What does it mean to love Israel deeply while choosing to build your life elsewhere? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and her husband, Columbia/Barnard Hillel Campus Rabbi Yonah Hain, get personal and reflect on their family's two years living in Israel, their decision to return to New York, and the competing demands of family, career, Jewish identity, and Zionism. Drawing on Parashat Vaetchanan, the Shema's commandment to teach our children, and rabbinic teachings about Moses’ longing to enter the Land of Israel, they explore the fulfillment of the self and the challenge of making life-changing decisions in uncertain times.

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What kind of leadership prepares the next generation, and what kind of leadership makes them lose trust? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and journalist Maya Sulkin mine Parashat Masei for competing models of leadership through a generation’s journey through the wilderness. Against the modern backdrop of AI, campus movements, and generational divides, they ask: Which of these models can still sustain a community? What would it mean to lead not by promising, controlling, or fighting, but by enabling people to grow?

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With antisemitism and anti-Zionism on the rise, are Jews alone in today’s world, or is that belief a powerful myth actively shaping Jewish identity and relationships for the worse? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Rabba Rori Picker Neiss, Senior Vice President of Jewish Council for Public Affairs, read Parashat Balak to explore how questions of power, fear, and vulnerability shape Jewish relationships. Drawing on biblical text, Talmudic insight, and contemporary Jewish experience,

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Is Israel losing American Jews, or are American Jews losing sight of Israel? Maybe it’s both. In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Michael Koplow, Chief Policy Officer of Israel Policy Forum, turn to Parshat Sh’lach and the story of the spies in Numbers 13 to explore why many American Jews today feel overwhelmed, disillusioned, or disconnected from Israel. They unpack how fear, moral conflict, and a sense of powerlessness can erode commitment, and they explore what it would take to sustain a meaningful relationship with the Jewish state—and a shared sense of Jewish peoplehood—in this moment.

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Read Masua Sagiv's "Reclaiming Mamlakhtiyut: The Road to an Inclusive Israeli Identity" from Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas.

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What do we mean when we ask for peace, especially in a time of war, rising antisemitism, and deep uncertainty? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Brandeis University professor Yehudah Mirsky explore the meaning of peace in Jewish thought through the priestly blessing in Parashat Naso. Drawing on Torah and contemporary reality, they unpack the difference between “negative” and “positive” peace and the tension between safety, stability, and human flourishing. The result is a more grounded and honest framework for thinking about peace today.

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This episode was originally released on Monday, September

Democracy promises to guarantee freedom and equality for all, yet Jews seem to be increasingly vulnerable in America today. How should Jews respond when they feel democracy is not showing up for them? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Slate Senior Editor Dahlia Lithwick turn to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s 1984 letter on voting and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt’s eulogy for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to probe the relationship between Jews and American democracy, especially in moments when the promise of democracy feels unfulfilled or even threatened.

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It’s Jewish memory season, and this week’s parasha, Parashat Emor, focuses on the Jewish holidays that we celebrate today as a recollection of events in our past. But what happens when Jewish memory starts to feel like destiny, and what does it mean for our sense of agency when history seems inevitable? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Hartman Institute President Yehuda Kurtzer examine the power and dangers of historical analogy and the ethical responsibility that comes with reading today’s events through yesterday’s stories. This conversation asks how Jewish memory can inform moral choice without foreclosing it, and how to hold uncertainty without giving up responsibility.

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What does it mean to help someone without taking away their dignity, and is it harder — and holier — to give a loan rather than a gift?

On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain speaks with Rabbi David Rosenn, President and CEO of the Hebrew Free Loan Society, about Jewish ideas of dignity, episodic poverty, and prevention.

They interrogate the Torah’s fixation on interest-free lending and why Jewish tradition insists on seeing the whole person in moments of financial crisis. A provocative and important conversation that begs the question: when (and when isn’t) charity the most ethical form of Jewish giving?

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More from this episode:

Hebrew Free Loan Society

Ogen in Israel

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On Passover, Jews celebrate freedom, but for many this year, the normalization of cruelty toward immigrants in America casts a shadow over that celebration. On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain speaks with Noah Gottschalk, Chief External Relations Officer at HIAS, about why the Haggadah teaches that the Egyptians first chose cruelty through demonization rather than labor oppression, and what our texts call on us to do in response. Together they explore how fear and dehumanization of immigrants echo ancient patterns and how Jewish values compel us to recognize and defend human dignity today.

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When war erupts again and again, how do Israeli families and communities live with constant loss? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fellow David Dishon turn to the book of Vayikra and to David’s experience as a bereaved grandparent of a soldier killed in the Israel-Hamas War. Together, they examine how sacrifice shapes grief by transforming loss into enduring presence, and offer a framework for spiritual resilience.

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