Radio Eye

Thirty-six beings, the lamed vav tzaddikim, keep the world turning according to Jewish tradition and the Talmud.* If they didn't exist there would be greater strife in the world than there already is and yet we don't even know who they are.

Radio producer and writer Natalie Kestecher asks rabbis, mystics and others the questions: why 36, who are they, what can we learn from them and what happens if the number drops below 36? She speaks to a photographer who claims to have photographed the 36 in Poland, Germany and Israel. And while it becomes clear that the idea can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, Natalie finds that she is seeing these beings in the most unlikely places, including suburban Sydney.

This feature recently won the first prize at the international Prix Marulic radio festival in Croatia.

* The Talmud is a compendium of Jewish wisdom which is about 2,000 years old.

View the image gallery of The 36 Unknown. An exhibition by Todd Weinstein

Producer
Natalie Kestecher

Sound engineer
Russell Stapleton

Presenter

Brent Clough