Rear Pew Mirror

Sandals have a long, fascinating history dating back to biblical times. However, due to a typo in some paperwork, this episode instead delves into biblical scandals. If you want a normal exploration, listen to the Torah. We look at the notorious and lesser-knowntorious scandals as they'd be portrayed in modern times – a gateway drug to exploring them in more depth. If you're going to listen to any...

The World Games arrive in July (2022). 3,600 athletes. 100 countries. Over 30 of "the fastest growing sports in the world." A few sports are different for every World Games. Some are considered and don’t make it. This episode is about a variety of Jewish sports that didn't make it, partly because they were never considered.  They might not be right for the World Games, the Olympics, or even t...

Banning books has gotten trendy. Again. To remove literature that's considered ocularly odoriferous, the bans roll on.  Fortunately, this episode not only reviews many subjects that some deem offensive, it provides a time-saving way to ban all these subjects quickly and with little effort – since time is sacred to folks sparing themselves from the hours that reading can take, even when they d...

For the second time, we've got an episode based not on my Rear Pew Mirror humor column, but on my actual yes-they-let-me sermon from the first day of Passover (April 16, 2022). It's a special one, as it was my first sermon in my hometown since my bar mitzvah. They let me back in, and didn't kick me right back out. Also, instead of being about any of the many Passover-related things in the Passover...

In late March and early April, Jews everywhere brace themselves for a major religious occurrence that happens around this time every year: The start of baseball season. It's also when the weekly Torah readings reach the book of Leviticus, which has as much story as a one-sentence novel. What do baseball and Leviticus have in common? Sacrifices. And almost nothing to do with Passover.

What's better than one holiday where it's traditional to drink and drink, until we drink some more? Two of them at once! In 2022, St. Patrick's Day falls on Purim. They have more in common than meets the eye, especially if the eye is glazed over from two holidays' worth of drinking. For the first time anywhere, unless it's somewhere else, listen here for some of the special rules, traditions, and...

Why is this basketball season different from all other seasons? Look no further than the men's team at Yeshiva University, where those mighty Maccabees spent over a month ranked number one in the country. (Yes, this country.) Listen here for all the details, except for the many we left out. How many ways is the number fifty significant to this Maccabean feat? How many variations can we come u...

For our minyan (or baker's minyan) episode, we're providing a different kind of service. Based on my actual yes-they-let-me Rosh Hashanah sermon (January 1, 2022), this episode wades through Rodney Dangerfield, Crimson Tide football, Buck Rogers, the first seven plagues in Egypt (it's parshat Va'eira, early in Exodus), and more...  ...to see how the Torah is far more relevant today, and every...

Betty White, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Tu B'Shevat. What do they all have in common? In 2022, they all share January 17th.  Listen here to how Betty White z''l actually reached her hundredth birthday after all, the real reason why a people with so much history in the desert put their Arbor Day in the middle of winter, and much more (more or less).

December 24th dinner is Chinese food. Is this really a modern concept, or does it come from the Torah? Mainly, though, this exciting episode samples the long-lost Talmudic laws of the fortune cookie that help ensure your fortune comes true.  Do I read the fortune and then eat the cookie, or eat then read? What if the cookie's empty? Or broken? What if the fortune's torn? Listen here and you'l...

How can Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Fiddler on the Roof, WKRP, Queen, and Star Trek have anything in common? These and several other odds and ends converge when Thanksgiving and Chanukah are brought into proximity with each other – in ways one could never expect. Unless you're listening to this for the second time. By the way, there are also Maccabees, elephants, doughnuts, and Ringo.

The Talmud says, "find yourself a teacher." But, for this group of religious school students, is that (to quote the Torah) "a blessing and a curse?" Decide for yourself as you listen here to real, actual interactions between various 5th - 7th graders and the teacher they found. These are the leaders of tomorrow. Should we weep for the future? Should we let them rule the world right now? Or should...

What do you get when you combine Jewish holidays from opposite ends of the year? Find out about Rosh HaPesach, Yom KipPurim, Shemini Ha'Atzma'ut, and several other recently discovered Talmudic holidays you'll never hear about anywhere else – for good reason.

What do the Wayans Brothers, The Rolling Stones, Air Supply, The Blues Brothers, KC and the Sunshine Band, and The Beatles all have in common? The holiday of Sukkot. Hold onto your lulav while we shake you out of your preconceived notions, with the heretofore untold true origin of the Jewish holiday of booths.

On Yom Kippur, Jews confess their sins communally in a Hebrew alphabetical acrostic – with a catchy tune and chest-thumping percussion line – that's never before been translated accurately. Until now.

With the High Holy Days approaching, 'tis the season of good wishes for the new year. So, here are timely wishes for you that you won't hear in synagogue, which are good for Rosh Hashanah or anytime!

Rosh Hashanah approaches, as do the sounds of the season, including the shofar as you've never heard it before.

A quick hello to let you know what to expect here... At least, what we intended going in.