David Tenenbaum: The FBI's Most Wanted Jew
Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer
Living Lchaim
4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2025
⏱️ 92 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Inspiration for the Nation is the weekly Jewish podcast from Living Lchaim, hosted by Yaakov Langer.
David Tenenbaum was a proud Jewish engineer working for the U.S. Army when his life suddenly turned upside down. Without warning, FBI agents stormed his home, accused him of being an Israeli spy, and tore through his belongings looking for “evidence” that didn’t exist. For years he lived under suspicion, labeled a traitor for nothing more than his faith. He lost his reputation, his security, and nearly his sanity—but never his belief in truth. When the Pentagon finally admitted he’d been targeted because he was Jewish, David’s story became a chilling reminder of what happens when fear replaces justice—and how faith can outlast even the darkest lies.
His book: https://a.co/d/64sCTt5His
IG: https://www.instagram.com/davidatenenbaum/
His website: https://drdavidatenenbaum.com
Episode with Rabbi Hauer ztl:
https://youtu.be/G2Xt_SGD5jw
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✬ IN MEMORY OF ✬
This episode is in memory of:
- Miram Sarah bas Yaakov Moshe
- Shimon Dovid ben Yaakov Shloima
This episode is for the speedy recovery of:
- Yosef Chaim ben Devorah Chaya Golda
Lchaim.
#IFTN
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Went back to my desk and all of a sudden I'm surrounded. |
| 0:04.0 | There's FBI, CIA, DIA, D-O-D, any acronym you can think of. |
| 0:08.6 | Everybody's there. |
| 0:10.0 | And my colleagues are all around there. |
| 0:12.3 | They're watching this because they were very blatant about what they were doing. |
| 0:16.0 | And they said, we want to speak to you. |
| 0:18.1 | The agent in charge looked to me and said, there's spying going on here. |
| 0:22.8 | Why don't you tell us what's going on? And I said, why don't you tell me what's going on? |
| 0:28.1 | And he said, well, they're spying. I said, with who? With Israel. Shabbas, we were going to have |
| 0:33.4 | guests over the next day. The phone rings. It's kind of unusual on Friday night in the house. |
| 0:38.3 | And obviously Chavez is not going to pick up, but we had the old-fashioned answer machines. |
| 0:43.8 | And I listen and I hear David, David, pick up. It's Marty. You got to pick up. They're coming tomorrow. |
| 0:51.5 | You got to pick up the phone. Imagine dedicating your life to protecting American soldiers and then being accused of betraying them. David Tenenbaum |
| 0:58.9 | was a loyal U.S. Army engineer who helped design vehicles that saves lives on the battlefield. |
| 1:04.3 | But one day, his colleagues turned on him, accusing him of being an Israeli spy. No evidence, |
| 1:10.0 | just anti-Semitism. His home was raided, his reputation shattered, and his faith tested. This episode is in memory of Shimon David bin Yaakov-Slema, as well as Miriam Saurabas-Yakoumusha. This episode is Rufuashem, Yosef Chaim Ben-Dvara-Ha-Ga-Golda, and this episode is powered by Bipin, Wail SalSelis, the Dream Raffle, and Trillerie. |
| 1:29.8 | Here we go. |
| 1:31.4 | Dr. David Tenenbaum, could you tell me what happened that changed your life? |
| 1:38.5 | I'm actually trying to figure that out myself, but probably the best way to start is like this. I was hired to work for the Army as a |
| 1:51.0 | civilian engineer. It's going way back. I don't even know when I was hired, 1984, possibly. |
| 1:57.1 | And I was hired because they said, hey, you know, when I interviewed with them, I'd worked for general |
| 2:03.3 | dynamics before that. |
... |
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