The Carpool Guys

Jon Ackerman
  • 5.0 (20)
  • Judaism

The Carpool Guys Podcast is where three real Jewish dads- Asher Dworetsky, Jon Ackerman, and Dave "From Flatbush" Tannenbaum, buckle up for unfiltered conversations about fatherhood, marriage, midlife, and the beautiful chaos of raising a family in the Jewish community today. These guys have made mistakes, learned lessons the hard way, and have just enough life experience to give out their not so expert advice. From career crossroads to screen time battles, from Shabbos table debates to parenting fails, from Israel and what it means to us as Jews to the everyday moments that make you laugh, cry, and question every decision you've ever made... The Carpool Guys go there. Whether you're married or single, a parent or a kid who still needs one, navigating life or just trying to figure it all out... this is your podcast. Humor, heart, and meaning, every other week. No filter. No script. Just real talk from three guys who are very much still figuring it out too. Buckle up. New episodes every other week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts!

  1. Sep 9

    Music, Melodies & Memories: Getting Into the Yamim Noraim (High Holidays) Mindset

    Send us Fan Mail As the High Holidays approach, Jon, Asher, and Dave slow down for a more reflective conversation, though not without the usual chaos first. Asher recaps a passive-aggressive flag football sideline standoff (WhatsApp texts only, naturally), the ongoing Tisha B'Av beach chair debate, and a genuinely great bit about Dave's new "I Already Davened" personalized shirt, born from Dave's guilt about being seen walking past shul during Mincha without going in. Happy birthday shoutouts go out to Asher's daughter Ayelet and Dave's daughter Tzivi, both born the same week, with a sweet story about Tzivi getting her whole class hooked on the podcast without even telling them her dad was one of the hosts. Then the conversation turns toward the season itself. The guys share the chazanim who live permanently in their heads during the Yamim Noraim, from childhood cantors and grandfathers to the ongoing Menachem Brick versus Yossi Brick debate. They get into a genuinely funny and surprisingly heated ranking of holiday niggunim (Machnisei Rachamim is controversial, "the good Chamol" is sacred, and there is exactly one correct opinion on all of it), plus their personal pre-Yamim Noraim rituals: mikvah trips, shofar traditions passed down from grandfathers, and Asher's streak of listening to Rabbi Fran's Erev Yom Kippur drasha. The tone shifts into something more personal as each of the guys shares an honest resolution for the new year, from increasing Torah learning and davening for others by name, to simply reaching out more to the people they love. It's funny, it's real, and it closes out the way this show does best: humor and heart in the same breath. Plus: the great Slichos start-time debate (does 9pm count?), the Announcer's Test performed in full from memory, and a genuinely moving reflection on what Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur mean across the Jewish people. We want to hear from you: what has been your favorite part of this season? Reach out and let us know, and while you're at it, reach out to someone else too. 📩 carpoolguyspod@gmail.com 📱 @carpoolguyspod 🔗 linktr.ee/carpoolguyspod ⏱️ Chapters with Timestamps 0:22 — Welcome Back From Vacation (Sort Of) 1:46 — The Flag Football Sideline Standoff 7:36 — Happy Birthday Ayelet Dworetsky 7:46 — Happy Birthday Tzivi Tannenbaum, Secret Podcast Recruiter 17:23 — The "I Already Davened" Shirt Origin Story 20:32 — Setting the Scene: Heading Into the Yamim Noraim 21:38 — The Chazanim Who Live in Your Head: Grandfathers and Childhood Shuls 33:53 — Pre-Season Rituals 42:38 — New Year's Resolutions 50:16 — The Big Question: Is This Season Joyful, Scary, or Both? 59:51 — Question of the Week! Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  2. Sep 6

    The Drive By: Dave recaps his vaca… but don’t tell his doc about…

    Send us Fan Mail Dave from Flatbush is. Ack to defend his vacation pet peeves, but what doesn’t he want his doc to know? It’s the Drive By!!! Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  3. Sep 1

    The Drive By: Asher’s Vacation Pet Peeves Update! "Dave Was Right!!!"

    Send us Fan Mail Asher addresses his vacation pet peeves from last episode. Did they play out as he expected? Was Dave more right than we all thought? Find the answers here on this short Drive By update episode! Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  4. Aug 23

    Vacation Pet Peeves That DRIVE Us Crazy!

    Send us Fan Mail Vacation Pet Peeves That Drive Us Crazy Special episode alert: Asher is joined in-studio by his son Gavi! Before getting into the main event, the guys catch up on end-of-summer chaos: Dave's house felt eerily quiet with his family away at Camp Kaylie for the month (he may or may not have kept score during ESPN Jeopardy), and he surprised his daughters with a fully renovated shared bedroom, split into two separate rooms, managed top to bottom by friend of the show Tzvi Goldgrab while the family was away. Asher is off to Niagara Falls for the family's first real road trip, with a Shabbos stop in Monroe along the way. Then it's time for the main event: an ode to the beloved School of Mock podcast, done mock-draft style. Jon, Dave, and Asher each draft their top vacation pet peeves, and the results are equal parts hilarious and painfully relatable. Kids throwing up in the car. The mysterious ten-minutes-before-you-get-home meltdown. Vacations that are somehow busier than real life. Kids who refuse to carry a single bag into the house. Resort fees. And a uniquely Jewish entry: the vacation Mincha guy who insists everyone daven together, whether you want to or not. Plus: Dave's unexpected Buddhist monk era, an incident involving an unbuttoned shirt at a bar mitzvah, Asher's stance on GPS-checking Mincha compass guys, and Jon's surprisingly controversial pet peeve about anticipating the school year a little too much. Question of the Week: What are you most looking forward to as summer winds down? 📩 Email us your own vacation pet peeves at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com, or better yet, join the WhatsApp community and tell us there. 📱 @carpoolguyspod 🔗 linktr.ee/carpoolguyspod 0:30 — Welcome Back, Featuring Special Guest Gavi 1:35 — Happy Birthday, Jon! 3:10 — Round the Horn: Dave's Quiet House While the Family Was at Camp Kaylie 8:26 — Jon's Pet Peeve Preview: School Supply Season 18:45 — The Fake Potty and the Portable Toilet Debate 19:54 — Intro to the Vacation Pet Peeve Mock Draft, Ode to School of Mock 21:16 — Draft Order Set: Jon Leads Off for His Birthday 55:56 — Question of the Week: What Are You Most Looking Forward To? Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  5. Aug 19

    The Drive By: What's Your Take on Camp Tipping?

    Send us Fan Mail The Drive By: What's Your Take on Camp Tipping? Camp season is winding down, which means one thing: it's tipping season. In this Drive By, Jon and Asher tackle one of the most debated end-of-summer questions in the Jewish community: what is the right way to tip camp counselors? Asher, who works in camp himself, makes the case for consistent, thoughtful tipping. Counselors are the surrogate parents for your kids all summer long, and undertipping as a statement isn't just cheap, it's genuinely insulting. Jon pushes back on the scale of it, noting that some sleepaway camps hand parents a list of 50 different staff members to tip, turning a gesture of gratitude into an overwhelming financial obligation on top of an already expensive tuition. The conversation moves into the real debate: pooled tips versus individual tips. Should camps collect everyone's tips and distribute them evenly, or should counselors get exactly what their specific families give them? Jon floats an alternative: a flat salary with a merit-based bonus at the end of the summer, removing tipping from the equation entirely. Asher shares a genuinely painful story about a camper who spent all summer promising a $100 tip from his famous musician father, only for it to never materialize. This one is homework for the listeners. What is the right camp tipping policy? Pooled? Individual? Salary plus bonus? The guys want your take. 📩 Email your answer to carpoolguyspod@gmail.com or join the WhatsApp group! There are prizes!!! 🎙️ Rate and review The Carpool Guys on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! 📱 @carpoolguyspod 🔗 linktr.ee/carpoolguyspod Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  6. Aug 5

    Tech Trouble, Dave Goes Viral, School Nurses Are Too Powerful, And WiFiless Fun!

    Send us Fan Mail Tech Trouble Can't Stop Us Twelve tries. That is not an exaggeration. This episode nearly did not happen at all, with mic failures, internet outages, and enough technical chaos to make the guys question whether the pod was cursed. But true to form, nothing stops The Carpool Guys, not even the internet itself apparently breaking on them mid-record. Jon opens with a wild vacation story: his first trip away with his wife in 18 years of marriage, interrupted by a 2am call that a tree had fallen through their roof mid-storm, flooding the house while they were away. Thankfully his in-laws and a roofing company with an unbeatable name saved the day. He also recounts a cliff jump into a pool that Dave and Asher are determined to make sound far less heroic than Jon remembers it. Then Dave tells one of the wildest stories this show has ever aired: a golf outing where a friend sliced a ball so badly it hit a groundskeeper in the head, followed days later by Dave going viral after calling into WFAN and discovering the trivia question being discussed on air was about him, from a contest 19 years ago. The math on that coincidence alone is worth the listen. Asher brings a genuinely relatable rant about school and camp nurses over-diagnosing kids to get them out of the office, sparking a real debate about where the line is between caution and convenience. Plus a full and extremely honest conversation about backwash, kids' germs, drinking from their water bottles, and where everyone draws their personal hygiene line. Also in this episode: a Hatzalah call mistaken for a celebrity motorcade, palate expander pill struggles, suppository home remedies from a father in law who was a pharmacist, an unfortunate Shabbos bathroom emergency involving a clogged toilet and a lucky pocket full of tissues, and the debate over whether Dave should have shouted out the podcast during his viral radio moment. Happy Birthday to Jon's wife Nechama. And Happy early National Middle Child Day to Asher, who considers it the most important day of the year. Question of the Week from Dave: It's 8pm, you have no internet, what are you doing? 🎙️ Rate and review The Carpool Guys on Apple Podcasts. Five stars please! though on this particular episode maybe three will do. 📩 carpoolguyspod@gmail.com 📱 @carpoolguyspod 🔗 linktr.ee/carpoolguyspod 0:57 — Twelve Takes In: The Craziest Tech Difficulties Ever 1:32 — Round the Horn: Jon's Vacation and the Tree on the House 9:28 — Dave Went Viral On WFAN Last Week! 11:42 — The WhatsApp Poll: Would You Laugh? 19:52 — Asher's Turn: The School Nurse Rant 23:12 — Jon's Story: The Nurse Who Questioned His Parenting Authority 28:23 — The Water Bottle Debate: Would You Drink From Your Kid's Bottle? 32:05 — Dave's Suggestion Goes Too Far Too Fast 35:50 — The Shabbos Tissue Emergency: A Clogged Toilet and a Snake Situation 39:12 — Question of the Week: No Internet at 8pm, What Do You Do? 41:12 — Happy Birthday Shoutout to Jon's Wife Nechama 41:50 — National Middle Child Day: Asher's Favorite Day of the Year 44:14 — Closing: Like, Subscribe, Join the WhatsApp Group Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  7. Jul 27

    Shabbos Meal Ground Rules: Our Most Controversial Topic Ever! Whose Side Are You On?

    Send us Fan Mail Shabbos Ground Rules: Whose Side Are You On? The whole team is back together, and Dave was not going to let his absence go unnoticed. He missed the guys so much he had major FOMO from his own podcast, and he is here to make sure everyone knows it. The guys kick off with a proper What Are We Thinking About segment, catching up on WhatsApp group energy, a wave of positive feedback from the Imposter Syndrome episode, and a very unfortunate JetBlue saga that left Jon's 15 year old daughter stranded in LA after a canceled flight. Shout out to NCSY Give West staff for stepping up when JetBlue fumbled completely. Asher recaps a beautiful Shabbos and a truly heroic attempt at watching the World Cup finals, which he did not enjoy even a little bit and has some thoughts about. Then the guys get into the real topic of the night, and arguably the most important unspoken debate in Jewish community life: Shabbos meal etiquette and ground rules. What is the appropriate end time for a Shabbos meal? Is there a statute of limitations on re-inviting someone who has said no twice? Is it acceptable to drop a potluck commitment for a better offer later in the week? Can you ask to bench early because you want to take a nap? The guys poll their WhatsApp group, argue passionately, call in a wife for a live ruling, and somehow still do not fully agree by the end. Also in this episode: the group chat name "Tannen GONE," sponsored voice notes as a business idea, indoor soccer nostalgia, a hockey stick fight in yeshiva that ended in an awkward equipment return, the potluck versus real invitation hierarchy, and a legitimately deep question from a camper about celebrity status that Asher refuses to answer. Question of the Week: What level of celebrity do you think we are? 🎙️ Rate and review The Carpool Guys on Apple Podcasts. Five stars please! 📩 carpoolguyspod@gmail.com 📱 @carpoolguyspod 🔗 linktr.ee/carpoolguyspod ⏱️ Chapters with Timestamps 1:05 — Dave's FOMO Over Missing an Episode 2:40 — The Voice Note Debate Continues — Dave Says He's Getting 20x More Now 3:35 — Shout Out to the WhatsApp Group and First Raffle Winner Naftali Pfeiffer 6:01 — Great Feedback on the Imposter Syndrome Episode 8:03 — Dave's Month at Camp Kaylie Training the Intern Program 11:28 — Jon's JetBlue Nightmare: Daughter Stranded in LA 14:46 — Asher's Honest World Cup Review: The Most Boring Sport in the World 21:50 — Main Topic: Shabbos Meal Ground Rules and Etiquette 26:12 — The Poll Results: What's the Acceptable End Time? 28:03 — Jon's Real Question: How Long Do You Wait to Re-Invite Someone Who Said No Twice? 31:17 — Dave's Confession: The Fear of Being Invited Back by People You Don't Want to See 32:42 — Asher's Devious Idea: Inviting Someone the Week of Their Simcha 35:19 — The Potluck Downgrade Rule: Can You Drop a Potluck for a Better Offer? 35:36 — Calling in the Wives for a Live Ruling 38:00 — The Yeshiva Hockey Fight Story and the Awkward Stick Return 40:47 — The Couch Sleeping Debate 42:51 — Can You Ask to Bench Early Because You Want a Nap? 44:10 — Question of the Week Setup: The Camper's Celebrity Question Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

  8. Jul 13

    The Drive By: Dave feels left out... and jumps into the voice note saga

    Send us Fan Mail Dave is back, and he has some thoughts on our last episode, WhatsApp Voice Notes, and more! It’s your 2 Minute Drive By! Please rate and review The Carpool Guys! You can email us at carpoolguyspod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @carpoolguyspod Send us a question, a comment, birthday wish, shoutout, or anything else fun and positive, and maybe we'll feature your addition on the next episode of The Carpool Guys Podcast!

See All (31)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
20 Ratings

About

The Carpool Guys Podcast is where three real Jewish dads- Asher Dworetsky, Jon Ackerman, and Dave "From Flatbush" Tannenbaum, buckle up for unfiltered conversations about fatherhood, marriage, midlife, and the beautiful chaos of raising a family in the Jewish community today. These guys have made mistakes, learned lessons the hard way, and have just enough life experience to give out their not so expert advice. From career crossroads to screen time battles, from Shabbos table debates to parenting fails, from Israel and what it means to us as Jews to the everyday moments that make you laugh, cry, and question every decision you've ever made... The Carpool Guys go there. Whether you're married or single, a parent or a kid who still needs one, navigating life or just trying to figure it all out... this is your podcast. Humor, heart, and meaning, every other week. No filter. No script. Just real talk from three guys who are very much still figuring it out too. Buckle up. New episodes every other week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Information

  • Creator
    Jon Ackerman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Carpool Guys
  • Show Website
    The Carpool Guys

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