Best Ben Snell Podcasts (2025)

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Ruth Wisse on Norman Podhoretz 1:00:29

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19m ago1:00:29

1:00:29

Norman Podhoretz, z"l, died on December 16 at the age of ninety-five. For more than three decades, he served as editor of Commentary, transforming it into what Irving Kristol deemed the most influential magazine in Jewish history. He was a literary critic, a political essayist, and one of the fathers of the orientation toward public affairs that ca…

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Episode 188: Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz Interview 1:01:04

4d ago1:01:04

1:01:04

Episode 188: Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz Interview In this After Show Andrew talks with writing partners Aaron Brownstein and Simon Ganz about their long road to Guy Text. They share what they learned working under Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood, About a Boy) and Victor Fresco (Santa Clarita Diet), including lessons about character…

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Rabbi Ben Elton on Australian Jewry after Bondi Beach 46:45

7d ago46:45

46:45

On the evening of December 14, 2025—the first night of Hanukkah—Rabbi Benjamin Elton was driving home from performing a wedding, looking forward to lighting candles with his family. Then his phone began to explode with messages. There were gunmen at Bondi Beach. His wife and children were in lockdown at a nearby event. Names of the dead were coming…

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Episode 187: Guy Text Written by Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz 45:54

11d ago45:54

45:54

Episode 187: Guy Text Written by Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz This month’s dead pilot is Guy Text, written by Aaron Brownstein and Simon Ganz, whose credits include Santa Clarita Diet, Beavis and ButtHead, and About a Boy. Four geriatric millennial friends struggle with what it means to be sensitive, thoughtful, emotionally available modern men. …

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Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on the Enduring Power of the Psalms 47:19

14d ago47:19

47:19

On October 6, 2023, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik sat at his desk facing a deadline for his monthly column. Israel's citizens were then furiously debating judicial reform, but he'd already had his say on that matter. He decided to write about something else instead: a Jeopardy episode where three educated contestants stared blankly when asked to identify …

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Walter Russel Mead and Elliott Abrams on Navigating the New Middle East 29:15

21d ago29:15

29:15

It's now December, and thus a natural time to look back and think about all that's changed in 2025. What did the Middle East and the world look like at this time a year ago? President Biden was in the Oval Office and President Trump was both the former president and the president-elect. Hamas still held hostages taken on October 7. Iran's regional …

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Episode 186: Lisa Muse Bryant Interview 59:15

22d ago59:15

59:15

Episode 186: Lisa Muse Bryant Interview This month’s After Show features Andrew’s conversation with Lisa Muse Bryant, the powerhouse behind our latest dead pilot Dream. Lisa traces her remarkable journey from Camden, New Jersey, to writing on standout series like Black-ish, The Four Seasons, Man on the Inside, and Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinos…

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Josh Tolle on the State of Hillel on Campus 47:39

1M ago47:39

47:39

For many Jewish parents and grandparents, Hillel holds a special place in their memories of college life. Founded in 1923 above a barbershop at the University of Illinois, Hillel grew into a leading Jewish campus organization, now present at hundreds of colleges. For generations, it was where Jewish students found community, celebrated Shabbat, and…

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R.J. Snell on Modern Expressions of the Marcionite Heresy 51:27

1M ago51:27

51:27

This episode of the Tikvah Podcast might be the first dedicated entirely to Christian theology. Why would a Jewish podcast devote so much attention to a theological debate that took place among Christians in the 2nd century? First, because it contributed to the canonization of Christian scripture and defined forever the Christian attitude toward th…

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Episode 185: Dream Written by Lisa Muse Bryant 57:20

1M ago57:20

57:20

Episode 185: Dream Written by Lisa Muse Bryant This month’s Dead Pilots Society features Dream, a musical comedy pilot from Lisa Muse Bryant, whose work includes Black-ish, The Four Seasons, Man on the Inside, and Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. The show centers on Dream Morgan, a former teen mom who finally goes after her long-delayed ambit…

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Ambassador Ron Dermer Looks Back on His Years in Washington (Rebroadcast) 44:37

2M ago44:37

44:37

This week, Ron Dermer resigned from the Israeli cabinet, stepping down as minister of strategic affairs after years of working closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu to guide Israel through this last harrowing chapter of the country's history. It's a moment of transition—and it brings to mind another such moment, five years ago, when Dermer prepared…

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Jonathan Leaf on What New Research about Men and Apes Says about Human Nature 37:35

2M ago37:35

37:35

Every schoolboy has been told that, to understand human nature, we must look to our closest genetic relatives—the chimpanzees. Jane Goodall's pioneering research revealed that chimps use tools, hunt cooperatively, and engage in violent activity that looks like warfare. And from these observations, she and generations of scientists who followed in h…

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Samuel Kassow on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 47:31

2M ago47:31

47:31

Last week, Michael Smuss died at age ninety-nine. Born in 1926, he was the last surviving fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. His passing marks the end of an era, and brings to a close a chapter of living memory. Now the responsibility to tell this story passes fully to us. In the spring of 1943, against impossible odds and with almost no weapon…

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Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview 1:02:02

2M ago1:02:02

1:02:02

Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview Welcome to this month’s after-show interview with Brian Singleton and Jim Brandon. You heard their hilarious pilot Humans of the Americas last week on Dead Pilots Society. You may know Brian and Jim from their work on Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), Arrested Development (Netflix), or th…

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John Spencer on the Fate of Gaza's Tunnels 58:43

2M ago58:43

58:43

Now that there is a fragile cease-fire in place, it's time to ask what to do with Gaza's intricate system of tunnels. There is, of course, nothing new about the use of tunnels in war. From ancient Jerusalem to Vietnam to Islamic State in Mosul, militaries have dealt with underground warfare for millennia. But the scale, purpose, and strategic role …

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Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton 1:01:55

2M ago1:01:55

1:01:55

Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton This month’s dead pilot is Humans of the Americas by Jim Brandon and Brian Singleton, whose credits include Animal Control (FOX), Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), and Arrested Development (Netflix). Here’s the logline: A single camera comedy set in a small town ne…

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Tomer Persico on the Image of God: How Genesis gave rise to modern secularism 43:07

2M ago43:07

43:07

"God created man in His image: in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Thus reads verse 27 of the first chapter of Genesis, one of the most important lines ever written in history. The Hebrew phrase rendered as "in God's image" is b'tselem Elohim, and that is the title of a new book that traces the extraordinary career…

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Yaakov Katz on Israel's New Laser Defenses 41:55

3M ago41:55

41:55

On September 17, 2025, Israel announced that the world's first laser defense system was ready for deployment, and was being integrated into its multitiered missile-defense shield. Iron Beam may be the most significant advance in missile defense since Israel pioneered the concept of intercepting missiles with missiles back in the 1980s. That's becau…

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Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview 1:11:26

3M ago1:11:26

1:11:26

Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview In this after show for The Cheap Seats, Andrew sits down with writer David S. Rosenthal, whose career spans some of television’s most iconic series. Andrew and "Rosie" go way back to their days at summer camp, and their longtime friendship adds a personal dimension to this conversation. Rosenthal’s career t…

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Andrew Roberts and Meir Soloveichik on Winston Churchill and His Detractors 43:37

3M ago43:37

43:37

What mattered most for survivors of the Holocaust, indeed, what made their survival possible, was not only that the Allies had better ideas about democracy and civilization, though of course Britain, America, and the other Western Allies did. It was that they actually won the war. They defeated the Germans on the field of battle—on sea, land, and a…

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Episode 181: The Cheap Seats Written by David S. Rosenthal 41:29

3M ago41:29

41:29

Episode 181: The Cheap Seats Written by David S. Rosenthal This month on Dead Pilots Society we have The Cheap Seats by David S. Rosenthal, a veteran television writer whose credits include Spin City, Gilmore Girls, The Middle, and Jane the Virgin. The script centers on a close-knit group of emotionally and intellectually stunted friends whose worl…

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Daniel Samet on the U.S.-Israel Relationship and the American National Interest 32:49

4M ago32:49

32:49

The relationship between the United States and Israel has long been the subject of intense scrutiny, very often distorted by polemic and conspiracy. One of the most influential articulations of these distortions came in 2007, when the political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argued that American foreign policy had been hijacked by a p…

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Richard Goldberg on How American Energy Dominance Is Reshaping the Middle East 44:33

4M ago44:33

44:33

In the span of just twelve days, the strategic balance of the Middle East was fundamentally altered. Israel systematically dismantled Iran's drones, missiles, and air defenses, while American strikes turned its most important nuclear facilities into dust. But for all of that, another aspect of the war may not yet have gotten enough attention, and t…

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Ido Hevroni on Teaching Homer in Wartime 48:25

4M ago48:25

48:25

This week, as students in North America are returning to campus and settling into the rhythms of the fall semester, some of them are going to open their copies of Homer's epic poems of the Trojan War, the Iliad and Odyssey. They will read of the Trojan commander Hector's poignant farewell to his wife Andromache, of the Greek warrior Achilles' terri…

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Episode 180: Gracie Glassmeyer Interview 1:06:00

4M ago1:06:00

1:06:00

Episode 180: Gracie Glassmeyer Interview This after-show episode dives deeper into Here She Lies with its creator, Gracie Glassmeyer. If you heard the table read of this dark, twisty pilot, you probably have questions—like why Seth can’t leave his house, or why Talia has been spying on Amber’s stepmom. Gracie shares the answers, along with her uniq…

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David Myers and Andrew Koss on Whether Jewish Studies Has Turned against the Jews 1:33:15

4M ago1:33:15

1:33:15

In "A College Guide for the Perplexed," our feature essay this month at Mosaic, our focus is on higher-education reform, the future and fate of the humanities, and helping parents of Jewish students figure out the best places to pursue university studies. This is not the first time that Mosaic has dealt with these and related issues. In May 2024, m…

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Episode 179: Here She Lies Written by Gracie Glassmeyer 54:38

4M ago54:38

54:38

Episode 179: Here She Lies Written by Gracie Glassmeyer Welcome to Dead Pilots Society, the podcast that takes comedy pilots from A-list writers that were sold and developed at networks and streamers but never produced, and gives them the table reads they never got to have. This episode features a pilot from Gracie Glassmeyer. Gracie has written fo…

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Barry Strauss on the Jewish Conflict with Ancient Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion 47:35

5M ago47:35

47:35

Between the year 63 before the Common Era, and the year 136 of the Common Era, the Jewish people waged three revolts against the mightiest empire in the world. In retrospect, we can see that these were not only local uprisings, but civilizational confrontations that would echo through history—struggles that pitted the Jewish people's fierce determi…

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Michael Doran on Israel and the American Right 48:13

5M ago48:13

48:13

On July 29, Gallup published a new poll showing American support for Israel's military action in Gaza at a historic low. But a strong majority (71 percent) of Republicans say they approve of Israel's conduct in Gaza, and that is up from 66 percent in September. Of Israel's military action in Iran, 78 percent of Republicans approve. And 67 percent o…

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How Islamism Took Over the Middle East 1:17:43

5M ago1:17:43

1:17:43

This month at Mosaic, we hosted a very important set of conversations, spurred on by a very important essay: "The Enchantment of the Arab Mind," by the Egyptian-American writer Hussein Aboubakr Mansour. Mansour traces the roots of jihadism to European, and especially German, philosophy, transmitted through 20th-century Arab radicalism. Earlier this…

Ben Snell Podcasts

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Phones ,, Good, or Bad

Ben Snell

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Dead Pilots Society

Ben Blacker and Andrew Reich

1
NASA Vending Machine (watching "For All Mankind")

Dan Moren and Jason Snell

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The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

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Ruth Wisse on Norman Podhoretz 1:00:29

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Episode 188: Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz Interview 1:01:04

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Rabbi Ben Elton on Australian Jewry after Bondi Beach 46:45

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Episode 187: Guy Text Written by Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz 45:54

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Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on the Enduring Power of the Psalms 47:19

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Walter Russel Mead and Elliott Abrams on Navigating the New Middle East 29:15

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Episode 186: Lisa Muse Bryant Interview 59:15

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Josh Tolle on the State of Hillel on Campus 47:39

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R.J. Snell on Modern Expressions of the Marcionite Heresy 51:27

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Episode 185: Dream Written by Lisa Muse Bryant 57:20

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Ambassador Ron Dermer Looks Back on His Years in Washington (Rebroadcast) 44:37

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Jonathan Leaf on What New Research about Men and Apes Says about Human Nature 37:35

1
Samuel Kassow on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 47:31

1
Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview 1:02:02

1
John Spencer on the Fate of Gaza's Tunnels 58:43

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Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton 1:01:55

1
Tomer Persico on the Image of God: How Genesis gave rise to modern secularism 43:07

1
Yaakov Katz on Israel's New Laser Defenses 41:55

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Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview 1:11:26

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Andrew Roberts and Meir Soloveichik on Winston Churchill and His Detractors 43:37

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Episode 181: The Cheap Seats Written by David S. Rosenthal 41:29

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Daniel Samet on the U.S.-Israel Relationship and the American National Interest 32:49

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Richard Goldberg on How American Energy Dominance Is Reshaping the Middle East 44:33

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Ido Hevroni on Teaching Homer in Wartime 48:25

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Episode 180: Gracie Glassmeyer Interview 1:06:00

1
David Myers and Andrew Koss on Whether Jewish Studies Has Turned against the Jews 1:33:15

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Episode 179: Here She Lies Written by Gracie Glassmeyer 54:38

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Barry Strauss on the Jewish Conflict with Ancient Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion 47:35

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Michael Doran on Israel and the American Right 48:13

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How Islamism Took Over the Middle East 1:17:43