Akiva Kra loves to shmooze. This passion led the MTA graduate to create his own podcast, Jews Shmooze, during his senior year of high school. Now studying in Israel—and posting new podcast episodes on a weekly basis—he’s grown a crew of faithful listeners who actively tune in for each new release. The podcast has garnered thousands of listeners, and Kra says he’s just getting started.
Originally from Teaneck, Kra credits COVID as a key factor in the podcast’s creation. A year into the pandemic he was looking for a new hobby and creative outlet, and decided it would be a fun thing to try out.
“Being restricted during COVID gave me a lot of free time,” Kra shared with The Jewish Link. “I was looking for something exciting to do, and since I love interviewing people and thought the Jewish community wanted to learn more about icons in the Jewish world, I figured a podcast could be something worth pursuing. My goal going into it was to shine more of a spotlight on well-known Jewish figures, find out about their profession, the experiences they have had along the way and other topics of interest.”
Jews Shmooze features 15- to 30-minute episodes with well-known Jewish guests on a wide range of topics about their life, including childhood, when and how they made it, current challenges, their thoughts throughout the process and so much more. Since its inception, Kra has interviewed prominent Jewish community members such as Nachum Segal, Hanoch Teller, Hillel Fuld, Rabbi JJ Schacter and Benny Friedman.
Before garnering such an impressive lineup, however, Kra started with little knowledge of the field. Having only heard a couple of podcast episodes previously—and with no prior technological experience to speak of—he had to learn the software and editing on the fly. Despite these early obstacles, he was able to get the hang of it.
“There was definitely somewhat of a learning curve,” Kra continued, “but it’s just been a really rewarding experience overall. I enjoy the process of recording the discussions—either in person or over Zoom—and doing the edits and adding the music. I’m passionate about this and knowing that people are listening inspires me to make it the best product I can.”
And people truly are listening. His podcast has garnered tens of thousands of listeners both locally and around the world and every episode has at least a thousand views. He says it’s become quite a whirlwind feeling, but he is grateful for his listeners.
“I think the biggest thing, when I noticed this was really becoming something, was when friends and mutual friends started saying they had checked it out,” Kra continued. “I was getting comments from people I hadn’t spoken to in years, and it started to all feel more real. I felt comfortable reaching out to bigger guests and more people, and building from there.”
Kra feels privileged to have interviewed some of the other big-name Jewish podcast hosts as well, such as Rabbi David Bashevkin of 18Forty, Yaakov Langer of Inspiration for the Nation and Nachi Gordon from the Meaningful People Podcast. He also enjoyed getting to interview people he knew well before starting, like shark fisherman Oriel Inzlicht, and CEO, former baseball GM and ranked stair climber Michael Rollhaus.
As for who has been his favorite person to interview, Kra says it’s too hard to choose. “It’s just exciting getting to record, upload and then see the people commenting,” Kra continued. Getting to speak to people he otherwise would never be able to, and pick the topics they discuss, is something he said he could have only dreamed of a couple of years ago. “The other week I interviewed the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Turkey. He was someone who is extremely interesting, but who most people don’t know. He had a lot of interesting things to share. Now, because of the podcast, they got to hear his story and what he does.”
“I’m just trying to take everything one day at a time,” Kra went on to say. “I’m really enjoying all the experiences and think and hope that I’m accomplishing the original goal of giving people more access to Jewish icons they wanted to know more about. That’s really what matters most to me.”
The podcast gives a look into every part of the guests’ lives: times of joy and sadness, seriousness and laughter. Kra said he “didn’t want the podcast to be one where in a whole episode listeners only hear about the spirituality of Zusha or just find out about college sports with Big Ten Chief of Staff Adam Neuman.” The episodes provide a broader image of the guests’ lives. “It’s not always easy, but that’s always the goal. Finding random tidbits about guests keeps them alert and the less expected topics ensure that the answers aren’t dull.”
When interviewing Rabbi Aryeh Stechler, Heichal Hatorah rosh yeshiva and dean, Akiva even quoted the rabbi’s high school yearbook bio to him. His ability to uncover past events has awarded him live compliments from guests such as Aryeh Kunstler and Shloime Dachs. He said, “I take pride in the fact that despite interviewing many rabbis and musicians, the episodes are not repetitive.
“My favorite part is the last question I ask, and it’s always the same for each person,” Kra continued. “It’s ‘What’s a question you’ve never been asked that you wish you had been? And what answer would you give?’ That’s a fun way to end, and to hear the different answers people have is really interesting.”
Jews Shmooze can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and anywhere else podcasts are found. If you would like to learn more, you can reach Kra via email at [email protected]. Akiva can also be found on Twitter at @Jews_Shmooze.
Adam Samuel is a journalist from Teaneck. He blogs at www.adamssoapbox.com.
