The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The "Standing Together or Coming Apart?" Edition Oct 22, 2015

Show notes

Allison, Noah, and special guest, professor and environmental leader Alon Tal, discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Standing together or coming apart?

We discuss competing narratives on the left for explaining the “knifey, stabby” times we’re living in.

Rage of Consent?

We discuss efforts to change Israel’s rape laws that turn the focus of the courts from the victims to the perpetrators.

Political Environment?

We ask whether Israeli environmental organizations are crypto-leftists in crummy disguises.

All songs by Beer7:

7 Beer BottlesAnti-ShantiMy Mom Killed The PunkA Pig In Answer

The "Savage Days" Edition Oct 15, 2015

Show notes

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

Savage times

These may not be the worst of times, but never have times been bad in just this way. We discuss what this week has been like for us, as parents and as people, as our Facebook feeds fill with ever-more-horrifying videos.

What Israel’s right makes of the violence

How has Israel's right reacted to this gruesome spate of attacks, and do they have a point?

What Israel’s left makes of the violence

How has Israel's left reacted to this gruesome spate of attacks, and do they have a point?

Music:

Omer Netzer - Goodbye SongOmer Netzer - TroubleOmer Netzer - WaitingTamar Eisenman - Creation

The "Battle-Tested Testes" Edition Oct 08, 2015

Show notes

Third Intifada?

We discuss the waves of violence engulfing us, as stabbings follow shootings follow stonings, accompanied by violent demonstrations and mass arrests. What the hell is happening around us, and what, if anything, can make it stop?

Kids and racism

A study has found that almost two in five of teachers say they lack adequate teaching tools to combat racism among their students - our kids. Is racism common coin in our children’s economies and, if so, what should be done about it?

The temptations of battle-tested testes

New research has found that Israeli women shopping at sperm banks prefer soldiers' sperm, the more battle-tested the better. What is that about?

All songs by Ravid Kahalani and Yemen Blues (off the Insaniya-Humanity album):

BeautalityTonight I'll Be Pretty (Featuring Mariem Hassan)FarhaMa'ahla Asalam (Featuring Zion Golan)

The "Get Ready for the Repub-Likud Party" Edition Oct 01, 2015

Show notes

Allison, Noah, and special guest Gilad Halpern (Managing Editor of Ynet News and host of TLV1’s Tel Aviv Review) discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

The coming of the Repub-Likud & Avodah-mocrat parties

We discuss PM Netanyahu’s plans to unify the parties on the right into an "Israeli Republican Party," and the nascent efforts of the Labor Party and the Tnua Party to do the same thing on the center left, forming an "Israeli Democratic Party."

Sham-bassador?

We discuss the efforts of three leftist diplomats to block the appointment of Dani Dayan, one-time chair of the settler YESHA Council, as Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, by convincing Brazilia not to allow him to serve.

Charming settlers

We discuss the "charm offensive" of settlers, who have lately taken to inviting folks to their towns, their vineyards, their homes, to demonstrate how much, if we just give them a chance, we'd like them, we'd really like them.

All songs by Ha-Tavlinim:

Ba LiBa-TachanahRosh Ba-KirTzilzalei Paomonim

The "Portmania" Edition Sep 24, 2015

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.

Sticks and stones

We discuss the raft of government proposals to increase the penalties for stone-throwing, in the wake of the tragic death of Alexander Levlovich. How ought we to treat kids in kaffiyehs pelting with potentially deadly projectiles in the name of political protest?

Won’t anyone think of the capitalists?

We discuss an essay in Haaretz magazine entitled "Capitalism in Israel is Under the Brutal Attack of Social Activists" - oh my, won't anyone think of the rich people!? But is there a point here? Have do-gooders turned capitalism into a dirty word?

Portmania (A Tale of Love and Sadness)

We discuss the new movie written and directed by, and starring, FOPP (Friend of the Promised Podcast) Natalie Portman, "A Tale of Love and Darkness," based on the astonishing book by Amos Oz.

All songs by Adi Madanes, in honor of his new record, "Lachlom, Lirkom, Lifrom":

Biglal AnatIm At Ta’azvi Oto Hu Yichtov ShirimAsher AhavtiBo’u Nachgog

"The State of the Spirit (and the Spirit of the State)" Edition Sep 17, 2015

Show notes

To mark the Days of Awe, Allison, Don and Noah discuss a trinity of topics aimed to divine the state of the spirit and the spirit of the state here in Israel. We ponder the state of religion & irreligion, spirituality & superstition, creed & cult in the Jewish State, even as God looks down upon us and ponders whether or not to inscribe The Promised Podcast in the Book of Many Downloads, or instead, in the Book of Too Few Facebook Likes, heaven forefend!

The religiouser we get, the happier we feel?

A poll commissioned by Haaretz has found that ultra-Orthodox Jews are happier than Orthodox Jews, who are in turn happier than traditional Jews, who are in turn happier than secular Jews. What's the explanation?

Gimme that ol’ time irreligion!

That same poll has found that 70 percent of Israeli Jews believe in God, and 98 percent of Israeli Arabs, meaning – among other things – that lots of ostensibly secular Jews have begun to believe in God. Are atheist Zionists becoming an endangered species?

Taming theists with technology?

Research indicates that ultra-Orthodox Jews are using the internet in rapidly growing numbers. Can frumkeit and Facebook really mix? Or will the wiring of the ultra-Orthodox lead to their assimilation into the great unwashed mass of instagramming idiots?

Songs by Tuna, one of Israel’s great rappers, in honor of his new album, "Gam Zeh Ya’avor"!

Lama Lo AchshavGam Zeh Ya’avorOlam Meshuga (with Nechi Nech)Rock Shloshim

The "Another Year Gone" Edition Sep 10, 2015

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.

To hell with what folks think about Israel!

This year, perhaps more than ever before in history, our government seems to be saying a big "FUCK YOU" to the world. We just don’t care what you think about us. Obama? Screw you! Hollande? Up yours! Merkel? Take a hike! But why? Why? Why?

The beginning of the end of the Rabbinate

Blatant rebellion against Israel's Chief Rabbinate broke out this year after a group of rabbis established an alternative, “friendlier” conversion court. Everyone expected the Orthodox hegemony to get even stronger, but are the rabbis losing their grip?

Dazed, confused, drunk, and depressed

Israeli leftists spent this year mad, muttering, and morbidly depressed. This was the year that so many of us on the left lost our nerve, our mojo, our hope - even though now is when we need them the most: What the hell can we do to get them back?

Songs for a happy, indie Rosh Hashanah!

Devek – Shir Tishrei Efrat Ben-Tzur – Shnei Tapuhim Rona Keinan – Sof Ha-Ona Yermi Kaplan – Ruach Stav

The "Constraining Kids in Casts" Edition Sep 03, 2015

Show notes

Allison, Noah, and The 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.

Constraining kids in casts: A scene from the occupation

We discuss the inescapably viral video of an Israeli soldier grappling with a 12-year-old boy, one of his arms in a cast, as two Palestinian woman and one girl grapple with him, pounding, scratching, and biting. What are we to make of such a distressing sight?

Opposing Netanyahu, this time with feeling

Israel’s youngest MK (at 30) and social protest leader Stav Shaffir has called her party’s failure to challenge the ruling coalition “a first-rate leadership failure.” We ask whether she's right, and what the opposition should be doing instead.

Teaching kids the Classics: Gates, Jobs & Zuckerberg

New Minister of Education Naftali Bennett is trying to convince high-schoolers to take high level math, which will give them primo salaries - a sort of Start-Up National Service. We ask why all this neo-capitalist ideology on school grounds makes us want to puke.

All songs by the cool and ethereal Luna Abu Nassar

Bint MeenRakevetEynayimBoha

The "Midsummer Night's Dream (of Bibi Bygone)" Edition Aug 27, 2015

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.

Peace by the numbers

A new poll commissioned by the energetic, leftist think-tank Molad, suggests a new strategy for ending the right’s grip on power and, in time, for ending the occupation and achieving peace with the Palestinians. We ask what these new numbers add up to.

A new (leftist) saviour to rise from these streets

There's a buzz in the sidewalk cafes of greater Tel Aviv this week, as we saw politic's future and its name is General Gabi Ashkenazi. Is he our “Great White Hope”? Or is “Great White Hope-ism” the religion of fools, and are those fools us?

This land is your land, this land is my land

We discuss the bill proposed by Labour MK Danni Atar, which would grant traditional agricultural settlements effective ownership over 90 percent of their lands, while requiring them to fork over the remaining 10 percent to nearby development towns.

All songs by Avraham Tal, in honor of his kick-ass free show in the sandbox in the Tel Aviv Port:

Ve-ha-boker Ya’alehAni ItachBo’ee NishkavBo Kmo she-Atah

The "Israel and the 'A Word'" Edition Aug 20, 2015

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 and the "A Word"

Haaretz columnist and mensch Bradley Burston wrote an essay entitled “It’s Time to Admit it. Israeli Policy is What it Is: Apartheid.” It went viral. We ask if it makes sense – factually and politically – to use the "A word" to describe Israel.

The wages of politicization

The newly more-politicized “Judicial Appointment Committee” met this week, and Likud MK Nurit Koren proposed advancing a judge because she is a woman of Yeminite descent, like Koren herself. We ask if Koren was really that off base.

The Way Home (Road Trip!)

Social protest leader Daphni Leef and singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum are planning to load up a van with all manner of shit and travel cross country for a month, listening to people describe their vision for the country. Is Dafni and Yael’s fantabulous journey a political act of meaning?

All songs by the Bob Marley-loving Hatikvah 6:

Od Pa’am Pa’am Hachi Yisraeli Kol Yom Mihadash Ma She-Yehiyeh, Yehiyeh

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