Shows / Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis
Israel from the Inside is for people who want to understand Israel with nuance, who believe that Israel is neither hopelessly flawed and illegitimate, nor beyond critique. If thoughtful analysis of Israel and its people interests you, welcome!
danielgordis.substack.com
Episodes
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisFormer Americans in Israel on Thanksgiving Day—what we're thankful for
A few months ago, in mid-August, I read a Facebook post (see below) by Amanda Borschel-Dan, who is the Deputy Editor of the Times of Israel, and host of its…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisAre the days of reckoning almost here?
It’s a strange world when an airport hallway can take your breath away. When we’d left Israel a few weeks earlier, it was still lined with hostage posters on…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisWhat would it mean for people to live their Jewish lives in a way that was transformative for them, and for the world?
About six months ago, I was speaking with a writer-friend who lives in DC, and she mentioned to me that she needed to finish a revision of her book before she…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe Arc of Jewish History Bends Towards History
This past Shabbat, I was honored to be asked to speak at the Jewish Center, on the West Side of New York. When I posted the publicity for the Shabbat morning…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisEleven, thirty and eighty-seven ....
A brief focus on memory today. Three vignettes: ELEVEN YEARS Hadar Goldin z’l has been returned to Israel. More than eleven years after he was killed in the…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"It's not the same country you grew up in," but (at least one) is still the country that makes you cry.
“Eliminate the Diaspora,” said Vladimir Jabotinsky, one of the great minds of early Zionism, “before it eliminates you.” Jabotinsky used that line, apparently…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisBefore October 7, how many people had heard the term "Gaza Envelope"? Do you know anyone who'd ever stayed there? Meet Nir Am Hospitality, which aims to change that, and much more.
On October 6, 2023, if someone had mentioned to you the “Gaza Envelope”, would you have known what that even was? If the answer is “no,” you shouldn’t feel…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"Hatch a plot—it shall be foiled; for God is with us!"
You do not want to be driving to or from Jerusalem today, or anywhere near the entrance to the city. With the government apparently pushing forward a bill that…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisBETHLEHEM ROAD: Stories of Immigration and Exile, by Judy Lev
I begin today’s column with three photos of a falafel stand. Kind of innocuous, the sign that says “Falafel Oved” in the middle, the guy making the falafel on…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"Tell me what happened these past two years." What would we say to a just-released hostage?
As more details come out about the ordeal that the just-freed hostages had to endure, it’s hard at times to fathom how anyone survived. A few were held captive…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisCould it really happen? A nation holding its breath, almost afraid to hope.
As we’ll explore in greater detail tomorrow (October 7 is Yom Tov Sukkot, so we can’t post then), the confluence of October 7 this week and Simchat Torah next…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisNew beginnings ... at Kibbutz Nir Oz, and elsewhere, too.
Every now and then, those reminders of how special this place is. I went to get my hair cut on Monday morning, a few hours before Rosh Hashanah. I love the…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisWhy would anyone force Israel's basketball team to go to a classical music concert? Unless that's not what it was ...
The point of today’s post is the video, below, of Israel’s national basketball team, “forced” to attend a “classical music concert” before departing for an…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisA miracle of sorts took place on Yom Kippur last year in Gaza, and it convinced Romi Gonen she would survive.
The phrase “from Zion shall go forth Torah” (Isaiah 2:3) is well known but for many Jews, both in Israel and around the world, rings hollow in an era in which…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisWhat's brewing, what's embracing and what's "grating"
Barring anything dramatic and unforeseen, here’s our plan for this week: MONDAY (today): We look at what’s brewing in the chock-full headlines, plus some…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisAs the Haredi draft issue simmers, Dov Halbertal has some fascinating things to say
Monday was a terrible day. The terror attack in Jerusalem that killed six and wounded many more, some very seriously, felt like a return to the “old days” of…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisWhen your daughter and her boyfriend are murdered in their kibbutz, how do you create meaning out of horrific loss?
Just walk through the front door of the Niv Nirel Center not far from the gorgeous beach in Michmoret (a bit north of Netanya), and you know you’re in a place…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisBody and Soul ... remarkable stories of recovery
Barring anything radically unforeseen (Iran war, Part II, which many experts say is likely coming…), here’s what we have planned for this week: SUNDAY (today)…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"What Smotrich and Ben Gvir tell you is Christian or foreign is actually the essence of Judaism. Don't reject it, embrace it."
Across the West, battles rage over whether liberalism and liberal values (liberal in the sense of John Locke, not liberal in the sense of “left wing”) will…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisA Shlomo Artzi concert almost lets you forget where you are ... until it doesn't
Due to the Labor Day Weekend in the United States, we didn’t post on Sunday or Monday. This week we’ll post The Week’s Essay on Wednesday, and the weekly…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisIs the Israeli government about to reject a potential deal to bring some hostages home?
The headline on Times of Israel above, which appears as of this writing, is pretty typical of what’s in the online Hebrew press as well. What is actually…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"I will care for this child until the day that I die, at home."
Ask people around these parts if they’re hopeful about Israel’s future, and most say, “absolutely.” Ask them why they harbor that optimism given the tsunami of…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"It's not that I'm hurt, I'm worried."
Reasonable minds can differ about whether or not to end the war. Reasonable minds can disagree about what we should do next to try to get the hostages back…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"Sure, we're a democracy, and that's nice. But the UAE, WOW!, they get stuff done."
Because Israel’s news cycle often mimics the lifespan of a mayfly (which lives for about one day, though some females apparently sometimes last only five…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisIronically, the Haredim may actually save this country—by giving the rest of us a cause around which to unite
In September 1983, in response to a Soviet diplomat’s question about why the U.S. had to be the country in which the United Nations was situated, Charles M…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe story of a village and a bakery that remind us of the Israel we love, the Israel that brings us pride.
Just yesterday, I drove north for conversation with a psychiatrist whose military unit does psychiatric PTSD interventions on the battlefield, just behind the…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisIt's an "Avalanche." But do Israel's leaders really understand the enormity of what's happening?
Recently released videos of two hostages have reminded Israelis that time is simply running out. Time may also be running out for thousands of Gazans, who (and…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisWhen Bedouin teenagers have nothing and receive nothing, what kind of future awaits them and their Jewish neighbors?
Israel from the Inside first introduced Desert Stars to our readers and listeners almost three years ago, when we hosted Matan Yaffe, who founded the program…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisYonit Levi: "Maybe it's time to acknowledge that this isn't a PR problem, but a moral problem."
At the end of this post, a few truly uplifting moments from Israeli social media, moments which we all deeply need. But first, the bigger story that is…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe Hunger Wars
I don’t typically bring traditional Jewish sources into these columns. Every now and then, though, something pops up in the world of Jewish tradition which…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"How's the wifi on the boat?" ◼️ The chasm separating American Jews and Israelis, the morality or immorality of Israeli society, and a host of other topics ...
Some time ago, I had the privilege of hosting Rabbi Meir Azari of the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism on my podcast here on Israel from the Inside. The…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisAs the "Musaf" Magazine Section of Yedi'ot made clear on its cover this weekend, Bibi has a lot on his head.
The week before last, we shared with our readers and listeners an invitation to join me, along with Rabbi Meir Azari of Tel Aviv, in a far-reaching…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisGoooood morning, Gaza!
We got together with friends last night, just to cap off a long, stressful week. We ordered in burgers and made gin and tonics at home, and sat down to eat. It…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisA few days after Iran, the government said it was time to return to normal. So we have, in large measure, and the rage has returned.
One of our grandchildren turns four this week, so his parents threw him a birthday party last Friday. It was family from “both sides,” aunts and uncles and…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"Zion Shall Not Fall Again? The Existential Stakes of Zionism Today"
Dr. Einat Wilf is a leading thinker on Israel, Zionism, foreign policy and education. She was a member of the Israeli Parliament from 2010 to 2013, where she…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisIf these wars are about to end, will we now begin to think about who we must become?
The clip above is a very short portion of a lecture delivered recently at Shalem College by Einat Wilf, who to my mind is one of the most creative and serious…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisHe set out for Harvard never imagining that he'd end up suing the university. He won, returned to Israel and now he's starting a political party.
We’ve had Matan Yaffe on the podcast before, to speak about the school for Bedouin kids that he established in the Negev after some Bedouin teenagers tried to…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisFor years, Yossi Klein Halevi has been advocating that Israel attack Iran. So now what?
For decades, Yossi Klein Halevi has been one of the preeminent diagnosticians of the Israeli soul. From his hundreds of columns for the New Republic among…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"Don't worry, Uri, there will be more wars."
We won, right? Or at least so we’re being told. But if we won, why is everyone here feeling so …. It’s very hard to describe what people are feeling. To be…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisExhausted but hopeful, Israelis are still laughing
For all intents and purposes, for the next short while, this war is a waiting game. Is Donald Trump going to do the right thing—not just for Israel, but for…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"I died on the 120th day of the war, but I didn't tell anyone."
There’s a Facebook post that came out just yesterday (16 hours ago, as of this writing), that already has 10,000 responses, 2,500 shares, and 1,100 comments…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe war changes lives in ways we hardly hear about, but need to know about.
We close this brief week (shortened due to the holiday of Shavu’ot) with two glimpses of very different sorts of stories that describe the lives of IDF…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisJust let me talk ...
Yesterday, we met a new, brewing political party called El Ha-Degel, “To the Flag,” and heard from one of its founders, David Sherez (additional links to El…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"From right to left, Israelis don't like their political choices. We aim to offer something new."
We posted this video, to which we’ve added subtitles for our readers and listeners, a few weeks ago. It’s an obvious evocation of Ben-Gurion, invited back to…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisA more robust introduction to Yair Golan, and the "language of October 6" that has come back to haunt us.
Yair Golan, who now heads The Democrats, the Jewish political party that was forged out of a combination of the Labor Party and Meretz, has been much in the…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe most ironic photo of the week?
“You’re the only reason that I’m here. You saved my life.” That’s what Edan Alexander said to Donald Trump in the video above, released by the White House…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"I suddenly realized I didn't know anyone here who isn't Jewish"
Over the hundreds of interviews that I’ve done for Israel from the Inside since we launched it in 2021, I’ve met fascinating people, been inspired by…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"We know that something is broken in Israeli society and Israeli religiosity, but salvation can come in the blink of an eye."
I’ve mentioned this a few times in recent months, but beyond hostages (always my primary concern), war and politics, one of the questions that has lodged…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"After the war" no longer sounds entirely fictional.
Here’s what appeared on all our screens in the middle of the day yesterday. Already yesterday afternoon, the country was abuzz with the news that Prime…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThree faces of Israeli resilience
A few day ago, I was having lunch with some friends from abroad along with some people who live here, when the friends from abroad asked, “Are you worried? Are…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisTonight's narrow and fragile bridge between Yom Ha-Zikaron and Yom Ha-Atzma'ut
When I lived in Israel as a kid, there was Yom Ha-Zikaron (Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror), and then, the next day, Yom Ha-Atzma’ut…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"From Zion Shall Go Forth Torah" — but of what sort?
A while back, I saw the opening to a book review in Haaretz with the following question in large black letters: Reform Rabbi Meir Azari: “When Jews go into an…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisYesterday was Day 550. On the eve of the Festival of Freedom, the story of one family and their harrowing escape.
Noam Kalush has actually spoken on our podcast once before, when we interviewed him and colleague who are very active in the Hostages and Missing Families…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisQatargate: Some of what you didn't want to know and were smart not to ask
The fast pace of the news cycle in the US — the tariffs and their impact on the economy around the world, fears (on the part of some) about the freedom of…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisYes, it might survive that way. But would it still really be "the State of Israel"?
Today, in the final segment of our three part conversation with Professor Kandel, I sought to articulate, however inadequately, why I found his proposal…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisThe full Eli Sharabi Interview with English subtitles
When you look at photos of Eli Sharabi before he was kidnapped on the day that his wife and two daughters were murdered, it’s hard to believe that it’s the…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisIsrael adopted Norway's legal approach to prostitution. Did it work? What impact has the war had?
On many of the critical issues facing the State of Israel, reasonable minds can differ. End the war or do not end the war? Draft the Haredim by force or let…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis500 days
The poster reads: 500 days. Get them out of hell. There must be ways of tracking the mood of a country, its ups and downs, its moments of celebration and its…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel GordisA long-time supporter of a two-state solution believes it's now dead. But he has an alternate proposal.
In a recent Haaretz opinion piece, leading Israeli security expert Chuck Freilich wrote that it’s time to give up on the “mindless ‘two-state solution’…
Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis"We survived the worst day since the Holocaust ... What will be here?"
At the conclusion of the video below, you’ll see this: It translates as follows: Over the past year, we spoke with dozens of young people and asked to hear…