Why do so many teenagers push away the people who care about them most?

Rabbi Yossi Bensoussan joins Behind the Bima for one of the most emotionally honest and practically grounded parenting conversations the podcast has had in years. Drawing from decades of crisis intervention, addiction counseling, and working with struggling teens and families, Rabbi Bensoussan argues that many children aren’t rebelling because they want to destroy relationships… but for a deeper reason.

The conversation explores shame, vulnerability, emotional safety, addiction, expectations, masculinity, therapy culture, and the hidden fear driving so much teenage behavior: the fear of disappointing the people they love most.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

Rebecca Lieberman goes Behind the Bima for a deeply personal conversation about the life and legacy of her father, Senator Joe Lieberman.

The episode moves from the chaos of the 2000 presidential campaign to the quieter moments that defined him most: Shabbat dinners untouched by politics, long walks with family, deep listening, bipartisan friendships, and an unusual ability to remain grounded inside public life. Rebecca reflects on what it was like growing up inside one of America’s most recognizable political families while watching her father navigate politics with moral clarity, religious conviction, and genuine humility.

The conversation also explores the state of American culture today: rising antisemitism, social media polarization, performative politics, and whether the kind of leadership Joe Lieberman represented can still survive in modern America.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

Rabbi Josh Broide returns to Behind the Bima!

After decades helping build Jewish life in Boca, Rabbi Broide reflects on what it’s actually been like starting over in Modi’in during one of the most volatile periods in Israel’s recent history. The conversation moves from missile sirens and wartime uncertainty to the quieter parts of Israeli life that rarely make headlines: crowded kiddushes, spontaneous Torah learning, one-seder Pesach, and the feeling of waking up every morning in a Jewish state.

The Rabbis also tackle one of the most emotionally charged conversations in the Jewish world right now: how should aliyah actually be discussed? Does fear motivate people — or push them away? Funny, personal, and thoughtful, this episode explores the emotional reality of building a life in Israel while remaining deeply connected to the Jewish world in America.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

On this episode of Behind the Bima, the Rabbis sit down with Shlomo Levinger, a professional mentalist whose work blends performance, psychology, and precision.

What looks impossible on stage isn’t about supernatural ability. It’s about structure, timing, and understanding how people think. Shlomo pulls back the curtain on what mentalism actually is, and why the experience matters more than the method behind it.

At the same time, he shares what it takes to build this into a real career—from early gigs to larger stages—and the decisions that come with it. That includes the opportunities he’s walked away from, and how being an observant Jew shapes the way he approaches his work, his image, and his boundaries.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

In this episode, we discuss:

On this episode of Behind the Bima, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is joined by Rav Nissan Kaplan for a conversation that goes to the heart of chinuch today: what it means to be a Rebbi, and what talmidim are actually looking for.

As expectations shift and access to information becomes limitless, Rav Kaplan offers a grounded perspective on what hasn’t changed… and what has. The conversation explores the role of connection in Torah transmission, what defines real success in yeshiva, and how a Rebbi shapes not just how a student learns, but who he becomes.

Rav Kaplan also speaks candidly about personal loss and the way emunah is lived, not theorized, through tefillah, honesty, and continuing forward without simplifying the complexity of pain.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

This conversation explores:

On this episode of Behind the Bima, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg and Rabbi Philip Moskowitz sit down with Ami Kozak, whose impressions and satire have become a sharp lens on how people speak… and what they actually mean.

What makes those impressions resonate isn’t just the humor. It’s recognition. The way people talk about Israel, about Jews, and about each other often carries assumptions, framing, and subtext that go unnoticed until they’re reflected back.

This conversation explores how satire exposes those patterns, why certain narratives gain traction, and what it means to have a public voice in a moment where attention, influence, and credibility are often misaligned.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

On this episode of Behind the Bima, the Rabbis sit down with Rav Gav, a beloved and dynamic educator from Aish who has spent decades teaching in seminaries across Israel and engaging students around the world. Known for his humor, energy, and unfiltered honesty, Rav Gav brings a perspective that is both deeply grounded and refreshingly real.

Together, we explore what today’s students are actually struggling with, how educators and parents often misunderstand them, and why the key to growth isn’t control—it’s connection. From navigating crisis in Israel to answering life’s biggest questions about faith, identity, and purpose, Rav Gav shares what he’s learned from years on the front lines of Jewish education.

With stories, sharp insights, and plenty of laughter, this conversation challenges assumptions and reframes what it really means to teach, parent, and inspire in today’s world.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

Topics Discussed:

If Israel is so central to Jewish life… what does that mean for the millions of Jews in the diaspora?

In this episode of Behind the Bima, the Rabbis speak with Yael Leibowitz about the growing tension between Israel and the diaspora, and the deeper question of what holds the Jewish people together. Drawing from her own journey from the United States to Israel, Yael reflects on how lived experience reshapes identity, perspective, and even the way we read Tanakh.

Through the lens of Ezra-Nehemiah, the conversation explores a moment in Jewish history when not everyone returned, and what that meant for leadership, community, and continuity. Rather than offering simple answers, the episode examines how Jewish life has always required holding competing realities at once, and what happens when that balance begins to strain.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

This conversation explores:

In this episode of Behind the Bima, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg sits down with former hostage Eli Sharabi for a deeply moving conversation about October 7th, captivity in Gaza, survival, loss, and the long road back.

Sharabi speaks with remarkable clarity about what it meant to endure the unimaginable, what helped him survive, and how he has chosen to live after returning to a world forever changed. He reflects on fear, faith, grief, and the inner strength that remained even when everything else was stripped away.

As Pesach approaches, this conversation carries an added weight. Not because it is a retelling of ancient slavery and freedom, but because it forces us to confront those ideas in real time, through one man’s testimony of darkness, endurance, and the meaning of being free.

The conversation also explores:

• Eli Sharabi’s firsthand account of October 7th and being taken hostage

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

A powerful conversation about captivity, resilience, and what remains when everything else is taken.

How does a Chassidic Jew end up shaping global economic policy... and speaking fluent Chinese along the way?

In this episode of Behind the Bima, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg sits down with Mitchell Silk, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, for a conversation about global finance, China, and the unlikely path that brought him from Torah life into the highest levels of government.

Fluent in Chinese and deeply immersed in Asia’s financial world, Silk spent decades working at the intersection of international law, finance, and geopolitics. Yet throughout his career, from years living in Hong Kong to serving in Washington, he remained deeply committed to his identity and values as a Chassidic Jew.

The conversation offers a rare inside look at how global economic policy is shaped, the importance of understanding China’s role in the world economy, and what it means to bring faith and identity into rooms where decisions affecting the global financial system are made.

The conversation also explores:

• How Mitchell Silk first became fascinated with China

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestein & Darryl Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton & Malvina Charlestein, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.

A fascinating look at the intersection of faith, leadership, and global influence.