Good Faith Effort

An Orthodox Jewish rabbi, a Coptic Christian from Egypt, and a Syrian-Lebanese Jew from Mexico City walk into a bar… On this episode Ari talks to the hosts of his new favorite podcast “American-ish”, a show bringing together first-generation immigrant women from two very different (yet strikingly similar!) Middle Eastern communities to discuss culture, love, religion, politics…and everything in be...

Both grew up in Long Island, both grew up in strong religious traditions, both have a love for the liberal arts. But where Ari grew up an Orthodox Jew, Scott grew up Catholic. In a wide-ranging conversation, Ari and Scott reflect on the self-contained dignity and beauty of their respective traditions, and think about what they can bring to the wider world of learning.

When we think of the roots of American liberty and attitudes towards monarchy, we usually think of classically trained statesmen pondering the glories of Athens and Rome. But what if I told you that in fact, the two most important sources undergirding the American Founding were: the Bible…and the Talmud? In today’s episode, Rabbi Ari brought on Harvard’s Eric Nelson to talk about the revival of He...

How does a minority community that has long suffered state-sanctioned oppression take control of its own destiny, build wealth, invest in education about its past, and promote pride in its distinctive culture? This is a question that applies equally to the historical Jewish experience AND the experience of the Black community in America. So this week Rabbi Ari brought on thinker, entrepreneur, and...

Did you ever grow up watching a show as a kid and think “Oh yeah, I identify with THAT character”... even if that character seemed to have nothing to do with you at all? In his gorgeous new book “Piccolo Is Black,” Jordan Calhoun of The Atlantic tackles the joys, challenges, and ultimately the depth of meaning in the pop culture we all loved as kids, and continue to love as adults. Along the way,...

One of the most common questions by far that I get from listeners to this podcast is: “I know you’re an Orthodox Jew, and you mention it a lot on the pod, but…what does that actually mean?”In this episode, I brought on fellow Orthodox Jewish podcaster Rabbi Scott Kahn to unpack this. Along the way we talked about our go-to explanations for people who aren’t Jewish about what Orthodox Judaism is; t...

If you had to look for one of the most spiritually and religiously exciting places in the world, you might not think the place to go would be…Silicon Valley. And yet it’s precisely there that Rabbi Noa Kushner created one of the most exciting experiments in communal entrepreneurship in the world: The Kitchen. On this episode, Ari spoke to Rabbi Kushner about the challenges and opportunities of lea...

It’s become overwhelmingly common to think of the Bible primarily as a text—a book full of words that we read. But while this is an important way of interacting with the Bible, it only develops later. If you look at how the Bible expects  itself  to be taught and studied, it’s much more about passing wisdom from parent to child, or from teacher to student. The Bible is something we’re supposed to ...

How do we expand learning and idea generation to broader populations? How do we create communities around ideas? Can traditional community and individual excellence coexist? Rabbi Lamm spoke about all of this to Anna Gát, one of the most exciting intellectual entrepreneurs in the world about her quest to do exactly this. To learn more about the community Rabbi Lamm and Anna talked about, visit  ht...

Human societies are built on stories, and there are few domains of public life as ripe with storytelling potential as sports. Now, often the kinds of stories we tell around sports involve heroes, conquest, getting to the mountaintop and seeing the promised land. It’s much rarer to tell stories about striving mightily before accepting defeat, and learning to live with and grow from failure. So that...

Eli Lake is one of the best journalists and foreign affairs commentators in America. This week he joins Ari to talk about American foreign policy; the defense industry; the case for gangsta rap; the most underrated hip hop city; why Van Morrison is amazing; how to talk about Israel in this generation…and then turns the tables and interviews Ari about Judaism and politics! Good Faith Effort is a pr...

Russ Roberts is one of the greatest educators alive. He hosts one of the most legendary, popular educational podcasts of all time—EconTalk, on economics, culture, politics—he’s a well-known academic, and even produces viral hip hop videos viewed millions of times about great economic debates. And at the apex of this remarkable career…he picked himself up and moved to a foreign country, Israel, whe...

How do we ensure that our society is educating well? How can we transmit to the next generation the wisdom they need to be thinkers and the practical knowledge they need to be builders? And crucially, how do we avoid siloing these two essential components of a healthy civilization? To unpack this, Rabbi Lamm spoke to one of America’s preeminent thinkers and builders -- the Founder and CEO of Signa...

Can the NBA teach us something about real life? Why has the political culture around sports gotten so insane? And seriously why did everyone hate that Kevin Durant-era Warriors team? This week Ari spoke about all this and more with sports journalist Ethan Strauss, formerly the Warriors beat writer for ESPN and The Athletic, and now the proprietor of the fantastic SubStack, House of Strauss! Good F...

Disability. It’s one of those things many Americans just don’t like to talk about. And yet, not only should justice impel society to engage with disability, legendary disability rights activist Judy Heumann makes the point that actually all of us, at some point or another, will experience disability. So we better get to thinking about it! Ari and Judy sat down this week to unpack all this and much...

Are comedy and Biblical tradition in opposition to each other? Is humor an obstacle or an aid to a serious life, or a life of faith? This week Rabbi Lamm spoke to Columbia University professor Jeremy Dauber about the history and future of comedy in American society. They talked about individualism and community in the comedy business; how comedy can help shed light on some of the most important st...

When comedy comes from a super specific, unique perspective, does that make it inaccessible? Or, on the contrary, is that exactly what people are searching for: authenticity. To unpack all this, Rabbi Lamm spoke to stand-up, actor and comedic genius MODI. Along the way they talked about how the purpose of comedy, what Hasidic Jews have to teach the world, the evolution of the Jewish voice in comed...

What is the relationship between religion and crime? What impact does faith have on and in America’s prison system? What role does faith have in accomplishing the goals of the criminal justice system? To unpack all of this, Rabbi Lamm spoke with the world expert on religion and criminology, Baylor University’s Byron Johnson. They talked about what the data tell us about the impact of religion on c...

We’re living in a time of great upheaval , from the biological (a pandemic), to the social (the state of faith in America), to the political (deep polarization). It can be tempting to give into the darkness and just assume we’re all doomed.  But is there a case for optimism and hope that the next generation might even be  better  than the current one? Rabbi Lamm had on the President of the Nationa...

If you’re an immigrant to a new society, one of the first things you need to do is learn the local language. So what happens when humans immigrate into the world of machines? Rabbi Lamm spoke about this with Ami Dror the founder of the world’s largest edtech company teaching kids to code, LeapLearner. Along the way, they talked about the divine image in the Book of Genesis; what you can understand...

In a world moving at breakneck speed, there’s nothing more important, more essential, than deep thinking and learning. Is this even possible any longer in a world of social media, where the old 24 hour news cycle seems like a golden age of serious attention spans? In a world where the highest pleasure is the dopamine hit of getting quick likes on Instagram or TikTok? ...Or maybe is the doom and gl...

Today is the anniversary of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’s passing. To commemorate his life and legacy, Rabbi Lamm spoke with one of the last people to ever be in public conversation with him: Professor Amy Chua of Yale Law School, and author of the runaway international bestseller  Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother . They spoke about what’s going wrong on elite college campuses, why the educational sy...

After the year and a half we just had, how do we find happiness? How do we, a generation more overloaded with information and emotional stimuli than ever, go about living lives of goodness and joy? To unpack this, Rabbi Lamm spoke to bestselling author, and internationally renowned expert on Happiness Studies, Tal Ben Shahar. In this fascinating, wide ranging conversation they talked about the rel...

Why are stories important? What can you learn about a society from the stories it tells, both to itself and about itself? And why is it essential to understand the stories that Jews and Christians tell if we want to know where America is right now, and where it might go from here? To unpack all of this, Rabbi Lamm spoke to the incomparable Antonio García Martínez, technologist, startup founder, on...

 It’s been a WILD first season of Good Faith Effort, and so we decided to count down our favorite episodes of Season 1. Join Rabbi Lamm as he takes you through all his favorite moments, and explains what he loved about them. Thank you so much to all of our incredible listeners! Keep listening and hitting us up on social media. And spread the word!