CC: Dr. Alick Isaacs – Dialogue and Purpose in a Divided Land

CONFLICTED

Message Heard

History, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s Conflicted Community episode we're joined by Dr. Alick Isaacs, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and co-founder of Siach Shalom. Siach Shalom is am initiative that brings people from all walks of Israeli and wider Middle Eastern society—religious and secular, left and right—together to foster deep listening and dialogue. This conversation explores Dr. Isaacs' personal journey, from his upbringing as a religious Jew in the UK to his military service in Israel during the First Intifada, before exploring how his profound and sometimes difficult experiences shaped his commitment to peace and led him to a deeper spiritual calling grounded in Jewish tradition. This episode delves into the complex ideas behind the Israel-Palestine conflict, moving beyond the usual political talking points, to challenge common perceptions. The pair unpack the difference between the Western concept of "peace" and the Hebrew idea of "shalom" , while also discussing Alick’s book, ‘Putting God First’, and the idea of a Jewish politics of purpose. This is a conversation that goes to the heart of what it means to heal deep-seated divisions and find a way toward genuine, lasting peace in one of the world's most contested regions. To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more. All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to hello@messageheard.com! Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back, dearest listeners, to another conflicted community episode.
0:06.1	Thomas Small here with you, as always, and today we're diving back into the complexities of faith,
0:12.4	identity, and politics in the world's most argued about and violently contested region, the Holy Land.
0:20.4	My guest today is a lecturer at the Hebrew University of
0:24.3	Jerusalem and the co-founder of Siak Shalom. Syach Shalom brings people with very different views
0:32.2	together, religious and secular, right and left, to talk, listen, and try to understand one another better.
0:40.9	So, conflicted community, please welcome on to the show, my guest today, Alec Isaacs.
0:46.6	Alec, welcome.
0:47.8	Thank you. It's a real pleasure to be here.
0:49.9	It's really great to have you, Alec.
0:51.5	Today, dear listeners, will hear Alex's story, his migration to Israel, his military service during the first intifada, and his moral and spiritual development in the aftermath of the Oslo Peace Accords, eventually leading to his search for peace grounded in the spiritual traditions of a land sacred to many.
1:13.3	This will no doubt be one of our weirder episodes, but I hope you will be happy to learn
1:19.9	alongside me as I venture outside my comfort zone.
1:24.3	Without further ado, let's jump right in.
1:42.6	Okay, Alec Isaacs. I have been looking forward to this conversation for several weeks now.
1:45.1	Although I have to be honest, and I think with you,
1:51.2	I can be honest, because you're all about honest dialogue. You know, I'm a bit nervous. You know,
1:57.4	long-term listeners have conflicted know this very well. Whenever anything to do with Israel or Palestine comes up on the show, I get nervous. I'm a conflict avoidant person.
2:03.5	I like people to get along. I like people to be sort of all in agreement. I'm that kind of a guy.
2:11.5	And whenever Israel or Palestine comes up, God knows you're going to make everyone angry pretty fast.
2:17.3	You are an Israeli. You live in Israel, so you're going to make everyone angry pretty fast. You are an Israeli.
2:18.9	You live in Israel, so you're probably extremely familiar with that. Can you understand why?
	...

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