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This is our fourth and final episode of our series on the life of Ze’ev Jabotinsky

In this episode, we get into:

• The 1936 evacuation plan to move a million and a half Jews out of Eastern Europe, and why Jewish leaders called it “outrageous and criminal”

• Jabotinsky’s uneasy deal with Poland’s Foreign Minister, Józef Beck: Jabotinsky wanted Jews saved, Beck wanted them gone

• The 1939 White Paper, illegal immigration, and the Sakarya, the rescue ship led by Jabotinsky’s son Eri

• A 25-year-old Menachem Begin publicly challenging his teacher, and Avraham Stern walking out to form what became Lehi

• Jabotinsky’s final campaign in America, his death, and why David Ben-Gurion refused to bring his bones home

• The story of Shlomo Ben-Yosef, and the legacy that outlived all of Jabotinsky’s lost battles

Three years ago, if you’d told us we’d spend October 7 interviewing Lucas Gage, we’d have laughed. So would he.

Lucas is a former Marine who did two tours in Iraq, then spent 14 years in the antisemitic “JQ” movement, building an audience of 336,000 on X, going viral with “Boom Boom Tel Aviv,” and calling Jews demons. This year he walked away, wrote about why, and started showing up at kosher restaurants in Lakewood. We wanted to know how a smart guy gets that deep, and more importantly, how he got out.

In this episode, we get into:

• How a 9/11 “truther” video after Iraq became a gateway to every conspiracy on the menu, with the Jews as the “final boss”

• Why conspiracy thinking is a web, not a single belief, and why you have to take it down one strand at a time

• What Lucas actually believed about the Holocaust, and how “revisionism” sells itself as a free speech fight

• The crypto scam, the Charlie Kirk assassination theories, and the moment he watched a conspiracy get built in real time

• Why a calm “so what makes you believe that?” from Jake Turx worked where name-and-shame never did

• Russian and Iranian influence operations, bot farms, and why antisemitism treats Jews like all-powerful gods

It’s one of the most important discussions should should be having right now, but it’s also funny and hopeful. People can go to very dark places and still come back.

This is a good place to start with Lucas's writings - What Pulled Me Out of Antisemitism

This episode starts off with a murder on a Tel Aviv beach, how that murder would fundamentally change the future of the Zionist movement, Jabotinsky’s role within it.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why Jabotinsky wrote “The Iron Wall” and how it set him at odds with the Zionist establishment

• Development of various aspects of his philosophy from Betar to Hadar to Monism

• The “fascist” smear and the problems Abba Ahimeir made for the Revisionists

• His banning from ever returning to Eretz Israel

• The Revisionists storming out of the 1931 Zionist conference at Basel

• Why are so many of the movements willing to accept the claim that Jabotinsky’s people are responsible for the murder of Chaim Arlosoroff.

• The London Agreement and the creation of a the Zionist organization

Pull up a chair, and bring your thickest skin. The fourth and final episode is coming.

Hashem offers a 12-year-old king anything he wants. Wealth, power, conquest, all on the table. Solomon asks for wisdom, and nearly three thousand years later we’re still reading what he did with it.

This week we discuss the Book of Proverbs, Solomon’s advice to his kids, and find that a lot of it reads like a group text to modern America.

But first, a mazel tov: ChayaLeah’s other show, Ask a Jew, got picked up by Ark Media and is now Chosen People Problems. Yes, CCCP. We had jokes.

In this episode, we get into:

• Solomon’s three wisdom books and the old argument over which came first: Song of Songs, Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes

• “The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom,” and why the Rabbi says a real scholar needs a good tuchis

• Discipline, corporal punishment, and why kids don’t need their parents to be their friends

• Aristotle in the classroom vs. Aristotle outside it, and how Jabotinsky’s Hadar connects

• Why God made mosquitoes and sloths: “Go to the ant, you sluggard”

• Why Jay’s favorite proverb is Proverbs 15

  
  

Thirty-one chapters, one a day, and you’ve finished the book in a month. Start with this episode.

Picking up where we left him last time…Jabotinsky is in a refugee camp in Egypt with 12,000 Jewish refugees, who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks.

He surveys the camp, the Jews within it and comes out with one conclusion: pity won’t build a nation, soldiers will.

What follows are the three of the loneliest years of his life, followed spending time in a British prison for the crime of defending Jews against Arab violence.

In this episode, we get into:

• The Jewish Legion, and why nearly every Zionist leader thought Jabotinsky was a mad man

• How Joseph Trumpeldor became one of his lone allies early in his fight

• His failed effort to recruit Jews from London’s East End to fight for their homeland.

• The Balfour Declaration and his crossing the Jordan as part of the Legion

• His defense of the Jews in Jerusalem during the Nebi Musa riots in his sentence by a British court of 15 years of hard labor

Grab a seat, and bring your stubborn streak. Part three is coming.

In this episode we discuss

• Compulsory service vs. a Second Temple style tax to Jerusalem, and why the Law of Return covers even Noam Chomsky

• Israelis flying home to vote, and the rabbis who spend Yom Kippur bashing Israel

• The Rabbi’s rules for when to confront someone and when to keep your mouth closed (hint: it’s called wisdom)

• A grandmother’s edible sukkah, magicians and moon bounces in shul, and why American Judaism is in triage

• Hillel vs. Shammai on thin Jewish identity, plus why Hebrew school is a concession

• A sneak peek at Jay’s four-part series on Ze’ev Jabotinsky, including the only words he ever exchanged with Herzl

  
  

  Our episode on Judaism and abortion

Ze’ev Jabotinsky could have been a great Russian novelist. Everyone, including the Russian novelists, said so. Instead, a spring evening in Odessa in 1903 set him on the hardest road available to a Jew in the Russian Empire, and he never got off it.

This week Jay goes solo for the first episode in a four part series about Jabotinsky’s life.

In first episode of the series, we get into:

• What growing up in Odessa would mean for what Jabotinsky became

• How the Kishinev pogrom influenced his perspective on where Zionism was and where it needs to go

• Why he ran out of patience for the leaders of Zionism.

• His perspective on the importance of Bialik’s poem “In the City of Slaughter”

• The only four words that he and Herzl ever exchanged

• Constantinople, the Young Turks, and why he decided to side with the Allies in World War I

The Rabbi’s Ten Days of Repentance began with a bowl of cornflakes topped with rancid milk, which somehow leads to him doing shots of Gin on Simchas Torah…with an MIT fraternity.

Once we helped him process the milk tragedy, we get into our real discussion.

We talk about:

• Is it American-Jew or Jewish-American? And what two thousand years of never quite belonging has to do with it.

• Why Jewish emancipation made antisemitism worse, and why America is the one country besides Israel where being Jewish has nothing to do with your rights

• On the accusation of dual loyalty: Why pointing the accusation at Jews is BS because everybody has more than one loyalty.

• Haredim, the Amish, and the woman on the train who yelled at the wrong guy in a black hat

• Three sayings put on trial: everything happens for a reason, God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, and suffering makes you stronger.

Pour yourself something that isn’t gin, hasn’t gone sour, and join us.

In honor of Yom Kippur, we talk about two kinds of sins we commit. Sins of omissionand sins of commission.

Sins of omission are the things we should have done and didn’t, and almost nobody puts those on their list of things to repent for because, well, we may not have known we committed them.

Sins of commission are the things we were aware did: the thing we said, the thing we took, the person we hurt.

In this episode, we get into:

• Sins of omission: the Noda B’Yehuda, the widow at the edge of town, Bilaam’s “I have sinned, for I did not know,” and John Wooden coaching only the mistakes his players didn’t notice

• Sins of commission: why we ask forgiveness for traits God gave us, and the filter of Daat that is supposed to run passion, anger, and speech (a 25-year friendship can be destroyed in two minutes of talking)

• Whether your community owes you a correction, why nobody in America wants to give one, and the art of the well-timed apology (do not bring the flowers on Friday afternoon)

• Hannah, the mother of Samuel, what it means to pray “on” God instead of “to” Him, and why hope is not a plan

• Avinu Malkeinu: whether we want God as a king or a father, praying for money, and what fear does to free will

• Shifra and Puah, the Righteous Among the Nations, “please don’t test me,” and why Teshuva means return, not repentance

If you are heading into Yom Kippur with a list of things you did wrong, this episode might convince you to add a second list: the things you didn’t do at all. Listen before the fast, and may we all be sealed for a good year

Past Yom Kippur episode

Jay has been doing some reading, and he opens this week with an essay he refuses to attribute until the Rabbi guesses. From there the Rabbi gets on a roll about Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, and Hasan Piker (he calls him something else), and why the four in ten Jewish college students pulling back from Jewish life are a bigger threat than any of them. Then we hit the holidays, because Rosh Hashanah 5787 is a week away and ChayaLeah brought questions.

In this episode, we get into:

• Jabotinsky’s “No Apologies” and why we should stop defending ourselves to people who already wrote the verdict

• When to fight antisemitism and when to let the buffalo be a buffalo

• Ben Shapiro’s “as Jewish as a ham sandwich” line, why the rabbis were right that he doesn’t get to decide, and why ChayaLeah thinks Bernie Sanders belongs in a category of his own

• Amalek, the first nation to attack us after Egypt, and the people who give everyone else cover

• How to walk into shul on Rosh Hashanah when you don’t know Hebrew, the tunes, or anyone in the room

• Whether parents should guilt their adult kids into coming home for the holidays (the Rabbi has a phone call script, and it involves a fake divorce)

• What to say to a young adult with no hope, no friends, and twelve hours a day of video games, from Elie Wiesel to Pirkei Avot to a Talmudic line about prisoners

• Why nobody is inviting the single mom or the divorced friend for Shabbat, and what to do about it

Shanah Tovah from all three of us. Come sit with us for an hour, nobody is checking whether you know when to stand.

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Jonah gets swallowed by a fish, and that is the part everybody remembers, but the real story is what happens after: Nineveh repents, Hashem forgives, and Jonah sits down under a plant and sulks about it.

In this episode, we get into:

• The kikayon, the plant that grows over Jonah and dies overnight, and the question God closes the book with about 120,000 people

• Why justice and mercy are not opposites, and why the Rabbi says everyone alive needs some measure of both

• How a tzaddik does teshuvah when he has not sinned, and what unreached potential has to do with it

• A murder trial in the news right now, the insanity defense, and the Talmud’s category of a shoteh

• Whether the right answer for someone who is already suffering is prison, execution, or therapy

• Jonah the seer, who knew Nineveh would come back for us, and what that has to do with Israel and Yahya Sinwar

• Why the Yom Kippur Mincha haftarah sells for thousands of dollars, and why you should stay in shul for it

If you usually go home after Musaf and come back for Neilah, this is the year to stick around for Mincha. Come sit with the hardest question in the machzor with us.

Some weeks we pick the topics. This week you picked them for us.

The Rabbi opens by informing both of us that the frivolity is over, because Elul has arrived and we have thirty days to get our act together before Rosh Hashanah. Also, he would like an apology for being cut out of last week’s episode (an apology is not forthcoming).

Then ChayaLeah tells us about a 6 am Uber ride in Jackson Hole that she was too tired to want, with a driver who would not stop talking about Hashem, trees, and energy, and who turned out to be saying exactly the thing she needed to hear. And then we open the mailbag.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why Elul works like a thirty day notice before the tax bill, what gets added to the prayers, and why teshuvah is a terrible translation of “repentance”

• The year Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, no shofar on day one, and the headline about 9/11, COVID, and October 7th that nobody needed to see right now

• The five categories of damages in Torah law, and how a family divides one lump sum among kids who were all in the car but not all hurt the same

• Whether settlement money is blood money, from an insurance check in America to the fight in 1950s Israel over taking German marks

• Where you actually start if you want to engage more with Judaism, why Judaism is a religion of deeds before creeds, and why you will never understand kosher before you keep it

• What to say when a friend, a cousin, or a sibling drops “genocide” at dinner, who is worth engaging, and when to just walk away

  
  

  You ask, we answer, whether or not we know what we are talking about. Send us your questions and we will do this again.

It is just CL and I this week, because we wanted to give her a chance to speak this week (sorry, Rabbi).

Her oldest son got engaged a few weeks ago, there has already been an engagement party in Crown Heights and a second one on the West Coast, and the wedding is coming fast. So we thought people would be interested: what actually goes into planning a Chabad Hasidic wedding?

The answer starts with a phone call where you plan a huge party with people you have never met, and it only gets more interesting from there.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why dating stays a secret until the engagement is announced at the Rebbe’s grave, and why the whole thing takes weeks instead of years

• Who pays for what, the fifty fifty split, and the gifts each side is expected to give

• Takana weddings, the thirty thousand dollar all in package that makes sure every couple gets a beautiful wedding, and why the community treats that as everyone’s responsibility

• The seven days before the wedding when the bride and groom do not see or speak to each other, get escorted everywhere, and get treated like a king and a queen

• Fasting on your wedding day, why it is considered a mini Yom Kippur, and the Rosh Chodesh loophole

• The badeken, the completely opaque veil, and the moment the next morning when the bride covers her hair for the first time

• Sheva Brachos, a full week of parties, and why the wedding is really a celebration of the entire family

Come for the logistics, stay for ChayaLeah whispering under her own chuppah asking if anyone was even out there.

Moses has five weeks left. He starts talking on the first of Shevat, he dies on the seventh of Adar, and in between he delivers the longest, most repetitive, most urgent speech in the Torah. The traditional name for it is Mishneh Torah, the repetition of the Torah, and many commentators say this is the one book Moses spoke on his own behalf.

So this week we skip the parsha by parsha treatment and take the whole book at once, because the themes only show up when you stand back far enough to see them.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why Deuteronomy reads differently from the first four books, and what “Moses spoke on his own behalf” actually means

• The discrepancies with Numbers, starting with who really wanted to send the spies, plus the small differences in the Ten Commandments

• Who Moses is actually talking to: a generation born in the desert with no slave mentality and no memory of Egypt

• The warning that prosperity, not persecution, is what makes people forget, and how uncomfortably well that lands in America

• Why Moses was not allowed to enter, what God showed him from the mountain, and why he wanted in so badly in the first place

• The Shema line by line: hearing as integrating, why “one” and not “alone,” the two inclinations hiding in V’ahavta, and how anyone can be commanded to love

We also end up on free will, the chocolate bar, and a sixth grade yearbook from 1992 that somehow ties the whole thing together.

Nobody warns you that the hardest parenting years might come after your kids are grown. We opened with a story Jay picked up in a Delta Lounge, a man quietly putting on tefillin who turned out to be a Soviet Jew that did not learn he was Jewish until his family reached America. That pulled us into the Rebbe and Soviet Jewry, quiet diplomacy versus loud demonstrations, and a father exiled to Kazakhstan whose wife made ink from berries so his Torah could survive.

Then we turned to the question a lot of you have written in about: how do we stay parents to our kids once they are adults with lives, spouses, and kids of their own?

In this episode, we get into:

• Why grown children still need their parents more than anyone expects, and what that means for us

• Where the boundary sits, and how to give feedback that lands from a place of love instead of criticism

• Protecting your spouse first, and why in-laws have to tread more carefully than parents

• Raising kids who become friendly with you without ever forgetting you are the parent

• Free choice, and how you can do everything right and still get a result you did not plan for

• Overbearing parents, helicopter moms, the Little League dad, and when to bring in a third party

Whether you are the parent watching your kid make a call you would not make, or the adult child trying to keep the peace, come sit with us. There is grace in here for both sides.

Tisha B’Av is coming, and before we sit on the floor with the lights low, we’re doing our homework. This week we open the Book of Lamentations, the scroll Jeremiah wrote as Jerusalem fell (or was about to fall, depending on which commentators you ask). It’s a book with a wild backstory: a king who burned the first draft, a scribe named Baruch who took dictation for round two, and an alphabet-shaped message hiding in the book.

In this episode, we get into:

• Who Jeremiah was and why nobody wanted to hear his “doom and gloom” prophecies

• The scroll King Yehoyakim burned, and what Rashi says was in it

• Was Lamentations written before the destruction as prophecy, or after as eyewitness testimony?

• Why Jerusalem is described as a widow, and what that metaphor really means

• The Dubner Maggid’s parable of the needle-and-thread wagon: trading something real for nothing

• Whether Jews blame themselves too much for their own tragedies, from the Babylonians to October 7th

• Why we end our reading of Lamentation not on despair but on “bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return”

It’s the heaviest book in Tanakh, but we promise this isn’t a stuffy seminary lecture. Come study with us before the fast.

The Rabbi opens with a request: can we please put a moratorium on the word “anti-Semitism” until next July 4th? (Spoiler: no, but we try.) Then we celebrate some family news and dive into Matot-Masei, the double portion that closes out the book of Numbers. The Rabbi calls it one of the juiciest parshas of the year, and he makes his case: a war, an angry Moses, a real estate negotiation gone sideways, and an ancient legal system for accidental killers.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why some Torah portions are read as doubles, and who divided (and named) the parshas in the first place

• The trup (cantillation): how an ancient melody quietly narrates the story, including Joseph’s famous pause with Potiphar’s wife

• Gad and Reuben asking to stay east of the Jordan, and how one reversed word order exposed their priorities

• What the tribes’ obligation to fight alongside their brothers says about diaspora Jews when Israel is at war

• Cities of refuge: the Torah’s “safe space” for accidental killers, and why the tribe of Simon got scattered on purpose

Whether you grew up with this parsha or you’re hearing “Matot-Masei” for the first time, pull up a chair. There’s a waffle bar story in here too.

Links

• Parashat Matot-Masei (Numbers 30–36)

• Gad and Reuben’s request and Moses’ response (Numbers 32)

• “Every shock fighter among you crosses the Jordan” (Numbers 32:20–24)

• Cities of refuge (Numbers 35:9–34)

• The shalshelet in the Joseph and Potiphar’s wife story (Genesis 39:8)

• Shogeg vs. ones, laws of exile

• “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” (all Jews are responsible for one another)

• “Those who tend a tree eat the fruit” (Proverbs 27:18)

Some episodes start light. This one starts with a candle. We begin with Jay’s yahrzeit for his mom, twelve years gone and still deeply missed, and the Rabbi walks us through what the anniversary of a death really means in Jewish tradition. From there we widen out to a fast day heavy with history and a piece of tech that might change how any of us learns Torah.

In this episode, we get into:

• What yahrzeit means and why we say Kaddish for eleven months, then every year after

• The Rabbi’s own story of counting down the days, and the strange sadness when Kaddish ends

• The five tragedies of the 17th of Tammuz and the start of the Three Weeks

• Why you can get engaged during the Three Weeks but not married (and what that says about free will)

• Yochai, the new AI tool that turns anyone into a Torah study partner

What makes two rabbis who disagreed about almost everything the most celebrated pair in Jewish history? This week we sit down with Hillel and Shammai, the original dynamic duo, and the answer turns out to be the way they argued, not what they argued about.

In this episode, we get into:

• The lost art of disagreeing with someone you actually like and respect, and why Judaism treats a good argument as something close to sacred.

• Machloket l’shem shamayim: what makes an argument “for the sake of heaven,” and where the line gets crossed

• The Hanukkah menorah debate: do you start with eight candles or one, and why each side is right

• The gentile who asked to learn the whole Torah on one foot, and the very different answers Hillel and Shammai gave

• Why Hillel’s golden rule (”what you don’t want done to you, don’t do to others”) is not the same as “love your neighbor as yourself”

• Lenient versus strict: how two yeshivas, two personalities, and one open door shaped Jewish law

• Why we almost always rule like Hillel, and the surprising reason it comes down to humility

  
  

  Pull up a chair, pick a side, and remember: the rest is commentary.

Resources:

• Hillel and Shammai, sayings and character

• Machloket l’shem shamayim (a dispute for the sake of heaven)

• Korach’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron

We made it to the finish line. After two earlier episodes, we wrap up the Twelve Prophets and tie a bow on them all. Along the way we get into why these texts barely show up in yeshiva, a much-debated Midrash about Adam and the animals, and whether religion or just plain ideology has driven the worst of human history. Then we go prophet by prophet, all the way to the very last words of prophecy.

In this episode, we get into:

• Micah, and the “swords into plowshares” verse that 99 percent of the world wrongly credits to Isaiah

• Nahum and the fall of Nineveh, plus a thorny question: if God wanted the exile, why blame Assyria for carrying it out?

• Habakkuk, who opens by arguing with God and reduces all 613 commandments to one: the righteous shall live by his faith

• Zephaniah on fear, fight-or-flight, and the command “do not fear”

• Haggai, Zechariah’s colored-horse visions, and Malachi closing the prophets with the hearts of parents and children turning back to each other

Grab a book of the prophets and read along with us. It only takes a few minutes a day, and as we say in here, it’s no great honor to be ignorant.

Resources:

• Micah

• Nahum

• Habakkuk

• Zephaniah

• Haggai

• Malachi

We picked up where we left off with the Twelve Prophets (Trei Asar), and Hosea throws us straight into one of the strangest stories in all of the Tanakh. Gd is furious that the Jewish people are chasing idols, so He gives Hosea an unusual assignment: go marry a woman of ill repute, have kids with her, and name them “Not My People” and “No Mercy.” It’s harsh, it’s strange, and the Rabbi calls it the most dramatic living metaphor any prophet was ever asked to act out.

In this episode, we get into:

• Hosea, the harlot metaphor, and the Kabbalistic question of whether Gd can actually be affected by what we do

• What a prophet (and a leader) is supposed to be: tough on the people, defender to Gd, never a politician

• Joel and the locusts, the seven-year famine, and when punishment came measure-for-measure

• Famous Amos (great cookies, great prophet) and why prosperity might be the harder spiritual test

• Obadiah the convert who saved 100 prophets from Jezebel, the rabbinic tradition that Rome is Edom, and the famous widow with the miraculous oil

• Micah and the morality prophets: how “idolatry” in our day reads as money, power, and the corruption that comes with success

We also kept circling back to something: most American Jews don’t think about Gd as Someone with expectations. That’s exactly the tension Hosea was preaching into 3,000 years ago. Same story, different costumes. Hit play, and stay with us for Part 3, where we close out the Twelve.

Let’s be honest: when someone you’re not a fan of gets bad news, there’s a tiny, guilty dopamine hit. We open this episode by confessing that impulse out loud and digging into what Pirkei Avot (and King Solomon) have to say about rejoicing at your enemy’s fall. Spoiler: it’s a whole thing.

In this episode, we get into:

• The ethics of Schadenfreude and what Pirkei Avot teaches about resisting that guilty satisfaction

• Shavuos 101: the forgotten major Jewish holiday, why your boss has never heard of it, and why it matters

• How the giving of the Torah turned a tribe into a nation (and why shared ancestry alone isn’t enough)

• The Sam Harris morality debate: can you have ethics without God?

• The trolley problem, Jewish style: why the Torah says you can’t pull the lever

• The Book of Ruth, the ultimate story of loyalty, conversion, and the origins of King David

Whether you’re prepping for Shavuot or just want to know if you’re a bad person for enjoying celebrity gossip, grab some cheesecake and press play. 🧀

Episode References

• Pirkei Avot 4:19

• Proverbs 24:17

• The Ten Commandments

• Book of Ruth

The rabbi’s out this week, so we’re are doing what any self-respecting book nerds would do: geeking out about reading.

In this episode, we get into:

• Jay breaks down his “30 pages a day” habit (spoiler: it adds up to 10,000 pages a year)

• ChayaLeah confesses her Shakespeare regrets

• Jay’s system for building a daily reading habit (and why you should keep three books going at once)

• The “Chan-book-ah” book haul: Arab nationalism, Elie Wiesel, Holocaust memoirs, and Jewish prayer

• ChayaLeah’s pitch for Cultural Amnesia by Clive James and why Remains of the Day is still on her mind

• Why understanding Jewish prayer word by word is a total game changer

• Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, a book they both call the best they’ve ever read

Hopefully you’ll get some ideas for your next book from this episode.

Quote of the episode:

"I realized I was never going to be the smartest person in a room, but I could be the most well read." — Jay

All the books we mention:

• Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century by Adeed Dawisha

• God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel

• Souls on Fire by Elie Wiesel

• Sages and Dreamers by Elie Wiesel

• Night by Elie Wiesel

• The Last Consolation Vanished by Zalmen Gradowski

• Hostage by Eli Sharabi

• On Killing by Dave Grossman

• Elusive Prophet: Ahad Ha’am and the Origins of Zionism by Steven Zipperstein

• As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

• Anonymous Soldiers by Bruce Hoffman

• To Pray as a Jew by Hayim Halevy Donin

• The Hour of Our Death by Philippe Ariès

• Arrows of the Dark (two volumes) by Tuvia Friling

• Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman

• The Road by Vasily Grossman

• Cultural Amnesia by Clive James

• Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

• The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris

• My Prayer (two volumes, Chabad teachings on prayer) — could not confirm Amazon listing, may need manual search

• Rebel and Statesman-The Early Years: The Life and Times of Vladimir Jabotinsky: Volume One by Joesph Schechtman

• Fighter and Prophet; The Jabotinsky Story; The Last Years by Joesph Schechtman

• The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - this is ChayaLeah’s book. Jay dissavows

What does it actually take to be a prophet? Spoiler: it’s not just hearing voices and shouting in the marketplace (though there’s some of that).

In this kickoff to our new series on the Trei Asar, the Twelve Prophets of the Tanakh, we set the stage before diving into the individual books. Think of this as Prophecy 101 with a side of cult talk, because honestly, the line between “biblical prophet” and “guy with millions of YouTube followers” is thinner than we’d like to admit.

In this episode, we get into:

• 📜 What prophecy actually is in Judaism, according to Maimonides, and why Moses was working on a totally different frequency from everyone else

• 👑 The three pillars of Jewish leadership (king, high priest, Sanhedrin), and where the prophet fit

• 🎤 Who got tapped to be a prophet, why some were reluctant

• 🚫 Why prophecy ended after Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and what replaced it

• 🤔 What we’d actually do if a prophet rolled up today (hint: probably an institution)

• 😬 False prophets and cults like, Sabbatai Zvi, Jim Jones, the Moonies

Get ready to learn everything you ever wanted to know about prophecy but were afraid to ask.

King Solomon had a thousand wives, wrote a book of proverbs, and still felt the need to write a whole passionate love poem about a shepherd boy and a maiden. Coincidence? We think not. In this follow-up to our Valentine’s Day episode, we go deeper into what Judaism actually teaches about love, including what Song of Songs reveals about God’s relationship with the Jewish people, and we bring it all the way down to earth with real talk about marriages stuck in a rut, whether people can truly change, and why “I can’t” usually means “I don’t want to.”

In this episode, we get into:

• Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs): literal love poem or divine allegory?

• Why love is the only personality trait with its own dedicated book in the entire Hebrew Bible

• What Adam and Eve tell us about whether opposites actually attract

• Why real love has nothing to do with infatuation, Hollywood, or Taylor Swift (though we do have opinions about her and Travis)

• Practical advice for married couples who have drifted apart and want to find their way back

• Trust vs. love: which one is actually the foundation of a lasting relationship

• The Baal Shem Tov’s classic “you can, you just don’t want to” and why it applies to your marriage right now

• Why the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s relationship might be the greatest love story you’ve never heard

  "Love goes deeper than what you can do for me. You love the person for who they are and what they are, not what they do for you." — Rabbi

Whether you're happily married, newly in love, or just trying to remember what you liked about the person across the breakfast table, this episode has something real for you. Come learn, laugh, and maybe text your spouse something nice when it's over. 🕯️❤️

Referenced Material-

• Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs)

• Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) by King Solomon

• Mishlei (Proverbs) by King Solomon

We’re kicking off a brand new segment called “Dear Rabbi,” where we bring real-life issues to the Rabbi and actually get into it with honest, often hilarious, sometimes painful conversations about the stuff people are quietly struggling with.

First up: how to care for elderly parents without losing your mind, your marriage, or your lunch break.

In this episode, we get into:

• Setting boundaries with elderly parents (and why that’s easier said than done)

• The difference between being a caregiver and being a nurse

• Why your parents just want to feel significant — and no, a text does NOT count

• The generational divide around phones, Uber apps, and why nobody remembers their Kaiser password

• What to do when your relationship with your parents is, well, complicated

• The Rabbi’s reflection on his Holocaust-survivor father and putting yourself in your parents’ shoes

• Jay on caring for his mom while raising a young daughter and feeling guilty about feeling guilty

• ChayaLeah admitting which of her four sons she’d trust with her medications (spoiler: it’s not all of them)

Plus a hot take on Matzo manufacturers who dare to sell non-Kosher-for-Passover matzo. The audacity.

Whether you’re navigating aging parents yourself, trying to figure out how much you’re really capable of giving, or just looking for permission to laugh about the hard stuff, this one’s for you. Grab a coffee, settle in, and remember: your parents just want you to call.

Got a question for Dear Rabbi? Email us at edjewcationpod@gmail.com or message us on Substack.

We kicked off this month's Zoom talking about the Rebbe's birthday and why his legacy still hits so hard, from growing Chabad's global mission to his no-nonsense philosophy on turning obstacles into opportunities.

Then we got into full Passover mode: ChayaLeah is prepping a community Seder for 120 people and her game plan is SPEED. We broke down the Ten Plagues (why those plagues, why that order, and how long they actually lasted), talked about why you don't need a minimum number of people for a Seder (but the more the merrier), and heard from Moshe Perelmuter live in Israel about what Passover looks like during wartime, with packed grocery stores but empty Jerusalem streets.

We also explored studying the Tanya, which the Rabbi describes as essentially a self-help book for the Jewish soul. And Goldie dropped some hilarious childhood stories about sharing a bedroom with ChayaLeah. It's Passover prep meets life advice meets family chaos.

On this chag episode, we tackle a section of the Haggadah that almost everyone breezes past: Jacob's fateful decision to "temporarily" settle in Egypt, only to buy land, put down roots, and stay for 17 years.

From that ancient real estate deal, the conversation spirals into the big questions Jewish families are wrestling with right now:

• What does Israel really mean to diaspora Jews?

• Is "dual loyalty" just an antisemitic trope, or something worth actually thinking about?

• Why did 80% of Jews choose to stay in Egypt even after centuries of slavery?

We don't talk about rising antisemitism, the war with Iran, and what it means to say "Next year in Jerusalem" from your living room in Long Beach. ChayaLeah shares her family's Passover prep rituals (poster boards, car detailing, kids moving the fridge), and we a passionate case that any level of observance counts.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 🍷\

Resources Mentioned-

• Genesis 46:27 - Jacob’s family settling in Egypt

• Exodus 13:18 - Circuitous route out of Egypt

• The Four Questions explained - Chabad.org

• The Rebbe’s seder table - Chabad.org

In this edJEWcation Book Club episode, Jay brings the crew one of his all-time favorite books: Up From Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington.

Born into slavery in 1856 and emancipated at nine, Washington went on to found the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and reshape what education could mean for a freed people. Jay, ChayaLeah, and the Rabbi explore the surprising parallels between Washington's vision of education as moral training and the Yeshiva model, debate the Torah's relationship with labor and productivity, and push back hard on today's victim mentality culture.

The Rabbi even draws a line from Booker T. Washington to the Rebbe and the Maggid of Mezritch. It's a wide-ranging, warm, and surprisingly moving conversation about resilience, legacy, and what it really means to build something from nothing.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

• Open by Andre Agassi

When the British Museum quietly updated some of its ancient Near East exhibit labels from "Palestine" to "Canaan," the internet exploded. But what does the history actually say?

Israel tour guide, Jewish educator, and Substack writer Alex Stein joins Jay and ChayaLeah to break it all down, from the Bronze Age Canaanites and the Hyksos to Herodotus, to Hadrian officially naming the Roman province "Palestina" in the second century CE. Along the way we get into Jewish indigeneity, the archaeology of the Israelite conquest (spoiler: it's complicated), dual-narrative tourism, and how you'd even begin to explain any of this to a sixth grader. This is the episode for anyone who wants to actually understand the history beneath the headlines, without the yelling.

Where to find Alex:

Make sure to check out Alex’s upcoming Love of the Land Tour in October!

From Palestine to Canaan article

What happens when a wealthy man buys up all the synagogue seats and blocks the aisles? Or when a rabbi tries to convince the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a trained engineer, that an ocean liner basically "runs itself" on Shabbos?

In part 2 of their Responsa deep dive, the edJEWcation crew explores how Jewish law evolves to meet the real world, from Talmudic property rights to Shabbos doorbells in modern Brooklyn. The Rabbi, ChayaLeah, and Jay cover it all: the Cypriot chicken saga, the kosher cheeseburger question raised by lab-grown milk, getting a "hetter" (permission slip) for nail polish at the mikvah, and a last-minute Shabbos wedding in medieval Krakow that required some seriously creative legal reasoning. It's Jewish law as it's meant to be…living, breathing, and endlessly fascinating.

In this special birthday episode, ChayaLeah and Jay sit down with the man of the hour, the Rabbi, as he turns 70.

Born in Montreal on March 4th, 1956 (the 22nd of Adar on the Jewish calendar), the Rabbi reflects on a life he never could have predicted: from growing up in a non-Chabad home and boarding a bus to a New Jersey yeshiva on a whim, to serving as a Schlaich in Seattle, building a Chabad presence in Boston's Kenmore Square, and eventually putting down roots in California where, through decades of challenge, a global pandemic, and more than a few permit headaches, his community finally found a permanent home.

Grounded in the wisdom of Pirkei Avot (which calls 70 "ripe old age," a fullness and satisfaction), the Rabbi shares what it really feels like to look back on a life of purpose, sacrifice, and gratitude. Funny, honest, and genuinely moving, this episode is a masterclass in what it means to "keep breathing" until the sail comes in.

What if the holiday that looks the most like a carnival is actually hiding the most profound questions in Judaism? Professor Tanya White, Bar-Ilan University professor, host of the Books and Beyond podcast, and one of the most engaging Jewish educators alive, joins Jay and ChayaLeah to unpack the Book of Esther like you've never heard before.

We explore why God's name doesn't appear once in the Megillah (and what that means for us today), the concept of "radical seeing" and the stunning parallel between Purim and our post-October 7th world.

ChayaLeah opens up about Esther's loneliness and sacrifice, Jay brings a story about a Cold War spy finding God in his daughter's ear, and Tanya shares an "invisible string" that will genuinely move you. This is the Purim episode you didn't know you needed.

Where to find Tanya-

Torah Chat on WhatsApp

TanyaWhite.org

Books and Beyond Podcast

Tanya’s Instagram

Books & articles we discussed-

• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst: the children’s book Tanya shares the beautiful “invisible string” story from

• Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman: philosopher’s book on the problem of evil that Tanya references in discussing adversity and resilience

• Rav Soloveitchik’s concept of “fate to destiny”: consider linking to Kol Dodi Dofek or a summary essay

• God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel: Heschel’s concept of “radical amazement”

• Witness by Whitaker Chambers: his memoir is where the famous “daughter’s ear” moment comes from

Was Theodor Herzl a secular visionary or a spiritual seeker? A hero or a heretic? On the 130th anniversary of his landmark manifesto Der Judenstaat, Professor Gil Troy, presidential historian, Zionist scholar, and editor of The Zionist Ideas, sits down with Jay and ChayaLeah for a conversation that covers all of it: Herzl's complicated relationship with Judaism, why he was persona non grata in Haredi education, the emotional power of standing at his grave on Mount Herzl, and why Professor Troy’s concept of "identity Zionism" speaks directly to Jewish students navigating hostile campuses today. Along the way, the hosts bring their signature mix of head and heart, Jay digs into the intellectual history while ChayaLeah shares what it was like to discover Herzl as an adult after growing up Chabad, where his picture wasn't exactly hanging on the wall. It's a timely, moving, and surprisingly fun deep dive into the father of modern Zionism.

To learn more about Professor Troy’s work, you can find it at his website GilTroy.com

A selection of works:

• To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to my Students on Defending the Zionist Dream

• The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland: Then, Now, Tomorrow

• The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History

  
  

Do you know we have a Facebook Page now? Well we do and you can find it here- edJEWcation Facebook Page

On to the show…

In honor of Valentine's Day, the edJEWcation crew tackles the big questions:

• What does Judaism really say about love and marriage?

• How do Jewish dating traditions actually work?

• And can you have a successful partnership while maintaining independence?

The rabbi shares his own marriage story (spoiler: they got engaged after three weeks), explains why looking for perfection is a recipe for disaster, and breaks down the difference between lust, romantic love, and companionate love. CL challenges the Hollywood myth that your spouse needs to fulfill every single role in your life, while Jay keeps everyone honest about balancing independence with intimacy.

From Talmudic wisdom about choosing partners to practical advice about not developing an "office wife," this episode offers refreshing perspectives on Jewish relationships that are equal parts traditional insight and modern realism. Whether you're single, dating, or been married for decades, this conversation will make you rethink what love really means and no, it's not just butterflies and Valentine's candy.

Make sure to subscribe to our substack to keep up to date on the latest edJEWcation episodes and events

Subscribe to the edJEWcation Podcast

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The Tucker Carlson situation has everyone asking the same question: when a friend goes off the deep end morally, do you stay loyal or cut them loose? We dig into this through a Jewish lens, from Talmudic principles to modern media ethics, and get surprisingly personal about struggles with Chabad identity and navigating between Orthodox and liberal Jewish worlds. Also in this episode:

• Why there are 20 Christian Bible study groups on one college campus
• The Gene Wilder/Mel Brooks origin story
• Joe Rogan's hilariously wrong guess about Jewish demographics
• A brutally honest discussion about how we justify breaking our own values (yes, including the hypothetical In-N-Out burger scenario).

What do you do when Jewish law meets real life, and real life is messy, terrifying, or morally impossible?

In this episode, we dive into rabbinic responsa: the centuries-old Jewish tradition of posing urgent, practical, and often heartbreaking questions to Rabbis. From ancient debates about matzah to modern dilemmas involving technology, medicine, and identity, responsa form Judaism’s living case law.

We explore how this system developed from Moses and the Sanhedrin, through the Talmud, medieval Spain, Soviet Russia, and even Auschwitz, where a single question forced a rabbi and a father to confront the most agonizing moral choice imaginable.

Along the way, we laugh a little, debate, and uncover why Jews have always believed that how you ask a question can matter just as much as the answer.

Jewish law, moral philosophy, historical survival, and one very uncomfortable Pesach pastry, all in one episode.

To subscribe to the edjEWcation podcast, click here:Subscribe to The edJEWcation Podcast

This episode is a recording of our second edJEWcation Zoom.

Instead of a formal topic or text, we opened up the (virtual) doors and invited our listeners into a live edJEWcation Beit Midrash. What followed was an honest, unscripted conversation about being Jewish right now: how it feels, how we respond, what we’re afraid of, and why community matters more than ever.

There are no hot takes here. No definitive answers. Just Jews doing what Jews have always done — talking, questioning, disagreeing, supporting one another, and refusing to face the moment alone.

If you’ve been struggling to put words to how you’re feeling, this conversation might help you feel a little less alone.

Remember to subscribe to edJEWcation for all our latest updates here

In the fourth installment of the edJEWcation book club, we discuss The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

Written in 1951 by a longshoreman with an unsettling grasp of human psychology, The True Believer asks a simple question with terrifying implications: why do ordinary people become fanatics?

In this edJEWcation Book Club episode, we dig into Eric Hoffer’s timeless analysis of mass movements, self-hatred, humiliation, certainty, and the seductive power of belonging. From Nazism and Communism to campus encampments, TikTok activism, and online extremists, we debate whether Hoffer was describing history or diagnosing our present.

We wrestle with uncomfortable questions:

• Is hatred easier to organize than love?

• Are today’s movements real revolutions or just cosplay with slogans?

• Why do people crave certainty so badly?

• Why do some religions help people lead meaningful lives, and others turn them into fanatics?

Along the way, we talk loneliness, social media, male humiliation, Holocaust jokes in unexpected places, and why not knowing might be the most Jewish answer of all.

Plus: a surprise detour into Marty Supreme, Timothy Chalamet, and why humiliation might be the hidden engine of fanaticism.

Read the book. Question everything. And maybe, just maybe, turn your phone off.

If you haven’t already, remember to subscribe by clicking the link below:

Subscribe here

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Why do Jews fast, and what is fasting actually supposed to do?

In this episode of edJEWcation, we dive into the 10th of Tevet, one of the lesser-known Jewish fast days, and use it as a gateway to explore the deeper meaning of Jewish fasting, repentance, and communal responsibility. The Rabbi walks us through the historical origins of the fast, the siege of Jerusalem that led to the destruction of the First Temple, while Jay asks the questions many people are thinking but rarely ask.

Along the way, we unpack:

• What the 10th of Tevet commemorates and why it still matters

• How Jewish fast days differ from Yom Kippur

• Maimonides’ radical idea that tragedy demands introspection, not dismissal

• Whether suffering is “random” or spiritually meaningful

• How fasting connects to modern events, including October 7th

• Why Judaism emphasizes action, mitzvot, and responsibility over asceticism

We also zoom out to the weekly Torah portion, exploring Jacob’s final words to his sons, leadership failures, anger vs. passion, and what it means to be accountable, not just historically, but right now.

This is not an episode about being hungry. It’s an episode about meaning, memory, and what Jews are supposed to do with history.

📖 Topics include: Jewish fasting, the 10th of Tevet, destruction of the Temple, repentance in Judaism, Rambam on suffering, Jewish theology, Torah commentary, and Jewish responses to tragedy.

Friendly reminder to subscribe to edJEWcation on Substack so you can be included in all the happenings about the podcast and join our next monthly Zoom call.

Just click here

In this episode of edJEWcation, we unpack Kings II, one of the wildest books in the Hebrew Bible, through the lens of Jewish history, Biblical storytelling, and modern meaning.

From the dramatic transition from Elijah to Elisha, to miracles that feel both supernatural and surprisingly practical, we explore Hebrew Bible stories that center on prophets, power, faith, and moral responsibility. Along the way, we discuss why salvation in the Bible so often comes from underdogs and outcasts, including one of the most unlikely heroes in all of Scripture.

The conversation widens to tackle antisemitism, Israel’s place in world attention, collective Jewish trauma, and what Biblical history teaches us about societies that lose their moral compass. Why does the world obsess over Israel? Why do prophets speak uncomfortable truths? And why does the Bible keep choosing the people everyone else ignores?

Blending Torah learning, Biblical history explained, cultural commentary, and a healthy dose of edJEWcation banter, this episode connects ancient texts to the questions people are asking right now about faith, meaning, and identity.

As promised, we hosted our first edJEWcation Zoom call on the 3rd night of Chanukkah this week, and a great time was had by all. We got the light the menorah with the Rabbi, had some great questions, and got to do some deep Jewish philosophizing.

We opened the first Zoom to all our listeners, and we may keep it that way for a little while, but eventually it will be exclusively for paid members of the edJEWcation community.

We’ll let you know the date for our January call soon, and we hope to see you all there!

Chag Chanukah Sameach everyone!

What are you doing on December 16th at 8PM (aside from lighting your second Menorah candle)? Well, now you have plans…join us for our first listener Zoom call. We’d love to chat with you.

What do Vegas slot machines, King Solomon’s thousand wives, and Elijah’s world-class trash-talking have in common? Apparently… everything. In this week’s episode, ChayaLeah returns from her very spiritual pilgrimage to Las Vegas (don’t ask) and the crew dives back into Kings I, where the Jewish kingdom splits faster than Jay can say “Bubastite Portal Relief.”

We unpack Solomon’s great rise and even greater follies, why foreign influence can derail even the wisest man alive, how Jeroboam becomes the Biblical poster child for “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and why miracles don’t magically fix people (looking at you, Golden Calf).

Then we hit one of Tanakh’s greatest showdowns: Elijah vs. the Prophets of Baal complete with the OG trash talk, pyrotechnics, and an unexpected lesson about finding God not in the earthquake, fire, or whirlwind…but in the quiet.

Plus: archeology nerdery, theological curveballs, parenting warnings from ancient Israel, and the official announcement of our first-ever edJEWcation community Zoom (yes, Rabbi is learning about it in real time).

All this and more in a biblical rollercoaster that goes from Shlomo to Shishak to Still Small Voice in under an hour.

In this pre-pre-PRE-Hanukkah special (because we refuse to let Christmas music win), the crew breaks down the real Hanukkah story: the oil, the civil war, the Hellenists, the hammer, and the heroic home court advantage, while also inventing a brand-new Hanukkah tradition involving sword fights and presents hidden in a makeshift Temple.

Along the way, we tackle assimilation, Jewish identity, why no one ever explained the whole “Greeks vs. Syrians” thing, and the surprising appearance of a tall FBI agent who would “take a bullet for the Jews.” Happy early Hanukkah… and don’t forget to pick up your free Chabad menorah.

We’re running on zero sleep, too much Friendsgiving, and a very inflated sense of our own importance, so naturally, it’s time for… a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT.
This week, Jay and ChayaLeah unveil edJEWcation’s brand-new Substack subscription levels which include monthly Zoom hangs, one-on-one sessions, and why none of this means we’re going behind a paywall. (Relax. Don’t throw things.)

Plus: why Substack isn’t scary, why the Rabbi needs a bigger platform, and why Jewish content matters right now more than ever.

Come for the news. Stay for the self-deprecating humor and accidental Jewish pep talk.

Subscribe to The edJEWcation Podcast

🚨 ALERT! Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have some one-on-one time? Well, the world is now your oyster because we’ve officially launched several subscription tiers, with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving!

These will just be the starting points (we have a lot of goodies cooking), so keep your eyes peeled — and don’t worry, we’ll also personally annoy you to make sure you don’t miss out.

If you’re interested in joining us, click here

On to the episode…

What was supposed to be a wholesome Thanksgiving episode turned into… well… a cross-continental Chabad saga, a philosophical smackdown over near-death experiences, a masterclass on meaning, and a heated debate about why every family should avoid politics at dinner. Rabbi shares wild scenes from the Chabad convention (VIP ropes included), Jay reveals his Mossad side-hustle, and ChayaLeah gives the only real Thanksgiving advice you need: don’t be alone, and don’t talk politics. A very gishmak pre-Thanksgiving hang with your favorite dysfunctional trio.

ALERT - Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have one-on-one time? The world is now your oyster, as we have officially launched several subscription tiers, with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving.

These will just be starting points, as we have a bunch of additional goodies planned, so be on the lookout (but we’ll also, of course, annoy you to make sure you’re aware).”

On to the episode…

Jay kicks things off with a pop quiz that (shockingly!) doesn’t totally embarrass ChayaLeah, the Balfour Declaration gets its due, and the laughter rolls from there. Joined by journalist and historian Oren Kessler, author of the award-winning Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict, the trio time-travel back to the messy, fascinating years that set the stage for everything that followed in Israel’s story.

If you’re interested in joining us, click here

Along the way:
🕵️‍♂️ We meet muftis, mayors, and media moguls from Mandate Palestine.
📜 Discover how the first two-state idea appeared.
💰 Learn why so many anti-Zionist Arab leaders secretly sold land to Jews.
🗞️ Unpack how newspapers (and propaganda) shaped the conflict.
🕰️ And of course, discuss how much Churchill loved Jews.

There’s banter, history, and a few “wait what?!” moments as Oren proves that real history can be just as wild as the memes about it.

So pour some coffee (or something stronger) and join us for another edJEWcational ride through the past.

🚨 ALERT! Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have some one-on-one time? Well, the world is now your oyster because we’ve officially launched several subscription tiers, with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving!

These will just be the starting points (we have a lot of goodies cooking), so keep your eyes peeled — and don’t worry, we’ll also personally annoy you to make sure you don’t miss out.

If you’re interested in joining us, click here

The edJEWcation trio is back together and possibly breaking cosmic laws by existing in the same place at the same time. After surviving time zone changes, jet lag, and Jay’s daylight-savings complaints, we dive headfirst into the wild, wise, and occasionally weird world of First Kings.

This episode has it all:
📖 David can’t get warm, so things get a little… biblically awkward.
👶 Solomon inherits the throne at age 12 (no pressure, kid).
⚖️ The OG “split the baby” moment proving once again that ancient Israel didn’t need Maury (but we date ourselves).
💍 700 wives, 300 concubines, and one very patient temple-permit department.
🦁 Solomon’s throne puts the Iron Throne to shame.
💰 And we learn why prosperity might be the hardest test of all.

ChayaLeah reflects on modern boundaries (thank you, Mel Robbins), the Rabbi reminds us that Jews are tribal, not racial, and Jay manages to squeeze in Chabad.org and a Baruch joke.

It’s history, humor, and heresy (lightly toasted), exactly the way we like it.

This week, Jay and ChayaLeah sit down with Professor Jeffrey Veidlinger of the University of Michigan — historian, author of In the Midst of Civilized Europe, and director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute — for a hauntingly relevant conversation about the pogroms that swept through Ukraine between 1918 and 1921.

They explore how ordinary neighbors became murderers, why humiliation often cuts deeper than death, and how centuries of trauma ripple through Jewish identity to this day. From the streets of the shtetl to the chaos of modern social media, the conversation moves between past and present — revealing unsettling parallels between old hatreds and new headlines.

It’s a deeply human, deeply Jewish episode that asks: what does it mean to live — and rebuild — in the midst of civilized Europe?

This week on edJEWcation, we go full wandering-Jew with an episode that starts in the December Project (a book about preparing for death) and somehow winds its way through Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Hasidic storytelling, Masada, Jonathan Sacks, the Nakba, Judge Caprio, and why your neighbor’s sukkah is basically Jewish Home Depot cosplay.

In between, we wrestle with:

• Why fiction can sometimes tell the truest stories

• How Jewish stubbornness, sacred texts, and a portable identity kept us alive when every other ancient culture disappeared

• Why Sukkot is the Babe Ruth of underrated mitzvot (and why American Jews still don’t show up)

• The awkward Jewish instinct to love every Jew except the ones on our own block

• Israel as hammer vs. nail…and why too many Jews still prefer the nail

• Judge Caprio, Rhode Island’s saint of traffic court, and why mercy belongs on the bench and in the Beit Midrash

It’s history, politics, theology, pop culture, and K-pop (yes, really) all shaken into one of the most edJEWcation episodes yet.