Podcasts about Noam

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: From Shadows to Triumph: A Spring of Friendship and Science Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-03-09-07-38-19-he Story Transcript:He: בוקר יפה בכפר קטן בגליל.En: A beautiful morning in a small village in the Galilee.He: הזמן: תחילת האביב.En: The time: the beginning of spring.He: ריחות הפרחים ממלאים את האוויר.En: The scent of flowers fills the air.He: חופשת פורים כבר בפתח, והרחובות מלאים באנשים מחופשים.En: The Purim holiday break is fast approaching, and the streets are filled with people in costumes.He: בבית הספר התיכון שבמרכז הכפר, כולם מתכוננים ליריד המדע הגדול.En: At the high school in the center of the village, everyone is preparing for the big science fair.He: התמונות הצבעוניות, המוזיקה השמחה – אווירת החג הייתה בכל פינה.En: The colorful pictures, the cheerful music – the festive atmosphere was everywhere.He: נועם, נער סקרן ואוהב פיזיקה, עמד בחדרו והביט בניירות הרבים שהצטברו על שולחנו.En: Noam, a curious teenager who loves physics, stood in his room staring at the many papers piled on his desk.He: הוא רצה לזכות בתחרות המדע ולהוכיח את כישוריו.En: He wanted to win the science competition and prove his skills.He: אבל רעיון ייחודי – זה היה הדבר שהכי קשה לו למצוא.En: But a unique idea – that was the hardest thing for him to find.He: הוא תמיד הרגיש בצילו של אלי, חברו הטוב ביותר והמומחה במתמטיקה, ועכשיו היה נחוש להצליח לבד.En: He always felt overshadowed by Eli, his best friend and a math expert, and now he was determined to succeed on his own.He: אלי, שתמיד רצה לעזור לנועם, רץ למפגש החגיגי בבית הספר.En: Eli, who always wanted to help Noam, ran to the festive gathering at the school.He: גם הוא מתמודד עם פחדים שלו – פחד מהכישלון.En: He also faced his own fears – the fear of failure.He: הוא קיווה שנועם יבקש את עזרתו, אך נתן לו את הזמן והמרחב שהוא ביקש.En: He hoped that Noam would ask for his help but gave him the time and space he requested.He: ערב יריד המדע הגיע.En: The evening of the science fair arrived.He: נועם הציג את הפרויקט שלו: ניסוי הקשורים לצבעי אור מצלמות, בהשראת תחפושות פורים.En: Noam presented his project: an experiment related to camera light colors, inspired by Purim costumes.He: אך ברגע האמת, משהו השתבש בתצוגה.En: But at the crucial moment, something went wrong with the display.He: הצבעים לא הסתדרו כמו שצריך.En: The colors didn't align correctly.He: אלי ראה את המצוקה של נועם ומיהר לעזור.En: Eli saw Noam's distress and quickly came to help.He: "נועם, תן לי לנסות משהו," הוא אמר ברוגע.En: "Noam, let me try something," he said calmly.He: יחד, הם חיפשו את התקלה.En: Together, they searched for the problem.He: השעון תקתק והזמן התקרב לסיום התצוגה.En: The clock ticked, and time was running out.He: כולם הסתכלו במתח.En: Everyone watched anxiously.He: לבסוף, בעזרת ההמלצות של אלי והיצירתיות של נועם, הכול הסתדר והפרויקט עבד בצורה מושלמת.En: Finally, with Eli's recommendations and Noam's creativity, everything worked out, and the project functioned perfectly.He: בסוף היריד, הכריזו על הזוכים.En: At the end of the fair, the winners were announced.He: נועם ואלי עמדו יחד על הבמה, כאשר הכרוז הודיע שהם הזוכים הגדולים של השנה.En: Noam and Eli stood together on stage, as the announcer declared them the big winners of the year.He: מחיאות הכפיים של כל התלמידים והמורים הכו על האולם.En: The applause from all the students and teachers echoed through the hall.He: נועם הבין אז שדווקא החברות והעבודה המשותפת יובילו אותו להצלחה.En: Noam realized then that friendship and teamwork would lead him to success.He: הוא חייך לאלי, והם התחבקו בחום.En: He smiled at Eli, and they hugged warmly.He: שני החברים הטובים למדו שיעור חשוב – עבודת צוות חזקה יותר מכל אחד מהם לבד.En: The two good friends learned an important lesson – teamwork is stronger than either of them alone.He: פורים הזה, הם זכו לא רק בתחרות המדע, אלא גם ברגע של אמת ובערך החברות.En: This Purim, they won not only the science competition but also a moment of truth and the value of friendship. Vocabulary Words:village: כפרapproaching: בפתחcostumes: תחפושותpreparing: מתכונניםfestive: חגיגיcurious: סקרןpile: הצטברוovershadowed: בצילוdetermined: נחושexpert: מומחהfailure: כישלוןexperiment: ניסויcrucial: ברגע האמתdistress: מצוקהcalmly: ברוגעsearched: חיפשוrecommendations: המלצותcreativity: יצירתיותannounce: הכריזוapplause: מחיאות כפייםechoed: הכוrealized: הביןfriendship: חברותvalued: בערךteamwork: עבודת צוותconquer: יובילוscience: מדעskills: כישוריםhugged: התחבקוsuccess: הצלחהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

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Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: A Bunker's Lifesaving Purim Surprise in the Negev Desert Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-03-06-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: בבונקר הסודי באמצע מדבר הנגב, היה שקט ושלווה של אחר צהריים אביבי.En: In the secret bunker in the middle of the Negev Desert, there was a quiet and tranquility of a spring afternoon.He: נועם, יעל וארי היו שם כדי להכין הפתעה לפורים.En: Noam, Yael, and Ari were there to prepare a surprise for Purim.He: כל החדר היה מלא בתלבושות צבעוניות, מסכות ושקיות עם אוזני המן.En: The entire room was filled with colorful costumes, masks, and bags of oznei haman (hamantaschen).He: לפתע, יעל החלה לחוש בחילה וקוצר נשימה.En: Suddenly, Yael began to feel nauseous and short of breath.He: עיניה הפכו דומעות, והיא נפלה על הרצפה.En: Her eyes became teary, and she fell to the floor.He: נועם וארי הביטו בה בחרדה.En: Noam and Ari looked at her in alarm.He: "אוי לא, היא כנראה אכלה משהו עם אגוזים," אמר נועם בקול מודאג.En: "Oh no, she probably ate something with nuts," said Noam in a worried voice.He: ארי החל להישתגע טיפה, רץ ממקום למקום וניסה למצוא טלפון ליצירת קשר עם כוחות החירום.En: Ari began to panic a little, running around trying to find a phone to contact emergency services.He: אבל הבונקר היה מבודד, ללא קליטה בטלפונים.En: But the bunker was isolated, with no phone reception.He: נועם הבין שזו הרגע להוכיח את עצמו.En: Noam realized this was his moment to prove himself.He: הוא החל לחפש במהירות בכל הפינות של הבונקר.En: He started searching quickly in all corners of the bunker.He: לבונקר היו מדפים ישנים עם ציוד מיושן.En: The bunker had old shelves with outdated equipment.He: נועם רץ לשם, פתח קופסאות והופך מדפים.En: Noam rushed there, opening boxes and turning over shelves.He: לבסוף, הוא מצא תיק עזרה ראשונה ישן.En: Finally, he found an old first aid kit.He: בתוך התיק היה אדפילין שקצת חסר תוקף, אך נועם החליט שזה הסיכוי היחיד שלהם.En: Inside the kit was an expired epinephrine injector, but Noam decided it was their only chance.He: נועם חזר ליעל, ניסה להרגיע אותה ואמר, "אני כאן.En: Noam returned to Yael, tried to calm her, and said, "I'm here.He: אנחנו נטפל בזה.En: We'll take care of this."He: " בעדינות אך בנחישות, הוא העניק לה את האדפילין והמתין בציפייה תוך שהוא מתפלל שזרימת האוויר אליה תחזור לסדרה.En: Gently but firmly, he administered the epinephrine to her and waited in anticipation, praying that her airflow would return to normal.He: בינתיים, ארי הצליח לבסוף ליצור קשר עם החירום והבין שהכוחות בדרך.En: Meanwhile, Ari finally managed to reach emergency services and understood that help was on the way.He: דקות ארוכות עברו, ונועם ראה שפתאום יש שינוי.En: Long minutes passed, and Noam saw that there was suddenly a change.He: הצבע חזר לפניה של יעל והיא התיישבה באיטיות.En: Color returned to Yael's face, and she sat up slowly.He: ואז, הם שמעו את הצליל המרגיע של מסוק המגיע.En: Then, they heard the reassuring sound of a helicopter approaching.He: יעל חייכה קלות לנועם ואמרה, "תודה, הצלת אותי.En: Yael smiled slightly at Noam and said, "Thank you, you saved me."He: "נועם, מלא גאווה ושביעות רצון, הרגיש שקיבל את הביטחון שהיה צריך.En: Noam, filled with pride and satisfaction, felt he had gained the confidence he needed.He: חברותם של השלושה התחזקה עד מאוד, והם הבינו עד כמה חשוב להיות מוכנים ולהסתמך זה על זה.En: The friendship of the three grew much stronger, and they realized how important it is to be prepared and rely on each other.He: באותו ערב, כשהצילו את יעל והם חזרו לבתיהם, הבינו שלמדו משהו על עצמאות, אמון וקשר חברי אמיתי.En: That evening, as they saved Yael and returned to their homes, they realized they had learned something about independence, trust, and true friendship.He: פורים הפך עבורם לזמן של חיים ותקווה, לא סתם מסכות וחגיגות.En: Purim became for them a time of life and hope, not just masks and celebrations. Vocabulary Words:bunker: בונקרtranquility: שלווהnauseous: בחילהteary: דומעותalarm: חרדהpanicked: להישתגעadministered: העניקanticipation: ציפייהhelplessness: חוסר אוניםreassuring: מרגיעemergency services: כוחות החירוםoutdated: מיושןepinephrine: אדפיליןinjector: מזרקisolation: בידודsatisfaction: שביעות רצוןconfidence: ביטחוןfriendship: חברותprepared: מוכניםindependence: עצמאותtrust: אמוןrelying: להסתמךrealized: הבינוindication: סימןprofound: עמוקsolidarity: סולידריותcompassion: חמלהlife-changing: משנה חייםdefining: מגדירהbonding: התחברותBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Note: this episode was recorded before the latest developments in Iran. What can incidents of antisemitism from America's past tell us about its future? For Mijal and Noam, there's no one better to answer this question than Professor Emeritus Jonathan Sarna. Professor Sarna--a legendary scholar and author of the essential book American Judaism--takes our hosts on a tour of the late 19th century, when Jews found themselves excluded from a variety of spaces. Together with Mijal and Noam, he finds hope in the Jewish community's response--both then and now. This episode is in memory of Leo M. Bernstein. Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Mystery Unmasked: A Purim Adventure in Dizengoff Center Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-03-04-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: דיזנגוף סנטר היה שוקק חיים ביום חג הפורים.En: Dizengoff Center was bustling with life on the holiday of Purim.He: אנשים בכל הגילים התחפשו לדמויות שונות, וצחקו והתרגשו תחת השמש של סוף החורף בתל אביב.En: People of all ages dressed up as different characters, laughing and getting excited under the late winter sun in Tel Aviv.He: אבל משהו אחר, מעט מוזר, קרה ליד המזרקה.En: But something else, a bit strange, happened near the fountain.He: אביבה הסתכלה מסביב, חיפשה סימנים או פרטים שנראה שלא במקומם.En: Aviva looked around, searching for signs or details that seemed out of place.He: היא הבחינה באריזה מסתורית שעומדת ליד המזרקה.En: She noticed a mysterious package standing by the fountain.He: "נוֹעַם," היא פנתה לחבר הילדות שלה, "תראה את זה.En: "Noam," she called to her childhood friend, "look at this."He: " נוֹעַם, שניחן בגישה זהירה יותר, שם לב לדבריה של אביבה והביט לעבר האריזה.En: @Noam, who had a more cautious approach, paid attention to @Aviva's words and looked towards the package.He: "אביבה, זה לא נראה בטוח," הוא הגיב בחשש.En: "Aviva, it doesn't look safe," he responded with concern.He: "אנחנו לא יודעים מה יש בפנים.En: "We don't know what's inside."He: " "אבל דווקא בגלל זה אנחנו צריכים לברר," השיבה אביבה בחיוך שובבי.En: "But that's exactly why we need to find out," replied @Aviva with a mischievous smile.He: היא חשה בדחף שלה לחקור עוד ועוד.En: She felt her urge to investigate grow stronger.He: הכיכר הייתה מלאה אנשים בתחפושות, והיה קשה לשמור על עין על החבילה.En: The plaza was full of people in costumes, making it hard to keep an eye on the package.He: אבל אביבה הייתה נחושה בדעתה.En: But @Aviva was determined.He: היא התכוננה לגשת לחבילה, כשהיא מבקשת מנוֹעַם להצטרף אליה.En: She prepared to approach the package, asking @Noam to join her.He: לרגע קטן, שני החברים התלבטו אם להמשיך.En: For a brief moment, the two friends hesitated about whether to continue.He: נוֹעַם ניסה לשכנע את אביבה להניח לדבר הזה, אך לבסוף התרצה ועבר אחריה לכיוון החבילה.En: @Noam tried to persuade @Aviva to let it go, but ultimately he relented and followed her towards the package.He: הם התקרבו בשקט, הסתכלו מסביב לבדוק שאף אחד לא שם לב.En: They approached quietly, looking around to make sure no one noticed.He: בעדינות, אביבה פתחה את החבילה, מבינות שהם מסתכנים אך גם סקרנים מאוד.En: Gently, @Aviva opened the package, understanding they were taking a risk but also very curious.He: בתוך החבילה, נמצא מבחר מסכות, כל אחת מציגה הבעה שונה.En: Inside the package, there was a collection of masks, each displaying a different expression.He: אביבה ונוֹעַם בהו במסכות בהפתעה.En: @Aviva and @Noam stared at the masks in surprise.He: הן היו מושקעות מאוד, מלאות בפרטים קטנים.En: They were very detailed, full of small features.He: בדיוק אז נגשה אליהם דמות מחופשת, מתגלה כאמן המסכות.En: Just then, a person in costume approached them, revealing himself as the mask maker.He: "תודה ששמרתם על העבודה שלי!En: "Thank you for keeping an eye on my work!"He: " הוא אמר בחיוך רחב.En: he said with a broad smile.He: "זה חלק מפרויקט אומנות לפורים.En: "It's part of an art project for Purim.He: המסכות מיועדות למופעי תיאטרון ברחבי העיר.En: The masks are intended for theater performances around the city."He: " אביבה צחקה הקלה, ונוֹעַם התחיל להבין שגם לפעמים כדאי לסמוך על מה שנראה מסקרן.En: @Aviva laughed in relief, and @Noam began to realize that sometimes it's worth trusting what seems intriguing.He: הם החזירו את המסכות לאמן, ונפרדו ממנו בצחוק ובשמחה על החוויה המפתיעה.En: They returned the masks to the artist, parting with him in laughter and joy over the unexpected experience.He: לאחר המקרה, אביבה הבינה שיש לנדב ידע לזכור גם בחיפוש אחר ההרפתקה.En: After the incident, @Aviva realized that having @Noam's knowledge is valuable even when seeking adventure.He: נוֹעַם, בהיותו מוכן לנסות דברים חדשים, למד שאולי מדי פעם כדאי לקחת סיכון קטן.En: @Noam, being open to trying new things, learned that maybe sometimes it's worth taking a small risk.He: והעיר תל אביב המשיכה לחגוג את הפורים כפי שרק היא יודעת.En: And the city of @Tel Aviv continued to celebrate @Purim as only it knows how. Vocabulary Words:bustling: שוקקfountain: מזרקהmysterious: מסתוריתpackage: אריזהcautious: זהירהresponded: הגיבconcern: חששmischievous: שובביurge: דחףinvestigate: לחקורdetermined: נחושהpersuade: לשכנעhesitated: התלבטוapproached: התקרבוgently: בעדינותrisk: מסתכניםcurious: סקרניםcollection: מבחרexpressions: הבעהsurprise: בהפתעהdetailed: מושקעותfeatures: פרטיםcostume: מחופשתrevealing: מתגלהartist: אמןproject: פרויקטperformances: מופעיrelief: הקלהintriguing: מסקרןadventure: הרפתקהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Unmasking Connections: A Purim Tale of Unexpected Love Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-03-04-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: ניחוח מפרץ תל אביב מלא בשמחה ובצלילי החגיגות של פורים.En: The scent of Mifrat Tel Aviv is filled with joy and the sounds of Purim celebrations.He: אורות צבעוניים מהדהדים מהחנות לחנות, ואנשים מחוייכים עם מסכות וסרטים זורמים בכל עבר.En: Colorful lights echo from store to store, and people smile beneath masks and ribbons flowing everywhere.He: זה היה המקום שבו נועם, מפתח תוכנה שקט ונבוך, ותמר, צלמת מלאת חיים, פגשו לראשונה.En: It was here that Noam, a quiet and shy software developer, and Tamar, a lively photographer, met for the first time.He: נועם עמד במרכז הקניון, בעיניו מבטה של תמר, מנסה לא להתבלבל מהמוני האדם.En: @Noam stood in the center of the mall, his eyes searching for Tamar, trying not to get confused by the crowds.He: ראשו היה מלא במחשבות - האם היא תהנה לשמוע על פיתוחים טכנולוגיים?En: His mind was filled with thoughts—would she enjoy hearing about technological developments?He: אולי היא תחשוב שהוא משעמם מדי לאדם כמוה.En: Maybe she would think he was too boring for someone like her.He: כשפגש את עיניה, חש לחץ קל בבטן אך המשיך בחיוך.En: When he caught her eyes, he felt a slight pressure in his stomach but continued with a smile.He: "שלום תמר," אמר, נלחם בזהירות בכל מילה.En: "Hello Tamar," he said, carefully fighting for each word.He: תמר חייכה בחום. "שלום נועם! איזה כיף לפגוש אותך. המקום כאן כל כך מלהיב היום, נכון?"En: Tamar smiled warmly. "Hello Noam! It's so nice to meet you. The place is so exciting today, isn't it?"He: "כן, בהחלט," נועם השיב, מנסה להיות נינוח יותר.En: "Yes, definitely," Noam replied, trying to appear more relaxed.He: "פורים זה חג מעניין. תמיד אהבתי להתחפש, כשאני הייתי קטן."En: "Purim is an interesting holiday. I've always loved dressing up when I was young."He: תמר הנהנה בעיניים נוצצות. "גם אני! זה כמו סיפור סיפורים דרך בגדים ודמויות."En: Tamar nodded, her eyes sparkling. "Me too! It's like storytelling through clothes and characters."He: נועם צחק לפתע, זכרון מימי הילדות צף בראשו.En: @Noam suddenly laughed, a childhood memory resurfacing.He: "פעם התחפשתי לרובוט ועשיתי אשליה שאני גם חדשן תוכנה מגיל צעיר."En: "Once I dressed up as a robot and pretended to be a software innovator from a young age."He: הוא פתח ורצה לשתף עוד אנקדוטות.En: He opened, wanting to share more anecdotes.He: תמר צחקה. "זה מדהים! איך נפגשים סיפור וטכנולוגיה ביחד."En: Tamar laughed. "That's amazing! How stories and technology bring people together."He: השיחה קלחה והתפתחה, כשהיא מדברת על מסעות לצילום ונועם על החידושים הכי עכשויים בתוכנה.En: The conversation flowed and developed, as she spoke about photography journeys and Noam about the latest innovations in software.He: השניים שקעו בשיחה על סיפורי ילדות עד אשר נשמעה המולה מסביבם - תהלוכת פורים חלפה בסביבה.En: They delved into childhood stories until a commotion around them—a Purim parade passed by.He: תחפושות מרהיבות ומוזיקה שמחה סחפו אותם לרחבה.En: Stunning costumes and cheerful music swept them onto the dance floor.He: כאילו כל חששותיהם התנדפו בריקודים.En: It was as if all their worries evaporated in the rhythm.He: נועם מצא את עצמו מתמסר למוזיקה יחד עם תמר, תחושת הנינוחות גוברת.En: Noam found himself giving in to the music with Tamar, increasing the sense of ease.He: בסוף הערב, כשהשניים עמדו להיפרד, נועם הביט בתמר בעיניים כנות ואמר, "אני שמח שבאתי.En: At the end of the evening, as they were about to part ways, Noam looked at Tamar with honest eyes and said, "I'm glad I came.He: התגברתי על כרגי. את... ממש מיוחדת."En: I overcame my usual instincts. You... are really special."He: תמרה חיכתה ברכות. "גם אני הרגשתי חיבור אמיתי. אשמח לראות אותך שוב."En: Tamar smiled softly. "I felt a true connection too. I'd love to see you again."He: כשחזרו הביתה, הזיכרונות מיום התאריך צוף, הם החלו לסמס זה לזה על רגעים משעשעים מהערב.En: As they returned home, memories of the day lingered, and they began texting each other about amusing moments from the evening.He: נועם, שחש יותר ביטחון, מצפה מאוד לפגישה הבאה, בעוד תמר מעריכה את הכנות והעומק שבנועם.En: Noam, feeling more confident, eagerly looked forward to the next meeting, while Tamar appreciated the honesty and depth in Noam.He: חג פורים הצליח לשבור את המחיצות, והסיפור שלהם רק מתחיל.En: The Purim celebration had managed to break barriers, and their story was just beginning. Vocabulary Words:scent: ניחוחjoy: שמחהcelebrations: חגיגותcolorful: צבעונייםmasks: מסכותribbons: סרטיםshy: נבוךlively: מלאת חייםconfused: להתבלבלcrowds: המוני האדםovercome: התגברתיinstincts: כרגיsparkling: נוצצותcharacter: דמויותchildhood: ילדותinnovator: חדשןanecdotes: אנקדוטותcommotion: המולהparade: תהלוכהcostumes: תחפושותevaporated: התנדפוbarriers: מחיצותstories: סיפוריםamusing: משעשעיםdepth: עומקconnection: חיבורmemories: זיכרונותjourneys: מסעותsmiled: חייכהembarrassed: נבוךBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

In the finale of our five-part series on the Jewish people's ancient relationship to the Land of Israel, we move into the modern era, when Israel's deepest challenges emerged not only from its borders but from within its own society. Noam traces the political, social, and moral upheavals that reshaped the country, carrying the story into the tensions of recent decades and the trauma and solidarity of October 7th. Noam reflects on Zionism as an unfinished project; one that calls for renewed purpose, shared responsibility, and the courage to begin again. Note: This episode was created prior to the start of the current conflict with Iran. This episode of Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Debra and Avi Naider and Jody and Ari Storch. To sponsor an episode or to be in touch, please email noam@unpacked.media. Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. Check out this episode on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand .------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Missiles in the sky. Purim on the calendar. As Israel confronts Iran, Noam steps back from the headlines and turns to the Book of Esther, a story of genocide threatened, courage summoned, and history reversed at just the right moment. From ancient Persia to October 7th, Jewish history has followed a pattern: catastrophe, response, rebuilding. This episode is not a news update. It is a reflection on timing, resilience, unity, and what it means to live through history. Do we respond with sackcloth, or with action? For such a time as this.

Noam and Jen discuss a little attack on Iran you might have heard about over the weekend, now that Noam is not on Emergency Pod duty for Commentary. Much like our discussion in the wake of the Maduro extraction, we talk about how you can be happy that something happened but have concerns about how it happened and what exactly will happen next. Obviously, this situation is both more extreme and more volatile than Venezuela, so we really hope someone knows what they're doing (we don't have much hope of that however) We also talk about the fight between the DOD and Anthropic over the DOD (allegedly) wanting to make killbots and spy on everyone effortlessly. There is a discussion to be had not just on the metis of this case, but on the use of AI in a battlefield or a criminal investigation.  For our WAWC, Noam has two Korean reality shows produced by Jeong Jong-yeon, Devil's Plan and Agents of Mystery. Jen recommends the anime Ninja Scroll (which, to settle a discussion on the pod, the movie came out in 1993 and the show was released in 2003).    

Noam Chomsky’s superpower is his intellect and ability to communicate complicated subjects with clarity. He made politics accessible for multiple generations. Chomsky is the gateway drug to leftist ideology. He’s also close friends with the most prolific child abuser and sex trafficker of the modern era. It’s okay to acknowledge Chomsky’s contributions and even more okay to let them go and bury his legacy. Resources Wall Street Journal: Epstein’s Private Calendar Reveals Prominent Names, Including CIA Chief, Goldman’s Top Lawyer The Harvard Crimson: Jeffrey Epstein Met With Harvard Professor Martin Nowak and Noam Chomsky in 2015 in Harvard Office Manufacturing Intellect: Noam Chomsky interview on Dissent (1988) UNFTR Resources Video: Genius Doesn’t Excuse What Chomsky Did. Goodbye, Noam. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

War with Iran is unfolding days before Purim, so Mijal and Noam step back from the news cycle to process this moment emotionally and theologically. Joining them is Tarlan Rabizadeh, a rabbi, activist, and Persian Jew who is deeply imbedded in LA's "Irangeles" community. With wit, passion, and humor, rabbi Tarlan breaks down what the media has been missing, and the sights and sounds that are filling her with hope. Follow Rabbi Tarlan on Instagram: instagram.com/rabbitarlan/ Learn more about Rabbi Tarlan on her website: https://www.rabbitarlan.com/about Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: New Beginnings: Finding Courage Amidst Ancient Ruins Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-03-01-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: הבוקר היה קריר ומלא חיים בהרי הגולן.En: The morning was cool and full of life in the mountains of the Golan.He: אריאל ונועם הלכו לאט בין הגבעות הירוקות, נושמים את האוויר הצח של סוף חורף, כשהפריחה החדשה מתחילה לצבוע את הנוף.En: Ariel and Noam walked slowly between the green hills, breathing in the fresh air at the end of winter, as the new blossoms began to color the landscape.He: אריאל, עם עיניים נוצצות מהרפתקה, אהבה את ההיסטוריה והתרבות שהמקום הציע.En: Ariella, her eyes sparkling from adventure, loved the history and culture the place offered.He: לצד נועם, היא הרגישה שמשהו חדש יכול להתחיל.En: Next to Noam, she felt that something new could begin.He: נועם, לעומתה, היה עמוק במחשבותיו.En: Noam, on the other hand, was deep in thought.He: האפשרות לעזוב את מקום עבודתו הנוכחי לטובת הזדמנות חדשה ריחפה מעליו.En: The possibility of leaving his current job for a new opportunity loomed over him.He: כאשר הם עצרו ליד חורבות עתיקות, נועם הציץ לכיוון אריאל, תוהה אם היא תבין את הלבטים שלו.En: As they stopped by ancient ruins, Noam glanced at Ariella, wondering if she would understand his dilemmas.He: ״תראה,״ אמרה פתאום אריאל, מצביעה על חתיכת כלי חרס עתיק שנצנצה עם קרני השמש.En: "Look," Ariel suddenly said, pointing to a piece of ancient pottery that sparkled in the sun's rays.He: ״אני תוהה איזה סיפורים היא יכולה לספר.En: "I wonder what stories it could tell."He: ״ היא הרימה אותו בזהירות והחזיקה בידיה, פתאום מרגישה את הצורך לשתף.En: She carefully picked it up and held it in her hands, suddenly feeling the need to share.He: ״אני רוצה להתחיל משהו חדש, משהו חשוב,״ היא אמרה בקול רך, כמעט מתנצלת.En: "I want to start something new, something important," she said softly, almost apologetically.He: נועם הנהן, העביר את מבטו מהחרס אל עיניה של אריאל.En: Noam nodded, shifting his gaze from the pottery to Ariella's eyes.He: ״גם אני,״ הוא הודה.En: "So do I," he admitted.He: ״אני לא בטוח מה הצעד הנכון, אבל יש לי קצת פחד לשנות.En: "I'm not sure what the right step is, but I have a bit of fear about change."He: ״הם התרווחו על גבעה קטנה, מתבוננים בשמש השוקעת מעל ההרים.En: They settled on a small hill, watching the sun set over the mountains.He: האור הזהוב נשפך סביבם והעניק לשיחה שלהם איכות מוארת.En: The golden light enveloped them and gave their conversation an illuminated quality.He: נועם מרגיש פתאום שהשינוי הקרב לא נראה כל כך מפחיד.En: Noam suddenly felt that the impending change didn't seem so scary.He: ״כן, לפעמים צריך סיפור חדש,״ אריאל חייכה, נוגעת בעדינות בכתפו של נועם.En: "Yes, sometimes you need a new story," Ariel smiled, gently touching Noam's shoulder.He: ״אולי כמו החרס הזה, אנחנו לא יודעים את כל הסיפור, אבל זה בסדר.En: "Maybe like this pottery, we don't know the whole story, but that's okay."He: ״באותה הרגע, נועם הבין שהוא יכול להרשות לעצמו לקחת את הקפיצה.En: At that moment, Noam realized he could allow himself to take the leap.He: אולי השיחה הזו דווקא הייתה הסימן שהוא חיפש.En: Perhaps this conversation was actually the sign he was looking for.He: הוא הרגיש נימה של ביטחון כאשר אריאל שיתפה את תשוקתה לעבר, וזה נתן לו השראה לחשוב על העתיד.En: He felt a note of confidence as Ariel shared her passion for the past, which inspired him to think about the future.He: כששניהם קמו לחזור ליישוב, הייתה תחושה נעימה של הבנה הדדית.En: As they both got up to return to the settlement, there was a pleasant sense of mutual understanding.He: אריאל למדה לומר את מה שהיא מרגישה בלי פחד, ונועם הבין שהזדמנויות חדשות הן חלק מהחיים.En: Ariella learned to express what she felt without fear, and Noam understood that new opportunities are part of life.He: כך, בין ההרים והחורבות, כשהשמש נעלמה לאיטה במערב, התחילה להם דרך חדשה.En: Thus, between the mountains and the ruins, as the sun slowly disappeared in the west, a new path began for them.He: שניהם היו מוכנים להתחיל את המסע עם לב פתוח ואומץ לנסות את הבלתי אפשרי.En: They were both ready to start the journey with open hearts and the courage to try the impossible.He: בפורים הקרוב, יהיה להם הרבה לחגוג ביחד, כל אחד עם השינוי שהחליט לקבל על עצמו.En: By the upcoming Purim, they would have much to celebrate together, each with the change they decided to embrace. Vocabulary Words:blossoms: פריחהsparkling: נוצצותloomed: ריחפהruins: חורבותpottery: כלי חרסsun's rays: קרני השמשapologetically: מתנצלתshifted: העבירgaze: מבטilluminated: מוארתimpending: הקרבembrace: לקבל על עצמוadventure: הרפתקהsparkled: נצנצהconfidence: ביטחוןinspired: השראהsettlement: יישובunderstanding: הבנהmutual: הדדיתopportunities: הזדמנויותcourage: אומץadmitted: הודהfear: פחדlandscape: נוףenveloped: נשפך סביבםgesture: מחווהhorizon: אופקapparent: נראהdilemma: לבטיםconsensus: הסכמהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Transforming Coffee Waste into Art: Talia's Eco-Mask Project Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-26-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: ריח הקפה הטרי מילא את חלל האוויר בבית הקלייה שבו טליה עבדה על פרויקט המדע שלה.En: The smell of fresh coffee filled the air in the roasting house where Talia was working on her science project.He: היא הביטה סביב, מוקפת בחבילות שעועית גדולות וציוד מודרני.En: She looked around, surrounded by large sacks of beans and modern equipment.He: היה חורף בחוץ, אבל בפנים היה חמים ונעים.En: It was winter outside, but inside it was warm and pleasant.He: טליה רצתה ליצור משהו חדש עם תבניות הקפה שלה לקראת היריד המדעי של בית הספר, שהיה לפני חג פורים.En: Talia wanted to create something new with her coffee grounds for the school's science fair, which was before the holiday of Purim.He: זה היה רעיון נועז אך מאתגר.En: It was a bold but challenging idea.He: היא ידעה שהזמן קצר והלחץ היה גדול.En: She knew time was short and the pressure was high.He: טליה ניסתה למצוא פתרון יצירתי.En: Talia tried to find a creative solution.He: היא חשבה על רעיון: להכין מסכות פורים אקולוגיות.En: She thought of an idea: to make ecological Purim masks.He: זה היה עניין מרגש אך קשה לעשייה.En: It was an exciting yet difficult endeavor.He: היא הייתה עצמה, נבוכה מעט, כשאלי ונועם, שני חברים לכיתה שלה, נכנסו לבית הקלייה עם חיוכים רחבים.En: She was a bit embarrassed when Eli and Noam, two classmates, entered the roasting house with wide smiles.He: "שלום טליה!En: "Hello Talia!"He: " קרא אלי.En: Eli called out.He: "עובדת קשה, נכון?En: "Working hard, right?He: יש לך רעיון למה לעשות עם תבניות הקפה?En: Do you have an idea for what to do with the coffee grounds?"He: "טליה סיפרה להם על הרעיון שלה ושיתפה את חששותיה.En: Talia told them about her idea and shared her concerns.He: "מה אם המסכות לא יחזיקו מעמד?En: "What if the masks don't hold up?"He: " שאלה, קצת מודאגת.En: she asked, a bit worried.He: נועם הציע, "למה שלא נשלב מסורת פורים?En: Noam suggested, "Why don't we incorporate the Purim tradition?He: ננסה לצבוע עם התבניות וליצור משהו אמנותי.En: We can try painting with the grounds and create something artistic."He: " באמת זה נתן לטליה רעיון.En: Indeed, this gave Talia an idea.He: היא התחילה לעבוד בשקיקה, והם התחילו לערבב צבעים שונים עם תבניות הקפה.En: She began to work eagerly, and they started mixing different colors with the coffee grounds.He: פתאום, המסכה התפרקה לנגד עיניה.En: Suddenly, the mask fell apart before her eyes.He: היתה אכזבה באוויר, אבל אז רעיון אחר עלה במוחה של טליה.En: There was disappointment in the air, but then another idea struck Talia's mind.He: היא ניגשה לצביעה.En: She turned to painting.He: האדמה של תבניות הקפה נתנה צבעים חמים וייחודיים.En: The coffee grounds provided warm and unique colors.He: האווירה הפכה חזרה לחיובית כשהם יצרו תצוגה מרהיבה ליריד.En: The atmosphere turned positive again as they created a spectacular display for the fair.He: בסופו של דבר, טליה הבינה שהכישלון פתח לה דלתות להצלחה חדשה, והחברים יחדיו יצרו יצירה שתבלט ביריד המדע.En: In the end, Talia realized that failure had opened doors to new success, and together with her friends, they created a piece that would stand out at the science fair.He: כשחג פורים מתקרב, היא וגילו את העוצמה שבשיתוף פעולה ויצירתיות.En: As the holiday of Purim approached, she discovered the power of collaboration and creativity. Vocabulary Words:roasting house: בית הקלייהsacks: חבילותequipment: ציודfair: ירידbold: נועזchallenging: מאתגרsolution: פתרוןecological: אקולוגיותendeavor: ענייןincorporate: נשלבdisappointment: אכזבהeagerly: בשקיקהspectacular: מרהיבהdisplay: תצוגהcollaboration: שיתוף פעולהcreativity: יצירתיותgrounds: אדמהembarrassed: נבוכהunique: ייחודייםconcerns: חששותיהstruck: עלהmasks: מסכותfailure: כישלוןsuccess: הצלחהmodern: מודרניsurrounded: מוקפתcreate: ליצורshort: קצרpressure: לחץapproached: מתקרבBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, Sherrod DeGrippo speaks with Microsoft security and AI researchers Giorgio Severi and Noam Kochavi about a newly observed trend in AI abuse: recommendation poisoning through memory manipulation.  While looking into prompt injection and reprompt-style behaviors, the team uncovered something quieter but potentially more persistent—websites embedding hidden instructions inside Summarize with AI links that attempt to influence what an AI assistant remembers and recommends over time.  Rather than focusing on immediate exploitation, this technique aims to shape long-term behavior inside AI systems. Giorgio and Noam explain how it works, why it's spreading across industries, where legitimate marketing tactics can blur into security risk, and what defenders and users should understand about managing AI memory in an increasingly agent-driven environment.  In this episode you'll learn:       How AI memory poisoning differs from traditional prompt injection  Why legitimate businesses are using memory manipulation tactics  What threat hunters can look for inside enterprise telemetry   Some questions we ask:      How is memory poisoning different from prompt injection?  What are the long-term risks of embedding bias into AI memory?  Could this technique be used for more harmful influence beyond marketing?    Resources:   View Giorgio Severi on LinkedIn   View Noam Kochavi on LinkedIn   View Sherrod DeGrippo on LinkedIn     Related Microsoft Podcasts:                    Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson  The BlueHat Podcast  Uncovering Hidden Risks        Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts     Get the latest threat intelligence insights and guidance at Microsoft Security Insider      The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast is produced by Microsoft, Hangar Studios and distributed as part of N2K media network. 

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Finding Inner Peace in the Tranquil Negev Desert Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-25-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: האוויר המדברי הקר נשא עמו תחושה של שלווה וחידלון כשהוא נשא את אביטל ונועם לתוך חיקו של המדבר.En: The cold desert air carried a sense of tranquility and abandonment as it enveloped Avital and Noam into the desert's embrace.He: הם צעדו יחד אל הסדנה במנזר השקט במרגלות הרי הנגב.En: They walked together to the workshop at the quiet monastery at the foot of the Harei HaNegev.He: השמש שקע לאיטה, מציפה את המדבר באור חמים ורך שהאיר את הצוקים האדומים.En: The sun slowly set, bathing the desert in warm and soft light that illuminated the red cliffs.He: אביטל, מלאת מרץ וחמלה, התבוננה בנועם במבט מעודד.En: Avital, full of energy and compassion, looked at Noam with an encouraging gaze.He: "נועם, זה המקום שלך לפתוח חלון לנפש.En: "Noam, this is your place to open a window to your soul.He: כאן אף אחד לא שופט," היא לחשה בעדינות.En: Here, no one judges," she whispered gently.He: נועם גיחך קלות, אך משהו בשלוות המדבר גרם לו בכל זאת לחשוב.En: Noam chuckled softly, but something about the desert's calm made him think nonetheless.He: 'אני חייב למצוא שלווה נפשית ולגלות מה באמת חשוב לי', חשב לעצמו בשקט.En: 'I must find inner peace and discover what truly matters to me,' he thought quietly to himself.He: עם ירידת הערב, הם הצטרפו למעגל האנשים שהתאסף בשביל הסדנת מיינדפולנס.En: As evening fell, they joined the circle of people gathered for the mindfulness workshop.He: מדריך הסדנה הורה לכל אחד לשתף את תחושותיו ולקוות למצוא תשובות מתוך השתיקה.En: The workshop instructor instructed everyone to share their feelings and hope to find answers from the silence.He: נועם נשא בתוכו רגשות ודאגות, תהה אם עליו להתבטא.En: Noam carried within him feelings and worries, wondering if he should express them.He: אך אביטל לחשה לו באוזן: "לא נורא להראות פגיעות.En: But Avital whispered in his ear, "It's okay to show vulnerability.He: השיתוף כאן יכול לפתוח לך דלתות.En: Sharing here can open doors for you."He: "התור של נועם הגיע, והוא שאף עמוק, מתבונן אל תוך המדורה הדולקת במרכז המעגל.En: When Noam's turn came, he took a deep breath, gazing into the bonfire burning in the center of the circle.He: "אני מרגיש אבוד," הוא אמר לבסוף, רגשותיו נתפסים במילים.En: "I feel lost," he finally said, his emotions caught in the words.He: "אני מרגיש שמה שאני עושה לא באמת חשוב לי, ושאני רודף אחרי מה שהחברה מצפה ולא אחרי הלב שלי.En: "I feel that what I do is not truly important to me, and that I'm chasing after what society expects instead of what my heart desires."He: "הקבוצה שתקה, מחבקת את נועם בתחושות שקטות של הבנה והקלה.En: The group remained silent, embracing Noam with quiet feelings of understanding and relief.He: בעיניים של אביטל ראו כולם תמיכה נאמנה, והיא חייכה אליו בעידוד.En: In Avital's eyes, everyone saw faithful support, and she smiled at him encouragingly.He: ברגע זה, משהו בנועם השתנה.En: At that moment, something changed in Noam.He: תחושת הקלה אפפה אותו והוא הבין את האמת הפשוטה: על מנת לחיות חיים של משמעות, עליו ללמוד לשמוע את עצמו, ולא את רעשי העולם החיצוני.En: A sense of relief washed over him, and he understood the simple truth: in order to live a meaningful life, he must learn to listen to himself, not the noise of the outside world.He: כשעיניו מרוכזות במדורה ומתוך כוונה מחודשת, הוא ידע שעליו לבחור בדרך משלו.En: With his eyes focused on the bonfire and with renewed intention, he knew he had to choose his own path.He: התמיכה של אביטל והקבוצה נתנה לו כוח להאמין בעצמו.En: The support of Avital and the group gave him the strength to believe in himself.He: עם תום הסדנה בחר במסלול חדש, מתמקד בערכים וברצונות אמיתיים.En: At the end of the workshop, he chose a new path, focusing on true values and desires.He: הוא עזב את המדבר עם תחושת בהירות וביטחון חדש.En: He left the desert with a sense of clarity and newfound confidence.He: נועם הבין שעליו להתחבר לליבו ולשחרר את הדאגות שהיו מיותרות.En: Noam understood that he needed to connect to his heart and release unnecessary worries.He: הנגב נשאר מאחור, אבל השלום והשקט שאחז בו יישארו איתו לתמיד.En: The Negev was left behind, but the peace and quiet that embraced him would stay with him forever. Vocabulary Words:tranquility: שלווהabandonment: חידלוןenveloped: נשאcompassion: חמלהencouraging: מעודדwhispered: לחשהvulnerability: פגיעותbonfire: מדורהintentions: כוונהsupport: תמיכהrenewed: מחודשתclarity: בהירותconfidence: ביטחוןunnecessary: מיותרותsilence: שתיקהcircle: מעגלunderstanding: הבנהrelief: הקלהgaze: מבטchasing: רודףvalues: ערכיםembrace: חיבוקmeaningful: משמעותיdesires: רצונותinner peace: שלווה נפשיתvulnerable: פגועfaithful: נאמןmeaning: משמעותintrospection: בדיקה פנימיתmonastery: מנזרBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Jen and Noam return to discuss the Supreme Court shooting down Trump's "national emergency" tariffs, Jen's hope for a restructuring of executive power, Tucker lying about his trip to Israel (well at least to the airport), lying for clout, America's new figure skating darling Alysa Liu, journalists asking athletes dumb political questions, and being proud to be an American. For our WAWC, Jen recommends the new Sam Raimi film Send Help, and Noam (probably because he got tired of Jen badgering him to watch more anime) starts watching Hell's Paradise.   

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Snowy Conversations: A Family Cabin's Future Revived Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-22-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: המערבולות שבשמיים היו כמו ריקוד של צבעים שחורים ואפורים כשהן התפרקו לגשם קל כשלג.En: The whirlwinds in the sky were like a dance of black and gray colors as they broke into light snow-like rain.He: נועם ושירה עמדו במרפסת של הבקתה הישנה של המשפחה בגולן, מתבוננים בעמק המושלג והעצים הגבוהים המכוסים שלג מסביבם.En: Noam and Shira stood on the porch of the family's old cabin in the Golan, gazing at the snowy valley and the tall trees covered in snow around them.He: האווירה הייתה מתוחה מעט, כמו השקט לפני הסערה.En: The atmosphere was slightly tense, like the calm before the storm.He: נועם פנה לאחותו, "זוכרת איך היינו משחקים בבקתה הזאת כשהיינו קטנים?En: @Noam turned to his sister, "Do you remember how we used to play in this cabin when we were little?He: היום ההוא שאבינו בנה איתנו את איש השלג הראשון שלנו פה?En: That day our father helped us build our first snowman here?"He: ""אני זוכרת," השיבה שירה, מתחילה להתרכך מעט.En: "I remember," @Shira replied, beginning to soften a bit.He: אך עדיין, מחשבותיה היו ממוקדות בעניינים כלכליים.En: Yet still, her thoughts were focused on financial matters.He: "אבל זה היה מזמן.En: "But that was a long time ago.He: אנחנו צריכים לחשוב על העתיד.En: We need to think about the future.He: הבקתה הזאת היא עול כלכלי.En: This cabin is a financial burden."He: ""אנחנו יכולים לשמור את זה למשפחה שלנו," נועם המשיך, קולו מלא תקווה.En: "We can keep it for our family," @Noam continued, his voice full of hope.He: "להפוך את זה למקום שבו כולנו יכולים להיפגש בפורים ובחגים אחרים.En: "Make it a place where we can all meet on Purim and other holidays.He: זה חלק מהמורשת שלנו.En: It's part of our heritage."He: "אבל שירה התאפקה.En: But @Shira hesitated.He: היא ידעה עד כמה המקום יקר לנועם.En: She knew how much the place meant to @Noam.He: "ומה נעשה עם העלויות?En: "And what about the costs?He: זה יכול לעזור לנו, אם נמכור את זה.En: It could help us if we sell it."He: "פתאום, הרוח התגברה והשלג החל להתעבות, מתפרץ בכל חלונות הבקתה.En: Suddenly, the wind picked up, and the snow began to thicken, bursting against the cabin's windows.He: הם הבינו שהם עומדים להישאר בבקתה למשך הלילה.En: They realized they were going to stay in the cabin overnight.He: זה היה הזמן המושלם לשיחה האמיתית שהם דחו זמן רב.En: It was the perfect time for the real conversation they had been postponing for a long time.He: לאחר שנדלקה האש באח והחדר התמלא בחום, הם התיישבו לדבר באמת.En: After the fire was lit in the hearth, and the room was filled with warmth, they sat down to truly talk.He: השלג הפך לרקע לרחשי הכנות שלהם זה מול זה.En: The snow became a backdrop to the sounds of their sincerity with one another.He: נועם הציע רעיון - להשכיר את הבקתה כאשר הם לא משתמשים בה.En: @Noam proposed an idea—renting out the cabin when they're not using it.He: כך, הם יכולים לשמור על המורשת המשפחתית וגם להכניס כסף שיבלום את עלויות התחזוקה.En: This way, they could preserve the family heritage while also generating income to offset maintenance costs.He: שירה הנידה ראשה בהסכמה.En: @Shira nodded in agreement.He: "זה רעיון טוב, נועם.En: "That's a good idea, @Noam.He: אני רואה שלבקתה יש ערך מעבר לכסף.En: I see that the cabin has a value beyond money."He: "עם הבנתם המחודשת, הם נרדמו ליד האח, השלג מכסה את סביבתם.En: With their renewed understanding, they fell asleep by the fire, snow covering their surroundings.He: הגיעו לפשרה, בונים עתיד המבוסס על זיכרונות העבר ואחריות כלכלית של ההווה.En: They reached a compromise, building a future based on memories of the past and the financial responsibility of the present.He: בבוקר שלאחר מכן, עם הקרני שמש הראשונות שהחלו להפציע, שירה ונועם הביטו בנוף החדש המפואר, מושלג ורגוע.En: The next morning, with the first rays of sun beginning to emerge, @Shira and @Noam looked out at the magnificent, snowy, and serene new landscape.He: הם ידעו שעכשיו, הם יכולים לשמור על הבקתה ולהפוך אותה למשהו שישמר לדורות הבאים, מן מקום של חיבור וחום משפחתי.En: They knew that now, they could preserve the cabin and turn it into something that would be cherished by future generations—a place of connection and family warmth. Vocabulary Words:whirlwinds: מערבולותcabin: בקתהgazing: מתבונניםslightly: קצתheritage: מורשתfinancial: כלכליburden: עולmaintenance: תחזוקהhearth: אחpostponing: דחוsincerity: כנותoffset: יבלוםrenewed: מחודשתlandscape: נוףserene: רגועfuture generations: דורות הבאיםtall: גבוהיםatmosphere: אווירהtensed: מתוחהcalm: שקטstorm: סערהsoften: להתרכךcosts: עלויותthicken: להתעבותbursting: מתפרץconversation: שיחהcherished: ישמרsharing: להשכירconnection: חיבורresponsibility: אחריותBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: A Purim Celebration: Overcoming Fears with Marine Magic Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-21-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: באוניברסיטת תל אביב האווירה הייתה מיוחדת.En: Be'Universitat Tel Aviv the atmosphere was special.He: למרות החורף, השמש זרחה ושמיים כחולים קישטו את העיר.En: Despite the winter, the sun was shining and blue skies decorated the city.He: החגיגות התקרבו וסטודנטים החלו להתלבש בחליפות צבעוניות לקראת פורים.En: The celebrations were approaching, and students began dressing in colorful costumes in preparation for Purim.He: בין המהומה הזו, שלוש סטודנטים התכוננו לכיתה בנושא מדעי הסביבה.En: Amid this commotion, three students prepared for a class on environmental science.He: אליאנה הייתה יושבת בספריה, שקועה בהכנת פרזנטציה על השפעת הזיהום הימי.En: Eliana was sitting in the library, engrossed in preparing a presentation on the effects of marine pollution.He: היא ידועה כאקטיביסטית סביבתית, אבל סלדה מדיבור מול קהל.En: She was known as an environmental activist, but she despised speaking in front of an audience.He: הרבה אנשים לא ידעו על החרדות שלה, חוץ מיעל, החברה הכי טובה שלה.En: Many people didn't know about her anxieties, except for Yael, her best friend.He: יעל התקרבה אליה, עטויה בשמלה צבעונית עם פרחים.En: Yael approached her, dressed in a colorful dress with flowers.He: "אליאנה, את חייבת לנסות את התחפושת שקניתי לך!En: "Eliana, you must try the costume I bought for you!"He: ", היא אמרה בחיוך.En: she said with a smile.He: "זה יעזור לך להשתחרר.En: "It will help you relax."He: "אליאנה נשפה בעדינות, "אני מתה מפחד על הפרזנטציה הזו.En: Eliana gently exhaled, "I'm terrified about this presentation."He: "בינתיים, נעם, סטודנט חדש וחובב ביולוגיה ימית, התלבט איך להשתלב בקבוצה של אליאנה.En: Meanwhile, Noam, a new student and marine biology enthusiast, wondered how to integrate into Eliana's group.He: הוא חיפש חיבור עם סטודנטים במצב הנרגש והקתולי של האוניברסיטה.En: He was looking for connection with students in the excited and eclectic atmosphere of the university.He: השלושה נפגשו בחדר לימוד קטן.En: The three met in a small study room.He: "יש לי רעיון!En: "I have an idea!"He: ", הכריזה יעל.En: Yael announced.He: "בואו נתלבש כמו דמות מסיפור, זה יוסיף עניין ונשבור את הקרח.En: "Let's dress up as characters from a story; it will add interest and break the ice."He: "אליאנה חייכה בקצת פחד אך גם סקרנות.En: Eliana smiled with a bit of fear but also curiosity.He: נעם הציע, "אולי נשתמש בנושאים ימיים מהפרזנטציה ונהפוך את זה לחגיגה סביבתית!En: Noam suggested, "Maybe we can use marine themes from the presentation and turn it into an environmental celebration!"He: "בלילה לפני הפרזנטציה, אליאנה החלה לתרגל.En: The night before the presentation, Eliana began to practice.He: היא לבשה תחפושת של מדוזה שיקרה ויעל עזרה לה להירגע בעזרת תרגילים מצחיקים.En: She wore a jellyfish costume that Noam had made, and Yael helped her relax through funny exercises.He: ביום הפרזנטציה, כשהכל מסביב חגגו את פורים, אליאנה עמדה מול כיתה מלאה בסטודנטים לבושים בצבעים זוהרים.En: On the day of the presentation, while everyone around celebrated Purim, Eliana stood in front of a class full of students dressed in bright colors.He: היא החזיקה את הפתק שלה עם נקודות המדויקות, אבל הראש שלה חשב על איך תוכל להכניס שמחה ורעננות להציג את הנושא החשוב.En: She held her note with precise points, but her mind was on how she could bring joy and refresh the delivery of the important subject.He: אז היא החליטה להניח את הפתק הצידה.En: So she decided to set the note aside.He: היא התמסרה לרגע, שילבה את הקול השובב של יעל ואת ההתלהבות הימית של נעם.En: She immersed herself in the moment, combining Yael's mischievous voice and Noam's marine enthusiasm.He: היא סיפרה סיפור על דולפין קטן שהלך לאיבוד בים מזוהם, אבל בעזרת כוח הטבע הים ניקה את עצמו.En: She told a story about a little dolphin that got lost in a polluted sea, but with the power of nature, the sea cleaned itself.He: בסיום, לקהל לא נותר אלא למחוא כפיים.En: In the end, the audience couldn't help but applaud.He: אליאנה חשה שניצחה, לא רק בפרזנטציה אלא גם את הפחדים שלה.En: Eliana felt she had won, not just in the presentation but against her fears.He: היא אמרה לעצמה, "עכשיו אני יודעת שאני יכולה להתמודד עם כל אתגר.En: She told herself, "Now I know I can tackle any challenge."He: "החורף המשיך, אבל בלב של אליאנה הופיעה ההתרגשות של ניצחון והחברות החדשה שנוצרה.En: The winter continued, but in Eliana's heart appeared the excitement of victory and the new friendship that was formed.He: התחפושות והצחוקים הפכו לפרטים זוהרים בזיכרון של יום מיוחד זה.En: The costumes and laughter became glowing details in the memory of this special day. Vocabulary Words:atmosphere: אווירהcommotion: מהומהengrossed: שקועהanxieties: חרדותexhaled: נשפהenthusiast: חובבintegrate: להשתלבeclectic: קתוליprecise: מדויקותimmersed: התמסרהcuriosity: סקרנותmischievous: שובבpollution: זיהוםcelebration: חגיגהvictory: ניצחוןmemory: זיכרוןdecorated: קישטוcostumes: תחפושותmarine: ימייםactivist: אקטיביסטיתaudience: קהלapproached: התקרבהconnection: חיבורproclamation: הכריזהpresentation: פרזנטציהenvironmental: סביבתיתchallenge: אתגרenthusiasm: התלהבותcostumed: תחפושתvictorious: ניצחהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Tickets for AIEi Miami and AIE Europe are live, with first wave speakers announced!From pioneering software-defined networking to backing many of the most aggressive AI model companies of this cycle, Martin Casado and Sarah Wang sit at the center of the capital, compute, and talent arms race reshaping the tech industry. As partners at a16z investing across infrastructure and growth, they've watched venture and growth blur, model labs turn dollars into capability at unprecedented speed, and startups raise nine-figure rounds before monetization.Martin and Sarah join us to unpack the new financing playbook for AI: why today's rounds are really compute contracts in disguise, how the “raise → train → ship → raise bigger” flywheel works, and whether foundation model companies can outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of them. They also share what's underhyped (boring enterprise software), what's overheated (talent wars and compensation spirals), and the two radically different futures they see for AI's market structure.We discuss:* Martin's “two futures” fork: infinite fragmentation and new software categories vs. a small oligopoly of general models that consume everything above them* The capital flywheel: how model labs translate funding directly into capability gains, then into revenue growth measured in weeks, not years* Why venture and growth have merged: $100M–$1B hybrid rounds, strategic investors, compute negotiations, and complex deal structures* The AGI vs. product tension: allocating scarce GPUs between long-term research and near-term revenue flywheels* Whether frontier labs can out-raise and outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of their APIs* Why today's talent wars ($10M+ comp packages, $B acqui-hires) are breaking early-stage founder math* Cursor as a case study: building up from the app layer while training down into your own models* Why “boring” enterprise software may be the most underinvested opportunity in the AI mania* Hardware and robotics: why the ChatGPT moment hasn't yet arrived for robots and what would need to change* World Labs and generative 3D: bringing the marginal cost of 3D scene creation down by orders of magnitude* Why public AI discourse is often wildly disconnected from boardroom reality and how founders should navigate the noiseShow Notes:* “Where Value Will Accrue in AI: Martin Casado & Sarah Wang” - a16z show* “Jack Altman & Martin Casado on the Future of Venture Capital”* World Labs—Martin Casado• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincasado/• X: https://x.com/martin_casadoSarah Wang• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-wang-59b96a7• X: https://x.com/sarahdingwanga16z• https://a16z.com/Timestamps00:00:00 – Intro: Live from a16z00:01:20 – The New AI Funding Model: Venture + Growth Collide00:03:19 – Circular Funding, Demand & “No Dark GPUs”00:05:24 – Infrastructure vs Apps: The Lines Blur00:06:24 – The Capital Flywheel: Raise → Train → Ship → Raise Bigger00:09:39 – Can Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem?00:11:24 – Character AI & The AGI vs Product Dilemma00:14:39 – Talent Wars, $10M Engineers & Founder Anxiety00:17:33 – What's Underinvested? The Case for “Boring” Software00:19:29 – Robotics, Hardware & Why It's Hard to Win00:22:42 – Custom ASICs & The $1B Training Run Economics00:24:23 – American Dynamism, Geography & AI Power Centers00:26:48 – How AI Is Changing the Investor Workflow (Claude Cowork)00:29:12 – Two Futures of AI: Infinite Expansion or Oligopoly?00:32:48 – If You Can Raise More Than Your Ecosystem, You Win00:34:27 – Are All Tasks AGI-Complete? Coding as the Test Case00:38:55 – Cursor & The Power of the App Layer00:44:05 – World Labs, Spatial Intelligence & 3D Foundation Models00:47:20 – Thinking Machines, Founder Drama & Media Narratives00:52:30 – Where Long-Term Power Accrues in the AI StackTranscriptLatent.Space - Inside AI's $10B+ Capital Flywheel — Martin Casado & Sarah Wang of a16z[00:00:00] Welcome to Latent Space (Live from a16z) + Meet the Guests[00:00:00] Alessio: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Latent Space podcast, live from a 16 z. Uh, this is Alessio founder Kernel Lance, and I'm joined by Twix, editor of Latent Space.[00:00:08] swyx: Hey, hey, hey. Uh, and we're so glad to be on with you guys. Also a top AI podcast, uh, Martin Cado and Sarah Wang. Welcome, very[00:00:16] Martin Casado: happy to be here and welcome.[00:00:17] swyx: Yes, uh, we love this office. We love what you've done with the place. Uh, the new logo is everywhere now. It's, it's still getting, takes a while to get used to, but it reminds me of like sort of a callback to a more ambitious age, which I think is kind of[00:00:31] Martin Casado: definitely makes a statement.[00:00:33] swyx: Yeah.[00:00:34] Martin Casado: Not quite sure what that statement is, but it makes a statement.[00:00:37] swyx: Uh, Martin, I go back with you to Netlify.[00:00:40] Martin Casado: Yep.[00:00:40] swyx: Uh, and, uh, you know, you create a software defined networking and all, all that stuff people can read up on your background. Yep. Sarah, I'm newer to you. Uh, you, you sort of started working together on AI infrastructure stuff.[00:00:51] Sarah Wang: That's right. Yeah. Seven, seven years ago now.[00:00:53] Martin Casado: Best growth investor in the entire industry.[00:00:55] swyx: Oh, say[00:00:56] Martin Casado: more hands down there is, there is. [00:01:00] I mean, when it comes to AI companies, Sarah, I think has done the most kind of aggressive, um, investment thesis around AI models, right? So, worked for Nom Ja, Mira Ia, FEI Fey, and so just these frontier, kind of like large AI models.[00:01:15] I think, you know, Sarah's been the, the broadest investor. Is that fair?[00:01:20] Venture vs. Growth in the Frontier Model Era[00:01:20] Sarah Wang: No, I, well, I was gonna say, I think it's been a really interesting tag, tag team actually just ‘cause the, a lot of these big C deals, not only are they raising a lot of money, um, it's still a tech founder bet, which obviously is inherently early stage.[00:01:33] But the resources,[00:01:36] Martin Casado: so many, I[00:01:36] Sarah Wang: was gonna say the resources one, they just grow really quickly. But then two, the resources that they need day one are kind of growth scale. So I, the hybrid tag team that we have is. Quite effective, I think,[00:01:46] Martin Casado: what is growth these days? You know, you don't wake up if it's less than a billion or like, it's, it's actually, it's actually very like, like no, it's a very interesting time in investing because like, you know, take like the character around, right?[00:01:59] These tend to [00:02:00] be like pre monetization, but the dollars are large enough that you need to have a larger fund and the analysis. You know, because you've got lots of users. ‘cause this stuff has such high demand requires, you know, more of a number sophistication. And so most of these deals, whether it's US or other firms on these large model companies, are like this hybrid between venture growth.[00:02:18] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Total. And I think, you know, stuff like BD for example, you wouldn't usually need BD when you were seed stage trying to get market biz Devrel. Biz Devrel, exactly. Okay. But like now, sorry, I'm,[00:02:27] swyx: I'm not familiar. What, what, what does biz Devrel mean for a venture fund? Because I know what biz Devrel means for a company.[00:02:31] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:02:32] Compute Deals, Strategics, and the ‘Circular Funding' Question[00:02:32] Sarah Wang: You know, so a, a good example is, I mean, we talk about buying compute, but there's a huge negotiation involved there in terms of, okay, do you get equity for the compute? What, what sort of partner are you looking at? Is there a go-to market arm to that? Um, and these are just things on this scale, hundreds of millions, you know, maybe.[00:02:50] Six months into the inception of a company, you just wouldn't have to negotiate these deals before.[00:02:54] Martin Casado: Yeah. These large rounds are very complex now. Like in the past, if you did a series A [00:03:00] or a series B, like whatever, you're writing a 20 to a $60 million check and you call it a day. Now you normally have financial investors and strategic investors, and then the strategic portion always still goes with like these kind of large compute contracts, which can take months to do.[00:03:13] And so it's, it's very different ties. I've been doing this for 10 years. It's the, I've never seen anything like this.[00:03:19] swyx: Yeah. Do you have worries about the circular funding from so disease strategics?[00:03:24] Martin Casado: I mean, listen, as long as the demand is there, like the demand is there. Like the problem with the internet is the demand wasn't there.[00:03:29] swyx: Exactly. All right. This, this is like the, the whole pyramid scheme bubble thing, where like, as long as you mark to market on like the notional value of like, these deals, fine, but like once it starts to chip away, it really Well[00:03:41] Martin Casado: no, like as, as, as, as long as there's demand. I mean, you know, this, this is like a lot of these sound bites have already become kind of cliches, but they're worth saying it.[00:03:47] Right? Like during the internet days, like we were. Um, raising money to put fiber in the ground that wasn't used. And that's a problem, right? Because now you actually have a supply overhang.[00:03:58] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:03:59] Martin Casado: And even in the, [00:04:00] the time of the, the internet, like the supply and, and bandwidth overhang, even as massive as it was in, as massive as the crash was only lasted about four years.[00:04:09] But we don't have a supply overhang. Like there's no dark GPUs, right? I mean, and so, you know, circular or not, I mean, you know, if, if someone invests in a company that, um. You know, they'll actually use the GPUs. And on the other side of it is the, is the ask for customer. So I I, I think it's a different time.[00:04:25] Sarah Wang: I think the other piece, maybe just to add onto this, and I'm gonna quote Martine in front of him, but this is probably also a unique time in that. For the first time, you can actually trace dollars to outcomes. Yeah, right. Provided that scaling laws are, are holding, um, and capabilities are actually moving forward.[00:04:40] Because if you can put translate dollars into capabilities, uh, a capability improvement, there's demand there to martine's point. But if that somehow breaks, you know, obviously that's an important assumption in this whole thing to make it work. But you know, instead of investing dollars into sales and marketing, you're, you're investing into r and d to get to the capability, um, you know, increase.[00:04:59] And [00:05:00] that's sort of been the demand driver because. Once there's an unlock there, people are willing to pay for it.[00:05:05] Alessio: Yeah.[00:05:06] Blurring Lines: Models as Infra + Apps, and the New Fundraising Flywheel[00:05:06] Alessio: Is there any difference in how you built the portfolio now that some of your growth companies are, like the infrastructure of the early stage companies, like, you know, OpenAI is now the same size as some of the cloud providers were early on.[00:05:16] Like what does that look like? Like how much information can you feed off each other between the, the two?[00:05:24] Martin Casado: There's so many lines that are being crossed right now, or blurred. Right. So we already talked about venture and growth. Another one that's being blurred is between infrastructure and apps, right? So like what is a model company?[00:05:35] Mm-hmm. Like, it's clearly infrastructure, right? Because it's like, you know, it's doing kind of core r and d. It's a horizontal platform, but it's also an app because it's um, uh, touches the users directly. And then of course. You know, the, the, the growth of these is just so high. And so I actually think you're just starting to see a, a, a new financing strategy emerge and, you know, we've had to adapt as a result of that.[00:05:59] And [00:06:00] so there's been a lot of changes. Um, you're right that these companies become platform companies very quickly. You've got ecosystem build out. So none of this is necessarily new, but the timescales of which it's happened is pretty phenomenal. And the way we'd normally cut lines before is blurred a little bit, but.[00:06:16] But that, that, that said, I mean, a lot of it also just does feel like things that we've seen in the past, like cloud build out the internet build out as well.[00:06:24] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Um, yeah, I think it's interesting, uh, I don't know if you guys would agree with this, but it feels like the emerging strategy is, and this builds off of your other question, um.[00:06:33] You raise money for compute, you pour that or you, you pour the money into compute, you get some sort of breakthrough. You funnel the breakthrough into your vertically integrated application. That could be chat GBT, that could be cloud code, you know, whatever it is. You massively gain share and get users.[00:06:49] Maybe you're even subsidizing at that point. Um, depending on your strategy. You raise money at the peak momentum and then you repeat, rinse and repeat. Um, and so. And that wasn't [00:07:00] true even two years ago, I think. Mm-hmm. And so it's sort of to your, just tying it to fundraising strategy, right? There's a, and hiring strategy.[00:07:07] All of these are tied, I think the lines are blurring even more today where everyone is, and they, but of course these companies all have API businesses and so they're these, these frenemy lines that are getting blurred in that a lot of, I mean, they have billions of dollars of API revenue, right? And so there are customers there.[00:07:23] But they're competing on the app layer.[00:07:24] Martin Casado: Yeah. So this is a really, really important point. So I, I would say for sure, venture and growth, that line is blurry app and infrastructure. That line is blurry. Um, but I don't think that that changes our practice so much. But like where the very open questions are like, does this layer in the same way.[00:07:43] Compute traditionally has like during the cloud is like, you know, like whatever, somebody wins one layer, but then another whole set of companies wins another layer. But that might not, might not be the case here. It may be the case that you actually can't verticalize on the token string. Like you can't build an app like it, it necessarily goes down just because there are no [00:08:00] abstractions.[00:08:00] So those are kinda the bigger existential questions we ask. Another thing that is very different this time than in the history of computer sciences is. In the past, if you raised money, then you basically had to wait for engineering to catch up. Which famously doesn't scale like the mythical mammoth. It take a very long time.[00:08:18] But like that's not the case here. Like a model company can raise money and drop a model in a, in a year, and it's better, right? And, and it does it with a team of 20 people or 10 people. So this type of like money entering a company and then producing something that has demand and growth right away and using that to raise more money is a very different capital flywheel than we've ever seen before.[00:08:39] And I think everybody's trying to understand what the consequences are. So I think it's less about like. Big companies and growth and this, and more about these more systemic questions that we actually don't have answers to.[00:08:49] Alessio: Yeah, like at Kernel Labs, one of our ideas is like if you had unlimited money to spend productively to turn tokens into products, like the whole early stage [00:09:00] market is very different because today you're investing X amount of capital to win a deal because of price structure and whatnot, and you're kind of pot committing.[00:09:07] Yeah. To a certain strategy for a certain amount of time. Yeah. But if you could like iteratively spin out companies and products and just throw, I, I wanna spend a million dollar of inference today and get a product out tomorrow.[00:09:18] swyx: Yeah.[00:09:19] Alessio: Like, we should get to the point where like the friction of like token to product is so low that you can do this and then you can change the Right, the early stage venture model to be much more iterative.[00:09:30] And then every round is like either 100 k of inference or like a hundred million from a 16 Z. There's no, there's no like $8 million C round anymore. Right.[00:09:38] When Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem[00:09:38] Martin Casado: But, but, but, but there's a, there's a, the, an industry structural question that we don't know the answer to, which involves the frontier models, which is, let's take.[00:09:48] Anthropic it. Let's say Anthropic has a state-of-the-art model that has some large percentage of market share. And let's say that, uh, uh, uh, you know, uh, a company's building smaller models [00:10:00] that, you know, use the bigger model in the background, open 4.5, but they add value on top of that. Now, if Anthropic can raise three times more.[00:10:10] Every subsequent round, they probably can raise more money than the entire app ecosystem that's built on top of it. And if that's the case, they can expand beyond everything built on top of it. It's like imagine like a star that's just kind of expanding, so there could be a systemic. There could be a, a systemic situation where the soda models can raise so much money that they can out pay anybody that bills on top of ‘em, which would be something I don't think we've ever seen before just because we were so bottlenecked in engineering, and this is a very open question.[00:10:41] swyx: Yeah. It's, it is almost like bitter lesson applied to the startup industry.[00:10:45] Martin Casado: Yeah, a hundred percent. It literally becomes an issue of like raise capital, turn that directly into growth. Use that to raise three times more. Exactly. And if you can keep doing that, you literally can outspend any company that's built the, not any company.[00:10:57] You can outspend the aggregate of companies on top of [00:11:00] you and therefore you'll necessarily take their share, which is crazy.[00:11:02] swyx: Would you say that kind of happens in character? Is that the, the sort of postmortem on. What happened?[00:11:10] Sarah Wang: Um,[00:11:10] Martin Casado: no.[00:11:12] Sarah Wang: Yeah, because I think so,[00:11:13] swyx: I mean the actual postmortem is, he wanted to go back to Google.[00:11:15] Exactly. But like[00:11:18] Martin Casado: that's another difference that[00:11:19] Sarah Wang: you said[00:11:21] Martin Casado: it. We should talk, we should actually talk about that.[00:11:22] swyx: Yeah,[00:11:22] Sarah Wang: that's[00:11:23] swyx: Go for it. Take it. Take,[00:11:23] Sarah Wang: yeah.[00:11:24] Character.AI, Founder Goals (AGI vs Product), and GPU Allocation Tradeoffs[00:11:24] Sarah Wang: I was gonna say, I think, um. The, the, the character thing raises actually a different issue, which actually the Frontier Labs will face as well. So we'll see how they handle it.[00:11:34] But, um, so we invest in character in January, 2023, which feels like eons ago, I mean, three years ago. Feels like lifetimes ago. But, um, and then they, uh, did the IP licensing deal with Google in August, 2020. Uh, four. And so, um, you know, at the time, no, you know, he's talked publicly about this, right? He wanted to Google wouldn't let him put out products in the world.[00:11:56] That's obviously changed drastically. But, um, he went to go do [00:12:00] that. Um, but he had a product attached. The goal was, I mean, it's Nome Shair, he wanted to get to a GI. That was always his personal goal. But, you know, I think through collecting data, right, and this sort of very human use case, that the character product.[00:12:13] Originally was and still is, um, was one of the vehicles to do that. Um, I think the real reason that, you know. I if you think about the, the stress that any company feels before, um, you ultimately going one way or the other is sort of this a GI versus product. Um, and I think a lot of the big, I think, you know, opening eyes, feeling that, um, anthropic if they haven't started, you know, felt it, certainly given the success of their products, they may start to feel that soon.[00:12:39] And the real. I think there's real trade-offs, right? It's like how many, when you think about GPUs, that's a limited resource. Where do you allocate the GPUs? Is it toward the product? Is it toward new re research? Right? Is it, or long-term research, is it toward, um, n you know, near to midterm research? And so, um, in a case where you're resource constrained, um, [00:13:00] of course there's this fundraising game you can play, right?[00:13:01] But the fund, the market was very different back in 2023 too. Um. I think the best researchers in the world have this dilemma of, okay, I wanna go all in on a GI, but it's the product usage revenue flywheel that keeps the revenue in the house to power all the GPUs to get to a GI. And so it does make, um, you know, I think it sets up an interesting dilemma for any startup that has trouble raising up until that level, right?[00:13:27] And certainly if you don't have that progress, you can't continue this fly, you know, fundraising flywheel.[00:13:32] Martin Casado: I would say that because, ‘cause we're keeping track of all of the things that are different, right? Like, you know, venture growth and uh, app infra and one of the ones is definitely the personalities of the founders.[00:13:45] It's just very different this time I've been. Been doing this for a decade and I've been doing startups for 20 years. And so, um, I mean a lot of people start this to do a GI and we've never had like a unified North star that I recall in the same [00:14:00] way. Like people built companies to start companies in the past.[00:14:02] Like that was what it was. Like I would create an internet company, I would create infrastructure company, like it's kind of more engineering builders and this is kind of a different. You know, mentality. And some companies have harnessed that incredibly well because their direction is so obviously on the path to what somebody would consider a GI, but others have not.[00:14:20] And so like there is always this tension with personnel. And so I think we're seeing more kind of founder movement.[00:14:27] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:14:27] Martin Casado: You know, as a fraction of founders than we've ever seen. I mean, maybe since like, I don't know the time of like Shockly and the trade DUR aid or something like that. Way back in the beginning of the industry, I, it's a very, very.[00:14:38] Unusual time of personnel.[00:14:39] Sarah Wang: Totally.[00:14:40] Talent Wars, Mega-Comp, and the Rise of Acquihire M&A[00:14:40] Sarah Wang: And it, I think it's exacerbated by the fact that talent wars, I mean, every industry has talent wars, but not at this magnitude, right? No. Yeah. Very rarely can you see someone get poached for $5 billion. That's hard to compete with. And then secondly, if you're a founder in ai, you could fart and it would be on the front page of, you know, the information these days.[00:14:59] And so there's [00:15:00] sort of this fishbowl effect that I think adds to the deep anxiety that, that these AI founders are feeling.[00:15:06] Martin Casado: Hmm.[00:15:06] swyx: Uh, yes. I mean, just on, uh, briefly comment on the founder, uh, the sort of. Talent wars thing. I feel like 2025 was just like a blip. Like I, I don't know if we'll see that again.[00:15:17] ‘cause meta built the team. Like, I don't know if, I think, I think they're kind of done and like, who's gonna pay more than meta? I, I don't know.[00:15:23] Martin Casado: I, I agree. So it feels so, it feel, it feels this way to me too. It's like, it is like, basically Zuckerberg kind of came out swinging and then now he's kind of back to building.[00:15:30] Yeah,[00:15:31] swyx: yeah. You know, you gotta like pay up to like assemble team to rush the job, whatever. But then now, now you like you, you made your choices and now they got a ship.[00:15:38] Martin Casado: I mean, the, the o other side of that is like, you know, like we're, we're actually in the job hiring market. We've got 600 people here. I hire all the time.[00:15:44] I've got three open recs if anybody's interested, that's listening to this for investor. Yeah, on, on the team, like on the investing side of the team, like, and, um, a lot of the people we talk to have acting, you know, active, um, offers for 10 million a year or something like that. And like, you know, and we pay really, [00:16:00] really well.[00:16:00] And just to see what's out on the market is really, is really remarkable. And so I would just say it's actually, so you're right, like the really flashy one, like I will get someone for, you know, a billion dollars, but like the inflated, um, uh, trickles down. Yeah, it is still very active today. I mean,[00:16:18] Sarah Wang: yeah, you could be an L five and get an offer in the tens of millions.[00:16:22] Okay. Yeah. Easily. Yeah. It's so I think you're right that it felt like a blip. I hope you're right. Um, but I think it's been, the steady state is now, I think got pulled up. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pull up for[00:16:31] Martin Casado: sure. Yeah.[00:16:32] Alessio: Yeah. And I think that's breaking the early stage founder math too. I think before a lot of people would be like, well, maybe I should just go be a founder instead of like getting paid.[00:16:39] Yeah. 800 KA million at Google. But if I'm getting paid. Five, 6 million. That's different but[00:16:45] Martin Casado: on. But on the other hand, there's more strategic money than we've ever seen historically, right? Mm-hmm. And so, yep. The economics, the, the, the, the calculus on the economics is very different in a number of ways. And, uh, it's crazy.[00:16:58] It's cra it's causing like a, [00:17:00] a, a, a ton of change in confusion in the market. Some very positive, sub negative, like, so for example, the other side of the, um. The co-founder, like, um, acquisition, you know, mark Zuckerberg poaching someone for a lot of money is like, we were actually seeing historic amount of m and a for basically acquihires, right?[00:17:20] That you like, you know, really good outcomes from a venture perspective that are effective acquihires, right? So I would say it's probably net positive from the investment standpoint, even though it seems from the headlines to be very disruptive in a negative way.[00:17:33] Alessio: Yeah.[00:17:33] What's Underfunded: Boring Software, Robotics Skepticism, and Custom Silicon Economics[00:17:33] Alessio: Um, let's talk maybe about what's not being invested in, like maybe some interesting ideas that you would see more people build or it, it seems in a way, you know, as ycs getting more popular, it's like access getting more popular.[00:17:47] There's a startup school path that a lot of founders take and they know what's hot in the VC circles and they know what gets funded. Uh, and there's maybe not as much risk appetite for. Things outside of that. Um, I'm curious if you feel [00:18:00] like that's true and what are maybe, uh, some of the areas, uh, that you think are under discussed?[00:18:06] Martin Casado: I mean, I actually think that we've taken our eye off the ball in a lot of like, just traditional, you know, software companies. Um, so like, I mean. You know, I think right now there's almost a barbell, like you're like the hot thing on X, you're deep tech.[00:18:21] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:18:22] Martin Casado: Right. But I, you know, I feel like there's just kind of a long, you know, list of like good.[00:18:28] Good companies that will be around for a long time in very large markets. Say you're building a database, you know, say you're building, um, you know, kind of monitoring or logging or tooling or whatever. There's some good companies out there right now, but like, they have a really hard time getting, um, the attention of investors.[00:18:43] And it's almost become a meme, right? Which is like, if you're not basically growing from zero to a hundred in a year, you're not interesting, which is just, is the silliest thing to say. I mean, think of yourself as like an introvert person, like, like your personal money, right? Mm-hmm. So. Your personal money, will you put it in the stock market at 7% or you put it in this company growing five x in a very large [00:19:00] market?[00:19:00] Of course you can put it in the company five x. So it's just like we say these stupid things, like if you're not going from zero to a hundred, but like those, like who knows what the margins of those are mean. Clearly these are good investments. True for anybody, right? True. Like our LPs want whatever.[00:19:12] Three x net over, you know, the life cycle of a fund, right? So a, a company in a big market growing five X is a great investment. We'd, everybody would be happy with these returns, but we've got this kind of mania on these, these strong growths. And so I would say that that's probably the most underinvested sector.[00:19:28] Right now.[00:19:29] swyx: Boring software, boring enterprise software.[00:19:31] Martin Casado: Traditional. Really good company.[00:19:33] swyx: No, no AI here.[00:19:34] Martin Casado: No. Like boring. Well, well, the AI of course is pulling them into use cases. Yeah, but that's not what they're, they're not on the token path, right? Yeah. Let's just say that like they're software, but they're not on the token path.[00:19:41] Like these are like they're great investments from any definition except for like random VC on Twitter saying VC on x, saying like, it's not growing fast enough. What do you[00:19:52] Sarah Wang: think? Yeah, maybe I'll answer a slightly different. Question, but adjacent to what you asked, um, which is maybe an area that we're not, uh, investing [00:20:00] right now that I think is a question and we're spending a lot of time in regardless of whether we pull the trigger or not.[00:20:05] Um, and it would probably be on the hardware side, actually. Robotics, right? And the robotics side. Robotics. Right. Which is, it's, I don't wanna say that it's not getting funding ‘cause it's clearly, uh, it's, it's sort of non-consensus to almost not invest in robotics at this point. But, um, we spent a lot of time in that space and I think for us, we just haven't seen the chat GPT moment.[00:20:22] Happen on the hardware side. Um, and the funding going into it feels like it's already. Taking that for granted.[00:20:30] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. But we also went through the drone, you know, um, there's a zip line right, right out there. What's that? Oh yeah, there's a zip line. Yeah. What the drone, what the av And like one of the takeaways is when it comes to hardware, um, most companies will end up verticalizing.[00:20:46] Like if you're. If you're investing in a robot company for an A for agriculture, you're investing in an ag company. ‘cause that's the competition and that's surprising. And that's supply chain. And if you're doing it for mining, that's mining. And so the ad team does a lot of that type of stuff ‘cause they actually set up to [00:21:00] diligence that type of work.[00:21:01] But for like horizontal technology investing, there's very little when it comes to robots just because it's so fit for, for purpose. And so we kinda like to look at software. Solutions or horizontal solutions like applied intuition. Clearly from the AV wave deep map, clearly from the AV wave, I would say scale AI was actually a horizontal one for That's fair, you know, for robotics early on.[00:21:23] And so that sort of thing we're very, very interested. But the actual like robot interacting with the world is probably better for different team. Agree.[00:21:30] Alessio: Yeah, I'm curious who these teams are supposed to be that invest in them. I feel like everybody's like, yeah, robotics, it's important and like people should invest in it.[00:21:38] But then when you look at like the numbers, like the capital requirements early on versus like the moment of, okay, this is actually gonna work. Let's keep investing. That seems really hard to predict in a way that is not,[00:21:49] Martin Casado: I think co, CO two, kla, gc, I mean these are all invested in in Harvard companies. He just, you know, and [00:22:00] listen, I mean, it could work this time for sure.[00:22:01] Right? I mean if Elon's doing it, he's like, right. Just, just the fact that Elon's doing it means that there's gonna be a lot of capital and a lot of attempts for a long period of time. So that alone maybe suggests that we should just be investing in robotics just ‘cause you have this North star who's Elon with a humanoid and that's gonna like basically willing into being an industry.[00:22:17] Um, but we've just historically found like. We're a huge believer that this is gonna happen. We just don't feel like we're in a good position to diligence these things. ‘cause again, robotics companies tend to be vertical. You really have to understand the market they're being sold into. Like that's like that competitive equilibrium with a human being is what's important.[00:22:34] It's not like the core tech and like we're kind of more horizontal core tech type investors. And this is Sarah and I. Yeah, the ad team is different. They can actually do these types of things.[00:22:42] swyx: Uh, just to clarify, AD stands for[00:22:44] Martin Casado: American Dynamism.[00:22:45] swyx: Alright. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I actually, I do have a related question that, first of all, I wanna acknowledge also just on the, on the chip side.[00:22:51] Yeah. I, I recall a podcast that where you were on, i, I, I think it was the a CC podcast, uh, about two or three years ago where you, where you suddenly said [00:23:00] something, which really stuck in my head about how at some point, at some point kind of scale it makes sense to. Build a custom aic Yes. For per run.[00:23:07] Martin Casado: Yes.[00:23:07] It's crazy. Yeah.[00:23:09] swyx: We're here and I think you, you estimated 500 billion, uh, something.[00:23:12] Martin Casado: No, no, no. A billion, a billion dollar training run of $1 billion training run. It makes sense to actually do a custom meic if you can do it in time. The question now is timelines. Yeah, but not money because just, just, just rough math.[00:23:22] If it's a billion dollar training. Then the inference for that model has to be over a billion, otherwise it won't be solvent. So let's assume it's, if you could save 20%, which you could save much more than that with an ASIC 20%, that's $200 million. You can tape out a chip for $200 million. Right? So now you can literally like justify economically, not timeline wise.[00:23:41] That's a different issue. An ASIC per model, which[00:23:44] swyx: is because that, that's how much we leave on the table every single time. We, we, we do like generic Nvidia.[00:23:48] Martin Casado: Exactly. Exactly. No, it, it is actually much more than that. You could probably get, you know, a factor of two, which would be 500 million.[00:23:54] swyx: Typical MFU would be like 50.[00:23:55] Yeah, yeah. And that's good.[00:23:57] Martin Casado: Exactly. Yeah. Hundred[00:23:57] swyx: percent. Um, so, so, yeah, and I mean, and I [00:24:00] just wanna acknowledge like, here we are in, in, in 2025 and opening eyes confirming like Broadcom and all the other like custom silicon deals, which is incredible. I, I think that, uh, you know, speaking about ad there's, there's a really like interesting tie in that obviously you guys are hit on, which is like these sort, this sort of like America first movement or like sort of re industrialized here.[00:24:17] Yeah. Uh, move TSMC here, if that's possible. Um, how much overlap is there from ad[00:24:23] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:24:23] swyx: To, I guess, growth and, uh, investing in particularly like, you know, US AI companies that are strongly bounded by their compute.[00:24:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I, I would view, I would view AD as more as a market segmentation than like a mission, right?[00:24:37] So the market segmentation is, it has kind of regulatory compliance issues or government, you know, sale or it deals with like hardware. I mean, they're just set up to, to, to, to, to. To diligence those types of companies. So it's a more of a market segmentation thing. I would say the entire firm. You know, which has been since it is been intercepted, you know, has geographical biases, right?[00:24:58] I mean, for the longest time we're like, you [00:25:00] know, bay Area is gonna be like, great, where the majority of the dollars go. Yeah. And, and listen, there, there's actually a lot of compounding effects for having a geographic bias. Right. You know, everybody's in the same place. You've got an ecosystem, you're there, you've got presence, you've got a network.[00:25:12] Um, and, uh, I mean, I would say the Bay area's very much back. You know, like I, I remember during pre COVID, like it was like almost Crypto had kind of. Pulled startups away. Miami from the Bay Area. Miami, yeah. Yeah. New York was, you know, because it's so close to finance, came up like Los Angeles had a moment ‘cause it was so close to consumer, but now it's kind of come back here.[00:25:29] And so I would say, you know, we tend to be very Bay area focused historically, even though of course we've asked all over the world. And then I would say like, if you take the ring out, you know, one more, it's gonna be the US of course, because we know it very well. And then one more is gonna be getting us and its allies and Yeah.[00:25:44] And it goes from there.[00:25:45] Sarah Wang: Yeah,[00:25:45] Martin Casado: sorry.[00:25:46] Sarah Wang: No, no. I agree. I think from a, but I think from the intern that that's sort of like where the companies are headquartered. Maybe your questions on supply chain and customer base. Uh, I, I would say our customers are, are, our companies are fairly international from that perspective.[00:25:59] Like they're selling [00:26:00] globally, right? They have global supply chains in some cases.[00:26:03] Martin Casado: I would say also the stickiness is very different.[00:26:05] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:26:05] Martin Casado: Historically between venture and growth, like there's so much company building in venture, so much so like hiring the next PM. Introducing the customer, like all of that stuff.[00:26:15] Like of course we're just gonna be stronger where we have our network and we've been doing business for 20 years. I've been in the Bay Area for 25 years, so clearly I'm just more effective here than I would be somewhere else. Um, where I think, I think for some of the later stage rounds, the companies don't need that much help.[00:26:30] They're already kind of pretty mature historically, so like they can kind of be everywhere. So there's kind of less of that stickiness. This is different in the AI time. I mean, Sarah is now the, uh, chief of staff of like half the AI companies in, uh, in the Bay Area right now. She's like, ops Ninja Biz, Devrel, BizOps.[00:26:48] swyx: Are, are you, are you finding much AI automation in your work? Like what, what is your stack.[00:26:53] Sarah Wang: Oh my, in my personal stack.[00:26:54] swyx: I mean, because like, uh, by the way, it's the, the, the reason for this is it is triggering, uh, yeah. We, like, I'm hiring [00:27:00] ops, ops people. Um, a lot of ponders I know are also hiring ops people and I'm just, you know, it's opportunity Since you're, you're also like basically helping out with ops with a lot of companies.[00:27:09] What are people doing these days? Because it's still very manual as far as I can tell.[00:27:13] Sarah Wang: Hmm. Yeah. I think the things that we help with are pretty network based, um, in that. It's sort of like, Hey, how do do I shortcut this process? Well, let's connect you to the right person. So there's not quite an AI workflow for that.[00:27:26] I will say as a growth investor, Claude Cowork is pretty interesting. Yeah. Like for the first time, you can actually get one shot data analysis. Right. Which, you know, if you're gonna do a customer database, analyze a cohort retention, right? That's just stuff that you had to do by hand before. And our team, the other, it was like midnight and the three of us were playing with Claude Cowork.[00:27:47] We gave it a raw file. Boom. Perfectly accurate. We checked the numbers. It was amazing. That was my like, aha moment. That sounds so boring. But you know, that's, that's the kind of thing that a growth investor is like, [00:28:00] you know, slaving away on late at night. Um, done in a few seconds.[00:28:03] swyx: Yeah. You gotta wonder what the whole, like, philanthropic labs, which is like their new sort of products studio.[00:28:10] Yeah. What would that be worth as an independent, uh, startup? You know, like a[00:28:14] Martin Casado: lot.[00:28:14] Sarah Wang: Yeah, true.[00:28:16] swyx: Yeah. You[00:28:16] Martin Casado: gotta hand it to them. They've been executing incredibly well.[00:28:19] swyx: Yeah. I, I mean, to me, like, you know, philanthropic, like building on cloud code, I think, uh, it makes sense to me the, the real. Um, pedal to the metal, whatever the, the, the phrase is, is when they start coming after consumer with, uh, against OpenAI and like that is like red alert at Open ai.[00:28:35] Oh, I[00:28:35] Martin Casado: think they've been pretty clear. They're enterprise focused.[00:28:37] swyx: They have been, but like they've been free. Here's[00:28:40] Martin Casado: care publicly,[00:28:40] swyx: it's enterprise focused. It's coding. Right. Yeah.[00:28:43] AI Labs vs Startups: Disruption, Undercutting & the Innovator's Dilemma[00:28:43] swyx: And then, and, but here's cloud, cloud, cowork, and, and here's like, well, we, uh, they, apparently they're running Instagram ads for Claudia.[00:28:50] I, on, you know, for, for people on, I get them all the time. Right. And so, like,[00:28:54] Martin Casado: uh,[00:28:54] swyx: it, it's kind of like this, the disruption thing of, uh, you know. Mo Open has been doing, [00:29:00] consumer been doing the, just pursuing general intelligence in every mo modality, and here's a topic that only focus on this thing, but now they're sort of undercutting and doing the whole innovator's dilemma thing on like everything else.[00:29:11] Martin Casado: It's very[00:29:11] swyx: interesting.[00:29:12] Martin Casado: Yeah, I mean there's, there's a very open que so for me there's like, do you know that meme where there's like the guy in the path and there's like a path this way? There's a path this way. Like one which way Western man. Yeah. Yeah.[00:29:23] Two Futures for AI: Infinite Market vs AGI Oligopoly[00:29:23] Martin Casado: And for me, like, like all the entire industry kind of like hinges on like two potential futures.[00:29:29] So in, in one potential future, um, the market is infinitely large. There's perverse economies of scale. ‘cause as soon as you put a model out there, like it kind of sublimates and all the other models catch up and like, it's just like software's being rewritten and fractured all over the place and there's tons of upside and it just grows.[00:29:48] And then there's another path which is like, well. Maybe these models actually generalize really well, and all you have to do is train them with three times more money. That's all you have to [00:30:00] do, and it'll just consume everything beyond it. And if that's the case, like you end up with basically an oligopoly for everything, like, you know mm-hmm.[00:30:06] Because they're perfectly general and like, so this would be like the, the a GI path would be like, these are perfectly general. They can do everything. And this one is like, this is actually normal software. The universe is complicated. You've got, and nobody knows the answer.[00:30:18] The Economics Reality Check: Gross Margins, Training Costs & Borrowing Against the Future[00:30:18] Martin Casado: My belief is if you actually look at the numbers of these companies, so generally if you look at the numbers of these companies, if you look at like the amount they're making and how much they, they spent training the last model, they're gross margin positive.[00:30:30] You're like, oh, that's really working. But if you look at like. The current training that they're doing for the next model, their gross margin negative. So part of me thinks that a lot of ‘em are kind of borrowing against the future and that's gonna have to slow down. It's gonna catch up to them at some point in time, but we don't really know.[00:30:47] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:30:47] Martin Casado: Does that make sense? Like, I mean, it could be, it could be the case that the only reason this is working is ‘cause they can raise that next round and they can train that next model. ‘cause these models have such a short. Life. And so at some point in time, like, you know, they won't be able to [00:31:00] raise that next round for the next model and then things will kind of converge and fragment again.[00:31:03] But right now it's not.[00:31:04] Sarah Wang: Totally. I think the other, by the way, just, um, a meta point. I think the other lesson from the last three years is, and we talk about this all the time ‘cause we're on this. Twitter X bubble. Um, cool. But, you know, if you go back to, let's say March, 2024, that period, it felt like a, I think an open source model with an, like a, you know, benchmark leading capability was sort of launching on a daily basis at that point.[00:31:27] And, um, and so that, you know, that's one period. Suddenly it's sort of like open source takes over the world. There's gonna be a plethora. It's not an oligopoly, you know, if you fast, you know, if you, if you rewind time even before that GPT-4 was number one for. Nine months, 10 months. It's a long time. Right.[00:31:44] Um, and of course now we're in this era where it feels like an oligopoly, um, maybe some very steady state shifts and, and you know, it could look like this in the future too, but it just, it's so hard to call. And I think the thing that keeps, you know, us up at [00:32:00] night in, in a good way and bad way, is that the capability progress is actually not slowing down.[00:32:06] And so until that happens, right, like you don't know what's gonna look like.[00:32:09] Martin Casado: But I, I would, I would say for sure it's not converged, like for sure, like the systemic capital flows have not converged, meaning right now it's still borrowing against the future to subsidize growth currently, which you can do that for a period of time.[00:32:23] But, but you know, at the end, at some point the market will rationalize that and just nobody knows what that will look like.[00:32:29] Alessio: Yeah.[00:32:29] Martin Casado: Or, or like the drop in price of compute will, will, will save them. Who knows?[00:32:34] Alessio: Yeah. Yeah. I think the models need to ask them to, to specific tasks. You know? It's like, okay, now Opus 4.5 might be a GI at some specific task, and now you can like depreciate the model over a longer time.[00:32:45] I think now, now, right now there's like no old model.[00:32:47] Martin Casado: No, but let, but lemme just change that mental, that's, that used to be my mental model. Lemme just change it a little bit.[00:32:53] Capital as a Weapon vs Task Saturation: Where Real Enterprise Value Gets Built[00:32:53] Martin Casado: If you can raise three times, if you can raise more than the aggregate of anybody that uses your models, that doesn't even matter.[00:32:59] It doesn't [00:33:00] even matter. See what I'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah. So, so I have an API Business. My API business is 60% margin, or 70% margin, or 80% margin is a high margin business. So I know what everybody is using. If I can raise more money than the aggregate of everybody that's using it, I will consume them whether I'm a GI or not.[00:33:14] And I will know if they're using it ‘cause they're using it. And like, unlike in the past where engineering stops me from doing that.[00:33:21] Alessio: Mm-hmm.[00:33:21] Martin Casado: It is very straightforward. You just train. So I also thought it was kind of like, you must ask the code a GI, general, general, general. But I think there's also just a possibility that the, that the capital markets will just give them the, the, the ammunition to just go after everybody on top of ‘em.[00:33:36] Sarah Wang: I, I do wonder though, to your point, um, if there's a certain task that. Getting marginally better isn't actually that much better. Like we've asked them to it, to, you know, we can call it a GI or whatever, you know, actually, Ali Goi talks about this, like we're already at a GI for a lot of functions in the enterprise.[00:33:50] Um. That's probably those for those tasks, you probably could build very specific companies that focus on just getting as much value out of that task that isn't [00:34:00] coming from the model itself. There's probably a rich enterprise business to be built there. I mean, could be wrong on that, but there's a lot of interesting examples.[00:34:08] So, right, if you're looking the legal profession or, or whatnot, and maybe that's not a great one ‘cause the models are getting better on that front too, but just something where it's a bit saturated, then the value comes from. Services. It comes from implementation, right? It comes from all these things that actually make it useful to the end customer.[00:34:24] Martin Casado: Sorry, what am I, one more thing I think is, is underused in all of this is like, to what extent every task is a GI complete.[00:34:31] Sarah Wang: Mm-hmm.[00:34:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. I code every day. It's so fun.[00:34:35] Sarah Wang: That's a core question. Yeah.[00:34:36] Martin Casado: And like. When I'm talking to these models, it's not just code. I mean, it's everything, right? Like I, you know, like it's,[00:34:43] swyx: it's healthcare.[00:34:44] It's,[00:34:44] Martin Casado: I mean, it's[00:34:44] swyx: Mele,[00:34:45] Martin Casado: but it's every, it is exactly that. Like, yeah, that's[00:34:47] Sarah Wang: great support. Yeah.[00:34:48] Martin Casado: It's everything. Like I'm asking these models to, yeah, to understand compliance. I'm asking these models to go search the web. I'm asking these models to talk about things I know in the history, like it's having a full conversation with me while I, I engineer, and so it could be [00:35:00] the case that like, mm-hmm.[00:35:01] The most a, you know, a GI complete, like I'm not an a GI guy. Like I think that's, you know, but like the most a GI complete model will is win independent of the task. And we don't know the answer to that one either.[00:35:11] swyx: Yeah.[00:35:12] Martin Casado: But it seems to me that like, listen, codex in my experience is for sure better than Opus 4.5 for coding.[00:35:18] Like it finds the hardest bugs that I work in with. Like, it is, you know. The smartest developers. I don't work on it. It's great. Um, but I think Opus 4.5 is actually very, it's got a great bedside manner and it really, and it, it really matters if you're building something very complex because like, it really, you know, like you're, you're, you're a partner and a brainstorming partner for somebody.[00:35:38] And I think we don't discuss enough how every task kind of has that quality.[00:35:42] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:35:43] Martin Casado: And what does that mean to like capital investment and like frontier models and Submodels? Yeah.[00:35:47] Why “Coding Models” Keep Collapsing into Generalists (Reasoning vs Taste)[00:35:47] Martin Casado: Like what happened to all the special coding models? Like, none of ‘em worked right. So[00:35:51] Alessio: some of them, they didn't even get released.[00:35:53] Magical[00:35:54] Martin Casado: Devrel. There's a whole, there's a whole host. We saw a bunch of them and like there's this whole theory that like, there could be, and [00:36:00] I think one of the conclusions is, is like there's no such thing as a coding model,[00:36:04] Alessio: you know?[00:36:04] Martin Casado: Like, that's not a thing. Like you're talking to another human being and it's, it's good at coding, but like it's gotta be good at everything.[00:36:10] swyx: Uh, minor disagree only because I, I'm pretty like, have pretty high confidence that basically open eye will always release a GPT five and a GT five codex. Like that's the code's. Yeah. The way I call it is one for raisin, one for Tiz. Um, and, and then like someone internal open, it was like, yeah, that's a good way to frame it.[00:36:32] Martin Casado: That's so funny.[00:36:33] swyx: Uh, but maybe it, maybe it collapses down to reason and that's it. It's not like a hundred dimensions doesn't life. Yeah. It's two dimensions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like and exactly. Beside manner versus coding. Yeah.[00:36:43] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:36:44] swyx: It's, yeah.[00:36:46] Martin Casado: I, I think for, for any, it's hilarious. For any, for anybody listening to this for, for, for, I mean, for you, like when, when you're like coding or using these models for something like that.[00:36:52] Like actually just like be aware of how much of the interaction has nothing to do with coding and it just turns out to be a large portion of it. And so like, you're, I [00:37:00] think like, like the best Soto ish model. You know, it is going to remain very important no matter what the task is.[00:37:06] swyx: Yeah.[00:37:07] What He's Actually Coding: Gaussian Splats, Spark.js & 3D Scene Rendering Demos[00:37:07] swyx: Uh, speaking of coding, uh, I, I'm gonna be cheeky and ask like, what actually are you coding?[00:37:11] Because obviously you, you could code anything and you are obviously a busy investor and a manager of the good. Giant team. Um, what are you calling?[00:37:18] Martin Casado: I help, um, uh, FEFA at World Labs. Uh, it's one of the investments and um, and they're building a foundation model that creates 3D scenes.[00:37:27] swyx: Yeah, we had it on the pod.[00:37:28] Yeah. Yeah,[00:37:28] Martin Casado: yeah. And so these 3D scenes are Gaussian splats, just by the way that kind of AI works. And so like, you can reconstruct a scene better with, with, with radiance feels than with meshes. ‘cause like they don't really have topology. So, so they, they, they produce each. Beautiful, you know, 3D rendered scenes that are Gaussian splats, but the actual industry support for Gaussian splats isn't great.[00:37:50] It's just never, you know, it's always been meshes and like, things like unreal use meshes. And so I work on a open source library called Spark js, which is a. Uh, [00:38:00] a JavaScript rendering layer ready for Gaussian splats. And it's just because, you know, um, you, you, you need that support and, and right now there's kind of a three js moment that's all meshes and so like, it's become kind of the default in three Js ecosystem.[00:38:13] As part of that to kind of exercise the library, I just build a whole bunch of cool demos. So if you see me on X, you see like all my demos and all the world building, but all of that is just to exercise this, this library that I work on. ‘cause it's actually a very tough algorithmics problem to actually scale a library that much.[00:38:29] And just so you know, this is ancient history now, but 30 years ago I paid for undergrad, you know, working on game engines in college in the late nineties. So I've got actually a back and it's very old background, but I actually have a background in this and so a lot of it's fun. You know, but, but the, the, the, the whole goal is just for this rendering library to, to,[00:38:47] Sarah Wang: are you one of the most active contributors?[00:38:49] The, their GitHub[00:38:50] Martin Casado: spark? Yes.[00:38:51] Sarah Wang: Yeah, yeah.[00:38:51] Martin Casado: There's only two of us there, so, yes. No, so by the way, so the, the pri The pri, yeah. Yeah. So the primary developer is a [00:39:00] guy named Andres Quist, who's an absolute genius. He and I did our, our PhDs together. And so like, um, we studied for constant Quas together. It was almost like hanging out with an old friend, you know?[00:39:09] And so like. So he, he's the core, core guy. I did mostly kind of, you know, the side I run venture fund.[00:39:14] swyx: It's amazing. Like five years ago you would not have done any of this. And it brought you back[00:39:19] Martin Casado: the act, the Activ energy, you're still back. Energy was so high because you had to learn all the framework b******t.[00:39:23] Man, I f*****g used to hate that. And so like, now I don't have to deal with that. I can like focus on the algorithmics so I can focus on the scaling and I,[00:39:29] swyx: yeah. Yeah.[00:39:29] LLMs vs Spatial Intelligence + How to Value World Labs' 3D Foundation Model[00:39:29] swyx: And then, uh, I'll observe one irony and then I'll ask a serious investor question, uh, which is like, the irony is FFE actually doesn't believe that LMS can lead us to spatial intelligence.[00:39:37] And here you are using LMS to like help like achieve spatial intelligence. I just see, I see some like disconnect in there.[00:39:45] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think, you know, I think, I think what she would say is LLMs are great to help with coding.[00:39:51] swyx: Yes.[00:39:51] Martin Casado: But like, that's very different than a model that actually like provides, they, they'll never have the[00:39:56] swyx: spatial inte[00:39:56] Martin Casado: issues.[00:39:56] And listen, our brains clearly listen, our brains, brains clearly have [00:40:00] both our, our brains clearly have a language reasoning section and they clearly have a spatial reasoning section. I mean, it's just, you know, these are two pretty independent problems.[00:40:07] swyx: Okay. And you, you, like, I, I would say that the, the one data point I recently had, uh, against it is the DeepMind, uh, IMO Gold, where, so, uh, typically the, the typical answer is that this is where you start going down the neuros symbolic path, right?[00:40:21] Like one, uh, sort of very sort of abstract reasoning thing and one form, formal thing. Um, and that's what. DeepMind had in 2024 with alpha proof, alpha geometry, and now they just use deep think and just extended thinking tokens. And it's one model and it's, and it's in LM.[00:40:36] Martin Casado: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.[00:40:37] swyx: And so that, that was my indication of like, maybe you don't need a separate system.[00:40:42] Martin Casado: Yeah. So, so let me step back. I mean, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, these things are like nodes in a graph with weights on them. Right. You know, like it can be modeled like if you, if you distill it down. But let me just talk about the two different substrates. Let's, let me put you in a dark room.[00:40:56] Like totally black room. And then let me just [00:41:00] describe how you exit it. Like to your left, there's a table like duck below this thing, right? I mean like the chances that you're gonna like not run into something are very low. Now let me like turn on the light and you actually see, and you can do distance and you know how far something away is and like where it is or whatever.[00:41:17] Then you can do it, right? Like language is not the right primitives to describe. The universe because it's not exact enough. So that's all Faye, Faye is talking about. When it comes to like spatial reasoning, it's like you actually have to know that this is three feet far, like that far away. It is curved.[00:41:37] You have to understand, you know, the, like the actual movement through space.[00:41:40] swyx: Yeah.[00:41:40] Martin Casado: So I do, I listen, I do think at the end of these models are definitely converging as far as models, but there's, there's, there's different representations of problems you're solving. One is language. Which, you know, that would be like describing to somebody like what to do.[00:41:51] And the other one is actually just showing them and the space reasoning is just showing them.[00:41:55] swyx: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Got it, got it. Uh, the, in the investor question was on, on, well labs [00:42:00] is, well, like, how do I value something like this? What, what, what work does the, do you do? I'm just like, Fefe is awesome.[00:42:07] Justin's awesome. And you know, the other two co-founder, co-founders, but like the, the, the tech, everyone's building cool tech. But like, what's the value of the tech? And this is the fundamental question[00:42:16] Martin Casado: of, well, let, let, just like these, let me just maybe give you a rough sketch on the diffusion models. I actually love to hear Sarah because I'm a venture for, you know, so like, ventures always, always like kind of wild west type[00:42:24] swyx: stuff.[00:42:24] You, you, you, you paid a dream and she has to like, actually[00:42:28] Martin Casado: I'm gonna say I'm gonna mar to reality, so I'm gonna say the venture for you. And she can be like, okay, you a little kid. Yeah. So like, so, so these diffusion models literally. Create something for, for almost nothing. And something that the, the world has found to be very valuable in the past, in our real markets, right?[00:42:45] Like, like a 2D image. I mean, that's been an entire market. People value them. It takes a human being a long time to create it, right? I mean, to create a, you know, a, to turn me into a whatever, like an image would cost a hundred bucks in an hour. The inference cost [00:43:00] us a hundredth of a penny, right? So we've seen this with speech in very successful companies.[00:43:03] We've seen this with 2D image. We've seen this with movies. Right? Now, think about 3D scene. I mean, I mean, when's Grand Theft Auto coming out? It's been six, what? It's been 10 years. I mean, how, how like, but hasn't been 10 years.[00:43:14] Alessio: Yeah.[00:43:15] Martin Casado: How much would it cost to like, to reproduce this room in 3D? Right. If you, if you, if you hired somebody on fiber, like in, in any sort of quality, probably 4,000 to $10,000.[00:43:24] And then if you had a professional, probably $30,000. So if you could generate the exact same thing from a 2D image, and we know that these are used and they're using Unreal and they're using Blend, or they're using movies and they're using video games and they're using all. So if you could do that for.[00:43:36] You know, less than a dollar, that's four or five orders of magnitude cheaper. So you're bringing the marginal cost of something that's useful down by three orders of magnitude, which historically have created very large companies. So that would be like the venture kind of strategic dreaming map.[00:43:49] swyx: Yeah.[00:43:50] And, and for listeners, uh, you can do this yourself on your, on your own phone with like. Uh, the marble.[00:43:55] Martin Casado: Yeah. Marble.[00:43:55] swyx: Uh, or but also there's many Nerf apps where you just go on your iPhone and, and do this.[00:43:59] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. [00:44:00] Yeah. And, and in the case of marble though, it would, what you do is you literally give it in.[00:44:03] So most Nerf apps you like kind of run around and take a whole bunch of pictures and then you kind of reconstruct it.[00:44:08] swyx: Yeah.[00:44:08] Martin Casado: Um, things like marble, just that the whole generative 3D space will just take a 2D image and it'll reconstruct all the like, like[00:44:16] swyx: meaning it has to fill in. Uh,[00:44:18] Martin Casado: stuff at the back of the table, under the table, the back, like, like the images, it doesn't see.[00:44:22] So the generator stuff is very different than reconstruction that it fills in the things that you can't see.[00:44:26] swyx: Yeah. Okay.[00:44:26] Sarah Wang: So,[00:44:27] Martin Casado: all right. So now the,[00:44:28] Sarah Wang: no, no. I mean I love that[00:44:29] Martin Casado: the adult[00:44:29] Sarah Wang: perspective. Um, well, no, I was gonna say these are very much a tag team. So we, we started this pod with that, um, premise. And I think this is a perfect question to even build on that further.[00:44:36] ‘cause it truly is, I mean, we're tag teaming all of these together.[00:44:39] Investing in Model Labs, Media Rumors, and the Cursor Playbook (Margins & Going Down-Stack)[00:44:39] Sarah Wang: Um, but I think every investment fundamentally starts with the same. Maybe the same two premises. One is, at this point in time, we actually believe that there are. And of one founders for their particular craft, and they have to be demonstrated in their prior careers, right?[00:44:56] So, uh, we're not investing in every, you know, now the term is NEO [00:45:00] lab, but every foundation model, uh, any, any company, any founder trying to build a foundation model, we're not, um, contrary to popular opinion, we're

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Snowfall of New Beginnings: A Father's Journey Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-19-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: בחדר ההמתנה של בית החולים היה אור חזק וריחות חיטוי.En: In the waiting room of the hospital, there was a strong light and the smell of disinfectant.He: השלג היה יורד בשקט בחוץ, ונצפה דרך החלונות הגדולים, מכניס שלווה לאוויר המתח שבפנים.En: The snow was quietly falling outside and could be seen through the large windows, bringing a sense of calm to the tense atmosphere inside.He: איתן ישב על כיסא קשה, מתחבט בין פחדיו למעמדו כאבא חדש.En: Eitan sat on a hard chair, wrestling between his fears and his status as a new father.He: שירה, אשתו, הייתה בחדר הלידה.En: Shira, his wife, was in the delivery room.He: היא הייתה רגועה ושלווה, נותנת תחושת ביטחון למי שסביבה.En: She was calm and serene, providing a sense of security to those around her.He: אבל בפנים, איתן הרגיש סערה של חששות.En: But inside, Eitan felt a storm of concerns.He: הוא חייך חיוך רופף, מנסה להסתיר את הפחדים שלו מהאחרים.En: He smiled a faint smile, trying to hide his fears from others.He: השעון תקתק בעונג אין-סופי, וכל רגע עבר באיטיות.En: The clock ticked with endless pleasure, and each moment passed slowly.He: נועם, אחיו הצעיר של איתן, התהלך בחדר.En: Noam, Eitan's younger brother, paced around the room.He: "אתה תהיה אבא נהדר, איתן," נועם אמר בנחישות.En: "You will be a great dad, Eitan," Noam said with determination.He: "שירה היא חזקה, ואתה חזק לידה.En: "Shira is strong, and you are strong beside her.He: תזרום עם הרגע.En: Go with the moment."He: "איתן לקח נשימה עמוקה.En: Eitan took a deep breath.He: המילים של נועם חדרו אל לבו.En: Noam's words penetrated his heart.He: הוא ראה את השקט שבפנים ופנה להתחזק מהביטחון של שירה.En: He saw the inner peace and drew strength from Shira's confidence.He: השעות עברו, ואיתן החליט שהוא חייב לשנות את גישתו.En: Hours passed, and Eitan decided he had to change his approach.He: זה היה הזמן לשים את הפחדים בצד ולהיות שם באמת בשביל שירה.En: It was time to put aside his fears and really be there for Shira.He: הוא קם ונתן יד לנועם.En: He stood up and gave Noam a hand.He: "אני מוכן," אמר.En: "I'm ready," he said.He: ואז, הרגע הגדול הגיע.En: Then, the big moment arrived.He: בכי ראשון נשמע מהחדר, ואיתן הרגיש גל עצום של רגשות.En: The first cry was heard from the room, and Eitan felt an overwhelming wave of emotions.He: הוא לא יכול היה לעצור את הדמעות.En: He couldn't stop the tears.He: זה היה בכי של אושר.En: It was a cry of joy.He: כשנכנס לתוך החדר, שירה החזיקה את תינוקם החדש.En: When he entered the room, Shira was holding their new baby.He: איתן נתן מבט קצר אל עיניה של שירה, ומיד ידע שהוא בהחלט מוכן להיות אבא.En: Eitan gave a quick glance into Shira's eyes, and immediately knew he was indeed ready to be a father.He: הוא נשא את התינוק בזרועותיו, אהבה אינסופית הציפה אותו ולימדה אותו דבר חשוב - הוא יכול להתמודד עם כל דבר דרך האהבה למשפחתו.En: He held the baby in his arms, an infinite love flooded him and taught him an important thing - he could handle anything through the love for his family.He: הם היו משפחה עכשיו, ביחד.En: They were a family now, together.He: השלג המשיך לרדת בשקט בחוץ, אבל בתוך הלבבות שלהם היה חם ונעים.En: The snow continued to fall quietly outside, but inside their hearts, it was warm and cozy. Vocabulary Words:disinfectant: חיטויcalm: שקטatmosphere: אווירwrestling: מתחבטserene: שלווהconcerns: חששותfaint: רופףtick: מתקתקdetermination: נחישותpenetrated: חדרוapproach: גישהoverwhelming: עצוםglance: מבטinfinite: אינסופיתflooded: הציפהhandle: להתמודדcozy: נעיםdelivery: לידהsecurity: ביטחוןhide: להסתירmoment: רגעpeace: שקטdecided: החליטwave: גלtears: דמעותjoy: אושרtogether: ביחדstorm: סערהnewborn: תינוק חדשlove: אהבהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

In this episode, Mijal invites Noam to talk about his most ambitious project yet: a 5-part epic series on the history of Zionism, from biblical beginnings to modern Israel. Years in the making and deeply personal to Noam, this sweeping series on Unpacking Israeli History traces the 3,000-year story of Zionism. Mijal and Noam's conversation touches on collective memory, the cyclical fracturing of the Jewish people, and how an ancient dream finally materialized as a sovereign state. This episode is in memory of Leo M. Bernstein. Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠⁠⁠⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Adventure and Discovery at Har Masada: Eliyav's Epiphany Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-18-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: מעל הר מצדה, נשבה רוח חורפית קרירה.En: A cool winter breeze blew over Har Masada.He: השמש הזוהרת זרחה מעל ים המלח, אך האוויר היה קר וחודר.En: The radiant sun shone above the Yam HaMelach, yet the air was cold and penetrating.He: אליאב, חוקר ארכיאולוגיה צעיר ונמרץ, הביט סביבו בתחושה של הרפתקה.En: Eliyav, a young and energetic archaeology researcher, looked around with a sense of adventure.He: הוא עמד מול גילוי חשוב שישנה את הקריירה שלו לנצח.En: He stood before an important discovery that would change his career forever.He: לצדוק עמדה צפורה, היסטוריונית שיודעת הרבה על העבר ומזהירה תמיד להיות זהירה.En: Tzipora, a historian who knows much about the past and always warns to be cautious, stood beside him.He: לצדם עמד נועם, סטודנט נלהב שהצטרף למשלחת הראשונה שלו.En: Next to them was Noam, an enthusiastic student who joined his first expedition.He: אליאב חיפש גילויים מיוחדים.En: Eliyav was looking for special discoveries.He: בקצה החפירה, הם מצאו חדר עתיק.En: At the edge of the excavation, they found an ancient room.He: אליאב התרגש.En: Eliyav was excited.He: "זה יכול להיות משהו גדול!En: "This could be something big!"He: " הכריז בקול מלא תקווה.En: he declared with a voice full of hope.He: אבל צפורה רצתה להיות זהירה.En: But Tzipora wanted to be cautious.He: "עלינו לדווח על זה מיד," אמרה.En: "We need to report this immediately," she said.He: "זה עלול להיות בעל משמעות תרבותית מיוחדת.En: "It could have special cultural significance."He: ""בואו נבדוק קודם," אליאב לא ויתר.En: "Let's check it out first," Eliyav insisted.He: הם נכנסו פנימה עם פנסים.En: They entered with flashlights.He: הקירות היו מכוסים בסמלים מוזרים שלא ראו כמותם.En: The walls were covered in strange symbols they had never seen before.He: נועם התפעל.En: Noam was amazed.He: "זה מדהים!En: "This is incredible!"He: " אך עם הזמן, מזג האוויר השתנה.En: But over time, the weather changed.He: רוח חזקה פנתה לקרירות מקפיא ומשבי רוח הפכו לזרם סוער לכיוון החדר.En: A strong breeze turned into a freezing chill, and gusts of wind became a turbulent flow toward the room.He: פתאום הסלעים זזו, והכניסה לחדר נסתמה.En: Suddenly, the rocks moved, and the entrance to the room was blocked.He: "אנחנו תקועים!En: "We're stuck!"He: " קרא נועם.En: cried Noam.He: הדופק של השלושה עלה.En: The pulse of the three rose.He: הם החלו לחפש מוצא, נרתעים מהמחשבה שהם יתעכבו.En: They began searching for an exit, dreading the thought of delay.He: באמצעות עבודת צוות ומאמץ משותף, הם הצליחו למחוק את הדרך.En: Through teamwork and joint effort, they managed to clear the way.He: כשהם לבסוף בחוץ, השמש שקעה, ותהלוכת הפורים בכפר הסמוך כבר החלה.En: When they were finally outside, the sun had set, and the Purim parade in the nearby village had already begun.He: הגיע הזמן ליהנות.En: It was time to enjoy.He: הם נסעו חזרה לכפר עם תחושת הקלה והבנה חדשה.En: They drove back to the village with a sense of relief and new understanding.He: אליאב הבין את ערכם של שיתוף פעולה וקיום מסורת.En: Eliyav realized the value of collaboration and maintaining tradition.He: לא הכל קשור להישגים האישיים.En: Not everything is about personal achievements.He: כשהגיעו, התחפושות והמוזיקה כבר מילאו את האוויר בשמחה.En: When they arrived, costumes and music already filled the air with joy.He: הם השתתפו בחגיגה, נהנים ממסורת הפורים.En: They participated in the celebration, enjoying the Purim tradition.He: אליאב ידע כי ידווח על הממצא למי שצריך, עם כבוד והבנה לחשיבותו התרבותית.En: Eliyav knew he would report the discovery to those who needed to know, with respect and understanding of its cultural importance.He: זה לא היה רק גילוי שלו, זה היה גילוי של כולם.En: It wasn't just his discovery; it was a discovery for everyone. Vocabulary Words:breeze: רוח חורפיתradiant: זוהרתpenetrating: חודרenergetic: נמרץarchaeology: ארכיאולוגיהcautious: זהירהexpedition: משלחתexcavation: חפירהdeclared: הכריזsignificance: משמעותinsisted: לא ויתרflashlights: פנסיםsymbols: סמליםamazed: התפעלgusts: משבי רוחturbulent: סוערblocked: נסגרpulse: דופקjoint effort: מאמץ משותףcollaboration: שיתוף פעולהtradition: מסורתachievements: הישגיםcostumes: תחפושותdiscovery: גילויcultural: תרבותיimportance: חשיבותparticipated: השתתפוcelebration: חגיגהunderstanding: הבנהreport: לדווחBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Noam and Jen record a special Presidents' Day episode where we discuss important things, like Olympic controversies around fingering and penile enhancements.  OK, we also discuss actual important things, like the fact that Jeremy Carl is for some reason nominated to a position in the State Department and how he can't define white culture despite having written a whole book on the topic. This of course kicked off a whole debate on the internet about "white culture", which in Carl's defense nobody else can define either. At any rate, it's a dumb concept that makes no sense.  We spend a little time discussing ICE being pulled out of Minneapolis, but we got sidetracked by the WSJ article on the chaos within Kristi Noem's DHS.  And of course, we had to spend some time talking about how everyone hates Hasan Piker now, after his comments that Democrats are not better than Republicans on the topic of trans rights. Progressives overall are having a fit over the idea of Newsom being the candidate in 2028, but we agree he could totally mog Vance in a debate. Foe our WAWC, Noam pitches everyone on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms again (really he just wants Jen to start watching it), and Jen explains how everyone is trashing the new BookTok'd version of Wuthering Heights.   

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Yonah's Breakthrough: Finding His Voice at the Conference Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-16-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: בסופה של חורף קר בירושלים, קבוצת תלמידי תיכון נרגשת מתכנסת מחוץ לאולם הגדול, המקום בו מתקיים כנס בינלאומי חשוב.En: At the end of a cold winter in Jerusalem, a group of excited high school students gathered outside the large hall, the venue of an important international conference.He: האולם מלא בשלל צבעים ודגלים מכל העולם.En: The hall was filled with a variety of colors and flags from around the world.He: פוסטרים ותצוגות אינטראקטיביות מעטרות את הקירות, ותחושת לימוד ושיתוף פעולה בינלאומי מרחפת באוויר.En: Posters and interactive displays adorned the walls, and a sense of learning and international collaboration floated in the air.He: יונה, תלמיד רציני ומחושב, עמד ליד חבריו, אביטל ונועם.En: Yonah, a serious and thoughtful student, stood next to his friends, Avital and Noam.He: יונה תמיד שאף לשתף פעולה ולתרום לפרויקט הכיתתי שלהם, אך פעמים רבות הרגיש שהנוכחות החזקה של אביטל מאפילה עליו.En: Yonah always aspired to collaborate and contribute to their class project, but often felt overshadowed by Avital's strong presence.He: אביטל הייתה אנרגטית ומקסימה, תמיד ידעה למשוך את תשומת הלב בסביבה קבוצתית.En: Avital was energetic and charming, always knowing how to attract attention in a group setting.He: נועם היה החבר שבין השניים, תמיד ידע להקשיב ולעזור כשצריך.En: Noam was the friend between the two, always knowing how to listen and help when needed.He: הכיתה התכוננה לפרויקט שלהם בכנס, ויונה ידע שיש לו רעיונות חשובים שיכולים לתרום להצלחה.En: The class was preparing for their project at the conference, and Yonah knew he had important ideas that could contribute to its success.He: אך החשש שלא ישמעו אותו גרם לו להסס.En: But the fear that he wouldn't be heard made him hesitate.He: הוא החליט להסתכן ולפנות לנועם.En: He decided to take a risk and turn to Noam.He: "נועם," הוא אמר בהיסוס, "אני מרגיש שרעיונותיי לא ישמעו.En: "Noam," he said hesitantly, "I feel my ideas won't be heard.He: אני לא יודע איך לתפוס את המקום שלי ליד אביטל.En: I don't know how to find my place next to Avital."He: "נועם לקח נשימה עמוקה וענה, "יונה, אתה כישרוני ויש לך דברים חשובים לומר.En: Noam took a deep breath and replied, "Yonah, you are talented and have important things to say.He: אני אהיה כאן כדי לתמוך בך.En: I will be here to support you.He: אני בטוח שהקול שלך יהיה משמעותי.En: I'm sure your voice will be significant."He: "בזמן הכנס, כשהפרויקט עמד להצגה, התרחשה הפתעה.En: During the conference, when the project was about to be presented, a surprise occurred.He: מישהו מהמארגנים פנה ליונה וביקש ממנו להציג את הרעיון שלהם.En: Someone from the organizers approached Yonah and asked him to present their idea.He: התחיל לחץ.En: Pressure began to mount.He: יונה ידע שזו ההזדמנות שלו, ועם תמיכתו השקטה של נועם, הוא החליט לקחת את אתגר.En: Yonah knew this was his opportunity, and with Noam's quiet support, he decided to take on the challenge.He: יונה עלה לבמה.En: Yonah went up on stage.He: בהתרגשות רבה הוא התחיל לדבר, וכל העיניים הופנו אליו.En: With great excitement, he began to speak, and all eyes turned to him.He: הוא הסביר את הרעיון שלו באופן ברור ומסודר.En: He explained his idea clearly and coherently.He: לאט לאט הוא ראה את הבעות הפנים הנלהבות של הקהל, וגם של אביטל, שהקשיבה בתשומת לב כנה.En: Gradually he saw the enthusiastic expressions of the audience, including Avital, who listened with genuine attention.He: בסוף ההצגה, מחיאות הכפיים היו מחרידות.En: At the end of the presentation, the applause was thunderous.He: חבריו ניגשו אליו, ואביטל אמרה בחיוך גדול, "יונה, היית מצוין!En: His friends approached him, and Avital said with a big smile, "Yonah, you were excellent!He: הרעיונות שלך היו יוצאים מן הכלל.En: Your ideas were extraordinary."He: "יונה הרגיש תחושת ביטחון פנימית חדשה.En: Yonah felt a new inner confidence.He: הוא למד שהקול שלו חשוב ושיש לו מה לתרום.En: He learned that his voice mattered and that he had something to contribute.He: איך לעמוד על שלו ולבטא את רעיונותיו בקול רם.En: How to stand his ground and express his ideas loudly.He: השפעת התחזקותו נמשכה על חייו, והוא כבר לא חשש להביע את דעתו.En: The impact of his newfound strength continued to affect his life, and he was no longer afraid to express his opinion.He: הכנס בירושלים לא רק פתח עיניים ולבבות בין קבוצות שונות, אלא גם בתוך עצמו, העניק ליונה את האמון שהוא זקוק לו.En: The conference in Jerusalem not only opened eyes and hearts between different groups but also within himself, granting Yonah the confidence he needed. Vocabulary Words:excited: נרגשתvenue: מקוםconference: כנסadorned: מעטרותcollaboration: שיתוף פעולהaspired: שאףovershadowed: מאפילהenthusiastic: נלהבותpresentation: הצגהthunderous: מחרידותconfidence: ביטחוןsignificant: משמעותיhesitant: היסוסpressure: לחץexpress: לבטאtalented: כישרוניorganizers: המארגניםsupport: תמיכהgenuine: כנהtook a deep breath: לקח נשימה עמוקהinner: פנימיתfloated: מרחפתcharm: מקסימהextraordinary: יוצאים מן הכללhesitate: להססopportunity: הזדמנותchallenge: אתגרexpression: הבעתcontribute: לתרוםgranting: העניקBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Ben and Dr D converge for the deep dive into all the news. Starting with…Chomsky! Oh, no, Noam, what were you doing hanging out with Epstein? From there, they talk property taxes, Kaegi v Hynes, states attorney Burke's explanation for not prosecuting ICE, and tanking in the NBA and politics. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Surprise Adventure: Turning Mistakes into Joy this Purim Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-12-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: בחורף, בזמן פורים, נעם, יעל ואבי החליטו לחפש הרפתקה חדשה.En: In the winter, during Purim, Noam, Yael, and Avi decided to seek a new adventure.He: השלט על השביל נראה קצת מוזר.En: The sign on the path looked a bit strange.He: זה נכתב באנגלית גרועה שהצחיקה אותם מאוד.En: It was written in poor English that amused them greatly.He: הם בטוחים שזה פארק הרפתקאות חדש שפתח.En: They were sure it was a new adventure park that had opened.He: נעם, שתמיד חיפש ריגושים, אמר: "בואו ניכנס! זה יהיה יום בלתי נשכח לפורים!"En: @Noam, who was always seeking thrills, said, "Let's go in! This will be an unforgettable Purim day!"He: יעל ניסתה לשמור על זהירות ואמרה: "נעם, אני לא בטוחה שזה פארק. אולי נשאר כאן ונבדוק במקום?"En: Yael tried to be cautious and said, "Noam, I'm not sure this is a park. Maybe we should stay here and check instead?"He: אבי צחק ואמר: "לאן אנחנו הולכים? זה בטח יהיה מצחיק!"En: Avi laughed and said, "Where are we going? This will surely be funny!"He: הם נכנסו פנימה, מוצאים את עצמם בתוך בית חולים שדה.En: They went inside, finding themselves within a field hospital.He: זה לא היה הפארק שדמיינו.En: It wasn't the park they imagined.He: היו שם אוהלים לבנים גדולים, מיטות בשורות, ואנשי צוות רפואי לבושים במדים.En: There were large white tents, beds in rows, and medical staff dressed in uniforms.He: נעם הביט סביב ואמר: "זה נראה מוזר משהו."En: Noam looked around and said, "This looks strangely odd."He: בעודם מתרוצצים בין המיטות, הם הבחינו שהמטופלים מביטים בהם בסקרנות.En: While running between the beds, they noticed the patients were looking at them with curiosity.He: נעם הבין שהוא יכול לנצל את הכישרון שלהם לשמח את כולם.En: Noam realized he could use their talent to cheer everyone up.He: "בואו נעשה מופע פורים!" הוא קרא בהתלהבות.En: "Let's put on a Purim show!" he enthusiastically called out.He: יעל הססה, "אבל... אנחנו כאן בטעות. אולי פשוט נלך."En: Yael hesitated, "But... we are here by mistake. Maybe we should just leave."He: אבל נעם ואבי כבר התחילו לשיר ולרקוד, מושכים תשומת לב מכל הכיוונים.En: But Noam and Avi had already started singing and dancing, drawing attention from all directions.He: בזמן שהרופאים כמעט וזעקו לעצור אותם, הם החלו לשים לב שהמטופלים מחייכים ומוחות כפיים.En: While the doctors almost shouted to stop them, they started to notice the patients smiling and clapping.He: הצוות הבין שהשלישייה הזאת מביאה שמחה ולחלוטין שינתה את האווירה בחדר.En: The staff understood that this trio was bringing joy and completely changed the atmosphere in the room.He: בסופו של דבר, הותר להם להשלים את המופע הקצר.En: In the end, they were allowed to complete their short performance.He: בסיום ההופעה, המטופלים והצוות מחאו כפיים בחום.En: At the end of the show, the patients and staff warmly applauded.He: נעם למד שלפעמים הרפתקאות מגיעות בדרכים בלתי צפויות ושאפשר למצוא אושר בלשמח אחרים.En: Noam learned that sometimes adventures come in unexpected ways and that happiness can be found in making others happy.He: כך הסתיים היום במחיאות כפיים, בעודם מבינים שהתכוונו לטוב.En: Thus, the day ended with applause, as they realized their intentions were good.He: הם הצליחו להפוך טעות קלה לציון פורים שמח ומשמעותי לכולם.En: They managed to turn a simple mistake into a happy and meaningful Purim celebration for everyone. Vocabulary Words:winter: חורףadventure: הרפתקהstrange: מוזרmistake: טעותcautious: זהירותunforgettable: בלתי נשכחpretend: לזייףfield hospital: בית חולים שדהcuriosity: סקרנותenthusiastically: בהתלהבותhesitated: הססהperformance: הופעהapplause: מחיאות כפייםintentions: כוונותmeaningful: משמעותיuniforms: מדיםthrills: ריגושיםtents: אוהליםpatients: מטופליםshouted: זעקוclapping: מוחות כפייםatmosphere: אווירהallowed: הותרenthusiasm: התלהבותrealized: נעם הכירjoy: שמחהsinging: שריםdancing: רוקדיםsmiling: מחייכיםnoticed: הבחינוBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

What can Russian Anti-Zionism of 1967 teach us about Anti-Semitism today? This week, Noam and Mijal speak with Izabella Tabarovsky, author of the new book Be A Refusenik: A Jewish Student's Survival Guide. With academic expertise and personal stories, Izabella paints a vivid picture of the Refusenik movement and what lessons it can offer to Jews facing discrimination on college campuses. Order Izabella's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Refusenik-Jewish-Students-Survival/dp/B0G2GKWKCJ Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠⁠⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Jen and Noam made it to episode 200! Hooray! We have another Super Bowl to talk about, one in which people are angry at the halftime show. Again. Certain people just really like to be angry at halftime shows.  We also go over the Trump tweet - y'know, THAT tweet - and when does it all become too much to gloss over. And why does Trump get a pass at all, seeing as he's the president. For our WAWC, Jen went and saw the Melania documentary. Yeah, that was an adventure. A weirdly foot focused view of the leadup to the second inauguration of Trump. Make of that what you will.   

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Ari and the Robotic Heart: Triumph Against All Odds Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-10-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: השלג היה קר על הרצפה של המחסן הנטוש, בו ישב ארי, נער סקרן ובעל תושייה.En: The snow was cold on the floor of the abandoned warehouse where Ari sat, a curious and resourceful boy.He: הכיתה הייתה עסוקה בהכנות לתערוכת המדע של בית הספר, וארי ידע שזה הזמן להראות לכולם את היכולות שלו.En: The class was busy preparing for the school's science exhibition, and Ari knew this was the time to show everyone his abilities.He: הוא תמיד הרגיש מוצל בצילם של חבריו הפופולריים, נועם וטליה.En: He always felt overshadowed by his popular friends, Noam and Talia.He: המחסן היה מקום שקט ומבודד, מושלם עבור ארי לעבוד על הפרויקט שלו בלי הסחות דעת.En: The warehouse was a quiet and isolated place, perfect for Ari to work on his project without distractions.He: למרות שקר ברגליים והאור היה מעומעם, ארי חש מרוכז ונחוש.En: Although his feet were cold and the light was dim, Ari felt focused and determined.He: הוא סידר את כלי העבודה שלו ליד מכונות ישנות ותיבות מאובקות.En: He arranged his tools near old machines and dusty boxes.He: ארי עבד על לב רובוטי שיאיר ויפעום לפי המוזיקה.En: Ari was working on a robotic heart that would light up and beat to the rhythm of music.He: הוא ידע שזה פרויקט שאם יצליח, ירשים את כולם.En: He knew that if this project succeeded, it would impress everyone.He: לאחר שעות רבות של עבודה קרה וקשה, הלב המלאכותי היה מוכן.En: After many hours of cold and hard work, the artificial heart was ready.He: האור והפעימות התאימו למקצב, וארי הרגיש גאווה עצומה.En: The light and the beats matched the rhythm, and Ari felt immense pride.He: אך אז, ממש לפני התערוכה, מערכת החשמל קיצרה.En: But then, just before the exhibition, the electrical system shorted out.He: האור כבה, והלב הפסיק לפעום.En: The light went out, and the heart stopped beating.He: ארי נאבק ברגשות של תסכול ואכזבה.En: Ari struggled with feelings of frustration and disappointment.He: אך במקום להרים ידיים, הוא נזכר בסוללה ישנה של מכונית, ששכבה בפינה אפלה של המחסן.En: Instead of giving up, he remembered an old car battery lying in a dark corner of the warehouse.He: הוא מיהר להרכיב אותה למערכת, ומיד הלב חזר לחיים.En: He quickly connected it to the system, and immediately the heart came back to life.He: האור זרח והפעימות חזרו להדהד.En: The light shone, and the beats resumed echoing.He: ביום התערוכה, פרויקט הלב של ארי ריתק את כולם.En: On the day of the exhibition, Ari's heart project captivated everyone.He: המורים והתלמידים כאחרים עמדו נדהמים והעניקו לו את המקום הראשון בתחרות.En: The teachers and students alike stood amazed and awarded him first place in the competition.He: ארי עמד ליד הפרויקט שלו, חיוך גאה על פניו.En: Ari stood by his project, a proud smile on his face.He: עכשיו הוא ידע שהוא יכול להשיג כל מה שרק יחלום.En: Now he knew he could achieve anything he dreamed of.He: הפרס לא רק הביא לו הערכה מהחברים, אלא לימד אותו את ערך ההתמדה והאמונה בעצמו.En: The prize not only brought him appreciation from his friends but also taught him the value of perseverance and self-belief.He: השלג המשיך לנחות בעדינות מעבר לגגות המחסן, אך ארי כבר לא הרגיש את הקור.En: The snow continued to fall gently beyond the warehouse roofs, but Ari no longer felt the cold.He: בליבו היה ניצוץ של חום וביטחון חדש.En: In his heart was a spark of warmth and new confidence. Vocabulary Words:abandoned: נטושresourceful: בעל תושייהovershadowed: מוצלisolated: מבודדdetermined: נחושartificial: מלאכותיshorted out: קיצרהfrustration: תסכולdisappointment: אכזבהperseverance: התמדהtranslucent: מעומעםimmense: עצומהcaptivated: ריתקappreciation: הערכהspark: ניצוץconfidence: ביטחוןechoing: להדהדcorners: פינהquiet: שקטtools: כלי עבודהdusty: מאובקותbeat: לפעוםmatch: מתאיםpride: גאווהsucceeded: הצליחtaught: לימדamazed: נדהמיםresumed: חזרexhibition: תערוכהachieve: להשיגBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Mystical Quest: Discovering the Magic of Gan Ha'Botani Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-08-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: בבוקר קריר ומעט ערפילי, תלמידים ממחזור ד' התאספו בפתח הגן הבוטני בירושלים.En: On a cool and slightly foggy morning, students from מחזור ד' gathered at the entrance of the Gan Ha'Botani in Jerusalem.He: התרגשות הייתה באוויר.En: Excitement was in the air.He: צוות המורים הוביל את הקבוצה עם הוראות על סדר היום, וכולם הדליקו את משואותיהם הקטנות כדי לא לאבד את הדרך.En: The team of teachers led the group with instructions for the day's itinerary, and everyone turned on their little flashlights to avoid losing their way.He: נועם ומאיה הלכו לידם, כשנועם היה מתרגש במיוחד - הוא קיווה למצוא צמח נדיר שסיפרו לו עליו ומאמין שהוא קסום.En: Noam and Maya walked beside them, with Noam particularly excited—he hoped to find a rare plant he had been told about and believed to be magical.He: "מאיה, יש צמח נדיר פה", לחש נועם כשהביט סביבו, עיניו נוצצות בתקווה.En: "Maya, there's a rare plant here," Noam whispered as he looked around, his eyes sparkling with hope.He: "קראתי עליו. אומרים שהוא זוהר בלילה."En: "I read about it. They say it glows at night."He: "נועם, אתה יודע שאין דבר כזה", ענתה מאיה בפקפוק.En: "Noam, you know there's no such thing," responded Maya skeptically.He: היא נותרה סקפטית, אפילו בזמן שט"ו בשבט הפך את האווירה לקסומה עוד יותר עם עושר הטבע ומסורת החגיגה.En: She remained skeptical, even as Tu Bishvat enhanced the atmosphere with the richness of nature and the tradition of celebration.He: נועם הרהר לרגע והחליט שהוא חייב לנסות.En: Noam pondered for a moment and decided he had to try.He: "בואי נלך. רק לכמה דקות. אני בטוח שנמצא אותו."En: "Let's go. Just for a few minutes. I'm sure we'll find it."He: מאיה נאנחה, אבל היא לא יכלה להשאיר את חבר שלה לבד.En: Maya sighed, but she couldn't leave her friend alone.He: "טוב, אני באה איתך. אבל רק קצר, בסדר?"En: "Fine, I'll come with you. But just briefly, okay?"He: כששניים התגנבו מאחורי שיחים גבוהים, הם התקדמו בשביל שקט בצד, מנסים להימנע מעיני המורים.En: As the two sneaked behind tall bushes, they advanced down a quiet side path, trying to avoid the eyes of the teachers.He: הריח הנעים של האדמה הלחה והפה הפורח סביבם עודדו את רוחו של נועם.En: The pleasant smell of the damp earth and the blooming orchids around them bolstered Noam's spirit.He: "האם כאן תהיה הקסם?" הוא חשב בתקווה.En: "Could the magic be here?" he thought hopefully.He: אך אחרי שישה דקות של חיפוש, מאיה התחילה לאבד את הסבלנות.En: But after six minutes of searching, Maya began to lose her patience.He: "נועם, אני חושבת שאנחנו צריכים לחזור. אני באמת לא רואה שום דבר."En: "Noam, I think we need to go back. I really don't see anything."He: בדיוק כשהם התקרבו לסוף השביל, אור ירח הקרין על עץ ססגוני שלא ראו קודם לכן.En: Just as they approached the end of the path, moonlight shone on a colorful tree they hadn't noticed before.He: עלי העץ ניצנצו כמו תכשיטים קטנים.En: The tree's leaves sparkled like tiny jewels.He: הם עצרו מתחתיו, נפעמים מיופיו.En: They stopped beneath it, awestruck by its beauty.He: "נועם, זה... זה באמת משהו מיוחד", אמרה מאיה בקול עמום.En: "Noam, this... this is really something special," Maya said in a hushed voice.He: לראשונה, היא הביטה בטבע בעיניים אחרות, מלאה בהתפעלות מהיופי והפלא.En: For the first time, she looked at nature with new eyes, filled with admiration for the beauty and wonder.He: נועם חייך חיוך רחב. "כן, ידעתי שזה כאן."En: Noam smiled a wide smile. "Yes, I knew it was here."He: הם נשלפו עלה אחד קטן לפני שפרשו בחזרה לקבוצה, כשמאיה משועשעת מכמה נועם צדק.En: They plucked a small leaf before returning to the group, Maya amused at how right Noam had been.He: הם חזרו בדיוק בזמן להמשך הסיור עם כולם.En: They returned just in time to continue the tour with everyone.He: הלב של מאיה פתח מקום חדש לחיוכים, לראות את העמק מפורסם בעיניו של נועם.En: Maya's heart opened up a new space for smiles, seeing the famous grove through Noam's eyes.He: עם העלה יומן, הם הביאו הוכחה קטנה שחוויה גדולה אפשרית כשהם מאמינים במעט קסם ובטבע הנהדר.En: With the leaf as their journal, they brought back a small token that a big experience is possible when they believe in a little magic and the magnificent nature around them. Vocabulary Words:foggy: ערפיליitinerary: סדר היוםflashlights: משואותיהםmagical: קסוםsparkling: נוצצותskeptically: בפקפוקenhanced: הפך לקסומהpondered: הרהרsneaked: התגנבוadvanced: התקדמוdamp: לחהblooming: הפה הפורחbolstered: עודדוpatience: סבלנותmoonlight: אור ירחcolorful: ססגוניawestruck: נפעמיםadmiration: התפעלותplucked: נשלפוjournal: יומןbelieve: מאמיניםmagnificent: הנהדרrare: נדירtradition: מסורתwhispered: לחשrichness: עושרdecided: החליטbriefly: קצרintently: בקול עמוםfamous: מפורסםBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: The Missing Blossom: A Tale of Adventure in Yerushalayim Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-08-23-34-01-he Story Transcript:He: בבוקר חורף קריר בירושלים, גן הבוטני היה מלא בעלעלים רכים שהרוח העדינה חיבקה אותם קלות.En: On a chilly winter morning in Yerushalayim, the botanical garden was full of soft leaves, gently embraced by the mild breeze.He: ט"ו בשבט התקרב והגינה התכוננה לחגיגות.En: Tu Bishvat was approaching, and the garden was preparing for the celebrations.He: מאיה, סטודנטית לבוטניקה עם תשוקה לפרחים נדירים, התהלכה בהערצה בין הצמחים המרהיבים.En: Maya, a botany student with a passion for rare flowers, wandered admiringly among the spectacular plants.He: היא נדהמה מהיופי שהטבע יכול להציע גם בימים הקרים ביותר.En: She was amazed by the beauty that nature could offer, even on the coldest days.He: אלי, הגנן הוותיק של הגן, היה עסוק בהכנת המקום לאירוע הגדול.En: Eli, the garden's veteran gardener, was busy preparing the place for the big event.He: הוא השקיע את כל שנותיו בטיפוח ובשמירה על היופי הזה.En: He had devoted all his years to nurturing and maintaining this beauty.He: לצידו היה נועם, מתמחה צעיר וסקרן, שלמד מאלי את סודות הגינון, אך לפעמים היה מעט שלומפר.En: Beside him was Noam, a curious young intern who was learning the secrets of gardening from Eli, although he was sometimes a bit clumsy.He: הגן היה פיסת טבע מופלאה בירושלים, כל כך שונה מההמולה העירונית שמסביבו.En: The garden was a marvelous piece of nature in Yerushalayim, so different from the urban hustle surrounding it.He: היו שם פסקולים של ציפורים וצלילים עדינים של מים זורמים.En: There were soundtracks of birds and the gentle sounds of flowing water.He: מאיה הוקסמה מכל רגע שם.En: Maya was enchanted by every moment there.He: יום אחד, כשהיא סיימה את סבביה בגן, הבחינה במשהו חסר.En: One day, as she completed her rounds in the garden, she noticed something missing.He: הצמח הנדיר שהיא הכי חיבבה לא היה במקום.En: The rare plant she cherished the most was not in its place.He: דאגה עלתה בליבה.En: A sense of worry arose in her heart.He: האם מישהו לקח את הצמח?En: Had someone taken the plant?He: או גרוע מכך, האם הוא אבד?En: Or worse, was it lost?He: המחשבות רדפו זו אחר זו.En: The thoughts chased one after the other.He: בלי להתמהמה, מאיה פנתה אל אלי.En: Without hesitation, Maya approached Eli.He: "אלי, חייבים למצוא את הצמח לפני החגיגות," אמרה בלחץ.En: "Eli, we must find the plant before the celebrations," she said urgently.He: אלי הבין את החשיבות, ומייד נועם הצטרף לחיפושים.En: Eli understood the importance, and Noam immediately joined the search.He: חיפושים החלו.En: The search began.He: הם חילקו את הגן לאזורים וניגשו למשימה בלהיטות.En: They divided the garden into sections and approached the task eagerly.He: אך הגן היה עצום, וצמחים רבים כל כך.En: But the garden was vast, with so many plants.He: כל התנשאות לרמז הייתה חשובה.En: Every hint towards a clue was important.He: כשהתקרבו לאזור הצמחים המדבריים, מאיה הבחינה במשהו קטן שאינו במקומו.En: As they approached the desert plant area, Maya noticed something small out of place.He: זה היה סימן של מחט קקטוס שנשברה על האדמה.En: It was a broken cactus needle on the ground.He: היא הבינה שנועם, בהיסח דעת, אולי הזיז את הצמח הנדיר.En: She realized that Noam, absent-mindedly, might have moved the rare plant.He: והיא צדקה.En: And she was right.He: לאחר כמה דקות של חיפוש נוסף, הם מצאו את הצמח קשור בין עצי קקטוס אחרים שגודלו באופן דומה.En: After a few more minutes of searching, they found the plant nestled among other similarly grown cactus trees.He: נועם הסמיק במבוכה, אך מאיה חייכה לעברו.En: Noam blushed with embarrassment, but Maya smiled at him.He: "זה קורה לכולנו," אמרה בעדינות.En: "It happens to all of us," she said gently.He: הצמח הושב למקומו הנכון, והחגיגות התנהלו בשלום ובשמחה.En: The plant was returned to its rightful place, and the celebrations proceeded peacefully and joyfully.He: מאיה למדה לסמוך על תחושותיה, והבינה עד כמה חשובה עבודת צוות.En: Maya learned to trust her instincts and understood the importance of teamwork.He: נועם הרוויח ביטחון וזהירות מעשית בעבודתו.En: Noam gained confidence and practical caution in his work.He: הגן המשיך לפרוח, כמו מערכת היחסים ביניהם.En: The garden continued to flourish, just like their relationship. Vocabulary Words:chilly: קרירbotanical: בוטניgentle: עדינהbreeze: רוחapproaching: מתקרבrare: נדיריםwandering: התהלכהspectacular: מרהיביםamazed: נדהמהveteran: וותיקnurturing: טיפוחmarvelous: מופלאהurban: עירוניתhustle: המולהenchanted: הוקסמהhesitation: התמהמהurgent: בלחץimmediately: מיידdivided: חילקוclue: רמזabsent-mindedly: בהיסח דעתembarrassment: מבוכהinstincts: תחושותיהteamwork: עבודת צוותflourish: לפרוחrelationship: מערכת היחסיםdevoted: השקיעcurious: סקרןfascinated: נדהמהcherished: חיבבהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

In this episode of Talking Insomnia, Noam shares his powerful story of overcoming years of sleep struggles. What began as a mysterious "noise" in a 12th-grade boarding school turned into a long-term battle with sleep anxiety and complex rituals. Noam discusses how he eventually moved past the fear and "mystery" of insomnia by embracing self-love and kindness If you're new here and curious to learn more, our FREE video course, The Festival of Understanding, is the perfect place to start. Head over to https://www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click the link at the very top of the page to begin your journey. If you're ready to leave insomnia for good, check out our coaching options. Head over to www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click on GET SLEEP in the menu. The Insomnia Immunity program is perfect if you like learning through video and want to join a group on your journey towards sleeping well. BedTyme is ideal if you like to learn via text and have a sleep coach in your pocket. The 1:1 Zoom based program is for you if you like to connect one-on-one with someone who has been where you are now. Do you like learning by reading? If so, here are two books that offer breakthroughs! Tales of Courage by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Courage-Twenty-six-accounts-insomnia/dp/B09YDKJ3KX Set it & Forget it by Daniel Erichsen https://www.amazon.com/Set-Forget-ready-transform-sleep/dp/B08BW8KWDJ  Would you like to become a Sleep Hero by supporting the Natto movement on Patreon? If so, that's incredibly nice of you

In this episode of Opinionated, H.R. McMaster joins me to lodge his prediction on whether or not the U.S. will launch a strike against Iran. He also warned against isolationism, and praised the Israeli national security mindset. Next, retired IDF General Noam Tibon discussed his decision to enter the Israeli political fray and to join Yair Lapids Yesh Atid party. Finally, I tackled those overseas voices who continue the absurd call for Israel to enter into negotiations toward a Two State Solution.Enjoy!Support the showThe MirYam Institute. Israel's Future in Israel's Hands.Subscribe to our podcast: https://podfollow.com/1493910771Follow The MirYam Institute X: https://bit.ly/3jkeUyxFollow Benjamin Anthony X: https://bit.ly/3hZeOe9Like Benjamin Anthony Facebook: https://bit.ly/333Ct93Like The MirYam Institute Facebook: https://bit.ly/2SarHI3Follow Benjamin Anthony Instagram: https://bit.ly/30m6uPGFollow The MirYam Institute Instagram: https://bit.ly/3l5fvED

At a moment when many Americans are either shouting past each other or staying silent, Noam and Mijal pause to reflect on what this moment demands of them as Jews, as leaders, and as citizens. In this episode, Mijal and Noam speak with Minnesota resident and Aspen Civil Society Fellow Kate Moore Davenport. The conversation explores the surge of ICE agents in Minneapolis and why it has ignited a debate over due process, safety, and federal power. Afterwards, Noam and Mijal reflect on polarization, competing narratives, and how Jewish ethical frameworks can help guide conversation without surrendering nuance. Here is a link to Mijal's instragram post, discussed in the episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUEo6ezDnnQ/?igsh=MWs1c3J3ZzY4YnhzZQ== Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Reigniting Community Spirit: A Winter Evening of Growth Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-02-03-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: בערב חורפי קריר בפרבר המודרני, התכוננו התושבים לאירוע הקהילתי השנתי.En: On a cool winter evening in the modern suburb, the residents prepared for the annual community event.He: הרחובות היו מלאים בפעילות, עצים חשופים ומצופים בכפור, ואנשים התהלכו במעילים חמים, נושאים קופסאות וציוד בדרכם למרכז הקהילתי.En: The streets were bustling with activity, trees were bare and frosted, and people walked in warm coats, carrying boxes and equipment on their way to the center komyoonlty.He: במרכז ההכנות, עמד איתן, מתנדב מסור ואיש-קהילה מוכר.En: At the center of preparations stood Eitan, a dedicated volunteer and a well-known community member.He: איתן אהב את העבודה הקהילתית שלו, אבל בשבועות האחרונים חש עייפות גוברת.En: Eitan loved his community work, but in recent weeks he felt increasing fatigue.He: הוא ידע שעליו למצוא שותף שיוכל לשאת איתו את העול.En: He knew he needed to find a partner who could share the burden with him.He: מכרהו הקרובה של איתן, טליה, עזרה לו בארגון האירוע.En: Eitan's close acquaintance, Talia, helped him organize the event.He: היא הייתה אדם שמצליח להוציא את המיטב מכל אחד.En: She was someone who managed to bring out the best in everyone.He: תוך כדי סידור שולחנות והצבת כיסאות, חשב איתן על נועם.En: While arranging tables and setting up chairs, Eitan thought about Noam.He: נועם היה השכן הקליל שלו, שתמיד נראה שמח ומהנהן בדברים קטנים.En: Noam was his easy-going neighbor, who always seemed happy and nodded at the little things.He: איתן יודע שנועם למעשה חלם לקחת יותר תפקידים בקהילה, אבל חשב שלא יכול להתבלט מול מנהיגותו של איתן.En: Eitan knew that Noam actually dreamed of taking on more roles in the community but thought he couldn't stand out against Eitan's leadership.He: ביום האירוע, איתן החליט על מהלך חדש: הוא קרא לנועם וביקש ממנו לעזור ביותר משימה פשוטה.En: On the day of the event, Eitan decided on a new approach: he called Noam and asked him to help with more than a simple task.He: "נועם," הוא אמר, "אני רוצה שתוביל את הארוחות הערב.En: "Noam," he said, "I want you to lead the evening meals."He: " נועם היה מופתע, אבל שמח על ההזדמנות.En: Noam was surprised but happy for the opportunity.He: המוזיקה התחילה לנגן, והאורחים הגיעו באיטיות.En: The music started to play, and the guests arrived slowly.He: הכל התנהל חלק, עד שפתאום התעוררה בעיה לוגיסטית.En: Everything ran smoothly until suddenly a logistical problem arose.He: הדלק להסקה נגמר, והמרכז הקהילתי היה קר מדי.En: The heating fuel ran out, and the center komyoonlty was too cold.He: נועם הבחין במצב והחל לפעול במרץ.En: Noam noticed the situation and started acting vigorously.He: הוא הזמין במהירות דלק חדש, הנחה את המתנדבים, ובתוך זמן קצר, חזר החום למרכז.En: He quickly ordered new fuel, directed the volunteers, and in no time, warmth returned to the center.He: בסיום הערב, התושבים שיבחו גם את איתן וגם את נועם על גלגלת האירועים.En: At the end of the evening, residents praised both Eitan and Noam for the event's orchestration.He: איתן, שהתבונן מהצד, חש התרגשות בלב.En: Eitan, observing from the side, felt a thrill in his heart.He: הוא הבין שהוא יכול לסמוך על אחרים.En: He realized that he could rely on others.He: נועם מצידו הרגיש גאה ובטוח יותר בעצמו.En: Noam, on his part, felt proud and more confident in himself.He: הוא זיהה את הפוטנציאל שבו להצטרף ולהוביל יחד עם איתן בעתיד.En: He recognized his potential to join and lead alongside Eitan in the future.He: כך, באותו ערב חורפי, גם איתן גם נועם עשו צעד חשוב להמשך דרכם הקהילתית, ולבסוף, האירוע הסתיים בהצלחה כפולה.En: Thus, on that winter evening, both Eitan and Noam took an important step in their community journey, and in the end, the event concluded with double success. Vocabulary Words:suburb: פרברbustling: מלאים בפעילותbare: חשופיםfrosted: מצופים בכפורdedicated: מסורvolunteer: מתנדבfatigue: עייפותburden: עולacquaintance: מכרהarranging: סידורtables: שולחנותchairs: כיסאותeasy-going: קלילnod: מהנהןstand out: להתבלטapproach: מהלךlogistical: לוגיסטיתvigorously: במרץorchestration: גלגלתthrill: התרגשותrecognize: זיההpotential: פוטנציאלconfident: בטוחjourney: דרכםdouble success: הצלחה כפולהresidents: תושביםevent: אירועcenter: מרכזheat: חוםfuel: דלקBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Jen and Noam discuss a little bit of everything, since we recorded later than usual last week. We got another Epstein files drop, unqualified people in the Trump administration, Pretti's prior run in with ICE / Border Patrol, Don Lemon getting arrested over the protest at a Minneapolis church, revelations about how Twitter works, and other random topics that come up as they do.  For our WAWC, Jen contemplates seeing the Melania movie, and Noam recommends MIO: Memories in Orbit.  

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Bridging Cultures: A Winter's Tale of Heritage and Healing Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-01-29-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: ביום קר ומשופע בשלג לבן בטריטוריית שבט מאשפי וואמפנואג, נועם הלך ביער העתיק, עיניו סרקו את הצמחים במבט חוקר.En: On a cold day, blanketed in white snow within the territory of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, Noam walked through the ancient forest, his eyes scanning the plants with an inquisitive gaze.He: מסביבו העצים זקופים, מכוסים בלובן שקט, והרוח הקרה נסחפת דרך הענפים ומשמיעה מנגינה חרישית.En: Around him, the trees stood tall, covered in quiet whiteness, while the cold wind swept through the branches, producing a gentle melody.He: מטרתו של נועם הייתה ברורה.En: @Noam's goal was clear.He: הוא רצה להבין את הקשר שבין צמחים ילידים לקהילות שלהם.En: He wanted to understand the connection between native plants and their communities.He: הוא חיפש להרגיש מחובר יותר למורשתו דרך חג ט"ו בשבט, המוקדש להכרת התודה לעולם הצומח.En: He sought to feel more connected to his heritage through the holiday of Tu Bishvat, dedicated to expressing gratitude to the plant world.He: מרים, מנהיגה מכובדת בקהילה המקומית, הביטה עליו בחשד.En: Miriam, a respected leader in the local community, watched him with suspicion.He: היא הייתה מודעת לחשיבות חילופי התרבויות, אך קשה היה לה להאמין בכוונותיהם של זרים.En: She was aware of the importance of cultural exchange, but found it difficult to trust the intentions of outsiders.He: היא הכירה היטב יתרונותיהם של צמחי המקום, אך לא הייתה בטוחה אם נועם ראוי לעזרתה.En: She was well-versed in the benefits of the local plants but was uncertain if Noam was deserving of her assistance.He: בעוד נועם התרכז בצמחים, פתאום חש צריבה בידו.En: While Noam focused on the plants, he suddenly felt a stinging in his hand.He: בתוך רגעים ספורים החלה נפיחותו לעלות, נשימתו הכבידה, והחרדה עטפה אותו.En: Within moments, swelling began to rise, his breathing became labored, and anxiety engulfed him.He: היה ברור שנפל קורבן לתגובה אלרגית מסוכנת.En: It was clear he had fallen victim to a severe allergic reaction.He: הסיטואציה הייתה דחופה.En: The situation was urgent.He: המקום היה מרוחק ושירותי החירום היו רחוקים מלהגיד.En: The location was remote, and emergency services were far from reachable.He: מרים הבינה שהיא חייבת לפעול במהירות.En: Miriam understood she had to act quickly.He: זו הייתה הזדמנות להוכיח את כוחה של המורשת המסורתית.En: This was an opportunity to prove the power of traditional heritage.He: היא הביאה מחומרים טבעיים וטיפלה בנועם, חולפת על פני ספקותיה.En: She used natural materials to treat Noam, pushing past her doubts.He: בזכות ידיעתה, נועם התאושש בעדינות ותודה הלב שלו התבהרה מחדש.En: Thanks to her knowledge, Noam recovered gently, and gratitude filled his heart once more.He: הוא הבין את הכוח הטמון במורשת ובחוכמה רבת השנים.En: He realized the power inherent in heritage and age-old wisdom.He: נועם הבטיח שיחקור את עבודתו לקדם גשר בין תרבויות, לעודד הערכה וכבוד הדדי.En: Noam promised to explore his work to build a bridge between cultures, to encourage mutual appreciation and respect.He: מרים, למדה דרך המסע האישי של נועם על הפתיחות שיש לבדוק את הכוונה מאחורי חיצוניות.En: Miriam, through Noam's personal journey, learned about the openness needed to question the intentions behind appearances.He: היא הרגישה שמחה מעורבת בשלווה, כשהם חלקו יחד את חגיגות ט"ו בשבט, בזמן שהשלג המשיך לרדת, מכסה את הארץ בשכבה חדשה של תקווה והבטחה.En: She felt a joy mixed with tranquility as they shared the Tu Bishvat celebrations together, while the snow continued to fall, covering the land with a new layer of hope and promise. Vocabulary Words:blanketed: משופעinquisitive: חוקרmelody: מנגינהheritage: מורשתgratitude: הכרת תודהsuspicion: חשדintention: כוונהlabored: הכבידהengulfed: עטפהremote: מרוחקreach: להגיעquickly: במהירותopportunity: הזדמנותprove: להוכיחdoubt: ספקותrecovered: התאוששbridges: גשרappreciation: הערכהrespect: כבודopenness: פתיחותappearances: חיצוניותtranquility: שלווהcelebrations: חגיגותfall: לרדתpromise: הבטחהscanning: לסרוקcommunity: קהילהdeserving: ראויurgent: דחוףnatural materials: חומרים טבעייםBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Noam and Jen discuss another shooting death in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE / Border Patrol (we can't tell the difference anymore), the intense fallout from both the shooting itself and the Trump administration's reaction to it, who will or will not keep their job, does it even matter, bringing a gun to a protest, and how bragging about lying can backfire.  We also discuss what we know about the situation in Iran, since it is still hard to get information on what is happening inside the country with protests and how many have been killed. However many it is, it is too many for the world to be this silent about it.  There is a bit of good news to report - for the first time in over a decade, there are no Israeli hostages in Gaza. The last body was returned home this week, which was a relief given everything that has happened over the past few years.  For our WAWC, Noam pitches you on watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Jen finishes up the MAPPA trifecta by watching Hell's Paradise.   

What's actually happening inside the American right—and how much of it is real versus online noise? Mijal and Noam talk with Jesse Arm of the Manhattan Institute about the GOP coalition after Trump, the new fault lines on Israel, and why conspiracy culture is becoming a political force.  Get in touch at WonderingJews@unpacked.media. Follow @wonderingjews on Instagram, and watch and subscribe on ⁠YouTube⁠. ------------ This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. Subscribe to the Unpacked newsletter: ⁠https://unpacked.bio/22f7b4⁠ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Unpacking Israeli History⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Discovering the Hidden Beauty: A Journey into Tu Bishvat Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-01-27-08-38-20-he Story Transcript:He: בַּבֹּקֶר הַמְעֻרְפָּל, הַכִּתָּה שֶׁל נֹעַם, תַּלְיָּה וְאֵלִיָּה נִתְקַהֲלוּ בִּפְותַח הַבִּיצה הָעֳבָה.En: In the foggy morning, the class of Noam, Talia, and Elia gathered at the entrance of the thick swamp.He: הָרוּחַ הָקָרָה נָשְׁבָה מִסָּבִיב וְיצְרָה אֲוִירַת סוֹד.En: The cold wind blew around, creating an atmosphere of mystery.He: הָעֲנָנִים הֲכִסּוּ אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְהָכִבָּשוּ לְבוֹש מְבַּלָּה וְיַרְבִּיבוּת.En: The clouds covered the sky, and the sheep wore shabby clothing and dripped moisture.He: נֹעַם עָמַד בְּצַד וְהִתבוֹנֵן בַּסְּבִיבָה.En: Noam stood aside and observed the surroundings.He: הָבִּיצָה נִרְאֲתָה מְגוּחֶכֶת עַם הָעָפָר וְהַשָּׁרָשִׁים הַמוּפְלָאִים שֶׁל הַצִּפּוֹרוֹת עַל הָעֵץ.En: The swamp looked odd with its dust and the wonderful roots of the birds on the tree.He: לְרָגְלָיו, ים צְחָבִים דַּלְקוּ וְיָרַקוּ מַיִם בָּרורִים.En: At his feet, clusters of algae glowed and spat out clear water.He: הַיּוֹם הוּא ט"ו בִּשְׁבָט, חַג הָאִילוֹנוֹת.En: Today is Tu Bishvat, the holiday of the trees.He: אֲבָל נֹעַם לֹא הִבִּין אֶת הַחַג הַזֶּה.En: But Noam did not understand this holiday.He: הוּא יָשַׁב בּוֹדֵד וְחוֹשֵׁב.En: He sat alone, thinking.He: "מַה הַקֶּשֶׁר בֵּין הַבִּיצָה לְחַג הָאִילוֹנוֹת?" שָׁאַל אֶת עַצְמוֹ.En: "What is the connection between the swamp and the holiday of the trees?" he asked himself.He: תַּלְיָּה בָּאַה בַּרִעוּשָׁה וְאָמְרָה, "נֹעַם, רְאֵה אֶת הַפֹּלוֹרוֹת שֶׁל הָעֵץ! הַזֶּה לא מַמָּשׁ מָשֶׁהוּ כְּמוֹ הָעֵתֵיות?".En: Talia came with excitement and said, "Look at the pillars of the tree! Isn't it something like the pillars?"He: נֹעַם חִיֵּך, אֲבָל בְּתוֹכוֹ לֹא הָיָה מוּוָר ל־מוּם.En: Noam smiled, but within himself, he remained unconvinced.He: אֵלִיָּה גִּישָּׁש הֵם בְּסֵפֶר וְהִתְיַשֹּֽבוּ לְיַד בְּעֵינָה חֲשוּבָה.En: Elia approached with a book, and they sat by an important spring.He: "ט"ו בִּשְׁבָט הוּא זְמַן לְהַחִיוּת, לָעִלָה." אָמְרָה בְּרוֹךְ.En: "Tu Bishvat is a time for renewal, for elevation," she said softly.He: נֹעַם עָנָה"קָשֶׁה לְהַרְגִּישׁ זֶה בַּמָּקוֹם הַצְפוּן הַזֶּה."En: Noam replied, "It's hard to feel that in this northern place."He: אַס יוֹם הַכִּתָּה נָעוּ בְּתוֹך הַטַטְטֶרִים, נֹעַם הֶחְלִיט לָלֶכֶת יְתוֹם.En: As the class moved through the path, Noam decided to walk alone.He: הוּא שַׁת בַּלֵּב לְהַצְמִיּיד אֶת הַגּוְוָול לִּצְמא.En: He put his heart into quenching the thirst of the soul.He: הוּא עַל גְּבוּל הַאִיסּוּר, אֲבָל הָיָה נָחוּשׁ.En: He was on the verge of transgression, but he was determined.He: בְּהַרְגָע הַבְּנִי, נֹעַם מָצָא חֶשְׂקוֹ בַּבִּיצָה.En: In a quiet moment, Noam found his delight in the swamp.He: מוּלהוּ נִיגְּלוּ עֵצִים יְרַקְרַקִּים, יָרֻקִ וְנִצוֹצִים אֲשֶׁר הַקְּיווּ לְפְעילָה פְּנוֹר בַּקְּצַה.En: Before him were greenish trees, vibrant and sparkling, hoping for radiant action on the edge.He: נֹעַם הִרגִּישׁ הַזְּרִיחָה בְּתוֹכוֹ.En: Noam felt the sunrise within him.He: כִּשֶּׁהוּא שָׁב לְכִִּתָּתוֹ, נֵשוֹפָנִים דִּיבֵּּרח נְעָמִים עַל הַגיבּור הֶחָדַשׁ.En: When he returned to his class, soothing breezes whispered praises about the new hero.He: "רָאִיתִי מַשֶּׁהוּ נָפִיצָה," אָמַר בְּרִינוֹת.En: "I saw something magnificent," he said with joy.He: סִפּוּרָיו מָשַׁכֶּה אֶת חוּשִּיבַת הַבָּחוּרִים לֶאֲהָבָה הַעֲתוּרֶת.En: His stories inspired the dreams of the children towards a future full of love.He: עִם קָצָה הַיוֹם, נֹעַם הִרְגִּישׁ נִשְׁפָּר מִפְנִימָה.En: With the end of the day, Noam felt internally restored.He: עַמְּדוֹ פֹּתֵחַ לְהֱיוֹת מֵחַבֵּר.En: He stood open to becoming a connector.He: וּכְשֶׁאָכְְה, נוֹחָם הַאי-תַּק.En: And as he spoke, comfort settled in.He: נֹעַם יָדַע: זֶה הוּא טעם שֶׁל חַג הָאִילָנוֹת.En: Noam knew: this is the taste of the holiday of the trees. Vocabulary Words:foggy: מְעֻרְפָּלgathered: נִתְקַהֲלוּswamp: בִּיצָהatmosphere: אֲוִירָהshabby: מְבַּלָּהmoisture: יַרְבִּיבוּתobserved: הִתבוֹנֵןsurroundings: סְּבִיבָהwonderful: מוּפְלָאִיםalgae: צְחָבִיםglowed: דַּלְקוּquenching: שַׁתtransgression: אִיסּוּרdetermined: נָחוּשׁdelight: חֶשְׂקsparkling: נִצוֹצִיםradiant: פְּנוֹרwhispered: דִּיבֵּּרחmagnificent: נָפִיצָהinspired: מָשַׁכֶּהdreams: חוּשִּיבַתrestored: נִשְׁפָּרconnector: מֵחַבֵּרcomfort: נוֹחָםsettled: תַּקrenewal: הַחִיוּתelevation: עִלָהsoothing: נֵשוֹפָנִיםbreezes: דִּיבֵּּרחhero: גיבּורBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Rainforest Resilience: Discovering Life's Balance in the Amazon Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-01-26-08-38-19-he Story Transcript:He: בקרחת יער ירוקה ביער הגשם של האמזונס, נעים הקולות של הציפורים והחיות על הרקע של רחש העצים.En: In a green clearing in the Amazon rainforest, the pleasant sounds of birds and animals fill the background of the rustling trees.He: נעם ויעל צועדים לאט על האדמה הרטובה.En: Noam and Yael walk slowly on the wet ground.He: הקיץ בדרום חם ולח, והאוויר מלא בריח של צמחים וגשם קרוב.En: The summer in the south is hot and humid, and the air is filled with the scent of plants and imminent rain.He: נעם, עם עיניים נוצצות, מחייך בהתלהבות.En: Noam, with sparkling eyes, smiles with enthusiasm.He: "עוד קצת, יעל.En: "Just a bit more, Yael.He: אני מרגיש שאנחנו קרובים," הוא אומר בקול מלא תקווה.En: I feel like we're close," he says with a hopeful voice.He: יעל נעצרת, מושכת בידו כדי למשוך את תשומת לבו.En: Yael stops, pulling his hand to get his attention.He: "נעם, התקציב שלנו הולך ואוזל, החום הזה לא בריא לנו," היא אומרת באזהרה.En: "Noam, our budget is running low, this heat isn't healthy for us," she warns.He: אבל לנעם יש מטרה ברורה: לגלות מין חדש של צמח עם סגולות רפואיות.En: But Noam has a clear goal: to discover a new species of plant with medicinal properties.He: בעת שהם ממשיכים, נעם מצביע על צמח גבוה וחריג.En: As they continue, Noam points to a tall and unusual plant.He: לידו יש פרחים כחולים בוהקים שמעולם לא ראו.En: Next to it are bright blue flowers they've never seen before.He: "זהו זה!En: "This is it!"He: " הוא מתנשם בהתרגשות.En: he gasps with excitement.He: אך פתאום, מתחיל לרדת גשם חזק.En: But suddenly, heavy rain begins to fall.He: האדמה נעשית חלקה ומסוכנת.En: The ground becomes slippery and dangerous.He: נעם רוצה להגיע לצמח, אבל יעל עוצרת אותו.En: Noam wants to reach the plant, but Yael stops him.He: "זה מסוכן מדי עכשיו!En: "It's too dangerous now!"He: " היא צועקת מעל קול הרעמים.En: she shouts above the roar of the thunder.He: נעם מהסס.En: Noam hesitates.He: "אנחנו חייבים את זה," הוא אומר, אבל גם מבין שהחיים שלהם חשובים לא פחות מהגילוי.En: "We need it," he says, but also understands that their lives are no less important than the discovery.He: ביחד, הם יוצרים תכנית: יעל שומרת על יציבות ורושמת נתונים, ונעם לוקח בזהירות דגימה קטנה מהצמח.En: Together, they devise a plan: Yael maintains stability and records data, while Noam carefully takes a small sample from the plant.He: הם מצליחים לחזור למקום מבטחים, חיים ועם הדגימה ביד.En: They manage to return to safety, alive and with the sample in hand.He: בגבה לטעמי החוויה, נעם מבין כמה חשובה זהירותה של יעל.En: Reflecting on the experience, Noam realizes how important Yael's caution was.He: "ידעתי שהצד שלך חשוב לא פחות," הוא מחייך אליה, והוא גם מבין כי עובד טוב יותר כששניהם עובדים יחד.En: "I knew your perspective was just as important," he smiles at her, and he also understands that they work better when they work together.He: הם ממשיכים במחקרם בהבנה הדדית, יודעים שהאיזון ביניהם הוא הדבר שמוביל להצלחה.En: They continue their research with mutual understanding, knowing that the balance between them is what leads to success. Vocabulary Words:clearing: קרחת יערrainforest: יער גשםpleasant: נעיםrustling: רחשsparkling: נוצצותenthusiasm: התלהבותhopeful: מלא תקווהbudget: תקציבimminent: קרובmedicinal: רפואיותproperties: סגולותunusual: חריגspecies: מיןslippery: חלקהdangerous: מסוכנתdevise: יוצריםstability: יציבותsample: דגימהreflecting: בגבה לטעמיcaution: זהירותהperspective: הצדmutual: הדדיתunderstanding: הבנהbalance: איזוןsuccess: הצלחהthunder: רעמיםhesitates: מהססdiscovery: גילויreturn: לחזורexperience: החוויהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Healing in the Holy Land: A Tale of Renewal and Discovery Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-01-25-23-34-02-he Story Transcript:He: הבוקר בירושלים התחיל בהמון רגש.En: The morning in Jerusalem started with much emotion.He: אריאלה ונעם עמדו מול הכותל המערבי, נשימתם נעתקה מהמראה המרגש של אבן העתיקה, עוטפת בזכרונות ותפילות.En: Ariela and Noam stood in front of the Western Wall, their breath taken away by the moving sight of the ancient stone, enveloped in memories and prayers.He: זה היה יום ט"ו בשבט, וחגג בטבע את ראש השנה לאילנות.En: It was the holiday of Tu Bishvat, celebrating the New Year for the Trees.He: אריאלה הייתה נרגשת במיוחד להשתתף בטקס הנטיעה.En: Ariela was especially excited to participate in the planting ceremony.He: היא הרגישה זיקה עמוקה לרוחניות של המקום והחג.En: She felt a deep connection to the spirituality of the place and the holiday.He: נעם, ידודה הטוב, היה לצדה כדי לתמוך ולעזור.En: Noam, her good friend, was by her side to support and help.He: הם הרגישו שהם חלק ממשהו גדול וקדוש.En: They felt they were part of something large and sacred.He: לפתע, אריאלה חשה בסחרחורת מוזרה.En: Suddenly, Ariela felt a strange dizziness.He: היא ניסתה להחזיק במקום, אך התחושות הלכו והתגברו.En: She tried to hold her ground, but the sensations grew stronger.He: "נעם, אני לא מרגישה טוב," לחשה עם דאגה בעיניים.En: "Noam, I'm not feeling well," she whispered with concern in her eyes.He: נעם הביט בה בחשש, "אולי כדאי שנחזור למלון?En: Noam looked at her worriedly, "Maybe we should go back to the hotel?"He: "אך אריאלה רצתה מאוד להשתתף בטקס הנטיעה.En: But Ariela really wanted to participate in the planting ceremony.He: היא אמרה לנעם: "אני חייבת לנסות.En: She said to Noam, "I have to try.He: אני מרגישה שזה חשוב.En: I feel it's important."He: " נעם הנהן, אך עדיין היה מודאג.En: Noam nodded, but was still concerned.He: באותו רגע הגיע אלעזר, מדריך מקומי עם חיוך חם.En: At that moment, Elazar, a local guide with a warm smile, arrived.He: הוא שם לב למצב של אריאלה ושאל אם הוא יכול לעזור.En: He noticed Ariela's condition and asked if he could help.He: "אני קצת מבין בענייני רפואה טבעית," הציע בעדינות.En: "I know a little about natural medicine," he offered gently.He: אריאלה ונעם הסכימו, והם מצאו מקום שקט לשבת.En: Ariela and Noam agreed, and they found a quiet place to sit.He: אלעזר בדק את אריאלה והציע לשתות מים ולקחת כמה נשימות עמוקות.En: Elazar examined Ariela and suggested drinking water and taking a few deep breaths.He: בעזרת הידע שלו, הוא הצליח להרגיע את תחושת הסחרחורת.En: Using his knowledge, he managed to calm the dizziness.He: כאשר התחיל טקס הנטיעה, אריאלה הרגישה טוב יותר.En: When the planting ceremony began, Ariela felt better.He: היא חפרה באדמה, נוטעת שתיל קטן, ובלבה תקווה והודיה.En: She dug into the earth, planting a small sapling, with hope and gratitude in her heart.He: התחושה המיוחדת של נטיעת עץ במקום הקדוש והתפילות שחברו לכל תנועה העניקו לה חווית התחדשות.En: The special feeling of planting a tree in the sacred place, and the prayers that accompanied every movement, gave her a sense of renewal.He: בסיום הטקס, אריאלה הסתכלה על אלעזר בענווה והודתה לו מכל הלב.En: At the end of the ceremony, Ariela looked at Elazar with humility and thanked him wholeheartedly.He: אלעזר הרגיש שחווית ההצלחה בריפוי אריאלה הדליק בנפשו את השאיפה להיות מרפא.En: Elazar felt that the success of healing Ariela ignited in him the aspiration to become a healer.He: בדרך חזרה למלון, אריאלה חשבה על מה שקרה ולמדה שאסור להתעלם מהסימנים שהגוף נותן.En: On the way back to the hotel, Ariela thought about what happened and learned that one should not ignore the signs the body gives.He: היא הרגישה מלאת אנרגיה ושמחה וידעה שתחזור לירושלים לעוד חוויות רוחניות.En: She felt full of energy and joy and knew she would return to Jerusalem for more spiritual experiences.He: ובין המאמינים הרבים שעמדו ליד הכותל, אלעזר הסתכל על ידיו ותהה על יכולותיו, מבטו הקדיש לא רק לאבנים העתיקות אלא גם לעתידו החדש.En: And among the many believers standing by the Western Wall, Elazar looked at his hands and pondered his abilities, his gaze dedicated not only to the ancient stones but also to his new future. Vocabulary Words:emotion: רגשbreath: נשימהenveloped: עוטפתmemories: זכרונותspirituality: רוחניותdizziness: סחרחורתwhispered: לחשהconcern: דאגהworriedly: בחששparticipate: להשתתףceremony: טקסcondition: מצבnatural medicine: רפואה טבעיתexamined: בדקaspiration: שאיפהhealer: מרפאignore: להתעלםsapling: שתילgratitude: הודיהrenewal: התחדשותhumility: ענווהsuccess: הצלחהpondered: תההdedicated: הקדישancient: עתיקsacred: קדושsensation: תחושהprayers: תפילותguide: מדריךjoy: שמחהBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we sail with the Category Pirates to unpack why career success in the coming years hinges on moving beyond using AI as just another productivity tool and embracing it as a co-founder and thought partner. The insights aren't just for techies or founders, they are relevant for anyone who wants to future-proof their career and unlock uncommon leverage in a world being remade by generative AI. As we find ourselves deep in the rise of artificial intelligence, the ways people define their careers and generate value are evolving rapidly. This episode dives into two key research reports that uncover a powerful trend shaping the very foundation of work and entrepreneurship. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   LinkedIn and Lenny: Two Data Sets Signal a Seismic Shift Very recently, two independent research efforts converged on a striking insight. LinkedIn, with its enormous database tracking millions of real career moves, revealed the fastest-rising roles: founder, AI engineer, independent advisor, and AI strategist and consultant. The title “founder” alone is up 60 percent year-over-year and has nearly tripled since 2022. This isn’t just a startup wave; it’s a broad career escape pattern: a mass migration away from conventional jobs towards agency, creativity, and ownership. Meanwhile, the renowned Lenny Rachitsky, together with Noam Segal, surveyed 1750 tech workers who are already deep in the trenches of AI adoption. Their data not only reinforced the LinkedIn findings but made something even clearer. The workers getting the greatest value from AI weren’t simply using it to write faster emails or crank out code a bit quicker. Founders (those who saw themselves as owners) were extracting exponentially more value, driving higher ROI, more time savings, and better work quality by leveraging AI not just to improve execution, but to reimagine strategy and decision making.   Moving Beyond Tool: AI as Your Career's Co-Founder What's the real difference between the “founders” in these studies and many other professionals? It's not intelligence or technical skill. It's mindset and operational practice. Founders use AI as a co-founder rather than a generic tool. They treat their careers as if they are companies, and AI is their essential collaborator. While engineers, managers, and designers may use AI to automate tests, generate presentations, or speed up research, founders leverage AI for decision making, vision, and strategic moves. The approach goes even deeper. Top performers are building their own custom AIs, trained on their unique intellectual property: their notes, writing, frameworks, and research. This isn't about using a public ChatGPT prompt or borrowing from generic knowledge bases. The new class of “creator capitalists” construct a persistent AI thought partner that challenges their assumptions, remembers everything they’ve produced, and becomes an always-on collaborator for new ideas, product invention, and critical thinking. At Category Pirates, for example, their internal “Lucy” AI has become the sharpest mind on their team: always ready to spark new value, and even surpassing the domain expertise of its human creators in key areas.   From Execution Labor to Creator Capitalists: The New Career Divide This transformation signals a far deeper change in the job market. The traditional divide of technical versus non-technical roles, or employed versus unemployed, is becoming less relevant. Instead, the real split now is between execution labor and creator capitalists. AI is driving the cost of accessing knowledge and automating rote tasks toward zero. Execution labor (those who focus on applying known inputs to familiar problems) can use AI to go faster but are still replaceable. In contrast, creator capitalists use AI to design new futures, develop judgment, and build intellectual capital that compounds over time. The LinkedIn and Lenny data make it clear: career value is migrating from mere knowledge and execution to originating new insight and value. The people outpacing the pack aren't simply working harder or faster. They've redrawn the boundaries of their roles, shifted from employee to owner in mindset, and made AI their partner in creation, decision-making, and value extraction. The future belongs to those who build and train their own custom AIs, transforming themselves into categories of one, and compounding their expertise every single day. If you want to move from knowledge worker to creator capitalist, and from user to AI collaborator, the playbook is already available and the evidence is hiding in plain sight. The choice is yours: stick with generic tools and returns, or invent the future side by side with your own AI co-founder. If you want to hear more from the Founding Category Pirates themselves, download and listen to this episode.    Links Check out the latest Category Pirates posts and discussions about The Secret to Success in 2026!  Want to join in the conversation? Check out the Category Pirates newsletter and feel free to share your thoughts with the crowd!    We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!  

After October 7, stories about Israeli humanitarian aid can sound like hasbara—a Hebrew term for public diplomacy or advocacy meant to improve Israel's image. So in Part 1 of this two-part series, Noam Weissman asks a harder question: why does Israel keep rushing into disaster zones, often at real risk and with little strategic payoff? The episode traces Israel's early “soft diplomacy” under Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, then turns to IsraAid, Israel's leading humanitarian NGO, through its work in drought-stricken Kenya and a daring evacuation during Afghanistan's 2021 collapse. Next week, the story continues when Noam explores what happens when Israeli aid enters Gaza—and the moral and societal tensions that follow. Here are sources used for this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zx3FMR5-i_LU68qikZXnhU-8lOkV2jAspDU5Fyix2PE/edit?tab=t.byua9hckht This episode was generously sponsored by Friedkin Philanthropies and the Koret Foundation, and is inspired by ISRAEL 21c. To sponsor an episode or to be in touch, please email noam@unpacked.media. Check out this episode on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand .------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Noam Lovinsky is the CPO @ Superhuman (formerly Grammerly). Prior to Superhuman he was a Senior Director of Product Management at Facebook. In his earlier years he was CPO @ Thumbtack and spent 5 years as a Director of Product Management at Google where he was responsible for all of Youtube's applications.  AGENDA: 03:43 What is Great Product Leadership in a World of AI 07:45 Does the Design Phase Die in a World of Vibe Coding 12:21 How AI Changes Product Development Most 22:23 Accelerating Product Development 29:32 AI's Impact on Product Building 34:19 Predictions for 2026 34:45 Quick Fire Round 38:41 Reflections and Future Plans  

Call ins, legal and civic positions on ICE shooting and Noam's take on Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams. Guest: Professor Robert Jan Van Pelt, the principal expert witness on Nazi gas chambers in the David Irving trial, joins. Robert Jan Van Pelt is one of the world's leading experts on Auschwitz. An architectural historian who has taught at MIT and the University of Waterloo, he is best known for proving the reality of the gas chambers and crematoria. His work made him a central figure in the fight against Holocaust denial. He appeared in Errol Morris's Mr. Death and served as a key expert witness in the landmark Irving v. Penguin & Lipstadt trial. He has received major honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Jewish Book Award.

In this episode of Best in Fest, host Leslie LaPage welcomes Rabbi Noam Raucher — educator, divorce coach, and Executive Director of FJMC International (Friendship, Judaism, Mentorship & Community) — to explore an unexpected but urgent topic: how media, masculinity, and meaning intersect in today's culture.Noam shares his personal journey through divorce, career loss, and men's support groups — experiences that inspired him to launch Mama's Boy, a bold new podcast co-hosted with comedy writer Rob Kutner. Together, they're creating content that challenges toxic masculinity, offers healthier models of brotherhood, and brings Jewish wisdom into modern conversations about manhood.In this episode, we explore:

Parents are supposed to provide the best life possible for their kids, right? But what does that mean when genetic testing for the baby enters the picture? And how far should they go? Vox senior reporter Sigal Samuel received that ethically ambiguous question for her advice column Your Mileage May Vary  from a parent-to-be, and in this episode walks Noam through her thinking using a philosophical framework. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Complete our 2025 survey: ⁠https://unpacked.bio/uihsurvey⁠ Book for the Jerusalem Marathon "Return, Reconnect, and Run for Resilience" tour: ⁠sababatravel.com⁠ In this Open Mic episode, Noam responds to a listener, Aviva's question: what does it even mean to say “Israel has a right to exist”—and who gets to decide that “right”? Noam argues that the debate is really about Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He makes the case that the more urgent conversation is about how Israel exists, not whether it exists. The episode uses the 2025 NYC mayoral debate as a jumping-off point to explore Jewish peoplehood, modern self-determination, and double standards. This episode is generously sponsored by Debra and Avi Naider and Andrea & Larry Gill. To sponsor an episode or to be in touch, please email noam@unpacked.media. Check us out on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. ------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠