Last Thursday, Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago became Pope Leo XIV. While Jews may believe that this shouldn’t matter to us at all, this is most likely false. The pope commands the allegiance of well over a billion Roman Catholics worldwide, and his ability to help shape their opinions about the Jewish people and Israel should not be underestimated.
To discuss what his election means for the Jewish people, and to review his predecessor Pope Francis’s record towards Jews and the Jewish state, I was honored to speak to Dr. Malka Simkovich. Malka has an interesting vantage point, as she is not only a well-known expert in Jewish-Christian relations, but she also spent ten years as the Chair of Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union, which is where the pope studied in the early 1980s.
This Tuesday night, the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast will release a regular episode – co-produced with Intimate Judaism – about how parents should talk about sex and intimacy with their kids. So look for that 48 hours after this bonus episode drops.
Check out the Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/. To read Scott’s reflections on his father’s life, click here.
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Music: “Happy Rock” by bensound.com