Stamford’s Dr. Steven Labkoff was raised as a Reform Jew and has been gradually becoming more religious in adulthood. At his day job, he works as a physician and as the global head of clinical and healthcare informatics at Quantori. (He is one of the leading U.S. experts in generating and analyzing data to accelerate drug development and personalize patient care.) For the past three years, Labkoff has been attending a Thursday night class given by Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Stamford’s Congregation Agudath Sholom. Rabbi Cohen delivers this class, called “Scotch and Torah,” in his living room, serving scotch and his wife’s homemade chocolate chip cookies. People attend in person and on Zoom.
In these classes, Rabbi Cohen starts off by speaking about the weekly parsha. As opposed to a standard parsha shiur, he engages his students by asking them challenging questions. He also encourages them to ask their own questions, and lively discussions ensue. “The goal is not to lecture, but to draw on ancient texts and relate it to our lives—to examine the human experiences in the Torah and to develop a deeper meaning in our own lives, “ said Rabbi Cohen. The idea is to figure out how the Torah and ancient wisdom would address various modern-day problems. Towards the end of the class, Labkoff, an active participant, always says, “Let’s bring it home now,” and seeks to find practical solutions to the dilemmas discussed.
The physician explained that he has always been concerned with the rate of intermarriage and the fading importance of Judaism in people’s lives. He vividly remembers a poster in his Hebrew school classroom that read, “If you are Jewish, chances are your grandchildren won’t be.” It was written in black printed text that slowly faded to be almost invisible. The memory of that poster has stayed with him throughout his life, and he has painfully seen the truth of it. “If you look at society today, church attendance is down, synagogue attendance is down, and the intermarriage statistics are stark,” Labkoff said.
It is in connection to this deep concern that Labkoff has found Rabbi Cohen’s classes to be both compelling and comforting. “I started attending the classes on a whim,” he said. ‘I didn’t know what I was getting into. But I began realizing that the wisdom being taught was really thoughtful. And the people who were writing this stuff down, sometimes hundreds if not thousands of years ago, actually understood the human condition far better than I think most people do today.” He approached Rabbi Cohen two years ago with the idea that they take the concepts from the class and discuss them in a podcast. They named the podcast “Judaism in the 21st Century,” and at this point they have posted around 25 episodes.
In each podcast, the two men address an issue that Labkoff sees in everyday life, for around 15-20 minutes. “Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, and once in a while I even convince Rabbi Cohen to come to my side,” the doctor said with a grin. The topics that they have covered so far include gun control, charity, prayer, antisemitism, abortion, ethics in business, social media, intermarriage, raising children, and the current state of affairs in Israel.
“The podcast is not necessarily meant for Orthodox Jews,” Labkoff explained. “It’s meant for Jews in different walks of life and different parts of the religion. In fact, some Orthodox Jews might find my questions heretical, because I ask some pretty pointed questions. But I don’t ask them to be annoying or confrontational. I ask because I truly don’t know the answers. Not having been brought up in the Orthodox community, I don’t necessarily come to the table with a traditional point of view. In fact, I come with the point of view of someone with a more secular mind, as a scientist and doctor.”
Even non-Jews have reached out to say that they enjoy the podcast. “Everybody wants direction,” Rabbi Cohen reflected. “The truth is, whether you’re Jewish or not, we’re all looking for touchstones of wisdom to help us navigate a world that is morally confused, that motivates us to chase counterfeit pleasures. And the Torah is literally a guide to life. So when people hear the relevance of it, it resonates with them.”
Rabbi Cohen’s and Dr. Labkoff’s different perspectives and friendly rapport create a positive atmosphere in “Judaism in the 21st Century,” demonstrating efforts to look at critical issues under contrasting lenses in a warm and harmonious setting. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and other platforms.
