Every year on Sukkot, Jews around the world read the prophet Zechariah's vision of a future in which all the nations of the earth come up to Jerusalem. Not on Passover. Not on Yom Kippur. On Sukkot — the holiday Jewish tradition identifies with the Messianic era itself.

So what is the Messiah? For an idea this central to Judaism — woven into the daily prayers, enshrined as the 12th of Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith, built into the structure of Jewish history and Jewish hope — most Jews would struggle to say what Mashiach actually is, what he has to accomplish, or how anyone would recognize the real one.

In part one of this two-part Sukkot and Simchat Torah special, Justin Pines sits down with Rabbi Ken Spiro — historian, author, and senior lecturer at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem — for an hour that turns a vague idea into something you can actually hold.

Jewish Insights with Justin Pines airs on JBS (Jewish Broadcasting Service), available on Comcast, Spectrum, DirecTV, and Verizon. Watch more episodes at jbstv.org.

Can God be vulnerable? National Jewish Book Award winner Gila Fine explores the stunning talmudic tale of Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, who entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur and was asked by God for a blessing (Berakhot 7a). What does it mean for an omnipotent God to ask a mortal for help? Through the lens of rabbinic literature, Shakespeare's King Lear, and modern philosophy, Fine reveals the difference between the God of the Bible and the God of the Talmud — and what divine vulnerability teaches us about the relationship between God and humanity.

Gila Fine is a lecturer in rabbinic literature at Shalem College and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and the author of "The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud," winner of the 74th National Jewish Book Award and the 2024 Rabbi Sacks Book Prize.

American Jews have lately been sensing the end of their Golden Age — and asking whether the next century will be as kind to them and their children as the last one was. Dr. Mijal Bitton thinks we're asking the wrong question.

A sociologist, spiritual leader, and public intellectual, Mijal is Scholar in Residence at the Maimonides Fund, Rosh Kehilla of the Downtown Minyan in New York City, co-host of the podcast Wondering Jews and author of the Substack newsletter Committed. She recently published the landmark essay "The Future Is Sephardic," [https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration-ii/2026/the-future-is-sephardic/] published in Sapir journal [https://sapirjournal.org/] on the past and future of American Jewish life.

In this conversation, we dig into what the Middle Eastern and North Africa Sephardic model — rooted in family, communal boundaries, an embodied spiritual life, and a confidence that doesn't depend on outside approval — can teach all American Jews as we reimagine our place in America's next century.

How do you navigate grief and find true comfort after a devastating loss? In this episode, we sit down with Rabbi Steven Exler, Senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, to explore the raw human landscape of mourning, healing, and pastoral care.

As the calendar pivots from the heavy collective mourning of Tisha B'Av to the promise of Shabbat Nachamu (the Sabbath of Consolation), Rav Steven shares profound insights drawn from guiding countless families through tragedy from the inside out, as well as navigating deep personal loss.

Widely regarded as one of the most respected rabbinic leaders in the country, Rav Steven shares what it truly means to be a "shepherd" to a community. We discuss the everyday work of showing up for one another, the legacy of carrying the torch from his mentor Rabbi Avi Weiss, and why creating a radically inclusive, diverse community is the ultimate antidote to isolation and brokenness.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The human and psychological necessity of sitting with sorrow before rushing to comfort.

• How facing personal tragedy shapes the way a leader counsels others through loss.

• The weight and reality of modern pastoral care and how to be truly present.

• Turning shared loss into an active framework for community, kindness, and personal growth.

About Our Guest: Rabbi Steven Exler serves as Senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, a large and welcoming Orthodox synagogue in the Bronx. He sits on the boards of the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, UJA-Federation of NY, and the Rabbinic Advisory Boards of Eshel, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and Yeshivat Maharat.

After October 7, Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer did something almost no Haredi rabbi has done: he put on a uniform. A community rabbi, he completed IDF basic training alongside soldiers half his age, served in the reserves during the Iran War — and his sons study in yeshiva and serve in the IDF.

But Rabbi Pfeffer isn't just a soldier. He grew up Hasidic, spent a decade in Jerusalem's elite Lithuanian yeshivot under Rav Moshe Shapira and Rav Asher Weiss, clerked at Israel's Supreme Court, and teaches at Hebrew University's law school. He chairs the board of Netzach Yehudah — the organization supporting Haredi soldiers — and founded Tzarich Iyun, the journal asking the hardest questions about Haredi life from inside the community.

In this episode of Jewish Insights with Justin Pines, Rav Pfeffer explains why most Haredi men really don't serve (it's not what you think), what the Chazon Ish's famous promise about Bnei Brak reveals about this moment in Jewish history, what secular Israelis get wrong about the ultra-Orthodox world, and what a Torah-rooted vision of Haredi civic responsibility actually looks like.

Whether you're frustrated with the Haredi draft debate or trying to understand it — this is the conversation that cuts through the noise.

The Shema is Judaism's most iconic declaration — six words carried across thousands of years, countries, and circumstances. Now, a bold new initiative is inviting a million Jews to reclaim them.

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, founder of New Jewish Outreach Program, and Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, co-founder of Simchat Torah Challenge, join Rabbi Justin Pines to discuss the Shema Initiative — a collaboration to inspire one million Jews to recite the Shema twice a day, with love. They explore the meaning behind these ancient words, whether it matters to say them in Hebrew, and how they're pairing inspiration with practical tools — including NJOP's legendary Hebrew Reading Crash Course — to make sure no Jew is left on the outside.

Rabbi Buchwald is a student of Rabbi Soloveitchik, a recipient of an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University, and one of the pioneers of the Jewish outreach movement in America. For fifty years — beginning with the legendary Beginners Service at Lincoln Square Synagogue — he has devoted his life to opening doors into Jewish life. Through NJOP, he has reached nearly 1.8 million Jews across more than 5,000 locations in 46 countries.

Rabbi Hajioff is a beloved professor of Jewish philosophy and mysticism at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University, where he was voted Professor of the Year in Judaic Studies. Originally from London, he came to Jewish education by way of Manchester University and MTV, and serves as a senior educator at the Edmund Safra Synagogue in Manhattan. In just two years, Simchat Torah Challenge's weekly newsletter has grown to nearly 50,000 subscribers, reaching Jews well beyond the Orthodox world.

With Elul underway and Rosh Hashanah approaching, this conversation is a timely invitation to reconnect with the words at the heart of Jewish life.

The Shema Initiative https://simchattorahchallenge.org/shema

Simchat Torah Challenge: https://simchattorahchallenge.org/

National Jewish Outreach Program: https://njop.org/

The Talmud is the foundational text of Judaism — every law, every debate, every dissenting opinion preserved across 2,711 pages. For centuries it was accessible only to scholars. That is changing.

Rabbanit Michelle Farber is the founder of Hadran and the host of Daf Yomi for Women, the first and only women's daily Daf Yomi podcast. From her dining room table in Israel, she has built a worldwide movement — bringing daily Talmud study into the lives of thousands of women and men from all backgrounds.

The story of how the Talmud went from the study halls of the few to the daily lives of the many is a story of extraordinary breakthroughs — from Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi writing down the Mishnah, to Rabbi Meir Shapiro's Daf Yomi, to ArtScroll and Koren making the text accessible in English, to Rabbanit Farber's own work opening the Talmud to women around the world.

In this episode of Jewish Insights with Justin Pines, Rabbanit Farber shares her personal journey, what listeners can expect from her daily shiur, how Hadran has grown into a full ecosystem of women's Talmud learning, and why now is the time to start. She also teaches Justin some Talmud!

A new Daf Yomi journey begins June 8, 2027. Whether you've never opened a Gemara or you've been learning for years, this episode is for you.

Visit hadran.org.il to get started.

This Yom Kippur, Justin Pines welcomes back his teacher and rebbe, Rabbi Avi Weiss, for an hour-long journey through the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Rabbi Weiss, founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (the Bayit) and founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and Yeshivat Maharat, opens with a tefillah he wrote and recites each morning: a prayer for help in giving thanks for the blessings he has, and in not letting his heart be weighed down by the blessings he lacks.

From there, the conversation moves through the themes of the day including the shofar and teshuva – Rav Kook’s teaching that repentance is not only an accounting of past deeds, but a return to your own inner self. Strength and love – why love itself is not a feeling but a decision, an action. Kol Nidre – the power of words and the dangers of them. The confession (vidui), and the positive vidui Rabbi Weiss composed: ahavnu, we have loved; barachnu, we have blessed; gadalnu, we have grown. The Avodah, and the idea that every one of us can be a Kohen Gadol, and finally Neilah.

Rabbi Weiss reflects, “I would always think: God, don’t lock me out. Lately I’ve been thinking that maybe we should be saying: God, don’t lock me in. Let me go out. Let me experience the entire world." ”

Recorded on the eve of 9/11, Rabbi Weiss also reflects on walking into Ground Zero as a clergy first responder and finding a holy place, and on the soldiers, families, and small daily steps that have shaped his thinking since October 7th. He closes with a blessing.