The Jewish Drinking Show

Introduction Ever wondered what the contemporary wine scene in Israel is like? I'm very excited to welcome back Adam Montefiore, who previously appeared on the show discussing Modern Israeli Wine History, Part 1: Early History and Modern Israeli Wine History, Part 2: 1970s-Present . As part of the Toast to Israel at 75 mini-series , we get together over Israeli wine at the original location o...

Introduction Kicking-off the 2023 Toast to Israel at 75 series of The Jewish Drinking Show , we're featuring Israel's oldest whiskey distillery. Having opened in 2014, M&H Distillery (formerly called Milk & Honey Distillery) released its first whiskey in December 2019 and its whiskies have won many awards, but none as prestigious as best single-malt whisky a few months ago at The...

Introduction Ever wondered how the process of production of kosher wines work at European wineries? While we had previously discussed Kedem/Royal Wine on a previous episode , joining us to speak about how Royal/Kedem procures kosher runs of wine at these European wineries is Jay Buchsbaum. Biography of Guest Buchsbaum has worked for over twenty years for Royal Wine Corporation , where he presently...

 When I came across an article on drinking in the world to come, I knew this would be a fascinating topic to discuss for The Jewish Drinking Show . For the 137th episode of the show, we invite Prof. Claudia Bergmann onto the show to discuss her article "Drink and Drinking in Early Jewish Texts: Describing a Meal in the World to Come", Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha  30:3 (20...

Introduction Having previously published an episode concerning Geonic literature , for the 136th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show , we take a step back and consider terms for beverages in literature of the Geonic rabbis . We welcome first-time guest, Rabbi Dr. Phil Lieberman for this episode. Biography of Guest Phil Lieberman is a social, economic, and legal historian of the Jews of the medieva...

Introduction Having discussed gentiles and libations previously on The Jewish Drinking Show , I was fascinated to have come across Professor Sacha Stern's “Compulsive Libationers: Non-Jews and Wine in Early Rabbinic Sources”, Journal of Jewish Studies 64.1 (2013): 19-44. As such, I am very excited to welcome him to the show's 135th episode to share his research. Biography of Guest Prof....

Having discussed kiddush clubs previously on The Jewish Drinking Show , every kiddush club has its own unique aspects. One such kiddush club even got their own Scotch from Bruichladdich years ago ( here is the article referenced in The New Yorker regarding this distillery ), and it finally arrived. One of the members of this group is Yossi Francus, a leader of his local kiddush club.  Support the...

Intro Used by many Jews in Europe for centuries, Yiddish is quite the colorful language. Unsurprisingly, there are many amusing and clever terms and phrases in Yiddish associated with drinking. Having come across a column on just this topic ( "Have a Drink!" ), the 133rd episode of The Jewish Drinking Show features the author of that column, Dr. Jordan Finkin, to share Yiddish drinking t...

 While The Jewish Drinking Show has previously discussed Prohibition , as well as an aspect of Orthodox responses to Prohibition , the newest episode of the show features a discussion of Reform rabbinic responses to Prohibition, with first-time guest, Rabbi Zachary Goodman.  Support the show Thank you for listening! If you have any questions, suggestions, or more, feel free to reach out at Drew@Je...

Introduction While the Passover Seder is a celebration of the freedom of our Jewish ancestors from Egyptian slavery and becoming a nation, it is hard to picture this in terms of what the experience of being in the Holocaust, as it was very much not an experience of freedom. Moreover, a cornerstone of the Passover Seder experience is drinking a minimum of four cups as part of the expression of our...

Intro Having previously published episode #24 of The Jewish Drinking Show on "Whiskey As the Catalyst for the Selling of Chametz , the 130th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show delves more deeply into this topic, for which we are excited to have Dan Rabinowitz on the show to discuss this topic. Biography of Guest In addition to having written " Kitniyot and  Mechirat Chametz : Paradoxica...

Introduction With Passover only a couple of weeks away, including the four cups minimum of wine at the Passover Seder, how has the transformative experience of alcohol-consumption been considered in the Jewish tradition? To share a teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), as written by Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz (1780-1844), on this topic is Rabbi Zac Kamenetz. Biography of Guest Rabbi Kamen...

Introduction In addition to a producer of certified spirits, Thornton Distilling produces certified kosher-for-Passover spirits, including a barrel-aged rum. To discuss these products on The Jewish Drinking Show is Ari Klafter. Biography of Guest Ari Klafter is the Head Distiller and co-owner of Thornton Distilling Company , maker of Dead Drop Spirits , where he leads production and develops the r...

Intro Having discussed medieval rabbis’ normative writings previously on The Jewish Drinking Show , as well as 16th-17th century rabbis' normative rabbis on Purim-drinking on The Jewish Drinking Show , I’m excited to welcome back Rabbi David Fried to discuss significant rabbinic normative writings in the 18th-19th centuries on this matter. ( Here is the source sheet we used for the material u...

Introduction As Purim is a time for not only merry-making and drinking, but also for some silliness, there have also been Hebrew parodies written for Purim, including, as we have discussed before, 14th century Hebrew parodies . Moving closer to our time, the very amusing Massekhet Purim , a Talmudic parody for Purim in the 18th century, is quite hilarious and well-done. As our guest for the 126th...

Introduction Having provided an introductory overview of kiddush clubs (episode #45) , as well as a fascinating framework in which to consider kiddush clubs (episode #124) , the 125th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show features Udi Zinar discussing a range of kiddush club experiences. Brief Biography of Guest Ehud "Udi" Zinar is a Relationship & personal coach, a spiritual mentor an...

Intro Having previously discussed kiddush clubs on the 45th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show , there is a lot more to explore, especially considering that only a half-year ago, the first ever academic paper to be published on the topic came out. "Kiddush Club: Fraternity, Authority, Class and Gender Challenges in the Modern Orthodox Synagogue," was published in Contemporary Jewry  (Au...

Intro Having previously featured Professor Glenn Dynner speaking on Jewish Tavernkeepers in 18th & 19th Century Poland on the 12th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show , he returns to the show again to speak more in-depth about their lives. Biography of Guest Professor Dynner currently serves as Director of the Bennett Center for Jewish Studies and Chair of Judaic Studies at Fairfield Universit...

 Having announced a first-of-its-kind Jewish tavern in America in August , Joshua Foer and Rabbi Charlie Schwartz then appeared on the Identity/Crisis  podcast nearly two months ago to share further about their tavern . As their tavern, Lehrhaus, is set to open a week from today, I'm excited to share that Rabbi Schwartz is the featured guest on the 122nd episode of The Jewish Drinking Show to...

Intro While there are thousands of breweries in America and even dozens of them under kosher-certification, there is only one that is also a kosher-certified brewery! Located in Southern California, Long Beach Beer Lab and Long Beach Bread Lab is America's kosher brewery and bakery. Speaking about founding, owning, and operating these businesses on the 121st episode of The Jewish Drinking Sho...

 The brothers Shimon and Gabriel Weiss created the award-winning Shirah Wines over a dozen years and continue to produce quality kosher-certified wine. There are probably not too many brother winemaking teams out there in the kosher world, so it's pretty neat to hear from them on the 120th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show share about their wines.  Support the show Thank you for listening!...

Introduction Owing to the restrictions concerning the production of ice wines, there are a very small number of countries in which they can be produced. As you can imagine, there are even fewer wineries producing kosher-certified ice wines. The 119th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show features the winemaker of the only consistently-producing kosher-certified ice wine in the world, Rabbi Avraham G...

Introduction I was surprised to hear in the course of the 118th episode that there were fewer than 45 distilleries in the US just a decade and a half ago when the founders of KOVAL Distillery sought to enter into business(!). In talking with one of the co-founders, Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart, I was impressed to hear about how they created not only the first distillery in Chicago since the 19th centu...

When I came across a press release announcing the end of Shmaltz Brewing Company last fall (and see also articles in Brewbound and Forward ), I was sad to see Shmaltz Brewing come to an end, but also knew it would be an excellent opportunity to have a conversation with the founder of the company for an episode looking back on Shmaltz Brewing. When I reached out to the founder, Jeremy Cowan, I was...

A story we encounter in the book of Genesis that, at first glance, may seem to have something to do with drinking could also be seen as having a lot to do with drinking. I am speaking about that concerning Pharoah's cupbearer (drinks-master) and his baker, whom Joseph meets in jail and interprets their dreams. Of course, the cupbearer/drinks-master clearly is a man of wine and drinks, in gene...