Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews

July 16, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 85 - Worse Than Leprosy This week, we look at what may possibly be the least favorite torah portion: parsha metzorah. It’s tedious, it’s a bit gross, and spoiler alert - it’s not even about leprosy! We clean up our act and take a look at why the portion has such a bad rap. What other Jewish texts are disliked? Can we discover why this b...

July 2, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 84 - Pixar’s Paradigm Shift In this episode, we explore the theory that suggests that all Pixar films exist within a single shared universe. Or perhaps they don’t and they’re just individually made entertaining movies. Or maybe the director once knew someone named Andy and liked the way he treated his toys. We’ll discuss how literal or i...

June 18, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 83 - Monsters and Angels Remember the story in the Tanakh about flaming serpents? What about the one about unicorns? This week, the mystical co-hosts of Wayward Children: Jewish Monsters, Magic, and the Stories We Tell help us summon the wild, weird, and fantastical creatures hiding in the pages of Torah. We explore the line between mon...

June 4, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 82 - This Andor That In this episode, Ethan guides us on a conversation to a galaxy far, far away to explore the rich themes and surprising Jewish connections within Andor, the newest series in the Star Wars universe. We dive into the blurred lines between science fiction and our own realities, we explore the sacrifices made in the name...

May 21, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 81 - 3rd Anniversary Special - Dungeons & Dreidels A year has passed since the goblins were driven from the village and the light of Hanukkah was saved by the hero called Hershel… or so everyone thought. Now, on the final night of the town’s Hanukkah celebration, the wind howls and dark clouds gather above. Join the village’s unlikel...

May 7, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 80 - Putting the Pieces Together Samson apparently loved Delilah and word puzzles. In today’s world, before he attacked the philistines, he probably would have finished that morning’s Wordle. With so many types of puzzles in the world today, we try to piece together an episode with the clues given on the box. Would you consider that to be...

April 23, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 79 - Let’s Get Together: Live In Austin! Barak, Ethan, and RDY were finally in the same zip code together, for the first time ever! So they decided to record an episode with the locals! When these nerds get together they play board games, watch superhero movies, visit comic book shops, go to escape rooms, and tell wonderfully terrible...

April 9, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 78 - New Games, Old Wisdom In this episode, we dice into the world of reboots, remastering, and retelling, both in the sacred and the pixelated. Ethan begins by sharing his love for the remastered version of one of his favorite games, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and what changed in its recent rerelease. We discuss movie reboots, and why it’...

March 26, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 77 - God Plans, Man Laughs There’s a new episode of Torah Smash! Yes, and… the Jewish tie in is a story from Genesis! Yes, and… the hosts find more ways to comment about muppets. With a topic like improv, anything can happen! Let’s talk about laughter and where it can be found in the world and in our work as Jewish professionals. We al...

March 12, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 76 - Separating the Nerdy from the Mundane After last episode’s connection to Shabbat, there was only one logical topic for the next conversation: havdalah! We learn about the ritual objects of havdalah and the meaning behind this short, weekly celebration. We discuss when we keep our nerdy parts of our lives separate, we find some swe...

February 26, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 75 - Shabbat: There’s A Nap For That Shabbat is a way for us to reflect on the week and reset ourselves. We power ourselves down and find ways of interacting with our loved ones and our community in ways that can really nourish our soul. So, this is a reminder to download that special app on your smartphone that will help you apprec...

February 12, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 74 - JudAIsm Artificial intelligence is everywhere—even in the clergy world! In this episode, we welcome Rabbi Josh Fixler, who was recently featured in The New York Times for his insights on how religious leaders are using AI. Join us as we explore the intersection of faith and technology, discuss the opportunities and challenges A...

January 29, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 73 - Kosher or Not Kosher? It’s time for everyone’s favorite game show when it comes to Jewish food… Kosher! Or! Not! Kosher?! Join us as we explore some fantasy foods, science fiction foods, and some soon-to-not-be so science fiction food based questions when it comes to keeping kosher. Do we think the Klingons follow similar laws w...

January 15, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 72 – Leviticus All Along …With Special Guest Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner We are thrilled to welcome the first character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to join us on Torah Smash, Rabbi Levin, played by real life clergy, Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner. She shares about her journey into the MCU, we discuss our thoughts of the new...

January 1, 2025 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 71 - The Wheel of New Years The Wheel of Time turns, and we return with another episode for you. Did you know that Judaism celebrates four different new years? So, that means that American Jews celebrate 5 different New Years! And if you’re stuck in a time loop, the number is much higher than that! Join us as we celebrate and mark thi...

December 18, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 70 - Torah Smash Jr. There are some stories in Jewish tradition and history that put the children at the center of it all. Jacob and Esau as well as Joseph teach us some valuable lessons as adults. But aren’t children just meant to be sidekicks? And how old are the children of the Torah anyway? Let’s just hope that as they grow up,...

December 4, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 69 - Die Hard is a Chanukah Movie …With Special Guest Arnon Shorr Chanukah falls on Christmas Day this year, so what better way to celebrate this overlap than debating if the classic action film, Die Hard, is a Christmas movie or a Chanukkah movie? We review what makes a movie holiday specific, the subtle Chanukkah plotline, and the...

November 20, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 68 - Super Mitzvot Bros. …with Special Guest Sparkle Peters The Nintendo video game company has been filling our homes with fun and excitement for many years. Some even say that the best video game of all time was Super Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Twitch streamer and podcaster, Sparkle Peters, joins us to discuss the innovation aro...

November 6, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 67 - Grief, Loss, and Lifesabers Ethan opens his heart to all of us once again as we look back on a year of grief together with returning guest, Dr. Betsy Stone. We learn about the difference between the words grief and loss, share some of the meaningful practices during the mourning period, and hear what Star Trek has to say about t...

October 23, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 66 - Good Ideas Gone Wrong We recorded this episode in September of 2024, which means that we had to visit the future historical event of the time: the Bell Riots from Deep Space 9. Ethan walks us through this time travel Star Trek episode and we discuss what went wrong. They seemed like they had good intentions, but do good plans al...

October 9, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 62 - Sabra: The Hero not the Hummus …with Special Guest Sasha Kaplan The upcoming Captain America movie will include the first live action portrayal of the Israeli superhero Sabra. In this episode, we take a deep dive into Sabra’s first introduction into the Marvel Comics world, the possible powers and skills you may see on the big sc...

September 25, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 64 - The Good, The Bad, and The Antisemitic …With Special Guest Dr. Linda Maizels It’s been almost a year since the attack on Israel on October 7. Since that time, it hasn’t just been the war that has taken over the news. It feels like there has been such a strong increase of antisemitism locally and around the world. We discuss ce...

September 11, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 63 - The Rav and The Acolyte In today’s episode, we learn from each other as we discuss the newest Star Wars show, The Acolyte. We discuss the best and worst teachers among the sith and the jedi in the show. Also, did Darth Maul’s mommy make an appearance? Speaking of teaching, Ethan sith-splains Star Wars to his co hosts. 00:02:23...

August 28, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 62 - Deadpool and Lamed Vavnikim There are so many people in our world who are making the world a better place. Judaism calls them lamed vavnikim , or the righteous 36. But what about the people in the void who are making our world a better place? Or those who are trying to find missing anchor beings to make their own world better for...

August 14, 2024 Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews Episode 61 - Inside Mussar 2 Emotions can sometimes be difficult to handle and we find that they’re also often pretty Jewish. Join us as we explore the two joyfully sad movies by Pixar, Inside Out 1 and 2, and the connections to a very popular Jewish practice. We let the little voices inside our heads out for this conversation and we share th...