Rabbi Yitz Greenberg on Haredim, Dissent, Ecstasy, and The Triumph of Life

What happens when a leading Orthodox theologian says that parts of the Haredi world exclude dissenting voices — and that doing so can actually undermine the Torah’s deepest call to choose life?

In this episode of The Truth Podcast, host Levi Brackman sits down with Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg to talk about Haredim, dissent, ecstasy, and his new book The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism.

Rav Yitz lays out a bold claim:
 Judaism, at its core, is a religion of choosing life — and halakha is not just a legal code but a disciplined way of maximizing life and minimizing death in every action we take.

Together they explore:

• Haredim and dissent – what happens to a community when dissenting voices are shut out “to protect the Torah,” and why pluralism might actually be a religious obligation.
• How halakha can be re-seen as a life-maximizing practice, from eating and kashrut to work, speech and power.
• Why vegetarian ideals, environmental concerns, and climate questions can all be read through the lens of “living on the side of life.”
• The danger of letting left-wing or right-wing politics hijack Torah, and how to let Torah critique all ideologies instead of becoming their mascot.
• What it means to say that God is totally present and totally hidden in our time – and how that changes the way we daven, say berachot, and live as Jews in a secular age.
• Very practically: how an ordinary person can begin to cultivate divine consciousness so that daily life – going to work, making a bracha, meeting another human being – becomes an entry point to ecstasy.

This is not a bashing session and not fluffy spirituality. It’s a serious, honest, sometimes uncomfortable, but ultimately uplifting conversation about how to live a real Jewish life in a complicated world.

If you care about Judaism, spirituality, theology, Haredim and pluralism, or just how to live a life that leaves more life behind than it started with, this episode is for you.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.