Torat JLIC

Recovering Ron Gvili: A Firsthand Account

 
Content note: This episode contains graphic descriptions of recovering and identifying human remains in a wartime setting. The conversation is handled with sensitivity and spiritual depth, but may not be suitable for all audiences, particularly younger listeners. Listener discretion is advised.What does it feel like to bring the last hostage home?
Rabbi Tzvi Wohlgelernter served in the IDF's Yasar unit, tasked with recovering the bodies of hostages and fallen soldiers to ensure they receive a dignified Jewish burial. In this episode, he walks us through the extraordinary mission to recover Ron Gvili, the final hostage to return home from Gaza, and the profound Torah, emotional, and spiritual dimensions that carried him through it.
From navigating mass graves in an open cemetery on the outskirts of Gaza City, to standing alongside an Israeli pop star in the dead of night, to weeping alongside his fellow soldiers when the last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place, Rabbi Tzvi shares a story of sacrifice, faith, and what it means to feel truly part of the Jewish people.
He also speaks openly about mental health, rabbinic leadership during wartime, and the Rav Kook that suddenly came alive when he experienced Klal Yisrael in his bones.
Key Topics Discussed
The Yasar Unit: What They Do and Why It Matters
The unit's mission to recover the bodies of fallen soldiers and hostages for dignified Jewish burial
Why this work is emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausting
How soldiers sustain themselves through disappointment, failed missions, and the weight of what they witness
The Mission to Recover Ron Gvili
The intelligence trail that led investigators to a mass grave on the outskirts of Gaza City
The complexity of searching thousands of bodies for one specific person, layer by layer
The meticulous process: dentists, anthropologists, and explosive ordnance teams all working in parallel
Rabbi Tzvi's wife Tali sending him off with five words: "You have to go. That's it."
The Moment of Discovery
The quiet commotion that built around the dentist station at dawn
What it felt like to be standing a few yards away when the confirmation came
Soldiers from every background, every walk of life, weeping together
The Israeli flag draped over Ron's body, and the spontaneous singing of Ani Ma'amin
A Tale of Two Dentists: From Auschwitz to Gaza
The haunting contrast between the Nazi "dentist chair" at the crematoria in Poland, used to desecrate Jewish bodies, and the dentists at this mission, working through the night to identify and honor one Jewish man
Leading a Community While Living a Secret
The double life Rabbi Tzvi was navigating: communal rabbi by day, classified mission operative by night
His deliberate choice to speak openly with his community rather than distance himself
How sharing his experiences helped congregants and students feel part of the story of Am Yisrael
Mental Health in a Time of War
Why Rabbi Tzvi's unit has dedicated mental health professionals present after every mission
His public address to his community about trauma, suffering in silence, and the responsibility to look out for one another
His background in psychotherapy as a pastoral bridge between soldiers and help
Rav Kook's Kol Dodi and Feeling Klal Yisrael
How this war gave Rabbi Tzvi a visceral, lived understanding of Rav Kook's poetry about national Jewish soul
The passage from Orot HaKodesh (Kovetz Aleph, Siman 163): "My nation, I speak to you from the depth of my soul, from the soul of my soul... all of you, your souls and your generations — only you are the content of my life"
Why Rabbi Tzvi says he could always recite those words but never truly felt them until this mission
The achdut discovered in foxholes, among strangers from completely different worlds, crying together over a body

Torah in Action: Lessons from Early Stage Startups and Campus Life

Guest: Uri Lorkis, JLIC Director at University of Michigan & Startup Coach
Episode Description
What does coaching Israeli startup founders have in common with guiding college students through their spiritual journey? Uri Lorkis discovered the answer isn't just similar, it's transformative.
Uri shares his unconventional path from IDF paratrooper to JLIC director, and reveals why the biggest challenge facing both his students and his startup clients is exactly the same: how to be effective instead of affected. He introduces his powerful "lifeboat to real boat" framework for spiritual growth and explains why closing the sefer is when the real learning begins.
Key Topics
The Lifeboat Metaphor
Why the Yeshiva experience is real but not sustainable in college
The danger of "zero to 100" thinking and spiritual burnout
Building a real boat: embedding Torah into character rather than schedule
Being Effective vs. Affected
The blitz of college campus life and startup culture
Making top-down decisions instead of being controlled by circumstances
Why Israeli founders struggle with the same issues as post-Yeshiva students
When the Sefer Closes, Learning Begins
Rabbi Avner Shahar's transformative insight about making Torah keva
Living a Torah-lived life beyond the safe space of structured learning

Can a Football Game Be Oneg Shabbat?

What do you do when the biggest social event of the year at Yale (the Harvard-Yale football game) happens to fall on Shabbat? Every single year.
JLIC Yale co-director Rabbi Dr. Alex Ozar joins Rabbi Don Cantor to talk through a question that comes up constantly on college campuses: How do you actually guide students who genuinely care about Shabbat but also really want to be part of their college community?
Alex isn't interested in just saying "don't go" and leaving it at that. He walks through the sources, from the Shulchan Aruch on weekday speech to debates about studying secular subjects on Shabbat, to show that halacha itself grapples with the messiness of being human. The real question isn't just "is this allowed?" It's: When you know students are going to go anyway, what's your job as their rabbi?
Alex shares his approach: Be clear about what you actually think is best. But then help students think seriously about what they're doing and why. Push them to ask whether they're really experiencing oneg Shabbat or just giving in to FOMO. And maybe, just maybe, that kind of honest wrestling with the question becomes the path to real growth.
This conversation goes way beyond football. It's about how we meet people where they are while still holding up ideals worth striving for.
Key Topics:
Why the Yale-Harvard game is such a big deal (and why it's always on Shabbat)
Three types of students and how to talk to each one
What the sources actually say about enjoying yourself on Shabbat
Can attending a football game ever be oneg Shabbat? (Spoiler: it's complicated)
Meeting students where they are without just rubber-stamping everything
How this applies way beyond college campuses

Building an All-Star Staff: The Anatomy of a JLIC Director

 
In this episode of the Torah JLIC Podcast, hosts Don and Alex sit down with Tal Attia, JLIC's Chief Operating Officer, to explore what goes into building JLIC's exceptional staff of campus directors across North America and Israel.
The Journey to JLIC Leadership
Tal's unexpected path from college student to campus director to COO
The transition from being "needed constantly" on campus to behind-the-desk leadership
How a Shabbat conversation with Rabbi Josh Joseph changed everything
What Makes a Great JLIC Director
The critical importance of "avdut" (servant leadership) over ego
Why sophisticated, individualized approaches to Judaism matter more than cookie-cutter programs
The necessity of deep self-awareness for campus work
How JLIC uniquely empowers women in Orthodox Jewish leadership
The Recruitment Philosophy
Why Tal meets with potential candidates years before they're ready
The difference between recruitment and leadership development
How matching couples to specific campus cultures makes all the difference
Learning to trust that people land where they're supposed to be
Retention and Growth
Balancing the marathon vs. sprint mentality in campus work
Supporting directors in discovering their next calling
Why it's a win when JLIC alumni move to other Jewish leadership roles
The broader challenge of sustaining the Jewish education pipeline
Core Values
How the concept of achrayut (responsibility) drives meaningful work
Creating space for students to lead rather than being "the big man on campus"
The unique opportunity JLIC provides for women in rabbinic leadership
Memorable Quotes
"If you think you're gonna get up and give a drash every Friday night, you're sorely mistaken... No matter how amazing your shiur or event might be, you're going to be creating a 10 times bigger impact if you empower a student to create that shiur or that event."
"We throw you in the deep end. Next thing you know, you are the directors and the rabbinic leaders of a campus community. It could be as many as 600 students who are looking to you for your leadership."
 

Yom Kippur at the Beach: Israel's Religious Awakening

Rabbi Joe Wolfson shares his experience of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, the remarkable outdoor prayer services that brought together thousands of secular and religious Israelis, and reflects on how the nation is navigating a uniquely religious moment in its history.
Featured Guest
Rabbi Joe Wolfson – Leader of JIC Tel Aviv community and Director of JLIC's Abraham's House, a beit midrash (learning center) serving as an incubator for societal impact.
Key Topics Discussed
Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv: A City Transformed
Why Tel Aviv is "the greatest city in the world to spend Yom Kippur"
The 25-hour silence: a secular city embracing sacred time
Outdoor tefillot (prayer services) at Kikar Atarim by the sea, drawing up to 5,000 people
90% of attendees are non-synagogue regulars – prayer without walls
The healing of religious-secular tensions from previous years
Israel's Current Religious Atmosphere
The powerful experience of praying for hostages and witnessing answered prayers
A nation living in an "astonishingly religious moment"
Public religious expression transcending sectoral divides: Shehecheyanu blessings, tzitzit in Tel Aviv, religious music in the mainstream
The theological significance of Shehecheyanu during moments of darkness being erased
God's action and human action no longer treated as competing narratives
Themes
✦ Religious-secular bridge-building in Israel✦ Public prayer and communal spiritual experience✦ Theology of crisis and answered prayer✦ Moving forward after national trauma✦ The role of hope in Jewish thought and practice

Godly EQ: The Emotional Intelligence of Consolation

In this episode, Rabbi Alex Ozar (JLIC Yale) and Rabbi Don Cantor (Richmond Jewish Learning Experience, formerly JLIC Johns Hopkins) continue their exploration of Jewish consolation during times of national tragedy. Drawing from the seven Haftarot of consolation and provocative midrashim, they unpack what it means for a broken people to seek comfort and why human messengers aren't enough.
Episode Highlights
The Failure of Prophets as Comforters
Why the Jewish people rejected every prophet sent to console them
The inherent ambivalence in all human relationships
"How are we supposed to trust you when you've also condemned us?"
Practical Application for Today
Why internal Jewish divisions cause deeper pain than external threats
The call for vulnerable, accountable conversations within the Jewish community
How showing up for each other in godly ways becomes the vehicle for divine consolation
Key Themes
Nechamah (Consolation) as an ongoing process, not a one-time fix
The inadequacy of mere words vs. genuine presence
Human ambivalence and why no person can offer pure, unmixed comfort
Mutual vulnerability as the foundation for healing relationships
The blurred line between divine-human and human-human relationships

What is Consolation?

Don and Alex explore the concept of consolation (nechamah) during difficult times, examining what true comfort means in Judaism and how communities can provide genuine solace during periods of collective pain.
Key Topics
The Nature of Consolation
Key Insight: The Hebrew "Nachamu" means "comfort [my people]" - it's a command to provide consolation, not merely receive it. Consolation is fundamentally human work, not just divine intervention.
The Midrashic Teaching
A dialogue from Pesikta d'Rav Kahana shows God commanding prophets to comfort the people, but the people respond they've been abandoned. The prophets report back that words alone aren't enough - divine presence is required.
The Parable of the King and Queen
A king offers his childless wife a divorce and any precious object from his palace. At their farewell party, she has him carried to her father's house while he sleeps. When he wakes confused, she explains: "You said I could take the most precious thing - there's nothing more precious to me than you."
Key Message: What matters most in relationships is presence, not words or arrangements. True consolation requires showing up in person.
Main Takeaways
True comfort comes from relationships and presence, not external fixes
Those who deliver harsh truths must also provide hope and care
During times of division, showing up for each other is essential
Our commitment should be based on joy in the relationship, not just duty
 

Is Anyone Evil?

In a world that feels increasingly divided into stark categories of "good" and "evil," how should we confront the rising tide of antisemitism on college campuses? While demanding institutional accountability is a crucial first step, Rabbi Alex Ozar argues it is not enough. In this thought-provoking episode, he challenges listeners to move beyond a purely defensive or reactive posture and adopt a more constructive, and profoundly Jewish, spiritual framework.
 
Drawing on a teaching from Maimonides (the Rambam), Rabbi Ozar proposes a counterintuitive idea: that for all practical purposes, there are no truly "evil" people, only "mediocre" ones—complex human beings who are a bundle of good deeds, bad deeds, and, most importantly, the potential for change. This perspective forces us to stop demonizing our opponents as inhuman monsters and instead see them as fellow humans who are tragically mistaken.
 
By embracing this difficult but powerful idea, we can unlock a new way of engaging. It allows us to hold people accountable for their harmful actions without closing the door on dialogue, growth, and the possibility of building a better world together.
 
In this episode, Rabbi Alex Ozar explores:
The Limits of a Defensive Posture: Why simply reacting to antisemitic incidents, while necessary, will never solve the underlying problem.
The Rambam's Radical Idea: An exploration of Maimonides' teaching that every living person should be considered a-beinoni;(an "in—betweener"), neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked, and how this idea reframes our entire approach to conflict.
A Path to a More Constructive Future: How viewing our opponents as human—flawed, responsible, but capable of change—empowers us to address the root causes of hate and actively work toward building a better, more understanding society.