THE DEFINITIVE RAP: Orthodox Jew In The U.S. Navy Interview with Eric Gutman

The United States Navy is the largest and most powerful navy in the world. The U.S. Navy trains and organizes to supply combat ready Naval forces to win wars when necessary, and also maintain security and restriction to protect our country.  If you have ever wondered whether it is possible to be in the navy and remain an orthodox person, you will get the answers from today’s guest.  Baila Sebrow, producer and host of The Definitive Rap sat down with Eric Gutman, a military veteran. Eric began his scientific career as a research assistant for NASA at the age of 17. By age 21, he was a research scholar at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a nuclear weapons lab in northern California, and subsequently he received his undergraduate degree in Applied Physics from Columbia University with concentrations in optics/lasers and nuclear physics. After working as a geophysicist in the oil industry, Eric received his graduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in relativity and cosmology, and as a graduate researcher at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, theoretically predicted interactions between ordinary and dark matter.
Upon receiving his honorable discharge from the United States Navy, Eric joined the faculty of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, and soon became one of the company’s most popular instructors in Chicago. Kaplan students would later rank Eric higher than any other GRE/SAT faculty member in the entire New York-Washington, D.C. region, a position he would hold until leaving the company to found The Best Test Prep. Eric was the lead writer of a GRE course for one of the country’s largest test preparation companies, recently authored a second GRE course for The Best Test Prep, and continues to provide instruction for the SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. Around his busy schedule of serving as The Best Test Prep’s chief executive officer, Eric is an active member of Mensa and the Columbia University Alumni Representative Committee, for which he interviews students (not his own) for admission to Columbia.  Eric talked about why he joined the navy, and the most contributing factor in that decision.  He spoke about domestic terrorism, and how long did he served, as well as what was going on during that time in the world.  Eric talked about his family, and the qualifications to join the navy, and the best part of being in the navy.  He discussed his experience being orthodox, kosher food, davening, etc. while serving, and how his training in the U.S, Navy influenced his current career with both adolescents and adults.  Eric shed some light on why he thinks we are seeing an increase in adolescent and young adult crime, particularly school shootings.  *Listen To This Interview  This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate