Begin exploring
today’s
biggest Jewish
questions…
×
Rachel Grady: Documentary Film
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rachel Grady – documentary filmmaker of One of Us and Jesus Camp – about the expressive power of documentaries.
Summary
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rachel Grady – documentary filmmaker of One of Us and Jesus Camp – about the expressive power of documentaries.
While fiction and non-fiction literature are powerful creative tools to explore an issue, documentaries have a unique power to portray communities from the inside. And while these portrayals may be uniquely powerful, they can also be uniquely controversial.
- What can documentaries achieve that other mediums can’t?
- How can documentaries help their audiences explore unfamiliar communities?
- How are documentaries suited to exploring religious communities specifically?
Tune in to hear a conversation on documentary filmmaking, and for Rachel’s recommendations for which documentaries you should watch next.
Rachel Grady is a documentary filmmaker and director. She co-directed the Academy Award-nominated Jesus Camp, the Emmy-nominated The Boys of Baraka, and the Emmy-winning DETROPIA, as well as One of Us. Rachel’s films are powerful explorations of under-explored qualities of communities. Rachel joins us to talk about her favorite documentaries.
Recommended Podcasts
podcast
Dovid Bashevkin: A Reform Rabbi Interviews an Orthodox Rabbi [Denominations 2/2]
David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko about denominations and Jewish Peoplehood.
podcast
Haviv Rettig Gur: ‘Hamas is upset the death toll in Gaza isn’t higher’
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
podcast
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.
podcast
Aliza and Ephraim Bulow: When A Spouse Loses Faith
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.
podcast
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
Diana Fersko: An Orthodox Rabbi Interviews a Reform Rabbi
We speak with Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue, about denominations and Jewish Peoplehood.
podcast
Shani Taragin: ‘It’s good that Judaism is hard’
Rabbanit Shani Taragin answers 18 questions on Jewish mysticism, including free will, prayer, and catharsis.
podcast
Bezalel Naor: Rav Kook’s Mystical Vision of Zionism
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Bezalel Naor—author, translator, and expert on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook—about Rav Kook’s relationship to the Land of Israel.
podcast
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.”
podcast
Jonathan Dekel-Chen: My Son was a Hostage in Gaza for 43 Million Seconds. He Felt Every One.
Sagui Dekel-Chen was held hostage in Gaza for 498 days—or 43 million seconds. He came home on Feb. 18.
podcast
Leah Forster: Of Comedy and Community
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Leah Forster, a world-famous ex-Hasidic comedian, to talk about how her journey has affected her comedy.
podcast
David Bashevkin: My Mental Health Journey
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin opens up about his mental health journey.
podcast
Moshe Gersht: ‘The world of mysticism begs for practicality’
Rabbi Moshe Gersht joins us to discuss free will, Mashiach, and consciousness.
podcast
Jonathan Rosenblum: ‘Would you want to live in a country run by Haredim?’
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives.
podcast
Suri Weingot: ‘The fellow Jew is as close to God as you’ll get’
Suri Weingot joins us to discuss the closeness of redemption, godliness, and education.
podcast
Alon Shalev: How Rav Hutner Found Existential Meaning
Shalev, Author of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s Theology of Meaning, talks existentialism, individualism, and more.
podcast
Rochi Ebner: Rav Kook’s Return to Our Soul
We speak with Rachel Tova Ebner about what the spirituality of Rav Kook adds to our Jewish practice and to our understanding of ourselves.
podcast
Kayla Haber-Goldstein: Questioning the Answers: Rebuilding Your Faith
On this episode of 18Forty, we have a frank conversation with author Kayla Haber-Goldstein about her personal, painful journey to find God.
podcast
Netta Barak-Corren: ‘I hope that Gaza will see a day when it is no longer ruled by Hamas’
Israel is facing several existential crises—at least three, by Netta Barak-Corren’s account.
podcast
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.
podcast
Pawel Maciejko: Sabbateanism and the Roots of Secular Judaism
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.
podcast
Miriam Gisser: Recovery as Change
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Miriam about changing, or even rebuilding, one’s life.
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.
Recommended Articles
Essays
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.
Essays
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.
Essays
How Rav Kook and the Lubavitcher Rebbe Saw the Jewish People
What if the deepest encounter with God is found not in texts, but in a people? Rav Kook and the Lubavitcher Rebbe…
Essays
5 Ways to Transmit Tradition to a Skeptical Generation
In Parshat Bo, the Torah anticipates skepticism—and builds tradition around the questions it knows will come.
Essays
A Letter to Children Estranged From Their Parents
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
Essays
This Might Be What Saves Us from AI
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro asks us to reconsider what, if anything, separates humans from machines.
Essays
The Siddur Has a Lot of Prayers. Where Did They Come From?
Between early prayer books, kabbalistic additions, and the printing press, the siddur we have today is filled with prayers from across history.
Essays
5 Ways a Heart Hardens: When Choice Becomes Destiny
In Parshat Vaera, Pharaoh becomes the Torah’s most unsettling case study in the limits of free will.
Essays
(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.
Essays
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.
Essays
20 Books Our Guests Want You to Read
Moshe Benovitz, Susan Cain, Philip Goff, and other 18Forty guests recommended books. Here are the top 20.
Essays
The Hardal Community Explained: Torah, Am Yisrael, and Redemption
Religious Zionism is a spectrum—and I would place my Hardal community on the right of that spectrum.
Essays
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.
Essays
Is Judaism Fundamentally Zionist?
God promised the Land of Israel to the Jewish People, so why are some rabbis anti-Zionists?
Essays
Who Wrote the Siddur?
I’ve searched high and low for an accessible English book or essay addressing the development of the siddur, but my findings are…
Essays
Do You Have the Free Will to Read This?
The most important question in Jewish thought is whether we are truly “free” to decide anything.
Essays
How Did Modernity Change Jewish Prayer?
Modernity brought sweeping changes to the Jewish community—and prayer was not immune, not in Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, or even Orthodox communities.
Essays
How God Taught a Broken People to Hope Again
Parshat Vaera captures the moment when hope seems lost—and God answers with His Name.
Essays
Your Guide to Reading Rav Kook
I’d advise reading Rav Kook as you would read a poem, with an eye less to the argument or claim he is…
Essays
A Letter to Parents of Intergenerational Divergees
Children don’t come with guarantees. Washing machines come with guarantees.
Essays
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…
Essays
The History of Halacha, from the Torah to Today
Missing from Tanach—the Jewish People’s origin story—is one of the central aspects of Jewish life: the observance of halacha. Why?
Essays
Will I Survive the Winter?
The odds are looking better now that I’m rereading Rick Rubin’s book.
Recommended Videos
videos
The Hasidic Rebbe Who Left it All — And Then Returned
Why did this Hasidic Rebbe move from Poland to Israel, only to change his name, leave religion, and disappear to Los Angeles?
videos
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…
videos
Joey Rosenfeld: What Does Jewish Mysticism Say About This Moment?
We speak with Joey Rosenfeld about how our generation can understand suffering.
videos
Mysticism
In a disenchanted world, we can turn to mysticism to find enchantment, to remember that there is something more under the surface…
videos
Jewish Peoplehood
What is Jewish peoplehood? In a world that is increasingly international in its scope, our appreciation for the national or the tribal…
videos
Suri Weingot: ‘The fellow Jew is as close to God as you’ll get’
What does it mean to experience God as lived reality?
videos
Why Naftuli Moster Left Haredi Education Activism
We speak with Naftuli Moster about how and why he changed his understanding of the values imparted by Judaism.
videos
Moshe Weinberger: ‘The Jewish People are God’s shofar’
In order to study Kabbalah, argues Rav Moshe Weinberger, one must approach it with humility.
videos
A Reform Rabbi Interviews an Orthodox Rabbi | Dovid Bashevkin & Diana Fersko (Part 2)
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue,…
videos
Moshe Gersht: ‘The world of mysticism begs for practicality’
Rabbi Moshe Gersht first encountered the world of Chassidus at the age of twenty, the beginning of what he terms his “spiritual…
videos
Sarah Yehudit Schneider: ‘Jewish mysticism is not so different from any mysticism’
Rabbanit Sarah Yehudit Schneider believes meditation is the entryway to understanding mysticism.
videos
What Do Love and Romance Mean in a Modern World?
Love is one of the great vulnerabilities of our time. Can we handle it?
videos
Matisyahu: Teshuva in the Spotlight
We talk to Matisyahu, who has publicly re-embraced his Judaism and Zionism.
videos
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…
videos
18Forty: Exploring Big Questions (An Introduction)
18Forty is a new media company that helps users find meaning in their lives through the exploration of Jewish thought and ideas.…