A handwritten letter by a Jewish luminary of the 18th century, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, hit the auction block earlier this year. The event grabbed headlines both because of the nearly $400,000 US sale price, but also because, until recently, many believed that the letter was safely among the hundreds of other handwritten pages that make up the Ramchal collection at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS).

JTS had quietly sold off a number of valuable books and manuscripts from their collection in private sales a decade ago. Over the years, scholars have decried the transfer of these texts to private collections, as they see treasures of the Jewish past finding their way under the auctioneer's gavel.

On today’s episode of Not in Heaven, Rabba Dr. Yedida Eisenstat helps make sense of the recent sales, and ther co-Rabbi podcasters discuss how libraries balance evolving financial constraints with being guardians of a common heritage.

Then, with the holiday of Purim on the horizon, the rabbis look at Jewish material culture: the newest Rabbi runway, the hottest lookbook of Kosher couture, the Instagram account known as @rabbinicfitcheck. How do you dress for a bris, funeral, and a wedding all in one day? Rabbis from around the world are posting their outfits. We discuss.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl
• Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Socalled

Support The CJN

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Taglit-Birthright Israel was founded just over 25 years ago, with the aim of strengthening Jewish identity among young adults through a 10-day, free of charge trip to Israel. The program has brought over 900,000 young adults from 70 countries to Israel.

The ambitious program began as a grand solution to solve a crisis of Jewish continuity and unity as the world entered the new millennium, spearheaded by Canadian Jewish philanthropist Charles Bronfman and American Michael Steinhardt, but required the mustering of global Jewish communal resources.

Last week, Bronfman, along with Jeffrey R. Solomon, the past CEO of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, wrote an op-ed for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, titled "We backed Birthright. Now it’s time for more big ideas for a post-Oct. 7 world” where they called for the next big idea to address the next big Jewish challenges.

On today’s episode of Not in Heaven, our rabbi podcasters, offer their perspectives of the Birthright Israel program and suggest what should come next.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl
• Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Socalled

Support The CJN

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

This cold week in February has been dominated by two major sporting events: the 2026 Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. Jews played roles in both; the Olympics regularly see a handful of Jewish athletes competing on the world stage, including nine Israeli delegates and a smattering of Americans in mainstream sports like curling and hockey. While no Jewish football players played in the Super Bowl, Robert Kraft's anti-antisemitism organization did run a pricey anti-hate commercial.

With sports on the brain, our three rabbi podcasters wanted to look at their own community values. There's no doubt that Jews can excel in sports—so why isn't it more common? Jewish parents often put their kids in active extracurriculars—but when it comes to post-secondary education, academics trump athletics. Case in point: note how many pro sports teams are owned by Jews, versus how many have Jewish players on their rosters.

Rabbis Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl dig into all this and more on this week's episode of Not in Heaven.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl
• Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Socalled

Support The CJN

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )