Wednesday May 24th-The Marty Roberts Show

About6 months ago I started downloading a podcast called the Marty Roberts Show. Marty is an intersting fellow who migrated to Israel about 15 years ago with his wife, 4 children and one on the way. He has since added 2 more kids. He speaks into his computer 5 times a week to talk about his life in Israel and then publishes it to the internet. He is definitely right wing. Make that right, right wing. I listen to him religiously. I emailed him and made arrangements to visit while in Israel. Moshe had to go to pick up camel milk from his camel farm in Beersheeba which is in the Negev desert. Marty lives in Metar which is between Beersheba and Hebron. Moshe dropped me off at LaRoma Cafe in Beersheba and Marty met me there and drove me to his home which is 15 minutes away. Moshe told me he needed about an hour (translated 2 hours)and he would call me when he was ready and I would meet him for the ride back to Tel Aviv. To get to Marty's we had to go through a heavily armed checkpoint. Once through the checkpoint I had my best view of the fence. He diverted to show me miles and miles of settlements with no fence. But these settlements are not Jewish. They are Bedouin. He explained they are not there legally and, yet, the government says and does nothing. The Bedouins' history is one of smuggling, theft, etc. In addition they are marrying Palestinians and he is very concerned. He claims almost everyone in Metar has had their car stolen. Finally, we arrived at his very nice home where I was graciously greeted by his wife Ellen. We sat down and he related his life to me.

Marty was born in New York City, and grew up in Paramus, New Jersey. He had a traditional conservative Jewish background and wasn't all that much interested in the religion until he went on a teen trip to an orthodox event over several days. He was immediately overwhelmed and came home and announced he was becoming orthodox. He practiced the religion faithfully until he was in college when his mother died from cancer at age 40. He was observing the mourning requirements and became disillusioned, I suppose questioning how G-d let this tragedy happen. So he went completely the other way. Subsequently, he finished Wm, & Mary and then attended Loyola in California gaining his degree in dentistry and finally licensed as an orthodontist. He married and started a practice in California. Then, as he explained to me, living in an area with few Jews he was drawn back to orthodoxy, began studying extensively and took the religion to the fullest extent. After a few years he started thinking about Israel and realized that he was praying for and about it each day and had never been there. So he and his wife decided to visit for 10 days. They came home and discussed the possibilty of moving to Israel. They decided to give it a try for 1 year, He sold his practice and off they went with the kids. They never came back. He was able to get licensed for his profession, but, orthodontistry in Israel is not the same as in California. He was able to make a living travelling the country to assist other dentists 4 days a week. Since childhood he had an interest in radio and had tinkered with it in college. He saw an ad for a talk show host on the only right wing station in Israel. He decided to apply and got the spot. It soon became the number one show. After some time, the station was closed down by the government. His version why and what I have heard from others are not the same. I will not go into it here. His listeners asked him to go on the internet, he learned how to do it and thus his voice is heard again.

About 18 months ago Marty was struck with colon cancer. He received treatment and for now is free of the cancer. However, as a result his hands were affected and are not steady so he had to give up his profession. Luckily, he has good disability insurance and is able to get by. He would like to expand the program in length and ultimately be able to have the ability for live call in. This would require many things such as the ability to stream the show, 800 numbers, marketing, etc. all of which cost money. We discussed the amount and I advised him that he should concentrate on building his base so that he would have enough people who are willing to subscribe. A one shot injection now would soon dissipate and would be a waste. He agreed.

Marty, despises the government, thinks no settler should be made to move as Jews should be able to live anywhere on the land they choose, and that every Jew should move to Israel, as he puts it "it is time to come home". I don't hate the government even though I have disagreements with it, I believe Jews have the right to live where they want on the land, but, it is not practical and will never happen and I don't want all the Jews to move here. It's because Jews were scattered all over that we have Israel. So as you can see this man is extreme. But I like him. I like his shows as he keeps me connected. Marty has the ability to clearly explain what is going on here and is not limited to religion or politics. You get a daily dose what life is about here. If interested go to itunes, music store, and type in Marty Roberts in the search box to download. Or simply go to this link to listen to the stream http://israelnewsradio.net/.

For the 1st time since I met Moshe he called me in exactly 1 hour to tell me he was ready. I told him I was not close to ready and I would take the train back. When Marty and I finished his wife served a nice lunch, he showed me where and how he does the broadcast. I offered some support to help keep him on the air and he drove me to the train. The trains are modern, air conditioned, comfortable and overall very pleasant. 1 hour 10 minutes later I was back home in Tel Aviv.