Torah questions with practical Jewish urgency.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg is built around the momentum of a weekly Torah class: a question, a contradiction, a story, then the point. Recent episodes move from Shemitah, Pesach, Sefirat HaOmer, and Ethics of Our Fathers to sports, moon missions, birthdays, and wartime Israel.
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Rabbi Zushe Greenberg sounds less like a studio program than a Torah class caught in motion. The room matters. Questions are asked, texts are read, side comments appear, and the teaching keeps circling until the contradiction becomes useful. Recent episodes lean heavily on parsha, Pesach, Sefirat HaOmer, Ethics of Our Fathers, Shemitah, and the Jewish home. The method is plainspoken. A sports crowd waiting outside in the cold becomes a way to talk about ambience and why a Jewish home is not just a private address. A moon mission becomes a contrast between touching a place and building a presence there. A joke about a very short service becomes a doorway into the Omer, where a tiny mitzvah can be oddly easy to miss. Milestone birthdays become a tour through Jewish ideas of learning, strength, advice, age, and perspective. The show is comfortable with repetition because repetition is part of how the class works. It asks the same thing again in simpler language. Then it brings in a source. Then it pushes toward obligation. The Passover episodes are especially concerned with who belongs at the table and why the so-called wicked son cannot be written off after Sinai. The Israel episode takes wartime behavior that seems irrational and frames it through chosenness, attachment, and a bond beyond tidy explanation. Chabad thought is present throughout, especially in references to the Rebbe, outreach, tefillin, Shabbos, and bringing another Jew closer to Jewish roots. The tone stays warm, but it does not flatten hard material. War, exile, suffering, and moral failure are treated as serious facts, not decorative themes. At the same time, the class keeps a practical edge. Judaism is not presented as an idea to admire from across the room. It is something to observe on vacation, in Cleveland, in Florida, at home, with joy, and with concern for someone else.
Made for: For listeners who want conversational Jewish learning rooted in parsha, holidays, Chabad thought, and everyday examples. It especially suits people who like a live class rhythm more than a polished interview format.
What sets it apart: The show turns familiar ritual details into active questions, then presses them toward responsibility. Its strength is the way sports, space travel, birthdays, war, and synagogue life all become part of the same Torah conversation.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg of Solon Chabad gives a weekly Torah class.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg makes Torah study practical by connecting close textual questions with faith, responsibility, gratitude, and Jewish daily life.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg turns Torah study into a working conversation, beginning with a passage, ritual, or apparent contradiction and pressing it for practical meaning.
The Seder table becomes a seminar, and you are expected to bring the hard question.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A hard mitzvah becomes a lesson about work, history, and letting the land rest.
The talk frames Parashat Be'ar as a practical test of whether a mitzvah can hold up in ordinary life. Through the image of a farmer growing avocados for European markets, it shows the strain of telling customers that the seventh year means letting the land rest and stepping back…
A Pesach class that keeps returning to why the Seder starts in exile.
This Pesach class reads the Haggadah's opening as a live question, circling back to why Maggid begins with bread of affliction and with the call to bring the hungry in before the Seder can feel complete.
A sharp Haggadah class that turns the Four Sons into questions about Ishmael, Esau, conversion, and why God chose the Jewish people.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg turns the Four Sons into a live puzzle: why the Haggadah seems to answer four different biblical prompts, and why that matters for reading the holiday text.
Dayenu becomes a lesson about gratitude, spiritual journey, and keeping wealth in its place.
The class walks through Dayenu line by line, asking why the Haggadah treats each gift as though one favor alone would have been enough. It moves from the opening song to the judgments against Egypt, the gods of Egypt, and the fuller list that reaches the sea, Mount Sinai, the…
A Torah class turns Moses' excuses into a thoughtful study of prayer, compassion, and action.
This single-episode Torah class reads Parshat Vaera as a lesson in spiritual reflex. Moses' doubts at the burning bush, from wondering whether the people will believe him to asking that someone else be sent, become a way into a harder question: when suffering is visible, does…
Daily halacha, case by case.
Parsha questions carried into serious Torah argument.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg analyzes Parshat Vaera, focusing on Moses's confrontation with God after Pharaoh increases the Jews' suffering.
This episode explores the Torah portion Lech-Lecha, focusing on Abraham's journey and divine vision, with mentions of Noah and Eliezer.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg opens with a humorous story about the mayor of Solon commenting on a short prayer service.
This episode continues the history of the Frierdiker Rebbe, focusing on his exile from Russia in 1927, his move to Riga, Latvia, and the challenges of relocating the Chabad movement's headquarters.
This episode introduces the story of Purim from the Megillah, tracing Jewish history from the Exodus to the Babylonian exile and Persian takeover.
Rabbi Zushe Greenberg examines Rashi’s interpretation of the Shema’s phrase “you shall teach them to your children” as referring to students, not only biological children.
The speaker reflects on how the communal excitement of watching a sports game in a bar highlights the importance of environment and ambience, drawing parallels to Jewish home life and Torah learning.
This episode discusses the significance of the recent Artemis mission moon landing compared to the 1972 Apollo missions, highlighting how modern space exploration focuses on sustainable presence rather than just initial achievement.
This episode discusses a Mishnah from Ethics of Our Fathers that outlines the traditional Jewish educational milestones for children, starting with Torah study at age five.
The host opens with Parashat Be'ar and the sabbatical year.
This episode reflects on the ease of counting the Omer during Sefirat HaOmer, contrasted with the challenge of remembering to do it daily, using a personal story about a short prayer service to illustrate the importance of timely observance.
The rabbi starts at the Haggadah's opening lines and asks why Maggid begins there at all.
The rabbi picks up the Haggadah discussion at the Four Suns.
The discussion opens with Dayenu, the Seder song that everybody knows by heart.
This episode explores the Torah portion Ki Tisa, focusing on the mitzvah of giving half a shekel as atonement when counting the Jewish people, connecting it to modern practices like Purim charity.
This episode discusses the Torah portion Vaera, focusing on Moses' excuses when God asks him to redeem the Jewish people from Egypt.