Weird Being Jewish: Three Rabbis Walk Into a Podcast

S2E21 Do Jewish People Do Mitzvahs for the Right Reasons? 02.06.2026 29m

Rabbi Jeffrey is on his annual trip to the Rabbinical Longshoremen convention in Witchita but Rabbis Josh and Matt explore the enduring question of "Why Do A Mitzvzah" and essential question in Jewish life. We explore aligning our intentions with our actions, and explore how to be better Jews.

S2E20 Is Your Rabbi Using AI? Is That Good (or Bad) for the Jews? 28.05.2026 39m

the three rabbis take on AI and disagree about its merits and dangers.

S2E19 Strings Attached: The Challenge of Jewish Life in This Moment 06.05.2026 33m

Three rabbis reunite after a hiatus with no agenda and plenty to say. They wade into the fraught waters of Israel, the war, Yom HaZikaron, and what it means to hold nuance in a community that often demands a party line — then somehow end up in a heated debate about strings in rock music, Charlie Daniels, and whether Phil Spector ruined "The Long and Winding Road." Josh admits he's been hiding from Israel discourse behind his guitar, Jeff cops to being emotionally "buffeted" by the whole thing, and Matt drops the news that he's heading to the pulpit of a major New York synagogue this summer. It's the classic Weird Being Jewish formula: serious stuff, silly detours, and genuine friendship holding it all together.

S2E18 Purim & the Jewish Take on Our World of Chaos 02.03.2026 33m

The three rabbis are at it again, plumming the depths of Purim. This episode was recorded before the attacks on Iran, about which Rabbis Jeffrey, Matt and Josh will likely have something to say in the future.

S2E17 A Jewish Take on Anger 19.02.2026 43m

Rabbis Matt and Josh kick around the idea of anger - which is having its moment in the world, it seems - and what the Jewish tradition has to say about it. Rabbi Jeffrey is out this week on an all-expense-paid trip to Ferrett, Alabama for their regionally famous hat-expo. He will return for the next episode.

S2E16 Every Jew at 22? The Jewish Gun Debate 04.02.2026 38m

In this episode of Weird Being Jewish the three rabbis are at it again. This time, we discuss guns, gun policy, Jewish safety and Jewish culture. Plus a question that could be applied to any number of topics in Jewish contemporary life: since classical sources don't mention guns, how should Jewish tradition inform civic norms and democratic policy?

S2E15 Judaism, Borders, and the Stranger 23.01.2026 36m

Rabbis Jeffrey, Matt and Josh confont the complexity of the Jewish tradition and the brutality of the current regime on immigration.

S2e14 Circles of Loss and Jewish Mourning 09.01.2026 37m

In this episode Rabbis Jeffrey, Matt, and Josh reflect together on how grief actually works: unevenly, unpredictably, and often shaped less by moral logic than by story, familiarity, and perceived relationship. Prompted by recent acts of violence and loss, they talk through why certain deaths—especially of public figures who have quietly accompanied us through decades of culture and art—can feel more piercing than other tragedies that are no less horrific. Drawing on Jewish tradition and lived experience, they explore the idea that mourning comes in layers, and that not all losses land on the heart in the same way. As the conversation unfolds, they turn to harder questions about obligation and identity. Is there a responsibility to feelmore when Jews are targeted, or is mourning primarily a communal and ethical act rather than an emotional one? From there, the discussion broadens to Jewish peoplehood, rising antisemitism, and the exhaustion many rabbis feel when public Jewish life becomes dominated by defense and crisis, often at the expense of Torah, teaching, and spiritual depth. They end by naming the tension between particularism and universalism—not as a problem to solve, but as a defining, often uncomfortable feature of Jewish life, and part of what makes being Jewish so complicated, and so weird.

S2E 13 What the Hell is Going On? (Jewish Answers Only) 16.12.2025 40m

The episode opens with the perennial prompt, "What the hell is going on?" and uses a small, concrete moment—an eighth-grader's intense anti-cheating check at a standardized test—to probe larger cultural drift. Are we lowering the baseline of civility and trust, or simply confronting old human problems in new packaging? The hosts toggle between the granular and the global: fraying norms in U.S. and Israeli politics, the difference between safety theater and integrity, and the unsettling feeling that structures once thought stable are wobbling. From there, the conversation tests three stances. One voice argues for historical moderation—by many measures the world is safer and fairer than in the past—while another insists that unprecedented anxieties are real, at least in our lifetimes. A third position says it may be stasis: humanity cycles through brutality and beauty. Jewish frames help hold these tensions—Kohelet's "nothing new," the dual memory of Sinai and the Golden Calf, "yeridat hadorot" versus the possibility of ascent, daily blessings that sanctify the mundane—alongside secular touchstones (evolution's cruelty, Viktor Frankl's meaning-making, and a Robert Hass passage on small consolations). The three Rabbis landson agency as the Jewish answer to metaphysical fog. Even without messianic guarantees, a "1% hope" that suffering can be reduced obligates effort: ask better questions, act in one's community, and keep resetting the moral bar. The podcast's purpose, they conclude, is exactly this: to take big, destabilizing questions, run them through Jewish texts and practice, and emerge not with neat solutions but with clearer bearings—and a renewed charge to get to work.

S2E12 Doing Good, Feeling Joy: A Jewish Take on Happiness 02.12.2025 43m

What's the difference between happiness and joy—and does Judaism care? In this episode of Weird Being Jewish, Rabbis Matt Reimer, and Jeffrey Weill and Josh Rose discuss whether Jewish practice actually generates joy or just names it. Along the way, they question the American, individualist chase for "happiness" and weigh it against a communal, ethical frame. You'll hear a sukkah open-house story, a meteor-shower moment that turns into a lesson about craving, and a spirited back-and-forth over aligning with "the Ultimate" versus focusing on doing the mitzvot right now—inviting guests, visiting the sick, making time for people. No neat answers, but sharp debate and practical takeaways: joy tends to show up where there's community, rhythm, and responsibility. If you've ever wondered whether the calendar can make you happier—or just more human—this one's for you.

S2E11 Do You Want Hope or Honesty from Your Rabbi? 18.11.2025 47m

Just before this past the High Holidays, Rabbis Matt, Jeff Weill, and Josh Rose wrestled with a blunt dilemma: when the world feels bleak, what belongs on the bimah—unvarnished realism, performative uplift, or a hard-won mix of both? They talk about shielding kids from despair, writing sermons that don't lie, and whether prayers for captives can honestly say "speedily" years in. Along the way they parse the difference between timeless petitions (peace, redemption) and policy-laden hopes, and ask what prayer means if God isn't a vending machine. From machzor-as-cycle to Judaism-as-forward-motion, from teshuva as "return" to hope as an act of agency, they argue that perspective is one of the few things we truly control. Even in bad times, people still make music, love each other, and build meaning. The episode lands on a clear thesis: if you believe there's hope, you'll act like it—and that behavior is the point. Plus: Ned Flanders, Devo, and why ending in honesty might be the most Jewish move of all.

S2E10 Are Jewish People "A People"? 05.11.2025 38m

Rabbi Josh Rose and Rabbi Jeffrey Weill open with quick banter about The Clash—correcting a claim that Allen Ginsberg wrote broadly for Combat Rock (it was a spoken-word feature on "Ghetto Defendant")—then pivot to their real topic: Jewish peoplehood. They trade personal moments that made peoplehood feel tangible: a wild wedding hora, a teenage son's ecstatic trip to Israel, and the fantasy of a synchronized, worldwide Shema. Both admit strong, visceral bonds to other Jews, yet note how personality, humor, music, and shared culture can sometimes trump tribal ties in day-to-day affinity. They then interrogate whether "peoplehood" exists or is better treated as an aspirational story worth preserving despite deep political and theological fractures. Weill recalls an Israeli guide who felt more kinship with an Arab Israeli bus driver than with U.S. Jews, raising questions about nationhood vs. Jewishness. He references Eric Alterman's We Are Not One to underscore disunity, while Rose argues the dream still has value even if the facts don't add up neatly. They close by distinguishing love for the Jewish collective from friction with particular Jews, debating "myth" vs. "dream," invoking (and nitpicking) Herzl's "If you will it…" line, and, fittingly, ending where they began—on music.

S2E9 The "Weirdness" of Jewish Identity at This Moment 16.09.2025 29m

A freewheeling conversation about the weirdness of Jewish life: why Jewishness can feel both beautiful and isolating, how contemporary politics (especially around Israel) strain communal leadership and personal identity, and what the future might hold for Jewish knowledge and belonging. Honest, funny, and sometimes painful — friends trying to think out loud together. The sound is a little uneven today - Rabbi Josh was calling in from a remote undisclosed location in Southern Oregon. We've done our best to make things sound ok.

S2E8 Which Music Brings us to God? 15.08.2025 39m

The three (rabbinic) musketeers talk about music, religion and whether and which music should be part of Jewish prayer. Metal? Hip Hop? Traditional? Tune in to find out

S2E7 Do Rabbis Believe that Judaism is "True"? 27.05.2025 22m

It might surprise you to know that many Rabbis struggle with some of the Big Questions about the very fundamentals of Jewish religion. One of those - maybe the Biggest - is, "Is Judaism true?" The three rabbis take the question head-on, and gives their perspective. This is Part I of a to-be-continued exploration of The Truth. Enjoy.

S2E6 Yom HaShoah: What Does it Mean Today? 05.05.2025 45m

S2E5 What (and Where) is Conservative Judaism, Anyway? 01.04.2025 53m

Rabbis Jeffrey and Josh explore the current state of Conservative Judaism. Rabbi Matt is out this week but will be back for the next episode. Jeffrey and Josh are both Reform Jewish rabbis who took the leap into Conservative Jewish congregations. The two of them discuss the simiilarities and differences between Reform and Conservative Judaism and reflect on the current state of the Conservative Jewish movement. Along the way they reflect on the meaning of Jewish law and ritual and its significance in contemporary Jewish life and where things might be headed *Note: The audio of Rabbi Josh's voice is terrible in the first part of the conversation. Our apologies!

S2E4 Death Words! Jewish Phrases Connected to Death and Dying 13.03.2025 38m

Her Memory for Blessing? Peace Upon Him? Blessed is the True Judge? We explore what these distinctly Jewish phrases mean and whether we should use them at all. A delightful conversation about death in this joint episode of Weird Being Jewish and Unveiling Death.

Gaza, Trump and the Jews 27.02.2025 27m

The three Jewish amigos sit down and try to make sense of what Judaism and Jewish values have to say about Trump's Gaza "plan." We discuss the political angle but as usual also turn to Jewish teachings and Jewish tradition to see if we can get insight into what's on the mind of so many Jewish Americans right now.

What's the Rabbi Wearing?? And Other Pressing Questions 13.02.2025 40m

WBJ Rabbis Reimer, Rose and Weill discuss the expectation that rabbis must act, talk, and, yes, dress like rabbis. Must we? It can feel oppressive at times, but it may also serve an important purpose. That's what we are kicking around in this episode of Weird Being Jewish.