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.
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.
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.
We talk to Rabbi YY Jacobson about how each of us can experience redemptive consciousness by feeling Hashem’s infinite love and presence in this moment.
Gedale Fenster joins us to discuss how to live a life of unshakeable faith and joy.
We talk to Elliot Kaufman about what happened inside Israel’s war room after October 7 and how Israel came to lose the battle over its own story.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to author Bruce Feiler about family narratives.
Rabbi Shmuel Braun joins us to discuss spirituality and free will.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Professor of Journalism at Columbia and author, Samuel G. Freedman, to talk about dissent not as a cause of ugliness and divide, but of beauty and unity.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin opens up about his mental health journey.
Dovid Bashevkin and Nachi Weinstein discuss the ideas behind Bashevkin’s book ‘I Read This Over Shabbos.’
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, we talk to a father and daughter who were estranged and then reunited.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Joey Rosenfeld, social worker and kabbalist, to talk about the differences between mysticism and rationalism and the roles they should play in our lives.
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives.
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.
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.
We talk to Michael Eisenberg about the state of the Jewish People in Israel and the diaspora.
Sagui Dekel-Chen was held hostage in Gaza for 498 days—or 43 million seconds. He came home on Feb. 18.
The true enemy in Israel’s current war, Einat Wilf says, is what she calls “Palestinianism.”
We do our best to have transcripts available the week an episode is released.
Efraim Palvanov answers questions on misinformation, prayer as self-reflection, and every Jew’s role in bringing Mashiach.
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.
We talk to Rabbi Shlomo Pill about how Torah and teshuva have helped him handle his struggle with addiction.
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.
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
At some point, my husband and I will need to tell my children that I’m agnostic. But for now, we’re focused on…
Perhaps the most fundamental question any religious believer can ask is: “Does God exist?” It’s time we find good answers.
Can Jewish fiction make sense of October 7?
What temporary spaces can reveal about attention, exposure, and the experience of not knowing.
Parshat Shemot introduces the enduring question of what it means to remain a people when acceptance proves fragile.
Joy and meaning can be found not only despite the brokenness, but even because of the brokenness.
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
My family made aliyah over a decade ago. Navigating our lives as American immigrants in Israel is a day-to-day balance.
I went to see a magnificent ancient manuscript at the Israel Museum. Instead, I found myself learning from a group of eight-year-olds.
Rav Froman was a complicated character in Israel and in his own home city of Tekoa, as people from both the right…
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
The Torah could have ended at Moshe’s grave. In Vezot HaBracha, it chooses to end with the Jewish People.
I consider the Rebbe to be my personal teacher, and I find this teaching particularly relevant for us now.
Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wears the mantle of Kahane in Israel. Many Orthodox Jews welcomed him with open arms.
A 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, a lone soldier, and more. Here are seven olim sharing their stories of aliyah.
To talk about the history of Jewish mysticism is in many ways to talk about the history of the mystical community.
It isn’t only censorship that creates the narrative of our history, but it is every creative endeavor that we engage in.
If You’re Reading These Words is a book in which all the heroes have died, yet it overflows with life.
Children don’t come with guarantees. Washing machines come with guarantees.
A Hezbollah missile killed Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot’s son, Amitai Tzvi, on Oct. 15. Here, he pleas for Haredim to enlist into…
In this episode, Liel Leibovitz reflects on falling in love with the Talmud precisely because it is so difficult—and on how its…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi YY Jacobson, one of the foremost online teachers of Torah, about…
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, David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue,…
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives. A Yale-trained lawyer…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Shais Taub, the rabbi behind the organization SoulWords, about shame, selfhood, and…
What is Jewish peoplehood? In a world that is increasingly international in its scope, our appreciation for the national or the tribal…
On this 18Forty panel, we speak with Alex Jakubowski of Lightning Studios, Sara Wolkenfeld of Sefaria, and Ari Lamm of BZ Media…
What has been Israel’s greatest success and greatest mistake?
As a Chabad Hasid, Rabbi Zevi Slavin’s formative years were spent immersed in the rich traditions of Chassidut and Kabbala.
Rabbi Moshe Gersht first encountered the world of Chassidus at the age of twenty, the beginning of what he terms his “spiritual…
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