The Promised Podcast

Tehila Wenger, Rotem Or-Soko and Noah Efron talk about (1) The so-called "Statement of Principles" signed this week by the leaders of the so-called "Parties of Repair & Hope", and why it left us so-called "unimpressed", and (2) How schools ought to mark the third anniversary of October 7.
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Third anniversary of October 7, and things make only less sense now than they did before.
Plus: Remembering a poet who really listened to kids, looking into the eyes of a Palestinian activist across the table and seeing something familiar, and the first cleansing rain of the new year.

In a very special episode in celebration of the holiday of Sukkot, Noah goes on about the etrog, its complicated past, and the hope it holds for the futures of all of us.
(With two versions of Naomi Shemer's canonical Sukkot song, "Shlomit Bonah Sukkat Shalom", the one by Mashina, and the other by Ash&Buzi.)

Tehila Wenger, deputy director of the Israeli branch of the Geneva Initiative, and Noah talk about why so many Jewish-Israeli politicians and parties rule out joining a coalition with Palestinian-Israeli politicians and parties. Then Hannah Brown, film critic for the Jerusalem Post, joins to talk about the eventful week in Israeli cinema, starting with the Ophir Award Best-Picture winner Tell Me Everything, and continuing with the controversial new documentary about the IDF's policy on civilian casualties, NAZA, which won a Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and got the longest standing ovation in the history of film.
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: What we wouldn't give for some superego: Have AI videos made elections all id?
Plus: Back when blowing shofar at the Wall was illegal, gearing up with friends for the elections in 40 days, life with a kid on the spectrum and awesome new music with a Days-of-Awe vibe.

Linda, Judah and Noah talk about (1) the weird party mergers and odd-couples running together for Knesset in the upcoming elections, and what these strange bedfellows say about the state of Israeli politics, and (2) the "Nili force" which, we recently learned, was started just after October 7, dedicated to capturing or killing every last one of the 5,000-odd Gazans who poured over the border on that day, to pillage, plunder, rape and murder. Is this sort of vengeance-to-the-last-man,-no-matter-how-long-it-takes what we want from our army and security forces?
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: What do we expect from 5787?
Plus: Yossi Sarid as we never knew him when he was alive, Selichot in Zikhron Yaakov, and big slabs of meat in Jerusalem. Plus, new music with a New Year's vibe.

Two years ago, this week, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin and Libi & Orly Goldberg-Polin buried their son and brother Hersh. The rest of us did, too. In this episode, we hear Rachel Goldberg-Polin during those 328 days when Hersh was in those tunnels alive, until he wasn't.