Shtark Tank

A Rabbi in rehab after being wounded on October 7th shared a Dvar Torah with me on why the angel quit fighting Yaakov Avinu. I also shared some personal news that means a lighter schedule for the show.

Let's get ready for sukkot, with three Divrei Torah from Bnei Torah in the workforce. We cover daled minim, sitting in the sukka, shemini atzeret and more! Our guests: Rav Zecharia Rosenthal, Betzalel Cohn, Ephraim Goldstein Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter, where I share unfiltered thoughts on Torah, Work, Family and more. ShtarkTank.org For more of Betzalel's Corporate Divrei Tor...

Yosef Guedalia escaped his burning jeep, and ran straight at the terrorists position. For the third year running, we mark the Aseret Yemei Teshuva with Yizkor 10.7, honoring the heroes of October 7th. This years episode is about Yosef Guedalia Hy"d, who fell defending Kfar Azza. We are joined by David Guedalia, Yosef's father. We spoke about: - Yosef's packed Friday routine, the quiet...

For Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we wanted to do something special. Eight voices from around the world, eight perspectives on the Yamim Noraim. Here's the lineup: Ezra Meyer — car salesman and global chazzan, on how he prepares to lead tefilla on the Yamim Noraim Dr. Herman Weiss — OBGYN and baal tokeah, on his path to becoming a baal tokeah and one of his most memorable mistakes Rabbi Yossi K...

Jeremy Rovinsky is a full time United States immigration judge, an associate justice for multiple Native American courts of appeals, a law professor at Crest Point University, and Dean of Teachers for the Tikvah Foundation's Millstone Scholars Program. He's also a baal teshuva who took his judicial oath on the Chovos HaLevavos. Jeremy spends his days behind the bench. This week he brings t...

Emotional support at the end of life. Thorny halachic questions about scientific medical breakthoughs. AI and the end of work. These are all part of the Rabbi Jason Weiner's daily routine. Rabbi Weiner is the senior rabbi and executive director of spiritual care at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. In this episode we cover: What a healthcare chaplain actually does, and how Rabbi Weiner fell into th...

Subscribe to our newsletter at Shtarktank.org Rav Hershel Schachter addresses one of the most persistent tensions in the frum professional world: does the ben Torah at work matter as much as the one in the beis medrash? Recorded live in partnership with the OU Israel Business Professionals Network, this episode includes the full shiur plus a Q&A. What's covered: Why Klal Yisrael needs doctors,...

One year ago, Alec Kremins got fired. Same week he found out his wife was pregnant with their first child. He had a choice: go find another stable job, or bet on himself. He went all in. Alec built his career at Ramp (now valued near $40B) before making Aliyah and eventually going out on his own. In this episode we get into why he tells most people not to start a company, even though it was the ri...

Har HaBayit. Torah Im Derech Eretz. Searching for Meaning. It's the summer mailbag episode! Yaakov opens up the inbox and brings on Rav Ari Koretzky (director of Meor Maryland, host of the Iyun podcast) to work through listener feedback together. In this episode: Why Shtark Tank does pre-chag episodes, and whether they're on brand or just a scheduling excuse Is there such a thing as a dist...

What happens after the fire of yeshiva goes out? This week I'm sharing an episode from Torat JLIC , a podcast I love, one that takes the complexity of modern life seriously instead of talking around it. The guest for this episode is Rav Uri Lorkis, who just wrapped a few years as JLIC rabbi in Michigan and now works as a startup coach. We dig into the real transition every yeshiva guy faces: h...

How do you mourn a Beis Hamikdash you never knew, in a generation that's watched Klal Yisrael return to Eretz Yisrael and rebuild a country? Rav Moshe Taragin returns to Shtark Tank to help us hold two truths at once: we are living through open miracles, and we are still so far from the finish line. Rav Taragin unpacks why every question in Jewish life now splits into "before October 7th&...

To recieve a free copy of Light in the Darkness, about Shemirat HaEinayim in today's world, email dan.jacobson.psyd@gmail.comSummer turns up the heat on shmiras einayim, and this episode isn't going to fix that. It's an honest conversation about the struggle, with returning guest Dr. Dan Jacobson offering real perspective instead of a quick fix. We get into: Why the trigger itself was...

The three weeks are here. The time when we refocus on the fact that our lives are incomplete. There is a gaping hole in our ruchniyus, located at the holiest spot in the world. Har HaBayit. Some of us just think about the problem. Others are actually doing something about it. Rav Yehuda Levy is the latter. He has spent countless hours learning the sugya, written articles, taught classes, and spoke...

New beginnings are hard. Shtark Tank went live at Yeshiva University Israel in Beit Vagan, recording in front of a room full of YU summer interns spending their summer working in Israel. The theme: new beginnings and transitions, and what it actually takes to navigate them. Part 1 is a panel conversation with threeShtark Tank All-Stars, who have each made their own version of the leap from the bei...

Teddy Berman grew up in the Syrian community in Flatbush, went to college, worked in finance — and then got the itch. Almost ten years of learning later, he's back in the driver's seat, building a family in Yerushalayim and trying to figure out what comes next. In this bonus episode, Teddy reaches out with the questions a lot of guys have but don't always get to ask directly: How do I...

What happens when you have a good job, mentors you trust, and a clear path forward — and you walk away anyway? Shlomo Ashkanazy (Co-Director, WashU JLIC) and Ami Yunger (COO, Mizrachi Canada) both built careers in the Israeli tech world before pressing pause to go on shlichut in North America. Neither choice was obvious. Neither was painless. And neither of them regrets it — mostly. In this conver...

Ami Tobin was faced with a descision: He had a week full of 8 hour shifts, guarding an outpost in miluim. How was he going to use that time? Watch the NBA Finals? Or something more meaningful? He pulled out his notes. And by the end of that week, his sefer — Amech Dodi — was fully edited. Both Hebrew and English. That story is a window into who Ami Tobin is. A Beit Shemesh kid who grew up watching...

What does Hashem actually want from us, a life of total immersion in Torah, or engagement with the world? This is one of the oldest machlokos in Jewish thought. And Rav Rafi Dembovsky was torn. He struggled with the issues, and wrote a book with his findings. You can order it here . Episode Description Rafi was raised in Edgware. Educated at Hasmonean. Spent years all-in at Torah-only yeshivos and...

Ashi Taragin had every reason to stay in yeshiva. He grew up breathing Torah. His father is Rabbi Reuven Taragin. His mother is Rebbetzin Shani Taragin. He made a Siyum HaShas at his Bar Mitzvah. Yet he didnt choose a career in Chinuch. Today he's an ER doctor at Sharei Tzedek, a lawyer, a mohel, and a sofer. He's also the unofficial rav of the emergency room, fielding end-of-life shailos...

What does it take to build a serious Torah legacy while running a thriving dental practice in Manhattan? Reuven Mohl has spent the last decade doing exactly that — and the results are five published books, a growing body of scholarship, and a model for what it looks like to take your Torah life seriously without stepping away from the working world. In this episode, Reuven walks us through his upb...

A Shabbaton in Bnei Brak. Two rabbis. A machlokes I have been wrestling with ever since. One rav told a room full of 18-year-olds that they were living the climax of their lives. Another rav pushed back. Both left a mark. In this solo episode, I share the audio version of my most-responded-to piece of writing to date — a post that starts the process of distilling over 120 episodes of Shtark Tank i...

Moshe Isaacson is a marketing executive and go-to-market leader in the SaaS world — and one of the most passionate Tanach learners you'll ever meet. In this episode, Moshe makes the case for why Tanach is the most underrated limud in the Torah world, how his love for it was ignited on hikes through Eretz Yisrael, and why he wakes up at 4:30am to prepare the three weekly shiurim he gives to his...

Jon Medved has spent decades building Israel into a global technology powerhouse, helping fund hundreds of companies, bringing billions of dollars into the Israeli economy, and playing pivotal role in what eventually became the Startup Nation brand. Then he flatlined in a hospital for eight minutes. In this episode, Jon sits down with Yaakov Wolff to talk about growing up far from Judaism on the b...

This Yom HaZikaron, we sit with two fathers who lost their sons in the early months of the war. Eitan Morell shares the story of his son Maoz — a kid with ADHD and learning difficulties who walked into a yeshiva that didn't want him, refused to leave, and became the kind of soldier his unit looked up to. Eitan reflects on what it means to suddenly see your child's whole life in reverse — a...

Two years ago, we sat with Rav Asher Weiss and asked him some of the most fundamental questions a Ben Torah in the workforce can ask. I've returned to this shiur more than almost anything else we've put out — it's that dense with wisdom and direction. Since then, the show has grown a lot, and I wanted to make sure newer listeners got a chance to hear it. And if you've already heard...