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This week, Brad and Steven are talking again about an old favorite subject of theirs: hagbah. With Steven in Georgia for a family Bat Mitzvah, the pressure is on for him to lift a special Torah that was rescued from the Nazis. They also talk about what to eat in Georgia and the elections in Turkey. Happy listening!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

It’s Mother’s Day this week and Brad and Steven discuss the day’s merits and its potential impact on gifts for Steven. They also talk about the disgraceful CNN broadcast of Trump’s town hall last week and wonder how the media will cover a presidential campaign that promises to be like none other before it. Spoiler alert: they’re not overly optimistic. Happy listening and Happy Mother’s Day only to those who celebrate.

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

‘The Mandalorian,’ whose third season is now streaming on Disney+, is one of the most critically and commercially successful offerings of Disney-era Star Wars. Noted Star Wars nerds Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky discuss the show’s very Jewish themes, its relationship to Torah and Midrash, and the relative value of complex mythology in modern pop culture. Do they feel ’The Mandalorian’ is “The Way”? Or is the third season just so much bantha fodder? Join them and find 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!

This week, it’s The Coronation Day Episode, where Brad and Steven spend as little time as possible talking about the British monarchy. Instead, they talk about Twitter vs. TV news, Clarence Thomas’ shameless corruption, the killing of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway car this week and how it relates to the national homeless crisis. Have a listen!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

After a two-week hiatus, Brad and Steven are back at it. In this week’s episode, the talk about the ongoing protests in Israel which Brad attended last weekend, the future of Israel’s democracy, the prospect of being a stranger in a country that’s not one’s own, and old school Chinese restaurants. Happy listening!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, Princess Peach, and Bowser are back — this time in the cleverly-titled blockbuster animated comedy ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie.’ Is it super? Or is it the film equivalent of hitting a banana peel on Rainbow Road? What does it say about the state of entertainment and society? And what does it have to teach about Jewish life and community in the 21st century? Join super rabbinic smash bros.

Rabbis Michael Mario and Jesse Mario for the conversation their whole lives have been building up to. “Let’sa go!”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!

‘Shrinking,’ the new series streaming on AppleTV+ boasts some big names (have you heard of this guy Harrison Ford? We think he’s got a promising future in showbiz…) and a big premise: what would happen if therapists got more involved in their patients’ lives, and let their patients get more involved in their own lives? The result is at times hilarious and at times cringeworthy, and raises some important questions about professional boundaries, the role of mental health care providers, and the goals of therapy. As professionals sometimes called upon to provide pastoral or spiritual care, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky have a lot of thoughts about what the show says and doesn’t say, and what it gets right and wrong, about helping people thrive.

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.

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

This week, Brad and Steve talk about some of the things that they actually don’t agree on. There’s not a lot but they did manage to come up with something: Diversity Equity and Inclusion, also known as DEI, and college admissions. The guys talk about their experiences with their respective children’s admissions processes and find that while there are some things they do agree on, in the end, they have different attitudes and approaches to this issue. Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Ramadan Kareem, and Happy listening!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

In this week’s episode, Brad and Steven talk about the two HUGE legal decisions that were handed down this week. One is historical and precedent-setting, the other is the indictment of a former president whose name shall not be mentioned by a New York grand jury. The first case, of course, is the Gwyneth Paltrow trial, and Brad and Steven talk about this momentous decision. Happy listening!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

It finally happened! The sequel to Mel Brooks’ 1981 classic ‘History of the World: Part I’ that nearly every Jew of a certain age has been waiting for is here at last. Was it worth the wait? Is it the greatest sequel in ‘The History of the World: Part II’? Or is it more of an auto de fe (something Brooks oughtn’t have done, but he did anyway)? Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky have thoughts! Join us as we dig deep into ‘The History of the World: Part II’, the legacy of Mel Brooks, and the Torah of Jewish humor, aging gracefully, evolving over time, and passing on traditions from generation to generation.

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!