Rabbi Moshe Elefant may be most closely identified as Chief Operating Officer of OU Kosher and the magid shiur of the Orthodox Union’s Daf Yomi webcast (whose 1,800 learners a day around the globe make his lectures the most popular Daf in the world). For listeners of the popular Talkline With Zev Brenner radio program, Rabbi Elefant’s name has additionally become strongly identified with the Passover holiday, as he joins the host on air the for the weeks leading up to the holiday.
The program airs Monday-Thursday 8-9:00p.m. on WSNR 620 AM for the New York Metropolitan area and WJPR 1640 AM for the Highland Park/Edison area. Saturday nights, the program runs 12 midnight-3:00a.m. on WMCA 570 AM. Rabbi Elefant will appear every night until Passover.
“Rabbi Elefant comes from a position of great knowledge and strength, and is an individual who has received much respect from various segments of our community,” shared Mr. Brenner. “Listeners really find him refreshing because his knowledge is versatile enough to handle any questions we receive. He cuts across many backgrounds, and has become very popular over the years.”
For many years, Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz, who compiled a yearly digest The Laws of Pesach, was Zev Brenner’s guest educator on Passover-related information. After Rabbi Blumenkrantz’s death in 2007, Mr. Brenner reached out to OU Kosher’s Chief Executive Officer Rabbi Menachem Genack to recommend someone from the OU who would have the knowledge of Jewish law and the personality to appeal to listeners. With his deep breadth of knowledge, warm personality and gift of humor, Rabbi Elefant was nominated for the job.
“Radio format is very personal, as people are able to communicate back and forth in discussions—that’s something you can’t do online or in the newspaper,” Zev Brenner said.
From his home in Brooklyn, Rabbi Elefant joins the show and stays on the air for as long as the conversations continue. “Sometimes I’m on the air with Zev for a half hour, other nights I’m there the full hour,” noted Rabbi Elefant. “The listeners submit the topics of discussion and they range through every possible question and situation—how to kasher a dishwater for Passover, how to deal with a potential situation at a Seder? What medications are permissible during Passover?”
According to Mr. Brenner, there was such interest in Rabbi Elefant’s participation on the Talkline show that this year, he brought Rabbi Elefant on air the week before Purim to respond to questions. “Jewish law instructs us to begin learning about the specific holiday laws a month in advance—we started even earlier!” note an amused Rabbi Elefant. “I hope I make my mother proud.”
Discussion questions each night for Talkline With Zev Brenner are taken from call-in listeners (212-769-1925), accepted by email (info@talklinecommunications.com); text the word ‘ZEV’ plus comments and/or questions to the number 21800; and from the Talkline With Zev Brenner Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/tcntalk/info). Listeners may also listen online at http://www.talklinecommunications.com/ and listen to the 24-hour listen-line at 212-419-4240 ext 1.