Shtark Tank

For Rosh Hashana we wanted to do something special. Eight voices from around the world, eight perspectives on the Yamim Noraim. Here's the lineup:
Ezra Meyer — car salesman and global chazzan, on how he prepares to lead tefilla on the Yamim Noraim
Dr. Herman Weiss — OBGYN and baal tokeah, on his path to becoming a baal tokeah and one of his most memorable mistakes
Rabbi Yossi Katz — Rav in Linden, NJ and partner in a recruiting firm, on Akeidat Yitzchak and how Avraham Avinu reframes how we approach being Bnei Torah in the workforce
Rav Tzvi Sinensky — director of the Lamm Legacy, sharing a Rosh Hashana drasha Rav Lamm gave his kehilla on integrating business success with religious success
Rav David Aron — co-Rosh Yeshiva of Orayta and founder of Isralight, on the proper attitude toward Yom HaDin
Rav Mitch Berger — computer programmer and author on Rav Shimon Shkop's hashkafa in his hakdama to Shaarei Yosher
Yitzi Lowe — combat soldier in the IDF, on Yodei Terua
Bonus: Yaakov Wolff on Headlines — audio from an interview on the Headlines podcast, hosted by Rav Ari Wasserman, on the phrase "Shivti B'veis Hashem"
A lot of work went into this one. Special thanks to Shlomo Price for extra editing help.
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Resources Mentioned:
Bshir Yaron, website for Chazzanim
The Revelation of Man, Drasha by Rav Norman Lamm
'Widen Your Tent' by Rav Micha Berger

Chapter list:
0:00 — Intro
2:26 — Ezra Meyer: Preparing to Lead the High Holiday Prayers
21:49 — Dr. Herman Weiss: The Responsibility of Blowing the Shofar
35:21 — Rabbi Yossi Katz: Avraham Avinu and Finding Meaning in the Journey
45:00 — Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky: Rabbi Norman Lamm on Potential and Purpose
58:01 — Rabbi David Aaron: Rethinking Judgment on Rosh Hashanah
1:09:57 — Rav Micha Berger: Rav Shimon Shkop’s Vision of Responsibility
1:29:15 — Yitzy Loew: The Shofar’s Call to Enlist
1:45:29 — Headlines Appearance: Building a Torah-Centered Life in the Workforce

Jeremy Rovinsky is a full time United States immigration judge, an associate justice for multiple Native American courts of appeals, a law professor at Crest Point University, and Dean of Teachers for the Tikvah Foundation's Millstone Scholars Program. He's also a baal teshuva who took his judicial oath on the Chovos HaLevavos.
Jeremy spends his days behind the bench. This week he brings that lens to the Yamim Noraim: what din really means, why teshuva is recalibration and not erasure, and what it's like to approach Hakadosh Baruch Hu as the ultimate judge when you know exactly what it feels like to sit in the chair.
In this episode:
Going from philosophy major to talmid of Rav Gershenfeld at Machon Shlomo
Why his Rebbe told him to stay in law, not switch to kiruv
The Zohar's read on Lech Lecha: bring your past with you, don't leave it behind
Why the Sanhedrin required judges to have children (and what that teaches about rachmanus)
Justice as love, not just din, and why that changed how he saw his own docket
What Jeremy says to the God of Israel these days, now that he's not the prosecutor anymore

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Emotional support at the end of life. Thorny halachic questions about scientific medical breakthoughs. AI and the end of work.
These are all part of the Rabbi Jason Weiner's daily routine.
Rabbi Weiner is the senior rabbi and executive director of spiritual care at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. In this episode we cover:
What a healthcare chaplain actually does, and how Rabbi Weiner fell into the role with almost no training
The hardest moments of sitting with grieving families, including an uplifting story that took nearly 20 years to find its ending
How Torah sources think about medical breakthroughs like CRISPR and GLP-1 drugs
His essay on AI and the end of work: if a machine takes your job, does it take your identity too?

To read the full Tradition Online essay about AI and the end of work, click here
Find more from Rabbi Weiner at rabbiweiner.com, on YUTorah, on LinkedIn, or on Instagram at @rabbi_JW.
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Rav Hershel Schachter addresses one of the most persistent tensions in the frum professional world: does the ben Torah at work matter as much as the one in the beis medrash?
Recorded live in partnership with the OU Israel Business Professionals Network, this episode includes the full shiur plus a Q&A.
What's covered:
Why Klal Yisrael needs doctors, lawyers, engineers, and businessmen just as much as it needs roshei yeshiva, and why the "learning is more important" mindset is a distortion, not a Torah value
The little-known letter from Rav Elya Meir Bloch on why the religious world can't afford to run from Zionism, Tanach, or Ivrit
A Q&A covering how much work is enough, whether a rabbi should be wealthy, balancing communal obligations against raising your own children, and a practical seder for using limited learning time (starting with Kitzur Shulchan Aruch)
Why Rav Schachter has spent 30 years teaching high schoolers at NCSY Kollel, and what he sees in that generation

One year ago, Alec Kremins got fired. Same week he found out his wife was pregnant with their first child. He had a choice: go find another stable job, or bet on himself.
He went all in.
Alec built his career at Ramp (now valued near $40B) before making Aliyah and eventually going out on his own. In this episode we get into why he tells most people not to start a company, even though it was the right call for him.
We cover:
The day he got let go, and the decision that followed
Why he thinks life is about meaning, not comfort, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe story about the "contract" nobody signed promising an easy life
The Histadlus/Bitachon dance and why it gets a lot harder when you're working for yourself
Whether your work should be part of your identity, or just what funds it
A surprising parallel between starting a company and childbirth (his words, not ours)
Why he actively discourages most people from starting their own thing
Building a personal brand without losing your Shabbos, your learning, or your sanity to the algorithm
Where AI actually fits in content creation, and where it doesn't touch the core at all

Alec Kremins is the founder of RallyUp. You can find him on LinkedIn.