Joshua Leifer and Shaindy Ort: How Progressive Activists Rediscovered Traditional Jewish Life [Teshuva IV 1/5]

18Forty Podcast

18Forty

Religion & Spirituality, Judaism

4.6 • 638 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2024

⏱️ 117 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This series is sponsored by Mira and Daniel Stokar, and this episode is sponsored by dailygiving.org.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Joshua Leifer and Shaindy Ort, married progressive activists who are reembracing traditional Jewish life.

Joshua and Shaindy grew up in Conservative and Yeshivish communities, respectively, but struggled to find a Jewish community as they joined left-wing circles, specifically those highly critical of Israel.

After October 7, Joshua resigned from the anti-Zionist magazine Jewish Currents, and in August, he published Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life, which made headlines after a Brooklyn bookstore canceled Joshua’s planned talk because it included a Zionist rabbi. In this episode we discuss:

Has October 7 changed anything for progressive Jews highly critical of Israel?
Why do left-wing circles struggle to maintain engaged Jewish life?
What differentiates the Israeli left from the American left?

Tune in to hear a conversation about return and renewal for progressive Jews seeking a life of traditional Jewishness.

Interview begins at 16:44.

Joshua Leifer is a journalist, editor, and translator. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere, and he is the author of the new book Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life.

Shaindy Ort-Leifer is an attorney who works in the fields of strategic litigation and international law.

Joshua and Shaindy are married.

References:

Orot HaTeshuvah by Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook

Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life by Joshua Leifer

Siddur Sefard: “Upon Arising, Upon Entering Synagogue”

Jew Vs Jew: The Struggle For The Soul Of American Jewry by Samuel G. Freedman

After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre

Hirsch Haggadah by Samson R. Hirsch

Arukh HaShulchan by Yechiel Michel Epstein

Kitzur Shulchan Arukh by Shlomo Ganzfried

Deuteronomy

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends, a few months ago we advertised the birth of a new community in Israel.
0:05.4	Eden Bait Shemesh, a community tailored made for all those of us in need of a five-year plan,
0:12.7	and let's face it, we are living in a time when every single one of us should be drafting the five-year plan for our futures in Israel.
0:20.5	Our own listeners from within the 1840 community have purchased in Eden, an opportunity which
0:26.4	they will longingly watch unfold into a reality, a shul, and a community.
0:32.1	I am so proud that the leaders behind Aden are none other than Rabbi Benny and Khani Krohn. I know them personally because they are the rabbi and Rebitten of my own
0:42.4	personal community and they are the ones leading this new development community. And I know for my own life that
0:49.6	their stewardship, their leadership is you know this is going to be a welcoming, joyous, incredible
0:55.7	community where everyone is going to be able to feel comfortable and build a home.
1:00.2	On June 29th, Eden will be hosting a webinar to speak in detail about the vision for this project.
1:07.6	In order to register, please click the link below or email info at
1:12.7	Edenbateschemish.com to find out more. Once again, that's info at Edenbateshemesh.com
1:20.2	to find out more. Hi, friends. Before we get to our latest episode and our new series, our latest series on Teshuvra,
1:30.6	I want to talk to you for a moment about Daily Giving. Daily Giving is an incredible initiative
1:36.1	that was started by a dear friend of mine, Jonathan Donath, but it doesn't matter who started it.
1:42.4	I first want to talk to you about why it took me so
1:45.6	long to sign up. I did not sign up for daily giving, which is an organization that you give a dollar a day.
1:52.6	It's fully automated by your credit card and every single day. Take all of that money, that $1 from
1:59.4	each of their participants and support different organizations,
2:03.4	different Jewish organizations around the world. It's an incredible organization. I took a very
2:08.4	long time for me personally to sign up, because I'll tell you why, I kind of objected to this
2:15.3	idea that, like, you're not really giving a physical dollar.
	...

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