Orthodox Conundrum Scott Kahn

We’re approaching the holiday of Shavuot, when we celebrate and commemorate the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Rambam explains that our belief in Torah and in Moshe is predicated upon the fact that all of us were present at Sinai, where we together heard God talking to Moshe. And we have a longstanding tradition as well that God did not stop speaking once ma’amad Har Sinai was over; in fact, He never stopped speaking at Sinai. What made the revelation 3300 years ago unique was not that God was talking, but that the entire nation heard it. But anyone who wants to access that divine voice, we are told, can do so at any time through the study of Torah.
For many years, for various reasons, that divine voice was largely accessible only to men. Women and girls learned what they needed to know in order to build a Jewish home; but textual learning largely remained outside of their purview. Over the past century, that has thankfully changed, and Torah has once again become the possession of both men and women.
One of the people responsible for bringing serious Torah study to women is Rabbanit Malke Bina, the founder of Matan. In this episode, Scott spoke to her about the progress that has been achieved in the realm of Torah learning for women, and the progress that still needs to take place. They talked about whether there should be any restrictions on anyone when it comes to what Torah topics to learn; whether titles matter, and if it’s appropriate for women to assume the title of “rabbi”; how she approaches difficult texts; what progress outside of the beit midrash is still necessary for Orthodox women; if people should push for greater women’s Torah learning outside of the Modern Orthodox or dati leumi communities; and more.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/.
One of the main topics that this podcast has addressed over the past eight months has been the future of Religious Zionism, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.. There are numerous visions of what Religious Zionism should be, and understanding the possibilities should be at the very top of the agenda in both the national religious and Modern Orthodox worlds. For that reason, we're excited to invite you to join Scott this Sunday, June 16th at 4:00 PM in Manhattan for a conversation about the future of Religious Zionism. RSVP by writing to aliza@jewishcoffeehouse.com for the location address and additional details.
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com

Is the Israeli army taking care of its soldiers? That’s a question with a potentially painful answer.
Daniel Mael has helped donate over 13,000 helmets to IDF soldiers, along with thousands of vests and other equipment - and he argues that the army’s behavior in procuring equipment has been nothing less than scandalous. In fact, he claims, the Israeli army knows that its protective equipment is often out of date and faulty, but for whatever reasons continues to provide that flawed equipment to its soldiers.
While others (some of whom are cited on the podcast) argue that Daniel is incorrect, it's difficult to question that there have been real and noticeable equipment shortages and problems; there’s enough smoke, in other words, to worry that the fire is real.
If Israel’s leaders are going to send our children to the front lines against a vicious enemy, they also have the absolute responsibility to provide them with equipment that will protect them effectively. If they do not, it’s unacceptable - and Jews across the world should demand accountability and answers.
 Let’s hope that Daniel’s concerns are overblown, or at least that there’s a reasonable explanation for something that’s upsetting regardless. But if he's right, we need an accounting, and we need it today.
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Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/.
One of the main topics that this podcast has addressed over the past eight months has been the future of Religious Zionism, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.. There are numerous visions of what Religious Zionism should be, and understanding the possibilities should be at the very top of the agenda in both the national religious and Modern Orthodox worlds. For that reason, we're excited to invite you to join Scott on Sunday, June 16th at 4:00 PM in Manhattan for a conversation about the future of Religious Zionism. RSVP by writing to aliza@jewishcoffeehouse.com for the location address and additional details.
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com

Just as many young people who are not religious become Orthodox, so do many young Orthodox Jews leave Orthodox practice behind. Colloquially, this is often called being “off the derech” - that is, off “the” way of traditional Torah practice.
The phenomenon of Orthodox Jews becoming less classically religious is real, and it’s important to think about why it happens. Is it simply a question of disbelief or doubt regarding dogma? Are there other reasons that we, as parents and educators, should take into account? In what ways are our educational methods to blame, how can we work to reform those problems, and can we fix the well-meaning but mistaken messages that may have been imparted to our children? What can we learn from those who leave Orthodoxy, and do we have a responsibility to try to convince them to come back? How can parents of children who are not shomrei Shabbat avoid the sense of failure, or a belief that their kids have rejected them and everything that they believe? On the other hand, if children seem well-rooted in an Orthodox belief system, is there any reason for concern when they attend secular college or the Israeli army?  
In order to address these questions, Scott was honored to speak to Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/. To read Scott's reflections on his father's life, click here. 
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com

Any discussion surrounding tzniut (loosely - and, perhaps incorrectly - translated as “modesty") is inevitably fraught with challenges and difficulty. Indeed, there are few topics in Orthodoxy that are as triggering to so many people.
Rabbi Moshe Simkovich offers a traditional yet unique approach to tzniut, and he attempts to redefine the concept altogether, moving it further away from quantitative questions about dress and sexuality, and towards a vision that, he says, is more in line with what the word means in Tanach and according to Chazal. In this episode, he explains his innovative approach. Scott and Rabbi Simkovich deliberately kept the discussion away from the typical conversation surrounding tzniut, and instead talked about how it applies to other areas - particularly to questions surrounding leadership. Apart from helping to reframe the definition of tzniut, this also allowed them to analyze why tzniut is an important quality for leaders, how it is potentially manifest in leadership, examples and counterexamples of such leadership, ways to inculcate this quality, why humble leadership is not the same as tzanua leadership, and some clues about how to determine if a potential leader possesses the characteristic of tzniut. When all is said and done, using leadership as an example of tzniut allows all of us to better understand how it can and should be implemented in areas like sexuality and dress, as well.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/. To read Scott's reflections on his father's life, click here. 
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com

In his classic work Kol Dodi Dofek, Rav Soloveitchik asserts that God’s gift of the State of Israel demands a response. God wants a dialogue where we answer his generosity by using His gifts to make Him present in the world. The major challenge for Religious Zionism, then, is to decide, as best as we can, what that response should be. Does it mean settling every square kilometer of the Land? Does it mean creating a medinah l’mofet, an exemplary society in every way possible?
Discovering what this challenge is - and then meeting it - is our responsibility today.
That challenge, in fact, is what informs today’s podcast with Yair Ettinger. Yair is a well-known Israeli journalist who has real expertise in the questions and issues surrounding the Religious Zionist world. Scott and Yair delved into the interesting dichotomy that much of the Religious Zionist community in Israel is largely becoming much more open and less reliant upon standard rabbinic authority in its religious practice, while simultaneously becoming more narrowly right wing politically. They also talked about the National Religious political parties today, and whether they authentically represent the bulk of the Religious Zionist population. They looked at the cracks that are appearing in some of the classic Religious Zionist institutions, and the apparent weakening of certain spiritual monopolies that exist. It was a very informative interview, and it offers some important insights into the future of Religious Zionism in the State of Israel.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/. To read Scott's reflections on his father's life, click here. 
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com

It’s the little things that hit hardest. The big moments when I expect to be emotional have generally felt unremarkable; I seem to have experienced them with relative ease. The surprises come when I’m taking a walk, talking about a silly childhood memory, or seeing an old friend. Above all, I’ve learned that my emotions are often hidden - from myself as well as from others - and then I think that I’m done having feelings. But I repeatedly learn that they lie barely below the surface, ready to emerge when I least expect them.
This is not typical episode. Today I'm going to talk about my dad, and what life has been like since he died of pancreatic cancer three and a half weeks ago.
I hope that it's meaningful for you, just as it was for me.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/. To read Scott's reflections on his father's life, click here. 
Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).
Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.
Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.
Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com