December 18, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 70 - Torah Smash Jr.

There are some stories in Jewish tradition and history that put the children at the center of it all. Jacob and Esau as well as Joseph teach us some valuable lessons as adults. But aren’t children just meant to be sidekicks? And how old are the children of the Torah anyway? Let’s just hope that as they grow up, they’ve learned from the mistakes of their parents.

00:01:00 Jacob and Esau the adult children
00:03:13 Joseph the tattletale
00:06:35 Child character focused stories
00:12:11 Favorite child centered stories
00:17:43 Does having children in the story change the message?
00:19:19 Does younger age warrant more sympathy
00:24:05 Children are sidekicks, not heroes
00:26:47 In the Torah, age isn’t just a number
00:28:11 Replace an adult character with a child character
00:31:52 Carrying the sins of our parents
00:34:47 Closing thoughts on what we didn’t talk about

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December 4, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 69 - Die Hard is a Chanukah Movie …With Special Guest Arnon Shorr

Chanukah falls on Christmas Day this year, so what better way to celebrate this overlap than debating if the classic action film, Die Hard, is a Christmas movie or a Chanukkah movie? We review what makes a movie holiday specific, the subtle Chanukkah plotline, and the movie’s Jewish characters… one which may surprise you! Make sure that you cuddle on the couch with some latkes and gelt in the warm glow of your menorah, and say yippee-chai-yay to this (possibly) Chanukkah classic.

00:02:16 Popular Debate: Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
00:06:34 New Debate: Is Die Hard a Chanukah Movie?
00:06:55 What’s the right way to spell Hannukkahhh?
00:09:03 What does a film need in order to be a Chanukah movie?
00:13:52 Tha Chanukah Plot of Die Hard
00:17:04 The Jewish calendar of Die Hard
00:18:24 Challenging the premise of the holiday connection
00:28:18 Character and Actor connections
00:30:32 Die Hard’s Jewish Dad helps us get grounded
00:33:41 A critique of Christmas or culture?
00:37:50 Sergeant Al Powell’s Fan Theory
00:38:45 Final Chanukah notes
00:39:30 Other “Chanukah” movies

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November 20, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 68 - Super Mitzvot Bros. …with Special Guest Sparkle Peters

The Nintendo video game company has been filling our homes with fun and excitement for many years. Some even say that the best video game of all time was Super Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Twitch streamer and podcaster, Sparkle Peters, joins us to discuss the innovation around the tutorial levels in video games, save skimming, and sometimes just throwing the instructions out all together. Plus, did you know that you’re remembering Rainbow Road wrong?!

00:02:09 Super Mario Bros, World 1-1
00:05:02 Teaching as you do, especially the act of mitzvot
00:07:58 Learning right from wrong in real time.
00:09:52 Video game tutorial levels… or not.
00:15:46 Enjoyable puzzle games
00:20:17 Getting gaming help
00:24:45 Just doing, not being taught
00:28:21 That’s enough rules, let’s just play the board game
00:30:20 The E.T. Video Game
00:32:04 Experiential educator playgrounds
00:34:49 Does save scumming teach us?
00:37:38 Mario Kart’s mandela effect
00:40:05 Learning little by little

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November 6, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 67 - Grief, Loss, and Lifesabers

Ethan opens his heart to all of us once again as we look back on a year of grief together with returning guest, Dr. Betsy Stone. We learn about the difference between the words grief and loss, share some of the meaningful practices during the mourning period, and hear what Star Trek has to say about the unexpected death of a loved one. We also teach Betsy what we’re supposed to call those plasma sword thingies in Star Wars. …Or maybe, she taught us?

00:02:24 A one year check in
00:04:19 Compounded grief
00:11:07 The difference between grief and loss
00:13:53 The burdens of grief on Deep Space 9
00:18:21 The experiences of the facts of our stories change
00:23:11 Something I talked about with my therapist…
00:26:48 Art imitating life and life imitating art
00:29:21 Holding joy and sadness, unlike giraffes
00:31:46 The perfect structure for mourning
00:34:43 Loss versus death
00:41:02 Grief is multilayered and disruptive
00:44:22 favorite pop culture stories centered around death or grief

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October 23, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 66 - Good Ideas Gone Wrong

We recorded this episode in September of 2024, which means that we had to visit the future historical event of the time: the Bell Riots from Deep Space 9. Ethan walks us through this time travel Star Trek episode and we discuss what went wrong. They seemed like they had good intentions, but do good plans always go awry? We also visit some other future prediction events from other franchises. …Does Judaism ever predict the future?

00:01:18 Isaiah 58:7-8
00:03:26 Deep Space 9 travels back to 2024 in a transporter accident
00:05:28 DS9 “Past Tense” Parts I and II
00:10:01 Figuring out morality without violence
00:12:20 Paving the road with good intentions
00:15:21 No bowling balls in the pool!
00:21:37 How will the Bell Riots directly affect change?
00:27:53 Finding a home in other franchises
00:34:09 Predicting the future in pop culture
00:37:50 Does Judaism ever predict the future?

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October 9, 2024
Torah Smash! The Podcast for Nerdy Jews
Episode 62 - Sabra: The Hero not the Hummus …with Special Guest Sasha Kaplan

The upcoming Captain America movie will include the first live action portrayal of the Israeli superhero Sabra. In this episode, we take a deep dive into Sabra’s first introduction into the Marvel Comics world, the possible powers and skills you may see on the big screen, and our predictions on what her story in the MCU will look like.

00:02:41 A background on Sabra
00:07:38 Sabra got a name change
00:09:17 Sabra entering the MCU
00:17:17 Revisiting Sabra’s troubling first comic story
00:26:41 Sabra’s name and some more troubling backstory
00:37:52 Sabra’s powers and skillsets
00:43:07 Will her Jewish or Israeli background play a part in her MCU Story

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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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