What Came After

Arie Bensemhoun has been the Chief Executive Officer of Elnet France since 2011. He has made his career in the private sector as a consultant in communications, PR, and international relations, dealing with Middle Eastern and strategic affairs. He plays a crucial role in the French-Israeli relationship through his commitment at both the community and political levels. He seeks to strengthen ties between ...

Marta Kubica is the Chief Executive Officer of ELNET CEE (Central and Eastern Europe), driven by a passion for strengthening ties between Europe and Israel through innovative diplomacy. After five years in the role, Marta sees ELNET as more than just an organization facilitating delegations or strategic dialogues; it is about creating a safe space for open conversation and building tr...

In this special episode, What Came After presents an audio travelogue from the team’s trip to Paris this past January. Join our summer intern, Keren Glicksman, as she interviews host Manya Marcus about the experience, and listen to on-the-ground recordings from Manya and producer Maya Zanger-Nadis as they navigate the city during a particularly challenging moment in Jewish history.

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Rabbi Emile Ackermann is the co-founder, together with his wife, Rabbanit Myriam Ackermann-Sommer, of Ayeka in Paris — the first Liberal Modern Orthodox community in France. Born in Strasbourg and a graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, he holds a BA in Administration Économique et Sociale. Rav Emile is also deeply engaged in French political life.

He is the author of N’oublions pas qui nous sommes (Let Us Not Forget Who We Are), in...

What Came After traveled to Brussels this past January to sit down with Juan Caldes at the headquarters of the European Jewish Association.

Juan, the European Advocacy Coordinator, spoke with us about the alarming rise in antisemitism across Western Europe—and why he believes this trend hasn’t taken hold in Eastern Europe in the same way. He shares some of the difficult personal decisions he's made in response to the worsening...

What Came After traveled to Amsterdam in February to speak with Rabbi Akiva Camissar about his experiences working with the city’s Israeli Jewish community in the wake of two deeply traumatic events: the October 7th attacks in Israel and the violent pogrom against visiting Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam in November 2024.

Rabbi Camissar shares how the events of October 7th created a profound shift in his community. Made up...

In this episode, we travel to Paris to speak with Anna Veronese, a rabbinical student at Maharat—the only institution offering both Orthodox ordination to women and virtual learning, creating a global community she deeply values.

We talk about Veronese's identity as a feminist, left-wing Jew who remains a committed Zionist while being selectively critical of some Israeli policies. She shares how the trauma of October 7 continues to...

Earlier this year, What Came After traveled to Brussels for a sobering conversation with Rihards Kols, Latvia’s Member of the European Parliament. Recorded inside one of the European Parliament’s media studios, this interview confronts a chilling possibility: that the world may be repeating the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

Kols offers an unflinching look at how his own country has confronted Russian aggression, and how the...

In this episode, we travel to Rome to speak with Luca Spizzichino and David Fiorentini. Luca is the current president of the Italian Union of Jewish Students and Young Professionals (UGEI) and a freelance journalist. David, a recent medical school graduate, is UGEI’s former president and its current Policy Officer.

Luca discusses the growing challenges of combating antisemitism online and how Holocaust education has become even mor...

Céline Bardet is an international lawyer who has worked in over 50 countries, specializing in war crimes, international justice, post-conflict security, and the prosecution of sexual violence in conflict. She is the founder of We Are NOT Weapons of War (WWoW), a nonprofit organization that develops innovative legal strategies to combat the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war.

In this episode, recorded in Paris in February 202...

Dov Sabo, who was raised in Israel and has lived in the Netherlands for over 25 years, discusses his decision to move from Israel to the Netherlands following his service in the IDF. Coming from a religious background, Dov reflects on how life in the Netherlands initially felt more “relaxed”—until October 7th, when he was jolted awake to a reality his Auschwitz-survivor grandmother had known: that the native Dutch people he had con...

Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Rabbi Ari Koretzky (known on campus as “Rabbi K”) made his way to College Park via stops Israel, Ner Israel Rabbinical College and Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Masters in Creative Nonfiction Writing. Ari brings his passion for Judaism, podcasting (check out “Jews You Should Know“ and "Iyun"!), jetskiing, racquetball, music and more, to his work as Executive Director. Ari lives in Silver...

Matthew Schultz is an author and rabbinical student living between Boston and Tel Aviv with his partner Yoav. He is the author of Torat Ha'Aretz, Torah of the Land, a weekly look at the Torah portion through the lens of the Jewish relationship to the land of Israel and the idea of exile. 

Torah Ha'Aretz: https://matthewschultz.substack.co...

Sara Dahan is a community builder and mental health enthusiast with a mission to foster belonging, bring difficult topics out of the shadows, and ask big questions. Sara studied neuroscience at MIT with a special interest in developmental cognitive science followed by a degree in epidemiology from NYU focusing on the health of communities. She spent 10 years as a community strategist in Brooklyn where she specialized in nurturing v...

Nicole Jansezian lives in Jerusalem where she reports on the complicated yet beautiful aspects of this city as well as the challenges facing the people of the Holy Land. She and her husband Tony are part of the Armenian Christian community of Jerusalem and are raising their three children in a crossroads of languages, cultures and religions.

Host and Creator: Manya Marcus

Managi...