I Just Couldn't Walk Away: Yehuda Lapian

Behind the Bima

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

Josh Broide, Efrem Goldberg, Rabbi, Judaism, Philip Moskowitz, Education, Jewish, Bima, Self-improvement, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 579 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Behind the Bima, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg and Rabbi Philip Moskowitz sit down with Yehuda Lapian to explore the reality behind Israel’s religious and secular divides. Drawing from his own journey growing up across different Jewish worlds... and even trying to leave Judaism behind... Lapian reflects on identity, belonging, and why Israel’s social labels rarely capture the full story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Bokerts-on-Florida, this is Behind the Rima.
0:04.0	On this episode, the rabbis are joined by Yehuda Lapa, who works with Peace of Mind,
0:08.0	bringing Israeli veterans to Jewish communities overseas for structure group support.
0:12.0	Having grown up between Israel's different worlds,
0:15.0	Yehuda was shaped by each, yet confined by none.
0:17.0	In this conversation, Yehuda reflects on trying to step away from religious life, only to
0:21.6	discover that identity runs deeper than ideology. Uyhuda speaks about the divides within Israeli
0:26.5	society and why its labels often obscure more than they reveal. All this and more, Behind the
0:32.3	Bima. This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charlestine and Darrell Benjamin in honor of their grandparents, Morton and Malvina Charleston, and their children, Ruby and Maccabi Benjamin.
0:43.3	Special edition Behind the Bima. This is not only Behind the Bima, this is Behind the Base on Nick Dush.
0:48.3	We are in Israel filming this intro to our new episode.
0:52.3	Underground, on the Pilgrimage Road.
0:55.3	This is the Derachfarlia la Regal.
0:57.5	All the way up.
0:58.6	It makes its way all the way up to the Basin Mugdush,
1:00.3	beginning down at your David from the Shlach Pool.
1:04.2	Extraordinary excavation.
1:05.5	We're here alone.
1:06.8	And what does this trip meant to you?
1:09.2	The trip has been amazing, but this spot right here, every time, just it gives me goosebumps
1:14.5	when you just, you know, you envision all the people coming from the bottom up to Yushalim to
1:20.3	the Basa Miqdash, bring their animals, their corbanos, hordes of people, the marketplace is full.
	...

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