Listener Questions

01/24/23 • 106 min

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, you, our listeners, feature as our guests as we listen to your responses to our series on Romance & Commitment and the Origins of Judaism.
It is our double-absolute privilege to hear how 18Forty’s explorations of the big, juicy Jewish ideas have interacted with your own lives. In this episode we discuss:

What are the audience’s reflections on dating, loneliness, and belonging?
What are some potential future 18Forty topics?
How does David remember all the things he reads?
And of course, what pronunciation corrections do listeners have for David?

Tune in as we check in on the 18Forty audience and hear the thoughts that have been most pressing on your minds. Please do leave us your own voicemail with feedback or questions that we may plan on a future episode, at 917-720-5629.
Voicemails begin at 4:40.
References:
18Forty Podcast: “How Different Jewish Communities Date”
18Forty Podcast: “Channah Cohen: The Crisis of Experience”
18Forty Podcast: “Lawrence Schiffman: The World of Early Judaism”
18Forty Podcast: “Tova Ganzel: The Judaism of the Prophets & the People”
The Shame Borne in Silence: Spouse Abuse in the Jewish Community by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski
Pri Tzadik by Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin
18Forty Podcast: “Ari Koretzky: In Conversation with Dovid Bashevkin”
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.

What are the audience’s reflections on dating, loneliness, and belonging?
What are some potential future 18Forty topics?
How does David remember all the things he reads?
And of course, what pronunciation corrections do listeners have for David?

Previous Episode

Malka Simkovich: The Secrets of Second Temple Judaism

In this edition of the 18Forty Podcast, we are privileged with the return of Dr. Malka Simkovich—Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago—who helps us explore Second Temple Judaism and how it relates to Jewish life today.
By diving deep into the Jewish past, Malka enables us to understand the narratives and commitments that have allowed the Jewish people to persist through the most existential challenges. In this episode we discuss:

What was the relationship between the ancient Jews and the surrounding dominant cultures?
How did the Jewish world respond to the destruction of the Second Temple?
What are the differences between Jewish and Christian notions of truth?

Tune in to hear a conversation about the central practices and distinctions that have marked and preserved the Jewish people across the millenia.
Interview begins at 25:53.
Dr. Malka Simkovich is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She earned a doctoral degree in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism from Brandeis University and a Masters degree in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016), and Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018).
References:
Malka Simkovich on 18Forty: The Mystery of the Jewish People
Tzidkat HaTzadik by Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin
“God’s First Love: The Theology of Michael Wyschogrod” by Meir Y. Soloveichik
Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture edited by Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.

Next Episode

Yisroel Kaminetsky: The Goal of Jewish Education [Jewish Education 1/4]

In this edition of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to David’s rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, longtime principal of DRS Yeshiva High School, about the state of Jewish education in America.
We find ourselves in a transformative time in the realm of Jewish education. Jewish literacy is at an all-time high, and yet we are still faced with existential angst. In this episode, Yisroel Kaminetsky tells us what goes into creating a yeshiva experience that delivers the most benefit to the most students — and how we can avoid instances of people falling through the cracks.

How can we build a Jewish-education system that provides a “path home” for every Jew?
How can parents supplement the education their children get at school?
How should we define success, and in what ways can a yeshiva, God forbid, fail a student?

Tune in to hear a conversation about laying the groundwork for a strong Jewish future.
Interview begins at 25:58.
References:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Lithuanian Yeshivas of the Nineteenth Century by Shaul Stampfer
Families, Rabbis and Education by Shaul Stampfer
Memorable Encounters by Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky
“I Want Arvei Psachim with Rabeinu Dovid Rishus Cold Rishus Seltzer CHECK OUT OF LIFE” on YouTube
Mesilat Yesharim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.