Defining Moments

Few voices have carried the weight of this moment like Rabbi Doron Perez. The President of the World Zionist Organization and Chair of World Mizrachi, Rav Perez is also the father of Captain Daniel Perez הי״ד, who fell defending Israel on October 7th and whose body was held in Gaza for 163 days before being brought home for burial. In this episode of Defining Moments, Rabbi Perez sits down with Ra...

In normal times, Rabbi Moshe Bloom is the rabbi of Netzach Shlomo in Petach Tikvah, and head of the English department at Machon HaTorah VeHa’aretz — the institute dedicated to the agricultural laws of the land of Israel. But these are not normal times. Rav Bloom is also an IDF officer and a Rav Gdud — a battalion rabbi responsible for 450 soldiers. For over 500 days, he has been fighting alongsid...

Rabbi Larry Rothwach is one of the most respected pulpit rabbis in America. He’s been the rabbi of Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck for over twenty-two years. During that time, he watched twenty percent of his community make aliyah. They’d call him from Israel and tell him the same thing: we love it here, but we miss having a shul that’s really a community, a rabbi who knows our names, a kehilla...

Amit and Arik Baron are a “mixed” couple—one became religious, one didn’t. More common than you’d think. Ami Baram, founder of Hitkashrut Zugit—an organization that supports these couples—shared just before October 7th that about 20% of Israelis are moving closer to religious observance while 13% are moving further away. A full third of our people are in flux. In this clip from the upcoming Defini...

Welcome to Defining Moments. I’m Rabbi David Fine. Today’s guest is Rabbi Josh Broide, a walking contradiction in the best possible way. After 25 transformative years in Boca Raton—holding numerous important community positions—Josh made aliyah to Israel this past summer. He’s thrilled to be living his Zionist dream while remaining passionately committed to the community he served in South Florida...

417. That’s how many days Yona Brief fought for his life after being shot 13 times on October 7th while trying to save his fallen friends in Kfar Aza. 417 days that his parents never left his side. 417 days that transformed a hospital room into a place of hope, filled with music, laughter, and an unshakeable will to live. 417 blood donation units collected in his memory on what would have been his...

In this episode I have the honor to speak with my Rav and Barkai partner, Rav Shlomo Sobol. We spoke just before Rosh Hashana, a very busy time for rabbis. We spoke about his own path to the rabbinate, his shlichut in Detroit which led to his envisioning Barkai, his time at Merkaz HaRav and the importance of Rav Kook’s Torah for our generation amongst many other topics. הפקה: DABRU לפרסום ושיתופי...

Welcome to the Defining Moments podcast. Today we’re joined by Matthew Miller, publisher of Koren Publishers Jerusalem, one of the world’s leading Jewish publishing house. After growing up in a non-observant household and running a British multinational corporation, Matthew made aliyah in 1999. He later acquired Koren Publishers and transformed it from a company publishing just a handful of titles...

Welcome to “Defining Moments.” Today I’m honored to be joined by Rabbi Hayim Navon, a distinguished Israeli rabbi, philosopher, and writer whose work has profoundly influenced modern Jewish thought. Rabbi Navon has recently published a deeply moving book titled “מעשה בצדיק ואלונקה” – “A Tale of a Righteous Man and a Stretcher.” This powerful work commemorates the students and graduates of Hesder y...

Don't miss our riveting new Defining Moments podcast featuring Gila Tolub, the visionary Executive Director of ICAR Collective! In response to October 7th's profound impact, ICAR coordinates experts across medicine, psychology, and public health to address Israel's trauma crisis where 60% of Israelis have experienced symptoms of PTSD. Our conversation explores both ICAR's vital work aligning hundr...

In this powerful episode, we meet Roni Bluth, whose life changed dramatically when her husband was severely wounded in combat on Israel's northern border. The bullet missed his brain stem by just one millimeter, beginning a journey that countless families of wounded soldiers face. From explaining to her eight-year-old daughter why dad couldn't speak with his jaws wired shut to eventually putting o...

Since October 7th, communities across Israel have faced unprecedented challenges, with religious leaders like Rabbi Zev Rosenfeld at the forefront of offering emotional and spiritual support. In this episode of Defining Moments, Rabbi Rosenfeld, the Chief Rabbi of Talmon, shares his experiences and unique perspective as an Anglo-Rabbi leading an Israeli yeshuv. Talmon, which has tragically lost fo...

On October 7th, Hamas terrorists hunted Jews house to house, burned families alive, and committed atrocities that immediately evoked memories of the darkest chapter in Jewish history - the Holocaust. While the systematic Nazi genocide remains uniquely incomparable in its scope and horror, the echoes of that period have haunted our collective consciousness since October 7th. Now, as we've just mark...

At 14, Avi Samter sparked his family's aliyah with a simple question in his mother's car. By 23, he was commanding an elite IDF counter-terrorism unit during Israel's darkest hours. In this powerful conversation, Avi shares his journey from New York's Five Towns to the frontlines of Israel's war against Hamas, offering a deeply personal account of October 7th, his multiple missions in Gaza, and th...

Mental health awareness has undergone a remarkable transformation in Jewish communities over recent years, and today's guest, Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig, has been at the forefront of this change. Through his groundbreaking work integrating mental health into a halakhic framework and his book 'Nafshi Bishe'elati,' he has helped create a new language for discussing mental health within Orthodox Judaism....

In an article about Jewish Comedy Sarah Groustra writes: "Arguably, the most important aspect of Jewish comedy is release. Judaism is diasporic, which brings with it a legacy of restlessness, fear, and loneliness. The diaspora leaves in its wake the stereotype of neurotic Jewish parents who instill fear of persecution in their Jewish children. Jewish comedy serves to mitigate the tension of living...

The recent killing of 12 Druze children playing soccer in Majdal Shams by a Hezbollah missile sent shock waves throughout Israel. That’s only the most recent tragic event, as many Druze soldiers have been killed in the current war, where they have served with distinction in the Israeli army. The Druze are obviously giving and loyal members of Israeli society, and I learned this first-hand when I,...

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote, "Hope is one of the very greatest Jewish contributions to Western civilisation, so much so that I have called Judaism 'the voice of hope in the conversation of humankind.'"  But what exactly is hope ? Is hope synonymous with optimism- that everything will turn out alright at the end?  Today we welcome to the podcast world renowned physician Dr. Ben Corn. As an oncologis...

Since October 8, Rabbi Bentzi Mann has been involved in one of the most difficult yet most meaningful roles in the IDF: identifying and caring for the bodies of the fallen. Join Rabbi David Fine for a fascinating and important behind-the-scenes look at what Rav Bentzi and his unit have been doing.(Please note that this podcast deals with a very sensitive subject, and may be triggering to some. Lis...

We are living in a unique historical moment of great import, and experiencing defining moments every day. In this podcast, you will gain greater insight as to why this time in the history of Israel and the Jewish people is so significant by meeting the heroes who imbue us with pride, inspiration and optimism.