Martini Judaism

Religion News Service
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For those who want to be shaken and stirred. Join one of American Judaism’s most prolific thought leaders and his special guests as they talk about the current state of Judaism, American culture, politics, religion, and spirituality. 

  1. How To Love Israel, Even When It Is Hard

    HACE 1 DÍA

    How To Love Israel, Even When It Is Hard

    I was talking recently with a young man about his social life. He described an evening that did not sound like the stuff of romantic legend. The dinner seemed to be going well. The wine flowed, as did the conversation -- with just enough spark to suggest possibility. He leaned into the moment, sensing chemistry, feeling that quiet optimism that accompanies a promising first date. And then she leaned forward, lowered her voice, and asked a question that changed everything. “I really like you,” she said. “I feel attracted to you. "But I need to know something. Are you a Zionist?” He had expected something more intimate, something more personal. Instead, he found himself fumbling through an answer about loving Israel, supporting Israel, caring about Israel. Let’s just say there would be no second date. The young woman, by the way, was also Jewish. There is an elephant in the Jewish living room, and that elephant is: Israel. That is the subject of my podcast conversation with Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and one of the most compelling interpreters of contemporary Jewish life. Yehuda writes and teaches with intellectual rigor and moral urgency. He spends his days helping Jews think more honestly about power, responsibility, and identity. He embodies the name Yisrael itself — the one who wrestles — because he refuses easy answers and insists on staying in the struggle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    55 min
  2. Why Judy Blume Matters

    HACE 4 DÍAS

    Why Judy Blume Matters

    I had weird reading habits when I was a kid. For one thing, no one ever told me that there were certain books that boys should read, and certain books that girls should read, and that there was a mechitza (a barrier in a traditional synagogue that separates the sexes) between the two of them. What did I know? That was how I came to devour the entire Harriet the Spy series. Because, well, I liked spies. And then, there was Judy Blume, born Judith Sussman, in 1938. Judy Blume is one of the most important Jewish writers of the twentieth century. Judy Blume? The lady who wrote about training bras and embarrassing gym classes? Yes, that Judy Blume. OK, she’s not Philip Roth or Saul Bellow, or Cynthia Ozick. And, yes, the "serious" literary establishment never really invited her into their club. They might have been wrong. Mark Oppenheimer has just published the definitive biography of Blume: Judy Blume: A Life. As I read the biography, and as I reflected on my podcast interview with Mark, I kept thinking: someone needs to make the Jewish case for Judy Blume. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    54 min
  3. Whom Does Your God Love? A Jewish Case for the Stranger. With Shai Held

    10 MAR

    Whom Does Your God Love? A Jewish Case for the Stranger. With Shai Held

    What does the Torah actually say about immigrants — and what does it demand of us? Rabbi Jeff Salkin sits down with one of the Jewish world's leading theologians, Rabbi Shai Held, to explore the Bible's most repeated commandment: love the ger — the stranger, the sojourner, the immigrant. Held argues that "immigrant" is not just the most accurate translation of ger, it's the most morally urgent one. When the Torah says to love the immigrant, it's making a claim on us every single day. Together, Salkin and Held trace the Torah's radical counter-vision to Egypt — a society built not on cruelty and power, but on empathy and care for the vulnerable. They explore what it means to imitate God by loving those whom God loves, why the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Lot are really lessons in empathy, and how the Holocaust's legacy shapes the Jewish moral imagination. And they end with the question Rabbi Held says belongs on the doorpost of every house of worship in the world: It's not whether you believe in God. It's whom your God loves. Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair of Jewish Thought at the Hadar Institute, which he co-founded. His most recent book is Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    46 min
  4. Why a War With Iran Means Confronting Radical Evil

    2 MAR ·  CONTENIDO EXTRA

    Why a War With Iran Means Confronting Radical Evil

    On Purim, Jews read Esther — a story of survival in the face of annihilation. This episode connects that ancient warning to today’s confrontation with Iran. Is this war, self-defense, or tragic necessity? We explore Amalek, radical evil, human rights, and what it means to hold both the sword and the prayer book in a dangerous world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    12 min
  5. How American Jewish immigrants invented childhood

    27 FEB

    How American Jewish immigrants invented childhood

    Michael Kimmel’s Playmakers reveals how Jewish immigrants built America’s toy industry—and reshaped modern childhood. From teddy bears to superheroes, they turned outsider grit into imagination, comfort, and cultural revolution. This isn’t just toy history; it’s a story of identity, reinvention, and why play became one of America’s most powerful ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    54 min
  6. Being a Rabbi in the Midst of an Earthquake + Elan Babchuck

    21 ENE

    Being a Rabbi in the Midst of an Earthquake + Elan Babchuck

    As the ground shifts beneath our feet, where is our faith? For your consideration: Rabbi Elan Babchuck. He is the founding director of Glean Network, an incubator for faith-rooted innovation; the executive vice president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL); Fellow with the Faith & Media initiative advocating for improved representation of faith in media; and a nationally recognized commentator on religion, technology, and the evolving needs of communities today. And what ahs this to do with earthquakes? In 1837, there was a devastating earthquake in northern Israel that caused major damage to the holy city of Tiberias. Rabbi Babchuck’s great-great-great grandfather was a rabbi in Tiberias at the time, and he had to rebuild a community that had quite literally been leveled. That experience found its way into Elan’s family story, and it became his own job description. Because that is what Rabbi Babchuck does now: he teaches us how to live Jewishly in the midst of earthquakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    54 min
  7. Jews and Hats: A Thousand-Year-Old Love Story

    8 ENE

    Jews and Hats: A Thousand-Year-Old Love Story

    When did Jews start covering their heads? Certainly not in the Bible. The practice emerged during rabbinic times, and not everywhere.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    31 min
  8. Reform Judaism's Wide Open Doors + Rabbi Rick Jacobs

    29/12/2025

    Reform Judaism's Wide Open Doors + Rabbi Rick Jacobs

    Why Do Jewish? Love, Obligation, and the Courage to Show Up Imagine a familiar conversation in any household across the world. “Do we have to go to the school concert tonight?”There’s no law. No statute. No external requirement. And yet—you go. Why? Because love creates obligation. Not the other way around. That deceptively simple truth sits at the heart of my conversation with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, on this episode of Martini Judaism. For generations, Jews have argued about obligation. Traditional Jews often point to halacha—Jewish law—as the source of Jewish responsibility. Reform Jews, by contrast, have insisted on autonomy, conscience, and choice. So the question remains stubborn and unavoidable: Why do Jewish at all? Rabbi Jacobs and I explore that question through the lens of relationship—an idea shared by three of the thinkers who shaped us both: Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Eugene Borowitz. Each, in his own way, taught that Jewish obligation does not descend from heaven like a decree. It rises from love, belonging, and covenant. Buber taught that mitzvot come alive when they are responses to encounter.Rosenzweig insisted that commandment follows love, not the other way around.Borowitz reminded Reform Jews that autonomy without commitment is hollow—and that obligation grows out of relationship with God, tradition, and the Jewish people. You don’t attend your child’s concert because you signed a contract.You go because you love your child—and because love binds. Judaism works the same way. This episode isn’t about guilt or coercion. It’s about relationship. And about the quiet, demanding truth that love creates the strongest obligation of all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    50 min
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For those who want to be shaken and stirred. Join one of American Judaism’s most prolific thought leaders and his special guests as they talk about the current state of Judaism, American culture, politics, religion, and spirituality. 

Información

  • Creador
    Religion News Service
  • Años de actividad
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodios
    67
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © 2023
  • Mostrar sitio web
    Martini Judaism

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