TEXTing

Loving and Leaving: A Zionism of Longing – with Yonah Hain

What does it mean to love Israel deeply while choosing to build your life elsewhere? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and her husband, Columbia/Barnard Hi

Are Today’s Leaders Failing Gen Z? – with Maya Sulkin

What kind of leadership prepares the next generation, and what kind of leadership makes them lose trust? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and journalist M

Blessings, Curses, and Allies: Who’s Really on Our Side? – with Rori Picker Neiss

With antisemitism and anti-Zionism on the rise, are Jews alone in today’s world, or is that belief a powerful myth actively shaping Jewish identity and relationships for

Do We Still Believe in the Jewish State? – with Michael Koplow

Is Israel losing American Jews, or are American Jews losing sight of Israel? Maybe it’s both. In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Michael Koplow, Chief P

Peace, War, and Torah: What Are We Asking For? – with Yehudah Mirsky

Please take 5 minutes to fill out the TEXTing IRL survey! What do we mean when we ask for peace, especially in a time of war, rising antisemitism, and deep uncertainty?

Good for America, Good for the Jews? – with Dahlia Lithwick (Re-Release)

Please take 5 minutes to fill out the TEXTing IRL survey! This episode was originally released on Monday, September 25, 2025. Democracy promises to guarantee freedom a

Have We Seen This Before? How Jews Misunderstand the Present Through the Past – with Yehuda Kurtzer

Please take 5 minutes to fill out the TEXTing IRL survey!   It’s Jewish memory season, and this week’s parasha, Parashat Emor, focuses on the Jewish holidays that we ce

Jewish Responses to Poverty: Charity, Loans, and Prevention — with David Rosenn

What does it mean to help someone without taking away their dignity, and is it harder — and holier — to give a loan rather than a gift? On this episode of TEXTing IRL, E

We Were Strangers Too: Passover, Immigrants, and Human Rights – with Noah Gottschalk

On Passover, Jews celebrate freedom, but for many this year, the normalization of cruelty toward immigrants in America casts a shadow over that celebration. On this episo

Vayikra: Living with Sacrifice and Closeness in the Shadow of War — with David Dishon

When war erupts again and again, how do Israeli families and communities live with constant loss? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fe

The Golden Calf, Institutional Crisis, and the Making of a Mob — with Franklin Foer

What turns a crowd into a mob, and what does the Torah teach us about moments when communities unravel? In Parashat Ki Tisa, the Israelites form a mob and build the Golde

The Mishkan: The Jewish Art of Building and Becoming — with Tamara Mann Tweel

In Parashat Terumah, the Israelites are commanded to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Why construct something so exquisite and detailed in the middle of a desert? And what

Rethinking Our Relationship to the Past – with Tamara Mann Tweel

What do we owe the generations that came before us, and what do we want future generations to inherit from us? When do we preserve the past, and when do we break from it?

What Jewish Stories Do We Tell in a Broken World? – with Tamara Mann Tweel

What happens when the stories we cherish no longer fit the world that we and our kids see? Elana Stein Hain and Hartman research fellow Tamara Mann Tweel turn to Parashat

TEXTing IRL Live: Choosing Israel Again and Again – with Ronit Heyd

How do we stay invested in Israel when it exhausts and challenges us? In this episode of TEXTing IRL, recorded live at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Winter Leadership Co

Jewish Disagreement in Public and in Private – with Jeremy Burton

From debates over politics, antisemitism, and public representation to disagreements over kugel recipes, Jews are not immune to the profound polarization that characteriz

How Can Jews Believe in God Right Now? – with Dani Segal

After two-plus years of agony and hardship, what can Judaism teach about the role of faith and the presence of God in times of suffering? In this episode of TEXTing IRL,

Rethinking How Jews Advocate – with Stacy Burdett

As the longstanding bipartisan consensus around issues important to Jewish needs seems to collapse in America, many feel that the deck is stacked against the Jewish commu

Jews: Strangers in Their Own Home? – with Sarah Hurwitz

As antisemitism and anti-Zionism rise, many North American Jews have felt less welcome in the countries that they call home. How do we root ourselves deeply in our Jewish

Future Tense: Being Jewish in Public – with Elana Stein Hain

This week, TEXTing IRL is excited to share Hartman’s podcast, Future Tense, where rising Jewish leaders drive conversations with scholars from the Shalom Hartman Institut