Tonight is Yom Hazik-A-Ron, when Israel remembers and honors those who gave their lives

defending their people and their country. Since October 7th, hundreds and hundreds of families

have lost sons, daughters, husbands, sisters, and fathers who fell defending not only Israel, but the

future we all share.

In Jewish tradition, we are commanded to stand with the widow and the orphan, not as charity,

but as a sacred responsibility to uphold their dignity.

Wars end, but our responsibility does not.

For 35 years, the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization has been there for them,

providing support, community, and a path forward. If you want to support this important work,

please visit IDFWO.org. That's IDFWO.org.

You are listening to an art media podcast.

Many of us are confronting a very dark time, a time that doesn't seem to offer very good options or a clear way forward. And many people, not just in Israel, but I think globally are living with a feeling of helplessness.

And this story is a demonstration of a time that was much darker than ours.

And these are characters whose options were much worse than our options now.

And yet they acted. They saw a crack in history,

and they decided that they were going to jam their fingers in the crack, and they were going to

open it two inches more. And they were going to try to get the Jews from catastrophe to rebirth.

They don't succeed in the way the planners of the mission think. But I think if we could

ask them now, if the mission was a success, I think that at least some of the parachutists would

say yes.

It's 10 a.m. on Sunday, April 19th here in New York City. It is 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 19th in Israel. As Israelis are cautiously hopeful that this two-and-a-half year-long war is coming to an end.

Since the war began on October 7,, 2023, 940 Israeli soldiers have fallen,

...