A list of creative ideas for podcasts

T

raffic. The highway, the world, your stomach, everything is turning into mush. And so is your brain. You’re daf yomied out, and Rush Limbaugh is dead. What now? Well, the good news is that, of late, there has been an explosion of Jewish podcasts to keep your wits sharp and your mood perky as you remain stagnant on a stretch of cement that used to be a highway. But, as there can never be enough of them to suit every listener, we’ve compiled a list of creative ideas for podcasts, featuring topics which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been covered yet. Please select the one(s) you feel will make the ideal traffic reliever.

1. Fred Talk. It’s the same idea as Ted Talk, but the key here is to have these presentations feature frum speakers. You can even create your own tagline: “Ideas worth being marbitz”? “Einfalls worth sharing”?
2. Shapir Ka’amar. This is a follow-up podcast to the Ben Shapiro Show. In typical Talmudic style, when one side has a brilliant answer and the other nary a response, the podcaster quotes the Reb Ben, then analyzes the depth within the arguments, weighing the tzdadin and evaluating how much smarter than AOC he is.
3. 9X13. This is an ongoing discussion highlighting the virtues of Boro Park living versus life in Lakewood. The amenities, luxuries, and conveniences that run throughout Lakewood’s Route 9 will be compared against those boasted by Boro Park’s 13th Avenue. May the best schnitzel sandwich win.
4. Yirgacheffe Room. Named for those premium Arabica beans worth every cent, this is for the chevreh who have graduated the Coffee Room but secretly crave to return. They miss the financial advisors (“I’m telling you, bitcoin is going to collapse in a few months”), the Mossad agents (“Iran is one massive hoax, there’s b’etzem no centrifuges in their program”), and the prodigious geniuses (“Einstein is so stupid. E equals MC squared? No, it doesn’t, look, I’ll be masbir”). But resplendent in their wine-colored cardigans and Ferragamo shoes, there’s no way to make a befitting reappearance.

What’s your choice? Or maybe you have another podcast you’d love to see launched? We’d love you to share your ideas: Please submit your suggestion below!

Last Week’s Poll

Last week, we asked how you had The Conversation with your kids — you know, the one in which you had to explain why Florida wasn’t on your itinerary for this year’s midwinter vacation/yeshivah week. (Whoever came up with that term? Isn’t it the exact opposite?) The results are in, and apparently, there are lots of people paying mortgages out there (choice “D” was 25 percent of all responses), but no one, it turns out, is overly concerned about AOC and her fellow Squadsters. Many brave readers, however, were courageous enough to go with “Other.” A selection of their responses:

• I live in Charleston, South Carolina, a stopover for tourists as they drove up/down to Florida.   Y’all are always welcome at BSBI synagogue and I will personally show you around.
• I have no problem with a vacation in Florida, but I have a problem that it became a “need” and the “norm” for every high school girl. Maybe Mishpacha can do a write-up with views from principals and rabbanim about midwinter vacation. It used to be that girls were happy spending time with friends and going for pizza — but in 2022 that isn’t working anymore. Should midwinter be abolished? No flying rule? Or maybe just two random Fridays off?
• We had the best time at “Hotel Home.” We had hot cocoa with marshmallows, the kids used our (off limits) Jacuzzi, and then off we went to the American Dream mall. What could be better?
• I think it’s a great chinuch moment. To be able to tell our children that we don’t do everything that everyone else does is a tremendous learning opportunity for life.
• As per the age-old Jewish tradition of answering a question with a question, my response is: “Why should we go to Florida?” After all, we don’t do things just because other people are doing them.
• Baruch Hashem, this is the one week of the year where we don’t have to worry about coming to shul and finding someone in our makom kavua — and we’re assured of getting an aliyah. There are no lines in the pizza store and the proprietor throws in an extra order of fries because we’re his only customers, there’s plenty of parking in front of Kosher Konnection, and the sale items are still in stock. I wouldn’t trade this non-Florida week for anything in the world. It’s the most relaxing week of the year. Please, everyone, keep going! We’re staying home.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 898)