Ben

I am 100% Ashkenazi Jewish.  Both my parents are from the former Soviet Union and immigrated here in the early 1990's.  Obviously, in the Soviet Union, religion was never allowed, so they were not raised religious.  Thus, I grew up in a pretty secular home; we tried to keep to the basic rules of being kosher and I had a bar mitzvah.   But I was never involved in Shabbat until COVID started, when I got involved in a Jewish leadership program in the city.  Now, I'm working my way up to weekly Shabbats, and consider myself pretty involved in the Jewish community in New York City.

I met Rabbi Aaron Eisemann (of Meor NYU, Founder of The Podcast Fellowship) last summer, when I joined his Jewish literacy program J-LIT, which I am doing again this summer.  I kept in contact with him after that program because he is such a great rabbi; he's always there for me, always able to answer questions, whether about Judaism or about careers in general because, hey, there's no one more social than a rabbi!  He knows all different kinds of people. So we would discuss goals and philosophy in addition to Judaism.

At one point he recommended that I do The Podcast Fellowship, where I would basically learn a new Jewish concept every week and then call him and talk about it.

Well, I love podcasts.  Every morning I listen to a different podcast.  So I thought, why not get paid to listen to a Jewish podcast?  It's a match made in Heaven for me (see video above).

I would have done it without a stipend, for several reasons; firstly, I'm a big podcast guy, so this isn't totally otherworldly to me.  Secondly, since I knew Rabbi Eisemann, this was an excuse for me to call him more often.  So, why not?  And thirdly, knowing what I know now and seeing how far this got me, I would have done it 100%.

Every week I listen and add my notes from that podcast to my list.  I have a very long list of general philosophical notes; how to be happy, how to stay happy, how to be grateful, how to reach goals.

It's also connected me with Rabbi Dovy Grossman, who has connected me with several other people...it's like a big chain.  Generally, what I've found is that the more I'm involved with Judaism, the more connections I make, and the more connections I make, the happier I am, because I get to meet people, talk to them about new things, anything I want.  I can really take this whichever direction I want, which I love.

I've been doing TPF for about a year now, and in the middle my mentor switched from Rabbi Eisemann to Rabbi Dovy Grossman.  Rabbi Dovy knows a lot of people directly involved with finance and computer sciences (I'm sure Rabbi Eisemann does, too).  He connected me with Seth, whom I now work for part-time.

Generally, through my time with TPF the dynamic has changed from talking about strictly Jewish philosophy to taking it beyond the podcast, asking the rabbis about any questions I come up with about Judaism throughout my week, asking advice, and getting to interact on a personal level.

My favorite podcast topics are the meaning of life and achieving happiness.  I am trying to get from a Judaism a lense through which I can be more grateful, and through the gratitude I become happier.  Those two--gratitude and happiness-- go together.  From there I am able to learn the lessons in everything that happens; what did G-d want me to learn from this, from that.  I seek the lesson not just in my mistakes but also in my successes.

The #1 way that TPF has helped me grow as a Jew and as a human being is that I write down the lessons I learn, and every morning, or at least every Shabbat morning I read those bullet points so that I don't forget this stuff.  A lot of it is very very powerful.

It's crazy for me to look back to see how far I've come in the last year; I work at Morgan Stanley now, I started a student-run hedge fund in my school, I'm super-involved in extra-cirriculars, I work at a startup, and none of this would have been possible if I didn't spend so much time reflecting on myself, which is what these podcast really allow you to do; reflect on yourself and the decisions you made and how you can be better in the future.

In the traditional sense, I don't consider myself more religious than before.  But I have come far in being grateful and understanding that things happen for a reason.  I'm able to be harder on myself when I need to be.  I've learned how to learn from my mistakes.

I truly cannot give enough credit to the Fellowship.  So much of my personal growth has come from listening to a podcast and every week remembering what I learned and talking about it with a rabbi to make sure that not only did I learn it right, but that it stays in my head, so I remember these things when the time comes.  For instance, I'm able to catch myself rationalizing wrong choices and make better choices.

Maybe the changes like keeping kosher will come in the future, but right now, the main value is in personal growth.

“TPF for me is a way to reflect, by yourself and with others”.