The Orthonomics Podcast

Rabbi Dov Fischer was ordained at Yeshiva University, has held leadership roles in numerous Jewish organizations, and is the founding rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County, California. He is also an accomplished trial attorney, writer, and prominent leader in advocacy relating to Orthodox Jewish issues. A UCLA Law school graduate, he has worked at major law firms, and has been an adjunct law prof...

Ruthie Braffman Shulman is passionate about the importance of women's roles in Torah Leadership positions, and she currently serves as the Director of Women's Torah Leadership at Micah Philanthropies, where she develops and supports women in Torah leadership positions at shuls. Simultaneously, she is the Yoetzet Halacha and community scholar at Young Israel of West Hartford CT.   Ruthie studied at...

Rabbi Weinberg is a distinguished Jewish educator, relationship coach, and speaker, renowned for his expertise in fostering healthy relationships and guiding personal development. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University, he holds a master's degrees in marriage and family therapy, secondary education, and school administration; and a doctorate in education with a focus on adol...

 In this episode, our wide-ranging discussion covers the size of the Orthodox and Modern Orthodox community, how and why the Orthodox have become a minority, the cost and standards of living of Orthodoxy, some under-valued benefits, and even some sport trivia! Our guest, Rabbi Zev Eleff received his Ph. D. from Brandeis University and M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University. At Yeshiva Uni...

Frieda Vizel was raised in the Satmar Hasidic community. At age 25, she left that community and pursued higher education, culminating in a master's degree at Sarah Lawrence College. Since 2013, she has been offering walking tours of Hasidic Williamsburg. Her tours provide insights into the community's traditions and daily life, and are noted for their educational, respectful and balanced approach....

Betzalel Rothstein is a Certified Divorce Coach and Mediator who is highly regarded and has been involved in hundreds of divorce cases over the past 10 years either as Mediator, Coach, Parenting Coordinator or Consultant. He has extensive experience in dealing with difficult topics such as parental alienation, blended families, relocation, and what to do when parents differ about hashkafah . Betza...

In this episode, we have a wide-ranging discussion, touching on such topics as: •  Significant differences between US and Canadian Jewry/Orthodoxy • Interactions and public conversations across among various denominations • The evolving role of women in Modern Orthodoxy  • Has politics become a "Jewish issue" (and/or divisive), including attitudes toward Israel and Zionism • Struggles with faith a...

Aliza Bulow is an author, educator and mentor to Jewish women around the world, who founded CORE, an organization that empowers and connects Orthdox Jewish women.  Core connects, develops and sustains women who engage in klal (the collective community) work. Core supports women in three main ways: 1) MMC (Mashpia-Mentor-Counselor) Program: Core offers 2.5 years of training to develop women who are...

In this episode we present some surprising facts about Modern Orthodoxy and the Orthodox community as a whole, based upon Nishma Research surveys between 2016 and 2024. We explore the size and growth of the community, religious beliefs and practices, political views, the finances of living an Orthodox Jewish life, the role of women in Modern Orthodoxy, and the levels of optimism vs. pessimism amon...

Dina Goldman is at the frontier of researching and understanding the Chasidish and Yeshivish communities. She has spent over a decade working in marketing and advertising within the Orthodox Jewish community. Seeing how many businesses really lack solid information that they need, she founded Mispar – The Jewish Community, a Story of Numbers, a company focused on providing rich, timely data to hel...

Middot (and we're talking mainly about interpersonal behaviors) are so important, especially in these stressful days. So we are pleased to present this as a dual-platform episode, being released on both Orthonomics and The Franciska Show … both covering important issues in the Orthodox Jewish world, and both available at all podcast platforms. Much of this episode deals with findings from the rece...

Ruchi Koval is a parenting coach and motivational speaker who has inspired personal transformation in thousands of people. She is the co-founder and Associate Director of JFX (Jewish Family Experience), an innovative community in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been a Jewish educator for two decades, leading self-development groups for adults and teens, and mentoring educators around the world. Ruchi is...

Dr. Chaya Lieba Kobernick is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Founder and Director of The CBT/DBY Center ( https://www.thecbtdbtcenter. com/  … email  DrK@TheCBTDBTCenter.com ), with clientele in both Israel and the U.S. She received her doctorate at Long Island University, and also trained at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Northwell Health, and Rutgers University.   Among the topics disc...

Dovid Lichtenstein is the founder and host of the  Halacha Headlines  podcast, an amazing and very popular podcast with a huge listenership that is indeed "The most listened to Torah Program in the world."   Halacha Headlines delves into contemporary issues and current events through the lens of Torah and Halacha (Jewish law). Each episode features discussions with Rabbis, lay leaders, and profess...

Joseph Kaplan is perhaps the most prolific writer anywhere on topics relating to Modern Orthodoxy. He has written hundreds of articles in The Baltimore Jewish Times, The Jewish Week, Edah Journal, Sh'ma Magazine, New Jersey Jewish Standard, and the Times of Israel. He has written many letters-to-the editor of many publications including 19 that were published in the New York Times. He recently rel...

Rabbi Yehuda Albin grew up as a Reform Jew in Scarsdale, NY. He was exposed to Judaism and his father ran several secular Jewish camps for youth. He became religious in Jerusalem, after graduating Bowdoin College with the highest honors.  Then he studied the Torah and the Talmud for nearly a decade in Jerusalem, before returning to the states, and moving to Chicago. In Chicago he established a Tor...

Jacob Kornbluh is the senior political reporter for the Forward. Kornbluh, a member of the Hasidic community in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, covers politics with a Jewish angle and regularly interviews government officials, political commentators and security experts on issues that matter to the broader Jewish American community. He previously worked as a national politics reporter f...

Baruch Lytle is an African American Orthodox Jew from Williamsburg, Brooklyn , and he identifies as a Satmar Chasid .   H e describes his conversion to Judaism as the defining moment of his life and greatest accomplishment .  He is also a n award - winning journalist, having written nearly 200 articles for the largest Jewish newspaper in America, The Jewish Press .     In 2023, he won the Simon Ro...

Michael Feldstein is a keen observer and commentator on all aspects of the Orthodox Jewish community, and his weekly columns in the Jewish Link newspaper draws an enthusiastic readership. His upcoming (January 2024) book, "Meet Me in the Middle," is a collection of 75 of his essays and, in this episode, we discuss five of them: • Prayer, Politics and the Pulpit • The Changing Geographic Face of Or...

This episode is an exploration of a pioneering study of people who have left the Orthodox community, as we examing  journeys, practices, beliefs, identity, community and relationships, across Chasidic, Yeshivish and Modern Orthodox segments of the population. In this episode, we review many highlights of this study, including: 1. Why People Leave Orthodoxy 2. How Do They Now Identify Jewishly? Wha...

In this episode, we first look at how Covid affected a shul and community, and we discuss with Rabbi Brander the creativity, innovations, and possible lasting changes that took place.   We then discuss with a leading demographer the impact that Covid had on the Jewish community in terms of actual mortality and death statistics. While we are typically aware of things that happen within our communit...

In this episode, we speak with Benyamin Cohen, news director at The Forward , author of " My Jesus Year : A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith," named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly , " The Einstein Effect : How the World's Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds , " and a man of diverse and fascinating interests and explor...

In this episode, we speak with the noted Jewish world demographer Dr. Daniel Staetsky about population trends, particularly in the Haredi world. Dr. Staetsky is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (London), and has published widely on Jewish, Israeli and European demography and social statistics. He has written many popular columns in the Times of Israel .   Many o...

In this episode, we speak with Prof. Naomi Seidman about people leaving Orthodoxy and the related stories, experiences and misconceptions . She shares what she personally learned in leaving her Haredi community, as well as t he insights of many o thers.     We also draw upon the 2016 study " Starting a Conversation: A Pioneering Survey of Those Who Have Left the Orthodox Community ," in which 885...

In this episode, we speak with Keshet Starr about the agunah ("chained wife") problem and what is being done to resolve it. Hot off the press (from a large-scale survey that had not yet been released as we recorded this episode), we have new data on the agunah situation and some fascinating verbatim comments from women and men about their divorce difficulties, which we will read and discuss. Link...