Episode #11: Ari Greenspan

Ari Greenspan grew up the son of a US Army rabbi, and he was sure he’d follow in his father’s footsteps and become a rabbi himself. But when he was standing outside the old Jerusalem train station, he quite literally had an epiphany, and that moment in time set his life on a completely different path, a path that led him to Israel and that has impacted Jews all around the world in many significant ways. Ari is known to some as one half of the “Ari and Ari” team that travels to far-flung Jewish destinations in search of historical nuggets. But he’s also a member of the founding team at Ptil Tekhelet, the organization that reintroduced the mitzva of tekhelet to the Jewish world after it was lost for 1300 years. Just before Rosh Hashana, I sat with Ari in his Efrat home to Return Again to his Aliyah story. 00:00 - Introduction 03:44 - Ari's Paradigm Shift 10:56 - Making Plans 18:16 - Putting Down Roots 24:47 - Can Being a Dentist Make Ends Meet? 33:16 - Children and Family 44:33 - Living Jewish History 54:41 - Discovering the Jewish World 1:06:36 - Rapid-fire Questions