Dr. Moshe Koppel is a leading computer scientist in Israel, with a specific expertise in AI. But over past twenty years he has led an intellectual movement promoting judicial reform within Israel. Through his Kohelet Policy Forum, Dr. Koppel researches alternatives to the entrenched judicial dynamics, and advocates for what he considers a more balanced and democratic approach, in line with other Western countries. Obviously, this topic has been at the center of stormy debates and protests in Israel; while it seemed to subside in the wake of the October 7th tragedy, this issue has returned to the foreground, with broad implications for swaths of Israeli society, perhaps most notably, the chareidim. We speak today with Dr. Koppel about the history and intellectual perspective of this movement, how and why it seemed to unravel, and where the typically non-ideological and narrowly focus charedi public fits in to the story.

Since inaugurating this podcast, and focusing a long series on charedim and army service, one episode has conspicuously been missing: a full treatment of the halachic parameters of the notion of milchemes mitzvah, as well as an analysis commonly advanced ideals such as "Torah magneh u'matzleh" ("Torah study protects"). In this episode we remedy that void and address these issues that are vital to any Torah-centered Jew. To do so, we speak with Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Lifshitz, a noted rav and rosh Kollel based in Yerushalayim, who has written extensively on these topics in recent months. Rabbi Dr. Lifshiftz is also a professor of philosophy at Shalem College.

Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie is a longtime Chabad Shaliach (emissary), co-director of the North County Chabad Center in Orange County, California. Author of the book Secret of Chabad, he has recently released a groundbreaking biography of the “Friediker Rebbe” - the Sixth Rebbe of the Chabad chassidic dynasty - called “Undaunted: How the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn Saved Russian Jewry, Reimagined American Judaism, Ignited a Global Jewish Renaissance.” In this episode, we review Rabbi Eliezrie’s own background and this most recent work, then springboard into an analysis of Chabad’s perspective on Zionism, secular nationalism, army enlistment and the modern state of Israel.

Mrs. Miriam Kosman is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, a longtime resident of Bnei Brak, and now lives in Afula in Israel’s north. The daughter, descendant, and wife of distinguished talmidei chachamim, she has emerged as one of Orthodoxy’s most compelling thinkers on the subject of Judaism and gender. Her groundbreaking work, Circle, Arrow, Spiral, draws on academic insight, psychological depth, and the esoteric teachings of Judaism, particularly those of Rav Moshe Shapiro zt”l, to offer a rich and often countercultural framework for understanding masculine and feminine spiritual energies in Torah thought. In our conversation, we explore the theological dimensions of gender in Judaism, along with contemporary expressions, common misconceptions, and some of the stranger distortions that have emerged in the current cultural moment. For more quality content, join our weekly newsletter: https://iyun.org.il/en/join-our-newsletter Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Tzarichiyun