When a student asked about the nature of Judaism - about why it's called Judaism - the stakes, for her, had suddenly grown very high. The Washington Post had recently published an article with the provocative headline: "Is Judaism an ethnicity? A race? A nationality? Trump signs an order and provokes an identity crisis," and people began asking: "if other people who aren't even Jewish are going to tell us about the very nature of Judaism, we should probably know ourselves."

To answer the questions: "Is Judaism an ethnicity?" and "Is Judaism a nationality?" we uncover the roots of why Judaism is called that, and what it means for our understanding of the very nature of Jewishness.

We also learn about what Life of Pi can teach us about how to think about truth, history, and facts, and why memory is what makes Jewish stories good.

Read a transcript of this episode.

Credits

Shoot! is written, hosted, and produced by Jesse Paikin. You can always say hi, share your thoughts, or ask your own questions at hello@shootpodcast.com

All audio credits for this episode can be found on our website.

Shoot! is supported in part by a grant from the Hadar Institute.

Discussing the events at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where an armed attacker took four hostages, including the rabbi. We ask: "What's a Jewish response in a moment of crisis," and look at the idea of "Spiritual Pre-hab."

Show Notes and transcript will be available soon. Check back for more details or visit shootpodcast.com

Credits

Shoot! is written, hosted, and produced by Jesse Paikin. You can always say hi, share your thoughts, or ask your own question at hello@shootpodcast.com

Shoot! is supported in part by a grant from the Hadar Institute.

What happens when a revolutionary Jewish thinker - fed up with his lower status as a Jew in 1700s Prussia - wants people to start thinking about the very essence of Judaism in a new way?

And what happens when a Prussian Christian theologian has a very different idea of what Judaism should look like?

In Part II of this episode, we reach the conclusion of figuring out: can we even call Judaism a religion?

In This Episode, we learn about…

• What on earth is meant by "Judeo-Christian"?
• How being "spiritual" is not only an inner experience in Judaism
• The problem with "kids these days," not wanting religion (in the 1700s)
• The radical ideas of Jewish individualism that Moses Mendelssohn proposed
• How a German theologian invented "religion"
• How "religion" can be (or was) anti-Jewish
• What Jews Have to Give Up in Exchange for Citizenship
• A Brief Tale of Historical Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations
• How Eastern Europe, North Africa & Central Asia are playing a completely different ball-game
• Today's Jewish Identities & Geo-Politics
• My own answer to the question - "Is Judaism a Religion?"
• And why does all this matter for how we understand what it means to talk about or be Jewish today?

Lots more details and extras can be found in the show notes, including translations of the Hebrew terms we used in this episode.

Read a transcript of this episode.

Credits

Shoot! is written, hosted, and produced by Jesse Paikin. You can always say hi, share your thoughts, or ask your own question at hello@shootpodcast.com

All audio credits for this episode can be found on our website.

Shoot! is supported in part by a grant from the Hadar Institute.

Turns out we actually aren't entirely sure how to define "religion." And we're not even sure if Judaism fits the description to begin with. If we're using the lens of "religion" to understand Judaism, what is the nature of that lens? How does its clarity and focus affect what we're looking at? Is it magnifying or distorting things? When we use that lens, what are we seeing, and what are we not seeing? And who built that lens? Can we even call Judaism a religion?

In This Episode, we learn about…

• What the controversial ending of the TV show LOST clues us into about the nature of Judaism.
• How notoriously hard it is to define what is meant by "religion."
• Anger, and the historical psychology of Jews.
• A thought experiment to help out with that problem.
• The relationship between Jewish ethnicity, law, philosophy, politics, culture, and religion.
• What happens to Judaism when a young Jew from the countryside is forced to enter Berlin through a city gate meant for cattle?
• Felix Mendelssohn and German Romantic Classical Music (just a little bit).
• And why does all this matter for how we understand what it means to talk about or be Jewish today?

Lots more details and extras can be found in the show notes, including translations of the Hebrew terms we used in this episode.

Read a transcript of this episode.

Credits

Shoot! is written, hosted, and produced by Jesse Paikin. You can always say hi, share your thoughts, or ask your own question at hello@shootpodcast.com

All audio credits for this episode can be found on our website.

Shoot! is supported in part by a grant from the Hadar Institute.

1,200 years ago, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world asked a question. It was a question that would reverberate through history, and still impact us today.

What does this simple act teach us about the role of questions and answers in Judaism, and how Jewish practice works and evolves across space and time?

In this episode, we learn about...

• How Jews have asked questions throughout history, and how the answers have helped form unique cultures, rituals, and communities.
• How the once-great centre of Jewish life, in what is today's Iraq, inspired communities around the world to this day.
• One of the oldest and longest running institutions of learning in human history.
• Are answers actually more important than questions?
• How Jewish prayer evolved into what it is today.
• Why this podcast exists Learn more in the show notes on our website.

Lots more details and extras can be found in the show notes on our website, including translations of the Hebrew terms we used in this episode.

Download a transcript of this episode.

Credits

The translation of Rav Amram's letter is from Abe Silver at The Open Siddur Project, an open-source, community contributed archive for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license.

The recording of the Jews of Kochi, India is courtesy of the Johanna L. Spector Papers and Audio-Visual Materials, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, (N.Y., ARC. 2008.03). The recording, along with others, is available in its entirety here.

Guest vocal talent by dear friends: in Aramaic/Hebrew by Rabbi Jason Fenster and in English by Aron Katz.

One big Jewish question each episode.

With answers that have integrity and inspiration.

And always where to turn next to learn more. All in under 30 minutes each.

People ask a lot of questions about Judaism. This podcast is going to try to answer them. Maybe you've asked some questions yourself. Congrats, you're in good company!

Maybe you've also been frustrated with getting the answer: "well… it depends." Or an answer that you felt wasn't giving you the whole picture. Maybe you're curious, but never knew who to ask.

Or sometimes, you don't have time for an hour-long class. Maybe you don't want to go on a late-night YouTube bender. Or get lost diving deep into Wikipedia. Maybe you don't know a rabbi or a teacher.

Maybe... you're afraid to ask the question. Or afraid of what the answer might be.

I recently started getting frustrated that I didn't always have time to answer all the questions people were asking beyond "it depends…" That really frustrating answer I often got to what felt like the most important question in the world to me.

So welcome to Shoot!

Be sure to visit shootpodcast.com to get a sneak preview of the first episode, and even ask your own questions to be featured on the show.

Episodes arriving before the end of 2021.