In this episode of ‘Jews in Space,’ host Sarah Einstein engages in a thoughtful conversation with author Tom Balazs. They discuss his literary journey from social realism to speculative fiction and horror, explore the impact of writing within various genres, and reflect on the importance of speculative fiction in understanding the human condition. They contemplate the complexities of maintaining Jewish identity and tradition on an ark ship while considering which essential works of Jewish literature and legacy should accompany them on their journey. Together, they also emphasize resilience and creativity as core aspects of Jewish history and storytelling.

Read Tree Candles by Tom Balazs.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:27 Reflecting on Loss and Current Events

02:46 Discussing Writing and Speculative Fiction

04:10 Journey from Social Realism to Horror

11:40 Teaching Speculative Fiction

15:33 The Emissary and Jewish Vampires

16:36 Speculative Fiction and Jewish Tradition

17:42 Comic Books and Influences

22:59 Tree Candles and Parenting

25:10 Life on the Ark Ship

28:55 Debating Jewish Diversity in Space

31:58 Personal History: From Holocaust to Christianity

34:07 Rediscovering Judaism in Israel

34:50 The Importance of Jewish Stories Beyond the Holocaust

47:51 Building a Jewish Library for Space

54:27 Concluding Thoughts and Hanukkah Plans

My research into AI lead me to a surprising conclusion… Jewish practice might actually give us the most effective model for thinking about how we, as end-users interested in keeping AI aligned with humanist values, might best engage with AI in our daily lives.

We’ll be back in December with new episodes talking with Jewish writers, creators, and scholars to think about what Jewish life might look like on an ark ship. Until then, Shabbat shalom, live long and prosper, and nano-nano!

Well, podcasting is a lot harder than writing. It’s taken so long to get this episode up because I kept trying to fix the audio, and have finally been told definitely that the audio isn’t fixable. Why is the audio worse this time than last time? Because I bought fancy equipment and software so it would be better, of course. From here on out, we3’re sticking with what works.

But here, what really matters is that you can hear Darlene P. Campos, author of the new book The Center of the Earth, which you can order here:

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Join me in celebrating both Darlene’s new book AND her recent conversion and bat mitzvah!

Are you a Jewish writer, artist, or scholar? Would you like to be on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] and we’ll schmooze!

Join Rabbi Phil Cohen and me as we discuss A.I. and Jewish thought. Can A.I. become human? Could it be Jewish, either because it was built on the writings of a rebbe or because it (or, in this case, she) decided to convert? Should we look to A.I. that uses Jewish texts as its data for our new sages, or does real Jewish thought require human abilities A.I. doesn’t have, such as discernment? We will explore all this and more in the context of Phil’s novel, Nick Bones Underground. It’s a rollicking good read—half gumshoe adventure, half deeply considered questions on issues of Jewish thought in a science fictional New York—and I encourage you to pick it up! You can buy a physical copy here or the ebook here. (And, of course, elsewhere.)

Thanks for joining us, and I’d love to hear what you think about the questions we raise and, of course, aren’t able to fully answer. Why? Because we’re Jews. Every answer to a question just leads to more questions… it’s one of our superpowers!

For this episode, I have asked the program Notebook LM to generate a two person discussion of the history of science fiction. This is ahead of a conversation I will be having with a rabbi who has written a fascinating novel in which an AI not only falls in love, but converts to Judaism! I promise that I won’t be using AI often, but it seems fitting with our idea of space travel because no doubt our ship will be assisted by AI systems.

Shalom, mishpocha! Welcome to the first episode of Jews in Space, where I talk to Sarah Blake, the author of several of my favorite books, about what life is like on an ark ship. She has two books that deal with this directly. The first, a collection of poems titled Let’s Not Live on Earth, includes an epic poem about life on just such a spaceship. She’s also written about Naamah, Noah’s wife, in a novel reimagining her life on the original ark. (Note: where possible, I’ll use links to Bookshop to support independent book sellers. When a book is not available through them, I will post a link to Amazon.) Join me while we talk about those books and what goes in to imagining life in the confined space of an ark ship!

As always, your support means a great deal. Subscribe to keep the podcast going and to allow me to pay our guests.

A little bit more about my vision for this web series? Podcast? (Can someone PLEASE tell me what this is!) Now with subscriber comments turned on!

Welcome to the soft launch of Jews in Space, a bi-weekly podcast in which I’ll talk to different Jewish creators, writers, artists, and clergy about what life would look like aboard an ark ship populated entirely by Jews! I hope you’ll join me on this science fictional exploration of mitzvot, minhag, and mishpocha in space…