Day 561: A 1973 exodus from Egypt
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2025
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Mitch Ginsburg, a producer at the Israel Story podcast.
Ginsburg, a former military reporter for The Times of Israel, brings us a special episode from Israel's flagship podcast series, called The Hebrew Hobbit: A Passover Special.
In it, Ginsburg charts the tale of a number of Israeli POWs who took upon themselves the unlikely task of translating JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit" while imprisoned together in an Egyptian jail.
In a vivid soundscape, Ginsburg brings a 360-degree account of life before, during and after their detention -- for the soldiers and those they left behind.
This Passover holiday, we hear the improbable story of a group of Israeli men who formed a mini-kibbutz in the heart of an enemy country's prison and what happened after their exodus from Egypt.
So this week, we ask Israel Story's Mitch Ginsburg, what matters now?
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: An undated photo of the POW group who together translated 'The Hobbit' into Hebrew prior to their release from an Egyptian prison in November 1973. (courtesy)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters now. I'm your host deputy editor Amanda Borscheldan, |
| 0:07.6 | here with my former colleague Mitch Ginsburg, who is today a producer at Israel's flagship podcast, Israel's |
| 0:15.6 | Story. So, hey, Mitch, thanks for joining me today. Hi, Amanda. I'm so happy to talk to you. Always. And listeners, |
| 0:22.4 | I have to say, I'm so excited that you're tuning into today's episode. And what you're about to |
| 0:28.1 | hear after our very short conversation is nothing less than a work of art. It's a work of art. |
| 0:34.9 | It's sound art. It's poetry in sound. And just a little background. First of all, |
| 0:40.6 | Mitch was the Times of Israel's founding military reporter, I believe. And at the same time, |
| 0:46.4 | he is a longtime translator from Hebrew to English of really great luminaries of Hebrew literature. |
| 0:53.9 | So this episode, Israel's story's most recent episode, the Hebrew Hobbit, kind of melds those |
| 1:01.0 | two fields together in a weird way, wouldn't you say much? |
| 1:05.1 | Yeah, I mean, in a way that that's exactly what I was hoping to do, actually. |
| 1:09.4 | Both of those things really interest me, both, you know, military stories, |
| 1:13.6 | especially ones that have developed that happened 50 years ago or so, |
| 1:17.8 | and also this incredible work of translation. |
| 1:21.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:22.1 | Yeah, okay, so let's kind of set the stage a little bit. |
| 1:24.8 | And what's so exciting about this piece is it is on one level |
| 1:30.2 | about the Hebrew translation of The Hobbit, thus the title, right? The Hebrew Hobbit. But on a totally |
| 1:36.8 | different level, it's its own journey. It's its own there and back again of the Hobbit. It's |
| 1:42.7 | these guys, these soldiers who were captured and |
| 1:46.5 | taken to an Egyptian prison, as you said, 50 years ago, and they were set free on November 16, |
| 1:53.9 | 1973. And I really loved, actually, that you began the piece with that moment, with the moment of their freedom. So |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 12 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.