The Promised Podcast

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Linda Gradstein and Noah Efron discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Listen to the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Shireen Abu Akleh, Z"L— After Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian Al-Jazeera reporter, was shot and killed in cross-fire outside Jenin, everyone was sure they knew who pulled the trigger. —A Bitter Cabbage Pill to Swallow— Can a government without a majority do its job? —Plus Climat Change, Plus C'EST la Même Chose— Is a bad climate bill worse than no bill at all? —The Death of A Colleague— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Linda and Allison talk about the sorts of relationships that evolve between Israeli and Palestinian journalists, and how they experience Shireen Abu Akleh's killing as the death of a colleague. All this and songs about cats, by Keren & Tammuz!

Allison, Don, Ohad, Amit, Linda, Jeremy & Noah talk about what Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, means to them, on the eve of Israel's 74th. All that and old Songs of Independence, made new again!

Sally Abed, Allison Kaplan Sommer 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 —Violence Season— Is it inevitable that seasons of calm are replaced by seasons of violence, just as winter gives way to spring? —Shmandemic— Israel's government ends the mask mandate and says: Lighten up, happy days are here again. Did the almost 4,000 people a day still getting COVID miss the memo? —Then, Now— Can we, and should we, have a Holocaust Day that is not just Jewish but also Israeli? —What's Our Take Away From PM Bennett's High Take-Away Expenditures?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: After Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is lavishly lambasted, lamented and lampooned after it came out that his family spends 800 shekels a day on take-out, he tweets that he'll pay for the damn take-out with his high-tech millions. What should our take-away be? All this and music for Yom ha-Shoah and every other day of the year

In this very-special episode, Noah tells the story of a kibbutz that surrendered to the Egyptian army in 1948, and the wounds that have never really healed.

Don Futterman, Noah Efron and superstar reporter 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 on Patreon —Wages of Sin— Are the crimes of terrorists visited on their loved ones? —Rest in Peace?— Should dead people be dug up and downsized into ossuaries a year after they're buried? Some rabbis, scholars and environmental activists say, absolutely! —As If We Left Egypt— What does it mean to "see ourselves as if we ourselves left Egypt," in this moment of viruses and violences, of refugees and unrest. —No Funding For You— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Nineteen celebrated progressive American Rabbis act to keep donations from American Jews from reaching far-right-wing Israeli groups like the anti-gay, anti-miscegenation, Jewish supremacist organization Lahava. That's a good thing, right? All this and rocking Passover-ish pop!

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron and environmentalist & Judaicist extraordinaire Jeremy Benstein discuss three 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 —Wave?— Three terror attacks on civilians in three city centers in eight days, leaving eleven dead. Is Israel facing a new round of violence? —A Half-Baked Coalition Going Sour?— The chairwoman of the coalition bolted to the opposition, leaving the future of Israel's government uncertain. Israel may go to elections over what now? —"Anti-zionism" as a "Core Value"?— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: A shul in Chicago votes that "anti-Zionism" is a "core value." Should we care? All this and your first exposure to a tremendous new musical talent, Aviv Peck!

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. Listen to the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —Half a Dozen Foreign Ministers— Not long ago, who could even imagine that the foreign ministers of Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, the US and Israel would all gather in the Negev desert to talk about creating a middle-eastern "mini-NATO" alliance? —Jewish Character?— Why worry about the "Jewish character" of Israel at all? —A Peep at the Past— Israel's greatest cult movie, Metzitzim (Peeping Toms) turns 50 this month. Why has so bleak and disagreeable a film been so popular for so long? —Unpacking AIPAC— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: MK Alon Tal tells the AIPAC Israel lobby that the time has come to stop supporting American legislators who think the last American election was stolen from Donald Trump. Does he have a point? All this and the R&B and rock'n'roll of The Bench!

After an encomium to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Allison, Noah and Voice of America radio superstar 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 —Presidential Address— Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Israelis that it's time to step up and help Ukrainians, like Ukrainians helped Jews during the Holocaust. What should we do with an appeal like that? —Laws of the Land— Israel's new government just finished its first legislative session. How'd they do? —Times Will Tell— An Israeli journalist starts a year-long project of monitoring how the New York Times reports on Israel, finding so far that the paper is biased against us. What should we make of this sort of watchdogging-the-watchdog? —Restaurant Reviewing in the Age of an Israeli Culinary Revolution— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion, Linda Gradstein takes us behind the curtain, into the world of restaurant reviewing in the age of an Israeli culinary revolution. All this and the ultra-orthodox Indie great, Yonatan Razel!

Miriam Herschlag, 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. Listen to the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon —No Place for Politics— Yad Vashem won't host a speech by Volodymyr on the grounds that there's no place for politics when it comes to the Holocaust. But that can't be right, can it? —Was Pegasus Just Horsefeathers?— Eight weeks after it was called "maybe the most important story in Israel's history," reports that police used spy software to surveil all sorts of innocent people has disappeared from our minds and our newsfeeds. What happened? —Amalek— Has the time come to retire the notion of Amalek, absolute and evil anti-semites who appear in each generation in a different guise? —Purim Love— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion, we talk about how we learned to stop worrying and love Purim. All this and Hila Cohen Elazar, celebrating her new record!

Sally Abed, 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 —Showing Up— Should Israel take as many refugees from Ukraine as want to come? —Another Milestone— Sexual assault charges are dropped against a leading light of the gay community because what he did "does not cross the threshold of criminality." —Making Shabbat— Should government money go to making Shabbat more "relevant" to secular folks? —Haifa O' Haifa— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion, we ask Sally, who just moved to Haifa, why she loves the place. All this and the remarkable debut record of Revaya Raisch!