The Most Important Audience I’ve Got

Whenever I’m in Israel to work on this show, I message a few people when I arrive and say, “I’m back! Tell me who I’m interviewing.” In this case, my dear friend (and former WCA guest) Samantha Robinson pointed me in the direction of Molly Livingstone. Molly grew up in Los Angeles, the daughter of a British dad with a gift for complaint and an American mom. In July 2002, her beloved camp counselor Marla Bennett was killed in the bombing at Hebrew University. Molly promised herself she would go see the Israel Marla loved. She went, and she stayed. She later found out at the Ministry of the Interior that she had been an Israeli citizen all along.) Today Molly is a comedian, the founder of the Jewish Comedy Center, and the mother of four. Her husband is a Golani combat medic who has served more than 400 days in reserves since October 7th. We sat in her Jerusalem kitchen and talked about Viktor Frankl, Holocaust jokes, shiva houses, and why Israelis laugh in bomb shelters.