Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: Who Was Leo Strauss? Chapter 2: Esotericism, Revelation, and the Limits of Reason Chapter 3: The Philosophic Life Chapter 4: Historicism vs. Natural Right Chapter 5: Strauss as a Jewish Thinker Friends and critics alike agree that […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: Death, Dignity, and the Chevra Kadisha Chapter 2: The Work of the Burial Society Chapter 3: True Kindness Chapter 4: Can Dying Teach Us How to Live? Death is an uncomfortable topic. It has deprived us of people […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: The Jewish Response to Crisis Chapter 2: Assimilation, Resistance, or Isolation? Chapter 3: A Different Jewish Politics Chapter 4: Sovereignty and the Creative Minority Chapter 5: The End of History and Hopes for the Future From the breakdown […]

In the modern West, the very notion that men and women have different and complimentary natures is taken as outdated at best and bigoted at worst. But the great texts of the Western tradition, beginning with the Hebrew Bible, have long offered deep wisdom on this very issue. In “Man and Woman: An Old Story,” […]

The Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most challenging in the entire Hebrew Bible. Authored in the name of “Kohelet son of David”—identified by Jewish tradition as King Solomon—the book is a deeply philosophical meditation on the search for happiness by a man who has everything. Often misunderstood, argues Ethan Dor-Shav, Kohelet’s thought  is […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: Addiction, Spirituality, and Public Policy Chapter 2: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Limits of Science Chapter 3: Soul Sickness Chapter 4: Exodus and Addiction America is in the throes of an addiction crisis. The ravages of the opioid epidemic […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: Reason, Emotion, and Faith Chapter 2: Proofs and Prophecies Chapter 3: Rabbi Noach Weinberg and the Ba’al Teshuva Movement Chapter 4: Experiencing Orthodoxy Chapter 5: Truths Too Hard to Admit When Ellen Willis’s brother Michael decided to leave […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: The Virtue of Mortality Chapter 2: Body, Soul, and Afterlife Chapter 3: Family—the Jewish Answer to Mortality Chapter 4: Who Believes in the Future? When Jews raise their glasses in celebration, they toast “l’chaim!” “to life!” Judaism’s belief […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: God or Pharaoh? Chapter 2: God’s Commandments and Self-Command Chapter 3: Shabbat and the Family Chapter 4: The People of the Book The revelation at Sinai was central to the transformation of the people of Israel into a nation. Fresh from their […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: A King in Israel? Chapter 2: Theology, Monarchy, and Republicanism Chapter 3: King David and His Legacy Chapter 4: The Return of the King In 2010, the theologian Michael Wyschograd published “A King in Israel,” a provocative […]