Shtark Tank

You don’t have to love your job—but you can’t hate it.
Rabbi Yehuda Halpert (shul rabbi, Big Law attorney, author) joins Shtark Tank to talk straight about Torah life inside a 90-hour week, setting real standards, and why reassessing is different than slipping.

What You'll Hear

• How a Ben Torah can thrive in Big Law without losing the plot

• “Slipping vs. reassessing” — setting honest standards after yeshiva

• The Mincha hack that anchors your day (and your network)

• Peer pressure at the office: values, money, and role models

• Balancing a Shabbos-only pulpit with a full-time firm role

• Lessons from COVID that helped after Oct 7

• Career calling vs. community calling: picking your tafkid

  
  

Guest Bio

Rabbi Yehuda Halpert — shul rabbi in Teaneck, Big Law lawyer, and author of Speaking to an Empty Shul: Timeless Lessons from Unprecedented Times.

Quick Takeaways

• Build a system that works with your schedule

• Guard your company — work with good people

• Use Mincha as a daily reset and natural networking moment

• Review your standards every 6–12 months; adjust with intent

• • You can be excellent at your craft and strong in your values

  
  

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With tremendous historical events unfolding, I couldn’t record a regular episode.
This moment demanded more than another interview, it called for guidance and clarity.

What does this new chapter in our history mean?
What is our role right now?
How do we balance the whirlwind of emotions — gratitude, pain, pride, and confusion — that we’re all feeling?

I was grateful that Rav Moshe Taragin agreed to join me once again to help unpack these questions.
There’s truly no one who combines such deep Torah knowledge with historical awareness and a living connection to Am Yisrael.

Together, we explore how to:

• Hold joy and grief at the same time

• Express real hakaras hatov — to Hashem, to soldiers, to each other

• See the hand of Hashem in political and military reality

• Understand what this nes demands of us

A special, timely conversation for anyone trying to make sense of this historic moment.

Click here to order Rabbi Taragin’s books including: Reclaiming Redemption: Demystifying the Maze of Jewish History and To be holy, but human- Reflections upon my Rebbe, Harav Yehuda Amital

As we prepare for Yom Kippur, we speak with Joseph Gitler about his son-in-law, David Schwartz HY”D—a ben Torah, law student, and IDF reservist in Handasah Kravit (combat engineering) who fell in Khan Younis on January 8, 2024 alongside his chavrusa Yakir Hexter HY”D.

Joseph shares how David wove together strong learning with real-world duty, his years in Gush Etzion, his time at Reichman University law school, his gift for connecting across communities, and what it means to mourn while still choosing life and responsibility. We also hear about ongoing projects in David’s memory and the weekly Divrei Torah initiative that now reaches thousands.

Links

• ⁠To join the David Schwartz Divrei Torah chat⁠
• ⁠To watch the video from the Azkara⁠

Highlights

• Ben Torah in the world: David’s learning (Kli Yakar chavrusas, steady seder) and his drive to serve—both in the IDF and potentially in public service.

• Bridging worlds: Deep ties across communities (yeshiva, Chassidus, secular campus). Seeking dialogue without blurring values.

• Reichman law school: Culture shock, principled debate during the judicial protests, and the value of hearing people who think differently.

• Army service: Training, multiple rotations in Gaza with Tzanhanim commandos; pride in the unit’s work despite the dangers.

• January 8, 2024: The incident in Khan Younis; community and family response; what shiva looked like for parents of the almanah.

• National resilience: “The whole country has PTSD.” Practical takeaways: watch your friends and kids; speak up when you see someone struggling; get help involved.

• Living memory: A sefer of David’s Torah (written in yeshiva), a growing weekly parsha sheet in Hebrew and English, shul/Beit Midrash renovations, and a loans fund for farmers and soldiers—projects that carry his light forward.

  
  

  
  

During Elul last year, we had one of our most powerful episodes. We spoke with Rav Moshe Taragin about Teshuva, spiritual growth and the Yamim Noraim experience.

Whether or not you listened the first time around, its worthwhile to revisit as we prepare for the Yamim Noraim.

How do we define success as Bnei Torah in the workforce?

I asked Rav Dovid Lichtenstein, who is a talmid chochom and real estate executive. We spoke about defining success in learning, at work, and in our relationship with technology.

Rav Dovid's ideas are firmly grounded in Torah sources, but are also extremely practical.

Moshe Chaim started out as a successful Kollel yungerman. But soon after he transitioned to the workforce, he found himself in a therapists office, as his professional struggles had already started to spill over in to his marriage, emotional health, and other areas.

This true story (with names changed) is the case study that Rabbi Dr. Yosef Sokol uses to introduce his book 'Becoming Godly'. The book combines Machshava from the Ramchal and others, along with psycholgy, to give a framework for religous growth.

We spoke about having a healthy relationship with the past, as a neccesssary condition for building a better future. We also spoke about finding meaning at work, the role of labels, and some practical tips ahead of the Yamim Noraim.

Please help us grow the show by leaving a 5-star review and hitting the subscribe button. Thanks!

Guest Bio

Rabbi Dr. Yosef Sokol (credentials) is a licensed clinical psychologist, professor at Touro University, and VA research scientist specializing in suicide prevention and recovery. He developed Continuous Identity Cognitive Therapy (CI-CT), an innovative approach that supports healing and recovery from suicide attempts and ideation. He has numerous peer reviewed publications and leads major research grants from the VA and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Sokol earned his PhD from Hofstra University, received semichah from Yeshivas Bais Yosef Novardok, and is the author of Becoming Godly: Integrating Torah and Psychology to Guide Us in Emulating Hashem. He is dedicated to bringing recovery-oriented, identity-focused approaches to healing individuals struggling with suicide.

It’s Elul, a time to prepare for the Yamim Noraim with the theme of Defining Success.
When we take stock of our lives with a cheshbon hanefesh, we’re really asking: Where am I now—and where should I be?

That’s the core question of this series: how to define success as a Ben Torah in the workplace. Many of our rabbeim push us toward ambitious goals in learning, but how do we balance those ideals with the blessed responsibilities of work, family, and community?

This week’s guest is Rav Simi Lerner. Rav Simi is an educator in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, a passionate Hirschian thinker, and—on the side—an electrician in Beit Shemesh. We discuss how Rav Hirsch’s idea of Torah im Derech Eretz and other foundational principles can help us shape a grounded, realistic, and meaningful definition of success.

🎧 Before you listen: please take 10 seconds to help us grow by leaving a 5-star review and hitting subscribe. Thank you!

References

• Judaism from Within podcast
• Rav Hirsch on Viduy

It’s Elul, and we’re focusing on Defining Success as Bnei Torah in the workplace. What does real success look like? Is it possible to set goals that are both ambitious and compassionate?

This week, we sit down with Rav Shimon Isaacson, Rosh Yeshiva of Mevaseret. Before entering the world of Torah and chinuch, Rav Isaacson worked in Big Law in New York City. Many assume he left that life to escape its spiritual emptiness — but the truth is much more surprising.

Summary

In this episode, I sat down with Rav Shimon Isaacson, Rosh Yeshiva of Mevaseret, to trace his remarkable journey from Big Law associate to respected mechanech and community leader in Israel. Rav Isaacson shares how his wife’s passion for Aliyah shaped their family’s path, how he balanced intense Torah learning with a demanding legal career, and how an unusual arrangement of “lawyer in the summer, learner in the year” gave him the springboard into full-time chinuch.

The conversation dives into big life questions: What makes for a successful decision-making process? How can a Ben Torah thrive in the workforce? What does passion in Avodas Hashem look like? Rav Isaacson also reflects on 30 years of Aliyah, the role of rebbeim as life guides, the value of combining Torah greatness with real-world experience, and how yeshiva can prepare talmidim for decades of growth ahead.

This is the third and final week of our Summer Listening Series, where I share some of the podcasts I enjoy on my commute. Next week, we’ll be back with a brand new episode—stay tuned.

This week’s pick is from Shu"t First, Ask Questions Later, hosted by Rabbi Moshe Kurtz. This podcast truly takes advantage of the medium—bringing together voices from across the Jewish world to learn Torah in conversation.

The featured episode is especially relevant to Shtark Tank listeners, as Rabbi Kurtz is joined by Mr. Gedalia Wielgus, a lawyer and talmid chacham, for a thought-provoking discussion about a wild case of Yibum.

Check out Shtarktank.org for exclusive written articles!

While we’re on our bein hazmanim break and gearing up for some exciting episodes in Elul, I wanted to share a podcast I’ve been enjoying on my commute.

This week’s recommendation is a thought-provoking episode of the Iyun Podcast, hosted by Rabbi Ari Koretsky — in my opinion, one of the best podcast hosts out there. Each episode takes a deep, nuanced look at issues like the Charedi draft and other pressing topics.

In this episode, Does the Torah Protect?, Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Lifshitz offers a fresh and engaging perspective. The conversation ties closely to themes we explore on Shtark Tank, especially the relationship between the Beis Midrash and the outside world.

Give it a listen — I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

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