The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The "675 Kilometers North" Edition Dec 22, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

675 Kilometers North

We mull over the human tragedy of Aleppo, and what Israelis are saying (or not saying) and doing (or not doing) about it.

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your ambassador!

We ask how we should regard David Friedman, President-Elect Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel, who supports the occupation, opposes a two-state solution, and has called leftists "worse than Kapos," the poor saps forced to give a hand to the Nazis

Hem-Line Politics

We discuss the brouhaha, hullaballo and rumpus over Knesset guards denying entrance to Parliamentary aides whose dresses were judged too short; is this decorum or just a reduction ad absurdum of the patriarchy?

All songs by Shtar, Beit Shemesh's favorite religious hip-hop sons, including Ori Murray (MC), Brad Rubinstein (guitar), Dan "Zaki" Isaac (vocals), Avi Sommers (bass) and Tzvi Solomons (percussion): Lights Gone Again Restoring My Soul (Modeh) Infinity

The "Enemies of the State" Edition Dec 15, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Noah & Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Lousy Leftists Lack Loyalty

We mull over a new poll finding that almost one in two Israeli Jews think that leftists are not loyal to Israel.

Tenured Traitors, or Professors of Perfidy

We discuss the Minister of Education's appointment of an ethicist to write rules governing when and how professors talk politics in their college classrooms; is this censorship or civility?

Double-Crossing Double X, or The Unbearable Lightness of Cyber-Sexism and On-Line Assholery

We ask what explains the spleen and bile, vilely aimed at women, especially politicians, on the Hebrew Internet.

All songs by Eliad: Ma She-Yesh Matok Kshemarli Linshom, with Shimon Buskila

The "Righteous Jews" Edition Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

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

Cities of Sanctity, Cities of Sin

We discuss President Reuven Rivlin's suggestion that each city, town or neighbourhood decide for themselves how much attention to pay to religion; Is it time to let Tel Aviv be Tel Aviv and Bnai Brak be Bnai Brak?

Righteous Jews

We mull over the scuffle between the Knesset and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum over whether to start lionizing "Righteous Jews" who saved folks during the Holocaust alongside "Righteous Gentiles."

Aging Alone

We ask why so many Israeli old folks are lonely, and what we ought to do about it.

All songs by Mika Sade, off her new record, Birds and Guitars: Little Things Birthday Birds and Guitars Wonderful Gifts

The "Israel is Burning" Edition Dec 01, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Israel is Burning

We discuss the befuddled responses of politicians and our own to the 630 fires that blazed throughout Israel last week, some of which may have been set by arsonists wishing Israel harm.

Our Identity Crisis

We ponder the most talked about post-mortem of the American election, which attributes the fall of the Democrats to "identity liberalism"; in Israel, the right seems to be employing identity politics and it ain't working out so badly for them.

You, You, You Oughta Know: Awkward Adventures in Post-Modern Culture

We fret about Shefita, a popular Arab chanteuse and diva, who is a character created by a Jewish singer named Rotem Shefy; Is this homage? Cultural appropriation? 21st century blackface? Interdenominational drag? And is it okay or icky?

All songs by Shefita & Rotem Shefy: Pink, performed by Shefita Lithium, performed by Shefita You Oughta Know, performed by Shefita Adif She-Lo, by Rotem Shefy

The "Repealing Godwin's Law" Edition Nov 24, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Repealing Godwin's Law: How Do We Know When That "Again" We Never Want to See Has Arrived?

We ask whether we owe it to our ancestors who were swallowed by the Holocaust to decry Trump, Bannon, et. al., as shoving us down the slippery slope into the territory of Never-Again, or whether we owe it to them to not besmirch their tragedy by comparing it to the world's present political woes.

Rabbinic Baskets of Deplorables & Baskets of Rabbinic Deplorables

We reflect on how to respond to the most recent Rabbi on the government payroll to unleash inane bigotries in an interview, once we admit that the guy's done some admirable things alongside this icky one.

Post-Mortem & Pre-Natal

We discuss our mixed feelings over the court's decision to allow the parents of a dead naval officer to use his sperm and a surrogate to create a kid whom they will raise as their own child, though he would be their biological grandchild.

All songs by Tamir Grinberg: Something Telephone Blues I Was Made to Love Her Take a Look Around

The "Citizens Disunited" Edition Nov 17, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Noah and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

The Odeum and the Odium: Israel's National Theater Live in the Settlements!

We discuss the controversy over Israel's national theater company, Habima, performing in the most settlement-y of all the settlements, Kiryat Arba.

Citizens Disunited: Reflections on the Rejection of Election Collections

We reflect on a new law regulating how much Israeli NGOs can spend on election campaigns, like the failed, big "dump Netanyahu" campaign of the last election.

Gimme that ol' time consumption!

We ask whether the rest of us have something to learn from the ways that stuff is advertised to the ultra-orthodox in Israel, which lack the employment of sex, longing and insecurity to make the sale.

All songs by Ha-Peel ha-Kachol (The Blue Elephant): 24/7 Ha-Kol Yehiyeh Ugiot Tiyul

The "Lessons of the Trumpocalypse" Edition Nov 10, 2016

Show notes

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

Lessons of the Trumpocalypse

In what may be a historic first of an entire podcast episode recorded in fetal position, we wonder what we Israeli leftists can learn from the painful, frightening and massive defeat of the American left this week at the polls.

Rabin Rousing

We discuss politicization of the annual Rabin Memorial Demonstration, a new phenomenon, and ask what these politics mean.

Beat the Press

We try to understand PM Netanyahu's invective-filled tirade on a respected Israeli investigative journalist. He impugned her motives, her talents, her integrity and her suitability for her job.

All songs by the Panic Ensemble:

Every Night Spring in Your Heart Flying How Many Ways

The "Our Daughters, Ourselves" Edition Nov 03, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Noah and Don discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Jailing for the "Hate Wedding"?

We ask whether the revelers at a settler wedding who were filmed waving guns, stabbing a picture of a murdered Palestinian baby, and singing incendiary songs should be prosecuted for their loathsome display, or instead simply subject to the court of public opinion. Too much political common ground?

We mull over a charge by a retired Labor Party leader to stop trying to find common ground with the right. What are the most effective levels of partisanship and partnership today?

Our daughters: The state of the patriarchy

We consider new research that found girls and women in Israel are better off than almost anywhere else in the world: What is the state of the patriarchy in Israel, 2016?

All songs by Gimzu Blues Band on their album Me'ever le-kav ha-eruv :

Halichot Mephuzarot Em Sisra A Sukhla a kleine Ha-Balada al Rav Rahumi ve-Ishto

The "Women's Ways of Protest" Edition Oct 27, 2016

Show notes

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

Saving us from ourselves?

We ponder with angst the decision of the director of human rights group B'Tselem to implore the UN Security Council to act forcefully against Israel, in order to bring about an end to the Occupation.

Women's ways of protest

The Women Wage Peace organization just finished their spectacular two-week "March of Hope." We consider the notion, put forth by some of the leaders of the march, that women seek peace in ways likely to be more effective than men.

On the internet, everyone knows you're a d*ck!

Why did so many Israelis "unfriend" compatriots on Facebook during the 2014 Gaza War? A new study attempts to answer this by claiming that the social network forces us to present our authentic selves on line, letting folks know we hold views they find abhorrent.

All songs by Deaf Chonky:

Social Security Gozalim Shirley Kontrol

"The Elusive Dream of Nuance" Edition Oct 20, 2016

Show notes

You say, "Al Aqsa," I say, "The Temple"

Wonder what to make of the recent resolution by UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – chastising Israel for its treatment of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, while ignoring Jewish affinities to the same sites? We deliberate.

BDS and the Dream of Nuance

A major new initiative "Israel and the Academy" aims to help folks think about Israel "in a much more nuanced way" than the BDS wars presently allow. But is the lovely dream of nuance too naive an ambition to truly attain?

The Museum of Jewish Awesomeness

We ponder the fact that $30 million dollars have already been raised (of an eventual $450 million) to build a Frank Gehry "World's Jewish Museum" in Tel Aviv dedicated to the Einsteins, the Spielbergs, the Streisands and the Dylans. Is this the kind of museum we want and need at this fraught moment in our history?

All songs by Ha-Pussy shelLucy:

Ghetto Lech Lecha Le-Heros et ha-Knesset Rak Lo Etzleinu Ba-Shechunah

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