This is a bit of a break from the regular Modern Torah feed, but I want to share a new, limited-series podcast with you that I've just released. It's called 72 Miles til Kentucky, and it's a storytelling podcast all about Jewish life in my home state. Here's the quick blurb. You can check out the full podcast here. 72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. Abou ..read more

This week, I was reading about the final stages of the plan to remove the Confederate Veterans Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The memorial, if you’ve never seen it, is atrocious. It’s the tallest structure in the cemetery, for starters, and it’s covered with racist, apologist imagery that glorifies the Southern cause. The monument is scheduled to be removed this month, and relocated to a Virginia state park at the site of the Battle of New Market, in the Shenandoah Valley. But the pedestal will stay, to avoid disturbing the graves surrounding the monument, because four people are bur ..read more

Sometimes, when I'm feeling bored in shul I flip to the back of the book, and read Pirkei Avot. There's a particular passage, in the fifth chapter, that I often find myself turning to, especially in weeks that I'm feeling old. Like this week. Because this year, and this week's Torah portion Miketz, marks 25 years since my Bar Mitzvah on December 19, 1998. Music by Chillhop Records: Aves - Cruisin' https://chll.to/60c1dd59 Blue Wednesday - Slow Burn https://chll.to/fdcaa474 I’m not a rabbi, so every week, I look at our Torah portion and try to put it in conversation with the world around me ..read more

I went to graduate school at Brandeis University, and if I hadn't, I would've gone to law school at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, in Louisville, KY, where the first Jewish justice to sit on the Supreme Court was born, and raised. But what if I told you that story was almost wildly different. That the first Jewish nominee to sit on the bench was almost put forward almost 60 years before Brandeis was nominated, but he turned down the nomination. And thank goodness, otherwise the first Jewish justice would have resigned, to join the Confederacy. Music by Lofi Girl: "Used to love autumn ..read more

Obadiah, Ovadiah. Obadi-ah. However you pronounce it, you might not remember it, but Obadiah is the name of the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible, and the Haftorah portion the rabbis chose to pair with this week's Torah portion, Vayishlach. Music Courtesy of Chillhop Records: Leavv, Maduk - Company https://chll.to/db033300 Ian Ewing, Maduk - Stay Like This https://chll.to/2d387f49 Masked Man - Joop https://chll.to/f6126588 Poldoore, Maduk - Transformations https://chll.to/1b193db7 I’m not a rabbi, so every week, I look at our Torah portion and try to put it in conversation with the world ar ..read more

This week, I'm all about cucumbers. This humble vegetable, which the Talmud calls a delicacy of kings, became an internet craze a few years ago when Macka B released his "Cucumber Rap." Check it out in my source sheet for this episode. The Talmud has a lot to say about cucumbers, including a discussion about whether or not they're good for your body, even if they did grace the table of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. In the end, they opt for a compromise, and all of it is driven by one line in this week's Torah portion, about the pain Rebekah experiences in her womb as she carries Esau and Jacob, each t ..read more

I updated my phone this week, which made it a great time to repost this episode, from two years ago. What does it mean to actually have choice? Are the choices we see the actual choices that we have? Are we supposed to pick a path through the woods, or turn around, or just sit in the mud and cry? I have a new episode coming later this week, in time for Shabbat as normal, but wanted to revive this old episode. I hope you enjoy. I’m not a rabbi, so every week, I look at our Torah portion and try to put it in conversation with the world around me. Judaism is rich in tradition, and each of us des ..read more

There's a poem I've been reading recently, a long form epic poem originally written in Yiddish, about a Jewish blacksmith who settles down in rural Kentucky, in the mid-19th century. It's part of a project called 72 Miles, which I'm about to release, but this week I couldn't get away from a scene in the story that seems ripped from the headlines of this week's Torah portion. Go deeper with my sources for this episode on Sefaria --- Music courtesy of Chillhop Records: Yasper - It's Okay https://chll.to/75621dcb Shofel - Waiting for that Phonecall https://chll.to/938ccadc oddfish - Somber Sk ..read more

This might be a bold statement, but there are probably few things in the world that cause people to pray more than children. We pray for their health, their safety, their growth, that they’ll find their place in this chaotic world. Even if you don’t have kids, you’re probably praying for them, and if you’re trying to have kids you’re definitely praying, and praying harder the longer you keep trying. Go deeper with my sources on Sefaria --- Music Courtesy of Chillhop Records: Philanthrope - Panda https://chll.to/0cffbc42 Philanthrope, Leavv - Fade out https://chll.to/67ed24b5 Philanthrope ..read more

It took me a while, these past few weeks, overseas, In Israel, and here at home. It took a while to figure out what was going on and why I felt so strongly, feelings that seem to move, strangely, in too many directions at once. It wasn’t until President Biden’s speech in Israel, and his warnings about the mistakes our country made earlier this century, that it clicked for me. Because we’ve been here before, certainly.  But more specifically I’ve been here before. Go deeper with my sources on Sefaria --- Music Courtesy of ChillHop Records: Blue Wednesday - Window Seat https://chll.to/2 ..read more