What Came After
Stories of how people's lives changed on and after October 7, 2023 Creator: Manya Marcus Editor and Producer: Ben Wallick Associate Editor and Producer: Keren Glicksman Logo Design: Samuel Vilemar Visit us at whatcameafter.com
Episodes
On March 18th of this year, I'd been back in America for a few days after getting stuck in Israel during the war with Iran. I still felt scattered, jet-lagged and wrung out. So I decided to treat myself to the ultimate comfort food: an authentic bagel.
I ran into a friend at (the kosher and delicious) Emma's Bagels in Skokie. She was sitting with a table of women I didn't know. After I explained...
When I first met with our guest, Dekkel Bachar, at the end of 2025, we talked about Shesek, an initiative of the Israel ParaSport Center. Shesek was designed to help rebuild the lives of Israelis. Nearly three years later, many in Israel are still grappling with its impact. Tens of thousands-- and likely many more-- are struggling with PTSD.
In March, I was in Israel when war broke out with the Iranian regime. Since I couldn't leave the country, I wanted to make the most of the time, A mutual friend suggested I meet with Orit Gidali between missile alarms. Orit is a renowned poet and children's author. She spent an afternoon with me, against the backdrop of an active war, talking about what it means to...
This is my first time back in Israel since the war with the Iranian regime. Things feel different now — and that old line about an hour being a long time in the Middle East has never felt truer. I wanted to release more of the recordings I made during the war, and being back here felt like the right moment. We’ve put them together into a series called Between Sirens. In this episode, you’ll hear from three employe...
I sat down with Samantha Robinson in Jerusalem in February 2026 — weeks before any of us knew that a second war with the Iranian regime was on the horizon. Sam is the Director of Community Resilience and Development at the Jewish Agency, where she’s part of JReady, the Agency's global initiative for emergency preparedness and community rehabilitation. It was a role she held before October 7th — and one that becam...
In November 2025, I sat down with Israeli military photographer Oren Cohen in Jerusalem. Oren's book, 06:29 — named for the moment the Hamas onslaught began — is the most powerful photojournalism collection I've seen on October 7th and its aftermath.
His images are unflinching: A computer screen glowing white with d...
I met Shelly (who asked that her last name not be shared) in a shelter in central Israel in March during Israel's war with the Iranian regime. Shelly was 21, confident, radiant and articulate. I gravitated towards her immediately. When she mentioned she was an officer in the army training to be a combat physician, I knew she'd have important things to say. Once we were...
This past November, I sat down with Amanda Borschel-Dan, Deputy Editor of The Times of Israel. Ever since the war began, it's been her voice on the Times of Israel Daily Briefing that has kept me — and so many of us in the English-speaking diaspora — feeling oriented and sane. She is one of my heroes of journalism: someone who has reported on October 7th and the subsequent wars with extraordinary rigor and clarity while...
I learned about Channi Rabinovitz through her husband, Itzhik. Itzhik appeared in an earlier episode — "A Tsunami of PTSD Is Coming" — where he spoke about the mental health journey of one of his sons, who found healing through a hydrotherapy-based trauma treatment clinic in Israel called Ripples of Healing, also known as Einot Bar.
On March 11th, I sat down with Alyssa Annis, a native of Manchester, England, now living in Israel. Several years ago, while working closely with Holocaust survivors, Alyssa promised them that their stories would not be forgotten. This promise has become the defining mission of her life. Today she works with Sharaka, bringing Holocaust education to Muslim leaders in the Arab nations...
This episode features Danesh Malmir, who was born in Iran and later came to the United States as an asylum seeker.
Introduced to host Manya Marcus through a mutual connection, Danesh shares the story of his activism against the Iranian regime and the personal cost of that work. He was shot during an anti-government protest, witnessed the IRGC kill a close friend, and was ultimately forced to flee Iran, leaving his family behind.
Un...
When the What Came After team traveled to Israel this past February, we arrived with a plan: a slate of interviews, a full itinerary, and a clear sense of direction. But when war with the Iranian regime began on February 28th, everything changed.
In the days that followed, we continued searching for voices that could help make ...
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.
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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 recov...
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 storie...
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 ...
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 t...
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...
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.
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