Real Life Rabbinics Podcast

Overview: In this season finale, Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman reflects on his experiences serving as a captain in the IDF Rabbinate at Machane Shura in the aftermath of October 7th. How do you pasken impossible halachic questions when little to no teshuvos have ever been written on the subject? How do you carry unimaginable tragedy while helping others find clarity? How do you postpone your own grief when hundreds of families are waiting for answers? How do you teach Tisha B'Av differently after experiencing October 7th up close? What does identifying one missing person have to do with geulah? And where can we still find signs of redemption in the midst of so much loss?Bio: Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman serves as the head of World Mizrachi’s Musmachim semicha program. He holds additional educational leadership roles, including serving as a senior educator at the Zomet Institute and as director of H.E.S.B.E.R. (Hebrew English Source-Based Educational Resources). Rabbi Zimmerman is the author of The Shemitta Sensation and the nine-volume "From the Source with Spirit" series of educational books for middle and high school students. In addition to his educational work, he serves as a Captain (res.) in the IDF Rabbinate and has completed more than 500 days of reserve service since the outbreak of the war. He lives with his wife and children in Ma'ale Chever, Israel.Contact: [email protected]

Overview: In this episode, R’ Dr. Alex Mondrow explores the role of emotional intelligence in rabbinic leadership. How do we become more aware of our own emotional strengths and blind spots? How do we receive difficult feedback without becoming defensive? What's the difference between understanding someone's pain and truly being present with them? And why might a rabbi's ability to sit silently with a congregant sometimes be more powerful than the perfect words of comfort?Drawing on his work with RIETS semicha students, R’ Dr. Mondrow shares practical insights about self-awareness, empathy, emotional vocabulary, feedback, and personal growth. Along the way, we discuss why emotional intelligence is not simply a matter of middos, the difference between cognitive and emotional empathy, how rabbis can identify areas they may not naturally perceive, and why the most important question may not be what an assessment reveals, but how we choose to respond to what we learn about ourselves.Bio: Rabbi Dr. Mondrow maintains a private psychology practice in Jerusalem and Teaneck. He also serves as the mental health advisor at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), where he trains students in pastoral skills and emotional intelligence. Additionally he served as the Rabbi of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Synagogue for several years.Contact: [email protected]

Featuring: R' Reuven Brand, R' Zvi Kaminetzky and R' Eliav SilvermanOVERVIEW:In this final episode of our series celebrating 50 years of the RIETS Israel Kollel, R' Eliav Silverman, R' Reuven Brand, and R' Zvi Kaminetzky reflect on the later years of the Kollel. What was unique about learning in a beis medrash where the rabbeim were always present and accessible? How did Rav Dovid Miller's idealism continue to influence them years after they left the Kollel? What was it like to watch Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l daven Maariv on an ordinary Wednesday night and feel as if it was Neilah? How did a COVID wedding unexpectedly lead one young couple to spend their first years of marriage on the Gruss Campus? And R' Eliav shares a remarkable piece of advice Rav Lichtenstein gave him about grief and life after reflecting on a setting sun at both his mother's levayah and his son's wedding.R’ Brand is the founding Rosh Kollel of the Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago and Dean of the Midwest Center for Jewish Learning.Contact: [email protected]’ Silverman is the Shoel UMeishiv in the RIETS Israel Kollel.Contact: [email protected]’ Zvi Kaminetzky is Rabbi of the Albert Einstein Synagogue in the Bronx.Contact: [email protected]

Featuring: R' Ari Kahn, R' Moshe Lichtman & R' Daniel YolkutR’ Ari Khan is Director of Foreign Student Programs at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He also serves as Rav of the Mishkan Etrog community in Givat Ze’ev.Contact: [email protected]’ Moshe Lichtman teaches in several yeshivas and seminaries in Israel. He has also written several seforim focusing on Eretz Yisrael, including a translation of "Eim HaBanim Semeichah" and "Eretz Yisrael on the Parsha" among others.Contact: [email protected]’ Daniel Yolkut is Rabbi of Congregation Poale Zedeck in Pittsburgh, PA.Contact: [email protected]:What did the RIETS Israel Kollel feel like in its early decades on the Gruss Campus? In this second episode of our series celebrating 50 years of the Israel Kollel, we spoke with three alumni from the first 25 years — R’ Moshe Lichtman, R’ Ari Kahn, and R’ Daniel Yolkut. How did they end up in the Kollel, and what drew them there at that stage of life? What was unique about the learning, the chavrusa culture, and the sense of community on the Gruss Campus? Who were their chavrusas and other memorable chaverim learning with them in the Beis Medrish? We also reflect on the influence of Rav Dovid Miller and the presence of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l in the Beis Medrish, and how those years shaped their relationship with Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and the paths they eventually took in rabbanus and chinuch.Guest Host: R’ Aryeh LebowitzRav Miller and the alumni of the RIETS Israel Kollel will be honored at the upcoming RIETS Dinner on Monday, March 16, 2026 (27th of Adar) in celebrating 50 years of Harbatzas Torah in Israel. For more information about the dinner and scroll of honor, visit https://www.yu.edu/yeshivadinnerTo sign up for the siyum hashas celebrating Rav Miller and the RIETS Israel Kollel’s 50 years : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m3K2S3mWi8GHdUNndrOP5e3Ghvp4XGUM/edit?gid=1259069286#gid=1259069286

Rabbi Dovid Miller, Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel, RIETS Israel Kollel and the Benjamin and Charlotte Gottesfeld Chair in TalmudContact: [email protected]:In this first episode of our three-part series celebrating 50 years of the RIETS Israel Kollel on the Gruss Campus, we hear from Rav Dovid Miller, who has served as Rosh Kollel for all fifty years. How did the Kollel begin, and how did it grow over time? Who were some of the teachers and Rabbeim when the Kollel first started? How did living and learning in Eretz Yisrael shape the Kollel and the families who built their lives there? Rav Miller also reflects on his own Torah journey, the rebbeim who influenced him, and what it was like to learn together with his Rebbe, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l, for so many years in the Kollel.Guest Host: R’ Aryeh LebowitzRav Miller and the alumni of the RIETS Israel Kollel will be honored at the upcoming RIETS Dinner on Monday, March 16, 2026 (27th of Adar) in celebrating 50 years of Harbatzas Torah in Israel. For more information about the dinner and scroll of honor, visit https://www.yu.edu/yeshivadinner

Ike Dweck, Founder and CEO of the SAFE FoundationContact Ike - [email protected]:In Part 2 of Gambling in the Jewish Community, we continue the conversation by shifting from a clinical lens to someone with personal experience with gambling addiction. Ike Dweck speaks with remarkable honesty about his own struggle with gambling as a teenager and the journey that ultimately led him to spend more than two decades helping others find recovery. What does gambling actually feel like from the inside? Why is it so hard to stop, even when the consequences are obvious? How has the rise of apps, advertising, and normalization changed the stakes for today’s teens and young adults? And what do parents, rabbis, and educators need to notice, and say, before someone reaches rock bottom? Ike also shares how his faith and connection to God became an essential part of his recovery, and continues to ground him today, and how falling in life ultimately became the source of growth, purpose, and a deep commitment to helping others. Guest Host: R’ Larry Rothwachs