edJEWcation

edJEWcation
  • 4.8 (43)
  • Judaism
  • Updated Weekly

Your weekly dose of Jewish wit and wisdom. Each week Rabbi Abba Perelmuter, Chayaleah Sufrin, and Jay Covitz explore Jewish history, culture, and writings. Whether you're a relapsed Jew or an old pro there is something for us all to learn.

  1. 1h ago

    Leaving Antisemitism Behind with Lucas Gage

    Three years ago, if you’d told us we’d spend October 7 interviewing Lucas Gage, we’d have laughed. So would he. Lucas is a former Marine who did two tours in Iraq, then spent 14 years in the antisemitic “JQ” movement, building an audience of 336,000 on X, going viral with “Boom Boom Tel Aviv,” and calling Jews demons. This year he walked away, wrote about why, and started showing up at kosher restaurants in Lakewood. We wanted to know how a smart guy gets that deep, and more importantly, how he got out. In this episode, we get into: How a 9/11 “truther” video after Iraq became a gateway to every conspiracy on the menu, with the Jews as the “final boss” Why conspiracy thinking is a web, not a single belief, and why you have to take it down one strand at a time What Lucas actually believed about the Holocaust, and how “revisionism” sells itself as a free speech fight The crypto scam, the Charlie Kirk assassination theories, and the moment he watched a conspiracy get built in real time Why a calm “so what makes you believe that?” from Jake Turx worked where name-and-shame never did Russian and Iranian influence operations, bot farms, and why antisemitism treats Jews like all-powerful gods It’s one of the most important discussions should should be having right now, but it’s also funny and hopeful. People can go to very dark places and still come back. This is a good place to start with Lucas's writings - What Pulled Me Out of Antisemitism

  2. 2d ago

    Murder in Tel Aviv: The Life of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Part 3

    This episode starts off with a murder on a Tel Aviv beach, how that murder would fundamentally change the future of the Zionist movement, Jabotinsky’s role within it. In this episode, we get into: Why Jabotinsky wrote “The Iron Wall” and how it set him at odds with the Zionist establishment Development of various aspects of his philosophy from Betar to Hadar to Monism The “fascist” smear and the problems Abba Ahimeir made for the Revisionists His banning from ever returning to Eretz Israel The Revisionists storming out of the 1931 Zionist conference at Basel Why are so many of the movements willing to accept the claim that Jabotinsky’s people are responsible for the murder of Chaim Arlosoroff. The London Agreement and the creation of a the Zionist organization Pull up a chair, and bring your thickest skin. The fourth and final episode is coming.

  3. Oct 7

    King Solomon's Book of Proverbs

    Hashem offers a 12-year-old king anything he wants. Wealth, power, conquest, all on the table. Solomon asks for wisdom, and nearly three thousand years later we’re still reading what he did with it. This week we discuss the Book of Proverbs, Solomon’s advice to his kids, and find that a lot of it reads like a group text to modern America. But first, a mazel tov: ChayaLeah’s other show, Ask a Jew, got picked up by Ark Media and is now Chosen People Problems. Yes, CCCP. We had jokes. In this episode, we get into: Solomon’s three wisdom books and the old argument over which came first: Song of Songs, Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes “The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom,” and why the Rabbi says a real scholar needs a good tuchis Discipline, corporal punishment, and why kids don’t need their parents to be their friends Aristotle in the classroom vs. Aristotle outside it, and how Jabotinsky’s Hadar connects Why God made mosquitoes and sloths: “Go to the ant, you sluggard” Why Jay’s favorite proverb is Proverbs 15 Thirty-one chapters, one a day, and you’ve finished the book in a month. Start with this episode.

  4. Oct 5

    15 Years for Defending Jews: Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Part 2

    Picking up where we left him last time…Jabotinsky is in a refugee camp in Egypt with 12,000 Jewish refugees, who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks. He surveys the camp, the Jews within it and comes out with one conclusion: pity won’t build a nation, soldiers will. What follows are the three of the loneliest years of his life, followed spending time in a British prison for the crime of defending Jews against Arab violence. In this episode, we get into: The Jewish Legion, and why nearly every Zionist leader thought Jabotinsky was a mad man How Joseph Trumpeldor became one of his lone allies early in his fight His failed effort to recruit Jews from London’s East End to fight for their homeland. The Balfour Declaration and his crossing the Jordan as part of the Legion His defense of the Jews in Jerusalem during the Nebi Musa riots in his sentence by a British court of 15 years of hard labor Grab a seat, and bring your stubborn streak. Part three is coming.

  5. Sep 30

    What Do Diaspora Jews Owe Israel

    In this episode we discuss Compulsory service vs. a Second Temple style tax to Jerusalem, and why the Law of Return covers even Noam Chomsky Israelis flying home to vote, and the rabbis who spend Yom Kippur bashing Israel The Rabbi’s rules for when to confront someone and when to keep your mouth closed (hint: it’s called wisdom) A grandmother’s edible sukkah, magicians and moon bounces in shul, and why American Judaism is in triage Hillel vs. Shammai on thin Jewish identity, plus why Hebrew school is a concession A sneak peek at Jay’s four-part series on Ze’ev Jabotinsky, including the only words he ever exchanged with Herzl Our episode on Judaism and abortion

  6. Sep 29

    "Why Don't You All Go to Hell?" The Life of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Part 1

    Ze’ev Jabotinsky could have been a great Russian novelist. Everyone, including the Russian novelists, said so. Instead, a spring evening in Odessa in 1903 set him on the hardest road available to a Jew in the Russian Empire, and he never got off it. This week Jay goes solo for the first episode in a four part series about Jabotinsky’s life. In first episode of the series, we get into: What growing up in Odessa would mean for what Jabotinsky became How the Kishinev pogrom influenced his perspective on where Zionism was and where it needs to go Why he ran out of patience for the leaders of Zionism. His perspective on the importance of Bialik’s poem “In the City of Slaughter” The only four words that he and Herzl ever exchanged Constantinople, the Young Turks, and why he decided to side with the Allies in World War I

  7. Sep 23

    Sour Milk, Shots of Gin, and Dual Loyalty

    The Rabbi’s Ten Days of Repentance began with a bowl of cornflakes topped with rancid milk, which somehow leads to him doing shots of Gin on Simchas Torah…with an MIT fraternity. Once we helped him process the milk tragedy, we get into our real discussion. We talk about: Is it American-Jew or Jewish-American? And what two thousand years of never quite belonging has to do with it. Why Jewish emancipation made antisemitism worse, and why America is the one country besides Israel where being Jewish has nothing to do with your rights On the accusation of dual loyalty: Why pointing the accusation at Jews is BS because everybody has more than one loyalty. Haredim, the Amish, and the woman on the train who yelled at the wrong guy in a black hat Three sayings put on trial: everything happens for a reason, God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, and suffering makes you stronger. Pour yourself something that isn’t gin, hasn’t gone sour, and join us.

  8. Sep 16

    Our Sins of Omission and Commission

    In honor of Yom Kippur, we talk about two kinds of sins we commit. Sins of omissionand sins of commission. Sins of omission are the things we should have done and didn’t, and almost nobody puts those on their list of things to repent for because, well, we may not have known we committed them. Sins of commission are the things we were aware did: the thing we said, the thing we took, the person we hurt. In this episode, we get into: Sins of omission: the Noda B’Yehuda, the widow at the edge of town, Bilaam’s “I have sinned, for I did not know,” and John Wooden coaching only the mistakes his players didn’t notice Sins of commission: why we ask forgiveness for traits God gave us, and the filter of Daat that is supposed to run passion, anger, and speech (a 25-year friendship can be destroyed in two minutes of talking) Whether your community owes you a correction, why nobody in America wants to give one, and the art of the well-timed apology (do not bring the flowers on Friday afternoon) Hannah, the mother of Samuel, what it means to pray “on” God instead of “to” Him, and why hope is not a plan Avinu Malkeinu: whether we want God as a king or a father, praying for money, and what fear does to free will Shifra and Puah, the Righteous Among the Nations, “please don’t test me,” and why Teshuva means return, not repentance If you are heading into Yom Kippur with a list of things you did wrong, this episode might convince you to add a second list: the things you didn’t do at all. Listen before the fast, and may we all be sealed for a good year Past Yom Kippur episode

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Your weekly dose of Jewish wit and wisdom. Each week Rabbi Abba Perelmuter, Chayaleah Sufrin, and Jay Covitz explore Jewish history, culture, and writings. Whether you're a relapsed Jew or an old pro there is something for us all to learn.

Information

  • Creator
    edJEWcation
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    132
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © edJEWcation
  • Show Website
    edJEWcation

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