Orthodox Conundrum

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! For generations, religious Jews prayed for a return to Zion. Today, for the first time in nearly two thousand years, there is...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Why do some of our most deeply held truths end up pushing people away instead of drawing them closer? It's a question that com...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! I'm joined by Rabbi Zach Truboff and Daniel Goldman for a conversation about the changing discourse within the Religious Zioni...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! When people talk about emunah, faith, it is often framed as a simple question. Do you believe in God, or don't you? But what i...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Today's episode deals with a topic that many people have heard about, but far fewer people actually understand. Terms like get...

As Jewish people across the globe prepare for Pesach, we're pleased to re-release this classic episode of the Orthodox Conundrum, originally published in March, 2023. More than any other Jewish holiday, Pesach is associated with questions. That's obviously true for the Seder, but it's also true when it comes to the intense preparations that precede the chag. Jewish law regarding cleaning for Pesac...

This week's episode is a little different. Instead of our usual format, I'm sharing a conversation where I'm the guest on Alana Gelnick's excellent  Stream of Dreamearly podcast, in an episode entitled Ways to Make the Seder Matter: Being Your Authentic Self. As we prepare for Pesach, this discussion explores a simple but powerful idea: the Seder is not about getting everything right, but about cr...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! In the wake of war, many Israelis have begun asking a difficult question: Have American Jews become more distant from Israel,...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! What if the story we tell at the Seder was originally speaking directly to the world of Pharaoh? In this episode of the Orthod...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Over the past few years, and certainly over the past week, anxiety has become part of the background noise of Jewish life. Peo...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! When disturbing stories emerge from within a religious community, the instinctive response is often immediate:  they don't rep...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Let me begin with a slightly uncomfortable question. How much of what we believe, value, and even desire has been shaped not b...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Since October 7th, something unexpected has been unfolding among young Jews in Israel and, in different ways, across the diasp...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! This episode of Orthodox Conundrum addresses an extremely painful and unsettling subject. Last week, we learned that Nechemya...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Last week in Jerusalem, two babies lost their lives. The details are painful. The families are grieving. And out of basic dece...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/  - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! One of the most difficult questions in religious life is also one of the most basic: how do we show genuine respect for Torah...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/ - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! One of the most common questions people ask about dating is a deceptively simple one: How do I know? How do I know whether to k...

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to  https://scottkahn.substack.com/ - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with additional bonus content! There's a recurring pattern in parts of the Orthodox world - one that has always troubled me, but in recent years has become impossible to ignor...

Enjoy this classic episode from May, 2023. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Tzniut is triggering. That became clear when the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast released episode 145 entitled, "The Challenges of Teaching Tzniut & the Challenges of Being Tzanua, with Shayna Goldberg." That episode, in which Scott asked Shayna to focus on issues related to tzniut (modesty) and clothing, addre...

There is a fundamental mistake that many people still make about Jews: they see Judaism exclusively as a faith, so they assume Jewish needs are basically religious accommodations, kosher food, holiday absences, maybe a space to pray. But my guest today, attorney Alyza Lewin, argues that if that's your starting point, you completely misunderstand the nature of Judaism, and what Jews are experiencin...

To what degree should we assimilate non Jewish thought and culture into our intellectual, emotional, and spiritual lives? And to what degree does that question affect the way that we celebrate Chanukah? Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch expressed this tension directly when he wrote the following words: Chanukah represents the clash of two doctrines, two views, two civilizations, capable of molding opini...

A tragic drunk driving case in Lakewood has pushed an uncomfortable question to the surface. What happens when "Toameha," kiddush clubs and casual drinking culture quietly normalize alcohol misuse in our homes and shuls, especially for the teenagers who are watching us... and what happens when that same culture is surrounded by designer logos, luxury Shabbat tables and endless talk about hotels an...

In the past two years many Jews have felt as if the world they thought they knew simply disappeared. Western democracies, universities, and social justice spaces that once seemed welcoming - or at least somewhat neutral - have turned openly hostile toward Israel and the Jewish people. At the center of much of this hatred is a familiar accusation: that Jews think they are chosen, and accordingly, J...

Back in August, I released a conversation with Rabbi Yakov Horowitz about Orthodox parents whose children come out as LGBTQ. The feedback to that episode was intense. Some listeners wrote that they finally felt seen. Others said that they were deeply uncomfortable. Quite a few parents asked what they should actually do when their son or daughter comes out to them, and how they can respond with gen...

Zohran Mamdani - a politician who openly rejects Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, yet insists that this has nothing to do with antisemitism - is now the mayor-elect of New York City. He points to a small number of Jewish supporters as evidence, while promoting a worldview in which Israel is framed as a genocidal, apartheid project. New York is home to the largest Jewish community in the...