What Came After

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 9: What's So Funny?

Recorded during the first days of Israel’s second war with the Iranian regime, this chapter explores the role of dark humor in moments of crisis. From bomb shelters to everyday interactions, laughter emerges as a powerful way to cope with fear, uncertainty, and life under fire.
 
Learn more about our podcast at https://www.whatcameafter.com/

"We Are A PTSD Nation"

Professional para-athlete Asael Shabo lost his leg in a terror attack at the age of nine—an attack that also took the lives of several members of his family.
In this episode, he shares a personal update from wartime Israel, reflects on his journey to wheelchair basketball, and speaks about trauma, resilience, and the long path to recovery.To support the Israel ParaSport Center- which played a critical role in Asael's recovery and continues to do so for thousands of Israelis with disabilities- please click here: https://israelparasport.org/donate/
 
Credits:
Host and Creator: Manya Marcus
Managing Producer: Eli Akselrod
Editor and Producer: Ben Wallick
Editors: Eli Akselrod and Alexandra Yelderman
Logo Design: Samuel Vilemar
Outro Music: "כלים" | Anat Malamud
Listen on Spotify or Apple Music 

"As An Artist, You Need To Tell The Truth"

In this episode, Manya Marcus speaks with award-winning Israeli screenwriter Eden Gurion about his latest film, called Remnants in English The film follows a teenage girl whose older sister was killed at the Nova music festival during the massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, and offers several intimate portraits of grief. In their conversation, Eden reflects on the many faces of grief and on why much of his work focuses on stories about Israeli identity - particularly in moments of national trauma and upheaval.
Eden and Manya also discuss the unexpected international reception of Remnants, which has received awards and critical acclaim abroad even as many Israeli artists are navigating boycotts and growing cultural isolation.
 
Credits:
Host and Creator: Manya Marcus
Managing Producer: Eli Akselrod
Editor and Producer: Ben Wallick
Editor 2: Eli Akselrod
Logo Design: Samuel Vilemar
 
Music:
עד שהלילה נעלםUntil the Night Is Gone
Composition & Lyrics: Ilai Chapman (composer, lyrics), Eylon Sasson (composer, lyrics), Lidor Sultan (arranger, composer, lyrics)Production & Engineering: Lidor Sultan (producer)Singing: Anna Steffanie
Listen here
 
Learn more about our podcast at https://www.whatcameafter.com/

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 8: Leaving and Believing

Hi, this is Manya Marcus. It’s March 16th, 2026, and I’m recording this from not Israel. I was able to fly home last week and arrived back in Chicago just a few hours before Shabbat began.
What you’re about to hear are reflections from several people about how they left Israel during the war - and what those departures meant to them. 
During my unexpected 13 days in Israel at the start of the war, I was able to record so many conversations with people living through those moments in real time. We’ll have more chapters here for you soon. 
Learn more about our podcast at https://www.whatcameafter.com/
 

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 7: We Shall Do and We Shall Hear (and We Shall Hope)

This chapter, recorded in Israel on March 12th, 2026, during the second war with the Iranian regime, brings together three voices reflecting on life in wartime.
Rabbi Joe Wolfson of Tel Aviv speaks about the powerful urge to volunteer in moments of crisis - and how that impulse has been constrained by the realities of sheltering close to home. In Rehovot, Manya Marcus meets Binyamin, who sits outside a mall listening on his phone to psalms recited in the Yemenite style. And Sara Dahan reflects on her hopes for the Iranian People, and for Israel’s future.

"I Never Used the Word 'Love' So Much"

Hi everyone, this is Manya Marcus. This episode is being released from Israel on March 11th, 2026, where I’ve been stranded since the war with the Iranian regime began.
Since the war started, we’ve been releasing short episodes we’re calling chapters. The last one was called "Anna from the Tel Aviv Bomb Shelter", a conversation with a woman I met while we were both sheltering in the basement of my hotel.
While we were down there, I told Anna about the project I originally came to Israel to work on: a series about Israeli music, and how those songs reveal the connections - and sometimes the tensions - between Israeli Jews and Jews in the diaspora right now.
At the center of that series is a very unlikely friendship - mine with a man you'll hear in this episode named Oz Bar-Liss.
I met Oz at Einot Bar, a trauma treatment clinic in the Negev. In the conversation you’re about to hear, he describes how he and his family narrowly escaped Hamas terrorists - only for him to return later that same day in uniform.
You’ll also hear how quickly he reaches for music to make sense of what he’s lived through.
This is a first introduction to Oz - someone you’ll be hearing much more from when the new series comes out in a few months.
 
Learn more about our podcast at https://www.whatcameafter.com/

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 6: Anna from the Tel Aviv Bomb Shelter

In this chapter from What Came After's reporting from the Second War with Iran, Manya Marcus speaks with Anna, a woman she met in the bomb shelter of the Ink Hotel. The conversation ranges from how to keep a bomb shelter safe to Anna's view that the beauty of Israeli culture and the Hebrew language take precedence over the significance of the land to a discussion of contemporary and classic Israeli music.

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 5: The Hardest Parts

Manya Marcus continues to send audio postcards from the Second Iran War with Israel. In these vignettes, she shares what it's like to receive virtual medical care from doctors who are also tending to victims of missile fire; how it feels to know where her children are in their day- without her; the exhaustion of going back and forth to the bomb shelter; and how even grocery shopping is anxiety-provoking right now.

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 4: Nicole and Nissim

In this chapter, Manya Marcus shares two interviews: the first takes place in a Tel Aviv bomb shelter with Nicole from Rome, who wonders if she would still have moved to Israel if she had known what life would be like for her and her children during a war. The second interview takes place in a bomb shelter in Rehovot with a man named Nissim. Nissim, who was born in Morocco and served for 28 years in the Israeli army before becoming a teacher, reflects on the reality of Jewish life in Morocco before his family fled to Israel, and explain why his name, which means "miracles", has such significance right now.

What Came After: Live From Israel - Chapter 3: Purim

Manya Marcus, host of What Came After, got stuck in Israel during the Second Iran War. Manya continues to send audio impressions of her time on the ground, this time from Rehovot, where Purim celebrations remained lively- both inside and outside the bomb shelter.