Hitting the 25th Podcast Episode Mark

I still remember sitting and struggling to research podcasting mechanics 3-4 years ago and trying to wrap my head around podcasting (if you must know, I was having a hard time understanding where to deposit the podcasts and how podcatchers work),* and thinking that I basically understand recording and editing, but was struggling with exactly doing those things. However, a larger struggle I was experiencing at that moment was what the podcast would be – my mind was heading towards a Star Wars podcast.

For those who know me, I am excited about sharing my knowledge of Star Wars and discussing it with fellow fans, and have even appeared on another Star Wars podcast, yet I had concerns: there are already so many Star Wars podcasts out there – what would my podcast add? Also, why? Just because I wanted to do a podcast? That’s enough of a reason for beginning a podcast – why would anyone want to listen? Also, I’m not the most on-top of Star Wars news, etc. as I know I could be and that others out there are already doing.

Last April, I posted on this blog that I was thinking yet again of podcasting and had no longer been desiring to podcast about Star Wars, but was turning to Jewish textual topics. Here, there is a wide-open space for content, as I could easily come up with a dozen different topics that are both interesting and that I could speak knowledgeably on, get guests, and that are not being handled elsewhere (e.g. an entire podcast about Pirkei Avot).

Finally, September rolled around and I was inspired to create JewishDrinking.com,** but was mainly thinking about the written content, especially what I had previously published elsewhere, which I imported to the website. However, I was dragging my feet on other media until a phone conversation on September 13^th with someone who urged me not to worry about technological concerns, which could either be solved by purchasing equipment, renting out equipment, or finding spaces with equipment available. I then realized I didn’t need fancy equipment for podcasting – I could just shoot a video, edit the video (which I’ve done before), take the audio out of the video and figure out some podcasting website to publish it. That night, I then shot and edited my first episode, which I then published.

On a Skype call with a guest for the Jewish Drinking podcast

Since then, I began reaching-out to potential guests, scheduled our Skype or Zoom sessions, recorded them, edited them, and, as of yesterday, hit the 25^th podcast episode’s publication! (All 25 of them are available here.)

One of the coolest aspects of these episodes is both connecting with other people seriously thinking about these drinking aspects in Jewish history, tradition, and more! Whether they are academics, fellow rabbis, or others, it’s been enjoyable to both connect with them, learn about their fields, and, above all, bring all of these disparate conversations into a single place where people may not have known about such matters. 

Weirdly enough, in the half-year since beginning the podcast series, I’ve been surprised to see that this is the main content I am publishing on Jewish Drinking – who would have thought that I would be less interested in blogging than in producing audio and video content?

I am excited for what’s coming down the pipes for Jewish Drinking and am excited to have crossed this milestone, and looking forward to more podcast episodes!