Israel: The Land of Promise… and Podcasts?
When I think of Israel, the first thing that I think of is not podcasts.
I think of the sacred sites in Jerusalem, of the bustling city of Tel Aviv. I think of the salty waters in the Dead Sea, and the sights on the West Bank. And of course, there’s the political unrest, the conflict and chaos. Israel is a complicated country, but it’s also an incredibly beautiful one. Here are two podcasts that will teach you about Israel’s people, traditions, and stories:
Israel Story
In-depth reporting and stories from Israeli radio producers/best friends
Israel Story bills itself as ‘the Israeli version of This American Life,‘ and while many podcasts try to link themselves to TAL in the minds of listeners, this comparison actually holds up pretty well. Not surprising, considering that when radio producers Mishy Harman, Yochai Maital, Ro’ee Gilron, and Shai Satran, who have been close childhood friends since summer camp, created the Hebrew-language radio show Sipur Israel, it was directly inspired by This American Life. A few years (and a few Ira Glass comparisons) later, their growing team is on season two of Israel Story, an English-language version of their podcast, distributed by PRX and presented by Vox’s Tablet magazine.
If you’ve heard of Israel Story, it might be because of their collaborations. They produced an episode with Radiolab, ‘Birth Story‘, which tells the tale of an Israeli couple, babies, and surrogacy across country borders. Or you might have listened to their recent 99% Invisible story, The White Elephant of Tel Aviv, about a 2.5-million square feet bus station. Or, you may have heard host Mishy Harman’s attempt to win back an ex-girlfriend through hitchhiking on To the Best of our Knowledge. Each episode of Israel Story is presented in acts, TAL-style, and it’s obvious how much effort goes into crafting each story. Listening to Israel Story means discovering new tales from around the world — and it’s a reminder that human stories and emotions are universal. There’s the story about a grandmother who chatted with Kanye West on a flight from LAX to Tel Aviv (‘Now Boarding‘), and tales of unlikely friendships (‘Besties‘).
The Kibitz
A guide to being Jewish, ish
I’m not Jewish, so I don’t know a lot about the religion or traditions. But I have a solid base of pop-culture knowledge on Judaism, informed mostly by friends and media: I was always envious of my classmates in college who talked about their birthright trips, and my future holiday goals include an elaborate Chrismakkuh celebration. Enter The Kibitz, a podcast that aims to make Judaism more accessible: it’s “your guide to everything Jewish-ish”.
According to The Yiddish Handbook, ‘kibitz’ (or ‘kibets’) is “related to the Hebrew word ‘collective’, but it can also mean verbal joking.” It’s produced by Reboot, a group which holds a gathering every year of Jews from across the country to discuss issues related to Jewish identity, community and meaning.
“My idea for The Kibitz was that each episode should feature a bunch of shorter (5–10 minute) segments that would balance interesting conversation with humor. So I reached out to comedians, writers, thinkers, my 95-year old nana, and a rabbi to help out,” says Dan Crane, host of the show. The result is a show that’s part conversation, part story, part explanation of Jewish traditions. The most recent episode talks about the need to unplug from technology — a theme that’s echoed in almost every tech-related podcast — and links it to the Shabbat tradition.
Special thanks to Israel Story producer Benny Becker for helpful information about the podcast scene in Israel.
Originally published at www.podcastbroadcast.org on April 3, 2016.
