Israel Story

Keep Calm and Carry On

What does it mean to be ‘in it for the long haul’? In our 50th episode, we explore this question in the context of both creating a podcast and forging a relationship.

January 7, 2020


While some people operate within the confines of reality, others will things into existence. In our season finale, we’ll meet one such determined woman who—faced with countless obstacles—decided to keep calm, put one foot in front of the other, and carry on in pursuit of love.

In the prologue, we revisit unreleased parts of a conversation we recorded in preparation of our very first episode, back in August 2014. Host Mishy Harman—inexperienced, starstruck, and decidedly uncalm—sought guidance and advice from his radio guru, Ira Glass.

Act I: “Crashing into Love.” Jordan never thought her summer in Israel would end the way it did. An independent-minded college student from a conservative family in Arkansas, she had already ventured far afield. But little did she know that one fateful and horrifying moment in 2012 would forever change the course of her life. Seven years later, sitting with her partner in their Jerusalem apartment, gazing at an orchid and a copy of The Little Prince, they recount their love story. While they tell it with the same lightheartedness as the next couple, there is also a lingering sense of an “original sin,” of a relationship born of a place it shouldn’t have. Producer Yoshi Fields brings us an unlikely tale of persistence, stick-to-itiveness, and resolve.

The end song, “Inyan Shel Zman” (“A Matter of Time”), was written by Ehud Manor, composed by Rami Kleinstein, and performed by Gidi Gov. Zev Levi arranged the scoring for Act I, with music from Blue Dot Sessions. Adam Milliner mixed the episode. Thanks to Judah Kauffman for editorial help.

Listen to the episode here, or download it from iTunes. You can hear all of Israel Story’s episodes in English here and in Hebrew here.

Israel Story, the English-language version of the popular Israeli radio program Sipur Israeli, is distributed by PRX and produced in partnership with Tablet.

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