We discuss 1) the complaint that our do-over elections are costing us a ton of money 2) what accounts for the rise of Milton Friedman style capital-C Conservatism 3) whether or not non-Orthodox Judaism has something to offer Israeli politics

We discuss 1) what the hell happened that set us on the path to new elections (again!) 2) whether the huge demonstration this week set the Center-Left on a new path 3) what we ought to make of the counter-protest that set Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox Jews scurrying, eyes covered, as women took off their tops

We discuss 1) what to expect from once-and-future Likud leader, Gideon Sa’ar 2) an ultra-Orthodox boycott of a glass factory that keeps its furnaces glowing on Shabbat 3) the Zionist love affair with Bar Kokhba, who led a 2nd century revolt against the Romans that ended in disaster, and whether it’s time to find new heroes

We discuss 1) the strange glue that binds former Soviets and God-fearing ultra-Orthodox Jews in Netanyahu’s government 2) the new credit-rating system that reveals who’s a deadbeat who doesn’t pay back loans 3) the hoopla over the return of the TV series Shtisel

We discuss 1) the all-time high turnover among Knesset Members 2) the brouhaha over the decision to limit how much mayors can pay pop stars to perform for Independence Day celebrations 3) the International Bible Contest, the weird centerpiece of Independence Day celebrations for the past 61 years

We discuss 1) an Instagram Story reconstructing what it would have been like if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram 2) a commercial for a big-box discount supermarket that presents Ashkenazi “wholesalers” as heartless oppressors of Mizrahim 3) the strange list of honorees chosen to light torches at the official Independence day ceremony

We discuss 1) whether it’s time for the Jewish left and the Arab left to join together 2) the brouhaha in the AIS about a new journal issue that some consider unscholarly and too pro-Israel 3) a recent poll that found Israelis to be less concerned about climate change and other global threats than anyone else in the world

We discuss 1) why Israeli young people are more right wing than their elders 2) Peter Beinart’s conclusion that the lesson of the last election is that the time has come to make Israelis suffer for our sins 3) what Exodus story we plan to tell our kids this Passover

We discuss 1) the election results and what they mean 2) whether it’s time to consider the sane-ish right and the center joining forces to form a gov without the most extreme of the extremists 3) as we on the left lose election after election, how are we supposed to keep getting out of bed in the morning?

We discuss 1) our near-stumble into war and whether the upcoming elections affected Bibi’s response 2) what we make of the election campaign that has so many of us scratching our heads 3) an angry essay by an Israeli poet, listing all he is ashamed of here