Meeting Gil Hoffman, Israeli Podcaster

Gil Hoffman, politics reporter at the Jerusalem Post and

Host of "Inside Israel Today."

On Monday night I heard Gil Hoffman speak in Lancaster, Pa., at Congregation Shaarai Shomayim, the synagogue where I have been going to Torah Study and Minyan for the last year. I have been listening to Hoffman’s podcast on The Land of Israel Network for a little more than a year. 

Hoffman is a political reporter for the Jerusalem Post and one of eight hosts on The Land of Israel Network. They post a new podcast almost every day (except Shabbat) from one of the hosts. Hoffman’s podcast is titled “Inside Israel Today.” The other podcasts cover the history of Israel, politics, faith, Torah study, and more politics.

How does one become a fan of an Israeli podcast network?  Recommendation from a good friend is the way many people find a podcast they love. That was true in my case, although more than a little ironic. 

My path to following The Land of Israel Podcast began on Friday, August 11, 2017, when I saw Nazis marching on an American campus chanting “Blood and Soil” and “Jews will not replace us.”  The next day, the Nazis and their white nationalist allies murdered a woman and maimed innocent people on the streets of Charlottesville. 

A few days after Charlottesville, after hearing the President refuse to condemn Nazis, I called my best friend Cliff to talk about what happened. Cliff is a monk in a monastery in Germany. We were roommates on the Cold War U.S. Military Base in West Germany in the late 1970s.  I left the Army to go to college. He stayed and became Bruder Timotheus. 

Cliff travels to Israel as part of his ministry. He suggested I listen to Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel, two Rabbis who host the “Israel Inspired” podcast on The Land of Israel Network.  I listened. They disagreed about Charlottesville and Trump. I liked the podcast, even if I disagreed with Ari Abramowitz. So I listened to the other podcasts on the network including those by Gil Hoffman, Josh Hasten, Rav Mike Feuer and Eve Harrow. 

I started learning about Israel politics from Gil Hoffman and Josh Hasten.  From Rav Mike Feuer, I learned about the History of Israel. Eve Harrow is a tour guide who talks about the beauty of Israel among other topics.

So thanks to my friend who is a brother in a Lutheran monastery in Germany and has friends in Israel, I am learning a lot about Israel, past and present.  It was a lot of fun to meet Gil Hoffman. I hope to meet other hosts from The Land of Israel Network when they travel to America or when I next travel to Israel.

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