PODCAST · society
Iyun Podcast
by Rabbi Ari Koretzky
The Iyun Podcast explores the many dynamics of chareidim in relation to the broader context of Israeli society and beyond. Hosted by long-time podcaster Rabbi Ari Koretzky, Iyun features stimulating and courageous conversations with guests from a diverse range of stakeholders in the future of chareidi society. Join us on this exciting new adventure in Jewish podcasting!
Episodes
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Episode 40 - "A New Charedi Party" with Ziva Glanz
In this episode, I speak with Ziva Glanz, an American-born Haredi woman living in Israel and a candidate with the new Haredi political party, HaTzibor HaHaredi (the Haredi public).Ziva shares her personal journey from Passaic to Israel, her family’s experience with Aliyah (immigration to Israel),...
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Episode 39 - "It Wasn't Always So" with Professor Yair Halevy
It Wasn’t Always So In this episode, I speak with Yair Halevy, a researcher of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) history, thought and sociology, about one of the most fascinating and surprising shifts in modern Jewish history: the transformation from what he calls “old Haredism” to “new Haredism.” Today,...
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Episode 38- Between Torah and Derech Eretz
In this episode, I speak with Rabbi Rafael Dembovsky about his new book, Between Torah and Derech Eretz: A Hashkafic and Halachic Analysis of the Torah im Derech Eretz and Torah Only Viewpoints. The conversation explores one of the most enduring and consequential debates in Orthodox Jewish life:...
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Episode 37 - Poverty as an Agent of Bitachon with Yechiel Presant
In this episode, we speak with Yechiel Presant about his provocative essay, “Vessels of Blessing: Poverty, Faith, and Human Agency in Charedi Society.” Conversations about Charedi poverty often focus on familiar questions: secular education, professional training, workforce participation,...
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Episode 36 - "Waiting for Moshiach...or Bringing him?"
What does it really mean to anticipate redemption? In this episode, I speak with Pinchas Freudiger about his provocative critique of contemporary Charedi thinking: that our understanding of Mashiach and Geula has become too passive and too deeply shaped by an exilic mindset. We discuss why Torah...
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Episode 35 - Is Violence the Answer? with R' Yehoshua Pfeffer
In this episode, we take a hard look at a growing crisis within the Torah world: what happens when a system built around the ideal of total Torah immersion leaves too many young men without genuine learning, productive work, responsibility, or purpose? Drawing on Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer’s...
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Episode 34 - Poverty and Identity in the Chareidi Community
Dr. Nechumie Yaffe is a Haredi scholar and lecturer at Tel Aviv University whose work focuses on Haredi sociology and the challenge of translating the lived experience of the ultra-Orthodox world to audiences outside of it. Her research explores the tensions, assumptions, and internal…
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Episode 33 - Chareidi Women in Tech...in the IDF?!
Esti Salomon is the founder and CEO of Atida, a pioneering Israeli nonprofit creating new pathways for ultra-Orthodox women to serve in elite technological units within the IDF as civilian employees. Under her leadership, Atida has placed more than 400 women in prestigious roles in units such as...
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Episode 32 - Tradition or Innovation: Gender Roles in Chareidi Society
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…
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Episode 31 - What is a "Kiddush Hashem" And Why Does it Matter? With Rabbi Shraga Freedman
Rabbi Shraga Freedman, a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, has dedicated himself to restoring the centrality of Kiddush Hashem as a defining value in Jewish life. Through the work of the Living Kiddush Hashem Foundation, he has developed programs, educational materials, and practical resources...
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Episode 30 - "The Anthropology of Daas Torah" with Professor Benny Brown
SHOW NOTES: PROFESSOR BENNY BROWN Professor Benjamin (Benny) Brown is one of the foremost experts on charedi ideology and identity in the modern Israeli academy. He has published widely on a range of topics, including mussar and chassidus, in addition to our topic on this episode, Daas Torah. We...
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Episode 29 - "When Ben Gurion Met the Chazon Ish" - With Rabbi Nathanial Helfgot
On November 19, 2025, Rabbi Nathaniel (“Nati”) Helfgot - a congregational rabbi and Judaics teacher at SAR in Riverdale - wrote an article at The Lehrhaus titled, “Ben Gurion and Hazon Ish: The Sequel.” In the article, Rabbi Helfgot traces the history of the iconic encounter between these...
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Episode 28 - "Chareidim on the Political Left" with Pnina Pfeuffer
We tend to assume that all chareidim sit on the political Right in Israel. This week’s interview with Pnina Pfeuffer interrogates that assumption. As a chareidi woman firmly stationed on the Israeli Left, Pnina Pfeuffer, founder of the “New Chareidim” organization, promotes the embrace of...
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Episode 27 - The Golden Path: A R' Moshe Hauer zt"l Tribute
On Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah 5786/2025, the Jewish world lost a titanic leader, Rabbi Moshe Hauer, a man who modeled Jewish living and leadership in an extraordinary manner. Rabbi Hauer was the Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, as well as Rabbi Emeritus of Baltimore's Bnai Jacob...
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Episode 26 - "Can the Chareidi Workforce Grow?" With Yitzik Crombie
Yitzik (pronounced "Itzkik") Crombie is a long-time tech entrepreneur who founded Mego, a training program aimed at integrating into the higher-level Israeli workforce. The work is supported through the Kemach Foundation. Yitzik also runs Bizmax, a co-working space geared for chareidim, among…
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Episode 25 - "My Month in Basic Training" with Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer
Iyun Institute founder and director Rabbi Yehoshua Pfefferrecently “put his body where his pen is,” enlisting in the IDF in its “Shlav Bet” program within the Homefront Command. Fresh off a month-long basic training, R’ Pfeffer shares his reflections and takeaways from the field.
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Episode 24 - "Chabad on Zionism" With Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie
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...
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Episode 23 - What is Charedi Ideology? With Combat Physician and Author Dr. Yechiel Reit
Dr. Yechiel Reit is an American-born emergency medicine doctor, an IDF reserve combat physician and the author of "Applied Monotheism: The Chareidi Response to Modernity." In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Dr. Reit's IDF experience and his analysis of "Charediism," as he argues for an...
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Episode 22 - The Charedi Parties, with The Times of Israel's Sam Sokol
Sam Sokol is a veteran journalist, currently the Knesset Affairs correspondent at the Times of Israel. In this episode, we explore his journalistic background, and his unique perspective on the charedi parties in the landscape of Israeli politics.
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Episode 21 - CROSSOVER - Yaakov Wolff (Shtark Tank podcast) Interviews Rabbi Yehoshua and Tamar Pfeffer
After a long hiatus, we return with a crossover episode - Yaakov Wolff, host of the Shtark Tank podcast, interviews Rabbi Yehoshua and Rebbetzin Tamar Pfeffer. More original episodes to come shortly!
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Episode 20 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 14): Does the Torah Protect?
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"...
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Episode 19 - Chareidim and Judicial Reform w/Dr. Moshe Koppel
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...
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Episode 18 - Bridging the Divide: Shabbos with Hostage Families and NOVA Survivors
Tzili Schneider has created one of the most remarkable bridge-building educational operations in Israel, Kesher Yehudi. Ari Koretzky has previously interviewed Tzili on his other show, Jews You Should Know. Relevant to the Iyun Podcast, however, we focus in this episode on Tzili’s recent efforts...
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Episode 17 - Facts on the Ground: Hasbara to American Chareidim
The charedi communities of the United State and Israel are separated physically by an ocean, but culturally and psychologically by a great deal as well. Many Americans lack basic awareness of current developments on the ground in Israel, the actual attitudes towards army service and general...
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Episode 16 - "A Year in Mea Shearim" with Tuvia Tenenbom
Tuvia Tenenbom is quite a colorful character. An author, playwright, mathematician, computer scientist, and all-around polymath, Tuvia was raised in a chareidi Israeli home, in the lap of the Chazon Ish, Rav Shach and other great luminaries. His own life veered on a different course, but he...
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Episode 15 - The Purpose of Life
Why are we here? What’s it all about? Obviously, Judaism has quite a bit to say about this topic. In fact, it may be its entire animating essence! Still, as expressed in contemporary living, even those who identify as strictly Torah-observant may respond divergently to this most-important…
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Episode 14 - The Role of Chareidi Media, with Jonathan Rosenblum
Jonathan Rosenblum is a long-time columnist, pundit and observer of the Orthodox/chareidi communities in Israel and worldwide. He joins us on this episode to explore the unique role and purpose of chareidi media. His wonderful new volume, “Ordinary Greatness,” a compilation of many columns, and...
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Episode 13 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 12): The "Dati/Torani" Perspective
Rabbi Moshe Taragin is a long-time Ram at Yeshivat Har Etzion (“The Gush”), as well as a popular speaker and author on a wide variety of Torah topics. A student of Rav Aharon Lichsteinstein, zt”l and Rav Yehuda Amital, zt”l, R’ Taragin absorbed their weltanschauung over many years. In this…
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Episode 12 - Charedim and the Army (Pt. 11): Do Chareidim See Themselves as Israeli?
In his role as founding director of the Haredi Institute of Public Affairs (HIPA), Eli Paley is well positioned to evaluate the chareidi relationship to Israeli society. As Iyun founder Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer has written, the most vital factor in the entire chareidi conscription conundrum may…
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Episode 11 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 10): Halacha and the Chain of Command
One of the under-appreciated concerns - sometimes articulated, often unconscious - held by Chareidim with respect to army service, is the concept of “chain of command.” For a young man whose guiding force in life is G-d, the Torah and rabbinnic authority, submission to faceless officers high up…
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Episode 10: Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 9): What Does Daas Torah Say?
“Daas Torah.” These two words are among the most loaded in modern hashkafic - and political - discourse. But what, in fact, does it mean, and how might it apply to the current crisis over chareidi conscription, whatever one’s view of the matter? It would be presumptuous to attempt to treat the...
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Episode 9 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 8): Live Symposium - The Role of Israel's Supreme Court
On May 26th, 2024, the Iyun Institute co-presented a special symposium with The Israel Law and Liberty Forum, titled "Chareidim, the Draft & the Law: Where Do We Go Now?" The panel, moderated by ILLF Executive Director Mrs. Aylana Meisel-Diament, also featured Iyun's own Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer…
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Episode 8 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 7): Life After Netzach?
Rabbi Eliyahu Chait, the youngest child of famed rabbi, author and singer-songwriter Rabbi Baruch Chait, is making a mark of his own. An IDF alumnus of Netzach, R' Eliyahu recognized a need for a post-army framework servicing young men from chareidi backgrounds with serious Torah learning and...
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Episode 7 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 6): "Just Two Yungermen" - An "Oxford-Style" Debate
On this episode, two wonderful, "regular" yungermen - each a talmid chochom of stature who has thought and written considerably about this subject - join us for an "Oxford-Style Debate" (sans the audience). Today's proposition: "The time has arrived for many more chareidim to begin to draft to…
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Episode 6 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 5): From the Field - Religion in the Army with a Rav Tz'vai
Rabbi Aviad Goldwicht is a business professional and Torah teacher who also serves as a rabbinic chaplain in the Israel Defense Forces. Since October 7th he has been servicing soldiers and engaging in extremely taxing and holy work.
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Episode 5 - Chareidim & the Army (Pt. 4): “Chareidi Hesder” - An Oxymoron?
Rabbi Karmi Gross, son of legendary Miami day school founder Rabbi Alexander (Sender) Gross, is a pioneering educator and Jewish leader. A founding rebbe at Yeshivat Maarava, then a principal at day schools in Vancouver, Detroit, and Los Angeles, he finally returned to Israel to found the first...
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Episode 4 - Chareidim & the Army (Pt. 3): What is Nachal Chareidi/Netzach?
Chareidim & the Army (Pt. 3): What is Nachal Chareidi/Netzach? In Episode 4 of the Iyun Podcast - and Pt. 3 of our mini-series on Chareidim and Army Service - we begin exploring various frameworks that currently exist to absorb those chareidim seeking to draft into military service. We begin with...
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Episode 3 - Chareidim & the Army (Pt. 2): Shall Your Brothers Go to War?...
In Episode 3 of the Iyun Podcast - and Pt. 2 of our mini-series on Chareidim and Army Service - we interrogate the "moral claim" leveled by Israeli society, broadly writ, against those Jewish brothers who elect not to serve in the IDF. With Moshe's rhetorical repudiation of, "Shall your brothers…
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Episode 2 - Chareidim and the Army (Pt. 1): Common Objections, with R' Yehoshua Pfeffer and R' Yosef Chaim Simchon
EPISODE SUMMARY This episode of the Iyun Podcast begins our discussion of the complex relationship between Chareidi society and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Featuring insights from Iyun Institute founder Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer and guest Rabbi Yosef Chaim Simchon, the conversation explores the...
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Episode 1 - Chareidi Responsibility in a Changing World, with R' Yehoshua Pfeffer
EPISODE SUMMARY On this pilot episode of the Iyun Podcast, we begin our in-depth exploration into Chareidi society, focusing on its integration into modern Israeli society and the implications for the Jewish community at large. Featuring Iyun Institute founder and director Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Iyun Podcast explores the many dynamics of chareidim in relation to the broader context of Israeli society and beyond. Hosted by long-time podcaster Rabbi Ari Koretzky, Iyun features stimulating and courageous conversations with guests from a diverse range of stakeholders in the future of chareidi society. Join us on this exciting new adventure in Jewish podcasting!
HOSTED BY
Rabbi Ari Koretzky
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How many episodes does Iyun Podcast have?
Iyun Podcast currently has 40 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Iyun Podcast about?
The Iyun Podcast explores the many dynamics of chareidim in relation to the broader context of Israeli society and beyond. Hosted by long-time podcaster Rabbi Ari Koretzky, Iyun features stimulating and courageous conversations with guests from a diverse range of stakeholders in the future of...
How often does Iyun Podcast release new episodes?
Iyun Podcast has 40 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Iyun Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Iyun Podcast?
Iyun Podcast is created and hosted by Rabbi Ari Koretzky.
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