Episode 134: The Jewish Girl Who Joined the Islamic Revolution
Guita Sazan grew up in a Jewish family in Tehran in the 1960s and 1970s, during the reign of the Shah. She was a teenager during the Islamic Revolution against the Shah and was inspired to join the struggle, even becoming a practicing Muslim. But as time went by, the new regime became more and more repressive, until finally Guita realized her own life might be in danger unless she fled the country. Guita joins us to discuss her dramatic life story and her new memoir Mirrors on Fire: A Jewish Girl Seized in Pursuit of Jihad.You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.
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Episode 133: An Israeli Trauma Therapist on Healing After October 7
On October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas attack, Israeli trauma therapist Merav Roth visited survivors of Kibbutz Be’eri in the hotel they had been evacuated to. Some had seen family members murdered; others were raped or fled homes that were set on fire. Merav stayed and worked with them for weeks. She also helped organize hundreds of therapists to provide emergency aid to survivors. For the past two years, she has continued to work with survivors, with the families of hostages, and with hostages released in every round of agreements—including the most recent one. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Merav describes how some of the hostages coped in captivity, what she's hearing from Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, and what long-term recovery from trauma can look like. This episode contains descriptions of violence.You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.
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Bonus Episode: Remembering Susan Stamberg
Public radio icon Susan Stamberg died on October 16, 2025, at the age of 87. In this special episode, we pay tribute to Susan by listening back to our 2018 interview in which she discusses her New York accent, how early NPR audiences responded to hearing a woman deliver the nightly news, and what she listens for in a broadcast voice. The interview was part of an episode about women's voices in broadcasting, called "Breaking the Sound Barrier." You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.
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Episode 132: Two Years Later
Two years after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, we speak with family members of Vivian Silver and Hayim Katsman, Israeli peace activists who were murdered that day. Hayim’s mother Hannah Wacholder Katsman and Vivian’s son Yonatan Zeigen share how they are carrying on their legacies.You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.
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Episode 131: Together in Manzanar: A Japanese Jewish American Story
In the spring of 1942, at the height of World War II, Elaine Buchman Yoneda became the only Jewish woman on record to be imprisoned in an American concentration camp. Manzanar was one of the detention centers—commonly known as Japanese internment camps—where the US government imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the majority of whom were American citizens, during the war. Elaine spent ten months in Manzanar, along with her Japanese-American husband, Karl, and their 3-year-old son, Tommy. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Tracy Slater, author of Together in Manzanar, describes the bleak living conditions in the camp, the tensions that festered among the prisoners, and how the Yonedas became targets of violence. She also talks about how the anti-immigrant and racist policies of the time tore families apart, and how those same forces are reemerging today.Photos reprinted with permission from Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp by Tracy Slater. Translation of Elaine Buchman Yoneda's letter used with permission from Manzanar: Internment Camp Diary (English Translation) by Karl G. Yoneda and Ian R. Forsyth. You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.
In each episode of Can We Talk?, the Jewish Women’s Archive features stories and conversations about Jewish women and the issues that shape our public and private lives. Visit us at jwa.org.
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