The Orthonomics Podcast

Mark Trencher
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The Orthonomics Podcast explores issues of importance to the Orthodox Jewish community, through the dual lenses of data – drawn from a wide range of sources – and informed conversations with knowledgeable and often opinionated experts. Each episode also includes a segment titled "What do you want to know about the Orthodox community?" In which our guest, as well as our listeners, get to pose their questions on issues that intrigue them, and we answer your questions.

  1. 3 days ago

    (60) You Can Make a Difference … with Ari Schaffer

    Ari Schaffer is a Young Israel shul member and board member, founder of CT for Israel, a grassroots group advocating for Israel and opposing antisemitism throughout Connecticut. He is also on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Hartford. For his day job, Ari is the Communications Director at the Buckley Institute, which is dedicated to promoting intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale University. He previously worked for the Georgia Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the White House. In this episode we discuss how Ari was instrumental in creating a very active Grassroots Activist organization that has been effective in advocating for Israel, fighting antisemitism, and bringing the Jewish community together as a powerful voice for Israel and the Jewish people. Our hope is that this conversation will inspire others to undertake such efforts.

    19 min

  2. 18 Jun

    (59) Orthodox Jewish Fertility and Family Size … with Viva Hammer

    Viva Hammer is a fifth generation Australian who moved to New York after finishing law school. She served as a lawyer in the private sector and then at the US Treasury and in the US Congress. She is a partner in a DC law firm and holds academic positions at Brandeis University and the Australian National University.  She has been interviewing Orthodox parents of large families for 20 years in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Israel and has published and spoken all over the world on her findings. In this episode we discuss a wide range of related issues, including the average number of children in the Orthodox community; how and why this figure has dramatically changed in the last 50 years; how the changing nature of what it means to be Orthodox has contributed to the change in fertility measures; the growing incidence of family planning, use of birth control and halachic views relating to birth control, including its growing permissibility; how Orthodox Jewish family growth had become so vastly different from what is seen in fertility rates worldwide; whether and how marriage issues could affect Orthodoxy as a high-fertility society; and more. Viva's website – http://vivahammer.com – has many of her publications, speeches, and news articles, and provides for much fascinating reading. In addition, her recent writings include: https://thejewishindependent.com.au/why-do-orthodox-families-have-so-many-children/ https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9xk346gj

    31 min

  3. 12 Jun

    (58) The Gift of Life … with Mindy Schaper

    Mindy Schaper is a unique personality. Not only did she volunteer a kidney to save the life of a young man whom she did not know, but she also volunteered as a surrogate mother, carrying the child of an Orthodox couple full-term … and she did this twice! So now you understand the title of this podcast. Mindy Schaper grew up Chassidic in Boro Park, Brooklyn and now identifies as Modern Orthodox. She is a writer and marketing project manager, with degrees in psychology, English and Judaic Studies She helped to found and run Project Makom, an organization that supports people transitioning out of or re‑orienting from the Haredi world and often seeking a place in the Modern Orthodox world. Her video about being an Orthodox Jewish surrogate ("Being an Orthodox Jewish (and Married!) Surrogate" explores the intersection of modern family-building and traditional Halacha. It highlights the profound cultural and religious considerations required, including navigating Kosher dietary laws during embryo transfers and receiving specific Rabbinic guidance on fertility treatments. Here is a LINK to the video. In our post-interview segment, we share results from our recent survey on the issue of how and why Modern / Centrist Orthodox and Haredi identify and define themselves. The findings are in our new study "Issues of the Day: Orthodox Jewish Community Views on Key Current Issues," which also covers: Our strengths and top challenges; Top issues that we need to better understand; Dialogue and relationships with non-orthodox Jews and with non-Jews; and an Update on modern / centrist orthodox attitudes toward women in shul leadership. Click HERE to access the full report; and click HERE to access all of the Orthodox community research.

    24 min

  4. 12 May

    (57) A Surge in Conversions to Judaism … with Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

    In this episode we discuss the recent surge in Jewish conversions and the reasons for this surge, especially in Israel. Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander is the President and Rosh HaYeshiva of the Ohr Torah Stone network in Israel. It comprises 32 educational institutions, leadership development initiatives, outreach programs, women's empowerment initiatives across Israel and internationally. Rabbi Brander received his semicha ordination from Yeshiva University, where he taught rabbinic courses, served as Vice President for University and Community Life, and as Dean of the Center for the Jewish Future. He holds a Ph.D. in general philosophy and comparative literature. He was senior rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, overseeing its growth from 60 to more than 600 families, and he also founded the Katz Yeshiva High School. He and his family live in Israel, but he often visits his son Rabbi Tuvia Brander and family in West Hartford, CT, and I know that because that is my shul. Here are links to: Ohr Torah Stone – Click HERE Our recent report on Challenges Facing American Orthodox Jews – Click HERE Click HERE to access all of the Nishma Orthodox community research If you have questions, issues you'd like to see discussed, etc., email mark@nishmaresearch.com

    24 min

  5. 7 May

    (56) An Orthodox Jewish Woman Activist … Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

    Our guest is Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll, a well-known Orthodox Jewish writer and activist whose work focuses on women's rights in Orthodox Judaism and the visibility of women in religious life. Born and raised in Lakewood, New Jersey, she moved to Israel with her family, where she has become a prominent voice challenging religious extremism, the erasure of women from public and communal spaces, and broadly advocating for Orthodox Jewish women. In this episode we discuss a number of issues including the increasing erasure of images of women in Orthodox venues. the agunah problem (women who are unable to obtain a get – a Jewish legal divorce – and are chained to former spouses and unable to remarry), women's health issues, their growing roles in Jewish learning, and more. She is a co‑founder of Chochmat Nashim, an organization that creates change in the global Jewish society by challenging dangerous trends in Jewish communities around the world. Using new and traditional media the organization sheds light on societal norms that exclude women and feed extremism. She is also a founder of Rate My Deit Din, a resource and website that evaluates and improves Jewish divorce in the rabbinic court (beit din) system. Courts are rated via user and professional reviews and are offered ways to improve users' experiences. Finally, she is a founder of the Laura Ben David Jewish Life Photo Bank, a dedicated resource for authentic images of Jewish women, families, and communities, aiming to counter erasure.

    33 min

  6. 30 Apr

    (55) Aliyah: Varnished and Unvarnished … with Shifra Gewurtz

    In this episode we discuss aliyah with Shifra Gewurtz, reflecting realistically on the challenges, the realities, and the successes. We talk about her long-term goal of making aliyah, the decision-making process, the many logistics involved, family issues (lots of teenagers involved), housing, taxes and income, tuition and health costs, what surprised her, and more. Shifra is passionate and honest in our conversation. She previously had her own retail business in New York, currently works for the Orthodox Union, and is also a dating life and marriage coach. I will add that she is my niece and we view her as a "source of wisdom."  Link to Jewish Learning & Gap Year Survey … Click HERE.

    29 min

  7. 14 Apr

    (54) Splitting Hairs … with Rabbi Dr. Michael J. Broyde

    In this episode we discuss with Rabbi Dr. Michael J. Broyde the evolution, especially in the past half century, of communal standards for tzniut in dress, particularly among women; whether laws of tzniut over the millennia have been objective and fixed, or subject within bounds to changing societal norms; possible U.S. societal changes that might affect tzniut in the Orthodox community; the positive benefits of increasing diversity in the Orthodox community, especially in the U.S.; Haredi shifting values relating to learning and working, Rabbi Broyde is a professor of law at Emory University School of Law and a leading scholar at the intersection of law, religion, and Jewish ethics. He is also Berman Projects Director and senior fellow at Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion, and teached Jewish Law at Columbia University. His most recent book, "Splitting Hairs," which we discuss in some detail, is a rigorously argued and refreshingly candid halakhic study of women's hair covering and tzniut more broadly. It is available at Amazon … click HERE. Ordained at Yeshiva University, he served for many years as a dayan on the Beth Din of America and was the founding rabbi of Young Israel of Toco Hills in Atlanta. He holds a JD from New York University School of Law and has authored hundreds of articles and numerous books on Jewish law, family law, bioethics, religious freedom, and comparative religious law. In recent years, he has written on such topics as religious arbitration, kidney transplants and vouchers, Jewish law and modesty, and a modern explication of the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Broyde can be reached at mbroyde@emory.edu, and he welcomes emails. A Times of Israel interview about his new book is available at this LINK.

    26 min

  8. 25 Mar

    (53) Caring for Your Health – Halachically … with Dr. Sharon Galper Grossman

    In this episode, we continue our discussion of health, including some references to our recent survey of the community, with Dr. Sharon Galper Grossman. Dr. Grossman is a Harvard-trained physician (MD) with a Master of Public Health degree (MPH), a radiation oncologist, public-health scholar, and a Jewish law (halacha) scholar and educator, known for bridging modern medicine and Jewish ethics and halacha, especially on issues related to women's health and preventive measures. She previously served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Grossman is deeply involved in advanced Jewish legal scholarship. She completed the Morot L'Halakha program at Matan Women's Institute for Torah Studies, and she provides the observant Jewish community with expert medical knowledge uniquely melded with deep halachic knowledge and appreciation. She has written widely on these topics in such publications as Tradition, Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal, and The Times of Israel. Click HERE to see Dr. Grossman's article in the OU Jewish Action Pesach Newsletter: "The Ozempic Seder: Navigating Weight-Loss Medicine on Pesach." For our recent report, "The Nishma Research / JOWMA Orthodox Jewish Community Health Needs Assessment Survey" – click HERE. For a related article in The Jewish Press, "How Healthy are Orthodox Jews?" – click HERE. Many articles by Dr. Grossman are available at The Times of Israel – click HERE. If you have any suggestions for our upcoming survey on "Gap Year Experiences and Impacts" please email them to us – click HERE.

    26 min
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About

The Orthonomics Podcast explores issues of importance to the Orthodox Jewish community, through the dual lenses of data – drawn from a wide range of sources – and informed conversations with knowledgeable and often opinionated experts. Each episode also includes a segment titled "What do you want to know about the Orthodox community?" In which our guest, as well as our listeners, get to pose their questions on issues that intrigue them, and we answer your questions.

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Trencher
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    61
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    ©2024
  • Show Website
    The Orthonomics Podcast

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