THE LIVING JEWISHLY BLOG
Tu B'Av and the Languages of Love
Tune into this special podcast episode to learn about different and exciting ways to celebrate Tu b’av with your loved ones, and the joy of incorporating love and romance into your daily life.
Should We Respond?
In a democratic society, calling out Ye’s latest rant is as reasonable as any other justified critique of a public figure. But we need to remember that there are serious problems that face Jews everywhere that won’t be solved by a tsunami of backlash on Twitter against celebrities who would not even be subjects for conversation if they were not celebrities.
EPISODE 98: Judaism and the Ethics of Abortion
This week’s episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of What Would You Do?, a podcast about ethics in our modern world. Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with Rabbi Dr. Danny Schiff, author of Abortion and Judaism, about Jewish perspectives on abortion.
EPISODE 97: From Life to Death: A Story of Rebirth
This week’s episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of Crossing The Sea, a podcast about Judaism and mental health. Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with former sports journalist Howard Berger, who was laid off in 2011 and dealt with years of emotional struggle — until his professional path took an unexpected turn and brought new meaning into his life.
Nourishing the World
As hard as we try, we cannot permanently avert our eyes from global food insecurity, which is not a matter of lifestyle, or values, or identity. It is a binary of life or death, with little in between. Without protecting the fragility of the ecosystem, we will be unable to leave a viable legacy to our descendants.
EPISODE 93 - Sukkot, Forest Bathing, & Climate Justice
This week’s episode of Living Jewishly dives into our evolving relationship with the natural world, how to incorporate our holiday messages into the rest of our year, and the importance of embracing our identities as beings of nature.
Sukkot and the Fragility of Life
Life invariably shows us how fragile we really are and Sukkot is about literally shifting perspectives and encountering that fragility. Sukkot asks us to consider the real meaning of security and to cherish our beloved all the more.
Shofar and the Sounds of our Lives
How do shofar sounds connect to the lives we all lead? Because music is a language. This Rosh Hashana let the music take you on a journey through the ups and downs of life and set your intentions for the new year.
The New Moral Language
This week’s instalment of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an episode of What’s in Your Toolbox?, a podcast about mental health. In this episode, Bobby K sits down with “Wacky Jackie” G., a fellow alumni of the Mood Disorder Association of Ontario’s Laughing Like Crazy program, to discuss the power of comedy, creativity, and connection.
EPISODE 89 Fundamentalism and the Ethics of Reading
In this week’s episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with Professor William Kolbrener of Israel’s Bar Ilan University about the shifts that he has observed during his time in academia, the differences between teaching in North America and teaching in Israel, and what modern students truly seek.
EPISODE 88: Crossing the Sea - Perfection and the Culture of Comparison
In this episode of the Living Jewishly Podcast Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with Professor Heather Widdows, a Professor of Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham about the moral and ethical implications of our focus on the external, the role of capitalism in the creation of beauty ideals, and how beauty pressures affect our mental health.
A Scholar and a Gentleman
The theological questions that emerge from the Holocaust are many, and they are difficult. Like many of us, I have thought about and been highly disturbed by these questions, so in 2008 I contacted Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni, who died on June 29 at the age of 94, and asked if he would be willing to discuss his thoughts about the Shoah.
Episode 83: Crime, Punishment and the Search for Justice
Brooklyn Law School’s Professor Adam Kolber and Dr. Elliot Malamet dive into the goals and moral basis of punishment, the ways that culture and politics affect crime and punishment, and the rationale behind the extremely high levels of crime and incarceration in the United States.
Let God Explain
Human beings throughout history have committed acts of unspeakable evil. In addition, natural disasters have killed untold millions; babies and children have suffered terrible illness and deformity. For the religious believer, there is a component of agonizing perplexity, why would God would create a world which is then seemingly abandoned to fate?
EPISODE 85: Transgender - A Human Story
This week’s episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of Crossing the Sea, a podcast about Judaism and mental health. Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with transgender adults about their experiences with transitioning and how they view their lives through a Jewish lens.
Must We Be Happy?
Happiness is like a destination that is seemingly not too far away and yet arriving is much harder than you thought it would be. The cultural pressure to be happy has grown exponentially. Books; tapes, life coaches, university courses.Perhaps we should look at happiness as a gentle aspiration, a fluid goal, rather than a strict mandate to be complied with
EPISODE 79 Reading Sinai: Tamar Ross and the Ethics of Cumulativism
This week’s episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of What Would You Do?, a podcast about ethics in the modern world. Dr. Elliot Malamet speaks with Professor Tamar Ross of Bar-Ilan University about the implications of the Mount Sinai story and how we may approach it in our modern context.
Why Jewish Law Does Not Agree with the Supreme Court
If you are “pro-choice,” meaning you believe that women have the right, under all circumstances, to choose abortion as an option for an unwanted pregnancy; or if you are “pro-life”, asserting that ending a fetal life at any stage after conception, for any reason, is akin to murder, then Jewish law is going to disappoint you both.
Changing Attitudes Towards Mental Health in Orthodoxy
On this episode of the Living Jewishly podcast Dr. Elliot Malamet and Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig explore the evolving responsibilities of rabbis in our modern world, the line between pastoral counselling and professional therapeutic work, and the sacrifices we need to make as a community for our struggling members.
What Do We Worship?
In Jewish terms, one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is “what do I worship?” Faced with this challenge, many people will find themselves hard-pressed to think of an answer. Read more to ask yourself the important questions and discover what you worship.