I’m Noam Weissman, and this is Unpacking Israeli History, the podcast that takes a deep dive into some of the most intense, historically fascinating and often misunderstood events and stories linked to Israeli History.
Okay, yalla, let’s do this.
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I’m coming today with a special bonus episode.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk shook me.
I know this is not an original comment. I know many of you feel the same way.
I also know, disturbingly, that there were Americans – I pray this is only on the fringe – who celebrated this moment. And I also know that many of his ideas and ideals are at odds with many in this community.
But here’s the thing. Our community, the Unpacking Israeli History community, is bigger than any one ideology. Our community is made up of atheists and devout believers, right-wingers and left-wingers, public-school sophomores and retirees in Boca.
Some of you admired Charlie Kirk. Some of you opposed him fiercely.
So why talk about this on a show about Israeli history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? I mean – you come here to get history, to learn about the story of Israel, the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But time for me to confess something. That’s not exactly what this podcast is actually about. Not exclusively.
Technically, yes, this podcast is about the history of Israel, but really, really? It’s about something else. It’s about what history teaches us about living together, today. About how we listen, how we argue, and how we wrestle with the hardest questions.
A few weeks ago, I heard something from Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, a spiritual leader on Long Island.
He pointed out that in the Hebrew Bible, when it describes a rebellious child, the phrase isn’t just that this child was an “eino shomea,” one who didn’t hear, but instead that he was an “eineni shomea,” that he refused to listen. It’s a complicated grammatical argument for another time, but the point is so important. There is a vast difference between someone who did not hear something, who missed something, who did not pay attention, and someone WHO REFUSES TO LISTEN, who makes the active choice to close themselves off from listening.
Over the last few days, after Charlie Kirk’s killing and the vitriol across America over the last few days, I am left wondering – Is this who we have become? Is this us? Have we become so intolerant to hear different ideas, that we are a group of “einenu shomeas,” WHO REFUSE TO LISTEN. Who refuse to hear different sides who disagree, even fervently, even passionately.
This question isn’t abstract for me. On November 13, 1995, after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, one of the great Religious Zionist thinkers, gave a remarkable talk to his students at Yeshivat Har Etzion. He didn’t simply condemn Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin. Instead, he looked inward. He argued that our whole society needed to do a communal soul-searching, in Hebrew a cheshbon nefesh, He argued that when religious zeal gets twisted, when holy words get weaponized, when incitement creeps into our discourse, it’s not enough to say, “that one that one crazy guy.” We all bear responsibility.
This is leadership. That is courage. To look at your own community and say, we’ve gone wrong, and we need to do better.
So when I think about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and its aftermath, I wonder, what does our moment demand, of us? Are we willing to look inward and ask what kind of culture we’re creating? Are we cultivating a world where disagreement is tolerated, even invited? Or are we building a world where disagreement is silenced, and sometimes destroyed?
I said earlier that this podcast isn’t just about Israeli history. So what is it about? It’s about what happens when societies refuse to listen. Think about the bitter divides in Israel before the assassination of Rabin, when political opponents stopped hearing each other as fellow citizens and began branding one another as traitors. Think about the years before and after the disengagement from Gaza, when families stopped speaking to each other because of orange ribbons or blue ones. Think about the Oslo years, when dreams of peace were met with waves of terror, and entire communities hardened themselves against hearing the other side.
Time and again, we’ve seen that when zeal outruns humility, when disagreement curdles into demonization, history turns tragic. And that lesson, not just the dates and facts, is why we tell these stories.
When we release our episodes on the concept of a Palestinian state next week, you will hear ideas you agree with and ideas you don’t. People you appreciate, and others who make you incredibly uncomfortable, or even angry. That’s the point.
It’s the same reason we’ve aired episodes about difficult moments in Israeli History. Not because we’re trying to say Israel is perfect, or Israel is awful – neither of those is true. Because sometimes, the act of truly listening is sacred.To uncover, excavate and explore, to see the multitudes of perspectives, to pursue truth, rather than victory.
So, I want to end with a prayer. It is a Jewish prayer in some ways, but should be a universal one. It is a prayer I often say before studying Torah with others; it is a prayer generations of Jews have said in the study hall; and it is a prayer I say before studying Talmud with my son and his friends on shabbat afternoons.
I will quote one part of it:
May it be Your will that no mishap come about through me; that I not stumble in a matter of Torah and that my friends rejoice in my mistakes and that my colleagues not stumble in a matter of Jewish law, and I will rejoice in them.
Think about that prayer. A culture where dissent isn’t feared, but embraced. Where disagreement is a source of joy, not threat.
That’s the culture I want for this community to model. That’s the culture I want for the United States of America and for the broader world.
So may the world heal from the vicious murder of Charlie Kirk. May Erika Kirk and their two children know a world where we fight fiercely over ideas, but in the public square, not with violence.
And may we, here in this community, rebel against the refusal to listen. May we listen fiercely, bravely, humbly.
Thanks for being part of this.
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Unpacking Israeli History is a production of Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts. I LOVE hearing from you, so email me on noam@unpacked.media to share your thoughts!
This episode was produced by Rivky Stern. Our team for this episode includes Ari Schlacht, and Rob Pera. I’m your host, Noam Weissman. Thanks for being here, and see you next week.