The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The "From COVID Heroes to COVID Zeros" Edition Jul 09, 2020

Show notes

Tel Aviv Review impresario Gilad Halpern, Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

--From COVID Heroes to COVID Zeros--

How'd Israel go from being COVID heroes to COVID zeros?

--Tamar in Tehran--

A twenty-something, computer-hacker genius, Mossad spy goes native in Iran: that's the plot of Israel's newest mega-hit TV series. But what's it tell us about how Israelis see Persian politics and culture?

--Be Still, Beinart--

Journalist and public intellectual Peter Beinart says goodbye to the "Two State Solution" for Israel and Palestine. Is he the harbinger, as he writes, of "a new phase of Jewish history"?

--Gilad Tells All--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we make the very most out of having Gilad on the show, and ask him about his doctoral research into the history behind The Palestine Post, an English-language daily established in 1932, which later in 1950 became The Jerusalem Post.

All that and Lihi Admon (ve-Levavot ha-Kusamak)

The "A Time to Build Up, A Time to Break Down" Edition Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

Journalist and soon-to-be features editor for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Naomi Zeveloff, wunderkind critic Ohad Zeltzer-Zubida and Noah Efron discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

--Does Size Matter?--

Would a small, "symbolic" annexation of lands in the West Bank sidestep the worst consequences of the bigger annexation authorized by the Trump peace plan?

--Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer--

As statues of Columbus get toppled in America, and statues of Leopold II get ripped down in Belgium, are there memorial in Israel we'd be better or mothballing or melting down?

--Gun, Grenade, Mic & Turntable--

Why 'o why does an Army need a radio station?

All that and Roey Rieck and some of Israel's best indie musicians, in a pandemic project called "Ha-Gal ha-Sheni," "The Second Wave"!

The "We All Wanna Change the World" Edition Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron and wunderkind critic Ohad Zeltzer-Zubida discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

--You're Gay, You Wanna Revolution?--

A new documentary aims to explain the surprising success of the LGBTQA community in Israel. Why are so many LGBTQA folks hating on it?

--You Stay to Start a Revolution!--

On a hill in the foothills of Samaria, live eight young, Israeli settler women, aged 13 to 19, alone, without running water and electricity.

--You Pray, You Wanna Revolution--

Israel's ultra-Orthodox have a plan, inspired by the pandemic, to make weddings smaller, cheaper and more sustainable. Should the rest of us do the same thing?

--Is Roger Waters Giving BDS a Bad Name?--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we discuss the bat-s#!t, anti-semitic meltdown of musician Roger Waters, in an interview with a Hamas-linked news agency. Is he giving BDS a bad name?

All that and Russia, Hebrew, Arabic, English hip hop by Shi 360!

The "Making & Breaking History" Edition Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

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.

--"The Revolt of Diaspora Jews"?--

Are we seeing a "revolt" of Jews in England, America and elsewhere in the diaspora against Netanyahu's planned annexation of territory in the West Bank?

--Rest in Peace?--

It's like a koan: Is a cemetery that stopped being a cemetery more than a hundred years ago still a cemetery? (Answer: When your backhoe turns up 19th century graves, it is.)

--Defending the Haganah--

For 28 years, the "Haganah" fought underground to protect Jews in Palestine and to end British rule, and ever since, the organization and its fighters have been lionized in Israel as heroes. Has the time come to focus on the darkest of their deeds?

--Let's Talk About Nazis--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we pick up the gauntlet-upon-guantlet laid down first by Tablet Magazine when it interviewed proudly racist and anti-semitic scholar Kevin MacDonald, and then by Haaretz opinion editor Esther Solomon, when she responded that "it is not courage, it is self-abasement, for any jewish publication to call up an anti-Semitic white supremacist and be grateful for their time". Like most Jews, talking about Nazis is our comfort zone, and that's what we do.

All that and the enchanting music of Dandan!

"The View from Over There" Edition Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

--Unsettled!--

Settler leaders oppose Israel's annexation of any towns in the West Bank? Is this bizarro world? Are dogs cats? Is up down?

--Through American Eyes--

Why was Bernie Sanders the main speaker at this week's big anti-annexation demonstration in Rabin Square?

--Virtually Palestine--

What do we have to learn from virtual visits to virtual Palestine on our smartphones?

--The Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality: It's a Man's World--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we discuss this week's dumbass appointment of a male MK named Oded Forer to head the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. Another glass ceiling shattered? Another frontier tamed for the be-penised and betesticled among us? In short: Men, Is there nothing we can't do?

All that and songs by 33 young, brilliant musicians from the Rimon School of Music!

The "Winners & Losers, Accusers & Excusers" Edition Jun 04, 2020

Show notes

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.

--God & Country--

Are the ultra-Orthodox the big winners in Israel's new government? Does that make the rest of us losers?

--18 Years of Death, Misery and Despair: There's an App for that Now!--

A new app/site lets Israelis who fought in Israel's long miserable war in Lebanon return virtually to the outposts where they froze and watched their friends die. But why?

--Thrice the Advice!--

If you're an Israeli abroad, is it your responsibility to present the country in a good light?

--Goin' Up!--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we talk about what the corona-mess feels like now, as we leave lockdown and watch the numbers creep back up. (Hint: Yikes!)

All that and bright songs by Sun Tailor!

The "Judges and Grudges, Libel and Bible" Edition May 28, 2020

Show notes

--J'Accuse?, Non, J'Accuse!--

As his corruption trial begin, PM Netanyahu's supporters take to the streets to say their leader is a latter day Dreyfus, persecuted by a cabal of leftist judges and journalists. What should we make of that?

--Exiled to Providence--

Are leftists leaving Israel as "political exiles"?

--What is the Good Book Good For?--

As we celebrate Shavuot, a festival marking the giving of the Torah at Sinai, we can't help but wonder: What are we supposed to do with that book, anyway?

--Was Israel's Response to COVID-19 Wrongity-Wrong-Wrong?--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we discuss an essay in Ha'aretz arguing that everything we'd done up to now to respond to coronavirus was wrongity-wrong-wrong. Has the time come to second-guess all we've done for the past months?

All that and songs by Asaf Avidan, with and without the Mojos!

The "Vision of No Vision" Edition May 21, 2020

Show notes

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.

--The Vision of No Vision--

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Gantz set out their visions for the future in the first meeting of Israel's new government, which are narrow and dryly technocratic. But is that really a bad thing in tumultuous times?

--Leftism and Other Risk Factors--

Why are left-leaning Israelis suffering more from the pandemic than right-leaning Israelis?

--Golda's Israel, and Ours--

Does a new documentary about Golda Meir, Israel's 4th Prime Minister, teach us something crucial about the country today?

--"Anti-Semitism" or "Anti semitism"?--

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we talk about uber-historian Deborah Lipstadt's quixotic campaign to change the way the word anti-seminitism is spelled, striking the hyphen, and demoting the first S, about which Allison just wrote in an essay puckishly headlined, "Anti-antisemitism? A Battle Rages Over the Jewish Hyphen."

All that and songs by Kosta Kaplan, off his debut record!

The "Small Screen, Big Government" Edition May 14, 2020

Show notes

--Big Government-- Israel's new government is the largest in history, with 36 ministers. But can we expect big things from it?

--Court TV?-- When Supreme Court hearings are broadcast on TV, does it humanize the justices, or just make them look small?

--God TV?-- An Evangelical cable TV channel cheeses people off when it tries to convince Israeli Jews to accept Jesus in our hearts. But isn't that the sort of things we want to have in a "marketplace of ideas"?

--Worrying About Our Loved Ones-- For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we talk about (following a great article by Allison in Haaretz) what it is like to worry about loved ones living in the US, where the corona-news is so scary, at the moment when here in Israel things seem so much better.

All that and songs by Frube, four talented kids from Sde Boker!

The "A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma Tucked in a Virus" Edition May 07, 2020

Show notes

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.

Non-Judgmental

The Supreme Court rules that Benjamin Netanyahu is allowed to form the next government, and serve at its head, even though he goes to trial in two weeks for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Why? What's it mean for our future?

Newton's Third Law of the Coronavirus?

Is Israel going from being super cautious about coronavirus to not being cautious enough? Are we running amok to normality?

Solidarities

Israelis raise money to support a British woman suing Israeli young men who assaulted her in Cyprus. Why?

The Fear of a Quick Exit

For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we talk about what it feels like, at this moment, to be going through the quick exit from quarantine that we are all going through here.

All that and songs by Galli Allon!

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