At Passover Seders all around the world, a place setting was laid before a chair left empty for one of the 133 hostages held in Gaza. We look back at the 200 days of anguish, hope, and despair that divide Simchat Torah on October 7 from this weekās holiday.
Linda Gradstein and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
āGoing Too Farsi? (Or, the Persian Incursion)ā
We ā with the help of the US, UK, Jordan and other capable allies ā buffly rebuffed the biggest missile and drone attack on Israel ever. But what does it tell us about the past and augur for the future?
āPassover, 5784ā
How is this Passover different from all other Passovers?
Plus, a bereaved father on solidarity, flower-girls, fruit bats and more music of our times.
Marking six months since the massacres and the start of the war, Miriam Herschlag and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āUs, Hereā
Whether and how we Israelis have changed, in light of all that has happened. Are we different than we were six months and one week ago?
āUs, Thereā
Whether and how we Jews around the world have changed, in light of all that has happened. Are we different than we were six months and one week ago?
āIranās Promised āPersian Incursionāā
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Are we losing sleep over Iranās promised āPersian Incursionā?
Plus, the presence of October 7 around the Seder table.Ā And, more music of our times.
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Don Futterman and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āFamilies 2.0ā
The organization of the families of the hostages has decided to change strategies, linking its campaign to bring the hostages home to the campaign for āelections now.ā Is the fight to get the hostages home entering a new phase?
āSidelocks & Sidearmsā
A Supreme Court injunction cuts off, cold-turkey, funding for army-aged, ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva students who learn instead of serve. Couldnāt they have let the turkey get to room-temperature?
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Should a photographer who watched and snapped his shutter while people were being killed, raped and kidnapped get a prize for a picture he took?
Plus a farewell to one of the countryās greatest novelists and activists. And, more music of our times.
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron and newly-minted Doctor of Thinkology Gilad Halpern discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āAbstention Dissensionā
There seems to be a very fast decline in US-Israel relations, after the Americans abstain on a UN Security Council resolution that Israel expected them to veto. Are Israel and America, like Ross and Rachel, on a break?
āStandard Deviationā
An expert in urban warfare says Israel is more careful to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza than any other army in history. But even if that is true, does it matter?
āThe Great Rupture in American Jewish Lifeā
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Is Peter Beinart right that there is a āgreat rupture in American Jewish lifeā? If he is, should we worry?
Plus a farewell to a man who spent decades rebuilding violins that survived the Holocaust, often when the musicians who played them did not.Ā Plus more music of our times.
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron and ubermensch writer Bradley Burston discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āDespite It All, Peace?ā
Is all we are sayinā, just give peace a chance?
āAmalekā
Is it like reverse anti-Semitism?
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Kafka said, āA book must be an ice-axe for the frozen sea within us.ā This one is.
Order Bradley Burstonās new book, The End of Israel: Dispatches from a Path to Catastrophe, here!
Plus a glimpse into the worlds of ultra-Orthodox parents of kids who grew up ultra-Orthodox and were murdered at the druggy, dancy, free-lovey Nova festival.Ā Plus more music of our times.
Miriam Herschlag, Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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This monthās Atlantic cover story argues that the āGolden Ageā for American Jews has come to a close and, with it, maybe the āGolden Ageā for America and the āGolden Ageā for Jews. Is the US putting the āmeanā back into āreversion to the meanā?
āRetractedā
A well-regarded literary journal retracts an essay by an Israeli on account of, well, what exactly? Is it a literary crime to be an Israeli in 2024?
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: This yearās Eurovision is gonna be a sh*tshow.
Plus poetry on the moon and more songs of these troubled days.
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Linda Gradstein and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āJerusalem, Mon Amour?ā
Whatās it mean that Jerusalem just elected to its city council a straight-up majority of ultra-Orthodox men?
āReckoning?ā
Is it time for soul-searching and spiritual reckoning over the death and destruction in Gaza?
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Five months since October 7, we are awfully tired.
All that and remembering Beige Shohat, plus more songs of these troubled days.
Miriam Herschlag, Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āGoing Localā
They say that, in a democracy, even the most humble among us can be elected to public office. Now we know itās true!
āMayor for Lifeā
Few positions have more job security than mayor of a major city in Israel.
āJon Stewart Goes Viral on the Gaza Warā
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Jon Stewart goes viral on the Gaza war.
All this and a memorial tribute to MK Charlie Biton, and more songs of our troubled times.
138 days in, The Promised Podcast looks back.
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āPremonitionā
āCity of Slaughterā
āSallyā
āThe Wheat Grows Againā
āThe Battalionās WhatsAppā
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Linda Gradstein and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.
Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon
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āElections Now?ā
Billboards all over the country and full-page ads in the papers call for new elections now. Is this a good idea?
āThe Draft on the Draft: Getting the Shaft?ā
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: What is it about war that makes people want to pair off?
All that and risking the lives of dozens of young men to save the lives of two old men, plus more moving songs of these troubled days.
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