Archives: Episode
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Robots Through the Ages: Shmooze with Paul Levinson
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Glad to interview Paul Levinson about Robots, AI, and the history of Science Fiction. Paul is lucky to have his novelette “Robinson Calculator,” included in a volume of sci-fi about Robots spanning over 100 years. In our conversation we talk about the famous RUR story from Prague ~ 100 years ago. We discuss the different…
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Shmooze with Paul Levinson: Exploring the Universe through Scholarship, Sci-Fi, and Songwriting
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🚀 Welcome to Space Midrash! Today’s episode is all about my interview with the legendary sci-fi author, Paul Levinson. 😍 In this interview, we covered everything from religion to space travel, and of course, his latest project, an alternate history of The Beatles. 🎶 One of the most interesting moments was when Paul talked about…
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Shmooze with Avi Loeb: from Extraterrestrial to Interstellar
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This episode’s guest is Professor Avi Loeb, Astronomy chair at Harvard. He has done more than 2000 interviews since publishing his book, Extraterrestrial, about his conclusion that the interstellar object called ua’muamua was of alien origin. To add to the pile, our interview was fresh and deeply Jewish. Dr. Loeb may be known worldwide now…
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Shmooze with Rachel Raz: Jewish Education in the Space Age
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Rachel Raz is the executive producer of the Space Torah documentary about Dr.Jeffrey Hoffman, an astronaut who brought a dreidel and a Torah with him to space.
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The Great American Eclipse
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The Great American Eclipse will take place on April 8, 2024 in the afternoon. In this episode Jacob Offers his vision of organizing Jewish organizations together to see the Eclipse on April 8, 2024. Transcript Jacob Sager 00:00:01 You are listening to space midrash. The space age has arrived, and our culture, our civilization, is…
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Shmooze with Frank White: an Overview of the Overview Effect
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Interview with Frank White, author of the Overview Effect.
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20: Anniversary & Top Moments
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Looking back at 1 year of episodes, Jacob recounts 5 highlights of producing the show including his favorite episode.
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19: Jewish Space Tourism
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In this episode, Jacob defines the three types of Jewish tourism, outlines the current and expected modes of Space tourism, and finally mashes them together to explain how Jewish Space Tourism will start out. Transcript You are listening to space midrash. I am your host, Jacob Sager. I believe in an artful, ethical and inclusive…
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18: Narrative Collapse in the Space Age
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In this episode, Jacob defines a narrative collapse, explores how the space age will bring more narrative collapse, and how he believes Jewish civilization can embrace narrative collapse, once again. Transcript You are listening to space midrash. I am your host, Jacob Sager. I believe in an artful, ethical, and inclusive humanity thriving amongst the…
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17: Jewish Civilization and the Overview Effect
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In this episode Jacob reviews Frank White’s philosophy from his book “The Overview Effect,” and how this phenomena/effect can be positively embraced by a forward-thinking Jewish Civilization. Transcript: You are listening to space midrash. I am your host, Jacob Sager. I believe in an artful, ethical and inclusive humanity thriving amongst the cosmos. We are…
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16: Interstellar Jewish Geography
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Jewish people who have lived are immortalized not just by streets and libraries on earth but on objects and landscapes in space that may or may not ever experience human occupation. If you’ve played Jewish geography with friends or feel a joyful affinity when learning that a historic figure such as scientist is Jewish then…
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15: Star Gazing at Summer Camp
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Camp allows us to think bigger, so what’s bigger than space? This episode offers program ideas for bringing outer space to your Summer Camp. Outer Space + Summer Camp = 7 ideas for Space Programming at Jewish Summer Camps.
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14: Jewish Objects Brought to Space
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Many Jewish objects have crossed the Karmen line into space – religious, cultural, and personally meaningful items. This episode is a quick overview of those items.
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13: Two Torahs on Columbia
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the Space Shuttle Columbia was the first to carry passengers. Across 22 years, it spent more than 300 days in Orbit. Among it’s payloads were two different Torahs. One at the beginning of it’s saga and the other, tragically at the end. This episode chronicles the Torahs brought aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia by Jeffrey…
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12: The New Jewish Astronauts
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Before the inaugural Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights, there had been 16 Jewish astronauts, all professional. Since last year, 3 more Jews have ventured into space. These new Jewish Astronauts embody the intersection of Jewish and Space Age values. This Episode briefly recaps the missions of Jared Issacman (SpaceX), William Shatner (Blue Origin), and…
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11: Seeding a Jewish Space Program
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In the beginning there were two space programs: The United States and the Soviet Union. Now that private companies and highschoolers can participate, Jacob considers how and why a Jewish Space Program can take shape.
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10: Our Seder in Outer Space
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Passover and The Space Age go together. Before this podcast, Jacob began considering the impact of the Overview Effect on Jewish communities Worldwide. The Overview Effect being the cognition or experience of viewing the earth from space or in space. He wrote his original thoughts in an essay on Times of Israel blogs in 2021.…
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9: Anti-Semitism in Outer Space
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AntiSemitism has already occurred with the space age. Is it a joke or are there real consequences?
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8: Havdalah – human senses in time and space
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Havdalah begins with counting stars and ends with extinguishing a candle into wine. Space Midrash will explore how this weekly ritual enriches the human perception of time, on earth or anywhere in the cosmos…
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7: Why ‘drash on Space?
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Episode 7 turns inward: Jacob’s daughter asked him to make an episode explaining what Space Midrash means. He describes the intersection of Jewish Civilization and the Space Age as well as defines the title: Space Midrash.
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6: Remembering Fallen Jewish Astronauts
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Among the 16 early Jewish astronauts, 2 died in the respective Shuttle disasters. This episode recalls the missions of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia as well as the lives and accomplishments of fallen Jewish crew members Judith Resnick and Ilan Ramon.
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5: Jewish Moments in Space Tourism, 2021
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Discussion on the Jewish people and objects who made meaningful space headlines in 2021.
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4: Sitting Shiva for Spock
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As we come into the space age and more people venture out into the unknown, we must consider how we will deal with death and mourning. The death of Spock in Star Trek 2 provides us with a unique opportunity to explore these concepts. In particular, Kirk’s eulogy for Spock reminds us that it is…
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Ep. 3: How do we see ourselves (from space)?
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As technology advances, we are increasingly thrust into a reality where we must come to terms with our place in the universe. This new reality has the potential to drastically change the way we see ourselves and our place in the world. Jewish civilization, with its long history of storytelling, has the opportunity to lead…
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Ep. 2: Which Astronauts are Jewish?
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Eventually you’ll call them the early Jewish astronauts. In this episode Jacob discusses the first 16 Jewish Astronauts and the Jewish objects they brought into space. In his opening monologue, he probes why there’s a higher percentage of Jewish astronauts than Jews from the general population as well as confront the misconception that there were…
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Ep. 1: What does the Space Age mean for the Jews?
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Space Midrash is a podcast that explores the intersection of Jewish civilization and the space age. Our goal is to promote understanding and cooperation between these two areas. Jacob Sager is the host of the Space Midrash podcast. – How space is becoming increasingly important in our world – The increase in the number of…