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On November 19, 2025, Rabbi Nathaniel (“Nati”) Helfgot - a congregational rabbi and Judaics teacher at SAR in Riverdale - wrote an article at The Lehrhaus titled, “Ben Gurion and Hazon Ish: The Sequel.” In the article, Rabbi Helfgot traces the history of the iconic encounter between these secular-political and chareidi leaders, respectively, in the State of Israel’s earliest days. He then proceeds to document the little-known continuing correspondence between the two figures. This encounter - both the actual historical event and its larger metaphorical import - helps us understand the origins of the ideological fault lines that remain entrenched today, despite a heavily altered demographic landscape. We also examine ways in which chareidi norms have shifted since October 1952, and how the meeting in question might inform relations in our current moment.

We tend to assume that all chareidim sit on the political Right in Israel. This week’s interview with Pnina Pfeuffer interrogates that assumption. As a chareidi woman firmly stationed on the Israeli Left, Pnina Pfeuffer, founder of the “New Chareidim” organization, promotes the embrace of progressive values while maintaining fidelity to chareidi standards of observance and communal affiliations.

On Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah 5786/2025, the Jewish world lost a titanic leader, Rabbi Moshe Hauer, a man who modeled Jewish living and leadership in an extraordinary manner. Rabbi Hauer was the Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, as well as Rabbi Emeritus of Baltimore's Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion. He spearheaded a wide variety of communal initiatives while occupying a rare "middle ground" - passionately committed to core Torah principles, but respectful of and connected to all precincts of the Orthodox community, and beyond. In tribute of this great figure, who exemplifies the ideals that Iyun promotes, we speak with Rabbi Yisroel Motzen, rabbi of the Ner Tamid synagogue in Baltimore, a longtime rabbinic student of the late Rabbi Hauer, as well as his associate at the OU. Rabbi Motzen helps us sketch the contours of Rabbi Hauer's unique personality and hashkafa, and shares principles of his that we might incorporate into our own lives.

Yitzik (pronounced "Itzkik") Crombie is a long-time tech entrepreneur who founded Mego, a training program aimed at integrating into the higher-level Israeli workforce. The work is supported through the Kemach Foundation. Yitzik also runs Bizmax, a co-working space geared for chareidim, among other ventures. Several years ago, he published a book, "When the Chareidim Will Be the Majority," (Hebrew) exploring the challenges and solutions relevant to this community, and beyond.

Iyun Institute founder and director Rabbi Yehoshua Pfefferrecently “put his body where his pen is,” enlisting in the IDF in its “Shlav Bet” program within the Homefront Command. Fresh off a month-long basic training, R’ Pfeffer shares his reflections and takeaways from the field.

Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie is a longtime Chabad Shaliach (emissary), co-director of the North County Chabad Center in Orange County, California. Author of the book Secret of Chabad, he has recently released a groundbreaking biography of the “Friediker Rebbe” - the Sixth Rebbe of the Chabad chassidic dynasty - called “Undaunted: How the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn Saved Russian Jewry, Reimagined American Judaism, Ignited a Global Jewish Renaissance.” In this episode, we review Rabbi Eliezrie’s own background and this most recent work, then springboard into an analysis of Chabad’s perspective on Zionism, secular nationalism, army enlistment and the modern state of Israel.

Dr. Yechiel Reit is an American-born emergency medicine doctor, an IDF reserve combat physician and the author of "Applied Monotheism: The Chareidi Response to Modernity." In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Dr. Reit's IDF experience and his analysis of "Charediism," as he argues for an ideological, not cultural, definition.

Sam Sokol is a veteran journalist, currently the Knesset Affairs correspondent at the Times of Israel. In this episode, we explore his journalistic background, and his unique perspective on the charedi parties in the landscape of Israeli politics.

After a long hiatus, we return with a crossover episode - Yaakov Wolff, host of the Shtark Tank podcast, interviews Rabbi Yehoshua and Rebbetzin Tamar Pfeffer. More original episodes to come shortly!

Since inaugurating this podcast, and focusing a long series on charedim and army service, one episode has conspicuously been missing: a full treatment of the halachic parameters of the notion of milchemes mitzvah, as well as an analysis commonly advanced ideals such as "Torah magneh u'matzleh" ("Torah study protects"). In this episode we remedy that void and address these issues that are vital to any Torah-centered Jew. To do so, we speak with Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Lifshitz, a noted rav and rosh Kollel based in Yerushalayim, who has written extensively on these topics in recent months. Rabbi Dr. Lifshiftz is also a professor of philosophy at Shalem College.

Dr. Moshe Koppel is a leading computer scientist in Israel, with a specific expertise in AI. But over past twenty years he has led an intellectual movement promoting judicial reform within Israel. Through his Kohelet Policy Forum, Dr. Koppel researches alternatives to the entrenched judicial dynamics, and advocates for what he considers a more balanced and democratic approach, in line with other Western countries. Obviously, this topic has been at the center of stormy debates and protests in Israel; while it seemed to subside in the wake of the October 7th tragedy, this issue has returned to the foreground, with broad implications for swaths of Israeli society, perhaps most notably, the chareidim. We speak today with Dr. Koppel about the history and intellectual perspective of this movement, how and why it seemed to unravel, and where the typically non-ideological and narrowly focus charedi public fits in to the story.

Tzili Schneider has created one of the most remarkable bridge-building educational operations in Israel, Kesher Yehudi. Ari Koretzky has previously interviewed Tzili on his other show, Jews You Should Know. Relevant to the Iyun Podcast, however, we focus in this episode on Tzili’s recent efforts with hostage families and NOVA survivors; she has engaged each of these populations with Shabbatonim and other outreach methods, resulting in a significant Jewish awakening fostering deep bonds of mutual love.

The charedi communities of the United State and Israel are separated physically by an ocean, but culturally and psychologically by a great deal as well. Many Americans lack basic awareness of current developments on the ground in Israel, the actual attitudes towards army service and general integration being promulgated there. The resulting gap leads to widespread misconceptions, and inhibits Anglos from forming fully informed positions. InStep Together is a new grassroots initiative aimed at remediating this state of affairs. Several notable Anglo-Charedi rabbinic personalities have embarked on a “hasbara tour” of sorts, holding intimate, fireside chat-style conversations in various communities. Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Ron Yitzchak Eisenmann and today’s guest, Yitzchak Adlerstein, have directed their time and talents towards helping thoughtful charedim around the United States grapple with these issues of grave importance.

Tuvia Tenenbom is quite a colorful character. An author, playwright, mathematician, computer scientist, and all-around polymath, Tuvia was raised in a chareidi Israeli home, in the lap of the Chazon Ish, Rav Shach and other great luminaries. His own life veered on a different course, but he recently returned to those ideological precincts, spending a year in Mea She’arim, Jerusalem, fully immersed in the local community. The product of his embedded travels is the book, “Careful, Beauties Ahead: My Year with the Ultra-Orthodox,” an honest and largely flattering portrayal of his time in an otherwise closed society. Tenenbom highlights many of the gifts - fervent religiosity, principled living, embrace of charity and family - that animate chareidi life, yet which so few Israeli “outsiders” ever learn about, much less witness. In an era of intense polarization,Tenenbom’s tome is a reminder that, for all the critique and calls for chareidi reform, the core values must be preserved, radiating out towards the entire Jewish nation, and beyond.

Why are we here? What’s it all about? Obviously, Judaism has quite a bit to say about this topic. In fact, it may be its entire animating essence! Still, as expressed in contemporary living, even those who identify as strictly Torah-observant may respond divergently to this most-important question. On this episode, Tzvi Goldstein will argue that the Chareidi mindset on “the purpose of life” is orientated towards a Next-World (Olam Ha’Ba) perspective, built on a mystical approach popularized by Rav Chaim of Volozhin. Goldstein himself favors what he classifies as a more “centrist”, “This-Worldly” approach, championed by Rav Hirsch and Rav Soloveitchik. Yaakov Resnick pushes back, adding nuance and sophistication to the presentation of Charedi hashkafa, and muddying the picture, just a bit. Stay tuned for our host’s own take at the end of the episode. This conversation was inspired by an article penned by Goldstein on the pages of online publication The Lehrhaus, provocatively titled “Rack up Those Mitzvot,” to which Resnick (along with others) responded with a letter to the editor. (See past Iyun guest Chaim Goldberg’s letter as well.) Yaavov Resnik prefers a lower profile, but for more from Tzvi Goldstein, check out his book, Halachic Worldviews. This unique work explains the background for the "centrist" approach to Torah learning, and offers more than a dozen examples of halachic topics that might be evaluated through the lens of “Torah values.” Tzvi authors a wonderful Substack as well. Give him a follow!