We try to make transcripts available the week a podcast is released—thank you for your patience!
How can our generation understanding mysticism, philosophy, and suffering in today’s chaotic world?
We speak with Yehuda Geberer about the history of the yeshiva world.
We speak with Rabbi Aaron Kotler about the beginnings of the American yeshiva world.
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
Ora Wiskind joins us to discuss free will, transformation, and brokenness.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Aliza and Ephraim Bulow, a married couple whose religious paths diverged over the course of their shared life.
We speak with Professors Elisheva Carlebach and Debra Kaplan about women’s religious, social, and communal roles in early modern Jewish life.
The true enemy in Israel’s current war, Einat Wilf says, is what she calls “Palestinianism.”
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to author Bruce Feiler about family narratives.
Leading Israeli historian Benny Morris answers 18 questions on Israel, including Gaza, Palestinian-Israeli peace prospects, morality, and so much more.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Judah, Naomi, and Aharon Akiva Dardik—an olim family whose son went to military jail for refusing to follow to IDF orders and has since become a ceasefire activist at Columbia University—about sticking together as a family despite their fundamental differences.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Ora Wiskind, professor and author, to discuss her life journey, both as a Jew and as an academic, and her attitude towards mysticism.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Rabbi Daniel Grama—rabbi of Westside Shul and Valley Torah High School—and his daughter Aliza—a former Bais Yaakov student and recovered addict—about navigating their religious and other differences.
Prof. Moshe Idel joins us to discuss mysticism, diversity, and the true concerns of most Jews throughout history.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Lizzy Savetsky, who went from a career in singing and fashion to being a Jewish activist and influencer, about her work advocating for Israel online.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Menachem Penner—dean of RIETS at Yeshiva University—and his son Gedalia—a musician, cantor-in-training, and member of the LGBTQ community—about their experience in reconciling their family’s religious tradition with Gedalia’s sexual orientation.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to historian and professor Pawel Maciejko about the false messiah Sabbatai Zevi, Sabbateanism, and the roots of Jewish secularism.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David is joined by comedian Alex Edelman for a special Purim discussion exploring the place of humor and levity in a world that often demands our solemnity.
On this episode of 18Forty, we explore the world of Jewish dating.
Israel is facing several existential crises—at least three, by Netta Barak-Corren’s account.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Rav Moshe Weinberger, rabbi and educator, to discuss the role of mysticism in modern-day Judaism.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Ken Brodkin, rabbi of New Jersey’s Congregation B’nai Israel, about how he helped turn it into “the Orthodox synagogue for all Jews.”
Leading Israel historian Anita Shapira answers 18 questions on Israel, including destroying Hamas, the crisis up North, and Israel’s future.
Two programs are already bridging the Orthodox and non-Orthodox divide through the timeless tradition of chavruta learning.
Perhaps the most fundamental question any religious believer can ask is: “Does God exist?” It’s time we find good answers.
For some, Purim is the triumph of exile transformed. For others, it warns that exile can never replace the Land of Israel.
Divorce often upends emotional and financial stability. A Jewish organization in Los Angeles offers a better way forward.
Identity, desire, women in fiction, and more: What we’re reading before Purim.
Parshat Tetzaveh forces a question that modern culture struggles to answer: Can true influence require a willingness to be forgotten?
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wears the mantle of Kahane in Israel. Many Orthodox Jews welcomed him with open arms.
Kosher phones make calls and send texts. No Instagram, no TikTok, and no distractions. Maybe it’s time the world embraces them.
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
From verses in Parshat Bo to desert caves, tefillin emerge as one of Judaism’s earliest embodied practices.
Jews from the Land of Israel prayed differently than we do today—with marked difference. What happened to their traditions?
These recent works examine disagreement, reinvention, and spiritual courage across Jewish history.
My family made aliyah over a decade ago. Navigating our lives as American immigrants in Israel is a day-to-day balance.
To talk about the history of Jewish mysticism is in many ways to talk about the history of the mystical community.
Not every Jewish educational institution that I was in supported such questions, and in fact, many did not invite questions such as…
Between early prayer books, kabbalistic additions, and the printing press, the siddur we have today is filled with prayers from across history.
A bedrock principle of Orthodox Judaism is that we received not only the Written Torah at Sinai but also the oral one—does…
Jewish denominational labels are only 200-year-old labels. So why do they govern so much of modern Jewish life?
Changing how God appeared in my life began with changing how God appeared in my mind. I needed to let go of…
These four forces are quietly determining what our schools prioritize—and what they neglect.
Watching AI spread through every corner of life raises an unsettling question: What kind of world are we building for our children?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s brand of feminism resolved the paradoxes of Western feminism that confounded me since I was young.
In Israel’s Religious Zionist world, Tanach is not only a way to understand contemporary Jewish history—it is also a guide for the…
In this special Simchas Torah episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin—parents of murdered hostage Hersh…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue, about denominations…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Shais Taub, the rabbi behind the organization SoulWords, about shame, selfhood, and…
Why did this Hasidic Rebbe move from Poland to Israel, only to change his name, leave religion, and disappear to Los Angeles?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue,…
We speak with Joey Rosenfeld about how our generation can understand suffering.
We speak with Naftuli Moster about how and why he changed his understanding of the values imparted by Judaism.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, recorded live at Stern College, we speak with Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, director of NCSY Kollel,…
18Forty helps users find meaning through the exploration of Jewish thought and ideas.
In a disenchanted world, we can turn to mysticism to find enchantment, to remember that there is something more under the surface…
What is Jewish peoplehood? In a world that is increasingly international in its scope, our appreciation for the national or the tribal…
Rabbi Moshe Gersht first encountered the world of Chassidus at the age of twenty, the beginning of what he terms his “spiritual…
Rabbanit Sarah Yehudit Schneider believes meditation is the entryway to understanding mysticism.
Support Jewish explorations today by supporting 18Forty. Your partnership makes our work possible.
Donate today.
