In a moment when Jewish identity, democracy, and political loyalty feel increasingly put at odds, Common Faith asks a necessary and urgent question: Can Jewish safety and universal democratic values truly coexist?

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jon Frankel are joined by Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for a wide-ranging conversation on antisemitism, democracy, Israel, and the false choices facing American Jews today. Drawing on history, personal experience, and the realities of post–October 7 politics, Spitalnick explains why antisemitism is not only a threat to Jews but a warning sign for democracy itself.

From coalition-building and campus culture to local elections and national politics, this episode challenges listeners to reject zero-sum thinking and embrace the complexity required to protect both Jewish safety and democratic values in a polarized age.

Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA):

https://jewishpublicaffairs.org

Amy Spitalnick – CEO, JCPA:

https://jewishpublicaffairs.org/our-team/

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

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As the generation of Holocaust survivors dwindles and antisemitism resurges across the globe, the work of remembrance has never been more urgent—or more complex. On this episode of Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and journalist Jon Frankel are joined by Kathrin Meyer, current Board Member for The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI), former Secretary General of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and recipient of the 2025 Anne Frank Special Recognition Award. They share in a timely and essential conversation about Holocaust memory and moral responsibility today.

Meyer reflects on what Holocaust remembrance means in a rapidly changing world—one marked by historical distortion, political polarization, and the erosion of shared truth. She discusses the challenges of preserving accurate Holocaust education across borders, combating denial and trivialization, and helping younger generations understand why this history still matters.

The conversation moves beyond memory as commemoration alone, asking what remembrance demands of us now. How should the lessons of the Holocaust inform civic life, human rights, and the fight against antisemitism in the present? And how can remembrance remain meaningful when history feels increasingly contested?

This episode is a sober, thoughtful exploration of memory not as the past—but as a living moral obligation.

Dr. Kathrin Meyer:

https://www.toli.us/about/who-we-are/board-of-directors/

The Anne Frank Award:

https://holocaustremembrance.com/news/kathrin-meyer-2025-anne-frank-award

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

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Since October 7, the meanings of Jewish identity, solidarity, and the future of Israel have been in flux. On this episode of Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and journalist Jon Frankel sit down with Dr. Einat Wilf — former member of the Israeli Knesset, author, educator, and founder of the Oz Party — for a deep, provocative conversation about the state of Zionism, Israel’s existential challenges, and the ideas shaping Jewish life in Israel and the diaspora.

Wilf brings a unique lens shaped by history, policy, and political engagement. Together, they explore how Israel’s leaders and citizens are grappling with security, ideology, and identity after October 7. The discussion moves from diaspora solidarity and the moral complexities of presence and power to Wilf’s own political project: a vision that seeks to redefine peace as rooted in Arab and Palestinian embrace of Zionism, equal civic responsibility, and a transition from an “exile mindset” to sovereign conduct.

Wilf shares how her experiences in Israeli politics, academia, and strategic advisory roles inform her belief that Israel’s next chapter demands courage, clarity, and a reexamination of long-held assumptions about peace, power, and national purpose. This episode doesn’t offer easy answers — but it does offer essential, thoughtful engagement with some of the toughest questions facing Jews and Israel today.

Dr. Einat Wilf:

https://www.wilf.org/en/home-en/

https://www.instagram.com/einatwilf/

Oz Party:

https://ozparty.co.il/en/home/

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In an age of polarization, outrage, and echo chambers, how do we disagree without tearing one another apart?

In this episode of Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jon Frankel are joined by Daniel Taub—Israeli diplomat, international lawyer, mediator, and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom—to explore the lost art of constructive disagreement through a Jewish lens.

Drawing on Jewish texts, lived experience, and Taub’s work facilitating difficult conversations across deep ideological divides, the conversation examines what it means to argue with integrity, curiosity, and care—and why disagreement itself can be a sacred act. Central to the discussion is the Jewish tradition of machloket l’shem shamayim—argument for the sake of heaven—and how debate rooted in humility and shared values can deepen understanding rather than fracture community.

From Talmudic wisdom to contemporary civic and political life, this episode challenges listeners to rethink how they engage with those who see the world differently, offering a hopeful reminder that learning how to disagree well may be essential to repairing our relationships, our communities, and our shared civic life.

Daniel Taub:

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Dispute-Rediscovering-Constructive-Disagreement/dp/1399815067

https://rabbisacks.org/about-us/trustees/daniel-taub/

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What’s the difference between a resolution and a wish—and why does it matter?

As the new year begins, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jon Frankel explore what it really means to change. From New Year’s resolutions to Jewish ideas of teshuva—return, repair, and renewal—they ask whether transformation comes through bold declarations or small, faithful steps.

The conversation deepens with a powerful guest: Rabbi Mark Borowitz, spiritual leader, author, and longtime head of Beit T’Shuvah, a pioneering residential recovery center in Los Angeles. Drawing on his own journey from addiction and incarceration to spiritual leadership, Rabbi Borowitz reflects on personal responsibility, recovery, and the courage it takes to confront the truths—and lies—we tell ourselves.

Together, they reflect on the wisdom of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the idea of building a life as a work of art, and how everyday acts of kindness, discipline, and self-awareness can become brushstrokes on that canvas.

In a world that often feels stuck or divided, this episode is a reminder that renewal is possible—and that becoming a little better than we were yesterday may be holy work enough.

Rabbi Mark Borowitz:

https://www.rabbimark.com/

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What does Christmas mean beyond the lights, music, and traditions—and what can it teach us about faith, generosity, and shared humanity?

In this special holiday episode of Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and journalist Jon Frankel are joined by His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan for a rich and deeply human conversation recorded during the Christmas season. Together, they explore the spiritual heart of Christmas, the experience of being a religious minority in a majority culture, and the surprising places where Jewish and Catholic traditions meet.

From reflections on joy, reconciliation, and generosity to deeply personal stories of vocation, pastoral care, and interfaith friendship, Cardinal Dolan offers a moving portrait of Christmas as a celebration of light in dark times—one that resonates far beyond any single tradition. Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on the “December dilemma,” while Jon Frankel shares moments of navigating faith, friendship, and belonging across religious lines.

Thoughtful, warm, and often humorous, this episode is a reminder that in a divided world, shared values—faith, compassion, forgiveness, and hope—still have the power to bring us together.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan:

https://archny.org/about/cardinal-dolan/

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What does the future of rabbinic leadership look like—and why does it matter for all of us?

In this episode of Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and journalist Jon Frankel take on a question hiding in plain sight: Are we cultivating enough rabbis to meet the spiritual, communal, and moral needs of the Jewish future? Joined by Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, Executive Director of Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, the conversation moves from personal calling to systemic challenge.

Drawing on Atra’s landmark national study, Rabbi Epstein shares eye-opening data about the rabbinic pipeline—who is becoming a rabbi, who isn’t, and why. Together, they explore the realities of rabbinic life today: meaningful work, burnout, blurred boundaries, financial barriers, and the changing ways people seek connection, guidance, and faith.

Along the way, the episode weaves together humor, heart, and hard truths—asking what it means to serve, to lead, and to pass sacred tradition from one generation to the next in a rapidly changing world. In a time when so many are searching for meaning, this conversation reminds us why spiritual leadership still matters—and what it will take to sustain it.

Atra:
https://atrarabbis.org/

https://www.instagram.com/atrarabbis

https://www.facebook.com/atrarabbis/?_rdr

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week on Common Faith, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jon Frankel unwrap the deeper meaning of Hanukkah—beyond latkes, dreidels, and eight nights of gifts. Joining them is renowned writer and public intellectual Yossi Klein Halevi, whose personal journey from Brooklyn to Jerusalem illuminates the holiday’s layered history and its evolving place in Jewish identity.

Together, they explore the many versions of the Hanukkah story: the miracle of the oil, the military victory of the Maccabees, the struggle against assimilation, and the celebration of reclaimed Jewish sovereignty. Yossi reflects on growing up as the son of Holocaust survivors, his early attraction to Jewish extremism, and the decades-long transformation that led him toward a more expansive, nuanced understanding of Judaism, Israel, and power.

From public menorahs in Israeli town squares to quiet candle-lighting in American homes, the conversation traces how Hanukkah is celebrated across cultures—and how October 7th has reshaped Jewish vulnerability, resilience, and collective memory worldwide. With candor, humor, and heart, Elliot, Jon, and Yossi hold space for the tensions, debates, and hopes pulsing through Jewish life today.

A moving and timely episode that reminds us: Hanukkah isn’t just a holiday—it’s a lens on identity, history, and the stories we choose to pass on.

Yossi Klein Halevi
https://www.yossikleinhalevi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/YossiKleinHalevi/

https://x.com/YKleinHalevi

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:

https://www.instagram.com/elliot_cosgrove

https://x.com/RabbiCosgrove

Park Avenue Synagogue
https://www.pasyn.org

https://www.instagram.com/parkavenuesyn/#

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.