18Forty Podcast

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we mark the yahrtzeit of Rav Ezra Dovid Halevi Neuberger with remembrances from Dovid Bashevkin and David Fohrman of a teacher who valued privacy, presence, and intellectual honesty, and who taught his students to take life seriously by becoming fully themselves.

In this episode we discuss:

—What does it mean to take life seriously while treating ourselves with mercy?
—How did Rav Neuberger teach his students to read texts closely and think for themselves?
—What is the purpose of raising children, and what does it mean for a tradition to hold many voices?

Interview begins at 19:53. 

Tune in to hear a conversation about a teacher whose greatest lesson was to be present, honest, and unafraid of questions.

Rabbi Ezra Dovid Halevi Neuberger was the rosh kollel and senior maggid shiur of Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Pikesville, Maryland, where he was a leader for more than three decades. The youngest son of Rabbi Herman Neuberger, the yeshiva’s longtime president, he was appointed rosh kollel in 1994 by Rabbi Yaakov S. Weinberg and passed away on 7 Cheshvan at the age of 68. Known to decades of students as Rav Ezra, he is remembered for his humility, his depth, and his devotion to his talmidim. Rabbi David Fohrman, a former student, is the founder and lead scholar of Aleph Beta and the author of The Beast That Crouches at the Door, The Queen You Thought You Knew, and The Exodus You Almost Passed Over.

References: 

Ezras Yisrael: Shiurim of Rav Ezra Neuberger

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

Aleph Beta

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In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Elliot Kaufman, a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board and co-author of In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, about what happened inside Israel's war room after October 7 and how Israel came to lose the battle over its own story.

In this episode we discuss:

—Was October 7th part of a larger plan to destroy Israel?
—How did the anti-Israel narrative take hold in the West so quickly?
—What is the vision for the Jewish state once the security threats recede?

Interview begins at 3:40. 

Tune in to hear a conversation about the fight for Israel's survival on the battlefield and its fight for its narrative on the world stage. Elliot Kaufman is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, where he writes on Israel, Iran, and the Middle East, and previously served as the paper's letters editor. Raised in Toronto and a graduate of Stanford University, he has covered the war for the Journal since October 7th. He is the co-author, with Yonah Jeremy Bob, of In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis.

References:

In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Elliot Kaufman

Target Tehran by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar

One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict by Benny Morris

The Jews of Modernity by Milton Himmelfarb

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In this episode, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and Nachi Weinstein discuss Jewish history, reading, publishing, podcasting, and the ideas behind Bashevkin’s book I Read This Over Shabbos.

They explore how accessible writing and serious historical study can deepen Jewish knowledge while preserving intellectual depth, historical honesty, and the centrality of Shabbos.

In this episode we discuss:

—How can Jewish history can deepen our understanding of the Jewish present? 
—Why is serious reading and careful sourcing matter for Jewish intellectual life? 
—How does I Read This Over Shabbos seek to make Jewish history accessible while preserving intellectual depth?

Tune in to hear a conversation about Jewish history, serious reading, the culture of books, and how accessible scholarship can strengthen Jewish intellectual life.

Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin is a writer, educator, and podcaster whose work focuses on Torah, Jewish history, education, and contemporary Jewish life. His writings include B'rogez Racheim Tizkor, Sinagogue, an NCSY Haggadah, Top 5, and I Read This Over Shabbos.

Nachi Weinstein is the creator of Seforim Chatter, a podcast devoted to Jewish books, scholarship, and history. His work has explored subjects including Shabbetai Tzvi, Spanish Jewry, the Ten Lost Tribes, the Zohar, and Italian Jewish history.

References: 

I Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parasha by David Bashevkin

Sin•a•gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought by David Bashevkin

B'rogez Rachem Tizkor by David Bashevkin

Just One: The NCSY Haggadah by Dovid Bashevkin

Top 5: Lists of Jewish Character and Characters by Dovid Bashevkin

"The Sabbath Is a Chance to Read Again" by David Bashevkin, Wall Street Journal

"The End of Reading Is Here" by Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic

"Sabbatai Zevi Series" on Seforim Chatter

Sabbatai Ṣevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676 by Gershom Scholem

Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History by Marc B. Shapiro

Rashi by Avraham Grossman

Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate by Yosie Levine

A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe by Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach

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Today, we're sharing one of our episodes from our new program Talmud Daily, featuring our dear friend Liel Leibovitz. 

You can sign up for Talmud Daily at talmuddaily.org, and you can subscribe in your podcast app by searching Talmud Daily. 

In this episode, Liel reflects on falling in love with the Talmud precisely because it is so difficult—and on how its questions, frustrations, and intricate details can transform the way we live.

This episode was sponsored by Daniel and Jessica Courtney in memory of Dr. Stuart A. Courtney.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.

This series is sponsored by Mira and Daniel Stokar.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi YY Jacobson, one of the foremost online teachers of Torah, about how each of us can experience redemptive consciousness by feeling Hashem's infinite love and presence in this moment.

In this episode we discuss:

—Why has there been a shift in the way we approach publicly sharing Torah?
—What is the nature of the Torah approach to vulnerability?
—What are we trying to achieve with our own teshuva?

Interview begins at 5:02.

Tune in to hear a conversation about the pain of existing seemingly separately from the Divine.

Rabbi YY Jacobson is a Chabad rabbi, teacher, and scholar of Torah and Jewish mysticism. He is the founder and dean of TheYeshiva.net, where his classes reach thousands of students around the world. A sought-after speaker, Rabbi Jacobson draws on Torah, Chassidic thought, Kabbalah, and Jewish philosophy to explore contemporary questions of faith, spirituality, relationships, and Jewish life.

References:

The Dance of Teshuva by David Ebner

Likkutei Torah

Ben Porat Yosef

The Trauma of Everyday Life by Mark Epstein M.D.

To Live with an Open Heart: Tanya through the eyes of a Psychotherapist by Devorah Leah Nussbaum

Talmud Daily

Tzidkat HaTzadik

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