Behind the Bima

Chava Willig Levy is an award-winning author and an advocate for individuals with disabilities. As a person who gets around in a motorized wheelchair, she has shattered many stereotypes about people with disabilities in the workplace, in the community, in the classroom and on the college campus. An internationally known motivational speaker famous for her humor, passion and compassion, Chava has c...

Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss  is a prolific speaker and a student of Rav Moshe Feinstein.  He served as a rabbi in Staten Island for decades and currently lives and teaches in Lakewood. 00:00 - Intro 19:58 - Interview 1:18:16 - Outro Rabbi Efrem Goldberg: Rabbi, Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS). Rabbi Philip Moskowitz: Associate Rabbi, BRS. Rabbi Josh Broide: Outreach Rabbi, BRS.

Hillel Fuld is an American Israeli technology blogger, vlogger, business advisor, and international speaker. Fuld's work focuses on the Israeli high tech industry, guidance for startup companies, and marketing tips for growing a business or personal brands.  Fuld has been recognized as one of the most influential people in the Israeli tech industry, and has been ranked in the top ten of global tec...

Dovi Safier is a business professional who enjoys researching unexplored chapters of Jewish history, with a primary focus on the yeshivos of the interwar period.  Yehuda Geberer (https://yehudageberer.com/) is a researcher of Jewish History and a popular tour guide of Jewish Historical sites in Europe. He spends much of his time conducting group and private tours around Europe as well as Israel, f...

Our Guest: Saul (https://saulblinkoff.com/) began his career as an animator for the WALT DISNEY STUDIOS working on the hit films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, & Tarzan. He made his directorial debut with the hip action-adventure series Spy Groove for MTV. Shortly thereafter, he re-joined DISNEY, directing the films Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo & Kronk's New Groove- starri...

Elisheva Liss, LMFT is a psychotherapist in private practice, an author, lecturer, and digital educator. Her book, Find Your Horizon of Healthy Thinking, teaches how to use a narrative therapy technique she developed for managing challenging thoughts, feelings, and circumstances. Her primary digital course is: Sacred, Not Secret: A Religious Parent's Guide to Healthy, Holy Sexuality Education. Som...

Rabbi Berel Wein, the founder and director of the Destiny Foundation since 1996, has, for over 25 years, been identified with the popularization of Jewish history through his more than 1,000 lectures heard world-wide on CD and now as downloadable MP3s, his 15 books, history courses, educational tours and, most recently, dramatic and documentary films.  Rabbi Wein is a graduate of the Hebrew Theolo...

Rabbi Mark Wildes was ordained from Yeshiva University, but before becoming a rabbi, he received a JD from the Cardozo School of Law and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University. Since founding MJE 20 years ago, Rabbi Wildes has become one of America’s most inspirational and dynamic Jewish educators. He lives with his wife Jill and their children Yosef, Ezra, Judah and Avigayil...

Sam Ron and Jack Waksal were prisoners in the Holocaust together and recently united after 79 years.  Connect with Rabbi Efrem Goldberg:  Website: https://rabbiefremgoldberg.org/   Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/efrem.goldberg Twitter: http://twitter.com/rabbigoldberg   Rabbi Efrem Goldberg: Rabbi, Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS).  Rabbi Philip Moskowitz: Associate Rabbi, BRS.  Rabbi Josh Broide: Ou...

Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball program.  A video of Pearl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nRO8KEEFo) went viral in which he said at a press conference:  "My Hebrew name is Mordecai, and I think my family gave me that name for this reason. Mordecai talked to Esther the queen and said, 'Look,...

As cooking has always been her passion, in 2004, Naomi started her own kosher personal chef business, The Aussie Gourmet, to pursue cater weekly and Shabbat/Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities and beyond — including Alaska and Israel. Naomi is often sought after to give cooking demonstrations and produce kosher Chopped competitions throughou...

R. Yechiel Slomo Levitansky was born in Los-Angeles in 1974. He lives at present in Sumy, Ukraine with his wife and 6 children. As a rabbi his activity is the restoration of the Jewish in Sumy and the Sumy region. Since 5 years he studied in religious yeshiva school in L.A. and N.Y., USA. After finishing yeshiva he had practice in 1994-1995 in Kharkov, Ukraine and helped the local rabbi.  Rabbi Ya...

Partner with us at www.brsonline.org/global.  A marathon episode, running for over 3.5 hours, celebrating the great talent behind BRS. Hosts Rabbis Efrem Goldberg and Josh Broide speak to: Rebbetzin Yocheved Goldberg Rabbi Rael and Rebbetzin Aliza Blumenthal (BRS West) Jeffrey Goldberg (COO) Talia Borenstein (Director of Member Engagement) Rabbi Eli Zians (Teen Rabbi) Rabbi Kevin Rhine (Youth Rabb...

Show your support for BRS and donate to our BRS Global campaign at www.brsonline.org/global.  Rabbi Eli Stefansky was raised in New York and Bnei Brak. A graduate of some of the finest yeshivos both in Israel and the States, he learned for a while after his marriage, before successfully entering the real estate business. His Daf Yomi shiurim are streamed live every morning and is watched by partic...

R' Dovid Bashevkin is the director of education for NCSY, the youth movement of the Orthodox Union, and an instructor at Yeshiva University, where he teaches courses on public policy, religious crisis, and rabbinic thought. He completed rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, as well as a Master’s degree at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish...

American-born and Canadian-raised, Ilana moved to Israel when she was 18, only taking on the agricultural life after her marriage 25 years ago to her third-generation farmer husband.  Connect with Rabbi Efrem Goldberg:  Website: https://rabbiefremgoldberg.org/   Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/efrem.goldberg Twitter: http://twitter.com/rabbigoldberg   Rabbi Efrem Goldberg: Rabbi, Boca Raton Syna...

Rabbi Mansour is currently the Rabbi of The Edmond J Safra Synagogue in Brooklyn, New York. He started his Yeshiva education at Magen David Yeshiva, which was founded by the Rabbi’s great uncle, the esteemed Mr. Isaac Shalom A"H. There he studied Torah and absorbed the richness of our heritage from noted Rabbis such as Rabbi David Bitton A"H, and Rabbi Moshe Greenes A”H. However, the figure who ha...

Myron Sugerman was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1938, and at the age of twenty-one he followed his father's footsteps into the family business--Coin-operated amusements. Like his father, Barney "Sugie" Sugerman, Myron sold and operated slot machines, jukeboxes, cigarette machines, and anything else that accepted coins and entertained people in bars, nightclubs, and other hangouts around the worl...

R. Yitzchak Adlerstein is the co-founder of Cross-Currents, an online journal of Orthodox Jewish thought, and regularly contributes to that site.  He also on the editorial board of Klal Perspectives, an online journal of issues facing the Orthodox community.  R. Adlerstein serves as the director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  Connect with Rabbi Efrem Goldberg:  Website: ht...

Bob Diener is the co-founder and President of getaroom.com, and co-founder and past President of hotels.com. After receiving his law degree from Cornell where he was an editor of the Cornell Law Review, Bob practiced securities and corporate law with the firm of Gibson Dunn. As a leading travel industry expert, he is a frequent source for many major news organizations as well as a recurrent guest...

A conversation with Rabbis Herschel Schacter and Efrem Goldberg. The conversation took place as part of an Amudim program called Unite to Heal . For more, check out BehindtheBima.com.

Nissim Baruch Black (born Damian Jamohl Black; December 9, 1986) is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He retired in 2011 to focus on his conversion to Orthodox Judaism, but soon returned under his new Hebrew name Nissim Black (Nissim means 'miracles' in Hebrew) and began writing from a more religious standpoint. He appeared on Shtar's song "Rabbit Hole" (2012). He has since rele...

Yeshiva University announced Elliot Steinmetz as its head men's basketball coach on April 28, 2014. Steinmetz, a 2002 graduate of YU's Sy Syms School of Business who lettered on YU's basketball team for three seasons from 1999-02, is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the men's basketball program while ensuring the academic success of its student-athletes. He has served with distinction as...

Joseph Gitler is a graduate of Yeshiva University and Fordham University Law School. After making aliyah in 2000, he worked for three years as Director of International Sales & Development for a family software business. He founded Leket Israel in 2003 after witnessing significant food wastage in Israel at a time of rising poverty. Joseph’s vision and steady hand have led the organization from a s...

Dara Horn is the award-winning author of six books, including the novels In the Image (Norton 2002), The World to Come (Norton 2006), All Other Nights (Norton 2009), A Guide for the Perplexed (Norton 2013), and Eternal Life (Norton 2018), and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present (Norton 2021).  One of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists (2007), she...