Best Soloveichik Podcasts (2024)

1
Chaim Saiman on the Roots and Basis of Jewish Law (Rebroadcast) 47:23

4h ago47:23

47:23

Jewish communities have just concluded the celebration of Shavuot, a pilgrimage festival in times of the Temple and the moment when, fifty days after the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt, God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses. Those commandments form the foundation of the many rules and obligations inflected throughout the Jewish tradition. I…

1
Elliott Abrams on American Jewish Anti-Zionists 38:45

15h ago38:45

38:45

Since the attacks of October 7 and since the Gaza war began, a small but vocal segment of American Jews have joined in with the anti-Israel protests convulsing American cities and campuses. What are their ideas and where do they come from? Elliott Abrams is the author of If You Will It, a book coming this fall on Jewish peoplehood. Also the chairma…

1
Andrew Doran on Why He Thinks the Roots of Civilization Are Jewish 50:11

8d ago50:11

50:11

Traditional readers of the Hebrew Bible, reinforced by rabbinic commentary, condemn the bloodlust, cruelty, exploitation of the weak, and exaltation of the strong that is on display in the Amalekite attack on Israel in the book of Exodus. But it’s not the Amalekites, the nomadic enemies of the Israelites, who are shocking for their sacralized viole…

1
Haisam Hassanein on How Egypt Sees Gaza 35:59

24d ago35:59

35:59

A stable if somewhat cold peace has endured between Egypt and Israel for nearly fifty years, a peace that includes serious diplomatic and security cooperation. Much of that has to do with Gaza. After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel and Egypt jointly imposed a blockade and began to control its borders, since each had its own reasons to fe…

1
Asael Abelman on the History of “Hatikvah” 40:01

28d ago40:01

40:01

Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” has a long and poignant history that traces back to a poem originally written by Naftali Herz Imber called “Tikvateinu.” This week, to mark the 76th anniversary of Israel’s founding, the historian and author Asael Abelman joins Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver to investigate that history. Together, they look at …

1
Shlomo Brody on Jewish Ethics in War 47:27

1M ago47:27

47:27

After a long delay, the Israeli military’s advance into Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that is the last stronghold of Hamas’s fighting force and that now also hosts many civilian refugees from the rest of Gaza, may now be underway. Many in the U.S. are concerned that an Israeli push into Rafah will incur high numbers of civilian casualties. How d…

1
Ruth Wisse on the Explosion of Anti-Israel Protests on Campus 51:39

1M ago51:39

51:39

Anti-Israel campus activism has never been more popular or unpleasant than it is right now. In years past, much of this activism was mixed up with nods to the desire for peace and a two-state solution that would allow for Palestinians to enjoy their own sovereignty alongside a secure Israel. That isn’t happening now. It certainly isn’t what is mean…

1
Meir Soloveichik on the Politics of the Haggadah 41:17

2M ago41:17

41:17

Next week, Jewish families will sit at their seder tables and relive the drama of Jewish liberation from Egyptian oppression. The text used, the Haggadah, is one of the most widely read works of the rabbinic tradition. It has an inescapably national aspect, and its main themes, when seen in the right perspective, suggest to the rabbi Meir Soloveich…

1
Yechiel Leiter on Losing a Child to War 34:45

2M ago34:45

34:45

Yechiel Leiter is a distinguished Israeli public servant and thinker. A scholar of political philosophy, the head of the international department of the Shiloh Policy Forum, the former chief of staff to then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is also the father of seven children—including five of whom are serving in Israel’s current war with H…

1
Yehoshua Pfeffer on Haredi Service in the Israeli Military 54:11

2M ago54:11

54:11

Whether or not haredi Jews should be required to serve in the IDF is a perennial question of Israeli politics, one that has caused political parties to form and disband, governing coalitions to rise and fall. It was the subject of a 2021 episode of this podcast with the haredi judge, editor, and rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer. This question has taken on a …

1
Joseph Lieberman on American Jews and the Zionist Dream (Rebroadcast) 22:49

3M ago22:49

22:49

Nearly twenty-five years ago, at the turn of the new millennium, America came very close to selecting not only a Jewish vice president, but a proudly religious, Shabbat-observing, kosher-eating Jewish vice president: Joe Lieberman, senator from Connecticut. Lieberman, who died this week, epitomized a certain spirit in American public life, when the…

1
Seth Kaplan on How to Fix America's Fragile Neighborhood 39:21

3M ago39:21

39:21

Neighborhoods have always played a distinctly important role in American public life. The neighborhood is the most intimate public setting outside of the home, the place where mediating institutions of common life—schools, stores, gyms, houses of worship—connect citizens to each other. American neighborhoods, however, have lately grown fragile and …

1
Timothy Carney on How It Became So Hard to Raise a Family in America 45:33

3M ago45:33

45:33

In 21st-century America, the formation of families has become less common, and when people do get married and have children, they have fewer of them. According to demographers, for a population to reproduce itself, each family in it must on average produce at least 2.1 children. Americans are now reproducing at well below that number, a trend that …

1
Jonathan Conricus on How Israeli Aid to Gaza Works 51:05

3M ago51:05

51:05

During Israel's war against Hamas, it has provided direct aid to Gazans, and it has allowed for the distribution of foreign aid. Hamas has accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally targeting Palestinians as they gather to receive food, most recently on February 29. The Israeli military released video evidence to the contrary, but by the time they d…

1
Vance Serchuk on Ten Years of the Russia-Ukraine War 1:06:49

4M ago1:06:49

1:06:49

One day after this phase of the war began, on February 25, 2022, the writer, former Senate staff member, Navy reservist, and executive director of the KKR Global Institute Vance Serchuk joined Mosaic‘s editor Jonathan Silver to discuss what was happening in real time. Two years later, he joins the Tikvah Podcast again to step back and ask some basi…

1
Yehuda Halper on Maimonides the Physician 52:39

4M ago52:39

52:39

The outstanding rabbinic authority and philosopher of the Middle Ages, Maimonides, was also a physician. After writing The Guide of the Perplexed, his great philosophical treatise, he turned his attention to composing works of medicine. He produced ten: On Hemorrhoids, On Cohabitation, On Asthma, On Poisons and Their Antidotes, Regimen of Health, O…

1
Cynthia Ozick on the Story of a Jew Who Becomes a Tormentor of Other Jews 35:51

4M ago35:51

35:51

In the 1850s, when a young Italian Jewish boy named Edgardo Mortara fell ill, his family’s Christian maid had secretly baptized him in hopes that he would be restored to health, or that if he died, his soul would be saved. This meant that when Edgardo survived and his baptism was revealed, the church saw him as a Christian child, not a Jewish one—a…

1
Yehuda Halper on Guiding Readers to "The Guide of the Perplexed" 49:59

4M ago49:59

49:59

This week, the Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic returns to the towering intellectual and religious sage of medieval Judaism, Moses Maimonides, the Rambam. In two previous conversations about his work, the professor of Judaism Yehuda Halper and podcast host Jonathan Silver focused on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, his code of law. This week, the two turn from …

1
Ray Takeyh on What Iran Wants 36:25

4M ago36:25

36:25

Since October 7, there have been more than one hundred attacks by Iran-backed militias against American forces in the Middle East. On January 28, a drone strike, probably launched by Iran’s most powerful proxy in Iraq, killed three and injured more than 40 American soldiers. Iran-supported Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial ships…

1
Yehuda Halper on Maimonides and the Human Condition 52:43

5M ago52:43

52:43

Recently, the Israeli professor of Jewish philosophy Yehuda Halper joined Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver to discuss Maimonides, the Rambam, perhaps the most significant medieval rabbinic sage and Jewish philosopher. They discussed Maimonides’s life and the main genres of his work—his commentary on Jewish law, his codification of Jewish law, his elab…

1
Hillel Neuer on How the Human-Rights Industry Became Obsessed with Israel 53:37

5M ago53:37

53:37

1948 was a landmark year in international politics. It saw the establishment of modern Israel. And it saw the General Assembly of the United Nations adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That document, recognized today as a foundation stone of international human-rights law, gives voice to a range of fundamental rights meant to honor hum…

1
Yehuda Halper on Where to Begin With Maimonides 54:03

5M ago54:03

54:03

2024 marks 820 years since the death of Maimonides in the Egyptian city of Fustat. The main focus of his writing falls in three categories. There's his commentary on the Mishnah and his code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, a monumental contribution to Jewish jurisprudence. His Guide of the Perplexed is a magnum opus of theological and philosophic…

1
Our Favorite Conversations of 2023 1:14:33

5M ago1:14:33

1:14:33

In 2023, host Jonathan Silver convened 47 new conversations probing some of the most interesting and consequential subjects in modern Jewish life, from theological and religious themes to political and military ones. He spoke to scholars, visual artists, rabbis, writers, soldiers, strategists, and generals. Now that 2023 has come to an end, he's lo…

1
Matti Friedman on Whether Israel Is Too Dependent on Technology 40:20

6M ago40:20

40:20

Israel is known for its advances in military technology, from the helmet-mounted displays of the newest fighter jets to the Iron Beam anti-missile defense system. (See this recent discussion with the military strategist and author Edward Luttwak about his new book on the subject, or this discussion with the entrepreneur Alon Arvatz about the cyber-…

1
Ghaith al-Omari on What Palestinians Really Think about Hamas, Israel, War, and Peace 47:29

6M ago47:29

47:29

Earlier this month, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research released a poll of Palestinian attitudes—attitudes towards Israel, towards Hamas, towards the Palestinian Authority, about the Hamas attacks of October 7, about the conduct of the war since that time, and more. The findings are eye-opening. Asked if the October 7 attacks were…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Soloveichik Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
HaRav Ahron Soloveichik

Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik

1
Brisklive

Rabbi Yosef Soloveichik

1
The Tikvah Podcast

The Tikvah Fund

1
Chaim Saiman on the Roots and Basis of Jewish Law (Rebroadcast) 47:23

1
Elliott Abrams on American Jewish Anti-Zionists 38:45

1
Andrew Doran on Why He Thinks the Roots of Civilization Are Jewish 50:11

1
Haisam Hassanein on How Egypt Sees Gaza 35:59

1
Asael Abelman on the History of “Hatikvah” 40:01

1
Shlomo Brody on Jewish Ethics in War 47:27

1
Ruth Wisse on the Explosion of Anti-Israel Protests on Campus 51:39

1
Meir Soloveichik on the Politics of the Haggadah 41:17

1
Yechiel Leiter on Losing a Child to War 34:45

1
Yehoshua Pfeffer on Haredi Service in the Israeli Military 54:11

1
Joseph Lieberman on American Jews and the Zionist Dream (Rebroadcast) 22:49

1
Seth Kaplan on How to Fix America's Fragile Neighborhood 39:21

1
Timothy Carney on How It Became So Hard to Raise a Family in America 45:33

1
Jonathan Conricus on How Israeli Aid to Gaza Works 51:05

1
Vance Serchuk on Ten Years of the Russia-Ukraine War 1:06:49

1
Yehuda Halper on Maimonides the Physician 52:39

1
Cynthia Ozick on the Story of a Jew Who Becomes a Tormentor of Other Jews 35:51

1
Yehuda Halper on Guiding Readers to "The Guide of the Perplexed" 49:59

1
Ray Takeyh on What Iran Wants 36:25

1
Yehuda Halper on Maimonides and the Human Condition 52:43

1
Hillel Neuer on How the Human-Rights Industry Became Obsessed with Israel 53:37

1
Yehuda Halper on Where to Begin With Maimonides 54:03

1
Our Favorite Conversations of 2023 1:14:33

1
Matti Friedman on Whether Israel Is Too Dependent on Technology 40:20

1
Ghaith al-Omari on What Palestinians Really Think about Hamas, Israel, War, and Peace 47:29

Quick Reference Guide