September 25, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 64 - The Good, The Bad, and The Antisemitic …With Special Guest Dr. Linda Maizels

It’s been almost a year since the attack on Israel on October 7. Since that time, it hasn’t just been the war that has taken over the news. It feels like there has been such a strong increase of antisemitism locally and around the world. We discuss centuries worth of antisemitism, we ask why it seems so acceptable today, and we try to find hope for the future. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of nerdy stuff, too. After all, we are talking about the struggle between good versus evil.

00:02:32 The rise of antisemitism
00:05:44 Do superheroes attract supervillains? Or the other way around?
00:06:06 Gotham’s evil increases after Batman shows up
00:11:44 Antisemitism turns the Jew into the scapegoat
00:15:04 Does support increase only because the attacks are increasing?
00:18:55 Antisemitism is feeling more acceptable, for some reason
00:21:30 Do you share similar hope from the X-Men ‘97 series?
00:25:28 Having difficult conversations with opposing opinions
00:30:40 Got Hope?
00:37:02 The resident pessimist mitigates hate through empathy
00:39:11 Captain Benjamin Sisco and Gul Dukat
00:44:25 Time to mention to MCU

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September 11, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 63 - The Rav and The Acolyte

In today’s episode, we learn from each other as we discuss the newest Star Wars show, The Acolyte. We discuss the best and worst teachers among the sith and the jedi in the show. Also, did Darth Maul’s mommy make an appearance? Speaking of teaching, Ethan sith-splains Star Wars to his co hosts.

00:02:23 The Master and their student
00:03:39 “The desire of the wise is to learn, and a fool’s to teach”
00:05:16 Appreciating the cast for a moment
00:11:17 “A wise person is a student who makes their teacher wiser”
00:15:07 Darth Maul’s Mommy?
00:16:13 “To defend a country, you need an army. But to defend an identity, you
need a school.”
00:18:56 Ethan sith-splains Star Wars
00:24:30 Darth Bortles is a great teacher
00:26:30 “Educate a child according to their way.”
00:30:46 Was it a new lightsaber set?

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August 28, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 62 - Deadpool and Lamed Vavnikim

There are so many people in our world who are making the world a better place. Judaism calls them lamed vavnikim, or the righteous 36. But what about the people in the void who are making our world a better place? Or those who are trying to find missing anchor beings to make their own world better for their girlfriend who doesn’t love them anymore? They’re good too, right? Well, maybe they’re not “Avengers good”, but, woo, they’re about to make a name for themselves here.

00:01:24 Most people think they’re good people
00:03:07 We know the right answer and these aren’t it
00:06:11 Deadpool and Wolverine
00:08:40 Thirty-Six (Plus) Righteous People
00:12:00 The Thirty Six Graphic Novel by Kristopher White
00:14:38 Barak’s rant about D&W plot holes
00:19:51 Happy Hogan’s afikomen office
00:24:11 Into the Void
00:29:28 Wolverine variants
00:33:17 Musical anchors
00:35:27 Not one, but two (and a Peter)
00:36:14 More likes and dislikes
00:40:18 Deadpool 4?

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August 14, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 61 - Inside Mussar 2

Emotions can sometimes be difficult to handle and we find that they’re also often pretty Jewish. Join us as we explore the two joyfully sad movies by Pixar, Inside Out 1 and 2, and the connections to a very popular Jewish practice. We let the little voices inside our heads out for this conversation and we share the emotions that we wish made appearances in the films. Plus a hot take: Bing Bong is Jewish.

00:00:39 Step Inside RDY’s Mind
00:02:04 Initial film reactions
00:08:30 Favorite afikomen
00:12:56 Saboteurs and Mussar
00:19:39 Jewish guilt and nostalgia
00:23:19 If can control our emotions, we show true strength
00:31:23 Next is high school emotions
00:34:25 The original five base emotions
00:38:51 Other favorites and afikomen

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July 31, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 60 - All Nerds Think About Is Sects …with Special Guest Melissa Raub

Judaism is divided into sects or branches, but they all share a few core beliefs. We agree that they don’t sit on a spectrum, but perhaps they live in some kind of venn diagram? But, reviewing the sects of Judaism isn’t enough for us, we also explore the sects of Nerdaism. Or, as Barak preferred to call them, the cool kids tables.

00:03:21 The denominations of Judaism
00:04:51 Nerds and Geeks and Dorks and Dweebs
00:05:15 Breaking down the differences in Judaism
00:17:42 Save the Scranton Paper Tower
00:18:22 Breaking down the differences at the cool kids tables
00:20:40 Just Jews and Just Nerds
00:23:52 Torah Smash 5 Year Quest
00:25:40 How does one translate to the other?
00:28:46 Paul Rudd Marvel Nerd?
00:32:32 Knowing someone helps to welcome them
00:33:40 Mitzvahflix
00:36:42 What type of nerdy Jew are you?

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July 17, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 59 - The Messiah Element

Not the first element, hydrogen. Not the second, the third, or even the fourth element. No, this episode is about the Fifth Element, and it’s just… perfect. Grab a flying taxi and head to the (for some reason) garbage filled airport because you won two tickets aboard the Flohston Paradise cruise ship! Is it possible to save the world from destruction? Or is that actually how we save it? Join us meat popsicles as we discuss the future of the galaxy. But first, do you have your multipass?

00:01:05 Our second “97” property in a row
00:03:22 Recapping The Fifth Element
00:06:01 The Jewish concept of messiah
00:08:40 Isaiah 7:14
00:10:22 The perfect being
00:14:11 Creating from destruction
00:16:29 War vs Love
00:19:11 RDY’s Messianic Theology
00:23:22 Bringing about the messiah
00:26:27 Questions of the heavenly court
00:29:21 The name of the messiah
00:34:48 Childlike wonder and trash
00:38:10 Barak’s favorite afikomen
00:39:18 How would you imagine a saved world?
00:40:16 Any final points

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July 3, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 58 - X-Men Again Again …with Guest Host Joel Swedlove

In this episode, our guest host, Joel Swedlove, leads our team through a quote quote from a rabbi with a funny name name. We discuss the ever popular X-Men ‘97 animated series that recently completed and explore the similarities and differences in how we watched it. Not just because it’s a different show, but because we are different people than when we first saw it. You’re not gonna wanna miss this one, bub!

00:04:30 Joel keeps us on track
00:05:03 Put out the Bat SigNal
00:05:57 Starting with a quote quote from a rabbi with a funny name name
00:09:33 X-Men ‘97
00:13:32 Reboots, sequels, and requels
00:17:25 Knowing every character or story arc ahead of time
00:23:45 MCU’s struggles with completionist homework
00:26:33 Keeping Magneto’s impactful Jewish background
00:29:25 The timeless X-Men story
00:32:27 Fun fact about Menachem Begin’s X-men connection
00:35:10 There is nuance between good and bad
00:44:16 The X-Men will return

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June 19, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 57 - To Everything There Is A Bluey…with Special Guest Cantor Emily Simkin

This week’s episode of Bluey is called… Torah Smash! Sometimes special episodes come into our lives, this is one of those episodes. For real life! We talk about our feelings around the Heeler’s “moving” episode and all the advice that we’ve learned from a cartoon dog (and from real people as well). Life can get ruff sometimes, so we hope you find this episode to be a real t-r-e-a-t.

00:03:01 Everyone’s favorite animated dog - Bluey!
00:06:32 Bluey is Torah
00:11:20 Ecclesiastes 3:1
00:12:34 How do we handle big life shifts?
00:16:36 Wanted more of a moving episode on moving.
00:19:26 Unetaneh Tokef
00:22:13 How do you notice life’s little things?
00:29:05 Best advice on the topic of kids
00:30:18 A quick correction about blessings
00:31:39 More genius advice
00:40:16 Favorite Bluey episodes

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