Judaism for the Thinking Person
Rabbi Nadav Caine
Publishing Details
About This Podcast
Explore Statistics
Recent Episodes
The Biblical Meaning of "Holiness" - That Isn't Yours!
I have watched ridiculous ways of explaining why things are right and wrong to small kids --which indicates that most adults have no clue themselves. I've watch the "rational consequences" approach,…
DO NOT Forget on Passover! In Praise of Biur Chametz
This year's traditional teaching on a Law of Passover (per the tradition of Shabbat Hagadol). For a download of the text I'm referring to:…
Israel and Iran: Malachi, Xerses, and Liza Minnelli
The Iran War began at Purim (about Persia, now Iran) and now we're at Passover with Persia yet again as we are required to read Malachi. The Bible actually ends in the Persian period with the…
Why Jurgen Habermas Died Between Exodus and Leviticus
There is a loss that takes place between the end of Exodus, with the people donating materials and building the tabernacle in small groups excitedly, and the beginning of Leviticus with the…
The Visual Language of Norms in Judaism -- And We are the Poorer for Losing It
This is a Drash on Parashat Tetzaveh, an Exodus portion about the priestly clothing that usually elicits shallow reflections on clothes. Instead, I try to bring to life the amazing living language of…
Forced Labor was Used to Build the First Temple?
For parashat Terumah, the Rabbis pair a Torah reading about Terumah, donation from the heart, with the account of Solomon's building of the first Temple, which was done using "mas," forced labor, the…
10 Commandments or 10 Speakings? Speech as the Center of Our Worship
The 2nd Commandment says not to make a chiseled thing part of our worship, yet the 10 Commandments actually are a chiseled thing! In this podcast, I show how the Jewish tradition the notion that it's…
Seeing ICE Through Scripture (from local rally)
My remarks from a local rally.
Jacob's Blessings and Aging Out of People Pleasing
Drawing on the book "(Un)kind: How 'Be Kind' Entrenches Sexism" by Victoria Smith and Ellen Scherr's essay "The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore," I examine Jacob's deathbed…
Agriculture, Economic Collapse, and the Joseph Story
At the end of Genesis, Joseph centralizes the agricultural system of Egypt, saving the country from collapse due to upcoming years of bad crops (e.g. due to drought), but turning farmers into serfs…
The AI Gods Taking Away our Souls and Our Community
My Kol Nidrei 2025 Sermon on how our phones are amplifying the centrifugal force of the pull of our individual lives, sacrificing the centripetal force of community, by holding out a fake community,…
Parashat Toldot: Is Imposter Syndrome a Fault or a Gift from God?
This is a revision of a podcast I released several years ago. It focuses on Isaac as the patriarch of Imposter Syndrome. In my own life, I've come to make peace with my own Imposter Syndrome, seeing…
What Can the Rabbinic Debate about Noah Teach Us About Equity?
I relate the debate from Bereishit Rabbah to This American Life episode 550.
Maimonides' Laws of War & Talking About Gaza
Most of us have been avoiding the painful conversations with friends and family over Gaza. Why? It seems like we have no common frame of reference, and so it hardly seems worth it. In this Rosh…
Getting "Miracles" Right in Judaism and in Our Lives (Yom Kippur Sermon 2025)
Miracle may be the most misunderstood concept in Judaism. While some Jewish sects officially (like Chabad), and most Jews unofficially, construe "miracles" as supernatural interventions in the…
Parashat Behaalotkhah: Grievance and Getting the Leaders We Deserve
In this long section of the Torah, where Miriam and Aaron are disciplined by God for challenging Moses, where Moses tries yet again to resign his leadership, where the 70 Elders to help Moshe go…
Pinchas and Superman as our Mirror
Rabbi Irwin Kula reminds us that when we engage deeply with Torah, it can serve "as our mirror" which illuminates our inner complexities, strivings, horizon of significance, so we can better…
Abraham Joshua Heschel Second Class: Ethics vs Holiness
We have grown accustomed to seeing Ethics and Holiness as virtually the same thing. I show that in order to properly understand Heschel's interlocking concepts of Blessing (berakhah), Faith (emunah),…
Abraham Joshua Heschel First Class: Gratitude, Awe, and Actually Connecting to God
The vast majority of work on Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is academic: summaries, clarification, footnotes and so on. In this series of classes, I'm here to show you how to live Heschel's religious…
Passover as the Secret High Holidays: Making Your Rosh Hashanah Resolutions Real Halfway Through the Journey
There are two New Years on the Jewish calendar (in addition to the new years for trees and for flocks): Rosh Hashanah and First of Nissan (announced on Shabbat HaChodesh). The deep spiritual…
Frequently Asked Questions
Judaism for the Thinking Person has published 100 episodes since November 2020, covering topics in Judaism, Philosophy.
Judaism for the Thinking Person is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 14m.
Similar Podcasts
The RDL Podcast with Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Blaze Podcast Network
572 episodes
Times Square Church - Sermons
TSC.NYC
616 episodes
Marriage Pro with Rabbi Reuven Epstein
JewishPodcasts.fm
327 episodes
The Podcast of Jewish Ideas
Torah in Motion
93 episodes
KMTT - the Torah Podcast
Rabbanei Yeshivat Har Etzion
2,604 episodes
Tanya with Rochel Schmukler
Rochel Schmukler
192 episodes