Early in my cable subscription service, Comcast offered a channel called Shalom TV. I watched it frequently, learning Talmud from Rabbi Becher, who later became an invited speaker at my shul, Rabbi Wohlberg whose congregation I would latch onto roughly quarterly until our Coronavirus pandemic, and a lot of other interviews with notables. For some likely commercial reason, Comcast replaced this option with JLTV which ran reruns of Soupy Sales or popular but not particularly profound offerings on chic Israel or a few travel shows of Jewish roots in vacation destinations popular for other reasons supplemented by a few diatribes from people who go to different shuls than me.
Shalom TV has been recaptured by Comcast in the renamed Jewish Broadcasting Service or JBS. Talmud with Rabbi Becher appears before dawn but can be recorded. There are consistently very good interviews, real Israel News, documentaries, shabbos services recorded from Orthodox and Reform congregations, a few repackaging of AJC podcasts, some basic Hebrew. Rabbi Golub, who I just learned had a theater production background, has channeled this resource to become something of an on-screen Hillel. Virtually nothing is trivial. If a political or religious hardball is to be pitched, it is never misrepresented. The Rabbi takes the position that Judaism is for all Jews, something our Federations have tried to do less gracefully while our synagogues and increasingly Israel depend on creating segments.
Great to have it back. Designated on my favorite channels, surfed each evening, Cable TV recorded assigned to capture a few. I sit in something of a silo in a recliner as I watch, but witness what goes on outside that silo. Great to have this back. A real yasher koach to Rabbi Golub and to Comcast.
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