PopTorah

What happens when your shot at redemption begins with a lie? In Hulu’s Chad Powers, disgraced quarterback Russ Holliday (Glenn Powell) disguises himself as an eccentric walk-on for the struggling South Georgia Catfish (get it?), hoping to play the game he loves again. It’s a ridiculous premise with a surprisingly serious question at its heart: Can Russ become a better person while pretending to be someone else? In this episode of PopTorah, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky talk about the masks we wear and the process of repentance — and ask what it takes to move beyond a mistake when you still haven’t told the truth about it.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Five years ago, we declared that we believed in Ted Lasso, whose radical kindness and relentless optimism felt like just what the world needed. Now Ted is back — this time coaching AFC Richmond’s new women’s team — and so are we. In this episode of PopTorah, we return to the Torah of Ted Lasso and ask what Season 4 has to teach us about starting over, taking chances, building community, confronting inequality, and believing in people — including ourselves — even when we have no idea how things are going to turn out.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

In this spoiler-filled episode of PopTorah, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky debate whether Spider-Man: Brand New Day succeeds as a Spider-Man story — or gets tangled in the MCU’s ever-expanding web. Along the way, we explore Peter Parker’s self-imposed isolation, the ways protecting others can become an excuse for keeping them at a distance, and the Torah’s insistence that “it is not good for a human being to be alone.” Does great responsibility sometimes mean great loneliness? Join us as we get into the swing of things!

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Christopher Nolan turns one of Western literature’s oldest homecoming stories into something darker: an epic about war, moral consequence, and the difficult work of return. In this spoiler-filled episode of PopTorah, we discuss how Nolan transforms Odysseus from a triumphant hero into a man slowly awakening to the destruction he has caused—and what the film’s treatment of hospitality, violated peace, guilt, and accountability reveals through a Jewish lens. Is it possible to come home after war has changed you? Can time heal wounds without teshuvah? And do those who disregard the moral order ultimately pay for what they destroy?

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

What happens when playtime gives way to screen time? In this  episode of PopTorah, we explore Toy Story 5’s encounter between beloved old-school toys and a new generation of smart devices. Along the way, we discuss parenting in the age of tablets and social media, the pressure children feel to fit in, what technology does to imagination and genuine connection, and why Judaism insists that our worth comes not from followers, rankings, or likes, but from being created in the image of God.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

What if humanity learned, once and for all, that we are not alone? In this spoiler-filled episode of PopTorah, we dive into Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, a film about revelation, secrecy, fear, and the courage to face truths that powerful people would rather keep hidden. Along the way, we discuss what extraterrestrial life might mean for faith, whether discovering we are not alone would diminish or deepen our sense of awe, and how Judaism helps us think about truth, empathy, and the moral challenge of welcoming the radically other. Disclosure Day asks not only whether we can handle the truth, but whether learning the truth about extraterrestrial life might make us more human — and why authoritarian power is so threatened by anything that turns “them” into “us.”

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

In this episode of PopTorah, we dive into Netflix’s new supernatural sci-fi series The Boroughs, about a group of unlikely heroes in a seemingly perfect retirement community who discover that their “golden years” may be more dangerous — and more meaningful — than anyone imagined. The series, produced by the Duffer Brothers of Stranger Things fame, centers on a mysterious threat trying to steal the one thing its characters don’t have enough of: time. Join us for a spoiler-filled conversation about aging, mortality, friendship, courage, and what it means to choose life when the world assumes your best years are behind you.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

In this episode of PopTorah, we dive into the acclaimed HBO series Hacks. Beneath the sharp jokes and show-business drama lies a surprisingly rich story about reinvention, aging, ambition, and the complicated relationships that shape us. Through the evolving partnership between Deborah and Ava, Hacks asks what we owe one another, whether people can truly change, and how we find purpose when the identities we’ve built for ourselves no longer fit. Join us for a spoiler-filled conversation about ego and growth, forgiveness and accountability, friendship and rivalry, and why some of life’s most meaningful transformations happen when we’re forced to start over.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Star Wars is back on the big screen, and in this episode of PopTorah, we discuss The Mandalorian and Grogu alongside a broader conversation about the state of Star Wars and franchise storytelling in the age of streaming. What is the difference between fan service and meaningful storytelling? What happens when institutions focus more on keeping insiders happy than inspiring newcomers? Along the way, we explore themes of found family, mentorship, and belonging, asking what fandoms and faith communities can learn from one another in their shared search for meaning, connection, and a way forward.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

In this very special episode of PopTorah, recorded LIVE at Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT in front of a packed sanctuary, we dive into Michael, the long-awaited and deeply complicated biopic about Michael Jackson — an artist whose music reshaped popular culture even as his life and legacy remain fiercely contested. Join us as we explore what the film chooses to reveal, what it avoids, and what it means to turn a figure this beloved, troubled, brilliant, and controversial into mythmaking cinema. Along the way, we wrestle with questions of celebrity, memory, innocence, power, and the uneasy relationship between artistic genius and moral accountability.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!