In this edJEWcation Book Club episode, Jay brings the crew one of his all-time favorite books: Up From Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington.

Born into slavery in 1856 and emancipated at nine, Washington went on to found the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and reshape what education could mean for a freed people. Jay, ChayaLeah, and the Rabbi explore the surprising parallels between Washington's vision of education as moral training and the Yeshiva model, debate the Torah's relationship with labor and productivity, and push back hard on today's victim mentality culture.

The Rabbi even draws a line from Booker T. Washington to the Rebbe and the Maggid of Mezritch. It's a wide-ranging, warm, and surprisingly moving conversation about resilience, legacy, and what it really means to build something from nothing.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

• Open by Andre Agassi

When the British Museum quietly updated some of its ancient Near East exhibit labels from "Palestine" to "Canaan," the internet exploded. But what does the history actually say?

Israel tour guide, Jewish educator, and Substack writer Alex Stein joins Jay and ChayaLeah to break it all down, from the Bronze Age Canaanites and the Hyksos to Herodotus, to Hadrian officially naming the Roman province "Palestina" in the second century CE. Along the way we get into Jewish indigeneity, the archaeology of the Israelite conquest (spoiler: it's complicated), dual-narrative tourism, and how you'd even begin to explain any of this to a sixth grader. This is the episode for anyone who wants to actually understand the history beneath the headlines, without the yelling.

Where to find Alex:

Make sure to check out Alex’s upcoming Love of the Land Tour in October!

From Palestine to Canaan article

What happens when a wealthy man buys up all the synagogue seats and blocks the aisles? Or when a rabbi tries to convince the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a trained engineer, that an ocean liner basically "runs itself" on Shabbos?

In part 2 of their Responsa deep dive, the edJEWcation crew explores how Jewish law evolves to meet the real world, from Talmudic property rights to Shabbos doorbells in modern Brooklyn. The Rabbi, ChayaLeah, and Jay cover it all: the Cypriot chicken saga, the kosher cheeseburger question raised by lab-grown milk, getting a "hetter" (permission slip) for nail polish at the mikvah, and a last-minute Shabbos wedding in medieval Krakow that required some seriously creative legal reasoning. It's Jewish law as it's meant to be…living, breathing, and endlessly fascinating.

In this special birthday episode, ChayaLeah and Jay sit down with the man of the hour, the Rabbi, as he turns 70.

Born in Montreal on March 4th, 1956 (the 22nd of Adar on the Jewish calendar), the Rabbi reflects on a life he never could have predicted: from growing up in a non-Chabad home and boarding a bus to a New Jersey yeshiva on a whim, to serving as a Schlaich in Seattle, building a Chabad presence in Boston's Kenmore Square, and eventually putting down roots in California where, through decades of challenge, a global pandemic, and more than a few permit headaches, his community finally found a permanent home.

Grounded in the wisdom of Pirkei Avot (which calls 70 "ripe old age," a fullness and satisfaction), the Rabbi shares what it really feels like to look back on a life of purpose, sacrifice, and gratitude. Funny, honest, and genuinely moving, this episode is a masterclass in what it means to "keep breathing" until the sail comes in.

What if the holiday that looks the most like a carnival is actually hiding the most profound questions in Judaism? Professor Tanya White, Bar-Ilan University professor, host of the Books and Beyond podcast, and one of the most engaging Jewish educators alive, joins Jay and ChayaLeah to unpack the Book of Esther like you've never heard before.

We explore why God's name doesn't appear once in the Megillah (and what that means for us today), the concept of "radical seeing" and the stunning parallel between Purim and our post-October 7th world.

ChayaLeah opens up about Esther's loneliness and sacrifice, Jay brings a story about a Cold War spy finding God in his daughter's ear, and Tanya shares an "invisible string" that will genuinely move you. This is the Purim episode you didn't know you needed.

Where to find Tanya-

Torah Chat on WhatsApp

TanyaWhite.org

Books and Beyond Podcast

Tanya’s Instagram

Books & articles we discussed-

• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst: the children’s book Tanya shares the beautiful “invisible string” story from

• Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman: philosopher’s book on the problem of evil that Tanya references in discussing adversity and resilience

• Rav Soloveitchik’s concept of “fate to destiny”: consider linking to Kol Dodi Dofek or a summary essay

• God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel: Heschel’s concept of “radical amazement”

• Witness by Whitaker Chambers: his memoir is where the famous “daughter’s ear” moment comes from

Was Theodor Herzl a secular visionary or a spiritual seeker? A hero or a heretic? On the 130th anniversary of his landmark manifesto Der Judenstaat, Professor Gil Troy, presidential historian, Zionist scholar, and editor of The Zionist Ideas, sits down with Jay and ChayaLeah for a conversation that covers all of it: Herzl's complicated relationship with Judaism, why he was persona non grata in Haredi education, the emotional power of standing at his grave on Mount Herzl, and why Professor Troy’s concept of "identity Zionism" speaks directly to Jewish students navigating hostile campuses today. Along the way, the hosts bring their signature mix of head and heart, Jay digs into the intellectual history while ChayaLeah shares what it was like to discover Herzl as an adult after growing up Chabad, where his picture wasn't exactly hanging on the wall. It's a timely, moving, and surprisingly fun deep dive into the father of modern Zionism.

To learn more about Professor Troy’s work, you can find it at his website GilTroy.com

A selection of works:

• To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to my Students on Defending the Zionist Dream

• The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland: Then, Now, Tomorrow

• The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History

  
  

Do you know we have a Facebook Page now? Well we do and you can find it here- edJEWcation Facebook Page

On to the show…

In honor of Valentine's Day, the edJEWcation crew tackles the big questions:

• What does Judaism really say about love and marriage?

• How do Jewish dating traditions actually work?

• And can you have a successful partnership while maintaining independence?

The rabbi shares his own marriage story (spoiler: they got engaged after three weeks), explains why looking for perfection is a recipe for disaster, and breaks down the difference between lust, romantic love, and companionate love. CL challenges the Hollywood myth that your spouse needs to fulfill every single role in your life, while Jay keeps everyone honest about balancing independence with intimacy.

From Talmudic wisdom about choosing partners to practical advice about not developing an "office wife," this episode offers refreshing perspectives on Jewish relationships that are equal parts traditional insight and modern realism. Whether you're single, dating, or been married for decades, this conversation will make you rethink what love really means and no, it's not just butterflies and Valentine's candy.

Make sure to subscribe to our substack to keep up to date on the latest edJEWcation episodes and events

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The Tucker Carlson situation has everyone asking the same question: when a friend goes off the deep end morally, do you stay loyal or cut them loose? We dig into this through a Jewish lens, from Talmudic principles to modern media ethics, and get surprisingly personal about struggles with Chabad identity and navigating between Orthodox and liberal Jewish worlds. Also in this episode:

• Why there are 20 Christian Bible study groups on one college campus
• The Gene Wilder/Mel Brooks origin story
• Joe Rogan's hilariously wrong guess about Jewish demographics
• A brutally honest discussion about how we justify breaking our own values (yes, including the hypothetical In-N-Out burger scenario).

What do you do when Jewish law meets real life, and real life is messy, terrifying, or morally impossible?

In this episode, we dive into rabbinic responsa: the centuries-old Jewish tradition of posing urgent, practical, and often heartbreaking questions to Rabbis. From ancient debates about matzah to modern dilemmas involving technology, medicine, and identity, responsa form Judaism’s living case law.

We explore how this system developed from Moses and the Sanhedrin, through the Talmud, medieval Spain, Soviet Russia, and even Auschwitz, where a single question forced a rabbi and a father to confront the most agonizing moral choice imaginable.

Along the way, we laugh a little, debate, and uncover why Jews have always believed that how you ask a question can matter just as much as the answer.

Jewish law, moral philosophy, historical survival, and one very uncomfortable Pesach pastry, all in one episode.

To subscribe to the edjEWcation podcast, click here:Subscribe to The edJEWcation Podcast

This episode is a recording of our second edJEWcation Zoom.

Instead of a formal topic or text, we opened up the (virtual) doors and invited our listeners into a live edJEWcation Beit Midrash. What followed was an honest, unscripted conversation about being Jewish right now: how it feels, how we respond, what we’re afraid of, and why community matters more than ever.

There are no hot takes here. No definitive answers. Just Jews doing what Jews have always done — talking, questioning, disagreeing, supporting one another, and refusing to face the moment alone.

If you’ve been struggling to put words to how you’re feeling, this conversation might help you feel a little less alone.