Sababoosh has been years in the making. When living in New York City about seven years ago, I had the dream of starting a podcast and interviewing people who love Israel about their stories and connection. If that dream had been realized then it might have preceded the recent wave of podcasts.
Now that I live in Israel and can interview people in person about Israeli culture, the dream was finally realized. I’ve learned a great deal so far from the guests and a big takeaway has been the accessibility of many people in Israel. Whether it’s an email to their Contact Us page or a phone number from a mutual contact, guests have been very generous with their time and with sharing their experiences.
You can listen most places where podcasts are found.
Our Guests
Season 1
#1) Guy Sharett - Language and Hebrew Slang
Guy Sharett, originally from Ashdod, Israel, has always loved languages. Today he teaches Hebrew in the Shanghai International Studies University in Shanghai, China. He has a B.A in Hebrew Language from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an M.A from the University of London. Guy speaks seven languages, including Arabic, Thai, Indonesian and Italian, and is the presenter of the Streetwise Hebrew podcast, where he uses examples from pop culture and songs to teach language and culture. (Limmud Oz)
#2) Aleeza Chanowitz - TV
Aleeza is a graduate of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School. Her midterm film Mushkie premiered at the Berlinale (2016), and her graduation film Shaboos Kallah took part in the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. She created and starred in a television series for HOT based on her new immigrant experience. (Jerusalem Cinemateque)
#3) Omri Marcus - Comedy
Omri Marcus is the CEO of The Comic Genome Project. He is also the founder and creative director of Comedy for a Change - an international conference on the power of comedy to drive forward social change. Heralded as 'Israeli TV's Wunderkind' by Tablet Magazine, Marcus was a development partner at Red Arrow International, served as a senior writer on Israel’s top comedy panel show and continues to advise international and Israeli production companies on global TV and new-media trends. Over the last 10 years, Marcus has been involved in the development and writing of major entertainment shows on Israeli TV. Among his successes is “Eretz Nehederet” (“What a Wonderful Country”), enjoying regular ratings of over 30% and winning 4 Israeli Academy Awards. (Huffington Post)
#4) Professor Alon Tal - Environment
Professor Alon Tal’s career has been a balance between academia and public interest advocacy. Between 2021–2022 he was a member of Knesset, Israel’s parliament, where he served as chair of the subcommittee for environmental and climate impact on health. Presently he has an appointment as professor in the Department of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University. Tal has held faculty posts at Stanford, Ben Gurion, Hebrew, Michigan State, Otago and Harvard Universities. He has also founded several Israeli environmental organizations including Adam Teva V’Din, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, and the Arava Institute. He has served as deputy chair of Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael, where for many years he oversaw national forestry policy in Israel and is currently co-chair of Zafuf, the Israel Forum for Population, Environment and Society. He plays fiddle and mandolin in the Arava Riders, a leading Israeli bluegrass band. (Stanford Business School)
#5) Dan Ariely - Resilience / Behavioral Economics
Dan Ariely is a Professor of Business Administration and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. He does research in behavioral economics on the irrational ways people behave, described in plain language. His immersive introduction to irrationality took place as he overcame injuries sustained in an explosion. During a range of treatments in the burn department he faced a variety of irrational behaviors that were immensely painful and persistent. He began researching ways to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients. Ariely became engrossed with the idea that we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives and that research could help change some of these patterns. After using his knowledge of decision-making and behavioral economics to convince his girlfriend to marry him, Ariely realized that understanding decision-making can help anyone in their daily life. Irrationally Yours, Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, the movie Dishonesty and the card game Irrational Game are his attempt to describe his research findings in non-academic terms, so that more people will discover the excitement of behavioral economics and use some of the insights to enrich their own lives. (via Fuqua School of Business at Duke University website)
#6) Adeena Sussman - Food
Adeena Sussman is a renowned author of 15 cookbooks. Among those 15, two are co-authored with American icon Chrissy Teigan titled, “Cravings” (2016) and “Cravings: Hungry for More” (2018). Her best known work is the New York Times Bestselling Cookbook, “Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from my Table to Yours”(2023). Her other work, "Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Recipes from My Israeli Kitchen" was named Best Fall 2019 cookbook by The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine. Adeena is originally from Palo Alto, California and made Aliyah about 8 years ago but has been writing about Israeli food and culture for over 20 years. Adeena lives in Tel Aviv and knows the Carmel Market like the back of her hand.
#7) Etgar Keret - Literature
Keret’s quirky work, mainly short stories and graphic novels featuring odd twists and the unexpected, wins critical acclaim as well as sales success. He is published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications in addition to his books. He also writes screenplays.
Keret’s first published work is “Pipelines,” a collection of short stories that receives little attention. His second collection, “Missing Kissinger,” wins over the general public, and one of the stories remains in the curriculum for the Israeli matriculation exam in literature. Keret is known for a simple writing style that uses everyday language in slightly surreal stories that blur the boundaries of possibility. His popular writing ushers in a surge of Israeli short story writing in the 1990s.
More than 40 short movies are made from his writings. A 2006 feature film, “Wristcutters: A Love Story,” is based on Keret’s “Kneller’s Happy Campers,” published in 1998. A surreal documentary released in 2017, “Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story,” combines Keret’s life with elements of his stories.
Keret is a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Tel Aviv University. He has won multiple awards in Israel and internationally, including the Prime Minister’s Award for literature and the Chevalier Medallion from France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. (Source: www.israeled.org)
#7) Itamar Shahar - Education
Itamar has been a teacher for 10 years (9 of them in the Israeli public school system). He is also a podcaster - the podcast that he co-hosts is called "Teachers Lounge - teachers talk education" and deals with many topics surrounding education today.
He currently does lectures and workshops with the "מהפכת הקשב" movement and lately he’s been interested in AI and the social effects of the AI revolution - he started a substack and hopefully a social movement called Human Intelligence.
Itamar is a father of two young kids. He lived from age 2-7 in Pittsburgh (my hometown woohoo!) so he has experienced some education in the US. He has worked a lot with American teens over the years, mostly through NFTY- the Reform youth group.
#9) Dorit Rabinyan - Literature
Dorit Rabinyan was born in Israel in 1972 to a family who had emigrated from Iran in the early 1950s and settled in Kfar Saba, where she grew up and attended school. She served as a journalist for the Israel Defense Force magazine during her military service and continued writing for various newspapers after completing her term in the army. Her first novel was inspired by her grandmother’s stories. Her Hebrew, the language she calls her home, brilliantly emulates her grandmother’s Persian language and story-telling style. Unlike some of her contemporary Mizrahi writers who use non-Hebrew vocabulary, Rabinyan, in her narrative, transfers the flow and rhythm of her Persian heritage into idiomatic Hebrew. In what appears to be a seamless move between two cultures, Rabinyan manages to forge a multicultural Israeli identity.
Her books include Persian Brides, Our Weddings, And Where Was I?, and All the Rivers.
Then Education Minister Naftali Bennet overturned an official decision to include All the Rivers in the Israeli high school curriculum. It led to a huge reaction that caused book sales to soar. Rabinyan traveled around the world to discuss her novel and the controversy that it created. (Credit: Jewish Women Archive)
#10) Aleeza Ben Shalom - Dating
Aleeza Ben Shalom is a renowned matchmaker, dating coach, author, sought-after speaker, and soulmate clarity expert who empowers marriage-minded singles to find and identify the one. She guides them from uncertainty and overwhelm to the clarity needed for confident decision-making regarding their potential life partners. Aleeza is the featured Matchmaker of the Netflix series Jewish Matchmaking.
She is also the host of the podcast “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.”
To date, she has successfully helped over 200 people get under the chuppah, and has trained over 350 matchmakers and coaches.
Aleeza believes we must secure our Jewish future through making more marriages.
To learn more or be in touch with Aleeza visit: AleezaBenShalom.com
#11) Ivri Lider - Music
Ivri Lider is one of the most successful and influential Israeli musicians of his generation. He is a highly acclaimed Israeli pop star, singer-songwriter, and producer. Lider has released 12 original albums, live albums, and DVDs, selling over a million copies in total. He was named Israeli Artist of the Year in 2005.b Lider has composed music for several films, including "Yossi & Jagger" and "The Bubble". His lyrics often reflect the thoughts and experiences of a new generation of Israelis.
Lider's songs have become part of the soundtrack of Israeli life, continuously played on radio stations. He has fans spanning all generations, from teenagers to those in their sixties. In 2024, Lider celebrated 25 years on stage with a series of concerts, including a dazzling performance at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv.
During the 2023 Hamas attacks, Lider performed at funerals of victims and for soldiers, using his music to provide comfort and support during the crisis. Ivri Lider's career spans over two decades, during which he has consistently produced hit songs, won numerous awards, and become a respected figure in Israeli music and culture.
Season 2
#1) Yossi Klein Halevi - Jerusalem
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-host, together with Donniel Hartman, of the Hartman Institute’s podcast, “For Heaven’s Sake” –the number one Jewish podcast in the English-speaking world.
Halevi’s 2013 book, “Like Dreamers” won the Jewish Book Council's Everett Book of the Year Award. His latest book, “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor,” is a New York Times bestseller and has appeared in a dozen languages.
He is currently writing a book about the meaning of Jewish survival.
He has written for leading op-ed pages in North America and is a former contributing editor to the New Republic. He is frequently quoted on Israeli, Middle Eastern and Jewish affairs inleading media around the world and is one of the best-known lecturers on Israeli issues in the North American Jewish community and on North American campuses.
He co-directs the Hartman Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), which teaches emerging young Muslim leaders in North America about Judaism, Jewish identity and Israel. Over 150 Muslim leaders have participated in the unique program.
Born in Brooklyn, he received his BA in Jewish studies from Brooklyn College and his MS in journalism from Northwestern University.
He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with wife, Sarah, an astrologer. They have three children.
#2) Dov Lipman - Olim
Dov Lipman received his rabbinical ordination from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland while studying at Johns Hopkins University where he received a master's degree in education. In 2004, Dov immigrated from the USA to Bet Shemesh, Israel with his wife, Dena and four children. In 2013, he was elected to the 19th Knesset, making him the first American-born MK in 30 years. Dov’s experience assisting Olim with corona travel and other challenges led to his founding of Yad L’Olim. His vast experience working in the Knesset and with Government officials gave him a deep understanding of how the Israeli government works, enabling him to advocate for Olim, their families, and global Jewry, making real policy change possible. He is the author of eight books about Israel and Judaism. (Yad L’Olim website)
#3) Joseph Gitler - Volunteerism
In 2003, Joseph Gitler founded Leket Israel –The National Food Bank as a one-man volunteer operation to respond to the paradox of growing hunger and poverty in Israel on the one hand and significant food waste on the other. Twenty years later, Joseph’s operation has grown to become the only food rescue and resource organization in Israel. Leket Israel supplies surplus food and nutritional support to over 295 non-profit organizations serving more than 330,000 people in Israel weekly.
As Founder and Chairman, Joseph has worked to expand the scope of Leket Israel’s capabilities. Today, Leket thrives with the assistance of 150 employees, 20 delivery vehicles and tens of thousands of volunteers – a direct result of Joseph’s dedication.
Outside of his work with Leket Israel, Joseph is a founding member of Ten Gav and Israel Gives, as well as an active board member of re-specs, The Meir Medical Center, Camp Moshava Canada, Dualis, Mercaz Panim and Artists & Musicians for Israel. Joseph is also the Israeli representative for the Global FoodBanking Network.
Joseph received the coveted Presidential Award for Volunteerism from former President Shimon Peres, accepted the Ruppin Academic Center’s 2017 Honorary Fellowship, received the 2018 Cohon Award, was named the 2018 Man of the Year by the Ra’anana Rotary, was awarded Beit Hapalmach’s 2016 Yigal Alon Prize, and was selected to deliver a 2017 JedX talk and a 2015 ELI talk. He is a recipient of the Inaugural 2014 Bonei Zion Prize and named one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. Additionally, Joseph received the 2018 Compassion Award for Children and Youth at Risk. Most recently Joseph was selected as an esteemed 2022 Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Big Synergy.
Joseph received his juris doctor degree from Fordham University. He also has a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University. He resides in Ra’anana, Israel with his wife and their five children.
#4) Kobi Balulu - Stand up comedy
Kobi is from Afula and is now a stand up comedian and chef. He is also the host of the podcast, Beten Mi-lay-uh (full stomach) where he hosts guests for more than two hours, cooks them a specialized dish, and talks to them about life. He was trained in the Cordon Bleu in London as a chef. He does stand up in both Hebrew and English.