Jewish Insights with Justin Pines

Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS)
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  • Judaism
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Exploring Judaism’s key ideas, people, rituals and memory with Rabbi Justin Pines, CEO of JBS. To learn more about JBS, visit JBSTV.org Hinei Ma Tov theme song by Av Vachim

  1. 2d ago

    Yohay Sponder: The Israeli Comedian Turning Suffering Into Joy

    Israeli comedian Yohay Sponder believes Jews have a unique gift: “we take our suffering and turn it to your joy.” On Jewish Insights with Justin Pines, he shares how he brings that to stages around the world. Raised on a farm in the Golan Heights by a Moroccan mother and a Polish father, Yohay began doing stand-up in Tel Aviv, then made the leap to performing in English. After October 7, he kept going onstage, for soldiers, for evacuated families, and for everyone who needed to laugh. In this conversation: Sponder’s Law, and the power of positive thinking Why he wears a suit onstage: “I’m here to serve” What the Trojan horse teaches about who gets to tell the Jewish story Why his new show is called Genesis What he hopes Jews and non-Jews take away from the same show Yohay’s Genesis tour returns in January, with stops in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, California, and Florida.

    Yohay Sponder: The Israeli Comedian Turning Suffering Into Joy

  2. Oct 28

    Allison Josephs: Changing How Hollywood Sees Jews

    In 1927, the first talking picture told the story of a cantor’s son who chooses Kol Nidre over Broadway. Jewish stories have been part of Hollywood from the moment Hollywood found its voice. A century later, who is making sure they’re told with depth and pride? Allison Josephs founded Jew in the City after a visiting journalist arrived at her door expecting someone meek, frumpy, and closed-minded — and left inspired. In 2021 she discovered that the NAACP Hollywood Bureau was seventy years old, that the Muslim and Asian American communities had built their own, and that the Jews had none. So she built the first Jewish Hollywood Bureau. In an hour with Rabbi Justin Pines, Allison discusses: -The loss in her town at age eight that sent her asking why we are here, and the father who studied Torah to prove her wrong — and became observant -Growing up “the right amount of Jewish” in Florham Park, New Jersey. -The tropes her research keeps finding on screen: the overbearing Jewish mother, the nebbish son, and the Upper East Side banker — with half of all working Jewish characters in elite jobs. -“Jewish lightning,” the throwaway line in "The Bear" that put an old slur about Jews and insurance fires back into circulation -What her father once said about his Hasidic patients, and how meeting them himself changed everything -Why "Unorthodox" drew more traffic to her site in one month than in all of 2019, and what that appetite reveals -Going from tweeting at NBC to sitting in the room at NBC -The USC Norman Lear Center study, the most extensive research on Jewish television representation in twenty-five years -Serving God with both inclinations, including the one drawn to the spotlight -The third annual Jewish Media Awards, November 5th at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, with Friends executive producer Kevin Bright honored alongside his Chabad rabbi Allison Josephs is founder and executive director of Jew in the City and the Jewish Hollywood Bureau, a Gold Telly winner for social impact, and Torah partner to Mayim Bialik. She has spoken before Congress, at Sundance, and at the Television Academy. Jewish Insights with Justin Pines airs on JBS. This special episode of Jewish Insights with Allison Josephs is made possible in part by Micah Philanthropies, Ann and Jeremy Pava, Trustees.

    Allison Josephs: Changing How Hollywood Sees Jews

  3. Oct 21

    Judah Mischel: How the Torah Parsha Can Change Your Life

    We’ve rolled the Torah back to the beginning, and Rabbi Judah Mischel has written the companion for the year ahead — from Bereishit through Avraham’s journey in Lech Lecha and on through the cycle. In his third visit to Jewish Insights, the executive director of Camp HASC sits down with Justin Pines to talk about Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah, his new two-volume work on the weekly parsha, following earlier volumes on Teshuvah and the Haggadah. Baderech means “on the way” — and no one embodies that more than Avraham, who becomes the first Jew only after God tells him Lech Lecha, go forth. The whole series rests on that idea: growth happens on the journey itself. Rabbi Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, Mashpia of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi, and the author of Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuvah, The Baderech Haggadah, and Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family. Buy Judah’s book here: https://mosaicapress.com/product/baderech-along-the-path-of-the-torah/?srsltid=AU7gw4XiN_PojdD9UbQhs3MJ2W4IDJeMtyxvs9e9V9muq1_5_OZL9p4D&v=0b3b97fa6688 Jewish Insights with Justin Pines airs on JBS.

    Judah Mischel: How the Torah Parsha Can Change Your Life

  4. Oct 14

    The Real West Bank with Tuvia Tenenbom

    "Excuse me, is this yours?" It turns out that may be the most dangerous question you can ask in the Holy Land. Tuvia Tenenbom, bestselling author, playwright, and the journalist Die Welt called "Michael Moore and Borat in one", spent nearly a year living in the territory some call Judea and Samaria and others call the West Bank, through an active war, with Iranian missiles passing overhead. His new book, Excuse Me, Is This Yours?, is the story of what he actually found. In this hour, Justin Pines sits down with him for a conversation that runs from a Bnei Brak childhood to a hilltop above Nablus. Tenenbom holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, fine arts, and journalism, completed rabbinical studies in Jerusalem, founded the Jewish Theater of New York, and has written more than forty plays. He is the author of four Der Spiegel and five Israeli bestsellers, translated into ten languages, with earlier books embedding him in Germany, across America, in Europe's refugee camps, in Britain, and among the Haredim. Get the book: Excuse Me, Is This Yours? https://www.gefenpublishing.com/products/excuse-me-is-this-yours?srsltid=AU7gw4Vf-iiflmHR42zNd6-XhBwgM_CI80zzSI5wAX9jGtH6OtVIgBI1   This episode of Jewish Insights with Justin Pines is made possible in part by Bryna and Joshua Landes, in honor of their beloved mother, Sora Landes.

    The Real West Bank with Tuvia Tenenbom

  5. Oct 7

    Friends Producer Kevin S. Bright

    Kevin S. Bright was executive producer of Friends for all ten seasons and directed more than 50 episodes of one of the most beloved shows in television history. His newest documentary, The Bridge, follows ten young Israeli survivors of October 7th to Los Angeles for the legendary Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. There, rock musicians from bands including Guns N' Roses, Van Halen, and Black Sabbath help them work through grief, fear, and survivor's guilt, and find their way back to their own voices. In this episode of Jewish Insights, Justin Pines sits down with Kevin for a conversation that runs from the Lower East Side to Central Perk to Tel Aviv. Kevin S. Bright's credits include executive producer of Friends, executive producer of HBO's Dream On, producer of the In Living Color pilot, and executive producer or director of the documentaries Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story, Best and Most Beautiful Things, October 8th, and It's Dorothy. The Bridge airs on JBS. To bring the film to your university, Hillel, or community, visit thebridgedoc.com.

    Friends Producer Kevin S. Bright

  6. Sep 30

    What Is the Torah, Really? With Rabbi Ken Spiro

    What is the Torah? If you think it's just the Five Books of Moses, you're only seeing the surface. The Torah encompasses the written law, the oral law, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and an extraordinary chain of transmission and interpretation that stretches from Mount Sinai to today. In this episode of Jewish Insights with Justin Pines, historian Rabbi Ken Spiro walks through the full story of the Torah — what actually happened at Sinai (including the part most people don't know), when the written and oral laws were given and why God would deliver a law orally, the dramatic moment when King Josiah's workers discovered a lost Torah scroll in the Temple, Ezra's public reading at the Water Gate that transformed Jewish life after the Babylonian exile, why the oral law was eventually written down, how the Torah system survived the destruction of the Temple and centuries of exile, the role of the Rambam in organizing and transmitting the tradition, what the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed about the accuracy of the text over two thousand years, how traditional Judaism responds to the Documentary Hypothesis, and the living process by which rabbis derive Jewish law from these ancient sources today. Rabbi Ken Spiro is a historian, author, and Senior Lecturer at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. He holds an MA in History and rabbinic ordination from Aish HaTorah and has lived in Israel since 1982. He served in a combat infantry unit in the IDF and is a licensed tour guide in Israel. He is the author of "WorldPerfect — The Jewish Impact on Civilization," "Crash Course in Jewish History," and "Destiny — Why a tiny nation plays such a huge role in history." His work has been featured on BBC, National Geographic, the History Channel, and Fox News. He hosts the weekly podcast "Remember What's Next" on Spotify and YouTube, and his writings can be found at kenspiro.com and aish.com.

    What Is the Torah, Really? With Rabbi Ken Spiro

  7. Sep 23

    Who is the Jewish Messiah? With Rabbi Ken Spiro

    Every year on Sukkot, Jews around the world read the prophet Zechariah's vision of a future in which all the nations of the earth come up to Jerusalem. Not on Passover. Not on Yom Kippur. On Sukkot — the holiday Jewish tradition identifies with the Messianic era itself. So what is the Messiah? For an idea this central to Judaism — woven into the daily prayers, enshrined as the 12th of Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith, built into the structure of Jewish history and Jewish hope — most Jews would struggle to say what Mashiach actually is, what he has to accomplish, or how anyone would recognize the real one. In part one of this two-part Sukkot and Simchat Torah special, Justin Pines sits down with Rabbi Ken Spiro — historian, author, and senior lecturer at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem — for an hour that turns a vague idea into something you can actually hold. Jewish Insights with Justin Pines airs on JBS (Jewish Broadcasting Service), available on Comcast, Spectrum, DirecTV, and Verizon. Watch more episodes at jbstv.org.

    Who is the Jewish Messiah? With Rabbi Ken Spiro

  8. Sep 18

    The Word That Brought the Golem to Life | Justin Pines Yom Kippur Message 2026

    Join JBS CEO Rabbi Justin Pines as he offers his special 2026 Yom Kippur Message, which calls on all people to take action to bring more truth, or "EMET" in Hebrew, into our lives.

    The Word That Brought the Golem to Life | Justin Pines Yom Kippur Message 2026
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4.7
out of 5
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About

Exploring Judaism’s key ideas, people, rituals and memory with Rabbi Justin Pines, CEO of JBS. To learn more about JBS, visit JBSTV.org Hinei Ma Tov theme song by Av Vachim

Information

  • Creator
    Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS)
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    Jewish Insights with Justin Pines

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