The new sports comedy ‘Next Goal Wins,’ directed by Taika Waititi, is based on the true story of American Samoa’s soccer team as it attempts to overcome its embarrassing status as the worst team in the sport’s history. The film stars Michael Fassbender as Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen, who has the unenviable task of helping […]

Much of this week’s episode is devoted to a discussion between Brad and Steven about the 45-minute video compiled and screened by the government of Israel that documents the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. The video contains footage from body cameras of the Hamas attackers, closed-circuit footage, video from victims’ cellphones and from first responders […]

The new miniseries on Netflix, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ is many things all at once: a love letter to Edgar Allen Poe, a gothic horror masterpiece, and a biting social commentary reminiscent of HBO’s ’Succession.’ Loosely based on a Poe story of the same name — and brimming with references to other […]

This week, Brad and Steven talk about their Thanksgivings and wonder if there’s such a sting as too many kinds of pie. They also discuss New York City doormen, how important they are in the daily lives of the people in their buildings, and why we should tip them. TOf course, they also talk about the ongoing […]

This week, Brad and Steven try to talk about subjects other than the war in Gaza. They discuss the latest Yankees woes and a little bit about Thanksgiving, but come back to the elephant in the room and, once again, the Middle East takes center stage in the conversation. Have a listen, remember our shared humanity […]

Taylor Swift’s long-awaited “Eras” tour was not only the pop cultural event of 2023, it was one of the most successful concert tours in music history. Each night Taylor took fans on an epic three hour tour of her career. And she has followed up on that success by releasing a film version of her […]

This week, Brad and Steven continue to talk about the war in Israel and Gaza and its impact on Jews around the world. They talk about a number of physical altercations that have taken place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and return to the subject of antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus. Have a listen. […]

You know that Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky are lifelong friends, but did you know that they met as teenagers on a youth group summer trip to Israel? And did you know that they lived down the street from one another in Jerusalem for a year? Now, Israel is a central and inseparable part of their […]

This week, Brad and Steven continue to talk about the situation in Israel and Gaza and the repercussions that are being felt around the US, particularly on college campuses. They also talk about the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives as well as the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. Please have a listen. […]

This week, Brad and Steven talk about the spillover effects of Israel’s war in Gaza — from the frontlines to the academy to the streets of Paterson. 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.

Disney and Pixar’s latest animated feature, Elemental, became a sleeper hit at the box office this summer. Using the interaction of various elements as an extended metaphor for the immigrant experience and striking the balance between honoring one’s past while charting their own future, the movie has a lot of resonance with Jewish history and tradition. […]

This week, Brad and Steven talk about the horrific Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your favorite RSS aggregator.

This week, Brad and Steven talk about the flooding that hit New York, the normalizing of the abnormal and whether or not rabbis should talk about politics in their Yom Kippur services. Have a listen and enjoy! You can listen to The Amen Corner in lots of ways. On iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your […]

Back in May, film and television writers went on strike. Actors joined them on the picket lines in July, leading to the longest strike in Hollywood history (the WGA recently ended it’s strike when it struck a new deal with the studios, and it is expected that SAG-AFTRA will follow suit shortly). In this very […]

 Brad and Steven are back with the first episode of Season Eight of the Corner. They’re back to their usual banter about the Jewish High Holidays, the best food for breaking the fast, Lauren Boebert, and the lack of accountability in our society. All in all, it’s like they’ve never been gone — have a listen […]

Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky seem like they would be the target audience for Adam Sandler’s new Netflix movie, You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. But while the film covers some explicitly Jewish subject matter, the rabbis had mixed feelings about it — as an Adam Sandler comedy, and as a piece of Jewish art. […]

It’s official — ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ are this summer’s unlikely “it” couple! This summer, we’re all obsessed with the World’s Most Famous doll taking on the patriarchy and wrestling with mortality, and the Father of the Atomic Bomb struggling with his conscience and (maybe) starting a chain reaction that will destroy the world. It all […]

The Bear, whose first two seasons are currently streaming on Hulu, follows Carmy Berzatto, a rising superstar in the culinary world, as he seeks to revitalize his brother Mikey’s Chicago dive following Mikey’s suicide. The show masterfully explores very Jewish themes, like honoring difficult parents, carrying on a legacy, dealing with grief and guilt, the ethics […]

Indiana Jones is back! The dashing, swashbuckling, fedora-wearing, bullwhip-cracking, Nazi-punching archaeologist is literally racing against time in his fifth and, by all accounts, last, crusade. But did Disney choose wisely with this one, or does this iconic franchise belong in a museum? Join Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky to hear “just what the Hebrews thought” about […]

This is it, the season finale of the Amen Corner. This week, Brad and Steven talk about the heat (without using the word “schvitzing” even once!), the antisemitic comments of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the fascist group Moms for Liberty, isolationists and appeasers, and Jews Behaving Badly. Happy listening and enjoy the summer! You can […]

‘The Flash’ was supposed to be an exciting reset for the beleaguered DCEU, even heralded by some Hollywood luminaries as one of the greatest superhero films of all time. Instead, it was at least as much of a mess as many of its predecessors, and doubly burdened with instability at Warner Bros. (the parent company […]

This week, summer is here and Brad and Steven are coming to the end of the podcast season. The guys lament the state of the New York Yankees and of New York sports in general. They also discuss the 40th(!) anniversary of Trading Places, the mysterious coup in Russia, the lost submarine, and why Texas […]

 ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse’ is the sequel to the hit 2018 animated adventure ‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse,’ and the second part of a planned trilogy following Miles Morales as the titular wall-crawler, along with hundreds of other spider-people. Our friendly neighborhood web-heads, Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky, want to talk about the high-flying, wise-cracking, multiverse spanning […]

This week, after three plus years of flying below the radar, Brad finally got Covid. The guys talk about the dreaded “C word’ before pivoting to discuss the rise in antisemitic incidents in the  Montgomery County, Maryland school system. Steven is trying to figure out an appropriate response — Amen Corner listeners are invited to […]

This week, Brad and Steven welcome a special guest to the Amen Corner, Catherine Herrold, associate professor of public administration and international affairs at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and Loyal Amen Corner Listener. Catherine talks about free speech on campus and DEI. It’s a thoughtful and important discussion, one not to be missed. You […]