Episode 24: Reclaiming the Future of Zionism with Eitan Chitayat
In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab, host Mike Wirth sits down with writer and creative director Eitan Chitayat, creator of the viral I’m That Jew project, to talk about his new campaign “Zionism Is”, created with former Knesset member and leading Zionism thinker Dr. Einat Wilf. Together, they explore how Jewish creatives can […]
Episode 23: Jewish futurist Learning Spaces with Rabbi Charlie Schwartz
In this episode, we sit on the patio at Lehrhaus, a Jewish tavern and house of learning in Somerville, in front of a mural by Boston based Jewish artist Chloe Rubinstein, and explore the story behind this unusual space. Rabbi Charlie Schwartz shares his Jewish origin story, how he and cofounder Joshua Foer first imagined […]
Episode 22: Future Judaism on Campus with Rabbi Daniel Levine
In this episode, Rabbi Daniel Levine, Hillel rabbi, podcast host, and Jewish history professor at UC Irvine, joins us for a wide ranging conversation about the future of Jewish life on campus and beyond. We talk about how October 7 has reshaped the emotional and spiritual landscape for students, the tensions he feels between pastoral […]
Episode 21: Psychology of the future with Shely Rachel Esses
In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab, host Mike Wirth sits down with therapist Shely Rachel Esses, LMFT, to explore the psychology of the future self and what it takes to imagine a life beyond survival mode. Shely brings together clinical psychology, nervous system science, embodied healing, and Jewish spiritual wisdom to show how […]
Episode 20: Painting Herzl in the Age of AI with Avraham Vofsi
Mike Wirth talks with Israeli realist painter Avraham “Avi” Vofsi about classical oil painting, Jewish identity, and his AI assisted Theodor Herzl project. They explore how to use new tools without losing the human aura, and what Jewish images might look like in the future. Check out Avi’s beautiful artwork on his website and follow […]
Episode 19 -Designing Shabbat: A UX Approach to Jewish Ritual Design
In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab, host Mike Wirth shares the story behind a UX‑driven case study in Jewish ritual. Mike talks about creating the High and Low Ritual at the Greensboro Contemporary Jewish Museum’s Social Practice Institute, and how that work led to speculative ritual objects like a geodesic sukkah dome, an […]
Episode 18 – Here I Am: The Hineni Project, Bar Shechter z”l, and Painting Through Grief
In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab, I share how the Hineni Project carried me from the shock of October 7 into a deeply personal relationship with one family in Israel: the family of Bar Shechter z”l, a young father and psy‑trance DJ murdered at the Nova music festival. Hineni means “Here I am” […]
Episode 17- Recoding the Lehrhaus: Jewish Learning in the Future Tense
This episode explores Franz Rosenzweig’s radical vision for Jewish education through the Frankfurt Lehrhaus (1920) and traces its influence into contemporary experiments in creative, future-oriented learning. Rosenzweig rejected passive transmission of knowledge and instead cultivated dialogical, participatory study rooted in lived experience. His Lehrhaus was not simply a school. It was a reorientation of how […]
Episode 16: The Digital Worlds of Erez Cohen
In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab: Torah, Tech, Tomorrow, host Mike Wirth sits down with his friend, Israeli digital artist and projection‑mapping creator Erez Cohen. Mike first encountered Erez’s work through a projection‑mapping piece called Metamorphosis, where veins and fungi slowly overtake a Jerusalem building and turn the city itself into a living, speculative Jewish […]
Episode 15- Hiddur Olam: The Creative Torah System for Jewish futurist Living
In this episode, Mike unpacks Hiddur Olam, his creative Torah system and multi‑volume art book series that reimagines Genesis through Jewish futurism, design thinking, Mussar, and Kabbalah. Listeners will hear how weekly parsha study, visual storytelling, and spiritual practice come together as a framework for beautifying the world through creative Torah. Discover Hiddur Olam, a […]