The Promised Podcast: “Candles in the Wind and Candles in the Window” Edition

Date: December 18, 2025
Hosts: Noah Efron (A), Linda Gradstein (B)
Podcast: TLV1 Studios

Episode Overview

In this episode, the hosts explore the simultaneous warmth and challenge of life in Israel, focusing on the dualities that define Israeli society—joy and grief, exuberance and sorrow, celebration and vigilance. Against the backdrop of Hanukkah, they discuss recent waves of antisemitic violence globally, especially the tragic attack on the Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, and reflect on how Hanukkah’s meaning and celebration have been refracted by war and division in Israel. The episode intertwines personal anecdotes, historical context, and societal analysis, ultimately pondering the power of communal rituals and collective resilience in times of crisis.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Opening: The Duality of Tel Aviv

• The episode opens with poignant juxtapositions in Tel Aviv: surfboard-riding Santas on the boardwalk one day (“Santa Claus shreds… Yes, Virginia, Santa Claus shreds.” – A, 01:36), and a somber candlelit vigil for the victims of the Bondi Beach attack the next night.
• “Nothing captures the emotional and spiritual antipodes of this most yin and yangish city we love so well… Better than the boardwalk where some go to frolic and others go to cast off their sins…” – (A, 02:29)

[00:01 – 03:45]

2. Personal Ties: Hanukkah Amidst Grief and Joy

• Linda Gradstein shares how Hanukkah is deeply meaningful for her family, with personal milestones such as her anniversary and her sons’ brises tied to the holiday.
  • “This year it'll be 34 years, which is a very long time to be married to the same person. And I also have two sons who were born the day before Hanukkah. So both had brises on Hanukkah. So it's really like a nice family holiday.” (B, 04:13–04:27)
• The trivial mixes with the profound: how many “symbolic” sufganiyot (jelly donuts) are acceptable when times are grave?
  • “These times are grave enough that we need to go beyond mere symbolism and really commit.” (A, 05:11)

[03:45 – 05:11]

3. Historical Reflection: The Story of Gaza’s Rabbi and Mufti

Noah recounts the story of Rav Nissim Ohana, Chief Rabbi of Gaza in the early 1900s, and his dialogue with the local Mufti. The narrative highlights:

• Interfaith learning and respect in Gaza’s diverse Ottoman-era community.
• The challenges posed by European missionaries and shifting powers, yet a tangible history of Jewish-Muslim cooperation.
• The importance of “imagination” in remembering the world has always reinvented itself, and that seemingly impossible realities (like Jewish and Muslim leaders studying together in Gaza) have existed.
  • “Too often I…look at the mess we have all gotten ourselves in, and I think there is no solution… But… the world that we live in now…will soon be gone. And then something new will rise.” (A, 24:22–25:16)

[08:00 – 28:42]

4. Discussion I: “Candles in the Wind” – Global Antisemitism Post–October 7th

Bondi Beach Attack and Broader Wave of Violence

• Linda summarizes the facts of the Bondi Beach attack: a Chabad Hanukkah event targeted by two ISIS-inspired attackers, resulting in multiple deaths, including a rabbi and children.
  • “The attack on Sydney on Sunday is the most deadly anti Semitic attack since October 7. But it is not the only deadly anti Semitic attack since October 7th…” (B, 28:42)
• Recent attacks across the globe (USA, Europe, Australia), rising statistics in hate crimes, and the sense of vulnerability among Jews everywhere.

Analysis and Emotional Impact

• Noah expresses conflicted feelings, calling these “Schrödinger’s murders”—both singular incidents and part of a persistent, terroristic pattern:
  • “These are…you feel both. You'll hear me saying a lot of things in their opposite…This is a moment when I'm very aware of how many things are at tension. The list seems to me to be just so big... and also relatively small.” (A, 35:21)
• The challenge of balancing the personal tragedy with broader generalizations about society: such attacks may teach both nothing and everything about the societies from which they emerge.
• The new reality for Diaspora Jews: increased security, existential questioning about public Jewish life.
  • “Is it okay for me to dance with the Torah out in the street on Simchat Torah in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or am I risking my life...?” (A, 37:24)
• Linda notes the growing gap in the Jewish world’s experience: Israelis are consumed by war, while Diaspora Jews feel suddenly exposed, as antisemitism “has become acceptable.” She reads a Gazan friend’s Facebook post unequivocally condemning the attack, emphasizing cross-community empathy.
  • “I express my complete objection and strong condemnation of what happened today in Australia…It cannot be justified. I am categorically against the killing of civilians.” (B quoting Yara, 41:00)

Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism

• Both discuss the increasingly blurred lines between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
  • “Empirically, in fact, they're so often intertwined that…one has to be really, really circumspect before saying 'I am an anti-Zionist, but I am not an antisemite'…” (A, 45:58)
• Linda worries about those using the existence of anti-Zionist Jews as a rhetorical shield for antisemitism.
  • “Sometimes, you know, this argument that…there are Jews that don't support the state of Israel is almost…an excuse.” (B, 45:35)
• The hosts discuss the mass proliferation of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media following such attacks, connecting this to attacks themselves.

Diaspora’s Future and Israel

• Linda critiques the “only in Israel are Jews safe” narrative, emphasizing the vital role of Diaspora Jewry and expressing sadness at the idea of vibrant communities needing to abandon their homes.
  • “I'm a little wary of that because I think that Diaspora Jewry plays a really important role. And to say that Diaspora Jewry is done, I think, is also wrong.” (B, 49:15)

[28:42 – 49:38]

5. Discussion II: “Candles in the Window” – Hanukkah’s Many Meanings

Hanukkah’s Historical Evolution

• Noah reviews an essay by Yochai Maqbili about Hanukkah’s shifting symbols: from military victory and national independence (ancient and Zionist themes), to spiritual miracle (rabbinic era), to various modern expressions.
• “The story of Hanukkah then is a story of the celebration of a military victory that was co opted into a religious celebration… that was co opted into a day aiming to make Jews more martial and military. In our demeanor…” (A, 52:46)

Hanukkah in Contemporary Israeli Society

• Tel Aviv’s city Hanukkah kits take a universalist, humanistic turn, focusing on light, mutual responsibility, women’s leadership, social entrepreneurship, shared society, and hope—controversial even among progressive communities for omitting religious/historical themes.
• Noah muses, “Hanukkah has become very different things to very different people in these divided times.” (A, 54:48)

Personal and Societal Reflections

• Linda feels the war in this year’s Hanukkah—heaviness, fraying unity, and sadness are palpable. But she also sees the holiday’s inherent inclusivity as a chance for connection and breath amid national division:
  • “Hanukkah is a time for us to just kind of take a breath…and use the light to connect to somebody who we might not connect with before.” (B, 60:54)
• She likens Hanukkah’s flexibility to Thanksgiving, in its accessibility and communal gatherings.
• Both note the subdued tone this year—little use of “Maccabees” or military victory language, even among right-leaning communities. People are exhausted, and the outcome of the war is ambiguous.
  • “There is emerging, I feel, a kind of anti-heroism in the way that many people talk about and regard this war.” (A, 61:47)
• Linda and Noah agree there’s comfort in Hanukkah’s universality amidst division, as well as cautious hope that the light traditions bring can bridge divides.

[51:25 – 66:24]

6. What a Country Segment

Linda: NOVA Festival Site with Evangelical Pastors

• Linda visits the site of the NOVA music festival massacre with 1,000 evangelical pastors, survivors, and freed hostages, including Idan Alexander and Keith and Aviva Siegel.
• She reflects on the power of shared solidarity and the need to carry forward the light and humanity of the victims, many of whom lived lives dedicated to Jewish-Arab coexistence:
  • “Being there with these pastors…kind of made me think that these people who were killed, the only way to really remember them is to…try to take some of the light of Hanukkah, and…preserve our humanity and remember that every person was created B'tselem Elokim.” (B, 71:37)

Noah: Celebrating Community Environmentalism

• Noah recounts attending an event honoring environmental activists in Tel Aviv—community fridges, tool libraries, dish-lending centers, and the social “Bartikun” repair bar—illustrating grassroots cooperation and social solidarity:
  • “People became friends…and after a while we got the idea of having some of our repair people start to run a seminar…We started thinking, maybe this is a way that will keep some stuff from ending up in landfill…but then it turned into something else altogether.” (A, 74:40)

[68:17 – 85:28]

7. Closing Remarks and Notable Quotes

On the Transience and Promise of Dark Times:

• “The world that we live in now, the world of no good future…will soon be gone. And then something new will rise. And possibilities that have always been there…we will see them rise once again. This is not optimism…it is just what you see when you let yourself see.” (A, 25:05)

On the Value of Memory and Community:

• “Despite the horrible destruction of October 7th and despite what happened in Australia, that we have to sort of preserve our humanity and remember that every person was created B'tselem Elokim.” (B, 72:53)

On the Power of Ordinary Solidarity:

• “You can't figure out quite how or why. On this, the Promised podcast.” (A, 85:28)

Notable Quotes and Moments with Timestamps

• “Santa Claus shreds. Santa Claus is a sick shredder.” (A, 01:36)
• “It’s a city ever and always alive to the opposing registers of joy and grief, exuberance and melancholy, frivolity and gravity, profanity and sanctity.” (A, 02:35)
• “This year it'll be 34 years, which is a very long time to be married to the same person. And I also have two sons who were born the day before Hanukkah.” (B, 04:13)
• “Too often I and maybe you're like this too, look at the mess that we have all gotten ourselves in. And I think there is no solution. There is no solution, not in this world. And therein is my failure of imagination... But how blinkered I have been lately to not see that the world that we live in now, the world of no good future, we can in earnest foresee and believe in that world too, will soon be gone... This is not optimism, it is not even hope. It is just what you see when you let yourself see.” (A, 26:30)
• “The attack on Sydney on Sunday is the most deadly anti Semitic attack since October 7. But it is not the only deadly anti Semitic attack since October 7th. Less than a month after October 7th, a man named Paul Kessler was pushed down and killed in Thousand Oaks, California… A month later, a Jewish man was stabbed at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.” (B, 28:45–35:00)
• “These are...Schrödinger’s murders in that they seem to me to be things that at once you don't learn anything from and that at the same time you need to learn something from.” (A, 35:21)
• “Anti-Zionism doesn’t necessarily have to be antisemitism. But empirically, in fact, they're so often intertwined...” (A, 45:58)
• “I think that Diaspora Jewry plays a really important role. And to say that Diaspora Jewry is done, I think is also wrong.” (B, 49:15)
• “Hanukkah is a time for us to just kind of take a breath and as you said, the war is over, but not really, and to just kind of enjoy the light and to look at, to use the light to connect to somebody who we might not connect with before.” (B, 60:54)
• “There is emerging, I feel, a kind of anti-heroism in the way that many people talk about and regard this war…there's a sort of subdued attitude towards armies and military victory...” (A, 61:47)
• “Being there with a thousand people and hear them sing Amazing Grace and then he…the last...and then he changed it to just singing Shalom...For me, it just kind of strengthened that feeling.” (B, 71:37)
• “And after a while we got the idea of having some of our repair people start to run a seminar… We started thinking, maybe this is a way that will keep some stuff from ending up in landfill…but then it turned into something else altogether.” (A, 74:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Anecdotes: 00:01 – 05:11
• History of Gaza, Imagination and Hope: 08:00 – 28:42
• Bondi Beach Antisemitic Attack and Global Antisemitism: 28:42 – 49:38
• Hanukkah’s Evolution and Contemporary Divisons: 51:25 – 66:24
• What a Country (Linda): 68:17 – 72:59
• What a Country (Noah): 72:59 – 85:28

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Promised Podcast grapples with the fraught joys of celebrating in the shadow of collective trauma, and the difficulty of holding multiple truths: of both historical resilience and current vulnerability. Through stories, analysis, and lived experience, Noah and Linda illuminate the tensions of Jewish identity in 2025: at once particular and universal, embattled and enduringly hopeful, always seeking the flicker of light in the encroaching dark.