Shalom, Kavarim, Banot, and welcome to another very special episode of the world's number one Jewish podcast.

I have to ask for a small favor.

As an independent show, we don't have a massive marketing machine behind us.

Our growth is purely organic, fueled by dedicated viewers and listeners like you.

So if you would be so kind, please take 30 seconds,

head over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, find this show, and leave me a five-star rating and a short

written review. I love seeing all of your thoughtful and generous feedback. Some of it has even

made it onto the show and may again. And as of this recording,

we are just eight ratings away from hitting 500 on Apple. Crossing that threshold would be a huge

milestone for us. It's a small mitzv on your part, but it really is the fuel that allows us to

keep these amazing conversations going. So thank you in advance. Unless you don't leave a rating,

in which case you're a butthead. This is a personal story. If you listen to episode 27 of this

show, you heard me talk about my struggle with the idea of God. How, despite wanting the comfort

of a higher power, I struggle to deny the logic and empiricism that make

belief so difficult. But as I said in closing, I intended to continue that struggle, and indeed I

have. I have tried to open myself up to the presence of something greater, tried not to chalk

up every moment of potential cosmic alignment to mere coincidence, but to instead allow myself to consider that

perhaps something more may be afoot. Something else you've heard me talk about, if you've been

following along, is how I've never celebrated the holiday of Chavuot. In fact, I didn't really know

what it was beyond involving the harvest and dairy delights. My guest, Sarah Hurwitz, said it was her favorite holiday, and I thought, huh, that's interesting. I should look into that. I delivered a monologue about going full Jew and have been looking for ways to continue that in my own life, like maybe finally learning what Chavuot is all about. I asked Tessa Vexler and Eden Yadigar what their favorite holiday is, and they said Chavuot. I said, that's it, I'm doing it. So when prepping for my episode with Chris Cares Nunn, I finally did the research, and at last came to understand how it's not just an important holiday, but it is, in many ways, THE important holiday. It's the anniversary of the moment when God made

his covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, offering them the laws, stories, and customs that

would transform a rag-tag group of escaped slaves into a nation. It's the moment when the Jewish

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