What Matters Now

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook.
Solomonov and Cook, the trailblazing chefs behind Philadelphia hospitality group CookNSolo Restaurants, are known champions of the Israeli culinary landscape, a history that began with their first restaurant, Zahav, which is considered their flagship and was established 17 years ago.
The James Beard Foundation award-winning restaurateurs speak about how they met as line cooks in Philadelphia, when they ran to a tiny Middle Eastern market to stock up on freekeh, silan and spices for their developing menu.
Solomonov, the son of a Bulgarian-Israeli father and American-Israeli mother, and Cook, the son of an American rabbi, speak about the Jewish and Israeli influences in their lives.
They discuss how Zahav came to be, in an unlikely corner of Philadelphia, an upscale version of an Israeli grill restaurant, eventually branching into additional restaurants and cafes in the city, in New York, and in Florida.
Their take on Israeli cuisine has been at the forefront of the American discovery of creamy hummus and tahini, roasted meats and fresh salads, a concept they discuss during the podcast.
Cook and Solomonov review the last two and a half years since the bloody October 7 Hamas onslaught and the concurrent wave of anti-Zionist sentiment, when it became much more challenging to run a chain of Israel-influenced restaurants.
With nearly 500 employees at their 18 restaurants, the pair say they feel proud to be an Israeli restaurant group, knowing that it is inspiring to some and a reason for others to express hate and vitriol.
Solomonov and Cook agree that they won't apologize for their identity, for their culture or community, and will continue to prepare and develop their dishes and restaurants to represent their roots.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Celebrated restaurateurs and chefs Steve Cook (left) and Michael Solomonov (right) speak to What Matters Now host Jessica Steinberg for this week's podcast (Courtesy)
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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with celebrated writer Etgar Keret.
Etgar Keret, a leading voice in Israeli literature, with books published in over four dozen languages, talks about how his perception of writing has changed since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.
Using typical Keret metaphors and description, he explains the challenges of the times, how he once wrote about ethics and ideas and community, and finds that those more abstract ideas have evaporated.
Keret speaks at length about the disadvantages of being an Israeli artist in the public sphere, as audiences wait to hear something they don't like.
He also discusses social media in this time period and the shifts in the artist-audience relationship. Keret's Substack newsletter, Alphabet Soup, has become a more amenable space in which to share his short stories and ideas.
Keret, who teaches creative writing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, now directs a new MFA program at the Jewish Theological Seminary and he speaks about his students and his desire to make a small but important change by leading the group of nascent writers.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Acclaimed author Etgar Keret speaks to What Matters Now host Jessica Steinberg for this week's podcast (Courtesy)
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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World.
This week, we hear from former prime minister Naftali Bennett in conversation with founding editor David Horovitz and political correspondent Tal Schneider.
Speaking with ToI on June 11 at the campaign headquarters of Together, the new, merged party he now leads with former prime minister Yair Lapid, Bennett said Israel is facing “an existential moment,” and warned that another term under the current government would leave the country without a functioning economy, society or international position.
“Another four years with this government, we won’t have an economy, we won’t have a society,” he charged. “The Haredi issue will just crash us all. We won’t have an international standing anywhere. We have to act now.”
And so, this week, we ask Naftali Bennett, what matters now.
For further reading:
Bennett to ToI: ‘We’re at an existential moment. Another four years with this government, we won’t have a society’
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was edited by Yitzchak Ledee.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett (ToI) / Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men scuffle with police during a protest against military recruitment and call for the release of detained draft resisters outside a military prison near Kfar Yona, Israel, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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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 Israel Democracy Institute senior fellow Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler.
Shwartz Altshuler, the head of the IDI's Democracy in the Digital Age Program, weighs in on the nefarious ways in which AI is being used to manipulate hearts and minds -- from elections to smear campaigns.
She breaks down in practical terms how AI is now able to flood the public sphere with noise and confusion. We discuss the ripple effects of increased reliance on chatbots versus Google-type searches and how information can easily be poisoned by bad actors.
The technology law and policy expert gives an overview of the potential possibilities for regulation -- and the chaotic Wild West reality we're living in.
Turning to Israel's upcoming elections, we learn how the delegitimization of the results has already begun.
And so, this week, we ask Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, 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 edited by Ari Schlacht.
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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 author and journalist Matti Friedman.
On May 31, 2026, President Isaac Herzog attended the memorial ceremony for the fallen soldiers of the First Lebanon War (Operation 'Peace for the Galilee'), held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. On the same day, the IDF announced that Israel had captured the historic Beaufort Castle and the surrounding strategic ridge as it pushed deeper into Lebanon.
This week, we call upon Friedman to delve into the cultural resonance of this Crusader fort for Israelis. He shares his perspective on the site based upon his personal experiences as a soldier before the IDF pullout from the security zone in 2000, which he recounted in his book, "Pumpkin Flowers."
After Friedman gives us the historical background to understand the conflict, we discuss the catch-22 Israel is again sucked into in southern Lebanon.
And so, this week, we ask Matti Friedman, 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 edited by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Author Matti Friedman (Jonathan Bloom) / A view of he Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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