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PODCAST

TEXTing

Shalom Hartman Institute

In this special series, TEXTing: IRL – Ideas for Real Life, host Elana Stein Hain sits down with guests who are accomplished practitioners in their fields to explore how classic and modern Jewish texts can help us wrestle with and act with integrity in the face of the big dilemmas of our time. TEXTing: IRL — Ideas for Real Life: Accessible, Relevant, and Deeply Jewish.

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

29:44

The Golden Calf, Institutional Crisis, and the Making...

TEXTing ·

2026/03/02

What turns a crowd into a mob, and what does the Torah teach us about moments when communities unravel? In Parashat Ki Tisa, the Israelites form a mob and build the Golden Calf in Moses’s absence. On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and The Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer unpack how fear, identity, belonging, and fragile institutions shape collective behavior. Drawing on social theory, campus encampments, and the contrasting leadership models of Moses and Aaron, they consider what

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29:13

The Mishkan: The Jewish Art of Building and Becoming...

TEXTing ·

2026/02/16

In Parashat Terumah, the Israelites are commanded to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Why construct something so exquisite and detailed in the middle of a desert? And what can building something so valuable, then and now, teach us about living through uncertainty? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel turn to the rabbinic tradition to explore how building can ground us, offering practices that shape who we become.Episode Source

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29:22

Rethinking Our Relationship to the Past – with...

TEXTing ·

2026/02/02

What do we owe the generations that came before us, and what do we want future generations to inherit from us? When do we preserve the past, and when do we break from it? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel dig into Parashat Yitro, uncovering how the commandment to honor parents is about more than caretaking; it’s about learning to see the past with weight, reverence, and generosity.Episode Source Sheet Watch the video version of this

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30:24

What Jewish Stories Do We Tell in a Broken World? –...

TEXTing ·

2026/01/19

What happens when the stories we cherish no longer fit the world that we and our kids see? Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel turn to Parashat Bo to contend with the challenges of parenting in treacherous times and the power of narrative to create meaning and resilience in an incoherent world.We are grateful to Micah Philanthropies and the Walder Charitable Trust for their generous support of TEXTing IRL. Episode Source Sheet Watch the video version of this

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30:02

TEXTing IRL Live: Choosing Israel Again and Again –...

TEXTing ·

2026/01/05

How do we stay invested in Israel when it exhausts and challenges us? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, recorded live at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Winter Leadership Conference, Elana Stein Hain welcomes Ronit Heyd, Hartman Vice President and Director of the Center for Israeli & Jewish Identity, to read the work of Amos Oz and to discuss why relationships between Israelis and within the Jewish people must be committed: loving, honest, and critical.We are grateful to Micah Philanthropies and the

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29:45

Jewish Disagreement in Public and in Private – with...

TEXTing ·

2025/12/22

From debates over politics, antisemitism, and public representation to disagreements over kugel recipes, Jews are not immune to the profound polarization that characterizes society today. How do Jews relate to each other—and the world—when disagreements run so deep? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Jeremy Burton, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, examine the growing fractures within Jewish communal life through the lens of Parashat

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28:34

How Can Jews Believe in God Right Now? – with Dani Segal

TEXTing ·

2025/12/08

After two-plus years of agony and hardship, what can Judaism teach about the role of faith and the presence of God in times of suffering? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Dani Segal of Mabua: Israeli Beit Midrash mine the lessons of Parashat Vayeshev and Joseph’s descent to Egypt. Drawing on rabbinic interpretations, modern experiences, and stories of soldiers and hostages, they explore how faith can operate as moral clarity and personal motivation during the long and often

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30:52

Rethinking How Jews Advocate – with Stacy Burdett

TEXTing ·

2025/11/24

As the longstanding bipartisan consensus around issues important to Jewish needs seems to collapse in America, many feel that the deck is stacked against the Jewish community. How can Jews advocate for themselves, and what tools should they be using? Elana Stein Hain and community advocacy strategist Stacy Burdett dive into Parashat Vayetze to explore Jacob’s fraught encounters with Lavan and what they reveal about the ethics of Jewish self-advocacy today. Episode Source Sheet Watch the

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31:39

Jews: Strangers in Their Own Home?

TEXTing ·

2025/11/10

As antisemitism and anti-Zionism rise, many North American Jews have felt less welcome in the countries that they call home. How do we root ourselves deeply in our Jewish identities while remaining engaged in and committed to the broader world? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and author Sarah Hurwitz turn to this week’s Torah portion and the concept of the ger toshav—the resident alien—to understand how North American Jews might navigate belonging, identity, faith, and the enduring

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43:24

Future Tense: Being Jewish in Public – with Elana...

TEXTing ·

2025/10/27

This week, TEXTing IRL is excited to share Hartman’s podcast, Future Tense, where rising Jewish leaders drive conversations with scholars from the Shalom Hartman Institute on the most pressing issues facing their generation. Many young Jews are taught that they have a responsibility to publicly represent the Jewish people—an expectation that can feel especially heavy during the formative years of personal growth and identity development. In this episode of Future Tense, Elana Stein Hain joins

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34:27

Can You Hear My Story? – with Yoni Appelbaum

TEXTing ·

2025/10/13

Two years after October 7, Jews around the world mark Simchat Torah, finishing and beginning again the reading of the Torah, and thinking about our stories, both ancient and present. How do we tell our stories in a world and to a world that doesn’t seem to want to hear them? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive editor at The Atlantic, study the writings of Rav Soloveitchik, uncovering how the ability to be heard when telling one’s story makes one

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28:53

Good for America, Good for the Jews? – with Dahlia...

TEXTing ·

2025/09/29

Democracy promises to guarantee freedom and equality for all, yet Jews seem to be increasingly vulnerable in America today. How shouldJews respond when they feel democracy is not showing up for them? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Slate Senior Editor Dahlia Lithwick turn to Rabbi Moses Feinstein’s 1984 letter on voting and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt’s eulogy for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to probe the relationship between Jews and American democracy, especially

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27:01

Navigating Peoplehood and Humanity in a Hostile World...

TEXTing ·

2025/09/15

Nearly two years after October 7 and more than 700 days of war, many Jews enter this High Holiday season with trepidation, facing what feels like an increasingly hostile world. In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg turn to Rav Kook’s “Fourfold Song” to explore how Jews can navigate competing commitments of caring for their own communities and for the wider world.We are grateful to Micah Philanthropies and to the Walder Charitable Fund for their generous

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39:45

Torah and Politics: The Jewish-American Right - with...

TEXTing ·

2025/08/01

Over a quarter of American Jews identifty as Republican, and nearly a third voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Whether this is an expression of their conservative values, their concern for Israel, or some combination of the two, Jews on the right now face a dilemma with the Trump administration and its trespasses on democracy.In the fourth episode of this special series of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Mark Gottlieb, Chief Education Officer at Tikvah, look to Talmudic and other sources on

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35:09

Guilt by Identification: Jewish Pride in a Hostile...

TEXTing ·

2025/07/25

Faced with rising antisemitism and anti-Zionism, many Jews are confronting difficult choices when they find themselves outside of Jewish spaces: conceal their identity, or risk harassment, and in some cases, violence.In this episode, Elana Stein Hain and Daniel Held, Chief Program Officer at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, turn to the Talmud to grapple with Jewish identity and Jewish pride in a hostile environment. How can we engage with moral complexity as proud Jews, and how do we model this

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36:23

Uncomfortable Gratitude: Deliverance from a Flawed...

TEXTing ·

2025/07/18

How do we respond with gratitude toward someone whose values and policies we otherwise oppose?In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain is joined by civic educator and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel to explore what Jewish tradition can teach us about uncomfortable gratitude, the cognitive dissonance created when someone we find morally troubling takes an action we support, and how we can respond when deliverance comes from a flawed source. Episode Source Sheet Watch the video

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31:09

Allyship at the Edge: Navigating Difference – with...

TEXTing ·

2025/07/11

How can we stay true to our Jewish commitments while remaining active inmovements that don’t always want us there? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain sits down with Jacob Feinspan, Executive Director of Jews United for Justice, to explore the complex dilemmas raised by the increased normalization of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Drawing on Maimonides' teachings about friendship, they tackle the nature of coalitions, navigating discomfort and acknowledging red lines, and how to

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39:28

Know Thy Enemy

TEXTing ·

2024/12/19

As we recall the miraculous story of the Maccabean victory this year, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war highlights challenging questions of national and individual identity. How do we see ourselves in relation to our enemy in times of conflict?In this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes study a text from Bereshit Rabbah about how we compare ourselves to our enemies and discuss how those comparisons influence who we are and who we imagine ourselves to be in war. Episode Source

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32:13

A Guide to Jealousy

TEXTing ·

2024/12/02

In a world that is so connected through technology, we are inundated with highly curated images of other peoples’ seemingly perfect lives. Many of us feel jealous of these imagined realities. In this episode, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky discuss a text from Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:9 to help us understand where jealousy comes from and how to manage it.Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN

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37:34

Gratitude and Sorrow

TEXTing ·

2024/11/18

In times of heartache, how do we find room for gratitude? In this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes study a text from Tractate Brachot, Chapter 9, about divergent blessings for times of joy and times of sorrow and discuss how gratitude can help us through dark times.Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

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42 results

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