Defining Moments

"I am heading into this war with the knowledge that I may not return, but I believe with all my heart in what I am doing. We have no other country, and now it's my turn to defend it... This is what my parents taught me. This is what I believe in. I hope you will remember me." Those words were written by Staff Sergeant Adi Leon. He was twenty years old. A rifleman in the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade. A young man from Nili who loved his friends and parties and electronic music. Before he entered Gaza for the first time he sat down with a notebook and wrote a letter. On the cover he wrote "To be read in the event of my death." He left it with a friend and said he hoped to come back and tear it up. He didn't come back. Adi fell together with ten of his comrades when an anti-tank missile struck their APC in northern Gaza. The notebook made its way home to his family. Inside he wrote to his parents and to his sisters Zohar and Ori with honesty and regret and humor and so much love. His letter now appears in Koren's book "If You're Reading These Words." But the line that stays with me is a simple one. This is what my parents taught me. Every parent wonders what our children actually absorb from us. Adi answered that question in his own handwriting. His family turned that answer into The Lights of Adi. An educational kit built on eight values drawn from his words that now reaches students in six languages around the world.

Craig Kohn was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a child. Many people would have kept that as private as possible. Craig chose to speak openly about it, and in doing so he took what could have been a lifelong challenge and turned it into a blessing, for himself and for a great many others. Today he is a life coach and advocate who has helped countless people on the autism spectrum find their footing, build real friendships, and live with independence and dignity. He founded TeamAutismpedia to bring that same guidance to families and communities everywhere. What strikes me most is that Craig's wisdom is not only about autism. It is about how any of us connect, how we understand one another, and how we make room for people who see the world differently. I think we all have something to learn from that.

In January 2024, three months into the war, Daniella Hellerstein took that office in her Modi’in business center and turned it into Beineinu Podcast Studio. David told her she was crazy. Two years later, many hundreds of episodes have been recorded in that room, by soldiers, by bereaved families, by people who just needed to tell their story.   In this episode: the hallway encounter between an outspoken guest and a host who can’t stand him. The sticker board in her studio that is now full, and why a full board brings such mixed emotions. Whether a podcast audience can ever really be a kehilla.   And the hardest question of all: the same medium that let Israel finally speak for itself gave our worst critics their biggest platform. Is there anyone Daniella would refuse to let record? Where is the line, and who draws it?   What started as a business became a mission.

Few voices have carried the weight of this moment like Rabbi Doron Perez. The President of the World Zionist Organization and Chair of World Mizrachi, Rav Perez is also the father of Captain Daniel Perez הי״ד, who fell defending Israel on October 7th and whose body was held in Gaza for 163 days before being brought home for burial. In this episode of Defining Moments, Rabbi Perez sits down with Rabbi David Fine for a conversation that begins, as it should, with Daniel. Who he was, what shaped him, and what the rest of us can learn from the way he lived and the choice he made on his final morning. From there, Rav Perez opens up about what it means to hold pain and privilege, חדווה and חרדה, in the same heart at the same time. Not as a contradiction to be resolved, but as the truest description of Jewish life in this hour. We also turn to the hard questions about Klal Yisrael, the Israel-Diaspora relationship, and the unity we have to fight for even when we disagree. A conversation about one son, one people, and one heart big enough for both joy and grief.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In normal times, Rabbi Moshe Bloom is the rabbi of Netzach Shlomo in Petach Tikvah, and head of the English department at Machon HaTorah VeHa’aretz — the institute dedicated to the agricultural laws of the land of Israel. But these are not normal times. Rav Bloom is also an IDF officer and a Rav Gdud — a battalion rabbi responsible for 450 soldiers. For over 500 days, he has been fighting alongside his battalion. The moment Operation Roaring Lion began, they were sent straight to the Lebanese border. I spoke with Rav Moshe from that border — about what it means to be a rabbi for 450 soldiers, what his responsibilities look like in the field, and how he tries to be there for his men, night and day, so they can be the best soldiers they can be.  

Rabbi Larry Rothwach is one of the most respected pulpit rabbis in America. He’s been the rabbi of Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck for over twenty-two years. During that time, he watched twenty percent of his community make aliyah. They’d call him from Israel and tell him the same thing: we love it here, but we miss having a shul that’s really a community, a rabbi who knows our names, a kehilla that’s there for us in moments of joy and crisis. Now he’s making aliyah himself to build exactly that - a new community called Meromei Shemesh in Ramat Beit Shemesh. He’s also the Director of Professional Rabbinics at RIETS, which means he’s been training the next generation of American rabbis in pastoral care and community leadership - work that overlaps deeply with what we do at Barkai for Israeli rabbis. Today we talk about what American communities have that Israeli ones often lack, whether that model can actually take root in Israeli soil, and what it means to start over and build something from nothing at a stage in life when most people are slowing down.   הפקה: DABRU לפרסום ושיתופי פעולה צרו קשר במייל- [email protected]

Amit and Arik Baron are a “mixed” couple—one became religious, one didn’t. More common than you’d think. Ami Baram, founder of Hitkashrut Zugit—an organization that supports these couples—shared just before October 7th that about 20% of Israelis are moving closer to religious observance while 13% are moving further away. A full third of our people are in flux. In this clip from the upcoming Defining Moments podcast, Arik and Amit offer a surprising insight: their kids are the answer. Children from these marriages grow up bilingual—fluent in both religious and secular worlds. What if we learned from them? What if we trained ourselves to speak both languages? We’d all be better off. הפקה: DABRU לפרסום ושיתופי פעולה צרו קשר במייל- [email protected] הפקה: DABRU

Welcome to Defining Moments. I’m Rabbi David Fine. Today’s guest is Rabbi Josh Broide, a walking contradiction in the best possible way. After 25 transformative years in Boca Raton—holding numerous important community positions—Josh made aliyah to Israel this past summer. He’s thrilled to be living his Zionist dream while remaining passionately committed to the community he served in South Florida. Josh has dedicated his life to a singular vision: bringing Jews closer to Jewish life and helping Jews of all backgrounds truly get along with one another. He’s the rabbi who literally rolls out a red carpet for first-time visitors to shul, who received the Jerusalem Unity Prize from the President of Israel for his work in bringing community together, and whose boundless warmth, energy, and creativity have touched thousands of lives.

417. That’s how many days Yona Brief fought for his life after being shot 13 times on October 7th while trying to save his fallen friends in Kfar Aza. 417 days that his parents never left his side. 417 days that transformed a hospital room into a place of hope, filled with music, laughter, and an unshakeable will to live. 417 blood donation units collected in his memory on what would have been his 24th birthday.** Yona was defined as the most severely wounded soldier of the Iron Swords War. Yet in Room 11 of Sheba Medical Center - which the staff still calls “Yona’s room” - this 23-year-old combat medic with an infectious smile and boundless שמחת חיים taught everyone around him what it means to choose life, even when everything is collapsing. The doctors say they changed their protocols because of him and saved other soldiers because of what his battle taught them. Today, David and Hazel Brief share the story of their son - a fighter, a peacemaker, and a young man whose legacy teaches us all what it means to truly live. This is Defining Moments with Rabbi David Fine.

In this episode I have the honor to speak with my Rav and Barkai partner, Rav Shlomo Sobol. We spoke just before Rosh Hashana, a very busy time for rabbis. We spoke about his own path to the rabbinate, his shlichut in Detroit which led to his envisioning Barkai, his time at Merkaz HaRav and the importance of Rav Kook’s Torah for our generation amongst many other topics. הפקה: DABRU לפרסום ושיתופי פעולה צרו קשר במייל- [email protected]