This week’s episode is devoted to the execution of Alex Pretti on the streets in Minneapolis by government thugs. May Alex Pretti’s memory be a blessing.

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky return to Hawkins for the final season of the Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things. Beyond monsters and nostalgia, the show offers a sobering meditation on fear, power, and the seductions of militarism and authoritarian control. Through a Jewish lens, the conversation explores what it means to grow up, take responsibility for one another, and resist the darkness — both supernatural and all too human — without surrendering hope.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Brad and Steven are back at it this week, talking about aging and how quickly time is passing.  It’s another week where so much news is happening that it’s hard to process it all, but they also talk about what’s happening in Minneapolis, the increasing threats to take over Greenland, and the offshore account that Trump set up to steal Venezuelan oil revenue. Have a listen!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

Brad and Steven are back for the first episode of 2026, and there’s no shortage of things to talk about. It’s hard to believe that we’re less than two weeks into the new year and how fast events are happening around the world. This week, the guys review the events of the fledgling year, including, the US nabbing the president of Venezuela, the threat by the administration to seize Greenland, the anti-government protests in Iran, and the cold-blooded killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Have a listen!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

What does it really mean to choose the side of “good” — and what does it cost? In this follow-up journey back to Oz, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky explore Wicked: For Good, the second chapter of Elphaba and Glinda’s story, and what it reveals about loyalty, love, sacrifice, and the messy moral terrain between heroism and villainy. Through Jewish lenses — from biblical rebels to rabbinic dreamers — we ask whether anyone is ever fully “for good,” and how our tradition teaches us to hold complexity even when the stakes are sky-high. Grab your broom (or bubble) and join us for a conversation that soars.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

What does it mean to be good? And who gets to decide? In this magical episode of PopTorah, we dive into the world of Wicked, the spellbinding prequel to The Wizard of Oz that flips the script on the nature of good and evil. Join Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky as they explore how the tale of Elphaba and Glinda challenges our assumptions about morality, power, and friendship, all through the lens of Jewish wisdom. From Talmudic debates on justice to the Torah’s portrayal of misunderstood heroes, we uncover how Wicked invites us to question the stories we tell and the labels we assign. Listen now and embrace the complexities of life’s green-tinted shades of gray!

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

This week, Brad and Steven are back for one last time in 2025. They’re talking about the 60 Minutes/Bari Weiss situation and put it in the context of the larger discussion of legacy vs. new media. They also talk about the lack of accepted truths in today’s world and wonder what this portends for the future. Have a listen and Happy Holidays!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

What does it mean to learn, to teach, to remain faithful to ideals in a changing world? Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky discuss A Man on the Inside Season 2 — campus mysteries, human motives, and the deeper questions this witty Netflix comedy invites us to ask.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Brad and Steven are back at it this week, and what a week it’s been. Between the horrific shootings at Brown University, the despicable terrorist attack in Sydney, and the senseless murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, there has been a lot to process in a short amount of time. The guys talk about these events as well as the (partial) release of the (redacted) Epstein Files, and Representative Elise Stefanik’s decision to drop out of the race for governor of New York and not to run for congress again. It’s also Chanukah and Christmas is in a few days, so happy holidays to all, no matter what you celebrate or even if you don’t celebrate at all.

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

Brad and Steven are back at it this week, talking about President Trump’s winning of the first ever FIFA Peace Prize — yay Donald! They also talk about the recently released 2025 National Security Strategy and the shift away from the rules-based international system that was created (by the US) in the aftermath of WWII. They also talk about (and like) Forrest Gump. Have a listen and enjoy!

You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

In this episode of PopTorah, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky explore the haunting and thought-provoking world of AppleTV+’s Pluribus — a series in which nearly all of humanity becomes fused into a single hive mind, leaving only a handful of individuals to wrestle with what it means to remain distinct. Drawing on Jewish wisdom about individuality, community, agency, and the sacred dignity of difference, we consider how to hold the many and the one together without collapsing into conformity on the one hand or fragmentation on the other, as well as what Pluribus reveals about our own moment — when voices risk dissolving into echo chambers, tribal loyalties, or a numbing collective “join.”

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!