Podcasts about no country secret lives

This past Monday marked the grim one-year anniversary of October 7th. Around the world, Jewish communities gathered to memorialize a war still being fought. How did Israeli society experience this grief, and how did Diaspora communities memorialize? What are Israelis going through that we might not be able to see from a distance? And what are  Diaspora communities going through that Israelis may not see? To discuss, we are joined by Matti Friedman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and also trends in the world of journalism. He is a columnist for The Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/ Matti's most recent book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War.” Matti's army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, and other hotspots across the Middle East and around the world. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. Matti's book referenced in the episode: “Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War” — https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pumpkinflowers-matti-friedman/1122279367?ean=9781616206918

This past weekend we saw a major and brazen escalation against Israel by Hezbollah. This war front is not new, but it will now come into much sharper focus. And with the slaughter of Druze children, we have received a number of questions about Israel's Druze community in Israel's North, as well as questions about the options for Israeli decision-makers now. To help us unpack all of this, we are joined by Matti Friedman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and also trends in the world of journalism. He is a columnist for The Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/ Matti's most recent book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War.” Matti's army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, and other hotspots across the Middle East and around the world. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. Matti Friedman's published works that are relevant to this episode: -“The Wisdom of Hamas” — The Free Press — https://www.thefp.com/p/matti-friedman-the-wisdom-of-hamas -“What if the Real War in Israel Hasn't Even Started?” — The Free Press — https://www.thefp.com/p/matti-friedman-israel-hezbollah-war -"There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm -"An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide -"What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/ -“Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War” — https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pumpkinflowers-matti-friedman/1122279367?ean=9781616206918

Every day we see news accounts “reported” by reputable journalists. There is typically one frame in the post-10/07 War: ‘Gazan Palestinians are the victims of Israel.' How does this happen? How do journalists actually operate in Gaza and around the world? And is this a window into what had Hamas figured out long before 10/07 — that the forces of barbarism could manipulate the intentional press reaction to their massacre of 10/07? That is why we wanted to sit down with Matti Friedman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and also trends in the world of journalism. He is a monthly writer for Tablet Magazine and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. His newest book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War.” Matti's army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. But it was his time covering Hama's takeover of Gaza that led him to study with great detail how Hamas manipulates the media, NGOs and the international community, and how they are working from the same playbook right now, perhaps quite masterfully. Matti Friedman's published works that we discuss in this episode: "There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm "An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide "What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to journalist Matti Friedman, author of Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, about how the Israel-Hamas war is (mis)understood globally. Additionally, we speak to a series of students and educators about the state of antisemitism on school campuses. Special thanks to these guests: Moshe, Micah Greenland, Derek Gormin, Ben Spanjer, Nati Stern, and Celeste. In this episode we discuss:What gets lost in translation when we superimpose Americanized notions of racism and colonialism onto the Middle East? What drew Leonard Cohen to go to Israel during the Yom Kippur War? What help is being offered right now to Jewish students in American public schools?Tune in to hear a conversation about Jewish identity, moral clarity, and human resilience in times of crisis. Interview with Matti Friedman begins at 11:45.Campus interviews begin at 37:46.Matti Friedman's work as a reporter has taken him from Lebanon to Morocco, Cairo, Moscow and Washington, D.C., and to conflicts in Israel and the Caucasus. He has been a correspondent for the Associated Press, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. He grew up in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem. The Aleppo Codex, his first book (Algonquin, 2012) won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, among other honors. His second book, Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story (Algonquin, May 2016) won starred reviews in Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and was compared by the New York Times to Tim O'Brien's masterpiece The Things They Carried.References:Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai by Matti Friedman “Who by Fire” by Leonard Cohen“Who by Fire” by Rufus Wainwright and Amsterdam SinfoniettaThe Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World's Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books by Matti Friedman “An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth” by Matti Friedman “Israel's Problems Are Not Like America's” by by Matti Friedman Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition by David Nirenberg“The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False” by Simon Sebag Montefiore“Leonard Cohen speaks about G-d consciousness and Judaism (1964)”“The Anguished Fallout from a Pro-Palestinian Letter at Harvard” by Eren Orbey“We Stand Together With Israel Against Hamas”“Modernity and Messiah: On Parshas Noach and the Human Capacity for Revolution” by David Bashevkin“Why Jews Cannot Stop Shaking Right Now” by Dara Horn

This week we are joined by author and journalist Matti Friedman, who recently penned "Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" (you can hear him discuss it with Bari Weiss here) and before that the incredible "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel" about the founding of the Mossad and the nation.A former AP correspondent, Matti blew the lid on what the media gets wrong about Israel, in this badass essay in The Atlantic and in Tablet.We cover a lot of ground in this one, and manage to make it all the way to the end without talking about current Israeli politics, but then discuss Matti's impactful and insightful letter to American Jews (with OG's Yossi Klein Halevy and Daniel Gordis) on why they need to raise their voice against Israel's current government. Also: From Toronto to JerusalemThe myth of the KibbutzIf someone offers to introduce you to an old spy - you say yes!There are no delis in israel This ain't Norway Why the media is so obsessed with Israel (maybe because there are more staffers covering Israel than all of China and Africa?)Save us Bruno Mars Herzl the Hipster Media literacy Where does Matti get his information? (in books, like some nerd)News is activism We want to believe...The NY times Can we afford to criticize Israel publicly? Let's end on a pessimistic note J/k we're never letting him go The orthodox scene in israel is thriving...and it's terrifying (to some of us)We want to be socialists, as long as everyone else is a libertarian Draft theo orthodox to the army? Yael puts chaya Leah on the spot Matti's Hotmail We want to give Matti an out but then we remember Indian Jews Questions? Email askajewpod@gmail.comSign up to our substack askajewpod.substack.com 

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/israel-studies

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen's previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads. Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Matti Friedman on Twitter. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM, serves as a co-chair of the associate board at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and volunteers in the music archive at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Bradley Morgan on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

Matti Friedman is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, on the broader Middle East, and also on trends in the world of journalism. He is a monthly writer for Tablet Magazine and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. His newest book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War," which was chosen as a New York Times' Notable Book and as one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year, and was selected as one of the year's best by Foreign Affairs Magazine. Matti's army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. We cover a lot of topics in this podcast, including how to make sense of the recent Israel-Gaza flare-up, how to view it in the frame of the broader Middle East, the state of journalism and how it covers geopolitical events and wars, and we also dive into his newest book, “Who By Fire." Matti Friedman's published works that we discuss in this episode: "There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm" "An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide "What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/ "The New Kibbutz" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/kibbutz-matti-friedman "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/who-by-fire-matti-friedman/1140395710?ean=9781954118072

  Join me in my conversation with Matti Friedman as we discuss his new book Who By Fire, Leonard Cohen in the Sinai which recounts the singer/songwriter's performances in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Relying on newly revealed notes kept by Cohen, Friedman takes us into the war as Cohen traveled across the Sinai and Suez to perform for the Israeli troops in the most important time in Israeli history. Matti Friedman is a journalist and the author of three previous works of nonfiction. He was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family. Formerly he worked as an Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section, he currently writes a monthly feature for Tablet Magazine. Guest Matti Friedman Matti Friedman, a journalist, is the author of three previous works of nonfiction. His 2019 book Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the Natan Book Award and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War (2016) was chosen as a New York Times' Notable Book and as one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. Pumpkinflowers was selected as one of the year's best by Booklist, Mother Jones, Foreign Affairs, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail. It won the 2017 Vine Award for Canadian Jewish literature and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for memoir and was shortlisted for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize, the Writer's Trust Prize, and the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for military writing (Israel). Editions were published in the US, Britain, Canada, Israel, and China. The Aleppo Codex, an investigation into the strange fate of an ancient Bible manuscript, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize, the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. It was translated into seven languages. Matti's work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. A former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section, he currently writes a monthly feature for Tablet Magazine. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlantic, and elsewhere.  He was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family. Host Michael Zeldin Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator. He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller's investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings. In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents. Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton's passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran. Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post. Follow Michael on Twitter: @michaelzeldin Subscribe to the Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/that-said-with-michael-zeldin/id1548483720

  Join me in my conversation with Matti Friedman as we discuss his new book Who By Fire, Leonard Cohen in the Sinai which recounts the singer/songwriter's performances in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Relying on newly revealed notes kept by Cohen, Friedman takes us into the war as Cohen traveled across the Sinai and Suez to perform for the Israeli troops in the most important time in Israeli history. Matti Friedman is a journalist and the author of three previous works of nonfiction. He was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family. Formerly he worked as an Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section, he currently writes a monthly feature for Tablet Magazine. Guest Matti Friedman Matti Friedman, a journalist, is the author of three previous works of nonfiction. His 2019 book Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the Natan Book Award and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War (2016) was chosen as a New York Times' Notable Book and as one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. Pumpkinflowers was selected as one of the year's best by Booklist, Mother Jones, Foreign Affairs, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail. It won the 2017 Vine Award for Canadian Jewish literature and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for memoir and was shortlisted for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize, the Writer's Trust Prize, and the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for military writing (Israel). Editions were published in the US, Britain, Canada, Israel, and China. The Aleppo Codex, an investigation into the strange fate of an ancient Bible manuscript, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize, the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. It was translated into seven languages. Matti's work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. A former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section, he currently writes a monthly feature for Tablet Magazine. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlantic, and elsewhere.  He was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family. Host Michael Zeldin Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator. He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller's investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings. In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents. Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton's passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran. Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post. Follow Michael on Twitter: @michaelzeldin Subscribe to the Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/that-said-with-michael-zeldin/id1548483720

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Matti Friedman, the author of Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai. Find more Keen On episodes and additional videos on Lit Hub's YouTube Channel! ________________________ Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, and elsewhere. Friedman's last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unorthodox, we’re doing our best to process—and to help you process—what’s going on in Israel and Gaza. First we talk with Israeli journalist Matti Friedman, whose recent article for Tablet, “Jerusalem of Glue,” highlights the gap between the outward narrative of conflict and the more cohesive day-to-day reality on the ground in the city. He’s been on the show before, talking about his book Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel. Then we take you into the bomb shelters of Tel Aviv, where Carrie Keller-Lynn and Aliza Landes, hosts of the podcast “Us Among the Israelis, have been documenting their experiences as an audio diary. We're here for you as we all process this together. Send us a note at unorthodox@tabletmag.com and let us know how we can be a resource for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with journalist and author Matti Friedman for a fascinating look at early Israeli intelligence, and his book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel

Spies, sex, and comedy! Our Jewish guest is journalist Matti Friedman, whose newest book, 'Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel', explores the little-known story of four Mizrahi Jews who went undercover as Arabs during the time of the country's founding. He tells us how the story of these young Jewish men from Arab countries, who risked their lives as part of a ragtag intelligence unit, adds texture to the overwhelmingly Ashkenazi narrative of Israel's founding. Our gentile of the week is Pete Holmes, who talks to us about his new book, 'Comedy Sex God', his HBO show Crashing, and his journey from being raised Evangelical Christian to becoming a follower of spiritual teacher Ram Dass. Join us Wednesday, May 29 at 8 p.m. at the Hollis Hills Bayside Jewish Center for a live taping with Leon Neyfakh, host of the podcasts Slow Burn and the forthcoming FIASCO, and FiveThirtyEight writer and podcaster Clare Malone. Get your tickets here. We’re heading to Chicago! See us live Wednesday, June 26 at 7 p.m. at the Logan Square Auditorium with special guest Blair Braverman, who recently became the second Jewish woman to complete the Iditarod. Presented with Hadassah Chicago-North Shore. Get your tickets here. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group. This episode is sponsored by Unpacked, a new series of Jewish educational videos from Jerusalem U that offer a complete history of modern day Israel, 10 minutes at a time. Check it out at unpacked.media/unorthodox. We're also sponsored by FindYourSummer.org, with nearly 400 summer programs for Jewish teens to choose from, ranging from domestic and international travel to internships and more. New York-area teens are eligible for scholarships to select programs. Find your program at FindYourSummer.org. Additional support comes from Harry's. Get your free trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long before the Mossad became known as one of the world’s greatest intelligence agencies; before the capture of Eichmann and the raid of Iran’s nuclear archive; before Eli Cohen and Rafi Eitan; before Fauda captured audiences around the world, Israel’s first spies were dispatched to Beirut without so much as a radio to contact home. In the spring on 1948, before the State of Israel had even been declared, a handful of young Mizrahi Jews were recruited to serve in the Palmach’s Arab Section and charged with going undercover among the Arab population of Palestine and neighboring countries. Sent back into the Arab lands they had left behind, these brave Jews risked their lives to become spies for a country that was yet to be born. In Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, journalist and author Matti Friedman tells the story of these mista'aravim, Jews who went uncover as Arabs. Focusing on the lives of four of these men, Friedman transports us back to a world without a State of Israel or an IDF, where the fate of Palestine’s Jews remained uncertain and the project of Jewish statehood hung in the balance. This was the world of Israel’s first spies, the unsung heroes of the nation’s founding. In this podcast, Matti Friedman joins Jonathan Silver to talk about his new book. They discuss the challenges and risks the spies faced while undercover, the complex identities of these Mizrahi Jews who had to pose as Arabs, and the importance of telling the stories of these Jewish heroes from Middle Eastern lands. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble as well as “Great Feeling” by Alex Kizenkov.

Award winning journalist and author Matti Friedman joins Eve to discuss his new release, ’Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel’. This fantastic book tells the true story of four Jewish young men from the Arab world who play a risk laden, integral role in establishing Israel via a nascent organization that eventually becomes the legendary Mossad. The idea of Israel as a haven for mainly European Jewry gets wiped out with the Holocaust; instead it becomes home to ‘Mizrachi' Jewish refugees whose continuous discrimination by -but ultimate influence on and integration with- 'Ashkenazim' is a huge part of what defines Israel today. The Jewish state's current conservative tilt, emphasis on faith and family, melding of music and fabulous food is all part of a unique culture that can’t be understood outside a Mid East context. There’s no place like it, and this book pays homage to little known individuals whose willingness to live as Arab Muslims was an incalculable sacrifice that led to the birth of the state. www.mattifriedman.com

This week, Liberty and Tirzah discuss The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project, Survival Math, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, and more great books. This episode was sponsored by Libro.fm, Blinkist, and FabFitFun. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS or iTunes and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Books discussed on the show: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid  Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum   Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen   The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara   The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project by Lenore Appelhans   Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family by Mitchell Jackson  Lovely War by Julie Berry  What we're reading: King of Scars (King of Scars Duology) by Leigh Bardugo The Reign of the Kingfisher by T.J. Martinson  More books out this week: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden   Flashback Hotel by Ivan Vladislavic Goya: The Terrible Sublime: A Graphic Novel by El Torres and Fran Galán A Stranger Here Below: A Gideon Stoltz Mystery by Charles Fergus The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See Between the Lies by Michelle Adams Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia   Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake Topgun: An American Story by Dan Pedersen Villanelle: No Tomorrow: The basis for Killing Eve by Luke Jennings The Wall by John Lanchester The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch) by Rin Chupeco When All Is Said by Anne Griffin When I Hit You: Or a Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy The Wolf and the Watchman: A Novel by Niklas Natt och Dag   She/He/They/Me: For the Sisters, Misters, and Binary Resisters by Robyn Ryle The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler Today I Am Carey by Martin L. Shoemaker The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in by Ayser Salman Star Wars Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez Famous Men Who Never Lived by K. Chess   So Here's the Thing . . .: Notes on Growing Up, Getting Older, and Trusting Your Gut by Alyssa Mastromonaco, Lauren Oyler (Contributor) Queen Bey: A Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter by Veronica Chambers Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote by Tina Cassidy If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser The New Me by Halle Butler The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. by Evan Ratliff The Last 8 by Laura Pohl Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi   The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino The Salt Path: A Memoir by Raynor Winn  Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield Black Souls by Gioacchino Criaco, Hillary Gulley (Translator) The Age of Disenchantments: The Epic Story of Spain's Most Notorious Literary Family and the Long Shadow of the Spanish Civil War by Aaron Shulman That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour by Sunita Puri A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle   Call Me Evie by JP Pomare The River by Peter Heller   Baby of the Family by Maura Roosevelt The Silk Road by Kathryn Davis The Volunteer by Salvatore Scibona The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths   An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz Instructions for a Funeral: Stories by David Means The Gardener of Eden by David Downie Little Faith by Nickolas Butler   The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell The Story Prize: 15 Years of Great Short Fiction by Larry Dark and Anthony Doerr   Deaf Republic: Poems by Ilya Kaminsky Labrador by Kathryn Davis We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood by Tom Phelan The Revenge of Magic by James Riley The Last Woman in the Forest by Diane Les Becquets   The Altruists: A Novel by Andrew Ridker Ancestral Night (White Space) by Elizabeth Bear You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman A Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro Minutes of Glory: And Other Stories by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights by Doug Jones Death in Ten Minutes: The Forgotten Life of Radical Suffragette Kitty Marion by Fern Riddell The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr A Student of History by Nina Revoyr King of Joy by Richard Chiem   The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland Woman 99 by Greer Macallister   Blood Feud by Anna Smith Allmen and the Pink Diamond by Martin Suter When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History by Hugh Ryan   The Women's War by Jenna Glass Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra the mermaid's voice returns in this one by Amanda Lovelace Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone by Brian Switek   Smoke and Ashes: A Novel by Abir Mukherjee Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve Mitochondrial Night by Ed Bok Lee Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant by Joel Golby The Secret Wisdom of Nature: Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things -― Stories from Science and Observation (The Mysteries of Nature Trilogy) by Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst The Everlasting Rose (The Belles) by Dhonielle Clayton L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron" by Lucasta Miller The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges by Aatish Taseer Infinite Detail: A Novel by Tim Maughan Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles (Ronan Boyle 1) by Thomas Lennon, John Hendrix (Illustrator) She the People: A Graphic History of Uprisings, Breakdowns, Setbacks, Revolts, and Enduring Hope on the Unfinished Road to Women's Equality by Jen Deaderick and Rita Sapunor Homeland by Fernando Aramburu, Alfred Macadam (translator) Barely Missing Everything by Matt Mendez Staff Picks: Stories (Yellow Shoe Fiction) by George Singleton and Michael Griffith City of Jasmine by Olga Grjasnowa, Katy Derbyshire (translator)