The Promised Podcast: "The Things We See & Things We Don’t" Edition
Date: June 26, 2025
Host: Noah Efron
Guest: Miriam Herschlag
Podcast: TLV1 Studios
Overview
This episode of The Promised Podcast is a tour through the harrowing, heartening, and paradoxical past few weeks in Israel. Set against a backdrop of war—between Israel and Iran, and with Gaza ever-present in the nation's psyche—the show explores the interplay between the visible (bombings, music, makeshift communities) and the invisible (vanishing news stories, unseen suffering, quiet gestures of hope). The hosts, with deep affection for Israel and all its contradictions, muse on what the country is living through—war, unity, forgetfulness, connection, and the everyday sacredness within chaos.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Opening: Tel Aviv’s Duality in War
[00:33–05:00]
- Noah paints a vivid picture of Tel Aviv during the recent attacks:
- Downward current: Citizens descend into underground shelters, transformed by volunteers into ad hoc communities filled with camaraderie, music, and makeshift comforts.
- Upward current: Live music slowly resurfaces in clubs and rooftops, life asserting itself above ground.
- Biblical quote (Babylonian Talmud Ta’ nit 5): Stresses the interplay of the mundane and earthly ("Jerusalem below") and the divine ("Jerusalem above"), which Noah sees played out in Tel Aviv’s spirit and resilience.
Notable Quote
“...in both the Tel Aviv of below and the Tel Aviv of above, there were drugs and music and laughter, and in both, a good measure of love.” — Noah [04:10]
2. Song & Story: The Hope & Melancholy of ‘Bashanah Haba’ah’
[05:23–16:00]
- The hosts discuss a video by Judith Ravitz performing "Bashanah Haba’ah"—an optimistic national anthem—on a Tel Aviv rooftop after rocket attacks.
- The deep personal origins of the song: Lyricist Ehud Manor wrote it to imagine family reunions with his father and brother, both gone; the melody was originally elegiac, only made hopeful by a change in tempo.
- The podcast samples various renditions through the decades; the song becomes a metaphor for Israel’s yearning for normalcy amidst loss.
Notable Quote
“‘Bashanah Haba’ah’... in the song it is possible to do what we could not do in reality. Those who are living and those who are dead, they sit together on the porch like before, like always...” — Noah, quoting Ehud Manor [12:12]
3. Discussion #1: "The 12-Day War": Israel vs. Iran
[20:22–30:53]
Background
- Former US President Donald Trump proclaims “The 12 Day War” over via social media, crediting both Israel and Iran.
- The war involved devastating exchanges: Israeli attacks on Iran’s military/nuclear infrastructure; Iran’s missiles strike Israeli cities, leaving hundreds dead and wounded on both sides; thousands left homeless.
Analysis
- Noah: Despite media spin, this was a significant event:
- “It was an astonishing thing after…my entire adult lifetime living in fear of Iran’s nuclear program... to see Israel causing damage to this program. It could well be something that changed our lives for the better.” [23:12]
- Miriam:
- Agrees it's historic, but troubled by how pain and politics almost immediately “translated realness into narrative.”
- Points to discomfort that Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu will dominate the story; both are figures she and many dislike or distrust.
- Warns that despite military success, Netanyahu’s inability to make political concessions may yet squander any gains.
Notable Quotes
“For me, it is just so shocking and jarring how quickly this event... becomes virtual narrative and politics. It was instant...” — Miriam [25:29]
“In sum, both of us see this as in fact a triumph that could in any instance, still turn bad.” — Noah [30:43]
4. Discussion #2: Gaza’s Vanishing (and the Blind Spots of War)
[32:28–58:25]
A. Jump Starting Hope in Gaza
[32:55–42:41]
- Miriam spotlights David Lehrer and the Aravah Institute collaborating with DAMOR, a Gaza-based Palestinian NGO, to deliver urgent aid (food, water, toilets) within Gaza despite immense obstacles and popular belief that it all “ends up in Hamas’s hands.”
- Lehrer insists trust, not just resources, is what’s most scarce and valuable.
Notable Quotes
“I always say that the scarcest resource in the Middle East is not water, it's trust.” — David Lehrer [33:18]
“The idea that everything that goes in is commandeered by Hamas is just not true.” — David Lehrer [37:31]
B. Gaza Off the Radar
- As the Iran war took over headlines, deaths, suffering, and ongoing hostilities in Gaza disappeared from Israeli (and world) consciousness—even as hostages were returned and civilians killed.
- Miriam observes that while distraction is human, “even before this, there has been a curtain across so much of what we know that’s come with this war from the very beginning… It is so important to keep pushing ourselves to pay attention to this...” [47:43]
- Noah notes "at least two issues": (1) actual attention to events in Gaza vanishes, (2) reliable information is hard to come by due to misinformation and deliberate disinformation.
Notable Quotations
“The suffering that ordinary Gazans are experiencing now is a blast. Yawning maw. Few people can stare into that pain.” — Miriam [32:55]
“One of the big reports... was this new calculation... Harvard report says that 371,000 people were killed in Gaza—which was strange to think that Hamas itself was underreporting by a factor of six... it had nothing to do with Harvard and it wasn’t what [the author] was saying.” — Noah [52:50]
- The hosts reflect on how almost unnoticed, Mahmoud Abbas made several conciliatory statements toward Trump, Hamas, and Israel—potentially big news, but lost amid chaos.
Memorable Reflection
“Maybe we wanted yesterday to be paying attention to whether... the nuclear sites and the enriched uranium had been neutralized or not—which was a huge smackdown between the Pentagon and the CIA and the Israeli Atomic Organization. Those are really, really big things happening at exactly that same time... Any other week on this podcast [Abbas’ statement] would be item number one.” — Miriam [57:15]
5. Things We Haven’t Seen: Unity, War, and the Story of Gavna
[60:24–78:33]
- Noah shares a moving account of "Mechina Kdam Tsveit Gavna", an army prep academy for ultra-Orthodox youth who choose to serve. Their journey often involves family estrangement; the podcast highlights transformative reconciliation as some parents come to accept their children’s choices.
- The story of Ori Danino (ultra-Orthodox turned secular, killed as a soldier in captivity after returning to rescue friends from the Nova Festival massacre on Oct 7) is told as an emblem of bridging divides, connection, and unity.
- International donations (from a bar mitzvah in Australia) help sponsor Haridi youth making their own way, reinforcing that small, unseen efforts can build bridges across deep divides.
Notable Quotes
“What is important is my connection with him. Parents who cannot see this, they are losing a child. They are missing out on an entire world.” — Ilana Zaevi, parent [63:58]
“That is what Ori left to us... if he did so great an act, we as his family, me as his father, I have to continue, at the very least, at least to learn from him.” — Rav Elhanan Danino [73:13]
“What I liked so much about Rav Dunenore's cause was that Ori's life was about bridging that divide. He existed in both worlds.” — Ben Cave [77:55]
6. What a Country: Love and Improvisation in Wartime Weddings
[81:12–89:19]
- Miriam shares a personal segement: Her son married in Jerusalem hours after a missile barrage, with last-minute changes, volunteers stepping up, and acts of kindness. The story becomes a testament to improvisation, collective spirit, and the enduring force of love, even in darkness.
Notable Quote
“Some people saw this wedding as an act of defiance or courage. I don't quite think so. It was kind of harebrained. It could have gone terribly wrong. What it was, though, was the potent life force of love.” — Miriam [87:01]
7. What a Country: The Cat on the Tel Aviv Roof
[89:22–93:02]
- Noah recounts a “small” act: people uniting to save a cat trapped on a locked roof amidst rocket fire. A patchwork of volunteers, cabs, and animal rescue workers pull together, showing everyday heroism and empathy even as larger tragedies unfold.
Notable Quote
“While all of this is going on, there’s a cat crying... And people heard her and they answered her call. And a little soul in Israel was saved.” — Noah [92:40]
Memorable Quotes & Timestamps
- “...in both the Tel Aviv of below and the Tel Aviv of above, there were drugs and music and laughter, and in both, a good measure of love.” — Noah [04:10]
- “For me, it is just so shocking and jarring how quickly this event… becomes virtual narrative and politics. It was instant…” — Miriam [25:29]
- “One of the big reports… was this new calculation… Harvard report says 371,000 people killed in Gaza... which was strange to think that Hamas itself was underreporting by a factor of six…” — Noah [52:50]
- “What is important is my connection with him. Parents who cannot see this, they are losing a child. They are missing out on an entire world.” — Ilana Zaevi [63:58]
- “It was kind of harebrained... What it was, though, was the potent life force of love.” — Miriam [87:01]
- “While all of this is going on, there’s a cat crying... And people heard her and they answered her call. And a little soul in Israel was saved.” — Noah [92:40]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- [00:33] – Tel Aviv’s Dual Currents: Shelters and Rooftop Music
- [05:23] – The Song “Bashanah Haba’ah”: Origins & Meaning
- [20:22] – The 12-Day War: Israel, Iran, & Narrative
- [32:55] – Aid & Trust: Humanitarian Work in Gaza
- [42:41] – Gaza Vanishing from Headlines
- [60:24] – Gavna Pre-Army Program & Bridging Sectors
- [81:12] – “What a Country”: A Wedding in Wartime
- [89:22] – “What a Country”: Saving a Cat Amid Chaos
Tone & Style
Throughout, the tone shifts between lament, analysis, humor, tenderness, and hope, always deeply human—marked by Noah’s self-deprecating wit and Miriam’s warmth and clarity.
Takeaway
Even as history alters the surface—through violence, distraction, and politics—the deeper story is of connections, both broken and mended: volunteers at work, parents finding their children again, a wedding in the shadow of war, and neighbors saving a cat. The show asks listeners to keep their eyes open—not just for the obvious tragedies and triumphs, but also for the small moments of grace and unity that keep hope alive in the land.