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Recommended Podcasts
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Nechumi Yaffe: ‘I hate the idea that we are being killed and need to kill’
As a Haredi woman of the Israeli left, Nechumi Yaffe lives between a few different worlds—and she feels at home in Israel’s new “Religious Left” movement.
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Ben and Yael de Toledo: Baalei Teshuva Building Community in Israel
We talk to Ben and Yael de Toledo about doing teshuva by returning to community.
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Tania Friedlander: Teshuva and Becoming Capable of More
We talk to Tania Friedlander about how her husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis challenged her expectations and taught her to become capable of more.
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Yehoshua Pfeffer: ‘The army is not ready for real Haredi participation’
Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer answers 18 questions on Israel, including the Haredi draft, Israel as a religious state, Messianism, and so much more.
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Chaim Saiman: Is Talmud the Jewish Constitution?
In this episode, David discusses the mystifying qualities of the Talmud and how we find meaning in the nuance of Talmudic law with special guest Chaim Saiman, professor at Villanova Law School.
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Einat Wilf: ‘Jews Are Never Allowed To Win, and Arabs Are Never Allowed to Lose’
The true enemy in Israel’s current war, Einat Wilf says, is what she calls “Palestinianism.”
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Why 1840?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down for a special podcast with our host, David Bashevkin, to discuss the podcast’s namesake, the year 1840.
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Bethany S. Mandel: Jews without Community
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with conservative journalist and cultural commentator, Bethany S. Mandel, to talk about the entrances and exits of her life, reconstructing Jewish identity, and creating a Jewish home outside of the Jewish community.
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Mendel Horowitz: A Good Enough Elul
We talk to Mendel Horowitz, who introduces us to the notion of having a “good-enough Elul.”
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Shlomo Pill: When a Rabbi Doctor Struggles With Addiction
We talk to Rabbi Shlomo Pill about how Torah and teshuva have helped him handle his struggle with addiction.
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Victoria Hanna: ‘The riddle is a part of our existence’
Victoria Hanna, known for her kabbalistic rap, explains how the human body can be a place for divine revelation.
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Michelle Chesner: A Page is Worth a Thousand Worlds
In this episode, David and special guest, Michelle Chesner, Columbia University’s Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies, discuss how the formatting of sacred Jewish texts has developed throughout Jewish history and impacted religious Judaism.
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Rav Moshe Weinberger: Can Mysticism Become a Community?
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.
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Liel Leibovitz and Lisa Ann Sandell: When A Spouse Finds Faith
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Liel Leibovitz and Lisa Ann Sandell about what happens when one partner wants to increase their religious practice.
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David Bashevkin: My Mental Health Journey
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin opens up about his mental health journey.
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David Bashevkin: ‘We are meant to teach the world how to embrace unchosen identity’
David Bashevkin discusses how to embrace holiness, the purpose of prayer, and the search for meaning in an age of distraction.
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When a Parent Becomes Estranged
In this episode, we talk to a father and daughter who were estranged and then reunited.
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Frieda Vizel: How the World Misunderstands Hasidic Jewry
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Frieda Vizel—a formerly Satmar Jew who makes educational content about Hasidic life—about her work presenting Hasidic Williamsburg to the outside world, and vice-versa.
podcast
Modi Rosenfeld: A Serious Conversation About Comedy
In this special Purim episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we bring you a recording from our live event with the comedian Modi, for our annual discussion on humor.
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Shlomo Pill: ‘Mysticism is really just a mapping of human experience’
Shlomo Pill explains how mysticism is the soul of the Torah and prayer is the avenue through which we recognize God’s role in reality.
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The Dardik Family: A Child Moves Away From Zionism
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.
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Menachem Penner & Gedalia Robinson: A Child’s Orientation
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.
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Eli Rubin: Is the Rebbe the Messiah?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Eli Rubin—a scholar, Lubavitcher Hasid, and author of the forthcoming book Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism—about life’s big cosmic questions.
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Haviv Rettig Gur: ‘Hamas is upset the death toll in Gaza isn’t higher’
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
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The Love That Cannot Be Broken: Rashi’s Theory of Jewish Resilience
What can Rashi’s reading of Shir HaShirim teach us about antisemitism, Jewish identity, and the sources of resilience in a post-Oct. 7…
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3 Arguments for God’s Existence
Perhaps the most fundamental question any religious believer can ask is: “Does God exist?” It’s time we find good answers.
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Nitzavim-Vayelech: The Choice You Inherited
In Nitzavim-Vayelech, Moshe makes a covenant with those who were there—and those who had not yet arrived.
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What Are the Origins of the Oral Torah?
A bedrock principle of Orthodox Judaism is that we received not only the Written Torah at Sinai but also the oral one—does…
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Show & Tale: Inside Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Books are not only how one acquires wisdom, but how to reach ever-deeper depths in the world as well.
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(What) Do Jews Believe About the Afterlife?
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
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A Brief History of Jewish Mysticism
To talk about the history of Jewish mysticism is in many ways to talk about the history of the mystical community.
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A Letter to Children Estranged From Their Parents
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
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What Haredim Can Teach Us About Getting Off Our Smartphones
Kosher phones make calls and send texts. No Instagram, no TikTok, and no distractions. Maybe it’s time the world embraces them.
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How Archaeology Rewrote the History of Tefillin
From verses in Parshat Bo to desert caves, tefillin emerge as one of Judaism’s earliest embodied practices.
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A Letter to Parents of Intergenerational Divergees
Children don’t come with guarantees. Washing machines come with guarantees.
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Change and Self-Acceptance: Rav Shagar’s Paradox of Teshuva
Is teshuva about changing ourselves, or is it about accepting who we are? For this paradox, Rav Shagar says, it’s both.
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Do We Care Too Much? Furor Sanandi and Our Desire to Heal
From Freud through today, our desire to heal asks us to consider why we care so badly—and maybe if it’s hindering the…
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“I, Too, Am America”: Five Poems for America’s 250th
A personal return to the poems that taught me how to imagine America
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Between Modern Orthodoxy and Religious Zionism: At Home as an Immigrant
My family made aliyah over a decade ago. Navigating our lives as American immigrants in Israel is a day-to-day balance.
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The Israeli Peace Activist and Religious Leader You Need to Know
Rav Froman was a complicated character in Israel and in his own home city of Tekoa, as people from both the right…
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How to Prep for Talmud Daily
Before you open a page of Gemara, meet the people, ideas, and arguments that make the Talmud worth opening.
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How the Lubavitcher Rebbe Teaches Us to Transcend Ourselves
I consider the Rebbe to be my personal teacher, and I find this teaching particularly relevant for us now.
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Towards the Derech: How Does a Reform Jew Return?
The “way” of myself and other formerly Reform Jews is unclear, but our desire for spiritual growth is sincere.
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Jonathan Rosenblum Answers 18 Questions on the Haredi Draft, Netanyahu, and a Religious State
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives. A Yale-trained lawyer…
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Intergenerational Divergence
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A Vulnerable Conversation About Shame, Selfhood, & Authenticity with Shais Taub & David Bashevkin
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Shais Taub, the rabbi behind the organization SoulWords, about shame, selfhood, and…
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Tania Friedlander: Teshuva and Becoming Capable of More
We talk to Tania Friedlander about how her husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis challenged her expectations and taught her to become capable of more.
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Teshuva
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Ben and Yael de Toledo: Baalei Teshuva Building Community in Israel
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Ben and Yael de Toledo, founders of Pnima Jerusalem, a soulful community…
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Moshe Benovitz: Why Religious Change Doesn’t Always Last
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, recorded live at Stern College, we speak with Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, director of NCSY Kollel,…
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Torah Study and ChatGPT: How Should Jewish Education Respond to AI?
On this 18Forty panel, we speak with Alex Jakubowski of Lightning Studios, Sara Wolkenfeld of Sefaria, and Ari Lamm of BZ Media…
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Julia Senkfor & Cameron Berg: Does AI Have an Antisemitism Problem?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast—recorded at the 18Forty X ASFoundation AI Summit—we speak with ASF’s Julia Senkfor and AI researcher…
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An Orthodox Rabbi Interviews a Reform Rabbi | Dovid Bashevkin & Diana Fersko
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue, about denominations…
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Jewish Peoplehood
What is Jewish peoplehood? In a world that is increasingly international in its scope, our appreciation for the national or the tribal…
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Etan Epstein: New Journeys in Torah Learning
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Etan Epstein, the founder of The 300 Club, a program of…
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Censorship
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Mysticism
In a disenchanted world, we can turn to mysticism to find enchantment, to remember that there is something more under the surface…