A Live Detours & Destinations Podcast Taping
What begins with a question can sometimes open a lifetime of discovery. For Zalman Newfield, the search for meaning has never been about easy answers, but about the challenge to stay curious—about faith, identity, and what it means to live a life of connection.
In this live taping of Detours & Destinations, Rabbi David Ingber welcomes Zalman Newfield for a thoughtful and engaging conversation about the power of inquiry in shaping the soul. Drawing on themes from his memoir, Brooklyn Odyssey: My Journey Out of Hasidism, Zalman reflects on his upbringing in the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community of Crown Heights and the profound journey that led him beyond the world in which he was raised.
Together they’ll explore how asking deeper questions can lead us toward community, compassion, and a more expansive understanding of our shared humanity. As Zalman recounts in Brooklyn Odyssey, the path from strict religious tradition into a wider intellectual and personal world is not simply a story of leaving—but one of searching, learning, and redefining belonging.
Drawing on his experiences as a teacher, thinker, and bridge-builder across worlds of tradition and modern life, Zalman reflects on the detours that shaped his path—and the discoveries that emerged along the way.