x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Orthodox Conundrum

The Orthodox Conundrum is a forum in which we look honestly at the Orthodox Jewish community, identifying what works well and what does not, so that, through an honest accounting, we can find solutions that will be successful. We will examine some of the major issues that affect the Orthodox world, without exaggeration, whitewashing, or pretending that they don"t exist. Our hope is that the Orthodox Conundrum will spark wider discussion that will enable Orthodox Judaism to continue moving forward

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

01:00:32

The Mainstreaming of Meir Kahane: A Halachic, Moral,...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/03/10

Several recent articles have raised a troubling question: Is Rabbi Meir Kahane making a comeback? In the wake of the horrific murder of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, some influential pro-Israel voices have turned to Kahane’s ideas, reviving a debate that many thought was long settled. In this episode, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Sinensky and I dive deep into why this is a dangerous trend—one that must be confronted head-on from a Torah perspective. While many may be invoking Kahane’s philosophy with Israel’s

en-us

01:05:57

The Abuser’s Tool Box: Domestic Abuse in the Orthodox...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/03/03

Domestic abuse is one of those topics that, sometimes, we simply wish would go away. It’s certainly among the very worst experiences that a person can have, yet it brings forward feelings of shame and failure, such that people are often reluctant to acknowledge that they are victims. Sometimes, they can’t even name it - either because they don’t recognize it for what it is, or because they are embarrassed and don’t want to admit it. Yet we can’t ignore it, and all of us need to better recognize the

en-us

01:20:13

The Vanishing Art of Jewish Conversation (and What To...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/02/24

The act of talking - dignified and informative conversation, where people connect on a serious level with one another - is essential to the Jewish experience. This goes back to the very creation of Adam; the Torah describes God as breathing a breath of life into Adam, after which he became a nefesh chaya - a living soul. Targum Onkelos famously translates that phrase as ruach memalela - a speaking spirit. Accordingly, the fact that man is able to converse is part of his very essence. In a similar

en-us

01:03:12

Religious Jews and Dishonesty: Tax Fraud, Zoning...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/02/17

The Torah is very clear that theft is forbidden; no one doubts that this is true. It is, accordingly, very disturbing that religious Jews as a community don’t seem to be more ethical in these matters than people who don’t see the Torah as their guide to life. I am not suggesting that Orthodox Jews are worse than anyone else in these matters; I cannot possibly know if that’s true. It does seem, however, that Orthodox Jews as a whole are not better than any other community when it comes to honesty in

en-us

51:02

The Ethics of Population Transfers & Prisoner Swaps,...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/02/10

Ever since President Trump presented his plan (or his idea, as it’s unclear how planned out this really is) about resettling the Arab population of Gaza, the Jewish world has been in an uproar. Very loud voices on both sides of the issue have been talking not so much about its feasibility - many are extremely skeptical that this could ever come to fruition - but about whether it is ethical. Some insist that this is nothing less than ethnic cleansing, with all the negative implications that the term

en-us

01:04:39

When the Doctor Becomes the Patient: A Conversation...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/02/03

What is it like for a doctor, who has spent his life treating patients, to become a patient himself? That was the experience of Dr. Avi Rockoff when he learned that he had a very serious form of prostate cancer, and which he chronicles in his new book, When the Doctor Becomes the Patient. He was exposed to what he terms “the medical industrial complex” from the other side of the physician's desk, and learned about some of the aspects of healthcare that he had taught for years, but from a very

en-us

01:14:51

History Repeating Itself: Diaspora-Israel Tensions in...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/01/27

William Faulkner in Requiem for a Nun famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” I repeatedly thought of that line as I read Dr. Malka Simkovich’s recent book, Letters From Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity. In that book she investigates the relationship of Jews living in the Land of Israel and Jews who remained in the diaspora after the conclusion of the Babylonian Exile, when the majority of Jews chose to remain outside of Judea rather than return back to their

en-us

01:10:44

The Fragility of Jewish Existence Comes to Israel:...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/01/20

I recorded this episode hours before the first three Israeli hostages were slated to be released, and as a ceasefire was just beginning to be implemented by Israel and Hamas. Many people have noted that while Hamas is parading throughout Gaza and claiming victory - which is an absurd inversion of reality - and while the vast majority of the world is celebrating the end of hostilities (at least for now), the population which is the most muted about it are the residents of Israel, who have extreme

en-us

32:41

The Ceasefire: What It Means, Who Benefits, and What...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/01/16

With the news that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal, Scott spoke to counterterrorism and intelligence expert Dr. Matthew Levitt to learn what the ceasefire entails, in what ways this falls short of Prime Minister Netanyahu's insistence upon total victory, how victory should be defined, why this ceasefire is happening now, whether Hamas is deterred, the the possibility of another October 7th taking place, what happens if a power vacuum forms in Gaza, the future of Palestinian

en-us

01:10:13

Do You Care Enough About Israel? (And Do Israelis...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/01/13

Do Jews outside of Israel care enough about Israel? This is a loaded and perhaps unfair question. How could anyone make that determination? Nevertheless, it’s something I’ve been grappling with for some time, and I decided to pose this question on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook. Many people commented, both on the group and in private communications. And today's episode confronts that question directly through a panel discussion with Israel-engaged individuals in both Israel and

en-us

01:29:31

Downplaying Sexual Abuse, and Writing to a Judge to...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2025/01/06

This episode of the Orthodox Conundrum discusses sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material. Listener discretion is advised. Sexual abuse is a problem everywhere, and the Orthodox community is no exception. While there unquestionably is more awareness of the problem today than there was in the past, there is still a long way to go before we can be proud of our record. One of the ongoing and very upsetting issues is when people in power cover up and downplay sexual abuse perpetrated by people whom

en-us

01:04:59

“The Torah is Hospitalized and in Bandages” - The...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/12/30

We live in times in which, I believe, we in the Orthodox world need to open ourselves to new ideas and new thinking that will help enhance our love and appreciation for God and His Torah. Maybe the best example of a contemporary thinker who has opened the doors of perception while remaining fully committed to Torah, halacha, the Jewish people and the Land of Israel is Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg, colloquially known as Rav Shagar. I spoke with Rabbis Zachary Truboff and Yehoshua Engelman about Rav

en-us

01:10:31

Children Under the Radar: A Live Orthodox Conundrum...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/12/23

An almost insidious problem that affects so many kids is being “under the radar”... that is, they’re generally ignored in school, camp, or other social settings by the teachers or group leaders because they’re doing “fine” - and I use that word advisedly. He or she is not the class genius, not the kid who asks questions, not the troublemaker, not the class clown. I’m talking about kids who likely have so much more to offer, but are never given that opportunity when the people who should inspire them

en-us

51:50

It's Time for a Jewish Middle Earth: Cultivating...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/12/16

Is Jewish education too focused upon a rationalist and scientific worldview, such that we sometimes don’t leave enough room for the imagination? I think that this may be true for large segments of the Orthodox world, particularly among the Modern Orthodox population. While we dare not undermine the great advances that our scientific worldview has given humanity, an overemphasis on rationality can also eliminate wonder and mystery from our understanding of the universe - and that can undermine our

en-us

01:12:26

Inviting God Into Partnership: Finding Resilience...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/12/09

While the Jewish people, and all people of good will, continue to face deep uncertainty about what’s happening in Israel and around the world - as I record this on Sunday afternoon, we are just beginning to process the end of Assad’s rule in Syria and trying to figure out if it’s a net positive or negative for democratic countries in general and Israel in particular - we all are in some ways looking for sources of resilience. What are the ways that we can move forward and figure out our roles, while

en-us

01:21:20

'Tis the Season to Spend Lavishly: Confronting the...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/12/02

"Anything is permitted, as long as it's for a mitzvah." Really? We live in a world where consumerism and materialism are not only dominant themes of everyday life, but also positive values in their own right. It’s disturbing that the Orthodox Jewish community is not at all immune to this influence; in fact, many sub-communities within the Orthodox world revel in materialism to the point that any argument that an overemphasis on materialism is not in line with Torah values would likely be met with

en-us

01:07:33

Hope, Gratitude, and Faith in a Time of Anxiety,...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/11/25

Every time I speak with Dr. Erica Brown, I come away enriched by her deep thinking and religious and emotional sensitivity. And this conversation, which delves into psychological and theological questions surrounding anxiety, hope, gratitude, and faith, may be our most memorable discussion yet. The Thanksgiving holiday takes place later this week in the United States; three days later, Erica’s newest book, Morning has Broken: Faith After October 7th, will be released. Those two events, along with

en-us

01:03:11

"Just Because It Didn't Happen, Doesn't Mean It Isn't...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/11/18

There was a time not long ago when aggadah - which, broadly speaking, refers to the non-legal passages in the Talmud - was largely ignored; students studying in yeshiva would run through these texts quickly, if at all, using almost all of their mental energy and time thinking through the halachic, or legal passages of the Gemara. While that was likely a successful methodology for most Talmud students in the past, we have witnessed in the 20th and 21st centuries a renewed emphasis on aggadah; and

en-us

42:12

Chareidi Political Influence in Jewish Life, and Why...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/11/11

Over the past two weeks, there has been increasing conversation in Israel among the Religious Zionist community about the continued refusal of many ultra-Orthodox Jews to consider enlisting in the Israeli army. Many of us have been discussing this issue for months or years; but it came to a head in the past couple of weeks largely because of the attempt by the Chareidi political parties in the Knesset to enshrine this exemption through legislation. The most recent attempt was the so-called Daycare

en-us

01:17:04

Why Orthodox Jews Should Vote for Trump... Why...

Orthodox Conundrum ·

2024/11/04

With the United States presidential election only hours away, I wanted to offer a supporter of each major presidential candidate the opportunity to explain why Jews in general, and Orthodox Jews in particular, would be better off supporting either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris for president. To that end, I invited two politically involved Orthodox rabbis, Rabbi Pesach Wolicki and Rabbi Benjamin Kelsen, to explain why you should give your vote to their candidate. This is not a debate; I spoke to

en-us

306 results

Similar Podcasts

Jeff Haygood, Pastor

PodPoint

PASTOR ALVARO VALENCIA

Pastor Alvaro Valencia

Grace Life Church CT.

PodPoint

Pleasant View Church

Ted Nance

Christian Heritage Church"s Podcast

PodPoint