Episodes

  • A Fish out of Babylon

    A Fish out of Babylon
    May 20 2024
    What does it mean to feel out of place? When is discomfort something to work through, and when does it indicate that a change is needed? On this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and special guest Shlomo Zuckier explore two stories of misfits, mistreatment, and the search for belonging, from the Jerusalem Talmud in Tractate Berachot, and how they can help us navigate Jewish community in a post-October 7 world. Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    36 mins
  • From Where I Sit

    From Where I Sit
    May 6 2024
    Our political landscape and personal relationships are rife with misunderstandings and miscommunications. On this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Yonah Hain dive into a story from Nedarim 66b about a series of miscommunications between a Talmudic married couple to understand the difference between miscommunications and conflicting viewpoints and consider how we take responsibility for such differences. Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    30 mins
  • Controlling Chaos

    Controlling Chaos
    Apr 19 2024
    How do we understand the role of chaos in our lives, which feels so omnipresent right now? How can we defend against the mayhem? On this episode of Texting, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky examine two passages from the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds and explore the surprising ways that chaos can be contained. This episode of TEXTing is sponsored by Nancy and Brad Bell. Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    35 mins
  • Pride and Shame

    Pride and Shame
    Apr 8 2024
    In excess, both pride and shame can be destructive forces, yet to cultivate a healthy ego, one needs a moderate dosing of each. In this episode of Texting, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes unpack tractate Yoma page 22b, which highlights the tension between the need to stand up for oneself and the imperative to be magnanimous and forgiving. What emerges is the importance of interpersonal relationships, as we strive to treat others as we want to be treated. Episode Source Sheet Episode Discussion Guide You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.  JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    34 mins
  • Living with Contradiction

    Living with Contradiction
    Mar 25 2024
    Right now, Jews are struggling to live with conflicting feelings— loyalty and dissent, compassion and rage, fear and hope. In this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky turn to an ancient text—Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)—as well as rabbinic interpretations, to consider how we might live and thrive amidst contradiction. Episode Source Sheet Episode Study Guide You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    30 mins
  • Code-switching

    Code-switching
    Mar 11 2024
    Many Jews have found themselves frequently code-switching, altering their speech to fit in, during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In this episode of Texting, Elana Stein Hain and Yonah Hain take a close look at an instance of code switching in the rabbinic Midrash, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 4:7-8, and what it can tell us about communicating with different audiences today. Episode Source Sheet Episode Study Guide You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.  JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    27 mins
  • To Laugh or to Cry?

    To Laugh or to Cry?
    Feb 29 2024
    As the rabbis of the Talmud faced exile and marginalization, they sometimes turned to humor and satire to cope with the challenges they faced. On this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes examine a passage from Talmud Bavli Bekhorot 8b-9a that preserves how the rabbis satirized the Roman cultural sphere—and consider what we can learn about how humor might comfort and guide us through difficult times. Episode Source Sheet You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    30 mins
  • Individuals in a Time of Communal Tragedy

    Individuals in a Time of Communal Tragedy
    Feb 15 2024
    In times of war, personal tragedy tends to be subsumed by a collective sense of loss and grief. Borrowing a metaphor from a rabbinic passage about the spread of wildfire in Bava Kamma 60a-60b, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky, a professor of philosophy and Jewish studies at Princeton University, explore human interconnectedness as it relates to evil in the world. Together they consider the question: during times of communal pain, when is it right, or even necessary, to close ourselves away, and when are we morally bound to participate in the wider community? You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.  Episode Source Sheet JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
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    29 mins