Etgar Keret, an author and a regular contributor to our show, lives less than a ten minute walk from Kikar Malchey Israel, the square where Rabin was murdered. One of his most iconic short stories is actually about Rabin. It’s called “Rabin is Dead” but Rabin in the title of the story isn’t the Rabin.

When Raymonda Tawil met Ruth Dayan in 1970, they seemed well-primed to be enemies. Ruth, the then wife of Israeli war hero and Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, was visiting a hospital in the Palestinian city of Nablus to deliver dolls to children. Tawil, of Palestinian aristocracy, was there to witness this exercise in diplomacy. She was not impressed. Today, these elder stateswomen are dear friends. From Malta, where they most recently met up, they share the story of how they won each other over in “R&R,” Act I of this week’s episode. Anthony David told the story of these two grand ladies in his recent book, "An Improbable Friendship."

Act II, “The Center for Rationality,” introduces us to economist Eytan Sheshinski and mathematician Yisrael Aumann, both of them at the top of their fields who, nevertheless, seem to leave clear thinking behind when it comes to their favorite pastime: hiking together.

In Act III, journalist Danna Harman brings us “Girls’ Night In” - the story of two women in their forties who have been acquaintances, but by no means friends, since childhood in Ramat HaSharon. It was a pair of tragedies that drew them close. 

In the last episode of Israel Story, we met couples in love. But for every story of love found, there are, of course, piles and piles of broken hearts. And today, we’ve got the tales of three of the crazy things people do when they no longer see eye to eye. So today on Israel Story, “Over and Out.” We’ve got three stories of relationships that have ended, and the things (the often slightly nutty things) that people do once they have. We’ll journey back to the early days of the State of Israel, and then travel all around the world, to London and New York, even to Beijing.

On Today's show, we delve into the messy territory of family bonds—how they’re formed, challenged, and change over time. We’ll meet three families who are all, at the end of the day, happy, but are not (contrary to Tolstoy’s claim) in any way alike.

First we hear from Mishy's family—Dorothy, David, Danna and Oren—who like to talk to each other. A lot.

In Act I, “The Missing Moms,” producer Shoshi Shmuluvitz introduces us to Tali Griffel, a thirty-six-year-old physical therapist from Jerusalem who has been searching for a stable maternal bond her entire life, ever since she lost not one, but two, mothers.

In Act II, “The Radio Babe,” we tell the tale of a couple who won’t be able to hear their own story. Eli and Mira Kosover, both deaf, somehow managed to raise a radio producer, our very own Maya Kosover. Through conversations with her parents and her brother (who is hearing, like her), Maya brings us into the noisy world of her deaf upbringing.

This Thursday, Israelis observe Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.  At 10 a.m., according to custom, an air raid will sound and the country will fall quiet for two long minutes.  

Silence won’t do for a podcast, so instead we bring you two stories. Act I, “B-1367,” is about an elderly father and his 53-year old son, and the inked number that binds them. In Act II, “Herr Eichmann,” we meet up with a group of men for whom Eichmann is not a symbol of Nazi evil, but a gaunt, balding prisoner for whom they were responsible, as guards and interrogators.