51:37

think so too. Either that or like some kind

51:39

of weirdly colored lemon, although I don't think that

51:41

is. I got to throw points at your mom

51:43

because the secret that you learn married

51:46

to a French woman, but also who is

51:48

Moroccan and having been in Israel before, whatever

51:50

is pistachio is actually

51:52

when used correctly, the single

51:54

greatest topping for anything ever

51:56

when used correct. We have a soul here. Oh,

51:59

I have. This may take a take.

52:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take the donuts. All of

52:03

us here, the statue, became a great kid

52:06

in Lolicot. In

52:09

fact, in this city, everything they

52:11

just said, even with

52:13

children, children, you know,

52:16

just a snack. It's still

52:18

with Josh, so

52:21

I believe this is his first. All right, then

52:23

we need a winner here. We need this to

52:25

be the single greatest Sufganiya

52:28

you've ever had. Josh Cross, do

52:31

the honors. Holy

52:34

shit. The

52:39

only other thing I'm going to say is, yes. It

52:41

is the statue. It is the best. I

52:45

think it's a miracle. We

52:47

came here to have one Sufganiya,

52:50

and it lasted eight Sufganiyos somehow.

52:52

Eight nights at home, huh? Yes,

52:54

this is very, very good. This

52:57

is Josh Cross. Thank you for

52:59

sacrificing for our people.

53:01

Hanukkah Sameach. Hanukkah Sameach.

53:13

Happy Hanukkah, J.Crew. Now

53:15

listen, I know the holiday

53:17

is over, and I hope you all

53:19

got exactly the gifts you wanted. And

53:21

none of that, oh, hug

53:23

Sameach, here's some socks business. But

53:26

I would like to go ahead and

53:28

suggest that there is one more gift

53:30

you absolutely need to buy for yourself

53:32

and honestly for everyone you love. It's

53:35

Tablet Magazine's Guide to Zionism. It's

53:37

a really special book, and I'm

53:39

not just saying that because I

53:42

edited it. First

53:44

of all, we kick things off with

53:46

a small but essential collection of Zionism's

53:48

seminal texts. You'll read Herzl

53:51

and Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin in

53:53

their own words, a crash course

53:55

in the history of this potent

53:57

idea that still excites and moves

53:59

us. a century later. Then

54:01

we collected for you the few dozen

54:04

essays you need to make sense of

54:06

honestly everything that's going on in the

54:08

world today when it has to do with Israel. Why

54:11

do so many media outlets, for

54:13

example, have such a hard time

54:15

reporting fairly and accurately about Israel?

54:18

Maddy Friedman, a longtime AP

54:20

insider, delivers a scathing and

54:23

eye-opening answer. Is Zionism

54:25

racism? And if not, why do so

54:27

many otherwise smart and lovely people seem

54:30

to think that it's okay to say

54:32

so? Novelist Anne

54:34

Roissy responds. And

54:36

what did Shimon Peres, Israel's legendary

54:39

former prime minister and president, think

54:41

about the peace process, Startup

54:43

Nation, and the future of Israel?

54:46

You could read his very last interview,

54:48

an interview he gave just a very

54:50

short while before he passed away. You'll

54:53

also find essays by such luminaries

54:55

as George Steiner, Michael Walzer, and

54:58

Yair Tlaibid, and by not so

55:00

luminaries like, yeah, okay, me. From

55:03

the Iran deal to Hamas,

55:05

from social media to right-wing

55:07

agitator Itamar Ben-Gvir, this book

55:09

covers everything and anything you

55:11

could think about. So really,

55:13

what are you waiting for?

55:15

Go to tabletmagstore.com and

55:17

order your copy. It's a gorgeous book.

55:19

It will make for a belated Hanukkah

55:22

gift or an early Christmas gift, and

55:24

it's the perfect volume to have on

55:26

your lap as you curl in

55:28

the couch with a blanket and some hot

55:30

cocoa or a stiffer drink, finding

55:33

some comfort in the eternal story of

55:35

our eternal people. Buy it

55:38

now. Read it soonest. Chag

55:40

Sameach, my friends. An

55:44

Orthodox is a production of Tablet Studios.

55:46

The show is hosted by me, Lia

55:48

Liebowitz, with Stephanie Butnik and Joshua Molina.

55:51

We're produced and edited by Josh Cross,

55:53

Robert Skarmucha, Quinn Waller, and Ellie Blyer.

55:55

Our team includes Tanya Singer, Courtney Hazlett,

55:57

and Daron Ruskay with help from... Sam

56:00

Hacker and Jordana LaRosa. Our episode artist

56:02

is Esther Werdegar. Our logo is by

56:04

Jenny Rosbrook. Our theme music is by

56:06

Gollum, and our news and mailbox themes

56:09

are by Steve Barton. We love to

56:11

hear from you, so email us at

56:13

unorthodox at tabletmag.com or leave a message

56:15

on our listener line, 914-570-4869. Until

56:22

next week, Shalom, friends, and a

56:24

happy Hanukkah. Chag Sameach L'Kulam.

56:31

Okay, love you guys. Bye-bye.