Not That Kind of Rabbi
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Not That Kind of Rabbi
Spiritual journeys, discussions and lessons from award-winning broadcaster Ralph Benmergui. Every two weeks, join Ralph and his insightful guests for an in-depth sit-down conversation about the unseen problems affecting our world.
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Trailblazing artist Neshama Carlebach opens up about her next spiritual goal: the rabbinate
Growing up in the Orthodox movement, Neshama Carlebach would hear it a lot: "It's a shame your father never had sons." The father in question, the acc...

Saul Rubinek
In this episode of Not That Kind of Rabbi, Ralph speaks with actor, director, producer, and playwright Saul Rubinek.

Rabbi Dr. David Seidenberg: Eco-spiritual, Eco-what?
On this episode of Not That Kind of Rabbi, Ralph Benmergui speaks with neohasid.org founder and author of the book, Kabbalah and Ecology, Rabbi David...

Amichai Lau-Lavie, the 'Sabbath Queen', is forging his own traditions
When Amichai Lau-Lavie realized he was gay, he knew he had to make a choice: hide his identity to abide by his Orthodox upbringing, or be true to hims...

For Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg, environmentalism isn't adjacent to Judaism—it's a core tenet
Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg realized at a young age he was drawn to Jewish studies. After graduating from Jewish day schools around Toronto, he decided to a...

'You can forgive and seek justice at the same time': Robert Enright on how to learn forgiveness
With the recent news of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and the eventual return of the remaining Israeli hostages, tensions remain high betw...

Gary Topp ushered Toronto into the cultural future—and he’s still making alternative history
Once upon a time, Toronto was a sleepy city. The atmosphere shut down at night. Red tape and cultural meekness kept things status quo. But through the...

How Choir! Choir! Choir! grew out of a living room gathering into 2,500 strangers singing Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' in Montreal
On Oct. 9, around 2,500 strangers packed Montreal's Place des Arts concert hall to sing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in surprisingly perfect harmony....

Playwright Mark Leiren-Young explains why Shylock needed a revival in 2024
Mark Leiren-Young wrote Shylock in 1996, a play using Shakespeare's controversial Jewish character in The Merchant of Venice to explore modern-day can...

Filmmaker Allan Novak turns the camera on his family: the oldest living Holocaust survivors in the world
Growing up, Allan Novak assumed his family was fairly ordinary: modest, witty, hardworking Jewish immigrants who found a new live in Canada after the...

In his new memoir, Michael Coren recounts his life, from Jewish cabbie's son to Anglican priest
Michael Coren has lived many lives. Born to a Jewish cab driver in England, Coren converted to Catholocism in the 1980s, then Evangelicalism in the '9...

How Eva Almos channels the spirit of her survivor mother in an audio drama about Holocaust zombies
Both of Eva Almos's parents were Holocaust survivors. Her mother, from Lithuania, was a kind and gentle soul who went out of her way to uplift strange...

From devastation to creation: How artist Devon Spier found spiritual meaning through affliction
Devon Spier has long COVID. The artist, poet and spiritual guide has spent days bedridden, feeling ill and angry at God. But that forced pause gave he...

Jesse Brown lost 9% of his supporters after he began spotlighting antisemitism. Here's why he won't stop
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Jesse Brown—who has risen to prominence as a media critic and muckraker with his Canadaland podcast and digital media comp...

Rabbi Victor Gross is reimagining religion as a force of unity—not division
When Rabbi Victor Gross was looking for a home to grow his congregation in Boulder, CO, he knew he didn't want a dedicated building. It wasn't just th...

Mary Darling reflects on conflict and division from the Baha'i headquarters in Haifa
While Israel remains on the brink of war with Lebanon in the north, one of the country's most iconic sites—the famous Baha'i Gardens and shrine—sit le...

Jews were once embraced by progressive activists. Did Oct. 7 permanently change that?
Bernie Farber helped create the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) in 2018, and sat as its founding chair until shortly after Oct. 7, 2023. The organiz...

Canada's last remaining faith reporter reflects the past, and future, of religion
In 2018, at a time when the faith beat in Canadian newspapers was steadily declining, John Longhurst made an unusual deal with the publisher of the Wi...

Rabbi Beni Wajnberg explains why you should never pay synagogue dues
Rabbi Beni Wajnberg has worked in Brazil, Argentina, Singapore, New York, Tennessee, California, Montana and beyond. When it came down to settle down...

Why writer Marsha Lederman, daughter of Holocaust survivors, feels 'less alone' on Yom HaShoah
Marsha Lederman is a catastrophizer. As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, the author and Globe and Mail columnist has gone through life worrying ab...

This Earth Day, pretend it's Shabbat—and take a break for the environment
You may not think of keeping Shabbat as environmental activism—but Jonathan Schorsch does. The founder of the Green Sabbath Project is on a mission to...

Alan Zweig looks back on decades of filmmaking—and ahead to his pessimistic new podcast
Alan Zweig was on the road to becoming, like so many other midtown Toronto Jews, a lawyer. Instead, in his early 20s, he zigzagged off the course and...

A new Orthodox horror novel blends Kabbalah, family drama and memories of the Holocaust
Toby Lloyd didn't grow up religious. But the British Jewish author became fascinated with Orthodoxy—how different people, even in the same family, can...

In her new solo show, Diane Flacks tackles divorce, motherhood and the intergenerational power of Jewish guilt
Diane Flacks has always felt the power of Jewish guilt. But when when she decided she wanted a divorce, that guilt grew to a whole new level. She cons...

Mark Breslin on the value of Jewish comedy and identity in an increasingly antisemitic world
Last month, the flagship Yuk Yuk's location in downtown Toronto hosted a stand-up comedy fundraiser for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Predicta...

'Some bearded person sitting on a throne in the sky is a kindergarten God': Rabbi Zelig Golden explains earth-based Judaism
Rabbi Zelig Golden likes to describe Judaism as a religion of deep roots, interconnectivity, compassion and feminine divinity, reminding the world tha...

Rabbi Yonatan Neril: How spirituality can help us solve the climate crisis
The climate crisis is the fault of no single person or country, but rather a widespread ideology of materialism and overwhelming lack of compassion fo...

Coping during difficult times: Lynda Fishman and Dr. Barbara Landau on communal trauma in the wake of war
If you're feeling anxious and afraid, you should know: you're not alone. Tensions are high everywhere across the Jewish community right now as Hamas a...

The return of Ralph Benmergui: Not That Kind of Rabbi is back
Welcome to the newest season of Not That Kind of Rabbi! Ralph's spiritual deep-dive podcast is back, now joining The CJN Podcast Network. After more t...

Lawrence, Florence, Shoreview: The Lawrence Morgenstern Shiva
Many lifetimes ago I was a stand-up comic. There were a lot of great comics that started with me back then. Way funnier too. One was Lawrence Morgenst...

High Holidays Edition
Two of the top three Jewish holidays are about to happen. Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah and the day of atonement, Yom Kippur. They are referred to as...

Avrum Rosensweig
This time on Not That Kind of Rabbi we begin a new chapter by welcoming friend ad wise person, Avrum Rosensweig to the podcast. We'll talk about God,...

Rabbi Aaron Levy
This time on Not That Kind of Rabbi it's the Passover edition. I'm joined by one of Toronto's Rabbinic brightest lights. Rabbi Aaron Levy from Makom C...

Brian Fraser
Brian Fraser is many things. A Minister, organizational development wizard, runner and tying it all together, a jazz lover. We talk about the whole da...

Jeremy Hotz
When I first saw Jeremy Hotz do stand-up, he looked nervous, very nervous. Turns out in the end he has extreme anxiety disorder, oh and he's very funn...

Lara Rae
Lara Rae is a comedian. A very good one. Lara Rae is Trans and a comedian. Lara Rae is deeply spiritual, Trans and a comedian. She is also someone I h...

Aaron Lightstone from Jaffa Road
Jaffa Road is a street name in Israel. It also happens to be the name of a wonderful group of musicians who bring elements of middle eastern, south as...

David Eisenstadt
My dad used to love pointing at the TV when I was a kid when someone would appear and declare, "He'/She's Jewish. Most of the time he was right. But n...

Avrum Rosensweig
Sometimes we become something, not because we get a degree, but because we simply, through our actions and intentions, become something. In this case...

Cantor Aaron Bensoussan
Tucked way up on the northern tip of Africa is the place where I come from, Morocco. A few of us left that country after hundreds of years in the 50's...