It is a tradition to take a shabbas schluff – a small nap in the early afternoon on Saturday. I used to try to avoid falling asleep, tried to stay awake reading a good novel or playing Scrabble, because even a couple of hours in the daytime made it difficult to fall asleep at a reasonable time on Saturday night.

All of that changed when I discovered Oren Nahari. Now, I wanted to stay awake in the early hours of Sunday morning to hear the repeat broadcast of the program that he presented on Shabbat morning.

For background, you need to know that I have always been a radio addict. Australian public radio is still among the best if not the best in the world, with a diverse range of news, intellectual, spiritual and cultural content. I was lucky to grow up with it.

I have often said that anything I know about science came from radio programs, having dropped out of science at school at age 15. I was fascinated by the subject matter – but, sadly, it was very badly taught. I can talk about films I have not seen and books I have not read after hearing them reviewed on the radio. I even know a little about sport because I have not stepped away. History was brought alive by good radio........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)