Confrontation 2022: Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Its Questions, with Rabbi Pesach Wolicki (138)

Scott and his close friend Rabbi Pesach Wolicki founded a yeshiva, Yesodei HaTorah, over 18 years ago. Yesodei HaTorah was dedicated to skill building in reading Jewish texts, and helping each student develop an independent Torah philosophy.

And in 2015, the yeshiva closed down when it didn’t recruit enough students to keep it going. At that point, Scott moved into the podcasting sphere. Pesach, in turn, became deeply involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue. Now, seven and a half years later, Pesach probably spends more of his working day talking to Christians than to Jews - even though he lives in Israel. His career move can perhaps be seen as radical, maybe even unique.

Why does he think this work is important? What is some of the pushback that he’s received, and how does he answer his colleagues’ objections? Is he providing a bridge that helps Chrisitians missionize Jews? What does he say about Rav Soloveitchik’s prohibiting the very dialogue that he is involved in every day? Is he violating Jewish law by speaking in churches - something he does regularly? And, perhaps most crucially, what does he hope to achieve through his work? Listen to the conversation and see whether you agree.

Please listen to and share this podcast, and let us know what you think on the Orthodox Conundrum Discussion Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/432020081498108).

Thanks to all of our Patreon subscribers, who have access to bonus JCH podcasts, merch, and more - we appreciate your help, and hope you really enjoy the extras! Visit the JCH Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/jewishcoffeehouse.

Check out https://jewishcoffeehouse.com/ for the Orthodox Conundrum and other great podcasts, and remember to subscribe to them on your favorite podcast provider. Also visit https://www.jchpodcasts.com/ to learn all about creating your own podcast.

Music: "Happy Rock" by bensound.com