Two friends explore the peculiarities of British Jewish life in their authentic, uplifting podcast, Nisht for Me.
When Manchester’s Arron Ferster and Abigail Radnor launched their podcast celebrating British Jewish life, they expected their friends and family to listen – at least for a while. What they didn’t anticipate was feedback from Jewish and non-Jewish listeners both in the UK and America, and a growing community of fans who’ve discovered what the longtime friends felt to be true: there’s something special and necessary about sharing Jewish joy.
“We’re shocked really,” laughs the duo, who’ve been friends for over 30 years. “The feedback has been really lovely and from surprising places. Someone on a ranch in Texas keeps commenting on our YouTube videos, saying it feels local to them even though they’re all the way over there!”
The podcast emerged from the dark days following October 7th, when the pair found their conversations becoming increasingly depressing: “Everything we talked about was centred around what we’re reading and what was frustrating and upsetting us,” Arron explains. “It was taking its toll, as it did on so many.”
In response, they decided to create something that puts Jewish joy out there, and so Nisht for Me was born: “We don’t pretend that October 7th never happened, and we don’t pretend that antisemitism doesn’t exist,” Abigail clarifies. “It’s just that we don’t dwell on it. There are so many other content providers that do great analysis and reporting. That’s not what this is here to do.”
Both Abigail and Arron were members of the Habonim Dror Jewish youth movement, both have married Mancunians, and have children the same age, keeping them socially close. The pair’s long friendship provides the authentic dynamic that listeners respond to. But what makes Nisht for Me resonate so widely is its ability to blend hyper-local Jewish references with universal themes: “A lot of the stuff we get under the bonnet of is really about relationships, family, and friendships,” Abigail says. “The episode on sitting Shiva,” while uniquely Jewish in practice, explores the broader theme of friendship during tough times. “It’s about ourselves within us a Jewish mind who works across the board.”
“Lots of people say that the wedding episode is a particular favourite,” says Arron. “After we finished recording it, we were like, ‘Oh God, I’d love to go to a good simcha!’ You remember a lot of good stuff. Jews are great at celebrating.”
Arron is a writer and producer, a former Manchester Grammar School pupil who read history at Oxford, and now works on television series including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI and Keith Lemon’s Through the Keyhole.
Withington Girls’ alumni Abigail, who read English Literature and American Studies at the University of Birmingham, has worked for various fashion magazines and is now lifestyle editor for The Guardian’s Saturday magazine. The hosts bring professional creative backgrounds to the project but they’ve deliberately kept the production relaxed: “We have a loose script for each podcast, just so we have some sort of structure, but we’re not tied to it,” Arron explains. “We’ll often have an idea, and then we’ll literally just jot down a few points. That becomes the podcast.”
This casual approach is also present in their social media: “We joke about the fact that we’re like two Yiddish grandmas trying to work out social media,” Abigail laughs. “There’s a lot of panicky messages back and forth just going, ‘I don’t know how to do this!’”
Having wrapped their first series of 10 shows, they’re already planning series two for December, including Chanukah specials. They’re also looking to expand their guest roster, having already hosted Abigail’s fellow Guardian journalist, Jonathan Freedland.
As they look ahead to the future of the podcast, the two aren’t worried about running short of inspiration and material: “They’re keen to keep talking and discovering new areas to explore: “Hope – and joy – it’s been hard to come by, but it’s what keeps people ticking,” Arron reflects. In creating Nisht for Me, he and Abigail have tapped into something communities everywhere need: a reminder that celebrating Jewish life, with all its quirks and joys, is itself an act of resilience.
Find the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major platforms
On Instagram @nishtforme podcast
