After two-plus years of agony and hardship, what can Judaism teach about the role of faith and the presence of God in times of suffering? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Dani Segal of Mabua: Israeli Beit Midrash mine the lessons of Parashat Vayeshev and Joseph’s descent to Egypt. Drawing on rabbinic interpretations, modern experiences, and stories of soldiers and hostages, they explore how faith can operate as moral clarity and personal motivation during the long and often painful arc of Jewish history.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

As the longstanding bipartisan consensus around issues important to Jewish needs seems to collapse in America, many feel that the deck is stacked against the Jewish community. How can Jews advocate for themselves, and what tools should they be using? Elana Stein Hain and community advocacy strategist Stacy Burdett dive into Parashat Vayetze to explore Jacob’s fraught encounters with Lavan and what they reveal about the ethics of Jewish self-advocacy today.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

As antisemitism and anti-Zionism rise, many North American Jews have felt less welcome in the countries that they call home. How do we root ourselves deeply in our Jewish identities while remaining engaged in and committed to the broader world? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and author Sarah Hurwitz turn to this week’s Torah portion and the concept of the ger toshav—the resident alien—to understand how North American Jews might navigate belonging, identity, faith, and the enduring challenge of embracing Jewish particularism while living in diverse societies.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

This week, TEXTing IRL is excited to share Hartman’s podcast, Future Tense, where rising Jewish leaders drive conversations with scholars from the Shalom Hartman Institute on the most pressing issues facing their generation.  

Many young Jews are taught that they have a responsibility to publicly represent the Jewish people—an expectation that can feel especially heavy during the formative years of personal growth and identity development. In this episode of Future Tense, Elana Stein Hain joins hosts Anna Weiss, Sami Jinich, and Yadid Orlow to explore how to balance the challenges of representation with their own personal development as well as the benefits and challenges of connecting beyond the Jewish community.  

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Two years after October 7, Jews around the world mark Simchat Torah, finishing and beginning again the reading of the Torah, and thinking about our stories, both ancient and present. How do we tell our stories in a world and to a world that doesn’t seem to want to hear them? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive editor at The Atlantic, study the writings of Rav Soloveitchik, uncovering how the ability to be heard when telling one’s story makes one free, and how listening with empathy and humility allows one to tell the truest and most compelling stories.

We are grateful to the Walder Charitable Fund and Micah Philanthropies for their generous support of TEXTing.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Democracy promises to guarantee freedom and equality for all, yet Jews seem to be increasingly vulnerable in America today. How should

On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Slate Senior Editor Dahlia Lithwick turn to Rabbi Moses 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

We are grateful to Micah Philanthropies and to the Walder Charitable Fund for their generous support of TEXTing.

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Nearly two years after October 7 and more than 700 days of war, many Jews enter this High Holiday season with trepidation, facing what feels like an increasingly hostile world. In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg turn to Rav Kook’s “Fourfold Song” to explore how Jews can navigate competing commitments of caring for their own communities and for the wider world.

We are grateful to Micah Philanthropies and to the Walder Charitable Fund for their generous support of TEXTing.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here.

Read here OLAM’s research on Jewish practitioners of humanitarian aid.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Over a quarter of American Jews identifty as Republican, and nearly a third voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Whether this is an expression of their conservative values, their concern for Israel, or some combination of the two, Jews on the right now face a dilemma with the Trump administration and its trespasses on democracy.

In the fourth episode of this special series of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Mark Gottlieb, Chief Education Officer at Tikvah, look to Talmudic and other sources on navigating the tension of conflicting commandments to unpack immigration reform, antisemitism, and the cognitive dissonance Jewish conservatives are experiencing during Trump’s second term.

We are grateful to the Walder Charitable Fund and Micah Philanthropies for their generous support of TEXTing.

⁠

Episode Source Sheet

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Faced with rising antisemitism and anti-Zionism, many Jews are confronting difficult choices when they find themselves outside of Jewish spaces: conceal their identity, or risk harassment, and in some cases, violence.

In this episode, Elana Stein Hain and Daniel Held, Chief Program Officer at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, turn to the Talmud to grapple with Jewish identity and Jewish pride in a hostile environment. How can we engage with moral complexity as proud Jews, and how do we model this for our children?

We are grateful to the Walder Charitable Fund and Micah Philanthropies for their generous support of TEXTing.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

How do we respond with gratitude toward someone whose values and policies we otherwise oppose?

In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain is joined by civic educator and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel to explore what Jewish tradition can teach us about uncomfortable gratitude, the cognitive dissonance created when someone we find morally troubling takes an action we support, and how we can respond when deliverance comes from a flawed source.

Episode Source Sheet

Watch the video version of this episode ⁠here⁠.

You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS