Holy Madness Pod: Religion, Culture, Love, Israel

Holy Madness comes to you live from shutdown and shut-in Jerusalem with some cutting questions and good thoughts before Pesach in the time of coronavirus.

Living in a Bubble World

This episode starts off light and then drills into experiential aspects of the three weeks between the fast of the 17th of the month Tammuz and the fast of the 9th of the month of Av. We discuss that summertime sadness, living in a bubble, preppers (who think they'll make it when the whole system goes down), and what difference your awareness makes. We talk Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), and Tzvi brings out the difference between wisdom and Torah. Tzvi talks about how people are talking about "Off the Derekh" kids, a big assumption in the yeshiva system, and the big problem in Holy Madness - The Show. His "beautiful sad music" faces off against Meir-Simchah's "emo parody" (there's no actual music in the episode, so don't hesitate to listen to it during the nine days). We introduce Eicha (Lamentations), which we'll be reading shortly. Meir-Simchah asks what are the big breakdowns today, and we wind up talking about what gives us hope.

If you want to take a short but deep dive into Tisha B'Av, check out this recent bit of Extra Madness, a talk that Meir-Simchah gave at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, https://soundcloud.com/holymadnesstheshow/extra-madness-meir-simchah-on-tisha-bav-at-omega-institute-5777.

Please subscribe to the podcast on SoundCloud or your favorite app, share it with all the exceptional people you know who may enjoy it, and connect with us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/ or Twitter @holymadnessshow.

This episode includes call brief call-backs to previous episodes "2. Why Do Bad Ideas Happen to Good People?" https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/why-do-bad-ideas-happen-to-good-people-season-1-episode-2/), "4. Find the Light or Become It?" https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/find-the-light-or-become-it-season-1-episode-4/, and 11. Social Justice Worshipers https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/social-justice-worshipers-season-1-episode-11/.

This is a mind-blowing, impromptu talk on Tisha B'Av, the day the Temple was destroyed. It was given by Meir-Simchah at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, 2017. All the main ideas come from Meir-Simchah's rabbi (a fact noted before the recording started), who has some of his works available here http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ravmatis. Sorry about the audio quality - it was impromptu.

If you find this talk enlightening, please share it with friends, subscribe to the podcast, connect with us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/ and/or Twitter @holymadnessshow, check out additional content at holymadness.org.

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein joins us to talk about God vs. gods, his wonderful book about idolatry in the development of Torah. (Throughout the episode, we use the Hebrew term for idolatry, avodah zarah, literally, 'foreign worship' or 'alien work'. If you didn't know the term before, you will by the end of the episode.)

Is Hinduism idolatry? Is Christianity? Are ideologies idolatries? ... and why the religious and anti-religious might suggest they are and what they get wrong... (Do we need to revisit our take on Social Justice Worshipers? https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/social-justice-worshipers-season-1-episode-11/)

We discuss the sensual draw of alien worship, worshiping the poop god, and famous places of worship, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Sistine Chapel, the Western Wall, May poles, and Meron.

Tzvi asks a pointed and loaded question about Ultra-Orthodoxy. Meir-Simchah differentiates avodah from Torah, and Torah from religion. Rabbi Reuven discusses how Molech might have survived into modernity, conjectures that living with morality demonstrates freedom from idolatry, and suggests that Christianity and Islam pave the path to ultimate redemption.

Some glowing recommendations:

Buy Rabbi Reuven's book G-d Versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry - https://amzn.to/2ZZ6LWb

Buy his first book, Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew (English, Hebrew and Aramaic Edition) https://amzn.to/32142gP

And subscribe to his email series illuminating apparent synonyms' deep differences in the Torah: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/whats-in-a-word

Subscribe to Holy Madness here, get more at holymadness.org, and follow us on Twitter: @holymadnessshow, and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/.

Intro music by bensound.com, outro music written, performed, & mixed by Meir-Simchah.

What's the place of reason in religion? Among the most reasonable human beings alive, Rabbi Josh Yuter joins the Holy Madness to discuss rabbinic authority, being a community rabbi, Torah law, getting free of ideologies through the caring application of reason.

For more on his thoughts about religious politics and rabbinic recognition - a subject he's been writing about for over 15 years - including an MA thesis - read this blog essay: https://joshyuter.com/2019/06/24/judaism/religious-politics-and-rabbinic-recognition/. There's much more there too.

You can get Rabbi Josh on Twitter: @JYuter,, and get Holy Madness at holymadness.org, on Twitter: @holymadnessshow, and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/.

Intro music by bensound.com, outro music written, performed, & mixed by Meir-Simchah.

Brace yourself as we go deep with outspoken journalist Ariel Sobel, to get to know her and discuss what it means to be Jewish in today's increasingly hostile world.

From facing antisemitism as a young Jew on California campus, to being a Chinese Jew facing state-sponsored antisemitism, and from foisting American social justice categories onto Israeli life, to toxic social media and a world gone off its rails - if this conversation doesn't offend you at least once, you might not have a pulse.

Get more Ariel on Twitter: @arielsobelle, get more Holy Madness at holymadness.org, and on Twitter: @holymadnessshow and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/.

Intro music by bensound.com.

We kick off with a lighthearted discussion of how Israelis are portrayed as monsters - senselessly breaching human rights, knocking down houses, making matzah with the blood of innocent children - and then we delve into our inner Sesame Street characters and throw a few punches at Israeli Hasbara.

Shifting away from the media image of Israelis, we dive into love of our land, commitments and beliefs vs. politics and voting patterns, and the nature (and etymology) of faith (אמונה). This episode includes an interview with MORIYAH CHERQUI (https://il.linkedin.com/in/moriyah-zik-cherqui-a5828815a)! At Ein Yael! (https://www.einyael.co.il [Hebrew])

We also talk about agenda pushing and call back to our episode on religion, education, and ideology (https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/religion-education-vs-ideology-s1e13/).

(We recorded this several weeks ago, so the opening reference to the murder and the demolition are not in sync with the date we posted.)

You've heard the controversy about antisemitism and BDS in connection with the Women's March and its co-chairs Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez. In this episode, we talk with Bob Bland, Women's March Co-Chair, fashion designer, wife, mother, and old friend of Meir-Simchah. We put the hard questions on the table; we find out about what Bob believes in and cares about; we ask her about the role of faith in social activism and social justice; and we talk about the inner work and interpersonal work needed to move forward together. If this doesn't challenge some of your assumptions and give you some food for thought, you might not have a pulse. Share & subscribe & let's do this together. (Outro music, "A Gentle Touch" by Marty Newman.)

When I listened to Shots Fired, our take on the Pittsburgh massacre (Episode 20), I felt I had to give a short personal coda. Anti-semitism isn't merely another issue, and it's not like other forms of racial bias. It's existential. Are we fertilizer for the process of creation, or lovers of God?

Sigd is a holiday celebrated by the Jewish community from Ethiopia every year. It's about Jerusalem and renewing our relationship with God. In this edition of Extra Madness, Meir-Simchah interviews people from Beta Yisrael, the Ethiopian Jewish community, who came up to Jerusalem for the annual Sigd gathering overlooking the Temple Mount, and shares some thoughts. We touch on the importance of sharing our stories and the universal significance of Sigd for all Jews and all people.