PODCAST · religion
Not in Heaven
by The CJN Podcasts
A weekly podcast about Judaism in the 2020s—because the Torah was left for us to figure out on the ground. Sublime and irreverent conversations about the present and future of communal, religious and spiritual life, led by Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl.
Episodes
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J’Oy Vey: What the push towards ‘Jewish Joy’ misses
“Jewish joy” is having a moment. It shows up in grant guidelines, new organizational mission statements and frothy headlines like “This Hanukkah Episode of NPR’s Tiny Desk Is Full of Jewish Joy,” “How to Connect to Your Jewish Joy,” “What Brings Cookbook Author Leah Koenig Jewish Joy” and…
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Can synagogues raise money without ruining Yom Kippur?
You know the scene. Darkness falls. A hush settles over the gathered crowd. The rabbi intones: “The hour is nigh! Yom Kippur is upon us! Atone, turn your hearts toward righteousness, for today our fates are sealed. Who will live and who will die, who by fire, who by water, who by wild beasts?” A...
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All shepherd, no flock: With congregation numbers declining, freelance rabbis are on the rise
For Jews in the pews, the wail of the shofar is the signal sound of the Jewish New Year. But for congregational rabbis, it’s like the crack of a starting pistol, setting them off on a six-week sprint of preparation and facilitation. The role of the pulpit rabbi can be emotionally draining, with...
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Conservative Judaism cracked open the door to interfaith families. Critics say it should go further
Eight months after the Conservative movement issued a public apology to interfaith families for historically treating them as a threat to Jewish survival, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), the rabbinic arm of the denomination, released a new set of Jewish legal rulings delineating...
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High Steaks: With kosher meat prices soaring, should Jews eat less of it?
The prospect of summer grilling season might bring a tear to the eye of any patriotic Canadian, but it’s the eye-watering prices in the meat aisle that are stirring up the most emotion this year. The cost of beef remains stratospheric—up nearly 63 per cent since 2021 and over 12 per cent over the...
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Hoax or Hasid: Why stay in a religious community after you’ve stopped believing?
As darkness fell last night, Jews around the world sat on synagogue floors and listened to the chanting of Eicha, the Book of Lamentations, marking the beginning of Tisha B’Av. Traditionally the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, it is a day of mourning for the calamities that have befallen the...
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Do you need to feel hate to commit a hate crime?
How much does motive matter when it comes to hate crimes? In recent years, Canadian Jews have been rocked by a series of attacks on their community institutions, including late-night shootings at schools and synagogues, attempted arson, and smashing community centres' windows. Many Jews have met...
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Is enthusiasm for flags in synagogues flying at half-mast?
Canada Day and the Fourth of July are coming up, which means flags are popping up across North America like summer flowers. But Jewish Canadians — and Jewish Americans — have fair reason to be skeptical of nationalism. Jewish parents would be forgiven for feeling uneasy seeing their children…
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Turns out Jews also live outside major cities
Too often, when people talk about Jewish life in Canada, they are really talking about Jewish life in Toronto and Montreal. But the truth is more than a quarter of Jewish Canadians live outside those cities. Yes, many still live in large cities, but Jews live in mid-sized and smaller communities,...
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Don't rain on my pro-Israel parade
Two weekends, two parades, two attendance-taking exercises. On each of the past two Sundays, the United States and Canada each held their largest annual gatherings and celebration Jewish pride in their respective countries, in the form of a walk, parade or march for Israel. In New York, there was...
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Gett Naked: A revealing campaign about community accountability
Adina Sash, known online to over 100,000 followers as Flatbush Girl, is an American Jewish social media influencer and activist based out of Brooklyn. Originally, her content focused on the comedic aspects of Orthodox female life, but in recent years, her activism has shifted to advocating for...
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Do AI Rabbis Dream of Electric Herring?
On Monday, Pope Leo XIV (an unusual place for us to start, but bear with us) released “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity,” a letter to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on how to preserve human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence. Genesis’ story of the Tower of Babel is a...
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Jewish communities must face an uncomfortable question: Who is a Jew?
Ask most Jews what their favourite holiday is and you’ll hear Hannukah, Passover, Purim, Sukkot—maybe even Yom Kippur for some diehards. But despite being one of the big three holidays in the Hebrew Bible, the upcoming festival of Shavuot doesn’t usually make the cut. Which is a shame, because…
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Smartphone, dumbphone, kosherphone, anglophone, francophone: How Canadian Jews are trying to find a healthy relationship with their devices
Most parents share concerns about rising rates of depression, anxiety, and social disconnection among younger generations, especially how those issues intersect with increased time spent on smartphones and social media platforms. But what's the solution? Countries around the world, including...
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Up in arms: Why Jewish interest in gun ownership is surging
Sitting on a bus surrounded by Jews carrying rifles was once an exotic quirk of visiting Israel. But that may be changing. Last month, the American National Rifle Association announced it was teaming up with Lox & Loaded, a national Jewish gun club, to help in the fight against antisemitism. It’s...
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Is there a future for Jewish life in secularist Quebec?
This month, the province of Quebec passed Bill 9, a law that bans employees at publicly subsidized daycares from wearing religious symbols—including kippot, tzitzit, hijabs, turbans, and Stars of David—while also phasing out subsidies for religious private schools; banning prayer rooms in public...
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Cities are shying away from foreign flag raisings. But is it really a victory for Canadian Jews?
Yom ha-Atzmaut is in the air: circle dancing, falafels, inexplicable inflatable squeaky plastic hammers and, of course, Israeli flags galore. But this year’s Israeli Independence Day may be the final time the old kachol v’lavan is hoisted up the flagpole in front of Toronto’s City Hall.…
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Holocaust education isn’t coming to save us
What moral lessons should we take from the Holocaust? In 1998, the late Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer told the Bundestag about the three additional commandments the world had learned in the wake of the Shoah: “Thou shalt not be a perpetrator; thou shalt not be a victim; and thou shalt...
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The fifth annual Great Canadian Seder
For some reason, the number "five" feels particularly weighty—and so it's with great pride that we bring you the fifth annual Great Canadian Seder. For those new to this tradition, every Passover, the team at The CJN collects stories, memories, musings, songs and reflections about the holiday…
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Boys, men, and Kiddush clubs: The state of Jewish masculinity
Outside of orthodox communities, there’s a trend of boys and men increasingly disengaging from Jewish institutional life. A new article in the winter 2026 Sapir Journal called “Boyz II Mensches” by Adam Teitelbaum sparks the question: does the retreat of boys and men from Jewish communal life...
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Synagogues under fire: What solutions can actually keep the Jewish community safe?
Last week, three Toronto synagogues were hit with gunfire in overnight shootings. Shocked and exasperated, the city’s Jewish community demanded that action must be taken to keep them safe. They’re angry at public officials for not offering sufficient protection, and many have voiced their...
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The power and perils of blurring an ancient and modern day Purim
The story of Purim is well known: in ancient Persia, a wicked royal vizier plots to wipe out the Jewish people — but he didn't count on Queen Esther, a courageous Jewish woman who revealed the plot to the king. The tables were turned for the Jews as the powerful are victimized by their intended...
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Sold to the highest bidder: whose manuscript is it anyway?
A handwritten letter by a Jewish luminary of the 18th century, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, hit the auction block earlier this year. The event grabbed headlines both because of the nearly $400,000 US sale price, but also because, until recently, many believed that the...
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What's the next big idea? Birthright's co-founder wants to know
Taglit-Birthright Israel was founded just over 25 years ago, with the aim of strengthening Jewish identity among young adults through a 10-day, free of charge trip to Israel. The program has brought over 900,000 young adults from 70 countries to Israel. The ambitious program began as a grand...
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Jewish parents want their kids to play sports—just not professionally
This cold week in February has been dominated by two major sporting events: the 2026 Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. Jews played roles in both; the Olympics regularly see a handful of Jewish athletes competing on the world stage, including nine Israeli delegates and a smattering of Americans…
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End of a Grieving Era
With the return of Ran Gvili’s body, many Jewish leaders are publicly inviting community members to stand up from their proverbial shivas and re-engage with normal life. Federations across North America are welcoming—even memorializing—the return of ceremonial dog tags and yellow pins. But it's...
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A non-profit pays young people to host Shabbat dinners. It wound up firing 25% of its staff
OneTable is a non-profit organization with two goals: make Shabbat a regular part of young people's Jewish lives, and combat the epidemic of loneliness among that same demographic. Hosts can receive a small stipend for every guest who attends their Friday night dinner, and the broader Jewish...
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Why do Jews keep comparing themselves to movie goblins?
With the release of Wicked: For Good, Jewish audiences have been asking online: Are the munchkins supposed to be Jews? What about Elphaba—the vilified, bookish, green-skinned witch? Is she Jewish-coded? It's a question asked by some Jewish culture critics seemingly every time a movie with…
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Reflecting on the community response to the Winnipeg graffiti spree
Antisemitic acts don’t all mean the same thing, even if they provoke the same fear. A swastika sprayed on a synagogue door in Winnipeg is not the same as a fire set at a synagogue in Mississippi. And while community members understand this, when violence and intimidation come to their own...
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'Long Story Short' and the evolution of Jewish TV
The winter holiday season is upon us, which means binging TV shows and comfort movies is one of the only ways to pass the time while temperatures plummet outside. With this annual tradition, in the Jewish media world, come annual think pieces about Jewish onscreen representation. And while our...
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Plumbing the Rabbinic Pipeline: What New Data Says About The Future of Jewish Leadership
A recent, landmark study of current and future rabbis was met simultaneously with celebration, skepticism, and concern by groups across the Jewish community. The survey by Atra – Center for Rabbinic Innovation, indicated significant upward trends in rabbis choosing community positions rather than...
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[In Good Faith] How a Palestinian and a Jewish Canadian are trying to depolarize the country
This episode originally aired on The CJN's peace-building podcast, In Good Faith. To subscribe and hear more, visit thecjn.ca/faith. Mainstream Jews, who support Israel and consider themselves Zionists, feel like they are under attack. When they see people wearing keffiyehs and storefronts…
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Escape from New York?
In the lead-up to New York's mayoral election, many prominent Jewish New Yorkers came out against the eventual winner, Zohran Mamdani. Now that Mamdani has won, what do they do? How do they reconcile that a third of the city's Jews voted for someone who has spoken out against Israel? And how can...
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Nobody wants this (but everyone wants to talk about it)
The hit Netflix rom-com Nobody Wants This is back, and with it are Jewish debates about intermarriage and onscreen representation in mainstream media. The show's first season tells the story of heartthrob Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) and non-Jewish podcaster Joanne (Kirsten Bell) falling in love. It…
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Challahween? How Jewish families navigate Halloween
This week, many Jewish schools will be participating in a hallowed end of October tradition: sending out letters discouraging families from celebrating Halloween. The prominence of Halloween in public has ballooned in recent decades, evolving into a full-blown seasonal phenomenon. But despite the...
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Who’s afraid of Zohran Mamdani?
For months, Zohran Mamdani has held a double digit lead in the New York City mayoral race. The 34-year-old media-savvy firebrand burst onto the scene with a suite of fresh, progressive ideas—but his candidacy has forced a reckoning among the city’s significant Jewish community. Mamdani says he...
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Rosh Hashanah Roundup
Even for the least religiously involved Jews, the High Holidays are a high point—and sometimes the only point—of organized Jewish engagement. For many families, it may be the only time in a year they step inside a synagogue or participate in a prayer service. A time for re-upping their membership...
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Binge eating through the High Holidays
Jews may joke about the High Holidays being a time for binge eating—overflowing tables of multiple meats, several courses, soups, sides and desserts—but for anyone suffering from an eating disorder, it's a dangerous time of year. That's how Ilana Zackon, a performer and writer, remembers coming...
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The state of Jewish education
School has returned—and with it, the annual anxiety of Jewish parents fretting over the cost, and results, of Jewish day school. What good is Hebrew knowledge if most Israelis speak English? What are the benchmarks for a successful Jewish education? Is it just about surrounding our kids with…
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Elul: High Holiday Foreplay
Buckle up, sports fans, it’s synagogue pre-season—a.k.a. Elul, the Hebrew month of spiritual preparation directly before the High Holidays. It's somehow both a marathon and a sprint for observant Jews and their leaders: synagogue staff, rabbis and cantors prepare to go into overdrive writing...
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How can anyone be certain of anything happening in Israel?
Depending on which side of the political spectrum you're on, and which media outlets you trust, you perspective of what's happening in Israel and Gaza will be extremely different. And chances are, regardless of which stance you take, you're missing critical pieces of information. For our rabbi...
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The Jewish Angle: Is it ‘lashon hara’ to make fun of the Coldplay Jumbotron couple?
We're taking some time off to recharge this summer and prepare for new projects at The CJN. Instead of a new episode, we're bringing you another podcast from The CJN: The Jewish Angle, hosted by former Bonjour Chai host and current opinion editor at The CJN, Phoebe Maltz-Bovy. Avi Finegold is her...
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Brave Jew World: The future of Judaism and AI, feat. David Zvi Kalman
David Zvi Kalman, a research fellow at the Hartman Institute and Sinai and Synapses, is one of the foremost thinkers looking at the intersection of artificial intelligence and Jewish life. While many in the Jewish community worry about destruction of past traditions, Kalman looks to the future.…
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The great Cholent debate + Grok's wild antisemitism
It’s a brave new world out there for the Jews. Over the past two weeks, we've seen a series of stories published showing the ways new technologies are affecting Jewish life, from bot armies to A.I.-generated memes to racist Elmo to chatbots who think their surname is Hitler. But are any of these...
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Small-tent Judaism: The way of the future?
Jewish congregations and institutions—particularly non-Orthodox ones—often focus on how they can be more appealing and accessible to the growing number of Jews who feel like religion isn't for them. This has resulted in "big tent Judaism", which may have swung the door open for the masses—but has...
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UJA, JNF, ADL, CIJA... TTYL?
Over the last century, North American Jews have poured untold millions of dollars into an alphabet soup of legacy institutions: UJA, CIJA, ADL, JNF, et al. And yet, after 19 months of rising antisemitism—while Canadian and American Jewish communities feel like they're free-falling through a...
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Rabba Yedida and the taxonomy of orthodoxy
In 2013, Rabba Rachel Kohl Finegold, one of the first graduates of Yeshivat Maharat—a trailblazing institution in the Orthodox world that ordains women clergy leaders—became the first Maharat hired as clergy at an Orthodox synagogue, Montreal’s 175-year-old Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. Fast...
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Shabbat-observant Jews: Keep your phone on for war updates, or stay religiously offline?
Observing Shabbat is one of the most important markers of religious Jewish identity and defining rhythms for religious communal Jewish life. It’s one of the 10 commandments, alongside not murdering people. When the Talmud gives an example of the ultimate religious transgression, it doesn't say...
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Debating the World Zionist Congress: Should Diaspora Jews get a say in Israeli affairs?
Have you heard of the World Zionist Congress before? Until relatively recently, a lot of people hadn't—including two hosts of The CJN's Not in Heaven podcast. Yet, perhaps owing to the impact of Oct. 7 and the wide-reaching effects of the Israeli government's actions on the Jewish Diaspora, Jews...
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How to speak to your kids about the Washington murders
The world feels increasingly unsafe for Jews. Digital spaces are riddled with antisemitic rhetoric. Israel recently issued a travel warning for Jews visiting Canada. And, last week, threats turned real when Elias Rodriguez allegedly shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Jewish...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A weekly podcast about Judaism in the 2020s—because the Torah was left for us to figure out on the ground. Sublime and irreverent conversations about the present and future of communal, religious and spiritual life, led by Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl.
HOSTED BY
The CJN Podcasts
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Not in Heaven have?
Not in Heaven currently has 247 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Not in Heaven about?
A weekly podcast about Judaism in the 2020s—because the Torah was left for us to figure out on the ground. Sublime and irreverent conversations about the present and future of communal, religious and spiritual life, led by Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl.
How often does Not in Heaven release new episodes?
Not in Heaven publishes regularly with 247 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Not in Heaven?
You can listen to Not in Heaven 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 Not in Heaven?
Not in Heaven is created and hosted by The CJN Podcasts.
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