The Promised Podcast

In this very special, carbon-neutral episode, we look back on people who lately left us, leaving a huge mark on our lives and world. In Memoriam Clips Architect Danny Karavan Activist Miriam Levenger Rabbi Bent Melchior Lyricist, poet and writer Yarom Tahar-Lev Feminist Activist and MK Marcia Freedman MK Aharon Abuhatzera Rabbi, Scholar and Leader, Chaim Kanievsky Noam Schwartz All songs by jazz genius, Yakir Arbib! Songs Hassid Trance God Procrastinator The Red Fugue You go to My Head I Got Rhythm I'm Confessin (That I Love You) Song for an Unborn Child Things Ain't What They Used to Be

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Don Futterman and Noah Efron discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. —Cutting to the Core— Benjamin Netanyahu promises ultra-Orthodox politicians, in exchange for their support, to fully-fund Haredi schools no matter what they do and do not teach. Is that unhinged and irresponsible? —A Woman's Place— It's the patriarchy, Stupid! —Curses & Blessings— Reflections on the year that was. All this and songs to take us from the end of the month of Elul through the Days of Awe!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Miriam Herschlag and Noah Efron discuss three 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 —What Gantz Wantz— A little from Column A, a little from Column B: What does the "National Unity Party" candidate list tell us about what the party stands for? —What Did You Learn in School Today?— Is it wrong for a high school principal to let ultra-nationalist MK Itamar Ben Gvir give a speech to her kids? —Enflamed Youth— The head of Israel's hottest new political party is a TikTok celeb too young to be elected to the Knesset. What gives? —The Nature Hikes in Israel That Left Their Marks On Our Souls— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: In honor of Israel's most legendary hiker, Shuka Ravek, who died this week at 91, we talk about nature hikes we've taken over the years that have left their marks on our psyches and our souls. All this and Gugi!

In this very-special episode from Limmud Oz in Melbourne, Australia, Noah puzzles out – What? – why he and Susan uprooted their family tree from rich American soil, replanting it in the alluvium of Israel, and how that's worked out for them and their kids, who are now the age their parents were when they first came to the country. Not a story for everyone, but maybe one that will interest a few. With huge thanks for the amazing folks at Limmud Oz!

In this 100% reused-reduced-recycled episode, Noah bloviates about Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the city we love so well! The Pussycat Club Coffee Lab Tal Tenne Czaczkes Tel Aviv's City Council Debates Things that Matter Bartleby in Tel Aviv The Boteach Sex Store The Bus on Ben Yehuda Theodor Herzl's Funeral Pal The Hotel Where Eichmann Slept Up in the Old Palatin Hotel (Plus music of the city, by the city, for the city!)

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Gilad Halpern and Noah Efron discuss three 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 —Back to the Future— Did the Meretz party primaries just send the party back to the future? —Homo Sionisticus Religiosus— What, if anything, do the primaries in the Religious Zionism party say about, well, religious Zionism? —Primary Directive— Do party primaries pick better Knesset candidates than the more autocratic alternatives? —How Does American College Life Differ From Israeli University Life?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: With Gilad's triumphant return from teaching media and journalism at San Diego State University, we talk about how American college life differ from Israeli university life, and what it is like, in this day an age, to be an Israeli transplant on an American campus. All this and Folly Tree!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Miriam Herschlag and Noah Efron discuss three 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 —In Labor— After its recent primaries, does Labor still look like a party that could ever rule Israel again? —Likud: The Screwed, Renewed and Netanyahu'ed— After its recent primaries, has the Likud become a party "of Netanyahu, by Netanyahu and for Netanyahu"? —Fifty Holocausts— Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says, in Berlin, dumb*ssedly, that Israel has perpetrated "fifty Holocausts." What, if anything, do we learn from that about the man and the government he represents? —The Head-Scratching Over How to Translate ממלכתיות— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: The new centrist party with former IDF chiefs-of-staff Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot picks a name that just can't be translated into English. What the hell does this word that David Ben Gurion made up – mamlakhtiut – mean, and how the hell do we translate it to English? All this and a full-of-love-and-admiration good-bye to Tzvika Pick!

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 —My War & Yours (& Ours)— Can a Palestinian Israeli (like Sally) and a Jewish, Zionist Israeli (like Noah) find even a common language and common facts to talk about last week's rockets-and-bombs in and out of Gaza? —My Atrocity & Yours (& Ours)— Newly unsealed documents shed some brutal light on an atrocity done in 1956. What should they mean to us today? —Is Israel's Left Paying Too Much Attention to Esoteric Things (Like Climate Change)?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: A candidate for the head of the liberal-left Meretz party says we should stop paying attention to esoteric things like climate change, and instead focus on what really matters: peace and democracy. What's wrong with that? All this and Banot ha-Tom!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron and star journalist Linda Gradstein discuss three 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 —Smells Like Zionist Spirit— Two small right-wing parties join to form "The Zionist Spirit". What's that all about? —Gimme Shelter— A judge orders a woman into protective custody when her ex and his family threatens her life. That can't be right, can it? —Carry that Weight— A study says that IDF inductees weigh 10 kg more these days, on average, than they did 40 years ago. —PM Lapid's Vacation Lands Him in Hot Water— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Israel's (very) secular PM is raked over the coals when it comes out that he planned to be enjoying a vacation on Tisha B'Av, for religious folks a traditional day of fasting and mourning. Is it the job of Israel's Prime Minister to respect religious traditions that don't hold much meaning for him? All this and Avital, on the release of her new record!

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 —One Man's Extremist— Prime Minister Yair Lapid says he'll form a government "without extremists." What could possibly be wrong with that? —If I Can't Dance— Is there a "joy disparity" between Israel's happy-go-luck right and its bummed-out left, our pusses perennially soured? —Who Thought That Breaking Shariah Law Was a Good Idea?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: A generally-considered-top-drawer-television-correspondent and Foreign Desk editor for prestigious Channel 13 nightly news, Gil Tamari, sneaks into Mecca for a "scoop" during the Haj, breaking Shariah Law, Saudi Law and the canons of human decency. What gives? All this and the lovely Anat Moshkovski, in celebration of the birth of baby Adi!