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13 MAG 2025 · In anticipation of our upcoming series, we want to share with you our episode with Shulem Deen, originally released in June 2020.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David discusses with special guest and former member of the Ultra-Orthodox community, Shulem Deen, the struggle and importance of balancing one’s individual needs with those of the community.
Though many of us are aware of the extreme disconnect that exists between the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and the secular world, the result of this unfortunate dynamic offers powerful insight. In particular, the intense and likely under-discussed experience of ex-Ultra-Orthodox community members (a group referred to by many as ‘Off The Derech’ or OTD) raises important questions about the reality of this intercommunity conflict and life as a modern Jew. In what ways do the religious and secular worlds misunderstand each other? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Ultra-Orthodox and secular worlds in facilitating a positive life for their members? How can we as individuals combat the inescapable myopia of living within a social bubble? Tune in to join David and Shulem in seeking answers to these important questions.
6 MAG 2025 · Receive our FREE newsletters at http://18forty.org/join.
Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by Yeshivat Shalshelet, which gives children with language-based learning differences the confidence and skills to thrive academically, emotionally, and spiritually. Donate to its matching campaign at http://theshalsheletdifference.org.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Bayla Gopin—a student with dyslexia— and her mother, Chana, who brought Bayla to Yeshivat Shalshelet when her previous school was ignoring her needs.
We also sit down with Shulamit Roth, Shalshelet’s founder, to talk about how we can expand the circle of who Yiddishkeit is for. In this episode we discuss:
- Does our emphasis on text-based learning leave some students out?
- How do we handle the perceived social stigma of needing to deviate from our “Plan A”?
- How does a child deal with switching schools when school is such a huge part of their world?
Tune in to hear a conversation about how we can nurture every student the way he or she was created.
Interview begins at 11:40.
Shulamit Roth is a language and speech pathologist who has dedicated her career to helping students with language based learning disabilities. Her passion for teaching Jewish students with language-based learning disabilities led her to founding Yeshivat Shalshelet, where she helps students access the beauty of Torah and achieve their academic and personal potential.
References:
http://amazon.com/Born-Losers-History-Failure-America/dp/067402107X by Scott A. Sandage
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkmUhUw30Yg” by Chanan Ben Ari
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Sitters-Club-SET-Books-1-12/dp/0054563402 by Ann M. Martin
https://www.sefaria.org/Proverbs.22.6?ven=english%7CThe_Koren_Jerusalem_Bible&lang=bi&with=Translations&lang2=en
https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Dyslexia-Complete-Science-Based-Problems/dp/0679781595 by Sally Shaywitz M.D.
18Forty Podcast: “https://18forty.org/podcast/ilana-and-yehuda-turetsky-why-would-an-american-rabbi-move-to-israel/”
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29 APR 2025 · Receive our FREE newsletters at http://18forty.org/join.
Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by https://ketubah.com/orthodox-ketubahs/?utm_source=Influencer&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=18-forty-podcast. Find the perfect ketubah for your wedding at Ketubah.com—beautiful designs, halachic accuracy, and personalized guidance every step of the way.
This episode is also sponsored by our friends at http://sofer.ai.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Talia Khan—a Jewish MIT graduate student and Israel activist—and her father, an Afghan Muslim immigrant, about their close father-daughter relationship despite their ideological disagreements.
When Talia gained national attention in 2023 testifying before Congress and expressing her anger with the hostility toward Jews on MIT’s campus, many wondered what her Muslim father thought of her activism. In this episode we discuss:
- What was Talia’s father’s reaction to her public advocacy on behalf of Jews and Israel?
- How do Talia and her father stay close despite their fundamental ideological differences?
- Why are Jewish-Muslim relations so strained?
Tune in to hear a conversation about how humanity’s story of redemption takes form in a father-daughter relationship.
Interview begins at 11:09.
Talia Khan is an MIT graduate student in mechanical engineering, the president of the MIT Israel Alliance, a Fulbright Brazil alumna, and the daughter of a Jewish mother and an Afghan Muslim immigrant father.
References:
18Forty Podcast: “https://18forty.org/podcast/whats-next-higher-education-for-jews-david-wolpe-talia-khan-and-steven-pinker/”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14454876/
http://sefaria.org/Genesis.15.15?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.15.15.3&lang2=bi&w2=all&lang3=en, https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.15.15?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.15.15.2&lang2=bi&p3=Bereshit_Rabbah.30.4&lang3=bi
https://www.sefaria.org/Meshekh_Chokhmah?tab=contents by Meir Simha HaKohen Dvinsk
https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.17.18?ven=english%7CTanakh:_The_Holy_Scriptures,_published_by_JPS&lang=bi&with=Translations&lang2=en
For more 18Forty:
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22 APR 2025 · Receive our FREE newsletters at http://18forty.org/join.
Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by an anonymous friend who supports our mission.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to bestselling author Susan Cain about her bittersweet relationship with her mother, an Orthodox Jew and daughter of a prominent rabbi.
Susan’s book Bittersweet explores their journey together and grapples with what it means when our lives and relationships don’t exactly meet our expectations. In this episode we discuss:
- How do our relationships with our parents change in adulthood?
- Why are sad songs often some of our favorites?
- How can we make meaning of the yearning we experience?
Tune in to hear a conversation about “longing for the source” and “uniting with the beloved of the soul.”
Interview begins at 11:01.
Susan Cain is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of https://www.amazon.com/Bittersweet-Sorrow-Longing-Make-Whole/dp/0451499786 and https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153. She is also a speaker, influencer, and the creator of the newsletter community http://thequietlife.net.
References:
https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153 by Susan Cain
https://www.amazon.com/Bittersweet-Sorrow-Longing-Make-Whole/dp/0451499786 by Susan Cain
“https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/18/nyregion/rabbi-israel-schorr-94-led-brooklyn-synagogue.html”
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998
https://www.sefaria.org/Beit_Yaakov_on_Torah?tab=contents
“https://youtu.be/1jzl0NlTmzY?si=7SL2qgthpe6OnSYQ” by Leonard Cohen
https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Rabbi-Searching-Naomi-Levy/dp/1250057264 by Naomi Levy
“https://zerufim.siach.org.il/en/zionism_and_exile/” by Ari Ze’ev Schwartz and Levi Morrow
https://www.sefaria.org/Divrei_Soferim.16?lang=bi by Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin
https://www.amazon.com/Sinagogue-Failure-Thought-Perspectives-Post-Rabbinic/dp/1618117971 by David Bashevkin
https://www.sefaria.org/Avodat_Yisrael?tab=contents by Israel Hopstein of Kozhnitz
“https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/outputs/bookChapter/The-Transformation-of-Next-Year-in/9924379172101921” by Jonathan D. Sarna
For more 18Forty:
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8 APR 2025 · Receive our FREE newsletters at http://18forty.org/join.
Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by an anonymous friend who supports our mission.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Judah, Naomi, and Aharon Akiva Dardik—an olim family whose son went to military jail for refusing to follow to IDF orders and has since become a ceasefire activist at Columbia University—about sticking together as a family despite their fundamental differences.
On Aharon’s 14th birthday, the Dardiks moved from America to the Neve Daniel in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria. Since then, their relationships to Israel have diverged but they have refused to be divided. In this episode we discuss:
- Why did Aharon initially choose to stay anonymous to protect his parents from public pushback?
- How can we identify positive qualities in people we viscerally disagree with?
- Do differences over Israel and Zionism need to tear families apart?
Tune in to hear a conversation about how the Jewish People can learn to think less institutionally and more familially.
Interview begins at 19:08.
Rabbi Judah Dardik is an Assistant Dean and full-time Ramm at Yeshivat Orayta in the Old City of Jerusalem, where he teaches and oversees student welfare. He is also the Dean of the Orayta Center for Jewish Leadership and Engagement. Before making Aliyah, he completed 13 years as the spiritual and community leader of Beth Jacob Congregation, in Oakland, California.
Naomi Dardik, with her husband, Judah, served the Beth Jacob community in Oakland for thirteen years. Now, she leads the team of Relationship Experts at "OurRitual," a young company based in Tel Aviv that is building new ways to help couples access relationship support. She earned her BA in psychology from Barnard College and her MSW from UC Berkeley.
Aharon Akiva Dardik is a philosophy and political science double major at Columbia University. His activism in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza https://18forty.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e5fe6ac24e4238308a750e693&id=6c628c7354&e=00fd599c3b in The New York Times. He formerly lived in Neve Daniel with his family.
References:
“https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/1109925/” by David Bashevkin
https://seforimcenter.com/Beit-Yishai---Derashot-Rabbi-Shlomo-Fisher__p-15747.aspx by Rabbi Shlomo Fisher
“https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/us/gaza-war-campuses-middle-ground.html”
https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Life-Changing-Relationships/dp/189200528X by Marshall B. Rosenberg
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Jewish-After-Destruction-Gaza/dp/0593803892 by Peter Beinart
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Showing-Up-Parental-Presence/dp/1524797715 by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
https://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Not/dp/0544574788 by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
“https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/family-ties-tractate-yevamot” by David Bashevkin
“https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/holidays/articles/spending-the-seder-alone” by David Bashevkin
https://www.amazon.com/Baderech-Teshuvah-Rabbi-Judah-Mischel/dp/1952370523 by Rabbi Judah Mischel
“https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/passing-the-legacy-pesach-letter-to-my-child,16895” by Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky
For more 18Forty:
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1 APR 2025 · Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by an anonymous friend who supports our mission.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Yehuda, Bayla, Elisha, and Avi Samter—members of a family that made aliyah from the comfortable Five Towns life a decade ago—about the divergence between Jewish life in America and in Israel.
Whether one serves in the IDF has become a major realm of bifurcation within the Jewish People, and it’s a gap that we often fail to bridge even within our own social circles. In this episode we discuss:
- How does making aliyah and entering the army change prior friendships?
- Why should every Jew imagine the possibility of living an elevated life defending the Jewish People in the Land of Israel?
- What differentiates Five Towns Judaism from spirituality in the Land of Israel?
Tune in to hear a conversation about unifying “both sides” of the Jewish People.
Interview begins at 8:02.
The Samter family made Aliyah from America and now have two sons serving in the Israel Defense Forces, fighting in the wars over the last 16 months in Gaza and Lebanon.
References:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796301/
For more 18Forty:
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http://18forty.org/joinCALL: (212) 582-1840
EMAIL: info@18forty.org
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25 MAR 2025 · Our Intergenerational Divergence series is sponsored by our friends Sarala and Danny Turkel.
This episode is sponsored by an anonymous friend who supports our mission.
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Simon Jacobson—a leading rabbi in the internet age who previously worked closely with the Lubavitcher Rebbe—and his mother, Silvia, who was born into a Chabad family in Europe nearly 90 years ago.
Together, they have witnessed and experienced the development of the Chabad movement and the Jewish People over several historic eras. In this episode we discuss:
- How has Chabad managed to maintain continuity over wildly different generations and historical contexts?
- What can the mystical notions of tzimtzum, concealment, and revelation teach us about parenting?
- How has the way we talk about “trauma” evolved over generations?
Tune in to hear a conversation about how we can transmit tradition to our children with confidence and rootedness in order to find a dwelling place for God in every generation.
Interview begins at 11:15.
Rabbi Simon Jacobson heads The Meaningful Life Center, called a “https://18forty.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e5fe6ac24e4238308a750e693&id=572062837f&e=00fd599c3b” by The New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual through a wide variety of live and online programming. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life, a William Morrow publication that has sold over 400,000 copies to date. Rabbi Jacobson is a speaker, educator, and mentor.
Sylvia, Simon's mother, is the matriarch of the Jacobson family.
References:
https://www.amazon.com/Kabbalah-Rupture-Modernity-Existential-Mysticism/dp/1503642070 by Eli Rubin
https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaningful-Life-New-Schneerson/dp/0060732784 by Simon Jacobson
“https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/music_cdo/aid/140800/jewish/Tzomo-Lecho-Nafshi.htm”
https://www.amazon.com/Count-Monte-Cristo-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140449264 by Alexandre Dumas
https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Classics-William-Makepeace-Thackeray/dp/0141439831 by by William Makepeace Thackeray
https://www.algemeiner.com/
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWjLis7eBnI”
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Flesh-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486434664 by Samuel Butler
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18 MAR 2025 · In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Eitan Hersh, a professor of political science at Tufts University, about teaching students of radically different political and religious views how to speak to one another.
College campuses have been a hotbed of contentious conversations, especially on issues around Israel, and Prof. Hersh is someone who’s been teaching his students to turn their disputes productive. In this episode we discuss:
- What happens when Hersh brings up Jewish topics in his college classes?
- How are students discussing the issue of removing international students who support terrorist organizations?
- How would Hersh teach Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews to understand one another?
Tune in to hear a conversation about what happens when personal subjects become the content of a college course.
Interview begins at 7:25.
Eitan Hersh is a professor of political science at Tufts University. His research focuses on US elections and civic participation. Hersh is the author of Politics is for Power (Scribner, 2020), Hacking the Electorate (Cambridge UP 2015), as well as scholarly articles. He earned his PhD from Harvard in 2011 and served as assistant professor of political science at Yale University from 2011-2017. His public writings have appeared in venues such as The New York Times, USA Today, The Atlantic, POLITICO, and The Boston Globe.
References:
“https://www.wsj.com/opinion/where-the-left-studies-the-right-tufts-professor-who-teaches-class-on-20th-century-conservativism-b9cc0056” by Barton Swaim
“https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2024/03/19/eitan-hersh-tufts/” by Rachel Slade
https://www.amazon.com/Benedict-Option-Strategy-Christians-Post-Christian/dp/0735213291 by Rod Dreher
http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/
18Forty Podcast: “https://18forty.org/podcast/elie-schulman-does-therapy-work-a-patients-journey/”
https://www.amazon.com/End-Race-Politics-Arguments-Colorblind/dp/0593332458 by Coleman Hughes
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Parent-Privilege-Americans-Stopped-Getting/dp/0226817784 by Melissa S. Kearney
https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Electorate-Campaigns-Perceive-Voters/dp/1107501164 by Eitan D. Hersh
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11 MAR 2025 · Subscribe to our email list https://18forty.org/join/.
In this Purim episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin talks about what Saturday Night Live has taught him about life, creativity, and running an organization.
Prompted by the show’s 50th anniversary, we’re reflecting on lessons from five decades of laughter. In this episode we discuss:
- How did Lorne Michaels’s unique vision and insights help him “invent” SNL?
- What are the top five lessons about Jewish life that David has learned from the life of the SNL creator, born as Lorne David Lipowitz?
- What are David’s three favorite Jewish sketches from SNL?
Tune in to hear a serious analysis of a comedic show.
David Bashevkin is the founder of 18Forty. He is also the director of education for NCSY, the youth movement of the Orthodox Union, and the Clinical Assistant Professor of Jewish Values at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University. He completed rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, as well as a master’s degree at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies focusing on the thought of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin under the guidance of Dr. Yaakov Elman. He completed his doctorate in Public Policy and Management at The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, focusing on crisis management. He has published four books, Sin·a·gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought, a Hebrew work B’Rogez Rachem Tizkor (trans. In Anger, Remember Mercy), Top 5: Lists of Jewish Character and Character, and Just One: The NCSY Haggadah. David has been rejected from several prestigious fellowships and awards.
References:
https://www.amazon.com/Lorne-Invented-Saturday-Night-Live/dp/0812988876 by Susan Morrison
https://www.amazon.com/Live-New-York-Complete-Uncensored/dp/031629506X by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller
https://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898 by Tina Fey
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7544820/
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: “https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5884598/”
https://www.sefaria.org/Tikkunei_Zohar.57b.10?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru6CDUez3CE”
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5Z-HpHH9g”
4 MAR 2025 · In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Ken Brodkin, rabbi of New Jersey’s Congregation B’nai Israel, about how he helped turn it into “the Orthodox synagogue for all Jews.”
We also speak with Eli Kramer—a congregant instrumental in helping the shul affiliate as fully Orthodox—and Emily Appledorf, one of the newer members the shul set out to attract. In this episode we discuss:
- How can one persuade a century-old congregation with mixed seating to add a mechitza?
- Why would a young couple finding their way religiously join a newly Orthodox synagogue?
- What draws an Orthodox rabbi to a career serving the whole spectrum of Jews?
Tune in to hear a conversation about the art of building a Jewish community.
Interview with Eli Kramer: 14:23
Interview with Emily Appledorf: 41:46
Interview with Ken Brodkin: 1:05:37
Rabbi Ken Brodkin is the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Manalapan, New Jersey. Rabbi Brodkin has dedicated his rabbinate to welcoming Jews of all backgrounds to the community and helping them along their Jewish journey. Rabbi Brodkin was hired by the Shul to help lead CBI’s transition to full Orthodox affiliation.
Subscribe to our email list https://18forty.org/join/.
References:
18Forty Podcast: “https://18forty.org/podcast/lizzy-savetsky-becoming-a-jewish-influencer-and-israel-advocate/”
https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Berurah?tab=contents by Israel Meir Kagan
“https://mishpacha.com/the-grandfather-i-thought-i-knew/” by Mrs. Elana Moskowitz
The Tikvah Podcast: “https://sites.libsyn.com/58385/david-bashevkin-on-orthodox-jews-and-the-american-religious-revival”
https://www.sefaria.org/Tanya%2C_Part_I%3B_Likkutei_Amarim%2C_Title_Page.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en by Shneur Zalman of Liadi
https://www.sefaria.org/Eruvin.53b?lang=bi
https://www.sefaria.org/Shemot_Rabbah.2.1?ven=english%7CThe_Sefaria_Midrash_Rabbah,_2022&lang=bi
https://www.amazon.com/Artscroll-Aryeh-Kaplan-Anthology-Rabbi/dp/0899068669
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Out-Shul-Unorthodox-Orthodox/dp/0899065171 by Emanuel Feldman
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Our-Heritage-Eliyahu-Kitov/dp/0873067630 by Eliyahu Kitov
https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Kabbalah/Ramchal
https://www.sefaria.org/topics/maharal?sort=Relevance&tab=notable-sources
Supporters Club
10 AGO 2020 · In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Sara Susswein Tesler, an educator from SAR Academy in Riverdale, to talk about her experiences incorporating Biblical criticism into the Orthodox Day School environment. For more, visit https://18Forty.org/bible#tesler.
Biblical criticism has long been an elephant in the room of Orthodox institutions, even among Sara’s classmates while doing a master’s in Bible studies at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. She has always been struck by the deafening silence regarding the questions it asks, and set out to introduce the topic to her students in SAR. But she also has a persistent anxiety and fear of driving her students away from Orthodox Judaism, and thinks carefully about the effects her teaching has on her students.
-How can one go about incorporating Bible studies into their faith?
-How should one go about teaching Bible studies without risking their students’ religiosity?
-Is there any superior approach, or are there multiple valid ones?
-And how have her students responded to her curriculum?
Tune in to hear Sara discuss some of the ramifications of Biblical criticism, both educationally and for her own religious identity.
Helping you find meaning in life through the exploration of Jewish thought and ideas.
Informazioni
| Autore | 18Forty |
| Organizzazione | 18Forty |
| Categorie | Giudaismo |
| Sito | 18forty.org |
| info@18forty.org |
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