As Israelis wait with bated breath to discover if the body of Hadar Goldin, killed and taken into Gaza in 2014, will be returned for burial in Israel, we sit down with returned hostage Tal Shoham for a conversation about his harrowing experience and insights into Hamas and Gazan society. Long-time listeners will recognize Tal's name from one of our earliest episodes with his sister-in-law, our friend Shaked Haran, who described her fight to bring back the eight members of her family who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Tal is the last member of her family to come home. He returned in early 2025.

We discussed his survival in impossible conditions of abuse, torture and starvation, his grappling with the uncertainty over his children's survival, and the hard work of rebuilding a home and a sense of safety for children who'd had direct experience of evil.

Today’s episode is sponsored by my friend Elissa Wald, a writer who noticed after October 7, 2023 that American Jews were being marginalized, even ostracized, within the American publishing world. She decided to mount a fierce fight against this trend. She started the Never Alone Book Club with the goal of sending Jewish writers to the NYT bestseller list every month. It has become the biggest Jewish book club in the country but more members are still needed to create a continuous series of Jewish bestsellers.

RABBI ANGELA BUCHDAHL will be joining the Never Alone Book Club on December 10th to talk about her new book "Heart Of A Stranger." If you join the book club now, you can join that conversation. Here is the link to join on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/810380537866936/

If you like what we do here, please join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything. There you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join in our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.