edJEWcation

On this chag episode, we tackle a section of the Haggadah that almost everyone breezes past: Jacob's fateful decision to "temporarily" settle in Egypt, only to buy land, put down roots, and stay for 17 years. From that ancient real estate deal, the conversation spirals into the big questions Jewish families are wrestling with right now: What does Israel really mean to diaspora Jews?...

In this edJEWcation Book Club episode, Jay brings the crew one of his all-time favorite books: Up From Slavery , the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. Born into slavery in 1856 and emancipated at nine, Washington went on to found the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and reshape what education could mean for a freed people. Jay, ChayaLeah, and the Rabbi explore the surprising parallels between Wa...

When the British Museum quietly updated some of its ancient Near East exhibit labels from "Palestine" to "Canaan," the internet exploded. But what does the history actually say? Israel tour guide, Jewish educator, and Substack writer Alex Stein joins Jay and ChayaLeah to break it all down, from the Bronze Age Canaanites and the Hyksos to Herodotus, to Hadrian officially naming...

What happens when a wealthy man buys up all the synagogue seats and blocks the aisles? Or when a rabbi tries to convince the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a trained engineer, that an ocean liner basically "runs itself" on Shabbos? In part 2 of their Responsa deep dive, the edJEWcation crew explores how Jewish law evolves to meet the real world, from Talmudic property rights to Shabbos doorbells in...

In this special birthday episode, ChayaLeah and Jay sit down with the man of the hour, the Rabbi, as he turns 70. Born in Montreal on March 4th, 1956 (the 22nd of Adar on the Jewish calendar), the Rabbi reflects on a life he never could have predicted: from growing up in a non-Chabad home and boarding a bus to a New Jersey yeshiva on a whim, to serving as a Schlaich in Seattle, building a Chabad p...

What if the holiday that looks the most like a carnival is actually hiding the most profound questions in Judaism? Professor Tanya White, Bar-Ilan University professor, host of the Books and Beyond podcast, and one of the most engaging Jewish educators alive, joins Jay and ChayaLeah to unpack the Book of Esther like you've never heard before. We explore why God's name doesn't appear on...

Was Theodor Herzl a secular visionary or a spiritual seeker? A hero or a heretic? On the 130th anniversary of his landmark manifesto Der Judenstaat , Professor Gil Troy, presidential historian, Zionist scholar, and editor of The Zionist Ideas , sits down with Jay and ChayaLeah for a conversation that covers all of it: Herzl's complicated relationship with Judaism, why he was persona non grata...

Do you know we have a Facebook Page now? Well we do and you can find it here- edJEWcation Facebook Page On to the show… In honor of Valentine's Day, the edJEWcation crew tackles the big questions: What does Judaism really say about love and marriage? How do Jewish dating traditions actually work? And can you have a successful partnership while maintaining independence? The rabbi shares his own mar...

Make sure to subscribe to our substack to keep up to date on the latest edJEWcation episodes and events Subscribe to the edJEWcation Podcast ----- The Tucker Carlson situation has everyone asking the same question: when a friend goes off the deep end morally, do you stay loyal or cut them loose? We dig into this through a Jewish lens, from Talmudic principles to modern media ethics, and get surpri...

What do you do when Jewish law meets real life, and real life is messy, terrifying, or morally impossible? In this episode, we dive into rabbinic responsa : the centuries-old Jewish tradition of posing urgent, practical, and often heartbreaking questions to Rabbis. From ancient debates about matzah to modern dilemmas involving technology, medicine, and identity, responsa form Judaism’s living case...

This episode is a recording of our second edJEWcation Zoom. Instead of a formal topic or text, we opened up the (virtual) doors and invited our listeners into a live edJEWcation Beit Midrash . What followed was an honest, unscripted conversation about being Jewish right now: how it feels, how we respond, what we’re afraid of, and why community matters more than ever. There are no hot takes here. N...

Remember to subscribe to edJEWcation for all our latest updates here In the fourth installment of the edJEWcation book club, we discuss The True Believer by Eric Hoffer Written in 1951 by a longshoreman with an unsettling grasp of human psychology, The True Believer asks a simple question with terrifying implications: why do ordinary people become fanatics? In this edJEWcation Book Club episode, w...

If you haven’t already, remember to subscribe by clicking the link below: Subscribe here --------------------------------------------------- Why do Jews fast, and what is fasting actually supposed to do? In this episode of edJEWcation, we dive into the 10th of Tevet, one of the lesser-known Jewish fast days, and use it as a gateway to explore the deeper meaning of Jewish fasting, repentance, and c...

Friendly reminder to subscribe to edJEWcation on Substack so you can be included in all the happenings about the podcast and join our next monthly Zoom call. Just click here In this episode of edJEWcation , we unpack Kings II, one of the wildest books in the Hebrew Bible, through the lens of Jewish history, Biblical storytelling, and modern meaning. From the dramatic transition from Elijah to Elis...

As promised, we hosted our first edJEWcation Zoom call on the 3rd night of Chanukkah this week, and a great time was had by all. We got the light the menorah with the Rabbi, had some great questions, and got to do some deep Jewish philosophizing. We opened the first Zoom to all our listeners, and we may keep it that way for a little while, but eventually it will be exclusively for paid members of...

What are you doing on December 16th at 8PM (aside from lighting your second Menorah candle)? Well, now you have plans…join us for our first listener Zoom call. We’d love to chat with you. What do Vegas slot machines, King Solomon’s thousand wives, and Elijah’s world-class trash-talking have in common? Apparently… everything. In this week’s episode, ChayaLeah returns from her very spiritual pilgrim...

In this pre-pre-PRE-Hanukkah special (because we refuse to let Christmas music win), the crew breaks down the real Hanukkah story: the oil, the civil war, the Hellenists, the hammer, and the heroic home court advantage , while also inventing a brand-new Hanukkah tradition involving sword fights and presents hidden in a makeshift Temple. Along the way, we tackle assimilation, Jewish identity, why n...

We’re running on zero sleep, too much Friendsgiving, and a very inflated sense of our own importance, so naturally, it’s time for… a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT. This week, Jay and ChayaLeah unveil edJEWcation’s brand-new Substack subscription levels which include monthly Zoom hangs, one-on-one sessions, and why none of this means we’re going behind a paywall. (Relax. Don’t throw things.) Plus: why Substack...

🚨 ALERT! Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have some one-on-one time? Well, the world is now your oyster because we’ve officially launched several subscription tiers , with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving! These will just be the starting points (we have a lot of goodies cooking), so keep your eyes peeled — and don’t worry, we’ll also personal...

ALERT - Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have one-on-one time? The world is now your oyster, as we have officially launched several subscription tiers, with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving. These will just be starting points, as we have a bunch of additional goodies planned, so be on the lookout (but we’ll also, of course, annoy you to make s...

🚨 ALERT! Have you ever wanted to Zoom with the three of us? Or maybe even have some one-on-one time? Well, the world is now your oyster because we’ve officially launched several subscription tiers , with our first Zoom taking place sometime after Thanksgiving! These will just be the starting points (we have a lot of goodies cooking), so keep your eyes peeled — and don’t worry, we’ll also personal...

This week, Jay and ChayaLeah sit down with Professor Jeffrey Veidlinger of the University of Michigan — historian, author of In the Midst of Civilized Europe , and director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute — for a hauntingly relevant conversation about the pogroms that swept through Ukraine between 1918 and 1921. They explore how ordinary neighbors became murderers, why humiliation often cuts dee...

This week on edJEWcation , we go full wandering-Jew with an episode that starts in the December Project (a book about preparing for death) and somehow winds its way through Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Hasidic storytelling, Masada, Jonathan Sacks, the Nakba, Judge Caprio, and why your neighbor’s sukkah is basically Jewish Home Depot cosplay. In between, we wrestle with: Why fiction can sometimes tell th...

This week on edJEWcation , we sit down with William Mehrvarz, whose story takes us from the streets of Tehran to the Shabbat tables of New York. Born into a devout Shia Muslim family in Iran, William’s path veered when a camp roommate handed him a Bible written in Farsi. What followed was years of secret study, political upheaval, and dangerous choices, culminating in his escape from Iran, asylum...

In this episode, Jay contemplates changing his Hebrew name, which leads ChayaLeah and the Rabbi into a conversation about identity, the mystical energy of names, and how prayer has become the least-popular Jewish pastime (sorry, Pew survey). Along the way, we talk about why Jews often find davening uninspiring, how Hasidic meditation works (hint: it’s not sitting cross-legged with Sam Harris), and...