Jews You Should Know

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Ashley Blaker grew up in a traditional Jewish home in the London suburbs, attending a private school and eventually Oxford and Cambridge as well. Along the way, he stoked his interest in writing and performing comedy, ultimately earning his big break at the BBC, where he worked alongside some of the most eminent comedians in the country. Ashley later came out from "behind the ca...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE The son of an Ivy League professor with an early penchant for Wall Street investing, Greg Zuckerman never imagined he would one day be writing about stocks and not trading them. But through a circuitous series of personal events - including stints planning banking conferences, organizing college campus tours and writing for an obscure financial trade journal - he eventually foun...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Sivan Rahav-Meir is a true anomaly in Israeli society: a popular TV news anchor, commentator and columnist, but also a fully and publicly observant Jewish woman. Growing up in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Herzaliya, Sivan had a penchant for interviewing others from the age of six, beginning with her classmates and teachers, and eventually branching out to broader society. She...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Taglit-Birthright Israel is perhaps the most successful modern Jewish program, having to date brought over 500,000 Diaspora Jews to visit Israel for life-changing experiences. Its CEO and professional visionary, Gidi Mark, joins us this week for a deep-dive into the inner workings of this revolutionary organization. Along the way, we learn about his past and his passion for maki...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE As one of the most decorated generals in the Israel Defense Forces, Maj. General Meir Klifi-Amir has served his country and his people for almost four decades, rising steadily in rank from his youthful beginnings in the Paratroopers. Perhaps the only Israeli general also married to a general, General Klifi, as he is affectionately known, is as invested as one can possibly be in...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Any supporter of Israel will recognize the name Ron Dermer. As Israel's ambassador to the United States, he has represented the State and its Prime Minister - his long-time mentor Benjamin Netanyahu - with tremendous skill and passion. In this interview, Ambassador Dermer shares his personal story as a youngster in Miami, Florida, a college student at the University of Pennsylva...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE What is a nice Jewish boy doing flying down an Olympic ice-track, competing for the Israeli National Team in the obscure sport of Skeleton? In AJ Edelman's view, at least, redefining what it means to be a Jew in sport, defying near-impossible odds and generating tremendous pride for his country. Born and raised in Boston, MA, a hockey goalie growing up and through his university...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE As a second year law student, Bob Diener dipped his toes into the entrepreneurial waters, finding a niche in the travel industry. He never looked back. In the 30 years since, Diener, along with partner Dave Lipmann, founded Hotels.com and later GetARoom.com. With Torah Judaism as his template, he found a way to both do well and do good - building trust with employees and custome...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE The Nobel Prize is regarded as the pinnacle of scientific achievement in almost any discipline. Unless you are Brian Keating, a brilliant astro-physicist who nearly won the Prize, and now stands as one of its fiercest critics, advocating for reform. Brian Keating, a professor at UCSD, began his astronomical career as a 12-year-old "principal investigator" - gazing into space thr...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski may be the individual most responsible for destigmatizing mental health and addiction treatment in the Jewish world. Author of 84 (!!) books on psychological topics as well as innumerable titles on Jewish wisdom, he is one of the most widely-read and admired personalities in the global Jewish community. In this episode, Dr. Twerski takes us on a journey...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE The name Alan Dershowitz conjures images of OJ Simpson, Natan Sharansky, and many other famous personalities and cases. After hearing this interview, it will also remind you of a brilliant but restless young mind in post-War Brooklyn, a first-in-his-class Yale Law School graduate, a 50-year Harvard professor, a passionate defender of Israel and advocate for domestic judicial ref...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE It's not often you meet someone who has attended or taught at Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Princeton and MIT...but that is precisely what Jeremy England has done in his young career. Already hailed at the "next Darwin" for the implication of his work on "origin-of-life" theory, he is much more interested in the "next mitzvah " than such sensationalist or speculative projections. G...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE With an initial release date in the month of Adar - Judaism's most joyous, containing the holiday of Purim - what a great time to introduce our audience to Rabbi Gavriel Friedman, a.k.a. "Rav Gav," one of the most humorous Jewish educators around. Anchored in the Old City of Jerusalem at Aish HaTorah, Rav Gav has regaled thousands who have passed through his classes with brillia...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE As a serial entrepreneur, podcaster and best-selling author, Daniel Gefen has accomplished beyond his wildest dreams as a young man growing up in London. In this rich and authentic conversation, Daniel shares his joys but just as importantly his failures, childhood challenges, and life philosophies. Anyone looking to launch a business, find meaning in life's myriad pursuits or f...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE As a young, ambitious college graduate on the brink of law school and a promising career, Jay Feinberg's life was turned upside down with a cancer diagnosis. His only hope, long-term, would be a bone marrow transplant, which the doctor compared to finding a needle in a haystack. There simply weren't enough Ashkenazi (or any) Jews registered to make it likely for him to find a ma...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Although he bears the name of his illustrious and saintly grandfather, the current-day Rabbi Aaron Kotler took a circuitous route back to the institution his family created. Spending years teaching in Jerusalem and studying in the Catskills, he eventually returned to as President of what is now the largest yeshiva (institute of Torah study) in the United States - and possibly th...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Rarely do we encounter a person whose own life has led literally to the saving of thousand of others'. In our conversation with Eli Beer we meet just such a man: his groundbreaking venture, begun at just 16 years old, has revolutionized emergency care in Israel and around the world. In this episode, hear Eli describe his witnessing as a child of a bus bombing; his saving of the...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg was a young father when he received the call every parent dreads. His toddler daughter passed away a short time later. Years later, he found a profound way to channel his grief by directing Camp Simcha, a camp for children with cancer. In that role, he discovered that the marriage between martial arts and ailing children could be a transformational one,...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Rabbi Cary Friedman is one of the most unique and interesting rabbinic personalities in the Jewish world today. An electrical engineer by training, Rabbi Friedman found his calling as a Jewish outreach professional and teacher of Torah. A lifelong Batman aficionado and memorabilia collector, he parlayed his hobby into a successful Jewish outreach career at Duke University and a...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Nissim Black may have grown up in the Jewishly-populated Seattle suburb of Seward Park, but his early life could not have been more distant from those surroundings. Raised around pervasive drug-addiction and gun violence, in the bosom of burgeoning African-American hip-hop culture, the man now named Nissim counted stops in Islam, Christianity and Messianism along his religious j...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Alan Veingrad was the not-so-little engine that could. Standing at 6'5" and nearly 300 pounds, he was a raw but high-potential football player relegated to a Division II program for college, then cut by two NFL teams before finally getting his chance as a Green Bay Packer. He eventually went on to win a Super Bowl with the dynastic Dallas Cowboys of the early 1990's. Along the w...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE David Weiss's road to Jewish observance and Hollywood success was not a straight one. Born in a sparsely Jewish California town, young David became attracted to the Church, and lived for years as a passionate - even evangelizing - Christian. In parallel, he employed his creative talents within this religious world, until eventually venturing more widely into Hollywood. Meanwhile...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Nachum Segal was destined for radio. From his early childhood days announcing sports scores in the privacy of his home, to his collegiate moonlighting at Yeshiva University's campus radio station, he got an early start, and never looked back. His rich, mellifluous bass have served him faithfully as a host and as the MC of note at Jewish events over the years. Nachum's career has...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Nathan ("Nat") Lewin is one of the country's most renowned constitutional attorneys, having argued numerous cases in front of the Supreme Court. Many of these cases have been precedent-setting and involved major Church-State issues. Others have involved famous - or infamous - politicians and news-makers. In Part II of this two-week episode we explore more of Nat's legal philosop...

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Nathan ("Nat") Lewin is one of the country's most renowned constitutional attorneys, having argued numerous cases in front of the Supreme Court. Many of these cases have been precedent-setting and involved major Church-State issues. Others have involved famous - or infamous - politicians and news-makers. In Part I of this two-week episode we explore Nat's background - with fasci...