JUDAISM DEMYSTIFIED | A Guide for Today's Perplexed: Torah Foundations, Reason, and Tradition

Rabbi David Fohrman has changed the game of online Torah learning with AlephBeta.org, a remarkable and innovative tool for the modern age. In this episode, he describes his methodology in learning the biblical text, of which he brilliantly draws a parallel to the complex interconnectivities of the worldwide web. Additionally, since Midrash is often misunderstood in today’s generation by both the O...

In his book 'Maimondes' Confrontation with Mysticism', Professor Menachem Kellner presents the vision and values that Maimonides promoted in his understanding of Judaism, as well as the proto-Kabbalistic cultural climate he campaigned against and tried to uproot. Additionally, no area in Judaism is as fundamental or more essential than Halakha. Kellner provides the framework for Maimonides’ charac...

Rich Cohen is an American non-fiction writer. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He is co-creator, with Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter, of the HBO series Vinyl. His works have been New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books, and have been collected in the Best American Essays series. In 2022, Cohen became a columnist for the Wall Street Jou...

In his book 'Eternally Yours', Rabbi Reuven Mann makes an important observation: that most religions and political, intellectual, and social movements trace themselves back to a single founder. Yet as great as our Patriarch Avraham was, his legacy is shared by his family and descendants. In this episode, he points out that the Torah doesn't include the concept of "sainthood" (in the Christian sens...

Who was Rabbi Leon de Modena and why did he dedicate much of his life to fighting against the Zohar and its influence? Dr. Dweck explains how Modena's reputation within traditional Judaism suffered for a number of reasons, including an unyielding criticism of emerging sects within Judaism. Though he failed to rise to real distinction, one of his most effective works was his attack on the Kabbala (...

As a teenager, Bernd Wollschlaeger uncovered a very dark secret about his family: that his father was a decorated, high-ranking Nazi who was very proud of his role as a tank commander in Hitler’s army and played a part in the mass murder of innocent people, including children. This discovery, coupled with the murder of Jewish athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympic games in Munich, led B...

Rabbi David Rosen makes a passionate case for a new (yet old) approach to building a strong, sustainable Jewish identity, and how rallying around a flag or conjuring up the holocaust must not be the determining factors of who we are. Today we are seeing a major rise in antisemitism but now it has mutated into something entirely new. The latest iteration of this phenomenon is a bigotry that aims to...

Gematria is one of the methods of Aggadic interpretation but unfortunately it has developed a bad reputation as something that can be easily manipulated to "prove" any idea. As a respected mathematician and a critical thinker, Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder initially did not find it to be compelling at all. That is until a particular gematria piqued his interest. In this episode, he discusses his journey fr...

The Hakham returns and delivers yet another explosive interview. This time he makes a strong case for the practical reasons Jews should return to the classical Sepharadi tradition and explains why the alternative path has led many well-meaning people astray. The popularization of segulot, charlatanism, and the occult over the last few hundred years has left a deep impression on Jewish culture. Alt...

Dr. Susan Weissman delivers a thorough examination of particular areas of Sefer Hasidim by Rabbi Yehuda HaHasid. In her book titled 'Final Judgment and the Dead in Medieval Jewish Thought', she presents how influential this book was on Jewish culture, who was Rabbi Yehuda HaHasid, how accepted his book was at that time, and how it impacts Ashkenazi Jewry today. In her book, she compares and contra...

Mitchell First Esq. examines pre-exilic acrostics that point to the Hebrew letter Pe preceding Ayin in the original order of the Hebrew alphabet (as in Eikhah chaps. 2-4, and based on recent archaeological findings) and the ramifications of this for the book of Tehillim (and for Eshet Hayil). He also makes a strong case for King Ahashverosh and Xerxes being one and the same. If this is true, how c...

Rabbi Jonthan Livi, host of 3 Podcasts on Apple (The Parasha Podcast, The Navi Podcast, The Tehillim Podcast), carefully analyzes the nuances of the Garden of Eden narrative and uncovers some of its deepest lessons. The creation epic in the book of Genesis is arguably the most enigmatic, mysterious, and sophisticated text in the entire Torah, containing an endless stream of wisdom at every turn. I...

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim makes a strong case to return to fundamentals by using sources and common sense. He explains how Judaism in the modern age has regressed into magical thinking and superstition. We discuss the following topics: reciting tehillim to heal the sick, treating the mezuzah as a protective amulet, what Chazal meant regarding ayin hara (evil eye) and demonology, reincarnation vs the c...

Dr. Goldish provides a detailed analysis on the history of messianic movements, with a specific focus on a relatively recent false messiah, Shabbetai Ẓevi. We discuss the influence on Zoharic and Lurianic Kabbalah on Ẓevi and his prophet, Nathan of Gaza. This story has been largely swept under the rug and if we don't learn our history, we're doomed to repeat it. What's troubling is that a large po...

Rabbi Angel carefully presents the traditional Sepharadi approach to law and life. Do we take a more stringent or lenient approach than Ashkenazim? We live in an age where Judaism is highly fractured with sectarianism, including Ultra-Orthodox, Yeshivish, Haredi, Hassidic, Modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Secular Zionist, Anti-Zionist, Religious Zionist, etc. Very little (...

Rabbi Schneeweiss discusses his conversion to Judaism in 11th grade, identifying as Shomer Torah U'Mitzvot (and not a "rationalist"), using Bruce Lee's philosophy for teaching, what it means to be a Stoic Jew, the methodology of Mishlei (Proverbs), Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), and Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs), why it's important to learn Tehillim (Psalms) instead of reading it as an incantation, why w...

Rabbi Wieder explains the concept of Q're (what is read) and Ketib (what is written) and how our Sages approached textual variants in all ancient Torah scrolls (Masoretic, Dead Sea, etc.). In doing so, he clarifies and corrects some of the biggest misconceptions about the integrity and unity of the text, something Bible critics in academia often point to as evidence against the Torah's authenticit...

Dr. England shares origin story, how he connected to his Jewish roots, his famous moniker as "the next Darwin", and what it's like to have a character in Dan Brown's book based off of him. He addressed the following topics: Do most scientists understand what science is? What does this have to do with the perceived conflict between biblical religion and science? Should we be trying to figure out if...

Rabbi Breitowitz shares his insights on the ethics of separating the art from the artist (as in the most recent case with Chaim Walder), the miraculous existence and success of modern-day Israel (the Haredi argument against Zionism vs the argument for post-facto religious Zionism), the purpose of prayer since we can't change God's mind (and the superstitious elements that some Jews use to close th...

Rabbi Bashevkin explains why stories of tzaddikim are inspiring and beneficial, especially for children. But is this ideal considering that the Torah seems to not hide or sugarcoat the mistakes of our ancestors, while actually making their failures integral to their narratives. If the Torah did not find it beneficial to gloss over the mistakes or flaws of our greatest heroes, why should we employ...

Dr. Goodman brilliantly compares and contrasts Rambam and Nietzche regarding the nature of values and value judgments, presents his understanding of the 'Guide for the Perplexed' in reference to God’s Knowledge (with the point of emphasis on the problem of God’s Knowledge of the particulars and Divine Providence, breaks down the problem of evil and the Rambam’s approach to it, and provides a summa...

Shannon tells the story of her life growing up as the daughter of a pastor (now a Noahide). She was raised as a missionary, part of a community that mimicked Jewish traditions and symbols in order to blur the lines in order to make conversion to Christianity more palatable for Jewish targets. Her story is about having the courage to live according to truth, that which goes against everything she w...

Rabbi Israel discusses the distinctions between the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, and what our approach should be towards understanding these seemingly contradictory accounts. Find out how these factors into the story of Rehoboam. In the opening chapter of Kings, he offers two approaches for understanding the Avishag story. Discover the perplexities in the opening narrative of Kings, t...

Dr. Sarna discusses the American Jewish Experience, the impact the Torah had on the Founding Fathers of America, the sanitization of slavery, Ulysses S. Grant's complicated relationship with the Jews, the remarkable connection between the Jews and Abraham Lincoln, and the legacy of his father, the great scholar, Dr. Nahum Sarna a'h.

In the recently published book 'Strauss, Spinoza, & Sinai' (Kodesh Press), it is said that both the Enlightenment and Orthodoxy rest on axioms that neither side can fully prove or fully refute (as Leo Strauss presented). Much of modern thought tries to square the circle of how to live in a world without belief. The better question is whether it is possible to recover authentic religious belief in...