Some of my best friends are no longer around.
But hey. that's OK. I've found new ones to replace them.

A while back, I told you a number of podcasts that I had become hooked on. Like the one called The View from Here by a couple of Olim named Harry and Ziva. From their home in Modiin in central Israel, they would create regular audio reports about life in Israel. Harry would fulminate about the latest scandal and then rave about a great Israeli chocolate bar. And I got quite hooked into listening into their discussions and rants.

Well podcasts come and podcasts go. And it seems that A View from Here is gone.

If you're still among the uninitiated and have never listened to a podcast, think of it as a free radio show that you can download and listen to on your computer or an a portable MP3 player such as an iPod. And if you really enjoy a podcast, subscribe to it so that the new editions automatically appear on your computer and on your MP3 player so that you can listen to them whenever and wherever you want.

There are thousands of podcasts out there and, not surprisingly, quite a few deal with Israel or Judaism. As for the quality of podcasts, they can rival the best documentaries you'll hear anywhere. Or they can sound like they were recorded on a kitchen table (because many are.) I'm going to suggest WHICH podcasts are worth listening to. As to HOW to listen to them, there are many very good sites that will walk you through the process such as at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast or Apple's iTunes. http://tinyurl.com/ypt4xp

Luckily Carol and Charley are still around. They're another American couple who made Aliyah and have a lot to say about the state of the State of Israel. To mark their 11th anniversary in the country, they recently devoted a special edition of Israelisms to immigration. In other editions, they voiced their displeasure that Charedi schools receive government funding yet do not serve in the Israeli military. http://israelisms.com/

Sharing a Zionist belief but elsewhere on the political spectrum, Arutz Sheva (also known as Israel National Radio) has created a series of podcasts similar in content in tone and political outlook of its news service. Other podcasts provided commentary on the Torah portion of the work, suggested that the appointment of Quartet special envoy Tony Blair is a waste of time and visited a group of immigrants from France as they touched down at Ben-Gurion airport. http://tinyurl.com/3dlggy

OyPod describes itself as "the first and currently only podcast for Jewish teens." Perhaps. What I do know is that this is the lovely work of Danny Zeff, 15, of Sacramento, Califiornia. "I'm a Conservative Jew who's proud of his heritage. I think ever since I went to Israel, I've definitely gotten a lot more into Jewish culture." Danny looks at his life from a Jewish perspective such as when he was asked to sign up for organ donations at his school, he wondered what Halacha had to say about it, did some research and reported on it. He'll then throw in a Hebrew slang lesson and answer readers' questions, like "Why are Jews always late?" By the way, Danny thinks his voice in his latest oyPod sounds a bit squeaky. http://tinyurl.com/2cndlr

Oh, one more thing about Ziva and Harry whom I mentioned earlier. Although their podcast is no longer being produced, I still follow their lives through their blog and can give you an update. Since I last wrote about them, Harry's arthritis is still acting up and can be quite painful. On the other hand, earlier this year, Ziva gave birth a their first child, a daughter, Tzofia whose picture you can see here. http://theviewfromhere.net/

Even if you don't speak Hebrew, that name may ring a bell if you're familiar with the lyrics to Hatikavah, "Ayin L'tzion Tzofia" (An eye still watches toward Zion...)

Next time, more podcasts to keep you entertained and informed. In the meanwhile, you can do a bit of discovering on your own of the (mostly) Jewish podcasts at tinyurl.com/2eqngh.

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Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Internet producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He can be reached at highway@rogers.com.