Craig Kohn was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a child. Many people would have kept that as private as possible. Craig chose to speak openly about it, and in doing so he took what could have been a lifelong challenge and turned it into a blessing, for himself and for a great many others.

Today he is a life coach and advocate who has helped countless people on the autism spectrum find their footing, build real friendships, and live with independence and dignity. He founded TeamAutismpedia to bring that same guidance to families and communities everywhere.

What strikes me most is that Craig's wisdom is not only about autism. It is about how any of us connect, how we understand one another, and how we make room for people who see the world differently. I think we all have something to learn from that.

In January 2024, three months into the war, Daniella Hellerstein took that office in her Modi’in business center and turned it into Beineinu Podcast Studio. David told her she was crazy. Two years later, many hundreds of episodes have been recorded in that room, by soldiers, by bereaved families, by people who just needed to tell their story.

In this episode: the hallway encounter between an outspoken guest and a host who can’t stand him. The sticker board in her studio that is now full, and why a full board brings such mixed emotions. Whether a podcast audience can ever really be a kehilla.

And the hardest question of all: the same medium that let Israel finally speak for itself gave our worst critics their biggest platform. Is there anyone Daniella would refuse to let record? Where is the line, and who draws it?

What started as a business became a mission.

Few voices have carried the weight of this moment like Rabbi Doron Perez. The President of the World Zionist Organization and Chair of World Mizrachi, Rav Perez is also the father of Captain Daniel Perez הי״ד, who fell defending Israel on October 7th and whose body was held in Gaza for 163 days before being brought home for burial.

In this episode of Defining Moments, Rabbi Perez sits down with Rabbi David Fine for a conversation that begins, as it should, with Daniel. Who he was, what shaped him, and what the rest of us can learn from the way he lived and the choice he made on his final morning. From there, Rav Perez opens up about what it means to hold pain and privilege, חדווה and חרדה, in the same heart at the same time. Not as a contradiction to be resolved, but as the truest description of Jewish life in this hour. We also turn to the hard questions about Klal Yisrael, the Israel-Diaspora relationship, and the unity we have to fight for even when we disagree.

A conversation about one son, one people, and one heart big enough for both joy and grief.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Rabbi Larry Rothwach is one of the most respected pulpit rabbis in America. He’s been the rabbi of Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck for over twenty-two years. During that time, he watched twenty percent of his community make aliyah. They’d call him from Israel and tell him the same thing: we love it here, but we miss having a shul that’s really a community, a rabbi who knows our names, a kehilla that’s there for us in moments of joy and crisis. Now he’s making aliyah himself to build exactly that - a new community called Meromei Shemesh in Ramat Beit Shemesh. He’s also the Director of Professional Rabbinics at RIETS, which means he’s been training the next generation of American rabbis in pastoral care and community leadership - work that overlaps deeply with what we do at Barkai for Israeli rabbis. Today we talk about what American communities have that Israeli ones often lack, whether that model can actually take root in Israeli soil, and what it means to start over and build something from nothing at a stage in life when most people are slowing down.

הפקה: DABRU

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Amit and Arik Baron are a “mixed” couple—one became religious, one didn’t. More common than you’d think. Ami Baram, founder of Hitkashrut Zugit—an organization that supports these couples—shared just before October 7th that about 20% of Israelis are moving closer to religious observance while 13% are moving further away. A full third of our people are in flux.

In this clip from the upcoming Defining Moments podcast, Arik and Amit offer a surprising insight: their kids are the answer. Children from these marriages grow up bilingual—fluent in both religious and secular worlds.

What if we learned from them? What if we trained ourselves to speak both languages? We’d all be better off. הפקה: DABRU לפרסום ושיתופי פעולה צרו קשר במייל- info@dabru.biz הפקה: DABRU

Welcome to Defining Moments. I’m Rabbi David Fine. Today’s guest is Rabbi Josh Broide, a walking contradiction in the best possible way. After 25 transformative years in Boca Raton—holding numerous important community positions—Josh made aliyah to Israel this past summer. He’s thrilled to be living his Zionist dream while remaining passionately committed to the community he served in South Florida. Josh has dedicated his life to a singular vision: bringing Jews closer to Jewish life and helping Jews of all backgrounds truly get along with one another. He’s the rabbi who literally rolls out a red carpet for first-time visitors to shul, who received the Jerusalem Unity Prize from the President of Israel for his work in bringing community together, and whose boundless warmth, energy, and creativity have touched thousands of lives.

417. That’s how many days Yona Brief fought for his life after being shot 13 times on October 7th while trying to save his fallen friends in Kfar Aza. 417 days that his parents never left his side. 417 days that transformed a hospital room into a place of hope, filled with music, laughter, and an unshakeable will to live. 417 blood donation units collected in his memory on what would have been his 24th birthday.**

Yona was defined as the most severely wounded soldier of the Iron Swords War. Yet in Room 11 of Sheba Medical Center - which the staff still calls “Yona’s room” - this 23-year-old combat medic with an infectious smile and boundless שמחת חיים taught everyone around him what it means to choose life, even when everything is collapsing. The doctors say they changed their protocols because of him and saved other soldiers because of what his battle taught them.

Today, David and Hazel Brief share the story of their son - a fighter, a peacemaker, and a young man whose legacy teaches us all what it means to truly live. This is Defining Moments with Rabbi David Fine.