The “Yesterday and Today” Edition

In an inspiring demonstration of environmental consciousness, this week the Promised Podcast mixes new discussions with gently repurposed discussions from our archives, producing an episode with the vintage grace of a fine wine and the bracing freshness of just-squeezed orange juice.

The G Word

A while back, in honor of the High Holidays, Haaretz polled all 120 Members of the Knesset, asking each of them whether or not they believe in God, and found, as one journalist later put it, mostly sycophancy and cowardice. But do we want and need to know whether or not our politicians believe in god, and what can we learn from the answers they gave us when asked if they did?

You Can’t Go Home Again

The brilliant novelist, non-fiction impresario Ayelet Waldman returns to Israel (where she was born, and where she once considered spending her life) after many years away, and this inspires each of us to try to see the country afresh through her eyes, and ask how have things changed as we have been raising families, pursuing careers and made our different ways in the world.

For the Sins

As every year on Yom Kippur, Jews chant the “Al Heyt” prayer, for me one of the most affecting and beautiful of all that days very affecting and meaningful prayers. It is a list of sins that we have committed over the previous year, categorized in various ways, together mapping a rich ontology of iniquity. We search our souls and ask ourselves what our greatest political sins have been over the past year, on the Left, maybe in the country, maybe as individuals.

Music

Shuli Rand, off his brand-new record, Ratzoh va-Shov.

HaHaklaim Avadim Etz va-Pri (beginning at 00:00:34) Da’ B’ni Ahuvi