Episode 12: Education
It’s back-to-school time, so host Dan Crane talks to Joel Stein (Time magazine), Tiffany Shlain (Character Day), Ari Kelman (Stanford) and the Kasher brothers (a rabbi, and a comedian) about Jewish education — from Hebrew school to how to be a mensch.
Who's in this episode?
Kasher vs. kasher
David Kasher (@parshanut) grew up in Oakland, California, but spent his summers in Hassidic Brooklyn, and he's been integrating these experiences ever since. After graduating from Wesleyan University, he knocked around for several years in yeshivas in Israel before landing in rabbinical school at Chovevei Torah, where he was ordained in 2007. He now spends his time bringing Torah to the people, one living room discussion group at a time, as the Senior Rabbinic Educator at Kevah. He's also working on a doctorate in Legal Philosophy, and writes a blog on the weekly Torah portion. You can read it, or listen to the podcasted version, at
Moshe Kasher (@moshekasher) Comedian. Child Genius. Jew. Jew Comedian. OBGYN. Pleasure center. Good tipper. Guiding light. Beefcake. He lives alone in LA. Featured on: NBC, E!’s Chelsea Lately, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central’s Drunk History, @midnight, Conan, Carson Daly, Showtime’s Shameless, MTV & more… Currently the Co-host of The Champs podcast and the author of the acclaimed memoir Kasher In The Rye on Grand Central Publishing. Selected as one of Variety Magazine’s “Ten Comics to Watch”, LA Times’ “Faces to Watch”, and iTunes’ “Comic of the Year”.
Joel Stein
Joel Stein (@thejoelstein) grew up in Edison, NJ, went to Stanford, and in 1997, became a staff writer for TIME. In 1998, he began writing his sophomoric humor column that now appears in the magazine every week. He’s also written fourteen cover stories for TIME, and has contributed to The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, Details, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Businessweek, Wired, Real Simple, Sunset, Playboy, Elle, Los Angeles Times, and many more magazines, most of which have gone out of business. He has appeared as a talking head on any TV show that asks him, taught a class in humor writing at Princeton, and wrote a weekly column for the back page of Entertainment Weekly and the opinion section of the Los Angeles Times. This is the most he’s ever written in third person.
Tiffany Shlain
Emmy-nominated filmmaker, speaker, and Webby Awards Founder Tiffany Shlain (@tiffanyshlain) has received over 70 awards and distinctions for her films and work, including being on NPR’s list of Best Commencement Speeches and by Newsweek as “one of the women shaping the 21st Century.”
Ari Y Kelman
Ari Y Kelman (@aykelman) is the inaugural Jim Joseph Professor of Education and Jewish Studies in the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, where he directs the Concentration in Education and Jewish Studies. He is an affiliate of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, a member of the American Studies Committee-in-Charge, and, by courtesy, a professor of Religious Studies. He is the author of Station Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio
Host: Dan Crane
Dan Crane (@dancranehere) is a writer, musician, Jew (lax, loves lox) and professional air-guitarist. He’s the author of To Air is Human and stars in the documentary, Air Guitar Nation. He writes about culture and travel for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, California Sunday, Slate, and numerous other publications. When he’s not writing, or hosting air guitar championships at home and abroad, he plays “there” guitar in various bands including Nous Non Plus and Ray & Remora.
This podcast is sponsored by the Emanuel J. Friedman Philanthropies.