Episodes

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. Rabbi Sarna serves as the University Chaplain and Executive Director at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, and as the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of the United Arab Emirates. He is also the editor of ‘The Koren Shabbat Evening Siddur’, and the ‘Orthodox Forum Series: Toward a Jewish Perspective on Culture’, and is a prolific author. The passage he has chosen to discuss with Mark is Gene...

Mark is delighted to welcome Ambassador Ido Aharoni to the podcast today. Currently the Global Distinguished Professor for international relations at New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science, Ido is a 25-year veteran of Israel’s Foreign Service, a public diplomacy specialist, founder of the Brand Israel Program, and a well-known nation branding practitioner. He has been Israel's longest serving Consul-General in New York and the tri-state area to date, holding that position with...

Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. A Los Angeles native, Marissa moved to Israel at a young age, where she completed her primary education and served in military intelligence of the Israeli Defense Force. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from UCLA, a master’s degree in Education and Non-Profit Management from American Jewish University, and joined PragerU, one of the most respected, go-to resources for conservative ideas, in...

Mark is delighted to welcome Mishy Harman, Co-Founder, Host and Executive Producer of ‘Israel Story’, to the podcast today. Essentially an Israeli version of ‘This American Life’, ‘Israel Story’ chronicles the story of Israelis, including Eli Beer of United Hatzalah, and has hundreds of thousands of listeners in over 190 countries around the world. Mishy is a Jerusalemite who has served in the IDF, graduated from Harvard, and received his Ph.D at the Hebrew University. He has chosen ‘one of the ...

Pastor Freddy Washington Jr. is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast this week. Freddy is a worship leader and songwriter who began his career in music production and later garnered Grammy, Stellar and Dove Award nominations for production with several artists in Gospel and Christian music. He has traveled throughout the world, leading worship and preaching the Gospel message of hope, and has also released his own full-length album entitled ‘The Jesus Record’. The text he has chosen to discu...

Jonathan Tobin, Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), joins Mark on the podcast today. In addition to his role of leading the JNS in its syndication of Jewish articles and essays to Jewish newspapers all across the country, Jonathan also writes articles, essays, or columns, for the JNS on a daily basis, which are almost always its best content. On top of all that, he is also a contributing writer for National Review and a columnist for the New York Post, Haaretz and other publicati...

Pastor Gerald D.A. Murphy is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. Gerald received his Master’s Degree in Christian History and Theology from Ashland Theological Seminary, and he currently serves as the Director of Community Development with Catalyst For Columbus, and is the Pastor of the Columbus Dream Center. The passage he has chosen to discuss with Mark is Genesis 15:1. Gerald begins by sharing his summary of the passage, its meaning for him, and the notion of how God wants to be ...

Mark is absolutely delighted to welcome his great friend, Doron Spielman, to the podcast today. Since 2000, Doron has served as a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit, and he continues to serve in this unit for frequent reserve duty. He is also one of the founders and leaders of the City of David, the ancient Jerusalem tourist and archaeological site, which Mark and his wife, Rabbi Erica, consider ‘the most important place in the world, perhaps’. The ...

Technology entrepreneur, Ryan Williams, is Mark’s guest on the podcast this week. Having started his first business at age 13, Ryan went on to graduate from Harvard College, and is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Cadre, a highly successful online marketplace that provides institutions and individuals access to previously inaccessible quality real estate and alternative investment opportunities. Along the way, he has worked at The Blackstone Group in its real estate private equity division, a...

Mark is delighted to welcome Pastor Max Wilkins, to the podcast today. Max is the President and CEO of TMS Global, an organization that exists to mobilize and deploy the body of Christ globally to join Jesus in His mission, especially among the least-reached people. Prior to taking on this role, Max served as a Pastor in Florida and Hawaii for 26 years, and he has also served and taught in more than three dozen countries around the world. The passage he has chosen is Daniel 5, which is one that ...

Mark is delighted to welcome Rabbi Brandon Bernstein to the podcast today. Having grown up in Palmdale, California, Brandon received a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He has served as the Campus Rabbi at Northwestern Hillel, and is currently the Director of Jewish Learning at Moishe House. He has chosen Genesis 4:1-12, the story of Cain and Abel, to discuss ...

Rabbi Dovid M. Cohen is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. Currently the Rabbi of Congregation Ohr Torah in North Woodmere, NY, Rabbi Cohen is also an attorney and a Senior Relationship Officer at YACHAD, a thriving global organization dedicated to addressing the needs of all Jewish individuals with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in every aspect of Jewish life. He has a law degree from Columbia Law School, a Masters degree in Family Therapy from the University of North Te...

Senior editor at the Washington Examiner, David Mark, joins our host for today’s episode. Among many other roles, David has also been a senior editor at Politico and at CNN Digital Politics, is the author of two books, and appears regularly as a political analyst on television, radio and other forums. The passage he has selected to discuss today is Genesis 45:5-7, which recounts one of the most famous stories in the Bible. The conversation begins with David sharing his summary of the passage, t...

Mark is delighted to welcome evangelist and international speaker, Pastor Nick Hall, to the podcast today. The Founder of PULSE, a movement that seeks to empower the Church and awaken the culture to the reality of Jesus, Nick also sits on the leadership teams for the US Lausanne Committee, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the student advisory team for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has chosen a passage that Mark had never considered before, Habbakuk 3:2, to discuss to...

Pastor Jerry Gillis is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. Pastor Gillis is the Lead Pastor of The Chapel, a multi-complex church network in the Buffalo area, and he is also involved with ‘Christ Together’, a network of churches which aims to ‘empower the whole Church to bring the whole Gospel to the whole nation’. The passage he has selected to discuss with Mark today is Leviticus 19:1-2. Pastor Gillis begins the conversation by sharing his summary of the passage and the significan...

Mark is delighted to welcome “perhaps the youngest person to have ever earned the appellation ‘a legend’” to the podcast today. Joe Lonsdale truly is a legend in the fields of business, philanthropy, and public policy, and was the youngest member of the Forbes ‘100 Midas List’ in 2016 and 2017. As an investor in, and founder of, numerous businesses, Joe has found great success with such companies as Wish, OpenGov, 8VC, and Addepar, to name just a few. The passage he has chosen to discuss with Ma...

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Ron Dermer, joins Mark for today’s episode. Born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Ron went on to become a graduate of both the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University. He has been a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and has served both as Israel’s Minister of Economic Affairs in the United States, and as one of the closest advisors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The passage he has chosen to ...

Mark is delighted to welcome Heather Gerken, the Dean of Law at Yale Law School, to the podcast today. Hailed as an “intellectual guru” in the New York Times, Heather served as a senior advisor to the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012, has been published extensively, has served as a commentator for a number of major media outlets, and is one of the country’s leading experts on constitutional law and election law. The passage she has chosen for today is Micah 6:8. Heather begins by discussing the ...

Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, is Mark’s very special guest on the podcast today. In addition to leading one of the premier institutions in Jewish life, Rabbi Berman has served as the pulpit Rabbi at the Jewish Center in Manhattan, and is a scholar in his own right. He also lectures widely throughout the U.S. and Israel, and has written numerous articles on subjects including current trends in Jewish thought and the future of Orthodoxy. The passage he has chosen to discus...

Rabbi Karen Glazer Perolman, Senior Associate Rabbi at Temple B’nai Jeshurun, the Temple where Mark became a bar mitzvah in 1985, joins him on the podcast today. Karen received her Masters Degree in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, and currently serves as Rabbi in Residence for the Rabbi Barry H. Greene Early Childhood Center and the B’nai Jeshurun Religious School. The passage she has chosen to discuss today is Ruth 1:1-18. Karen b...

This week, Mark is delighted to welcome Harry Hargrave, the Chief Executive Officer for the Museum of the Bible, to the podcast. After spending over 45 years in finance, marketing and business operations, Harry found the site, obtained DC approvals and oversaw the planning and development process for this incredible Museum which is 430,000 square feet of rare and fascinating artifacts spanning 4,000 years of history. It is among the most technologically advanced and engaging museums in the world...

Mark is delighted to welcome Michael Medved, a legend in the world of American thought and political discourse, to the podcast today. Starting his public life as a left-liberal political organizer, Michael has gone on to become a historian, movie critic, nationally-broadcast talk radio host, podcaster, and best-selling author. One of his books, What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?, is actually the first book Mark remembers seeing around his house as a child. The passage that Michael has cho...

David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House, is Mark’s guest on the podcast today. David has been a non-profit innovator since high school when he started ‘Feed the Need’, a nationally recognized homeless feeding organization, and, in 2006, he helped establish Moishe House to be part of building something that would have a real impact on the global Jewish community and beyond. The passage he has chosen to discuss is one which Mark would never have known existed otherwise, Ecclesiastes Rabba...

Mark is delighted to welcome the President and CEO of the Hadar Institute, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, to today’s episode. In addition to his work with this great institution of adult jewish learning in the world, Elie has also been named one of the top fifty Jewish leaders by The Forward, and one of Newsweek's top fifty rabbis. When asked to guest on the podcast to discuss prayer, the topic of his upcoming book, Elie chose Genesis 15:1-8 to discuss with Mark. He begins the conversation by summarizing ...