The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

"The Triumphs of Benjamin Netanyahu" Edition Oct 13, 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.

The Triumphs of Benjamin Netanyahu

A recent essay asserted that PM Netanyahu's foreign policy has been much more successful than most Israelis realize, and that Bibi has guided Israel with a sure hand in tumultuous times. Could the Israeli Left be wrong about Bibi?

Barack Obama's Zionist Idea

A vision worth adopting? We discuss whether exiting US President Barak Obama is, as one journalist recently suggested, "the most impressive exponent of liberal Zionism today."

The 'G' Word

Haaretz polled Knesset members, asking whether or not each of the 120 lawmakers believes in God. The results differed from a similar survey taken in 1996, but not how you might expect.

All songs by Michelle Rosen:

Give it to the Beat In the Sun My Boy Love We Shall Find

The "Show Me a Dreamer - The Legacy of Shimon Peres" Edition Oct 06, 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.

Show me a dreamer: The legacy of Shimon Peres, z"l

We ponder the complicated legacy of Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres - for the country and, especially, for the left.

Not being there

The head of the Arab Joint List in the Knesset, Ayman Odeh, didn't attend Shimon Peres' funeral. What statement was he making and what do we learn from it?

For the sins

Every year on Yom Kippur, Jews chant the "Al Heyt" prayer, a list of sins we've committed over the previous year. We search our souls and discuss what our sins were - as Israelis and leftists - over the past year.

All songs by supergroup Armon:

Kayitz Ham Halom Bi At Be-Tokh Kuftzah

"The Year that Was" Edition Sep 29, 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.

Netanyahu to the UN: "You like us! You really like us!"

In his startling speech at the UN, Prime Minister Netanyahu argued that the nations of the world really love us, even if they haven't noticed yet. Might he have a point?

Shuttling Hassids for free!

Some Knesset members have cried foul over the government's decision to provide VIP services to Hassids travelling to the Ukraine to be with a beloved rabbi who sadly died in 1810. Is this the kind of culture the Jewish state should be supporting?

The year that was

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year: What were the most important things that happened in Israel over the last year, or the things that we overlooked?

All songs by Shai Tzabari:

Avo Be-Gevurot Me-Alai Demama Shemesh (with Hadag Nahash) Tfillat Ha-Derekh

The "38 Billion Bucks" Edition Sep 22, 2016

Show notes

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

38 billion bucks

A $38 billion, ten-year military aid agreement has just been reached by Israel and the US. We discuss whether or not, in the long run, it makes Israel stronger - does more money really buy more security?

Ehud Barak 2.0

Mysterious billboards have started appearing in Israel, prodding former Prime Minister Ehud Barak to run again. He ruined the labor party and wrecked the Left, but is he now the best hope we've got?

Homogenizing Israelis for justice!

Should government economic reports slice and dice people by their ethnic identity, or should they just focus on salaries and spending? If the gears of capitalism are greased by the blood of the workers, does it matter whether those workers have Moroccan, Ethiopian or French backgrounds?

All songs by Adir L.C., mostly off his newest album Oceanside Cities:

Dinosaur Hung Over Same Big Ring Buyer's Instinct

The "Judenrein Palestine? Nein!" Edition Sep 15, 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.

Judenrein Palestine? Nein!

PM Netanyahu released a YouTube video claiming that Palestinians advocate the "ethnic cleansing" of Jewish settlers as a precondition of peace negotiations: It's nutty diplomacy, but might he have a point about the position of settlers in a future Palestinian state?

Derailed

PM Netanyahu's compromise with the ultra-Orthodox over controversial railway maintenance on Shabbat angered many in the Opposition, who claimed the PM had been railroaded, and that his policy is on the wrong track and a potential train wreck.

On the internet, everybody thinks you're a dog!

We discuss scholarly suggestions that internet discourse in Israel is so mean because so many Israelis yearn to stick it to the leftist "lame-stream" media. But are Israelis really more mean on the internet than folks from other places?

All songs by The Energya Psychotronics:

She's My Sister Insincerely Yours Valerie-Ann My Imagination

"The Right to Bare Midriffs" Edition Sep 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.

Left behind?

New polls show the Israeli left crashing and burning. What accounts for this recent slide in support, and what should the traditional Left be doing about it?

From Zion shall come what?

The Israeli state is funding organizations that strengthen Jewish identity on US campuses, and most of the money is going to Orthodox organizations. Should Israel be funding Jewish culture in the diaspora, and should it be doing so in this way?

The right to bare midriffs

A singer was booted off stage at a (publicly-funded) beach-side music festival because she wore a bikini top. Is sensitivity to delicate religious sensibilities going too far?

All songs by Noa Deutsch: Lo Gever Lo Isha Ha-Heder Mevulgan Oaf Muzar Ma She-Tivakshi

The "Zionist Dreams & Nightmares" Edition Aug 25, 2016

Show notes

Noah, author and professor Alon Tal, and legendary tour guide William Slott discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Too many Israelis?

We discuss Tal's important, new book The Land is Full, claiming that we need fewer Israelis, not more, and that government policy ought to be changed to stem Aliyah and lower our birthrate.

Moral guides

An essay in the Times of Israel asserts that it is "immoral" to visit the City of David tourist site, which is located in East Jerusalem (Occupied Palestinian Territory). We discuss the morality of archaeology.

Our lives: A late-interim review

The three panelists discuss whether or not they made a huge existential mistake in moving to Israel, as they decided to do together, when kids in a Zionist youth movement.

All songs by Darling Angels:

Something For Your Pain Life Isn't A Fair Game I Got A Woman, And She Loves Me Mad By The Light Of The Moon

The "Mo' Better Babies" Edition Aug 18, 2016

Show notes

Noah, TLV1's Gilad Halpern and The Forward's Naomi Zeveloff discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Ordination is the new B.A.

Israel's Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, has issued a ministerial executive order to count advanced Yeshiva education and Rabbinic ordination as equal to a university degree, for applicants to government jobs.

Fear, loathing and Ha'aretz

Stalwart, liberal Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz receives constant, vicious criticism from right and left. Why does the paper cheese off so many?

Mo' better babies

Israelis are the most prolific users of prenatal genetic testing. Why are we so eager to have only "perfect" babies?

All songs by Karizmo (it's summer, people!):

Ba-Derekh La-Yam Latet Lakh Ahavah Mekhayekh Hofesh

The "Lapdogs of Democracy" Edition Aug 11, 2016

Show notes

Noah, TLV1's Gilad Halpern 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.

Lapdogs of democracy

We discuss the uncertain future of the new Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, and the uncertain future of freedom of the press in Israel. What sort of a press does a country like Israel need?

On the matter of Black Lives Matter

The new Movement for Black Lives platform describes Israel as a perpetrator of "genocide" against Palestinians. We discuss the depression that engulfed us after we read it, and how we should navigate this murky water.

So sorry for gassing grandma!

Should Israel continue to buy gas masks from the same German company that made gas masks for the SS soldiers manning the crematoria at Auschwitz? Oy!

All songs by Noga Erez, in honor of her appearance at the Olympics!

Worth None (with Efrat Ben Tzur) Where Did You Sleep Last Night Weapons After

The "Body-Politic Dysmorphia" Edition Aug 04, 2016

Show notes

IDF to Knesset: Shut up already!

"We shall keep the rabbis in their synagogues and the generals in their barracks," Herzl wrote in 1896. Now, 120 years later, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot is telling Israel's politicians to shut the f*ck up already.

Ritual hypocrites

American passport-holding Knesset Members who love Conservative and Reform Judaism have been voting against it, most recently passing a bill outlawing use of state ritual baths (mikvehs) by non-Orthodox converts. Does this make them hypocrites?

Body-politic dysmorphia

We discuss whether Israelis have body-politic dysmorphia, causing us to think that we're a whole lot bigger and more important than we really are.

All songs by Talevi:

Mah Shaveh Haagid Kedai She-Teheyeh Meushar Nylon Sofshavua

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