The Promised Podcast

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Sally Abed and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Presidential Importunity— President Herzog addressed the nation, looking like he'd just seen a ghost. Many say it was the most important speech of Herzog's life, but was it the speech we need to hear and will it do a damn thing? —A Protest of All its Protestors!— In demonstrations demanding democracy, why does one hear so few Palestinian voices? —How We Holdin' Up?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Kafka would say, Lighten up, dudes! All that and the music of sing-songwriter-Mensch Bradley Burston!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Don Futterman and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —The Invisible Hand that Rocks the Cradle— Newly proposed reform of the schools would give principals the power to fire bad teachers and give extra pay to the good ones, bringing free-market principles to grade-school principals. Do we really need another major reform right now? —SS, Mein Kind— It seems like Nazis are so much on the minds of so many who are fighting Netanyahu's judicial reforms. Are we a Godwin-forsaken country? —An Open Letter to Israel's Friends in North America— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: When American-immigrant-Israeli "Dream Team" issues a Cri de Coeur you pay attention! All that and Kiss's Gene Simmons singing the praises of Hebrew and the music of Avi Aburomi!

Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —When Cannons Roar— There were 32 attacks on Israeli Jews – some deadly – in January. How does the violence affect the protests over Netanyahu's reforms that have roiled the country? —Keeping the Faith— Is religious-left and oxymoron? —Caught Diddling the Fiddle— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Israel Bar Association head, and leader of the protest movement, Avi Himi is caught diddling his fiddle on a video call with a young lawyer eager for his recommendation for a seat at the bench. Oy. What happens now? All that and the twentieth anniversary of the Columbia space shuttle disaster, young professors cruising bars for the sake of politics, and a mother-daughter dance at Suzanne Dallal! Plus, the hippest of hip hop by Talis, on the release of his first album!

Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —A Tale of Four Cities— Fifteen times as many people are turning out for anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv as are coming to demonstrations in Jerusalem. But are the small demonstrations in the capital more important than the big demonstrations on the coast? —U & Us— University students hold every imaginable political belief. So is it right for university administrators and faculty to encourage their students to protest the new government? —The Smart, Successful Jew— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Successful Israeli businessman Ohad Torpor says Jews are so successful at business because they love learning, hate being told what to think, are into family, and are improvisational. Where does pride end and self-congratulatory fantasy start? All that and, to mark International Holocaust Day, a discussion with Daniel Lipson, a librarian at the National Library who has worked for years to identify the books in the library's collections that were stolen by the Nazi's during the war, and recovered later and shipped to Israel. Plus, the music of Subliminal and Ha-Tzel, who just reunited fourteen years after they stopped making music together.

Miriam Herschlag and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Estoppel Anagrams to "Lost Peeps"— The Supreme Court bars Shas head Aryeh Deri from being a minister, and half the country thinks justice has been done and half the country thinks the results of Novembers democratic elections have been undone. —WWYS, or What Would Yossi Say?— Journalist, scholar, podcaster, public intellectual Yossi Klein Halevi published an essay on the Times of Israel arguing that we're riven between those who long for a "State of Judaism", and those who long for a "State of Jews." How did we get here? Yossi Klein Halevi, who joined us for the discussion, has an answer! —Ha'Trempistim – The Hitchhikers— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: A documentary web series shows Israelis at our pushy, boundary-less best. All that and the first 7Eleven in a Jewish State in 5,000 years, a new Hebrew word from beyond the grave, and the music of Daria Vered!

Noah Efron and prodigal son Ohad Zeltzer-Zubida discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Courting Disaster?— The "Judicial Reform" has so many people so very worried. Is it needed reform or coup d'état? —Our Bialik— People still call Hayim Nahman Bialik Israel's "National Poet." What could that possibly mean in 2023, on the 150th anniversary of Bialik's birth? —The Ultimate Guide to All That Tel Aviv Has to Offer— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Ohad spills about the coolest eating and drinking spots in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. All that and Pooh in the Promised Land, the Museum of Illusions, and Bialik's words set to hip new music.

Linda Gradstein and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —This Time Feels Different— When historians look back, will they say the elections of 2022 were when Israel changed forever (and not necessarily for the better)? —You're Not the Judge of Me!— If two people fighting who owes who what, and they both want to be tried by a rabbi instead of a judge, is that cool? —Why Do Israeli College Kids Speak So Pretty and Write So Poorly?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Why do Israeli college kids speak so pretty and write so poorly? All that and the election of Israel's first Gay Knesset Speaker, along with various and sundry wonders experienced on busses and in movie theaters. Plus, the spectacular music of The Revivo Project!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Don Futterman and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —The Paper It's Written On?— What good are the new "coalition agreements" Benjamin Netanyahu just signed, if the guy is already saying he ain't gonna honor at least some of them? Netanyahu promised, he just did not promise to keep his promise. —Getting the Book of Books on the Books— There's a new proposed "Basic Law: Torah Study" that gives learning Talmud in a Yeshiva the same weight and status as commanding a tank in the IDF. Is it finally time to make the Torah nice and legal? —Getting up Early and Staying Up Late to Serve the Jewish People in Toronto— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: While you're living your life, Tamar Sommer is getting up early and staying up late to serve the Jewish People in Toronto. We hear what its like up there in the frozen North. All that and the old-new hotel Einstein slept in in Tel Aviv, beached plastic plates in Ashkelon, and the category-defying music of Uri Brauner Kinrot, on his own and with friends.

Ever since the elections produced what the elections produced, including a new Minister in charge of the police who used to have hanging on his wall, as a tribute, a picture of a man who murdered 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Tomb of the Patriarch, we've been wondering what our Sally Abed makes of all this. This week, finally, we had a chance to ask. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Same Old, Same Old?— What's Sally think? —Yet Another New Left?— Has the time come for a new left – of, by and for Jews & Palestinians together – that leaves Zionism checked at the door? —What's J Street's Convention Like for Someone Not So American, Not So Jewish?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: What was it like at the J Street Progressive, American, Jewish lobby convention for Sally, who is plenty progressive, but not so much American and not so much Jewish? That and the world's biggest Lego Hanukah menorah, the Bureau for the Search for Relatives, and the music of Osher Bachta!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Don Futterman and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —The Other Two-State Solution?— More and more progressive Israeli Jews dream of separation from the more religious, more right wing Jews. What's up with that? —J Street 2.0— J Street unveiled a new vision at its recent conference. Is this J Street 2.0? —Happy 120th Kfar Saba!— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Kfar Saba celebrates 120, and Don tells us what's to love about his home town, as it reaches its biblical allotment of years. All that and a farewell to the great guitarist and song-writer, Yitzhak Klepter, who passed away this week. May his memory be for a blessing.