Promoted Podcast From the Shalom Hartman Institute

Hope for Israel’s 78th Birthday

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi mark Israel's 78th Independence Day with a meditation on eulogies, blessings, and the distance between the two.

People stand on the beach during Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv, April 22, 2026. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

When a word carries history, burden, and identity all at once, can the Jewish people afford to let it go?

What do you wish for a country you love that is still learning to love itself?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi mark Israel’s 78th Independence Day with a meditation on eulogies, blessings, and the distance between the two. They dissect the growing divide in world Jewry over Israel’s future and the stranglehold of an “October 7 consciousness” on Israeli political imagination. Between the grief of Memorial Day and the joy of Independence Day, they articulate their wishes for a society desperate to heal, demanding a return to hope and the courage to envision a thriving Jewish future.

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Subscribe to For Heaven’s Sake on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you receive your podcasts.

Sponsor an upcoming episode of For Heaven’s Sake! Click here to learn more.

read more: