Unpacked

We break the world down with nuance + insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking of all things #Jewish.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The wall separating the West Bank from Israel is called a lifesaving security barrier by some and an Apartheid Wall by others. How did it come to exist, and what does it actually mean for Israelis and Palestinians today?
Watch the full video and tell us: security necessity or obstacle to peace?

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

@MassieNation19 Happy to help educate you about that! Might cure your stomach sickness :) https://t.co/NTYUQBrk66

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

When most people picture Jews, they usually think of Ashkenazi Jews. But Jewish identity is much bigger than that.
Sephardic, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and other Jewish communities each carry unique traditions, languages, and histories while sharing a common peoplehood.
Watch the full video and discover some of the most unusual places Jews have lived throughout history.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

Before the Nazis took power, Jews in Europe were part of everyday society. Then hate became state policy.
Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler’s regime.
Remember this history. Watch and share.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The Mossad plays the long game.
Rigged walkie-talkies dormant for years. Explosives hidden inside luxury SUVs. Pagers turned into traps.
From Hezbollah’s “ghost” commander to covert operations across the Middle East, these missions show why Israel’s enemies fear one thing most:
The Mossad never stops watching.
Watch the full video and let us know which mission sounds the most unbelievable.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

When most people picture Jews, they usually think of Ashkenazi Jews. But Jewish identity is much bigger than that.
Sephardic, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and other Jewish communities each carry unique traditions, languages, and histories while sharing a common peoplehood.
Watch the full video.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The Land of Israel has been known by many names throughout history, including Canaan, Judah, Judea, Israel, and Palestine, each marking different eras of peoples, kingdoms, and empires that shaped it. Yet through it all, Jewish presence in the land stretches back to biblical times, and the connection between the Jewish people and this land has endured across exile, return, and centuries of change, remaining central to Jewish identity worldwide. What does this long, layered history actually reveal when you zoom out? Watch the full story to see the bigger picture.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

@raanancomedy dunks on conspiracy theories. 😤

That's it. That's the caption.

🔗: https://t.co/Iyn2Rbfc00

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

Most people know Yiddish, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other Jewish languages like Ladino, Aramaic, Judeo-Persian, and Judeo-Arabic.
Across the Diaspora, Jewish communities didn’t just speak one language. They developed entirely different ones shaped by the places they lived, carrying layers of history, culture, and migration with them.
From Spain to the Middle East and beyond, these languages open up a whole hidden world of Jewish diversity that most people have never even heard of.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

From a kibbutz of 600 people to the biggest stage in basketball.
Deni Avdija wasn’t supposed to be the next global name. No Israeli NBA All-Stars. Limited minutes early on. Plenty of doubts.
So how did he go from benchwarmer at Maccabi Tel Aviv to a top prospect in the 2020 NBA Draft?
This is the story of talent, pressure, identity—and what it means to carry a nation on your shoulders.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

Sirens sound. People run. And then something unexpected happens.
Inside Tel Aviv’s bomb shelters, strangers become neighbors, families adapt overnight, and life continues in the most surreal ways. From kids playing games to weddings underground, this is what “shelter culture” really looks like in Israel during missile attacks.
Watch the full story: https://t.co/1ZBuYFc5Qs

[Unpacking Israeli History @uihpodcast]

Micah Goodman's mother converted to Judaism from Catholicism. As a teenager, he was confused when she'd refer to medieval Jewish persecution as something that happened to her. Her ancestors weren't there. So what did she mean by "we"?

It took him 30 years to figure it out. But it helped him answer what it means to be Jewish.

Full story on Unpacking Israeli History — link in bio.

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

This week, Israelis are marking Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day), all while dealing with the uncertainty of fragile ceasefires with Iran and Lebanon and after nearly three years of a constant state of war.
https://t.co/C3BvhTBYm7

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday, just days after direct talks were held between the two countries for the first time in years.

Could a lasting peace be within reach?
https://t.co/6KqvWMXRaM

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

@steffenhe @Projekt_Seele @zeitonline @adam_louis52328 @havivrettiggur @HillelNeuer @HenMazzig @maazaction And this! https://t.co/0rEIZT6XdZ

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The survivors are becoming fewer. The deniers are getting louder. @DovForman lights a candle, and asks you to do the same. 🕯️

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

As Jews in Israel and around the world commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, here are some of the most powerful Holocaust memoirs to read, revisit, or share this Yom HaShoah.
https://t.co/CTyATBHZTj

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The ceremony this year is being held under the theme of "the Jewish Family during the Holocaust."

In Jewish society around the world, despite endless upheavals and changes, the family unit has remained a hub of identity and connection. However, with the rise of the Nazi regime, in one fell swoop, hundreds of thousands of Jewish families were no longer able to function as they had in the past.

Despite the oppressive decrees of the Nazis, the deportations, and even the mass exterminations, Jewish families continued their struggle to maintain a semblance of family life, providing a vital sense of cohesion amid the turmoil.

Reuven Feldschuh (later Ben-Szem), wrote of the Passover seder he held with his wife and daughter in the Warsaw Ghetto in April 1941: "He lurks outside, the world’s most deadly foe, the Angel of Death’s double…one millimeter beyond the windows, but he has no control here, in the room, my room, my house. Here…despite all the impediments and mishaps, the obstacles and quarrels, family kinship and inner joy prevails…. Sitting and basking in their own radiance, there is joy in their souls, which has not been quashed by him, even now, even in the ghetto."

But this basic sense of cohesion was attacked by the Nazis as well. Parents were forced to decide whether to send their children away to an uncertain future, in the Kindertransport or other escape attempts, or to hold their children close and risk them all facing death in the ghettos or the camps.

The Nazis often targeted the elderly and children specifically, especially as they usually could not be used for labor. Families, entire communities, and Jewish society as a whole were ruptured as the basic structure of family life was torn apart by the Nazis.

After the war, many Holocaust survivors searched desperately for family members and started families of their own. The horrors of the Holocaust hampered this process, with some stuck, unable to marry due to uncertainty about the fate of their spouses, and others struggling to fight through the post trauma after liberation. Finding homes for the many orphaned children and teenagers and retrieving children who had been handed over to non-Jewish families and churches posed yet another challenge after the war.
🔗https://t.co/6lYy1r4ak3

[Unpacked @unpackedmedia]

The opening ceremony for Yom Hashoah, Israel's official Holocaust Remembrance Day, has begun at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Tomorrow, Israelis across the country will stand for a moment of silence as a siren sounds across Israel at 10 a.m. local time.
https://t.co/N8cn7DRl3h