In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Michael Eisenberg, a venture capitalist and staunch defender of Israel, about how the people of Israel have risen to the occasion by creating a “civic revolution.”

With all that is at stake for the Jewish People right now, we’ve been forced to reconsider what our personal goals and collective mission ought to be. And Michael has been at the forefront of that discourse. In this episode we discuss:

• How does service in the IDF empower Israeli citizens at a young age?
• What is the current raison d'être of the Jewish People?
• What is Michael’s notion of “covenantal capitalism”?

Tune in to hear a conversation about how, together, we summon the agency to transform our lives and uplift the world.

Interview begins at 4:35.

Michael is a General Partner at Aleph, an early-stage venture capital fund with $850M under management. Since 2006, he has been writing the blog “Six Kids and a Full Time Job,” on topics ranging from politics to technology, Judaism, and macroeconomics. Michael has also published numerous books, including The Tree of Life and Prosperity, The Vanishing Jew, and Ben Barukh. In 2020, he established the Nevo Network, a first-of-its-kind fellowship program to elevate olim (immigrants to Israel) working in high-tech and serves as the organization’s chairman. Michael lives in Jerusalem with his wife and eight children.

References:

“Israel, Version 3.0” by Rabbi Moshe Taragin

Michael Eisenberg and Elon Musk on X (Twitter)

Altneuland: The Old-New-Land by Theodor Herzl

“Transactional thinking can only take humanity so far” by Michael Eisenberg

Parshat Shoftim

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Sotah 49b

Reading Jewish History in the Parsha with David Bashevkin

Book Journey with Malka Simkovich