For Heaven's Sake

How can a society deeply divided by electoral deadlock find the collective moral courage to choose democratic renewal over perpetual crisis? 

In this Rosh Hashanah episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi set aside the reactive mode of recent years to name their realistic hopes for Israel: the return of truth to public life, a moral reckoning with settler violence in the West
Bank, and the quiet shifts stirring in the Haredi and Arab sectors. Grounded in the High Holiday belief that what once was isn't necessarily what must be, this is a hopeful yet clear-eyed look at the year ahead. Shana Tova. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit
shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Why does Israeli political life appear hopelessly frozen at the top even as tectonic shifts stir beneath the surface? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine the looming Israeli elections, the persistent mathematical stalemate between major political blocs, and the tired defensive tactics driving Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign. They investigate the fragmentation of the right wing following Ofer Winter’s entry into the race, the demise of small vanity parties failing to clear the threshold, and the emerging revolutions within both the Haredi and Arab-Israeli sectors. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our
YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit
shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 
Register for The Road to the Israeli Elections on September 8. 

What do four political earthquakes in a single week – as the Knesset is on the brink of dissolving – reveal about the election that will define Israel's future? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi open Israel's election season by mapping the upheaval: the sudden formation of new parties, Gadi Eisenkot's rise to rival Likud as Naftali Bennett fades, a blitz of contentious legislation, and a government openly declaring it will defy the Supreme Court. Together they ask what Israelis actually want and whether this moment marks the true end of the Netanyahu era. A clear-eyed guide to the opening shot of the most consequential election in years. 

This episode originally aired on July 8, 2026. 

---- 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

College students, apply now for the 2026 Edward Fein Winter Student Seminar! 

Can the Jewish people hold on to moral tradition in the era of Jewish power? 

In this special episode—recorded live in the courtyard of the Shalom Hartman Institute's Jerusalem campus on July 14, 2026, at the Institute's Wellspring Summit for Educators—Yossi Klein Halevi joins Sara Labaton, Director of Teaching and Learning at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America for a candid conversation on Jewish anti-Zionism, the Israel–American Jewish divide, and the crisis of Jewish memory. Together, they reflect on power, victimhood, and what we owe the next generation of Jewish learners.  

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

What happens to our humanity when fear takes hold? 

In this special summer episode, recorded live in the Beit Midrash of the Shalom Hartman Institute's Jerusalem campus during our Community Leadership Program, Donniel Hartman delivers a solo lecture on the journey from “mensch” to “warrior." He dissects the Jewish tradition's ambivalent view of human nature, the methodology of mitzvah as training for decency, and the IDF Code of Ethics now under pressure after October 7. A thought-provoking meditation on vulnerability, moral instincts, and whether a people with power can remain a people of conscience. 

For the source sheet that accompanies this lecture: https://shalomhartman.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hartman_D_Humaness-from-Mensch-to-Warrior_CLP-2_Plenary_Jul-2-2026-1.pdf 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Watch select sessions from our summer learning in Jerusalem. 

How do the Jewish people reclaim our story when our very right to self-defense is under global assault?

In this special episode, recorded live at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Community Leadership Program in June, Yossi Klein Halevi sits down with author and former White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz for the annual Michelle Gary z”l Memorial Lecture. Together, they dissect the 80-year arc of post-Holocaust Jewish recovery, how the framing of "oppressor vs. oppressed" distorts the complex reality of Middle Eastern history, and the moral dilemmas inherent in wielding hard national power in a post-October 7 world.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

How does a Jewish state navigate its future when the most fiercely contested issue at the ballot box is the definition of Judaism itself?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect the profound ways religion is shaping Israel's upcoming elections. They explore the Likud's historical transformation into enablers of the ultra-Orthodox, the messianic fervor driving the settlement movement, and the opposition's attempt to reclaim a broad, inclusive Jewish identity.

----

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

Learn more about our Wellspring programming for young Jews and the professionals who serve them.

What happens to a nation's psyche when the basic need to breathe is blocked by the geopolitical reality of an endless war?  

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi explore this dreamlike summer interlude where Israeli life appears suspended between political campaign trails and impending regional conflict. They parse the deep frustration of a public realizing that its historic moment of deterrence may have slipped away, the dangerous escalations threatening international shipping lanes and neighboring countries, and an unsteady order where tactical firefighting has replaced genuine strategy.  ____

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Learn here how Siach helps young Jews grapple with big questions. 

Is it possible to rebuild a shared national vision when a society remains deeply traumatized and divided over its own moral obligations?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine the newly announced October election date and look beyond immediate legislative battles to articulate the change they truly hope for. They dissect the urgent structural need to undo mass ultra-Orthodox military exemptions, explore how to restore national accountability through an independent commission of inquiry into October 7th, and confront the total breakdown of principled moral discourse in the public square. Rather than focusing purely on political survival, they lay out a framework centered on repairing systemic damage, restoring civic responsibility, and reclaiming long-term vision. ____

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Hello For Heaven’s Sake listeners. We are adjusting our publishing schedule this week, and you won’t see an episode in your feed today. Please make sure you are subscribed to us wherever you get your podcasts, so new episodes download automatically as soon as they are released.  

Thank you for listening to For Heaven's Sake.  ___

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

What do four political earthquakes in a single week - as the Knesset is on the brink of dissolving -reveal about the election that will define Israel's future? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi open Israel's election season by mapping the upheaval: the sudden formation of new parties, Gadi Eisenkot's rise to rival Likud as Naftali Bennett fades, a blitz of contentious legislation, and a government openly declaring it will defy the Supreme Court. Together they ask what Israelis actually want and whether this moment marks the true end of the Netanyahu era. A clear-eyed guide to the opening shot of the most consequential election in years. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Read Covenant & Country: Jewish in America, the newest issue of Sources. 

Watch our summer live streams HERE

Is Israel’s social contract breaking under the weight of the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect the explosive civic and theological crisis surrounding the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption in Israel. They examine the historical roots of Haredi separatism, the post-October 7th need for additional soldiers, and the sense of mutual betrayal gripping secular and ultra-Orthodox communities.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive alerts about special livestreamed programming from Jerusalem.

What do American Jews owe Israel when their own political and moral worlds feel under threat? 

In this episode, recorded live from our Beit Midrash in Jerusalem as part of Hartman’s Community Leadership Program, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi confront recent flashpoints in the Jewish-American relationship: new data from the Pew Research Center on declining favorability of Israel among Americans, Vice President Vance’s public break with Israel, and anti-Israel winners in multiple primaries in New York City, where the mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is under fire for controversial comments about AIPAC. 

Together, they unpack the severe erosion of Israel's international standing, investigate the deep political dilemmas confronting North American Jewry, and debate whether the Jewish state must drastically change its trajectory to win back hearts and minds. Ultimately, they reflect on what is required to heal this growing divide, challenging both diaspora communities and Israeli leadership to reclaim a unified moral vision. 

____

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Hello For Heaven’s Sake listeners. We are adjusting our publishing schedule this week, and you won’t see an episode in your feed today because we will be livestreaming our show from the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Community Leadership Program in Jerusalem on Wednesday, June 24 at 12:00PM ET. You can tune in to watch it here.

The audio episode of the livestream will be released this Friday. Please make sure you are subscribed to us wherever you get your podcasts, so new episodes download automatically as soon as they are released.  

Thank you for listening to For Heaven's Sake. 

____

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Subscribe to Inside Call me Back. ____

Why is Israel’s next election being driven more by fear than hope?

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi join Dan Senor to discuss the emotional forces shaping Israel's coming election. As Israelis prepare to vote, different communities are carrying different traumas, fears, and visions for the country's future, from tensions over Arab and Haredi political power to questions of national unity, leadership, and diminishing hope that life there can improve. They also consider whether Israelis can rediscover the unity of October 8th and what Israelis and diaspora Jews are each looking for in the country's next leader.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

If Israel has successfully degraded the capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, why do so many Israelis feel less safe today than they did a year ago? 

In this episode, following a resumption of fire between Israel and Iran, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi explore the deep strategic divide over Israel's military progress. They assess the looming threat of a resurgent, economically rehabilitated Iran and investigate the failures of both military hubris and international diplomacy in an urgent examination of what happens when a country finds itself trapped between the futility of endless conflict and the illusion of easy political solutions. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Can American Jews define themselves through love of both Israel and America?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi unpack a parade transformed by October 7, Mamdani's boycott, and how a historically innocuous parade has transformed into a profound act of defiance and vulnerability. They explore America as a "nation of nationalities" and its special place in Jewish identity, and Israel's obligation to celebrate world Jewry rather than simply demand its support.

Ultimately, they challenge the Jewish community to reclaim an unmediated sense of pride, refusing to let enemies dictate the terms of their joy and connection.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

Join the Hartman Beit Midrash for America at 250.

Learn more about and register for Hartman's summer programs in Jerusalem.

Can a country recover its sense of agency when every front — external and internal — refuses to stay resolved? 

In this episode, recorded just as Prime Minister Netanyahu issued another emergency call-up of exhausted reservists, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi wrestle with the deepening Israeli loss of control. They dissect the gap between the Prime Minister's promise of "absolute victory" and the reality of an enemy that has emerged stronger since its recent conflicts, and trace how the trauma of October 7 still haunts a society that thought it had moved past helplessness.  

Looking ahead to the coming election, they explore why "who's in charge?" may once again become the defining slogan — and why the answer this time will determine far more than a coalition. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Learn more about and register for Hartman's summer programs in Jerusalem.

Is it possible to win every battle and still lose where it matters? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi confront what may be the most dangerous front Israel faces today — the narrative. They lay bare the forces converging against Israel’s legitimacy: the collapse of Western institutions and the global spread of antisemitism amplified by social media and a systematic anti-Zionist campaign decades in the making. They reflect on the way this has reframed every chapter of Israel's story — from founding to present — as settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide — and the psychological toll of this multi-front narrative war. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Watch the full Guidelines for Jewish-Democratic Policy Conference featuring Yair Lapid, Avigdor Lieberman, and Yair Golan. 

Learn more about the Hartman Institute’s Center for Shared Society. 

What do you say when defending yourself only makes things worse? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi respond in real time to Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column accusing Israel of systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees — an article that dropped on the same day Israel's Civil Commission released its report on Hamas's use of mass rape on October 7. They assess the latest barrage of allegations leveled against Israel, examine the deep disconnect between the mainstream Jewish story and international media narratives, and confront the troubling realities of prisoner abuse in an environment lacking moral guardrails. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Read the Kogod Research Center’s new White Paper, Building Communities of Belonging: Jewish Identity, Conversion, Intermarriage, and Adjacency.

A brief update from For Heaven's Sake on the release schedule for this week's episode. Make sure you are subscribed to or following the show on your preferred podcast app so new episodes download automatically as soon as they are released.

Can an army of the people maintain its ethical compass when a faction of the public it protects and consists of embraces ideological lawlessness? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect the IDF Chief of Staff's urgent warning regarding military discipline, examine the ideological evolution of the Hilltop Youth and the government and public responses to it. Together, they confront the dangerous "Torah of dominance" taking root and ask what it will take to reclaim the soul of Zionism for future generations. 

From the episode: 

IDF chief said to order investigation into claims of widespread looting by troops in south Lebanon, Times of Israel, April 24, 2026 

Entire Villages Razed – Report Reveals Scale of Destruction Israel Unleashed on South Lebanon, Haaretz, May 5, 2026 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Learn how Hartman is building the pipeline of young Jewish leadership.

In light of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid recently announcing the launch of a unified party for the Knesset elections, we are re-releasing our episode Bennett 2026, recorded on January 6, 2026. Donniel and Yossi will be back with a new episode next week. 

Is former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a right-wing ideologue or Israel's great national healer?  

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi grapple with this paradox as they examine the only candidate currently ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in national polling. They explore Bennett's extraordinary transformation from an ideological conservative to national unifier, discuss his brief but transformative year as Prime Minister, and consider what his return might mean for Israel's future.  

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

If you read our journal Sources, complete our reader survey by January 15. 

Learn more about the Kogod Research Center, whose scholars develop the ideas of the Hartman Institute.

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. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:  

Register to join Yossi Klein Halevi in Vancouver, Detroit, and Palo Alto and Yehuda Kurtzer in Toronto! 

How do we observe national days of mourning when the nightmares of the past feel like the realities of the present?  

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect Israel’s "10 Days of Awe," the intense period between Holocaust Memorial Day and Israel’s Independence Day, and how this year it demands a spiritual and moral readjustment for Jews everywhere. They consider the impact of October 7 on Jewish consciousness, confront the resurgence of modern blood libels, and contemplate the tension between mourning powerlessness and responsibly celebrating sovereignty.

This episode is sponsored by the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization. Learn more and support their work at idfwo.org.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

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

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect the internal Jewish debate over the term Zionism, examining its classical promises of empowerment, the push to abandon it in the face of progressive critique, and why the term means something different in Israel and the Diaspora. Ultimately, they ask what it would take for Zionism to become not only defensible but inspiring again for world Jewry. 

Read Nadine Epstein's article cited in the show, “The Word Zionism Is Dead” here. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

How do you celebrate the holiday of liberation when the reality of war, grief, and political division feels heavier than ever? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi confront the growing exhaustion in Israel with the conflicts in Iran and Lebanon, the profound grief interrupting daily life, and the internal fractures exposed by new government legislation. As they navigate these challenges, they reflect on what liberation means today, and grapple with the moral and spiritual questions of how to hold onto hope when the Jewish state is tested from both within and without.  

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Read the newest issue of Sources and subscribe to the print edition. 

Is Israel destined to have its wars stopped by its closest ally just before the finish line? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine the rumors of a potential negotiation to end the current conflict with Iran and ask whether this moment reflects a recurring pattern in the U.S.-Israel relationship. They explore America’s role in pressing for de-escalation at pivotal moments in Israeli military campaigns and what that pressure means for Israel’s long-term security. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Register for our summer programs for lay leaders, rabbis, and educators!

Watch Masua Sagiv on Get Your Phil exploring the bonds between Israel and American Jewry.

What is the hidden cost of Israeli resilience? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi move beyond strategic analysis to examine how the war is reshaping daily life in Israel, why the polls haven't budged despite a popular and militarily successful war, and what the Lebanon ground operation reveals about Israel's most stubborn patterns. They also confront the growing divide in American Jewry over Israel's place in Jewish identity — a rift that goes far deeper than policy disagreement. 

You can watch the remarks by Israel's Consul General to the Midwest Elad Stromhayer to Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan here.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Register for our summer programs for lay leaders, rabbis, and educators! 

Secure your spot at the Florida Leadership Conference this Sunday! 

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____

If this war with Iran is self-evident to Israelis, why does it feel so different to North American Jews? 

Starting with that blunt question, in this special live episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi assess endgames, regime change, public legitimacy, and the possibility that military success could come with growing political isolation -- the deep fear that Israel could win this war with Iran and still lose something essential in its relationship with North American Jewry.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Learn more about our Giving Society and Wellspring Family Circle.

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____

Why do 93% of Israelis support a war that much of the West condemns as a violation of international law? 

In this special episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect the profound disconnect between Israeli moral instincts and Western liberal sensibilities. They analyze the "unconscious pacifism" of the West, the reality of a 45-year ongoing conflict with the Iranian regime, and the challenge of separating leadership motives from national survival. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Watch Donniel Hartman and Abby Pogrebin’s conversation on the war with Iran. 

Apply or refer a teen you know to the Hartman Teen Fellowship. 

Register for our virtual day of learning,In the Face of Cruelty: Jewish Responsibilities to Neighbors and Strangers on March 12. 

Join Donniel for the Florida Leadership Conference, a meaningful day of learning and conversation to process the fear and confusion of this moment and think together about what lies ahead for Israel and the Middle East.

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____

Why does this experience of war with Iran feel entirely new and eerily familiar in the arc of Israeli life? In this emergency episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reflect on the strange, exhausting routines of life spent rushing in and out of shelters and the realization that these rituals have become a recurring feature of Israeli life. 

Together, they explore what this moment reveals about Israeli vulnerability and resilience: the way decades of conflict have blurred the boundary between home front and front line, the existential anxiety stirred by Iran’s ideology, and the moral and spiritual questions that surface when war unfolds during the week of Purim.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____

How do you go about daily life — bar mitzvahs, trips, work — when every two hours the news cycle shifts, every Israeli with a cousin in the Air Force has a take, and even seasoned analysts can't say what comes next? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take us inside the strange collective experience of Israeli life: suspended in waiting, saturated with rumors, and bracing for a military confrontation that could reshape the entire Middle East — before anything has happened yet.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Register for this summer’s Community Leadership Program or Rabbinic Torah Seminar. 

Educators, apply now to the Wellspring Summit for Educators!  

Can a country survive when tribal loyalty overwhelms collective responsibility? 

This week on For Heaven's Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine something unprecedented: while Israel defends its borders from external threats, it's losing the ability to govern within them. From ultra-Orthodox attacks on IDF soldiers to epidemic crime within and against Arab communities to ministers contradicting national policy—Israel faces a sovereignty crisis from within. 

- 01:35: Not Iran — Israel’s Internal Sovereignty Collapse

- 04:15: Bnei Brak: When the IDF Can’t Enter an Israeli City

- 06:00: Murder, Mayhem, and Government Retreat

- 08:20: The Draft Revolt Goes Mainstream

- 16:00: Governing vs. Surviving: The Coalition Choice

- 22:00: From “Who’s Sovereign?” to Sovereignty Lost

- 27:30: Tribes, Territory, and the Fracturing State

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: Listen to “America Betrays the Stranger” on Identity/Crisis.  

Antisemitism is everywhere in Jewish conversation. But what are we missing? 

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi zoom out to examine the assault on the Jewish story, the cost-benefit calculus of Jews around their identity, and the abuse of antisemitism discourse within Israel. An exploration of what antisemitism is doing to us—beyond the fear. 

02:00 – A New Era of Antisemitism? Old Threat or New Reality

06:00 – Anti-Zionism and the Assault on the Jewish Story

13:00 – Jewish Identity as Choice: Will Antisemitism Push Jews Away?

19:00 – Defiance or Drift? Lessons from Soviet Jewry

22:30 – Are We Letting Antisemitism Define Jewish Identity?

26:00 – The Internal Danger: “Weaponizing” Antisemitism in Israel

34:00 – What Does Persistent Hatred Say About the Jewish People?

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Register for this summer’s Community Leadership Program or Rabbinic Torah Seminar. 

Educators, apply now to the Wellspring Summit for Educators! 

Israel is headed toward elections again, but can either side form a stable government? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take a step back to examine the current political climate: the politics of exclusion, the historic unification of Arab parties around domestic issues, and the stalemate that could leave Israel stuck in another cycle of deadlocked elections. They offer a clear-eyed look at where Israeli politics stands—and where it might be headed. 

00:00 - Elections in the Shadow of War

05:00 - The New Fault Line: Ultra-Orthodox vs. Arab Parties

14:30 - Arab Politics Recentered on Personal Security

18:45 - A Jewish–Arab Civic Moment in Tel Aviv

26:30 - Israel’s Returning Political Stalemate

30:00 - Interim Governments and Uncertain Endgames

Watch the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

The hostage clock stopped at 843 days, 12 hours, and 6 minutes. But did the healing begin?

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reflect on the return of the body of Ran Gvili—the last hostage from October 7th—and what this moment reveals about Israel's wounds, its divisions, and its desperate need for goodness. A meditation on trauma, ritual, and the human need for moments of grace—even when the underlying problems remain.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

Learn more about Rabbanut North America, our three-year rabbinic ordination program, and the newest cohort!

What can Israel do when unpredictability becomes U.S. policy?

In this episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reckon with what it means for Israel to live in “Trump’s world”—where unpredictability isn’t just a style, it’s a strategy that can have life-and-death consequences. They explore how Israel’s political drift and Netanyahu’s lack of a “day after” plan have left a political vacuum the U.S. is now filling, and what it would take for Israel to reclaim a measure of self-determination in an unsteady new order.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: Listen to young Israeli changemakers from our Hazon program on the Canadian Jewish News's North Star podcast.

Iran's regime is under pressure—and so are the assumptions that have shaped Western policy for decades. 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi explore the "conceptia" behind the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Jewish theology of power, and the strange silence from progressives as Iran's uprising escalates. For Israelis, this isn't abstract: it's about once again stocking shelters and praying, this time for the Iranian people.  

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: Listen to young Israeli changemakers from our Hazon program on the Canadian Jewish News's North Star podcast.

Is former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a right-wing ideologue or Israel's great national healer? 

Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi grapple with this paradox as they examine the only candidate currently ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in national polling. They explore Bennett's extraordinary transformation from an ideological conservative to national unifier, discuss his brief but transformative year as Prime Minister, and consider what his return might mean for Israel's future. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Did we learn anything useful about the future of Israel from the Trump-Netanyahu Mar-a-Lago summit?  

In this episode, recorded just hours after the summit concluded, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi wrestle with the disconnect between Trump's optimistic assurances—"everything's going to be fine"—and the hard realities facing Israel in 2026. They debate whether Iranian regime change is achievable, if Gaza represents an existential or spiritual threat, and what it means when the second stage of victory—the political solution—remains elusive. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: 

Learn more about and apply to the Hevruta Gap-Year Program.

Learn more about and register for our 2026 Rabbinic Torah Seminar.

For 60 years, Israel has counted on the United States. Is the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Israel now in jeopardy—not from the left, but from the MAGA right? 

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi unpack Vice President J.D. Vance's recent troubling statements, the rise of "America First" isolationism, why Israel may need to rethink its dependence on American aid, and what this means for Jews on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. 

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. 

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: Learn more about and register for our Community Leadership Program.

What does the horrific attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach mean for the future of Diaspora Jewish life?

Australian Jews have built one of the most vibrant, cohesive, creative Jewish communities in the world. Shaped by Holocaust survivors and a deep sense of Zionism, it has become a model for Jewish life in the Diaspora. In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi explore whether small Diaspora communities can thrive in the current environment, and if the post-Holocaust era of Jewish immunity has definitively ended.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:Learn more about and register for our Community Leadership Program.

With elections less than a year away, Israel's political center faces an existential test. What does it stand for—and can it beat Netanyahu?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi analyze the state of Israel's center and center-left. They trace the historical collapse of the left, the rise of centrist politics under Ariel Sharon, and the post-October 7 reality where moral discourse about Palestinians has disappeared from mainstream Israeli conversation.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

Read the newest issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas and subscribe to our print edition.

Can Israel's right-wing reclaim its principles? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine the mainstream Israeli right's evolution from Jabotinsky's ideals of security and dignity to today's personality-driven politics.  

They explore the critical divide between Prime Minister Netanyahu’s loyalists and principled conservatives, identifying three challenges facing the next right-wing government: articulating affirmative policies, healing internal divisions, and rejecting the false choice between security and morality. 

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.  Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org. For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST. Sponsor an upcoming episode of For Heaven’s Sake. Click here to learn more. 

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week: Join Pathways to Hope and meet young Israeli changemakers.Learn more about positions available at Hartman North America.If you read Sources, complete a brief reader survey.

With Israeli politics deadlocked, could Arab parties provide the path to a new coalition? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss the extraordinary political journey of Mansour Abbas, the complexities of Palestinian-Israeli identity, and the future of Israeli democracy. 

Listen to the Shalom Hartman Institute's new Thoughts and Prayers podcast: https://go.hartman.org.il/Thoughts-and-Prayers-FHS-202

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

Who's afraid of a Palestinian state? According to Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi, the answer is: almost every Israeli. 

In this urgent conversation recorded after the UN Security Council backed President Trump's Gaza peace plan, Donniel and Yossi explore why an entire generation of Israelis has stopped talking about Palestinian statehood—and why their silence may be unsustainable.

Listen to the Shalom Hartman Institute's new Thoughts and Prayers podcast: https://go.hartman.org.il/Thoughts-and-Prayers-FHS-202

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

What happens when 30% of NYC Jews vote for a candidate others see as antisemitic? 

In this week’s episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi consider issues of betrayal, tolerance, red lines, and unity in a conversation about whether some positions cross from legitimate dissent into existential threat.

From the episode:

Rabbi Eliot Cosgrove, “On the Record”

Identity/Crisis with Howard Wolfson

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

What happens when everything becomes instantly politicized and no institution is safe from attack? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect how October 7 has transformed Israel's moral landscape, as the Netanyahu government shifts focus from defeating external enemies to waging war against internal opponents.

Through the lens of the explosive scandal involving Israel's former top military lawyer, they examine whether Israeli society can survive when accountability becomes partisan, institutions lose legitimacy, and the pursuit of political ends justifies any means.

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel.

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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

What does the possible election of Zohran Mamdani mean for Jewish identity, Diaspora-Israel relations, and the boundaries of Jewish community?

As New Yorkers head to the polls in the coming week to elect their next mayor, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi wrestle with the return of 'conditional acceptance' for Jews in progressive spaces, compare this moment to Jeremy Corbyn's impact on British Jewry, and grapple with the painful reality of Jewish division in the face of perceived threats.

From the episode:

Rabbi Eliot Cosgrove, “On the Record”

Identity/Crisis with Howard Wolfson

Watch the video version of our podcast on our Youtube channel. 

Past episodes of this show, and other podcasts from Ark Media can be found at arkmedia.org.

For more ideas from the Shalom Hartman Institute, visit shalomhartman.org, or JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST.

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