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.
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.
The true enemy in Israel’s current war, Einat Wilf says, is what she calls “Palestinianism.”
We mark the yahrtzeit of Rav Ezra Dovid Halevi Neuberger with remembrances from Dovid Bashevkin and David Fohrman.
We talk to Judah Mischel about how to become a Jewish optimist by choosing to see the good in every corner of Klal Yisrael.
Zionism asked the Jewish People if they could wield power properly, Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger says. The answer, according to him, is now clear: They cannot.
Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer answers 18 questions on Israel, including the Haredi draft, Israel as a religious state, Messianism, and so much more.
We talk to Lahav Harkov for a basic primer on how Israeli elections work, how Israel’s political camps came to divide the way they have, and what choice Israelis face right now.
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.
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.
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
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.
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, we talk to a father and daughter who were estranged and then reunited.
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 sit down with Rav Moshe Weinberger, rabbi and educator, to discuss the role of mysticism in modern-day Judaism.
Israel should prioritize its Jewish citizens, Yishai Fleisher says, because that’s what a nation-state does.
Rabbi Dr. Meir Sendor joins us to discuss prayer, human will, and the dangers of mysticism.
Israeli musician and mystic Ricka Razel joins us to discuss gratitude, joy, and the difference between men and women.
We speak with writer Sarah Hurwitz about what it means to be a “knowing Jew.”
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.
We do our best to have transcripts available the week an episode is released.
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.
Rabbi Shmuel Ozhekh joins us to discuss prayer, spirituality, and connection.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin opens up about his mental health journey.
As America grows lonelier, Rav Soloveitchik’s vision of the self offers a challenge to Emersonian self-reliance.
Perhaps the most fundamental question any religious believer can ask is: “Does God exist?” It’s time we find good answers.
My family made aliyah over a decade ago. Navigating our lives as American immigrants in Israel is a day-to-day balance.
Joy and meaning can be found not only despite the brokenness, but even because of the brokenness.
Apologies should be easy—but they seem to be anything but. The Talmud shares timeless wisdom to help us say a better sorry.
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
To talk about the history of Jewish mysticism is in many ways to talk about the history of the mystical community.
Children don’t come with guarantees. Washing machines come with guarantees.
Rav Froman was a complicated character in Israel and in his own home city of Tekoa, as people from both the right…
Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wears the mantle of Kahane in Israel. Many Orthodox Jews welcomed him with open arms.
I consider the Rebbe to be my personal teacher, and I find this teaching particularly relevant for us now.
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
If You’re Reading These Words is a book in which all the heroes have died, yet it overflows with life.
It would not be an overstatement to say that Lévy might be one of the most intriguing, and underrated, religious Jews of…
A 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, a lone soldier, and more. Here are seven olim sharing their stories of aliyah.
From Freud through today, our desire to heal asks us to consider why we care so badly—and maybe if it’s hindering the…
Before you open a page of Gemara, meet the people, ideas, and arguments that make the Talmud worth opening.
A Hezbollah missile killed Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot’s son, Amitai Tzvi, on Oct. 15. Here, he pleas for Haredim to enlist into…
Yes, the Israeli army needs Jews to draft, but more than that, Jews need to experience what it means to serve.
It isn’t only censorship that creates the narrative of our history, but it is every creative endeavor that we engage in.
I’d advise reading Rav Kook as you would read a poem, with an eye less to the argument or claim he is…
Israel is clearly important to Jews. The question becomes: To what extent?
Koren’s latest Tanakh Graphic Novel brings a fresh midrashic lens to Bereshit and Noach.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rav Judah Mischel, executive director of Camp HASC and author of the…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi YY Jacobson, one of the foremost online teachers of Torah, about…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Lahav Harkov, senior political correspondent for Jewish Insider, for a basic primer…
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, 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 speak with Shais Taub, the rabbi behind the organization SoulWords, about shame, selfhood, and…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue,…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, recorded live at Stern College, we speak with Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, director of NCSY Kollel,…
We talk to Tania Friedlander about how her husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis challenged her expectations and taught her to become capable of more.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Etan Epstein, the founder of The 300 Club, a program of…
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives. A Yale-trained lawyer…
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…
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