Jewish Crossroads: Jewish Identity in Times of Crisis

In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, Tamar Ish Shalom sits down with Matti Friedman, one of the most perceptive and nuanced voices writing about Israel, war, and Jewish identity today.

A former Associated Press correspondent in Jerusalem and a longtime contributor to the New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Free Press, Friedman has built a reputation for clarity in moments of confusion and for resisting the easy narratives that so often dominate coverage of Israel. Born in Canada and having made Aliyah at 17, he occupies a rare vantage point, both fully Israeli and slightly apart. It is precisely this dual perspective that lends his work its depth, skepticism, and moral precision.

The conversation moves between biography and history, journalism and memory. What does it mean to choose Israel rather than be born into it? How does one write honestly about a society one loves? And what responsibilities does a journalist carry when covering a country so burdened by myth, projection, and misunderstanding?

They also discuss his forthcoming book, Out of the Sky, and the enduring challenge of telling Jewish and Israeli stories in a world eager for simplification.

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Matti's books: 
Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe - https://a.co/d/01RVQU8r
Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai -  https://a.co/d/06j2RmCI
Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel - https://a.co/d/02Oo5cf7

Articles: 
Israel Had a Disorienting 2025. What Comes Next? Read here: https://www.thefp.com/p/israel-had-a-disorienting-2025-what

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth. Read here: 
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide

In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, Tamar Ish Shalom sits down with Jonah Platt, one of the most striking Jewish voices to emerge in American public life in the years since October 7.
Platt was well known long before this moment as a producer, writer, and cultural commentator, and as the son of legendary Hollywood producer Marc Platt and Jewish communal leader Julie Platt. Over the past few years, however, he has undergone a visible and consequential transformation. Through his podcast Being Jewish, Platt has become an unapologetic Jewish voice deeply engaged with the moral and emotional stakes of Jewish life right now.
Together, they turn to the present and a reckoning in American Jewish life. How should this moment be understood? What kind of leadership is being asked for now? And what responsibilities come with finding one’s voice when silence no longer feels possible?
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In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, journalist Tamar Ish Shalom sits down with Yair Golan, former IDF major general and one of the most prominent figures on Israel’s political left.
Golan reflects on a life shaped by decades of military service, including his role as deputy chief of staff of the IDF, and on his transition from the world of security into Israeli politics, where he now serves as leader of the Democrats Party. The conversation turns personal as Golan recounts the morning of October 7, when he drove south and joined efforts to rescue young people fleeing the attack near the Nova Music Festival.
From the battlefield to the Knesset, this episode traces the moral and strategic questions that animate Golan’s public life: the limits of power, the responsibilities of leadership, and the tension between security, democracy, and conscience in a country living under permanent pressure. Known for his blunt language and willingness to provoke uncomfortable debates, Golan speaks candidly about Israel’s present crisis and the choices he believes will determine its future.
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In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, journalist Tamar Ish Shalom sits down with Maya Tevet Dayan for a deeply reflective conversation. Tevet Dayan is an Israeli poet, writer, and public intellectual, widely regarded as one of the most important voices in contemporary Israeli literature and feminism. A recipient of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Award for Literature, she holds a PhD in Indian philosophy and literature and has taught and lectured at leading universities in Israel and abroad for many years.
The conversation unfolds across geographies and states of mind. Tevet Dayan speaks about her time as a visiting poet in the United States in the aftermath of October 7, where she confronted the difficulty, often the impossibility, of translating Israeli grief, fear, and moral clarity in academic and cultural spaces that could feel alienating or dismissive. At the same time, she reflects on an unexpected encounter with Jewish peoplehood in the Diaspora, experienced not as an abstraction but as a living and vulnerable bond.
Upon her return to Israel, the questions intensified rather than receded. Tevet Dayan recounts a harrowing night spent sheltering at her father’s home as an Iranian missile landed nearby, an experience that sharpened her thinking about safety, home, exile, and what it means to remain rooted when instability becomes a permanent condition. This episode weaves poetry and philosophy with lived experience, tracing how language, identity, and belonging are reshaped in moments when history presses in on the most intimate spaces of life.
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In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, journalist Tamar Ish Shalom sits down with Dr. Einat Wilf for a wide-ranging and intellectually bracing conversation. Dr. Wilf is a thinker, historian, former Knesset member, one of Israel’s most incisive public intellectuals. She is the author of several books, including The War of Return (with Dr. Adi Schwartz). In recent years, Wilf has undergone a significant ideological evolution, emerging as a leading voice challenging long-held assumptions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, international diplomacy, and Israel’s strategic choices. In this discussion, Wilf talks about her continued public work through writing and advocacy, and her latest move: the founding of a new political party, Oz, aimed at reshaping Israel’s political future.

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