Stay ConnectedListen in as Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even “regular Jews,” Dan and Lex look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.
You can support Judaism Unbound at www.JudaismUnbound.com/donate.
Heshvan is the month that comes after Tishri -- the month containing Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and multiple other Jewish holidays. It (Heshvan) is often framed as "a month with no Jewish holidays." The problem? It is not a month with no Jewish holidays! In this episode, Lex, Miriam, and Rena Yehuda (members of Judaism Unbound's staff team) dive into multiple Jewish holidays that have taken place in the past -- and continue to take place today -- during the month of Heshvan. They also ask some big questions about how we might reconceptualize the role of Heshvan entirely!
Register for the next gathering of Shabbat Unbound on November 22nd via this link! If you're listening after 11/22, you can register for our December edition of Shabbat Unbound (a 12-month-long Shabbat service), via this link.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Charlie Schwartz, co-founder and director of Lehrhaus: A Jewish Tavern & House of Learning, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Lehrhaus, Jewish "third spaces," and blurring the boundaries between Jewish learning and Jewish eating.
Register for the next gathering of Shabbat Unbound on November 22nd via this link!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Mazal Tov, Congratulations, Mazaltations, and Congratul Tov to Miriam Terlinchamp!!! Judaism Unbound’s executive director is getting married the weekend of this episode’s release. Tune in to a conversation where Miriam, Dan, and Lex take this joyous occasion as a wonderful opportunity to dive deeper into how we might experiment creatively with Jewish weddings — and how doing so could help us experiment with Jewish ritual more broadly.
Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our 8-week courses in the UnYeshiva, which began earlier this week! Explore Jewish communities around the world, gender in Judaism, Maimonides's (Rambam's) theology, fierce women in Torah, and more!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This week, we’re bringing you an episode of our newest podcast, Tales of the Unbound!In its inaugural season Tales of the Unbound follows the Jewish journey of two incarcerated individuals, their chaplain, and the community they co-created in the most unlikely of places.
In Tales of the Unbound Episode 5, we reach the apex of the storyline, talking through all the details of the “big day” of conversion. Miriam recounts the challenges of facilitating a traditional Jewish conversion ritual for Ari and Josh in prison. She navigates assembling a beit din (rabbinic court). The mikvah (ritual bath) posed logistical hurdles, eventually combining some borrowed and collected elements to make it happen. The ritual circumcision (milah) was performed privately by Ari and Josh using diabetic lancets despite our share of reservations. The ceremony concludes with Ari and Josh affirming their Jewish identity before their community, marking a profound moment of spiritual transformation and communal contribution.
For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who support folks who are incarcerated and their families, connect with a Jewish penpal, donate to help bring kosher meals and access to Jewish supplies, or give straight to Ari and Josh’s Jewish minyan in Monroe, connect with us at: www.judaismunbound.com/tales. You can subscribe to Tales of the Unbound in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found!
Happy Sukkot! Chag Sameach! The 7-day-long festival of Sukkot is here, and Dan and Lex welcome Joseph Altshuler and Ethan Blake — both founders of local Sukkah festivals celebrating creative design and architecture — to explore what this festival can teach us.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Yom Kippur is here! For the past two years, Yom Kippur is often the single most popular day — all year — for folks to listen to Judaism Unbound. To those of you incorporating our podcast into your observance of this holiday, wishing you a beautiful and unbound Yom Kippur. In this episode, Rachel Cohen — policy correspondent for Vox Media — joins Dan and Lex for a conversation connecting Yom Kippur to an article (a VERY Jewish article) she wrote recently, entitled “Why I Changed my Mind About Volunteering.”
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Irwin Keller is the spiritual leader of Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California, author of the new book Shechinah at the Art Institute, and — importantly for this conversation — one of the most thoughtful wedding officiants you’ll find anywhere. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring the ritual work that weddings do, along with a variety of perspectives regarding who they are for (who is the “client”). This episode is the 3rd in a Judaism Unbound mini-series exploring Jewish weddings.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Keshira haLev Fife, a kohenet (Jewish priestess), ritual designer, community-weaver, and founder of Kesher Pittsburgh joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. How might we more effectively orient to the notion of teshuva (often translated “repentance” or “return”) over these 10 days? Could floating in kayaks have something to do with how we might re-invent these High Holidays? This episode is the third in a Judaism Unbound mini-series, helping listeners prepare for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this conversation, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash think not only about our entry into the new year (Rosh Hashanah) -- but toward the holiday of Yom Kippur that follows shortly afterward.
This Elul bonus episode is the fourth and final bonus episode that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2024 (our 22nd-25th Elul episodes overall). Check out Elul Unbound by visiting www.judaismunbound.com/elul.
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past six years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2024 by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering of 2024 (Friday, September 6th), where we will be forging our kavanot (intentions) for the new year in real time with friends, by clicking here.
This week, we’re bringing you an episode of our newest podcast, Tales of the Unbound!In its inaugural season Tales of the Unbound follows the Jewish journey of two incarcerated individuals, their chaplain, and the community they co-created in the most unlikely of places.
Tales of the Unbound: Episode 4 - “Do Good Time” follows Ari’s spiritual journey of claiming Jewish identity. There’s an incentive process in prison sentences called meritorious time. We call it “Good Time." For Ari, Good Time has to do with the way he spends his days for the betterment of himself and the world at large. Good Time means a gratitude process, embracing shared humanity, giving to others without expectation of receiving, choosing compassion, and accountability.
For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who support folks who are incarcerated and their families, connect with a Jewish penpal, donate to help bring kosher meals and access to Jewish supplies, or give straight to Ari and Josh’s Jewish minyan in Monroe, connect with us at: www.judaismunbound.com/tales. You can subscribe to Tales of the Unbound in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this third bonus episode of Elul Unbound, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore what it means for the observance of Elul to be "God-optional."
This Elul bonus episode is the third of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2024 (our 22nd-25th Elul episodes overall). Check out Elul Unbound by visiting www.judaismunbound.com/elul.
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past six years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2024 by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering of 2024 (Friday, September 6th), where we will be forging our kavanot (intentions) for the new year in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Jericho Vincent, founder and rabbi of Temple of the Stranger — a mystical community based in Brooklyn, NY — is leading a ritual entitled The Unbinding of Isaac: a provocative, experimental, controversial, and immersive theatrical Rosh HaShanah experience. They join Dan and Lex for a conversation about this wild new ritual, and for a broader exploration of what it means to experiment with the treasures of Jewish tradition. This episode is the second in a Judaism Unbound mini-series, helping listeners prepare for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this second bonus episode of Elul Unbound, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash continue their exploration of the power of threes.
This Elul bonus episode is the second of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2024 (our 22nd-25th Elul episodes overall). Check out Elul Unbound by visiting www.judaismunbound.com/elul.
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past six years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2024 by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering of 2024 (Friday, September 6th), where we will be forging our kavanot (intentions) for the new year in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Zvika Krieger, spiritual leader at Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, California, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Together they ask and explore a variety of questions: who is the God of the High Holidays? When Jews and their loved ones gather to pray, are they praying to that God? Are they (we) doing something else? Should we chuck most of the liturgy out and re-focus ourselves in a different way? Should we retain the traditional prayers and re-interpret them?
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this first bonus episode of Elul Unbound, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore the power of the number three — and the fact that we are entering into the 3rd year of the seven-year Shmita cycle!
This Elul bonus episode is the first of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2024 (our 22nd-25th Elul episodes overall). Check out Elul Unbound by visiting www.judaismunbound.com/elul.
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past six years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2024 by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering of 2024 (Friday, September 6th), where we will be forging our kavanot (intentions) for the new year in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Play Steinberg and Sue Reinhold join Dan and Lex for a conversation about Father. Mother. God. — a web-comic Steinberg is in the process of creating! They dive into topics ranging from conversion, to addiction and recovery, to the power of digital Jewish art. Check out Father. Mother. God.via this link!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
On June 20th, 2024, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion eliminated its ban on interfaith relationships for rabbinical students. This landmark decision comes on the heels of decades of many years of organizing and advocacy, and Judaism Unbound is thrilled to celebrate it! In this episode, Dan, Miriam, and Lex speak about what this shift means for Jewish leadership — and for Jewish life more broadly. They also name the ways in which the ban on intermarried (and inter-partnered) rabbinical students did real damage — to Jews and Jewish-adjacent non-Jews — and call for active forms of teshuva (righting of wrongs) by the institutions that inflicted that damage.
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Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. We are proud to feature their fourth season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
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Presented in collaboration with The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley, we explore "Lilith," a short story by Primo Levi, featured in his 1981 collection, Moments of Reprieve. Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of The Magnes Collection and Professor of Music and Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley, discusses the ways in which "Lilith," with its combination of memoiristic storytelling, sharply drawn characters, and mythic resonances, speaks not only to the work Levi created throughout his career but to Italian Jewish history and beyond.
This week, we’re bringing you an episode of our newest podcast, Tales of the Unbound!In its inaugural season Tales of the Unbound follows the Jewish journey of two incarcerated individuals, their chaplain, and the community they co-created in the most unlikely of places.
Tales of the Unbound: Episode 3 — We go HAM follows Josh’s spiritual journey of claiming Jewish identity, finding healing through reconciliation, and what it means to lead from a place of faith. His joy in the face of adversity is captivating as he carries his own stories and the stories of others as part of his personal evolution. This episode will reach you in the kishkas* carrying the listener as we move from tears to laughter, embracing the raw humanity of becoming yourself.
*Kishkas = Literally: intestines; Colloquially: In the guts/ where you deeply feel emotion
For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who support folks who are incarcerated and their families, connect with a Jewish penpal, donate to help bring kosher meals and access to Jewish supplies, or give straight to Ari and Josh’s Jewish minyan in Monroe, connect with us at: www.judaismunbound.com/tales. You can subscribe to Tales of the Unbound in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found!
Perplexed? About Judaism, and God, and life generally? Us too. Maimonides (also known as Rambam) wrote a book specifically for us called The Guide to the Perplexed, a bit more than 800 years ago, and it still has much to teach us today! Lenn E. Goodman, co-author of The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation (with Phillip I. Lieberman) joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Maimonides’s work, and how we might apply it in our own time.
Purchase The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation via this link — and purchase the companion book, entitled A Guide to the Guide to the Perplexed: A Reader’s Companion to Maimonides’ Masterwork, via this link.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Ollie Schwartz is the founder of Pushcart Judaica, which offers accessible Jewish ritual objects, books, zines, and art that reflect liberatory values, handcrafted beauty, and queer brilliance. Schwartz joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the power of Jewish objects, reflections on why “people of the pushcart” might be as good a moniker as “people of the book,” and their dreams for the future of Judaica.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Just a few days ago, one of the leading luminaries of Jewish Studies scholarship, David Biale, died at the age of 75. He was a 3-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and a committed scholar-activist who devoted his life not only to intellectual pursuits – but also to justice. His work had a profound influence on the ways we understand Judaism Unbound, and in the wake of his passing, we wanted to re-release his appearance on our podcast that was initially released toward the end of 2023. May David Biale’s memory be a blessing, and may his work continue to contribute to the betterment of Judaism and humankind.
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Episode 411 Description:
David Biale was the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis and the the award-winning author/co-author of seven books on Jewish history. He joined Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about counter-culture, secularism, and reaching for our roots, all in the context of understanding the Jewish past and present.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Dan and Lex conclude their series of episodes on disability and Judaism. They discuss the wisdom from these episodes, including strategies for imagining accessible Jewish futures, how to navigate a tradition that contains both harm and insight, and how we make choices about editorializing our tradition in order to speak to who Jews are in the present. This episode is the 8th and final episode in a series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring disability justice and Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Tales of the Unbound is a new addition to the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts! Its first season follows the stories of Ari and Josh, two men pursuing Jewish conversion while incarcerated. Despite facing obstacles and judgments, they find belonging and community within Judaism. “Tales of the Unbound: Episode 2 – “Yes Way”explores the role of prison chaplaincy in cultivating a sense of belonging and Jewish connection among incarcerated people. This episode specifically follows Amy, the Jewish sponsor and chaplain at Monroe Correctional. We talk about what it felt like to first enter the space, how she cultivated a thoughtful community, and where the boundaries lay around Jewish identity.
For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who support folks who are incarcerated and their families, connect with a Jewish penpal, donate to help bring kosher meals and access to Jewish supplies, or give straight to Ari and Josh’s Jewish minyan in Monroe, connect with us at: www.judaismunbound.com/tales.
Ari Saks recently completed an 11-year career as a full-time pulpit rabbi, and is currently focused on reaching out to interfaith families, primarily through his podcast called Interfaithing. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about co-officiating interfaith weddings, how he thinks about presiding over meaningful marriage rituals, and the importance of celebrating interfaith families.
Are you pining for a trans-generational community of Jewish learning and growth, spanning multiple time-zones, featuring a rich diversity of Jewish backgrounds and experiences? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 15th, 2024.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Rena Yehuda Newman (They/Them) is a Jewish, transgender writer, educator, independent publisher, and illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Rena Yehuda is also the new Director of the UnYeshiva Certificate Program. They join Lex on the podcast for a conversation about the UnYeshiva Certificate Program and how creative, collaborative learning environments can help us envision emergent Jewish futures.
Are you pining for a trans-generational community of Jewish learning and growth, spanning multiple time-zones, featuring a rich diversity of Jewish backgrounds and experiences?Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Sharon Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR. Her book, The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Hearts and Mend Our Broken World, is a national bestseller, and her 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been viewed by more than 1.5 million people. Brous was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of most influential Rabbis in America, and has been recognized by The Forward and Jerusalem Post as one of the fifty most influential Jews. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about loneliness, the importance of connection, and the power of showing up for one another.
Interested in deepening your relationship to Judaism Unbound? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Sharoni Sibony is a multi-talented Jewish educator, and the artist behind an exhibition entitled My Body’s Keeper: Provocations and Possibilities. Sibony joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish ritual technologies, art, disability Torah, and more. This episode is the 7th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Interested in deepening your relationship to Judaism Unbound? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.
Tales of the Unbound is a new addition to the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts! This new series follows the spiritual journeys of folks who leave one way of being for another, claiming agency as they embrace revolutionary Jewish innovation. They build circles of belonging and imagine new ways to engage with their emergent communities. With every awakening, others awake alongside.
Tales of the Unbound's first season follows the stories of Ari and Josh, two men pursuing Jewish conversion while incarcerated. Despite facing obstacles and judgments, they find belonging and community within Judaism. Episode 1 (Jewish Enough) explores themes of identity, conversion, and belonging, shedding light on the challenges and joys of practicing Judaism behind bars. Through their journey, listeners witness the power of faith, resilience, and the pursuit of personal transformation. Join us on this heartfelt exploration of Judaism and the human spirit.
For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who support folks who are incarcerated and their families, connect with a Jewish penpal, donate to help bring kosher meals and access to Jewish supplies, or give straight to Ari and Josh’s Jewish minyan in Monroe … connect with us at: www.judaismunbound.com/tales.
It’s almost time… for Shavuot! Dan, Lex, and Miriam come together for a conversation about what Shavuot will look like this year at Judaism Unbound. They explore the connections between Shavuot and conversion, renewing our commitment to Judaism through ritual, and how we can meaningfully experience Shavuot in new and ancient ways.
Click HERE to register for ShavuotLIVE 2024, taking place June 8th-June 9th!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Shai Held, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and leaders in America, is president and dean of the Hadar Institute in New York City. Held received the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, and has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the most influential rabbis in America and to the Forward's list of the most prominent Jews in the world. He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013) and The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion (2017). In this conversation, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg welcome him to the show to explore his newest book, entitled Judaism is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life.
Sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elliot Kukla (he/they) is a rabbi, author, and activist. Elliot has worked at the intersection of justice and spiritual care to those who are ill, dying and bereaved since 2007. They are currently on the faculty of SVARA, where they also direct the Collective Loss Adaptation Project (CLAP). Elliot joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about justice-based radical spiritual care, and what both the experience of chronic illness and the Jewish tradition offer our world as we contend with grief, loss, and the need for rest. This episode is the 6th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah.
Sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. We are proud to feature their fourth season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
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In this episode, presented in collaboration with Hebrew College, we begin by exploring two poems from the second half of the 19th century by prominent American poets. One, "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is generally thought to have been written during a visit to Newport in 1852 and was then published in 1854. The other, a response to that work by Emma Lazarus, called "In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport," was likely written in 1867 and then published in 1871.
Rabbi Dan Judson, Provost of Hebrew College, discusses how the poem by Lazarus both builds upon and deviates from Longfellow's poem. He also shares about the artistic and ideological journey that Emma Lazarus, as a Jewish American writer, took over the course of her career, using her poem "The Banner of the Jew," published in 1882, as an entry point to understand this journey, and touches on the ways in which her evolution speaks to Jewish identity in America and the American experience overall.
Support for this episode is provided in part by A More Perfect Union, a project of The Tides Center.
Jess Belasco is the founder and director of The Disability Justice Torah Circle,a space in which Jews with disabilities can build community around Torah, engage Jewish text through a disability justice lens, and nurture and amplify their voices to impact the broader Jewish community. They join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about what disability has to say about Torah and what Torah has to say about disability.
There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning next week in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes! And sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Chava Shapiro is the founder of the Jewish Zine Archive, an archival collection of Jewish zines and a digital Jewish cultural space. They join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation related to their upcoming UnYeshiva mini-course, Unraveling Jewish Zines: From Rashi to the Haggadah to Instagram, which will explore the intersection of Jewish identity, DIY ethos, and artistic innovation through the lens of zine culture.
Learn more about (and register for) Chava Shapiro’s UnYeshiva 3-week mini-course, Unraveling Jewish Zines: From Rashi to the Haggadah to Instagram, which starts on May 22nd! Check out our other 3-week mini-courses via www.judaismunbound.com/classes -- financial aid is available for all of them, just fill out this form.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Dalia Marx, an author, teacher, and activist who promotes liberal Judaism in Israel, is the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. Her book, From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar, uses a progressive approach to explore each Hebrew month and its holidays alongside art and literature. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about the Jewish calendar of the past, present, and future.
Our newest round of UnYeshiva mini-courses is now live, and it’s not too late to register! We’ve got everything from Phish to zines to death. Learn more and sign up at JudaismUnbound.com/Classes. Financial aid is available if needed, just fill out this form!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Livia Thompson serves as the Executive Director of JBI(formerly Jewish Braille Institute): an organization enabling access to Jewish life through audio, braille, and large-print texts. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about JBI and its powerful work. This episode is the 4th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah.
There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Tzemah Yoreh is a rabbi, scholar, and liturgist who recently wrote a book entitled So Compassionate It Hurts: My Life as a Rabbi On the Spectrum. He joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in an ongoing series exploring Disability Torah.
There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist. She teaches spirituality and Jewish mysticism at Malchut, a mystical school teaching direct experience of God, creates art focused on shifting societal narratives, such as Prostrations and The Selichot Project, and writes about Judaism through the lens of intersectional feminism, as seen in her Feminism All Night project. She joins Lex Rofeberg for a conversation conversation about her upcoming UnYeshiva class, which delves into the cultures, traditions, and stories that make Sephardi and Mizrahi communities unique.
There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Judaism Unbound’s executive director Miriam Terlinchamp, senior Jewish educator Lex Rofeberg, and senior fellow Dan Libenson take a close look at Passover, discussing everything from matzah scultpures to individual vs. collective liberation.
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There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Lauren Tuchman is a sought-after spiritual leader and educator whose work focuses on disability access and inclusion. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, she is, as far as she is aware, the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the nexus between visual impairment, inclusion, and Jewish tradition. This episode is the second in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
In honor of our 8-year anniversary, if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Julia Watts Belser is a rabbi, scholar, and longtime disability and queer activist. She currently serves as a professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, and core faculty in Georgetown's Disability Studies Program. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about her latest book, Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2023.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
In honor of our 8-year anniversary, if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Judaism Unbound’s executive director Miriam Terlinchamp, senior Jewish educator Lex Rofeberg, and senior fellow Dan Libenson dig into all things Purim: the darkness of the book of Esther, the yonic nature of hamantaschen, and the appropriate ratio of comedy to tragedy when it comes to honoring the holiday.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
In honor of our 8-year anniversary, if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Ariana Katz, founder of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl, sees rooted ritual and radical organizing as her Jewish legacy. Jessica Rosenberg, author of Introduction to Trauma, Healing and Resilience for Rabbis, Jewish Educators and Organizers, is a teacher on integrating trauma-informed pedagogy into Jewish education, ritual and organizing. The two are co-authors of a new book entitled For Times Such as These: A Radical Guide to the Jewish Year, and theyjoin Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about it — and all things radical-Judaism!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation, in honor of our 8-year anniversary. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Analucía Lopezrevoredo is the founder of Latin Jewish cultural and educational organization Jewtina y Co, as well as an award-winning activist and sociologist known for her work on human migration, immigrant identity development and global Jewish communities. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Latin Jewish diaspora, diversity, and emerging creative movements.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Eleyna Fugman is a Jewish community-builder focused on populations that have been historically marginalized. She is the co-founder of the leadership development organization, TischPDX, and the alternative grassroots Jewish community, The Alberta Shul, both based on the Eastside of Portland, Oregon. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about crafting Jewish community outside of the mainstream as a tikkun (a healing process) for organized Judaism.
It’s not too late to register for our full-semester spring courses in the UnYeshiva! We’ve got Biblical animals, Jewish apocrypha, mythic approaches to climate change, and beyond! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes to learn more and register.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Nate DeGroot is a Jewish experiential educator and activist, and currently serves as the Associate Director for The Shalom Center. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Judaism as a prompt for making the world a better place.
It’s not too late to register for our full-semester spring courses in the UnYeshiva! We’ve got Biblical animals, Jewish apocrypha, mythic approaches to climate change, and beyond! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes to learn more and register.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Yosef Rosen is a historian of Kabbalah and Jewish magic, a creative Jewish educator, and an immersive ritual designer. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is an award-winning author, teacher, and spiritual leader serving as Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte. The two thinkers join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about their upcoming UnYeshiva classes (sign up here!), which both use Jewish history and tradition to grapple with today’s climate crisis.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Vanessa Harper is the Senior Director of Adult Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA and as the Reform Rabbi-in-Residence at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA. She bakes challah that interprets the Torah portion each week in what was originally an Instagram-based educational project, then a kinetic midrash class, and now a book: Loaves of Torah: Exploring the Jewish Year Through Challah. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about living in creative relationship to Judaism, and challah as a chevruta (study-partner).
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jessica Tamar Deutschis an artist whose work explores the connections between ancient Jewish tradition and contemporary creative culture and expression. Her newest visual story, Rebbe Nachman’s The Lost Princess, will be released in February and is available for pre-order through Ayin Press. In this episode, Deutsch joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Hasidism, the creative process, and art’s potential to open up Jewish text.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jill Hammer – award-winning author, scholar, ritualist, poet, dreamworker and midrashist – is co-founder of Beit Kohenet and of the Kohenet movement, and currently serves as the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion. She joins Dan Liebenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about dreaming as a medium for communal connection, Jewish meaning-making, and divine revelation.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. We are proud to feature their fourth season's first episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
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In this episode, presented in collaboration with the George Washington University Department of History, we examine the history of the word “ghetto" and look at ways that ideas contained in Shakespeare's play overlap with and deviate from that history.
Dr. Daniel Schwartz, Professor of Jewish History at GW, guides us through this exploration, sharing some of the concepts contained in his book, Ghetto: The History of a Word.
This is the first in a three episode series connected to concepts that intersect with theatre dybbuk's most recent theatrical work, The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad. That production combines text from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice with Elizabethan history and news from 2020 to the present. In doing so, it seeks to illuminate how, during times of upheaval, some people may place blame for their anxieties on an “other."
Read the transcription for "The Merchant of Venice: Ghetto.
Laura Leibman is an award-winning author and scholar of religion in the early Americas and currently serves as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Adriana Brodsky is an award-winning author and scholar of Sephardic Jews in Argentina and currently serves as Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The two thinkers join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about their newly-published book, Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492–Present.
Registration for the UnYeshiva’s new mini-courses is now open -- and it's your last chance to register because classes start in just a few days! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes for more information and to register.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Digital Judaism is the geography in which Judaism Unbound operates! In this conversation Dan, Lex, and Miriam reflect upon the digital Jewish past, present, and future, and consider Judaism Unbound’s continued role as a leader in — and lover of — the digital Jewish landscape. This episode is the 7th and final episode in a series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Registration for the UnYeshiva’s new mini-courses is now open! We’ve got conversion, bodies, mishnah, and more! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes for more information and to register.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
LGBTQIA+ folks are among the most creative people on this planet, creating realities and reimagining a world from the inside out—not of how things are but to how things could be. Queer creativity is visionary. In what has been a time of isolation for so many people, Reed Love is teaching a mini-course in the UnYeshiva, called Cosmic Bodies: Celebrating Queer & Jewish Creativity, that will serve as a space to connect – to community, to oneself, and to creative curiosity.
In this bonus episode of Judaism Unbound, Reed Love, founder and project director of We are Stardust, joins Lex Rofeberg to discuss how wonderful queerness is — and how our bodies, minds, and hearts are thoroughly inter-connected.
Register for Cosmic Bodies: Celebrating Queer & Jewish Creativity by clicking here! Financial aid is available, and you can apply for it viathis link. Learn more about other courses in the UnYeshiva via www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
David Biale is the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis and the the award-winning author/co-author of seven books on Jewish history. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about counterculture, secularism, and reaching for our roots, all in the context of understanding the Jewish past and present.
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Adam Mansbach is a best-selling author, screenwriter, cultural critic and humorist. His newest novel, The Golem of Brooklyn, tells the fictional story of a stoned Brooklyn art teacher who accidentally creates the Golem, a Jewish folkloric creature. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a discussion of the book and its broader explorations of race, faith, healing, and humor.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
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Hasia Diner is the Director of the Goren-Goldstein Center for American Jewish History at New York University, and the award-winning author of over twenty books, many of which focus on the history of American-Jewish minority communities. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about questioning tradition, raising up long-quieted voices, and turning towards under-represented individuals instead of mainstream institutions when writing and re-writing the American Jewish historical narrative.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
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In this 4th and final episode of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized...When we talk about Apocrypha, people tend to presume that we are focused on ancient books. Texts that were written a couple thousand years ago, but which did not make it into the Jewish Biblical canon. That’s…true, usually, even in our Apocry-Fest initiative! But we also are interested in diving into what “apocrypha” might mean for texts (and art) created in the 21st century in beyond. To conclude, Apocry-Fest, we consider that question.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday! If you can't get enough, and you want to listen in to the five episodes that formed our inaugural edition of Apocry-Fest in 2022, click here.
In this 3rd of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized...Have you ever thought “Dang, there aren’t enough demons in Jewish text. Especially demons with a hobby of killing potential husbands on their wedding nights.” No? That probably reflects well on you. But if, after hearing that question, you’re intrigued…wowee is the book of Tobit going to be exciting for you! Also, this book contains angels disguised as humans and fish guts, if you need any other strange selling points.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday! If you can't get enough, and you want to listen in to the five episodes that formed our inaugural edition of Apocry-Fest in 2022, click here.
David Zvi Kalman, owner of the independent publishing house Print-O-Craft Press, is a scholar, writer, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, religion, and art. Kalman joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about the present and future relationships between Judaism and artificial intelligence (AI). This episode is the sixth in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
We are thrilled to be in the midst of our Judaism Refueled campaign! If Judaism Unbound's work has been meaningful for you, we are hoping that you'll help to refuel the Judaism Unbound lamp by seeding our financial aid fund to lower barriers for those interested in unbounded Jewish education. Gifts of all sizes make a difference and enter you to win various prizes! Click here to support our work.
In this 2nd of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Lex and Liana want you to know that the book of Esther isn’t (just) what you think it is. It’s even BIGGER! And it’s in GREEK, not just Hebrew. Lex and Liana dive into expansions of the book of Esther — expansions that came along long after the original book was written — and they explore what those editorial choices (and additions) have to teach us.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday! If you can't get enough, and you want to listen in to the five episodes that formed our inaugural edition of Apocry-Fest in 2022, click here.
In this 1st of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) open up the second annual edition of Apocry-Fest: the greatest Hanukkah initiative this side of the Mississippi. And Lex and Liana are located on different sides of the Mississippi River, so that actually encompasses everywhere! Dive into questions of canon which are ancient, modern, and future-facing.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday! If you can't get enough, and you want to listen in to the five episodes that formed our inaugural edition of Apocry-Fest in 2022, click here.
Brett Lockspeiser, product designer, mosaic artist, co-founder of Sefaria, and now the co-founder of Spiritual Hardware Labs, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the intersection between accessible technology and meaningful ritual. This episode is the fifth in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Miriam Anzovin is a visual artist, writer, content creator, and massive Jewish nerd, exploring the juxtaposition of pop culture, nerd culture, and Jewish culture. Through her #DafReactions, an ongoing video series where she shares her reactions to the daily Talmud page on TikTok, she has become one of the world's best-known commentators on the Talmud -- though despite that, she hesitates to call herself a "teacher" of Talmud. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about #DafReactions, its burgeoning community of followers worldwide, and what it all means for the future of Judaism. This episode is the fourth in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Olivia Devorah Tucker is a demonologist, Talmud educator, and artist teaching a course called Developing a Demon: Ashmodai Through the Ages in the UnYeshiva this fall. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the world of Jewish demons and its radical, imaginative potential. This episode is the third in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jonathan Branfman, the Eli Reinhard Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Stanford University, researches and teaches about Jewish identity in U.S. popular culture -- focusing on the way that Jewish stars perform race, gender, and sexuality. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about his upcoming mini-course in the UnYeshiva, Rude, Lewd, and Fabulous: 21st-Century Jewish Feminist Comedy, from Haddish to Glazer to Bloom. What is this course about, why is it just as important as classes about ancient Jewish texts, why is it being taught in an organization with "Yeshiva" in its title, and why you should register right now?? All of these questions are answered in this bonus episode.
To see our other courses in the UnYeshiva being offered right now, click here.
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Note: We, and I'm sure all of you listening, are holding feelings of anger, and frustration, and sadness, as we pray for peace in Israel and Gaza -- and for the healing of our world. We release this episode while holding pain in our hearts, and if now is not the time to listen to something that will feel separated from the tragedy of our moment right now -- just save this episode for a later date. You can come back to it. If now would be precisely the moment to take a second and consider the future of our Jewish community, in a conversation that does not tie directly to Israel-Palestine, we invite you to listen in.
Rena Singer and Samantha Frank are the masterminds behind the viral Jewish Instagram account, Modern Ritual. When they aren’t crafting innovative Jewish social media content, Singer serves as a rabbi at Temple Sholom of Chicago, and Frank works at Sanctuary, the 92nd Y, and is a Rabbinic Fellow and DC’s Temple Micah. In this episode, they join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Jewish engagement, accessibility, and fun in the digital age. This episode is the second in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism.
Registration for the UnYeshiva’s new winter mini-courses is now open! We’ve got witches, demons, angry mystical gods, magic, feminist comedy, and more. Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes for more information and to register!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Molly Tolsky is the founding editor of Hey Alma, and the editor of Kveller. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about digital Judaism, pop culture as Torah, and finding humor in dark spaces.
Learn more about Shawn Harris's upcoming (un)course, called Dungeons & Dragons & Dreidels, by clicking here! It starts in just a few days (November 5, 2023), as this episode is released! Learn more about other upcoming UnYeshiva mini-courses, beginning in late November, by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/classes.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jory Handelsman Mayschak is the founder and CEO of BaMidbar, the nation’s first Jewish wilderness therapy program. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about community-oriented approaches to youth mental health and wellness, all through a distinctly Jewish lens.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Expanding the Canon is an initiative from the Washington DC-based Theater J, which has commissioned seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish writers to create new full-length plays. These plays will thematically and visually center diverse Jewish narratives in order to correct and broaden the historically limited portrayals of Jewishness on stages in the United States and around the world. Hayley Finn, Theater J's artistic director, and Zachariah Ezer, one of the seven playwrights that collectively form the Expanding the Canon cohort, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about their project's work to expand (or maybe upend?) notions of Jewish canon.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Conversion to Judaism is a process dating back to roughly the 2nd century BCE, but even with this long history, mainstream Jewish institutions often fail to wholly welcome these individuals into their communities. In this conversation, Dan and Lex discuss attitudes towards conversion and explore the future of integrating the beauty and brilliance that people who convert bring to the Jewish community and beyond. This episode is the 10th and final episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism.
Learn more about Shawn Harris's upcoming (un)course, called Dungeons & Dragons & Dreidels, by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Tamar Kamionkowski serves as professor of Biblical Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the wide range of understandings of God in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history, and how those understandings open up new Jewish possibilities today. Kamionkowski is also teaching an UnYeshiva course this fall called God? Gods? Goddesses? Godexes?: Diverse Theologies in the Hebrew Bible – don’t miss it!
Tamar Kamionkowski is teaching a course in the UnYeshiva this Fall entitled God? Gods? Goddesses? Godexes? - Diverse Theologies in the Hebrew Bible. You can register for it (and explore our other Fall 2023 courses as well) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
What are the purposes of ritual in our lives? What are the ingredients that go into a successful ritual? Rachel Rose Reid, a ritualist and storyteller who was the first British person to be ordained by the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about crafting Jewish ritual.
Rachel Rose Reid is teaching a course in the UnYeshiva this Fall entitled Crafting Jewishly-Rooted Ritual. You can register for it (and explore our other Fall 2023 courses as well) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Yoshi Silverstein is the founder and executive director of Mitsui Collective, an organization that seeks to "buildresilient community, through embodied Jewish practice and somatic antiracism." Register for the course he is teaching in the UnYeshiva, beginning in early October, via this link!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Danya Ruttenberg, the Scholar-in-Residence for the National Council of Jewish Women -- and also (unofficially) the "Rabbi of Twitter" according to many -- joins Dan and Lex for a special Yom Kippur episode of Judaism Unbound! Together they explore her book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, considering what it has to teach us about the process of making amends, and asking how its lessons could help us create deeper and more meaningful forms of Yom Kippur experience.
Fall 2023 Courses in the UnYeshiva (Judaism Unbound's digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning) are open for registration! Learn more about this semester's courses -- taught by Yoshi Silverstein, Eliana Light, Tamar Kamionkowski, Caryn Aviv, and Rachel Rose Reid -- via www.judaismunbound.com/classes.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Some people become Jewish at some point in life after they are born. Typically, they're referred to as either "Jews-by-choice" (in contrast to "Jews-by-birth") or as "converts" to Judaism. Amelia Dornbush, who underwent a conversion to Judaism during college, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about why she would not describe herself as a "Jew-by-choice," and why that term may create more problems than it solves. This episode is the 9th in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism.
Fall 2023 Courses in the UnYeshiva (Judaism Unbound's digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning) are open for registration! Learn more about this semester's courses -- taught by Yoshi Silverstein, Eliana Light, Tamar Kamionkowski, Caryn Aviv, and Rachel Rose Reid -- via www.judaismunbound.com/classes.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this fourth and final bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore the topic of second chances, through ancient Jewish stories and contemporary life.
This Elul bonus episode is the fourth of four that has been released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul episodes overall). Check out Elul Unbound by visiting www.judaismunbound.com/elul.
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past five years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2023 by signing up at this link, and sign up for our final Elul Unbound Zoom gathering of 2023 (Thursday, September 14th), where we will be forging our kavanot (intentions) for the new year in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Benay Lappe, the founder of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva -- and, way back in Judaism Unbound's earliest days, the first guest on our podcast -- joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about conversion to Judaism in the Talmud. As it turns out, the process of becoming Jewish was a lot simpler for the early rabbis than it is today. But just how much simpler? To find out, listen in to this episode, the 8th in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And guess what?? Fall 2023 Courses in the UnYeshiva (Judaism Unbound's digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning) are open for registration! Learn more via www.judaismunbound.com/classes.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this third bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore ways in which spirals might connect to the month of Elul, and the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
This Elul bonus episode is the third of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul episodes overall). For a 3-session Elul mini-course, which helps you take your Elul observance to the next level, you can register for Elul: Your On-Ramp Into Rosh Hashanah -- which is being taught by Wendie Bernstein Lash, longtime facilitator of Elul Unbound!
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past five years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2023, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our third Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (Friday, September 8th), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Tivona Reith and Holly Smith are two of Judaism Unbound’s most dedicated and longstanding listeners. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about becoming Jewish as adults, and whether we might benefit from shifting our terminology from “conversion” to “integration.” This episode is the 7th in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And a reminder: Elul Unbound is back! Our annual exploration of the final month of the Jewish year, which serves as an on-ramp into Rosh Hashanah, is here. Register for Elul Unbound (almost all components of it are free!) via this link!
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this second bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore the power of the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet -- Bet!
This Elul bonus episode is the second of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul episodes overall). For a 3-session Elul mini-course, which will help you take your Elul observance to the next level, you can register for Elul: Your On-Ramp Into Rosh Hashanah -- which will be taught by Wendie Bernstein Lash, longtime facilitator of Elul Unbound!
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past five years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2023, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our second Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (Friday, September 1st), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Israel has played a central role in American-Jewish life for quite some time. Eric Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, co-directors of a new documentary film entitled Israelism, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about their film, which explores a movement of young American Jews fighting to redefine Judaism’s relationship to Israel-Palestine.
Learn more about Israelism by heading to IsraelismFilm.com. The film debuted at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, won Best Documentary at the Arizona International Film Festival, and garnered a Spirit Award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. It also won the Audience Award at the 2023 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world. To explore bringing a screening of Israelism to your community, email Contact@IsraelismFilm.com.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And a reminder: Elul Unbound is back! Our annual exploration of the final month of the Jewish year, which serves as an on-ramp into Rosh Hashanah, is here. Register for Elul Unbound (almost all components of it are free!) via this link!
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this first bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023, Lex Rofeberg, Wendie Bernstein Lash, and Micah Sandman launch their month-long exploration of the power of twos/seconds!
This Elul bonus episode is the first of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul episodes overall). For a 3-session Elul mini-course, which will help you take your Elul observance to the next level, you can register for Elul: Your On-Ramp Into Rosh Hashanah -- which will be taught by Wendie Bernstein Lash, longtime facilitator of Elul Unbound!
To check out our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past five years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2023, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (Friday, August 25th), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Lisa Rappaport is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel, in Chico, California, and in just a few months (January 2024) she will be ordained as a rabbi! She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 6th episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And a reminder: Elul Unbound is back! Our annual exploration of the final month of the Jewish year, which serves as an on-ramp into Rosh Hashanah, is here. Register for Elul Unbound (almost all components of it are free!) via this link!
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Chris Bartlett, the Executive Director at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, isn't Jewish. But...he's attended Queer Talmud camp, hosts Shabbat gatherings at his organization's building, attends many Jewish holiday gatherings, and has Jewish friends of all ages! He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about notions of "Jewish-adjacent" and "Ger Toshav" -- two terms in different languages that refer to folks who are not Jewish, but/and are absolutely part of the Jewish community. This episode is the fifth in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
There's a 3-week mini-course coming up from the UnYeshiva, beginning Wednesday, August 30th! Taught by Wendie Bernstein Lash, and entitled Elul: Your On-Ramp Into Rosh Hashanah, you can learn more about it (and register!) via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Marques Hollie (he/they) is a theatre artist, storyteller, classically trained musician, and ritualist. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how Madonna, along with the book Judaism for Dummies, combined forces to catalyze a journey from "regular at a Nebraskan Pentecostal church" to "studying to become a rabbi." This episode is the fourth in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about taking courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Laura Yares is the author of a brand-new book, entitled Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about her book -- in some ways about Sunday Schools, to be sure, but in other ways a chance to explore the broader question, "What even is religion?" , through the history of Sunday Schools in the 19th century. They also ask what the book can help us learn, today, about our 21st century Jewish landscape.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
If you say to David A.M. Wilensky that he "converted" to Judaism, he'll provide a gentle correction: "I underwent a conversion," he'll say. This may not seem like much of a distinction, but in this episode of Judaism Unbound, we explore a group of people who -- from some frames of reference -- converted to Judaism, but from other frames of reference, were Jewish from the second they were born. In short, Wilensky was born as a patrilineal Jew (his father was Jewish, and his mother at the time was not -- though she has since converted), and he made the choice in adulthood to undergo a "conversion," even though he had lived his whole life in Jewish community. This episode explores his story, and a wide variety of inter-related topics! This episode is the third in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about taking courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Juan Mejia, a conservative rabbi who serves as Jewish educator for Emanuel Synagogue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring how Judaism must -- in order to have its maximum positive impact on the world -- embrace converts as fully and authentically Jewish. This episode is the second in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about taking courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Katie Kaestner-Frenchmanis Judaism Unbound’s amazing Marketing, Communications, and Creative Maven! They join their colleagues Dan and Lex for the first conversation in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series, exploring conversion to Judaism. What superpowers do converts often bring to Jewish life? What barriers do they continue to face in Jewish spaces? What on *earth* do we do with the fact that everyone on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was so unbelievably mean to Astrid — the one character on the show who is a Jew-by-Choice? All these questions and more come up in this episode!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about taking courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
David Raphael and Ilene Vogelstein are leaders of the Jewish Grandparents Network, a national organization that educates, connects, and supports grandparents as essential partners in enriching Jewish life. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how, perhaps counter-intuitively, the voices of many Jewish grandparents have been sidelined in Jewish institutional life -- along with sharing some ideas about how to shift that reality moving forward.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Melissa Klapper, author of Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860-1920, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation serving as a "prequel" of sorts to our recent unit on the past, present, and future of Bat Mitzvah (and B Mitzvah in general). But it's also...kind-of a sequel? Klapper talks through the ways in which Jewish girls marked their entry into adulthood -- both within Jewish life and in secular contexts -- in the era directly preceding the emergence of Bat Mitzvah as a life-cycle ritual (hence "prequel!"). The sense in which this conversation is also a sequel is that it is focused on adolescents, largely between the ages of 13 and 20, which is the stage of life directly after many B Mitzvahs occur, at 12-13 years of age!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Sandra Fox, the Goldstein-Goren visiting assistant professor of American Jewish History at New York University, is the author of The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the history of Jewish summer camp, the ways in which it has influenced American Jewish life, and what it can teach us about amplifying the voices of young people as we study history.
Purchase The Jews of Summer via this link! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
B Mitzvah (a gender-neutral term for Jewish coming-of-age rituals, often but not exclusively associated with the age of 12-to-13) is an incredibly popular Jewish observance. Even in a landscape where many Jews do not spend much time in Jewish institutional contexts, they often carve out space for their family members to experience B Mitzvah. In this conversation, Dan and Lex explore what they believe B Mitzvah could be in the future, and how it could work in tandem with an expanded notion of Jewish rites of passage, across a wider variety of life-stages. This episode is the 7th in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Amichai Lau-Lavie is the co-founder and spiritual leader of Lab/Shul: an "artist-driven, everybody-friendly, god-optional, pop up, experimental community for sacred Jewish gatherings." He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about B Mitzvah as a rite of passage -- not only for 12/13-year-olds, but for all ages!
This episode is the 6th in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum).
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
What if B Mitzvahs weren't so thoroughly associated with synagogues, but were understood to take place in a rich diversity of other spaces in the world?
Camp Tawonga, a summer camp located just outside of Yosemite National Park and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, offers a two-year B Mitzvah program that brings the magic of camp to the Bay Area (during the rest of the year), and gives students a unique way to approach this milestone moment through community, nature, and experiential learning. Meg Adler, Camp Tawonga's Associate Director of Bay Area Programs and facilitator of this B Mitzvah program, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to explore what their program looks like, and what it might be able to teach other communities.
This episode is the 5th in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum). Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for ShavuotLIVE: a 24-Hour Extravaganza of Jewish Learning (Friday May 26-Saturday May 27), by heading to bit.ly/shavuot23!
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. We are proud to feature their third season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
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In this fourth of our five-episode series in partnership with the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, we explore The Book of Tahkemoni, a collection of tales written in Hebrew in the early 13th century. Authored by Yehuda Alharizi who was born in Toledo, Spain in the middle of the 12th century, the book uses the structure of the Arabic literary form known as maqama.
Dr. Jonathan Decter, the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Sephardic Studies, discusses the history of Jews in the region of The Book's creation and shares about the cultural influences and experiences present in Alharizi’s work.
This episode is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Read the transcription for "The Book of Tahkemoni."
Open Tent Be Mitzvah is a two-year experience, offered by the organization Judaism Your Way, that is focused on a student’s coming-of-age journey within a Jewish context. It culminates in a distinctive, meaningful "Be Mitzvah" ceremony that helps a student find their unique Jewish leadership voice. Amy Atkins and Amanda Schwartz, two of Open Tent Be Mitzvah's lead educators, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation. They explore together what it looks like when B Mitzvah (or, in their nomenclature, "Be Mitzvah!") is a process that is customized to align with each student's interests and passions -- empowering them to shape Judaism for themselves in the process.
This episode is the 4th in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum). Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for ShavuotLIVE: a 24-Hour Extravaganza of Jewish Learning (Friday May 26-Saturday May 27), by heading to bit.ly/shavuot23!
The Bagel Report:The Bagel Report is a pop-culture entertainment podcast featuring award-winning culture and entertainment writers Esther D. Kustanowitz and Erin Ben-Moche. Each episode, these entertainment junkies discuss all things Jewish in the arts & entertainment world while exploring how Jewish identity is portrayed on the big and small screen. Follow them on social @estherk and @ebenmoche, and on Twitter and Facebook @TheBagelReport.
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Episode Notes:
Esther D. Kustanowitz and Erin Ben-Moche finally dive into The Mandalorian's Jewish themes with the help of two guests who love Jewish identity, Star Wars and popular culture: J. Editor David A.M. Wilensky and Rabbi Howard Tilman.
What is a Mandalorian and does it matter? Why is this show resonating with Jewish viewers? And is a homeland a place or state of mind? Even if you're like Erin, who is new to the fandom, there is something for everyone in this episode, like MCU Easter Eggs, Fiddler on the Roof nods and Harry Potter pivots.
Connect with us on socials!
Twitter: @estherk, @ebenmoche and @TheBagelReport
Instagram: @estherkustanowitz, @ebenmoche and @tbrthepod
Email us at: thebagelreport@gmail.com
LINKS:
The story about Rabbi Akiva and the foxes overrunning a destroyed Jerusalem
Her name is Zipporah Chava McConnell, but everyone calls her Zippy. See, the thing is...that she's a witch — and this year she's having her Bat Mitzvah!
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This is the premise of The Witch of Woodland, the latest novel from Laurel Snyder. Snyder is a Sidney Taylor Award-winning author who has written over a dozen works of fiction. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about The Witch of Woodland, her ongoing effort to overcome "Jewish Imposter-Syndrome," and the ways in which works of fiction can shape our Jewish world. This episode is the 3rd in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum).
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
ShavuotLIVE, the biggest and best(est) event on the Judaism Unbound calendar, is approaching in just a few weeks (May 26th/27th)! It's a 24-hours-straight festival of digital Jewish learning, and it's entering its fourth year. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg check in about what Shavuot is (and could be) in 2023, and they also explore what ShavuotLIVE helps to show about the state of digital Judaism today. Register for ShavuotLIVE 2023 via this link!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes! The next block of mini-courses begins in just a few days (the second week of May).
Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, rabbi at SAJ: Judaism that Stands for All -- the synagogue where the first-ever Bat Mitzvah took place in 1922 -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about re-visioning B Mitzvah for the next 100 years. This episode is the 2nd in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum).
Looking to immerse in ongoing course offerings at the UnYeshiva? Apply for our certificate program in Unbound Judaism by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/certificate (the application deadline for our inaugural cohort is approaching: April 30th, 2023)! To register for upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva, head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
In March of 1922, the Bat Mitzvah -- now a widely-recognized ritual across Jewish denominations -- made its first appearance on American soil! Judith Kaplan, at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York City, was the pioneer, and in the coming decades, many women would follow suit. Carole Balin and Judith Rosenbaum, who each played a key role in the Jewish Women's Archive's Bat Mitzvah at 100 initiative, join Dan and Lex to talk through the history of Bat Mitzvah, its contemporary iterations, and some of its possible futures.
This episode is the 1st in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum).
Looking to immerse in ongoing course offerings at the UnYeshiva? Apply for our certificate program in Unbound Judaism by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/certificate (the application deadline for our inaugural cohort is approaching: April 30th, 2023)! To register for upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva, head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Dan Libenson, one of Judaism Unbound's two co-hosts, and Miriam Terlinchamp, spiritual leader of Temple Sholom in Cincinnati, are co-teaching a course called Judaism In-Bound: An Introduction to Judaism for Everyone in the UnYeshiva. With an initial three classes on consecutive weeks, followed by once-per-month class-meetings for the following 9 months, this course is designed to help people learn about Judaism -- through our unbound Jewish lens. Terlinchamp joins Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about this course. It has been designed especially for folks in the midst of their conversion process -- along with any Jews-by-birth, or non-Jews, who are just interested in an introductory pathway into Jewish learning!
Register for Judaism In-Bound by heading to JudaismuUnbound.com/inbound, and check out our other Judaism Unbound course offerings at JudaismUnbound.com/classes. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Looking to immerse in ongoing course offerings at the UnYeshiva? Apply for our certificate program in Unbound Judaism by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/certificate.
Passover is here! The traditional seder night(s) passed by (or over?), but there are still a whole bunch of days left in the holiday as this episode is released. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg explore how we might think a bit more creatively about our seders in future years, along with how the "non-seder days" could be activated towards more meaning-making. They also explore the UnYeshiva's new certificate program in Unbound Judaism -- learn how to apply by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/certificate!
Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes! The next block of mini-courses begins in mid-April.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Elijah the Prophet is a popular guy! To our knowledge, he is the only person invited to every Passover Seder in the world -- and even encouraged to drink wine at each one of those Seders (drink responsibly, Elijah). But uhhh....who exactly is he? If you've opened the door for this fella every year, but never known exactly what his story is, this is the conversation for you! Daniel Matt, scholar of Jewish mysticism and author of the book Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to dive into the nearly-3000-year (and still-evolving!) biography of Elijah the Prophet.
Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes! The next block of mini-courses begins in mid-April.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Catherine Horowitz, the 2022-23 New Voices Magazine/Judaism Unbound fellow, joins Lex Rofeberg for a conversation on how TV, and the way we watch it, creates ritual. They also discuss how we can use TV to further shape our religious practices and communities. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes! The next block of mini-courses begins in mid-April.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. We are proud to feature their third season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
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In this second of The Dybbukast's five-episode series with the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University (NEJS), they explore "The Imagined Childhood,” a short story originally published in Hebrew in 1979. Written by the prolific 20th-century Iraqi-born Israeli author Shimon Ballas, the story served as an epilogue to a collection of short stories whose narratives intersect with the author's early life in Baghdad.
Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies, takes us through the author's immigrant history and his multilingual engagement in Arabic, Hebrew, and French throughout his body of work.
Read the transcription for "The Imagined Childhood"
THE TEAM
Hosted by Aaron Henne
Scholarship provided by Yuval Evri, PhD
Edited by Mark McClain Wilson
Story editing by Julie A. Lockhart with Aaron Henne
Featuring the voice of Jonathan C.K. Williams
Theme music composed by Michael Skloff and produced by Sam K.S.
Transcription by Dylan Southard
The Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) is a Gen Z-led movement dedicated to combating climate change and environmental injustice from a Jewish lens. Two of its activists, Isaac Ostrow and Sophie Raskin, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about JYCM's recent trip to COP-27 (the United Nations' Climate Change Conference).
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes! The next block of mini-courses begins in mid-April.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg offer their perspectives on spirituality, in the final episode of a 12-episode mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality, featuring a wide variety of thinkers, practitioners, writers, performers, and more. They also announce some exciting news, for Judaism Unbound and for the Jewish collective as a whole!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time, or monthly, tax-deductible donation -- via JudaismUnbound.com/donate.
Ariel Mayse serves as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, and is the co-author of the two-volume A New Hasidism: Roots and A New Hasidism: Branches, with Arthur Green. Mayse joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring the history of Jewish mysticism, from the Hebrew Bible through today. This episode is the 11th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Gashmius is an online magazine dedicated to Jewish mystical thought, practice, and culture, founded on the core belief that "progressive Neo-Hasidism has the potential to uplift and heal the Jewish community and the world." Its two co-founders, Jonah Gelfand and Daniel Kraft, join Judaism Unbound for the 10th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/unyeshiva. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Let My People Sing is a cultural project expanding the ancient and transformative practice of Jewish communal singing. Let My People Sing gathers in multi-racial, multicultural and genderful Jewish community, uplifting songs and leaders historically and ongoingly pushed to the margins. Three of its team-members -- Batya Levine, Anthony Russell, and Margot Seigle -- join Dan and Lex for the 9th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality.
Let My People Sing's 2023 summer retreat will be taking place August 24th-27th. Registration is not yet open, as this episode is released, but it will be opening on March 9th at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT! For more information, head to LetMyPeopleSing.org/summer-retreat-2023!
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
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Michael Strassfeld was one of the co-authors of The Jewish Catalog, a book released in 1973 (happy 50th anniversary!) that served as a kind of "Jewish do-it-yourself kit" -- and became one of the bestselling Jewish books of all time. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to speak about a new book of his being released in 2023, entitled Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Alec Gewirtz is a community-builder and writer who co-founded The Nearness -- a community platform to nurture people in their spiritual lives. The Nearness offers 6-week journeys (the next journey begins in April 2023), where participants gather digitally, in regular small-group conversations. These conversations are built on structured conversation prompts, shared practices, and support among the participants, and are supplemented by additional workshops, offered by poets, activists, wisdom teachers, and more. Gewirtz joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 8th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Tzitzit Project is an invitation for everyone, and every body, to engage with the mitzvah of wearing the four-cornered ritual garment, with fringes, called a tallit katan(also referred to as tzitzit). Its co-founders, Julie Weitz and Jill Spector, launched Tzitzit Project to open up this practice, historically held by cisgender men, to women, trans, and non-binary Jews. They join Dan and Lex for the 7th episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality.
Access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Register for our upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva (beginning the second week of February), taught by Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, Sara Eifler, Shefa Gold, via JudaismUnbound.com/classes! For direct links to each of their courses, click the corresponding link below:
Dan and Lex, in the 6th episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality, want to soak in some of the lessons they've taken from their previous conversations in this unit. They explore how spirituality ties to questions of self, of community, and of society, and whether a central component of spirituality might boil down to dissolving one's sense of self.
They also announce some exciting news: the launch of the UnYeshiva's brand-new certificate-program in Unbound Judaism! Learn more via www.judaismunbound.com/certificate , where you can take your first steps in our application process.
Register for our upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva (beginning in early February), via JudaismUnbound.com/classes, and access full shownotes for this episode via this link.
Shefa Gold is an educator, composer, and spiritual leader whose music, teachings, and spiritual methodologies have influenced clergy, lay-leaders, and seekers around the world. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 5th episode in an ongoing series on Jewish spirituality, and together they explore the transformative potential of the Song of Songs (a biblical book whose central theme is love). They also immerse in forms of Jewish sacred-chant -- Gold brings some of those chants to our podcast in real time, and she also outlines why chant plays a key role in her methodology of transmitting Jewish wisdom.
Register for Shefa Gold's course in the UnYeshiva, entitled The Call of Love: Reimagining Religion with Love at the Center, by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/love!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. Also at that link, you can register for an info session (Wednesday, January 25th at 2:30 pm ET/11:30 am PT or Thursday, January 26th at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT) to learn more about our spring courses in the UnYeshiva.
Ariana Katz, the founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl ("Shtiebl" refers to an intimate, cozy space where prayer and study meet), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 4th episode in an ongoing series on Jewish spirituality. Together they explore what it means to build an intentional, spiritual, community, and also consider the importance of holding a mindset of spiritual abundance.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
New UnYeshiva courses kick off in just a few weeks (February 2022!). Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Yoshi Silverstein is the founder and executive director of Mitsui Collective, an organization that seeks to "buildresilient community, through embodied Jewish practice and somatic antiracism." Silverstein joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 3rd episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality, and in their conversation they explore ways in spirituality connects not only to our souls -- but also to our physical bodies.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com. And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Wendie Bernstein Lash, a longtime friend and collaborator of Judaism Unbound who co-facilitates our Elul Unbound initiative every year -- as an on-ramp to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in the 2nd episode of an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality. Bernstein Lash, a spiritual director (and teacher of other spiritual directors) for decades, outlines what spiritual direction is -- along why it may be worth emphasizing it more in contemporary Jewish life.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
In this 5th and final episode in a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman conclude the first-ever edition of Apocry-Fest by synthesizing some of the conclusions they've reached as a result of this mini-series. In doing so, they consider a variety of strategies to supplement, up-end, and/or re-shape our Jewish canon.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
In this 4th of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman celebrate the book of Judith. One of the better-known books of the apocrypha, there’s actually a great deal of historical precedent for tying the story of Judith to the celebration of Hanukkah. The three co-hosts ask why that is, along with talking through some of the nuts and bolts of what this fascinating story (with a fascinating heroine) is all about.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday!
Josh Feigelson, the president and CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality -- and also the author of a new book entitled Eternal Questions: Reflections, Conversations, and Jewish Mindfulness Practices for the Weekly Torah Portion -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 1st episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring contemporary Jewish spirituality.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
In this 3rd of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman dive into an apocryphal book called Jubilees. While not traditionally tied to the festival of Hanukkah, the three hosts argue that it could be part of a broader effort to consciously integrate, into our contemporary Jewish practice, books that never made it into the bible -- but which have been held as sacred by groups of Jews in a variety of historical contexts.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday!
In this 2nd of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman dive into a little-known book called Megillat Antiochus -- the scroll of Antiochus. They compare and contrast its Hanukkah narrative with some better-known versions, and ask what it would look like if we incorporated this book into our experiences of Hanukkah today.
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday!
In this 1st of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized, Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman introduce why Hanukkah is a perfect time to engage with books of the Apocrypha (a category of ancient works of literature that were never officially canonized as part of the Bible)!
You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading towww.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday!
David Kasher, associate rabbi at IKAR and author of a new book entitled ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to provide some commentary (get it??) on how we read the Torah. In their conversation, they explore some of the incredible opportunities, and potential drawbacks, that arise when reading Torah through traditional and less-traditional lenses.
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This Hanukkah, Judaism Unbound is partnering with The Torah Studio on an initiative called Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized! Learn all about it (and register for it!) by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/apocrypha.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
We are thrilled to feature an episode of a new podcast in the Jewish pod-o-sphere, as a bonus episode on our podcast feed! This episode is the third in a new series called Breaking the Glass: Reflections on Interfaith Relationships. Breaking the Glass is a podcast series from Jewish Rhody Media reflecting on the experiences of multifaith couples and families in Jewish communities and beyond. A series that asks its listeners to reimagine traditional ideas of community, family, and partnership, Breaking the Glass is a candid acknowledgement of how our experiences shape each of us, in ways both beautiful and difficult.
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What happens when force of habit becomes, well, forced? Breaking the Glass's third episode, entitled "Breaking the News, Pt. 2," surveys the institutional responses to multifaith marriage that have cast it into the corners of communal life for far too long. Faith leaders, multifaith marriage advocates and couples break down the role – and toll – of emotions in communal decisions, helping us to break the news to ourselves: multifaith couples are looking for a place in religious communities, and it’s high time they are fully welcome.
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Links and References for the episode:
Read Rabbi Handlarski’s book: The A—Z of Intermarriage
Learn more about her virtual synagogue space: http://secularsynagogue.org/
Read Ed Case’s book: Radical Inclusion: Engaging Interfaith Families for a Thriving Jewish Future
Learn more about the Center for Radically Inclusive Judaism
Where to find more Breaking the Glass episodes: https://podpage.com/breaking-the-glass
Happy Hanukkah! Or as we like to spell it, (c)(h)(x)(j)an(n)(i)(u)k(k)a(h)! We're about 1 week early, but in this episode, Dan and Lex explore Hanukkah in depth, asking how we might deepen our relationship to it if we connected it to frameworks from our recent conversation with Emily Tamkin, about her book Bad Jews. Also, they tie the holiday of Hanukkah to....Jewish weddings? It sounds incoherent, I know, but if you listen, we promise it will all make sense!
This Hanukkah, Judaism Unbound is partnering with The Torah Studio on an initiative called Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized! Learn all about it (and register for it!) by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/apocrypha.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
Ayin Press is an artist-run publishing platform, production studio, and research collective -- rooted in Jewish culture and emanating outward. They recently launched, and there's much to be excited about! High on the list is the adjective "artist-run" that begins their self-identification -- a great hyphenated adjective that we hope more Jewish organizations will come to embody!
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are joined by Tom Haviv, Eden Pearlstein, and Penina Eilberg-Schwartz -- three people who play a central role in the work of Ayin Press, as publishers and editors. Together, they consider the power of having organizations (and publications/presses) that are consciously artist-led, the importance of publications that dance between both sides of the digital/print divide, and the meaning of their name, "Ayin."
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
Jen Gubitz is the founder and executive director of Modern JewISH Couples -- an organization that supports committed couples on the pathway to partnership, marriage, and beyond. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Jewish weddings that asks a number of questions. What typically happens, and what should happen, before the wedding day? Why is it not only okay, but wonderful, when non-clergy officiate Jewish weddings? What transformation does the ritual of a wedding ceremony effect, in 2022, when many traditional understandings of what a wedding “does” no longer resonate?
Inspired by what you hear in this podcast episode? You can sign up for a 3-week mini-course in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva (a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning), taught by Adina Allen and revolving around the Torah of Creativity. Register for a 3-week mini-course in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva, taught by Jen Gubitz and Dan Libenson, entitled "How to Perform a Jew-Ish Wedding," by clicking here.
Adina Allen, co-founder and creative director of The Jewish Studio Project, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to explore what Torah is, what creativity is, and what her framework -- a Torah of Creativity -- has to teach the world.
Inspired by what you hear in this podcast episode? You can sign up for a 3-week mini-course in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva (a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning), taught by Adina Allen and revolving around the Torah of Creativity. Register for Adina Allen's 3-week course in the UnYeshiva by clicking here, and check out the UnYeshiva's other upcoming "mini-courses" via this link.
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature their third season's first episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
In this episode, presented in collaboration with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, we investigate the life and work of the poet Chaya Rochel Andres, who emigrated as a young woman from Poland to Dallas, Texas, where she spent most of her adult life.
Her story serves as an entry point for us to explore some of the social, political, and cultural dynamics of Jewish life in the South. Throughout the episode, a variety of poems from Chaya Rochel's body of work are intercut with information about the circumstances of her life, the time in which she lived, and the organization with which she was involved, the Arbeter Ring, which many people now know as the Workers Circle.
Scholarship from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life includes expertise from Dr. Josh Parshall, Director of History, who discusses Chaya Rochel's work and its connections to the Yiddish speaking world, as well as Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the South, and Nora Katz, Director of Heritage and Interpretation, who speaks about how Chaya Rochel's story intersects with the Jewish history of migration to and within the Southern United States. Also featured in the episode is an interview with Chaya Rochel from 1981, courtesy of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society, in which she shared about her writing and her personal history.
Emily Tamkin is the senior editor, US at The New Statesman and author of a new book entitled Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to explore how the phrase "Bad Jew" has been mobilized throughout American history, how it's used today, and why it might be time to discard it.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
Michael Lerner -- a theologian, activist, rabbi, and psychotherapist -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking back at over 50 years of justice work, drawing on Jewish wisdom and in partnership with progressives from other spiritual traditions.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to www.unyeshiva.com.
Liana Finck, a cartoonist and author whose most recent book is entitled Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about this work -- a graphic novel that reimagines the story of Genesis, with God as a woman.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, in two recent conversations with Ron Wolfson and Rachel Gildiner, explored what it meant for Judaism to be "relational." In this follow-up episode, they map that question, of what it means for Judaism to be relational, onto digital Jewish experiences in particular. They reflect on recent Judaism Unbound developments, including Yom Kippur and Hakhel, in considering what it would like for digital gatherings to center relationships -- and not just programming.
Register now to take one of our amazing Fall courses in the UnYeshiva -- the deadline is just a few days away! Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our different options -- financial aid is available to anyone who needs it.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Rachel Gildiner, the CEO of Gather, Inc. -- a nonprofit that is committed to reorienting how Jewish professionals and organizations define success -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about what it means to prioritize people, over programs, in Jewish life.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Ron Wolfson, author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community (and many other awesome books -- that's just the one most central to this conversation!), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the ways in which Judaism might be more powerful, if Jewish communities prioritized relationships over programs. He also offers some strategies for how we might take positive steps in that direction.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Daniel H. Pink, a New York Times-bestselling author who recently wrote The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the positive sides of regret -- and how an exploration of regret could help us reimagine the holiday of Yom Kippur.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Ketzirah Lesser is an ordained kohenet (Jewish priestess) who creates "magickal judaica, art, and ceremonies inspired by Jewish history and traditions." Her creations range from amulets and shrines, to Haggadot (guidebooks to the Passover seder), to AI art based on Yiddish folklore. If you're reading all this and thinking..."Wait, I thought amulets and shrines were considered idolatrous" or "I'm confused, why is 'magickal' spelled with a 'k'," then this episode is for you! Lesser joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about why Judaism should absolutely be full of magic(k)al experiences -- and how one can most effectively facilitate sacred Jewish witchcraft.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are here to say that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are solid -- as warm-up holidays. In this episode they look ahead to the festival of Sukkot, which comes after the two observances we call "The High Holidays," but historically may have been the biggest festival of them all! They ask why Sukkot, despite its initial glory, became a second-tier holiday over time -- and they consider whether, in our own time, there may be good reason to re-elevate it.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg continue their conversation about Elul, the final month of the Jewish year -- which serves as an "on-ramp" into the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. They explore what the sports terminology of "home field advantage" has to do with Judaism, extend previous conversations about space and time, and consider the impact of blasting a Shofar in public.
This “mini-episode” is the third and final episode, of three, that are being released as part of Elul Unbound 2022 (our 15th-17th Elul episodes overall). To listen to all of our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past four years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2022, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (September 2nd), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Alicia Jo Rabins -- a writer, composer, performer, and Torah teacher -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to talk about her new book, entitled Even God Had Bad Parenting Days.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jennie Rosenn, the founder and CEO of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the urgency of our collective work -- across boundaries of religious difference, and across generational divides -- to combat climate change. They explore particular roles that Jewish individuals, communities, and institutions can play in this effort, along with the imperative that they (we!) be in coalition with other communities, as we all seek to give humanity a fighting chance in the face of existential crisis.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Register for one or more of our 3-week mini-courses, in the UnYeshiva, by clicking here! If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg think that Elul -- the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar-year -- should be a time to think about Jews in space! No, this bonus episode is not about that clip at the end of Mel Brooks's History of the World Part I, entitled Jews in Space. It's not about outer space at all! Instead, it's about inner space, along with the physical spaces/locations that we inhabit, and how we might make them sacred.
This “mini-episode” is the second of three that are being released as part of Elul Unbound 2022 (our 15th-17th Elul episodes overall). To listen to all of our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past four years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2022, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (September 2nd), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
One year ago, right before the once-every-7-year observance of Shmita began (Shmita is a year-long Jewish observance where land is given a chance to rest and debts are remitted), we spoke with Nigel Savage in a bonus episode. Savage, the founder of Hazon: The Jewish Lab for Sustainability, returns to Judaism Unbound to speak with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg about what it might look like to transition out of one 7-year Shmita cycle, and into the next.
Register for one or more of our 3-week mini-courses, in the UnYeshiva, by clicking here! To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg think that Elul -- the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar-year -- should be spicy! They argue that this spiciness should apply every year, but it should be especially in play in a year like this one -- where Elul is serving as a bridge between Shmita (a year-long, once-every-7-year observance of release, renewal, and recalibration) and the six "normal" years that will follow.
This “mini-episode” is the first of three that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2022 (our 15th-17th Elul episodes overall). To listen to all of our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbounds of the past four years, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2022, by signing up at this link, and sign up for our first Elul Unbound Shabbat gathering (September 2nd), where we will be exploring Elul in real time with friends, by clicking here.
Jay Michaelson, a political columnist, author, and teacher in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva (!), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to discuss his most recent book, The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth. In their conversation, Michaelson dives into the wild world that was Jacob Frank's life, connects Frank's 18th century ideas to the present-day, and professes his love for Netflix's The Sandman. Register for Michaelson's 3-week mini-course in the UnYeshiva, entitled "UnTeshuva: The Heresy of Jacob Frank," by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Diane Tickton Schuster, the editor of a new book entitled Portraits of Adult Jewish Learning: Making Meaning at Many Tables, joins Dan and Lex to ask what "Jewish education" means, and why it doesn't serve us when think of it only (or primarily), as something that children experience. Also, Banksy makes an appearance (he says cryptically...)!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. To sign up for one of our 3-week UnYeshiva mini-courses, beginning in September, click here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Shawn Harris, author of The Red Door: A Dark Fairy Tale Told In Poems, thinks that Jews would benefit from having a little less reverence for Judaism -- and a lot more chutzpah. Harris, who is also the creative mind behind Project Tzimtzum: Play, Learn, Make, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the Jewish present and future. They hop from, and to, a wide variety of topics, including literature, fandom, Dungeons & Dragons, and darkness.
Pre-order The Red Door by clicking here! To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Janet Krasner Aronson, the Associate Director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University, is one of the leading sociologists of American Judaism. She directs local Jewish-population studies in cities all around the country, and most recently led a study that looked at greater Los Angeles (to take a look at the findings of this study, head to StudyOfJewishLA.org). Krasner Aronson joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about her most recent study, what makes it different from many other studies, and why any of these studies matter in the first place!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan and Lex have some questions: What counts as a "Jewish space?" What should be counted as a "Jewish space?" What would be different about Judaism if we sought to build more creative forms of Jewish space? What about "Jewifying" spaces that are not specifically-Jewish? What's different about Jewish spaces that are indoors versus those that are outside?
In this conversation, they explore all these questions and more, as they reflect on the 3-episode mini-series -- recorded on-location at Leichtag Commons -- that concluded last week.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Kesha Dorsey Spoor, Adam McCurdy, and Sharone Oren are three members of the team at Coastal Roots Farm — a nonprofit community-farm in Encinitas, California, anchored in Jewish traditions. They join Dan and Lex for a conversation about how Judaism and farming are rooted (get it??) in shared values. This is the 3rd episode in a three-part mini-series, recorded on location at Leichtag Commons -- a Jewish community farm, education center, co-working space, and more, located in Encinitas, California and operated by the Leichtag Foundation.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Jim Farley and Charlene Seidle are the CEO and Executive Vice-President, respectively, of the Leichtag Foundation. In this 2nd episode in a three-part mini-series, Dan and Lex speak with Farley and Seidle, on location at Leichtag Commons -- a Jewish community farm, education center, co-working space, and more, located in Encinitas, California and operated by the Leichtag Foundation. The conversation hones in on the principles that drive the Leichtag Foundation -- in both its grantmaking and in its broader work, philanthropically and programmatically.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Jenny Camhi and Jessica Kort are the Chief Talent Officer and Director of Communications and Strategy, respectively, of The Leichtag Foundation. In this 1st episode in a three-part mini-series, Dan and Lex speak with Camhi and Kort, on location at Leichtag Commons -- a Jewish community farm, education center, co-working space, and more, located in Encinitas, California and operated by the Leichtag Foundation. The two guests provide a window into the programming that takes place at Leichtag Commons, along with an exploration of "The Hive," a collaborative co-working space that fosters a space of creativity, collaboration, and connection, for employees of Jewish and secular non-profits.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan and Lex have been thinking a lot about art lately. In this conversation, they reflect on recent podcast episodes exploring Jewish art from a variety of angles, revisit their notion Judaism itself might be best understood as a medium of art, and play around with what the words "mosaic" and "Mosaic" might mean for the future of Judaism (yes, you did not misread, it's the same spelling for both!).
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
New Voices Magazine, a Jewish and justice-focused magazine by and for Jews ages 18-24, recently published an investigation -- written by Julia Hegele -- entitled "How Jewish Summer Camps Are Damaging LGBTQ+ Youth."
The investigation, which you can read here, shines a light on the experiences of LGBTQ+ campers -- now LGBTQ+ camp alumni -- who have for decades faced exclusion, emotional conflict, pressure, and trauma at their Jewish summer camps. It includes voices from a wide range of Jewish camps -- different geographic regions, Jewish denominations, and affiliations -- and also offers up potential strategies for reparative work moving forward.
In this episode of Judaism Unbound, Hegele -- along with New Voices' editor-in-chief, Rena Yehuda Newman -- join Dan and Lex to discuss this investigation.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature their second season's eighth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
The Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian is the earliest documented Jewish play, thought to have been written in Alexandria, Egypt in the second century BCE. From the fragments that remain, we know that it tells the biblical Exodus narrative in the style of a Greek tragedy. In 2016, theatre dybbuk combined the extant 269 lines with modern-day stories of refugees, immigrants, and other voices from the American experience to form a new adaptation, titled exagoge, that relates the ancient story to contemporary issues.
This episode, presented in collaboration with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, features performances from exagoge intercut with a conversation recorded at the annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in March 2022 between theatre dybbuk's artistic director, Aaron Henne, and Dr. Miriam Heller Stern. Dr. Stern, the Vice Provost for Educational Strategy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and founder of Beit HaYozter/the Creativity Braintrust, studied theatre dybbuk’s process alongside Dr. Tobin Belzer during the creation of the adaptation.
Allison Silverman is an Executive Producer for the Netflix series Russian Doll. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that covers a ton of ground: the many and intersecting Jewish layers of the show, a behind-the-scenes look at how a series like this is created, and even whether TV shows like Russian Doll could be a potential source for new Jewish rituals and practices.
If you're a Netflix subscriber, you can view Russian Doll for yourself by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Kendell Pinkney is a theatre-artist, creative producer, and rabbi. He serves as the Artistic Director of The Workshop, a newly launched arts and culture fellowship for professional JOCISM (Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi, and Mizrahi) artists. Pinkney joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring big-picture questions of Jewish art, along with specific questions about The Workshop in particular.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Liora Ostroff and Naomi Rose Weintraub are the curator-in-residence and artist-in-residence, respectively, for The Jewish Museum of Maryland (JMM). They explore, in conversation with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, a recent exhibition that they helped to install at JMM, entitled A Fence Around the Torah: Safety and Unsafety in Jewish Life.
We encourage to explore the exhibition yourself, before you listen to this episode, or as you listen to it, via AFenceAroundTheTorah.com.
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here. These include visuals of the exhibition, which will greatly enhance your experience of this podcast.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Andrew Tobolowsky, author of a new book entitled The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, joins Dan and Lex to talk about what the Twelve Tribes of Israel myth is, and why it matters. They explore the ways in which groups have mobilized it -- all around the world -- for a few thousand years, and how that conversation across the millennia can help us better understand how people (and communities) continually construct and reinvent their identities.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here. ALSO, if you'd like to purchase The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, be sure to head to the Cambridge University Press website and enter the promo code TMTTI2022 at checkout, for a 20% discount!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Marques Hollie is a Philadelphia-based theatre artist, ritual leader, operatically-trained vocalist, and -- most importantly for this episode -- an ordained Maggid! What's a Maggid, you ask? That's a great question. It's so great that we devoted much of this episode to exploring it! Listen in to learn what a Maggid has been in the past, what it is today, and what it could become in the future.
Marques Hollie is one of our teachers in The UnYeshiva, Judaism Unbound's digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. You can sign up for his course, Whose Canon is it Anyway? (just like this episode!), by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/whosecanon.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Stephen Daniel Arnoff, author of a new book entitled About Man & God & Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan (and host of a similarly-titled podcast), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that's a little bit about Bob Dylan -- but largely about his influence on others, including American Jews.
Between Passover and Shavuot, Judaism Unbound is offering several different 3-week "mini-courses" that you can take through the UnYeshiva -- our digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. Learn more about these UnYeshiva mini-courses, and/or register for them, by clicking here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
In recent days, it has become clear that the future of reproductive justice in the United States is at risk. With the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, many organizations are speaking out publicly, to ensure continued access to safe abortions around the country. Among Jewish organizations, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has been a leader in this regard.
Two years ago, two of NCJW's leaders -- Sheila Katz and Danya Ruttenberg -- joined Dan and Lex in a conversation that explored the history of their organization, but also shone a light specifically on questions of abortion access through Jewish lenses. We are re-releasing this episode, because we believe it is as relevant as ever.
Learn more about NCJW, and participate in its work, by heading to www.NCJW.org/act.
Deborah Newbrun, co-founder of SVARA's Queer Talmud Camp, and the beloved former-director of Camp Tawonga, is launching a new initiative, entitled Divorce and Discovery: A Jewish Healing Retreat. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to discuss her vision for the first-ever Jewish retreat that will be crafted, specifically, to provide participants the chance to heal from divorce. The inaugural Divorce and Discovery retreat will take place October 27-30, 2022, and you can learn more about it here.
Between Passover and Shavuot, Judaism Unbound is offering several different 3-week "mini-courses" that you can take through the UnYeshiva -- our digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. Learn more about these UnYeshiva mini-courses, and/or register for them, by clicking here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan Libenson talks to Gil Kidron, of A Podcast of Biblical Proportions, about the podcast’s first season. They explore Gil’s ideas of who might have been responsible for writing some of Genesis's, most prominent stories -- and for putting the final edit together. In doing so, they ask what political and spiritual interests the book of Genesis might have served, before it was combined with the rest of the books into what we now know as the Torah.
The second season of A Podcast of Biblical Proportions begins next week, examining The Book of Exodus.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Natan Margalitis the founder and president of an organization called Organic Torah. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about his new book, entitled The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom, Ecological Thinking, and Healing in a Fragmented World.
This conversation is the latest in a recurring Judaism Unbound series, where once a month we have been exploring Shmita (the year of release) with a wide variety of different thinkers, activists, and artists. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Between Passover and Shavuot, we are offering several different 3-week "mini-courses" that you can take through the UnYeshiva -- our digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. Learn more about these UnYeshiva mini-courses, and/or register for them, by clicking here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan and Lex have a PSA: Passover, in the bible, is two holidays! Not one. You've been conned! Or...ya know...Jewish history is interesting and one of the holidays in a sense "swallowed" the other over time. But also, maybe you've been CONNED. (See this article, by Michael Satlow, for a more in-depth explanation). In any event, Dan and Lex are curious what we might create, if we conceived of the holiday(s) of Passover and Chag HaMatzot ("Matzah Festival") as potentially two different things (as they initially were in the Bible). How might this help us find meaning in the latter days of the holiday(s), which do not contain a seder or organized ritual?
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Between Passover and Shavuot, we are offering several different 3-week "mini-courses" that you can take through the UnYeshiva -- our digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. Learn more about these mini-courses, and/or register for them, by clicking here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg schmooze in the 6th episode in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides. In this conversation, they hone in specifically on what the distinctions are between "Jewish Eating" and "Kosher Eating," and why those distinctions are important to consider.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Arthur Waskow, a visionary Jewish activist and teacher, joins Judaism Unbound for a special mid-week bonus episode. In it, Waskow reflects on two key pieces of his life's work: the creation of The Freedom Seder, over 50 years ago, and his founding of The Exodus Alliance this year.
The Exodus Alliance is a multifaith campaign to heal earth & humankind from carbon pharaohs and their climate plagues, and you can learn more about it at www.exodusalliance.org. For another Judaism Unbound episode featuring some of the other organizers of the Exodus Alliance, see Episode 320: Seders in the Streets - Madeline Canfield, Nate DeGroot.
The Exodus Alliance is a group of multifaith organizations, faith leaders, and everyday people taking action for climate justice. On Passover, they plan to organize Passover street seders in front of Chase banks all across the country -- the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels -- to challenge the financial underpinnings of this "Carbon Pharaoh."
Nate DeGroot, national organizer for The Shalom Center, and Madeline Canfield, organizing coordinator for the Jewish Youth Climate Movement, represent two of the projects that are collaborating on the Exodus Alliance, along with Dayenu. They join Dan and Lex for a conversation about "carbon pharaohs," non-violent direct action, and activism across generations.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, professor of religion at Wheaton College Massachusetts, is the author of Gastronomic Judaism as Culinary Midrash. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about what that book's title argues. In other words, how is Jewish food, and how are Jewish eating practices, "midrash" -- forms of interpretation that play with, and expand, the bounds of Jewish tradition?
This episode is the 5th in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Rob Nipe and Nora Rubel, the team behind Grass Fed -- Rochester, New York's vegan and kosher butcher shop -- join Dan and Lex for a conversation about what makes something count as "really" meat, and how that relates to Jewish eating.
This episode is the 4th in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Sara Eifler, Program Director for Jewish Veg, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the spiritual practice that is....eating! Together they look at some ancient Jewish texts, some contemporary Jewish rituals, and play around with some puns.
Jewish Veg is an organization that inspires and assists Jews to embrace plant-based diets, as an expression of Jewish values. This episode is the 3rd in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! So much more!) by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/store.
Nir Levy, Atlanta Field Manager for OneTable (an organization that empowers folks to find, share, and enjoy Shabbat dinners), and Annie Prusky, OneTable's Manager of Development and Research, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about one of the most beloved Jewish rituals: Shabbat dinner. You can learn more about OneTable, and sign up to either host or attend a Shabbat dinner near you, at OneTable.org.
This episode is the 2nd in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
Elaine Goodfriend, a lecturer at California State University, Northridge, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about one of her specialties -- food in the Hebrew Bible. This episode is the 1st in an ongoing mini-series, exploring what Jewish food has been in the past, what Jewish food is today, what it could be in the future, and who decides.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
Harry Freedman, author of Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius, The Murderous History of Bible Translations, and a variety of other books with equally-sensational titles, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that explores Leonard Cohen's contributions to Judaism -- and potentially to Judaisms of the future. They also connect Cohen's musical creations to other Jewish figures, including Louis Jacobs and Miriam Anzovin (if you're thinking "is she the one from Tiktok" -- yes!).
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
The UnYeshiva -- Judaism Unbound's digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- is launching its spring 2022 semester! In this episode, you get to sit in on the very first "Faculty Meeting" (we promise, it's not as boring as most meetings), and hear about the four courses that will be offered this semester. You can also hear about the grander vision of the UnYeshiva, from all four of its current teachers -- Dan and Lex (co-hosts of this podcast), along with Tova Birnbaum and Keshira haLev Fife!
Learn more about the UnYeshiva by heading to www.unyeshiva.com, and register for our spring 2022 "UnYeshiva Sneak Preview" (live in Zoom, featuring all four teachers) by clicking here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature their second season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
In this episode, presented in collaboration with The Mervis Chair, Borns Jewish Studies Program, Indiana University Bloomington, the Dybbukast explores a series of letters which document a moment in the late 1860s when opposing viewpoints caused a split in the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas.
Dr. Laura Leibman, Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College shares about the history of Jews in the Caribbean, and Dr. Judah Cohen, the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor in the Study of Jewish Culture and Professor of Musicology and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, discusses Jewish life on St. Thomas, the circumstances surrounding the split, and the ways in which this story relates to the complexities of communal identity.
Lisa Grafstein, creator of the Shmita Debt Release Campaign -- through the organization RIP Medical Debt -- joins Dan and Lex to talk about debt relief, its centrality to the Biblical Shmita year (year of release), disability justice, and how all of those topics tie to her campaign for public office in North Carolina.
The Shmita Debt Release Campaign has already raised over 5,300 dollars this year, which will help to forgive 530,000 dollars (!!!!!!) of medical debt. Contribute toward this campaign reaching its goal of 10,000 dollars (and 1 MILLION dollars of medical debt forgiven) here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Asher Edes and Alexander Grace Vickery, co-founders of Shmita Hives, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about their initiative to bring groups of people (hives) together, to build their collective relationship to Shmita -- the year of release. Shmita is a year-long observance, marked every seven years and initially derived from the Torah, during which land is given the chance to rest, and debts are remitted.
If you are interested in starting up your own Shmita Hive, it's not too late! Just fill out this form, or email Asher and Alexander at ShmitaHives@gmail.com.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Dan and Lex have spoken lately, on Judaism Unbound, with the hosts of a bunch of other podcasts -- podcasts that are not Judaism Unbound. They've asked about the structure of those podcasts, the vision behind them, and the goals they seek to achieve. But what haven't they done? Actually said how they, themselves, would answer those questions for Judaism Unbound. Today, they do just that, and offer a look behind the proverbial curtain of Judaism Unbound.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Leon Wiener Dow is the host of Pod Drash, a Jewish podcast that talks about podcasts. In this episode of Judaism Unbound, he, Dan, and Lex, talk about Pod Drash. Ergo, this is a podcast talking about a podcast that talks about podcasts. If you like podcasts, therefore, you will like this episode -- three times over!
Learn more about Pod Drash by heading to PodDrash.org, and subscribe to PodDrash in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your podcasts.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Joshua Malina (yes, THAT Joshua Malina) and Shira Stutman (yes, THAT Shira Stutman) join Dan and Lex for a conversation about their (Joshua and Shira's) entry into the Jewish podcast ecosystem, through their brand new podcast, called Chutzpod!
Learn more about Chutzpod! by heading to Chutzpod.com, and subscribe to Chutzpod in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast & Radio Addict, or wherever else you find your podcasts.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
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Shani Mink and SJ Seldin are the co-founders of Jewish Farmer Network -- a grassroots organization of over 2000 farmers, which mobilizes Jewish agricultural wisdom to build a more just and regenerative food system for all. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the Shmita year (year of release), and about how Jews today can combat the pervasive, incorrect idea of "Isn't Jewish farmer an oxymoron?"
Jewish Farmer Network's 2022 conference, entitled "Cultivating Culture: A Virtual Gathering of Jewish Famers," will be taking place via Zoom on two consecutive Sundays -- January 30th and February 6th (spaced out in order to reduce Zoom fatigue). Register for the Jewish Farmer Network's conference by clicking here!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can also buy Judaism Unbound merch (hoodies! stickers! mugs! so much more!) by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/store.
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Dan and Lex close out Judaism Unbound's 4-episode mini-series on Jewish circumcision. They explore, in particular, the treatment by Jewish institutions of families, who have opted not to circumcise their children, and of those children themselves.
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Shaye Cohen, the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, joins Dan and Lex for the 3rd conversation in a unit of episodes exploring Jewish circumcision. This discussion, on the history of Jewish circumcision, from the Hebrew Bible till today, builds on "A Canonical History of Jewish Circumcision," a chapter in Cohen's 2005 book Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised: Gender and Covenant in Judaism.
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Max Buckler, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Bruchim, and Charlene Thrope, a member of its extended team, join Dan and Lex for a conversation that explores alternatives to circumcision as the primary way to welcome amab (assigned-male-at-birth) babies into the Jewish community. This episode is the second of two episodes featuring guests from Bruchim, a recently-launched organization that seeks to foster welcoming spaces for Jewish families who have opted out of the ritual of circumcision.
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Lisa Braver Moss, Rebecca Wald, and Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon are the founding members of B'ruchim's executive board. So what's B'ruchim? It's a recently-launched organization that seeks to foster welcoming spaces for Jewish families who have opted out of the ritual of circumcision.
In this episode, the three co-founders join Dan and Lex for a conversation about why their organization exists, how opposition to circumcision can come from a deeply Jewish place, and what it might look like for Jewish communities to explicitly welcome people into their communities independent of their circumcision status. You can learn more about B'ruchim's work via Bruchim.online.
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Zack Bodner, CEO of The Oshman Family JCC and author of Why Do Jewish? A Manifesto for 21st Century Jewish Peoplehood, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about his book. They also explore together what makes West-Coast Judaism distinctive, along with whether the digital world is itself a new kind of geographic "coast."
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Jeremy Dauber, the author of American Comics: A History and Jewish Comedy: A Serious History, who serves as the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture at Columbia University, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about these two books.
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This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature their second season's first episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
The second season of The Dybbukast begins with an episode about the life and music of Samy Elmaghribi, presented in collaboration with the Museum of Jewish Montreal. Born Salomon Amzallag to a Jewish family in Morocco in 1922, Samy became a major star in his home country and throughout North Africa performing, composing, and recording both traditional and popular music, and later became a cantor and community leader in Montreal. His life’s journey moves through a broad spectrum of time and space, giving us glimpses into moments in history that shaped generations.
Yolande Amzallag, a professional translator and the founding president of the Samy Elmaghribi Foundation, shares about her father's life and legacy as Dr. Christopher Silver, the Segal Family Assistant Professor in Jewish History and Culture at McGill University and curator at Gharamophone.com, offers insights into Samy's musical history and Dr. Aomar Boum, Professor and Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA, discusses the political and cultural experiences that intersected with Samy’s life.
Dan and Lex celebrate the 3-century mark of podcast episodes. They consider the drastic growth of Jewish creativity and experimentation, all around the country and in the digital world, over the 6 years that Judaism Unbound has existed, and they ask what a recent New York Times magazine article can help us understand about the idea of "Jewish leadership." There are also, as a fun treat, some outdated references to the 2006 film "300!"
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Julie Weitz, a performance artist whose work "uses humor and ritual to propose ethically-grounded and intersectional reconsiderations of pressing contemporary issues," joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring the legend of the Golem -- and how it might be relevant to our observance of the Sh'mitah year (the once-every-7-year sabbatical year, marked via a recalibration of humans' relationship to the earth, and the remission of debts).
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Musician and songwriter Ezra Furman, whose albums include Twelve Nudes (2019) and Transangelic Exodus (2018), and whose work serves as the soundtrack to the Netflix series Sex Education, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about her spiritual journey, weaving the ancient with the new, breaking Judaism out of its "glass box," and more. Throughout, Furman speaks to the importance of creating a world in which every person is "inconveniently themselves," and Judaism, in parallel fashion, is "inconveniently itself."
Furman is the co-host of another podcast in the growing Jewish-podcasting ecosystem. Check out Two Queers, Four Questions here!
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Ginna Green and Lynn Harris, co-hosts of A Bintel Brief -- another podcast in the ever-growing Jewish pod-o-sphere -- join Dan and Lex for a conversation about A Bintel Brief. In their discussion, they explore the evolution of A Bintel Brief from (over 100 years ago) a written advice column in Yiddish to an oral podcast, released via the internet. They also consider the value of one of the scariest words, in Jewish communities and in our broader society -- "should."
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Shaul Magid, the Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and author of Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring this new book, which opens up discussions around some of the most important Jewish issues of our time — pride (“identity”), survival (“continuity”), unity (disunity), power, and more.
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Omri Harel and Gil Kidron, co-hosts of A Podcast of Biblical Proportions, join Dan and Lex for a conversation looking at the Bible as a literary text. They explore how its writing can provide hints about its authors -- and the time periods that they inhabited -- and they ask whether we might read the Bible differently from how it was taught to us when we were children.
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LUNAR: The Jewish Asian Film Project, cultivates connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews through authentic multimedia storytelling and intersectional community programming. Jenni Rudolph, LUNAR's Executive Creative Director, and Gen Xia Ye Slosberg, LUNAR's Executive Producer, join Dan and Lex to explore the origin and first season of LUNAR. They also offer a sneak preview of season 2, to be released on October 6th, 2021 (just a few days after this podcast episode's release!). Watch all released episodes of LUNAR via this link!
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Ilana Kaufman is the Executive Director of the Jews Of Color Initiative, which recently commissioned a study entitled Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color. Ari Y. Kelman was a member of the research team that conducted the study. The two of them join Dan and Lex for a conversation about this new study, and how we might apply its findings to American-Jewish life, now and in the future.
Certain parts of this episode reference particular parts of the study, and it may be helpful to have the study open on your computer as you listen. You can access the full study by clicking here.
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Dan and Lex dive into a brand new Judaism Unbound initiative called The UnYeshiva. The UnYeshiva is a brand-new, digital-first, center for Jewish learning (and unlearning, hence the name UnYeshiva!), offering a mixture of synchronous (in-real-time) and asynchronous (at your own pace) courses. Learn more at www.unyeshiva.com!
Learn more about Dan's first course, Leadership in a Time of Wandering, by clicking here. Learn more about Lex's course, called Jewish Discontinuity, by clicking here. Dive into our at-your-own-pace courses, curated by Katie Kaestner-Frenchman, here!
Register to attend one of two "Grand Tours" of the UnYeshiva, via these links: September 20th Grand Tour, September 21st Grand Tour.
Aimee Lucido, author of the brand-new book Recipe for Disaster, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the book's themes of being "Jewish enough" -- even and especially when others suggest that you're not! They also touch on other topics featured in the book, including Jewish food, the Shmita year, and more.
You can purchase Recipe for Disaster via this link! Also, Judaism Unbound will be holding a digital gathering to discuss the book, for those who read it. Sign up to discuss the book, at a digital gathering we will be hosting, here.
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Nigel Savage, the founder and former CEO of Hazon: the Jewish Lab for Sustainability, joins Judaism Unbound on the eve of Rosh Hashanah (and the Shmita year that Rosh Hashanah commences), for an inside look at Shmita in the 21st century. They explore how the recent wave of Shmita observances (beginning in 2000 and partially spearheaded by Hazon) began, and how Shmita has evolved and grown over the past few decades. They also look forward to where Shmita could still go, now and in the future.
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David Seidenberg, author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about why Shmita is the central commandment of the entire Torah.
This episode is the fourth in a series of episodes about the Shmita year. The Shmita year is a once-every-seven-years occasion, first described in the Bible, and its next occurrence begins on Rosh Hashanah 2021 (September 6th, 2021). It calls for a radical recalibration of our society’s relationship to land, food, debt, work, equality, and time – all of which resonate with crises we face today. Learn more at Shmitaproject.org.
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Wendie and Lex are back for a special bonus episode, to think together about the holi-month of Elul, and the upcoming holi-year of Shmita (sabbatical year). In this conversation, they connect Shmita to the practice of land acknowledgement.
This “mini-episode” is the second of two that have been released as part of Elul Unbound 2021 (our 13th and 14 Elul episodes overall). To listen to all of our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbound 2018, 2019, and 2020, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2021, our month-long preparation for Shmitah, by signing up at this link. Sign up for our September 3rd Shabbat gathering, where we will be exploring Elul and Sh'mitah in real time, with friends, by clicking here.
Cindy Milstein, editor of There is Nothing so Whole as a Broken Heart: Mending the World as Jewish Anarchists, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about what anarchism is, and why "Jewish Anarchism" isn't at all a contradiction.
This episode is the third in a series of episodes about the Shmita year. The Shmita year is a once-every-seven-years occasion, first described in the Bible, and its next occurrence begins on Rosh Hashanah 2021 (September 6th, 2021). It calls for a radical recalibration of our society’s relationship to land, food, debt, work, equality, and time – all of which resonate with crises we face today. Learn more at Shmitaproject.org.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Eli Kaplan-Wildmann, a designer and artistic director who has worked extensively on designing spaces for television and theater, along with designing Jewish ritual objects, joins Dan and Lex on this episode of Judaism Unbound. Their conversation begins with an exploration of Kaplan-Wildmann’s new project (Shmita Steps), which is simultaneously a “cooperative strategy game about redistribution of wealth” and a ritual object meant to combine elements of the Passover Seder with the Biblical idea of Shmita.
This episode is the second in a series of episodes about the Shmita year. The Shmita year is a once-every-seven-years occasion, first described in the Bible, and its next occurrence begins on Rosh Hashanah 2021 (September 6th, 2021). It calls for a radical recalibration of our society’s relationship to land, food, debt, work, equality, and time – all of which resonate with crises we face today. Learn more at Shmitaproject.org.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
The Shmita year is a once-every-seven-years occasion. For an entire year, the land is given its own Shabbat -- a chance to rest. And it's not only humans' relationship to land that gets "reset." It is also a Biblical commandment for debts between human beings to be forgiven when the Shmita year rolls around.
In this first episode devoted to the topic of Shmita (the next Shmita year begins on Rosh Hashanah, in less than a month!), Hannah Knibb Henza and Sarah Zell Young, from The Shmita Project, join Dan and Lex to consider what Shmita has been in the past and what Shmita could be moving forward. In doing so, they name the centrality of art, and creativity, as we re-invigorate this ancient practice. They also undrescore the opportunity we have, as Jews and human beings, to align Shmita with a variety of contemporary fights for social and climate justice.
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One year ago, Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg released a bonus episode of this podcast entitled "Prepping for the Holi-Year." At that point, Sh'mitah, a once-every-seven-years opportunity to radically recalibrate our relationship to the planet, and to our society, was a year away.
But now...it ain't a year away anymore! It's one month away. So it's time to really, truly gear up for this holi-year. Wendie and Lex are back, to game-plan together for what this year might mean -- on an individual level and a collective level.
This “mini-episode” is the first of two that are being released as part of Elul Unbound 2021 (our 13th and 14 Elul episodes overall). To listen to all of our previous Elul bonus episodes, released through Elul Unbound 2018, 2019, and 2020, click here. Join our bi-weekly journey through Elul Unbound 2021, our month-long preparation for the "holi-year" that is Shmitah (the holi-year), by signing up at this link. Sign up for our first weekly Zoom gathering, where we will be exploring Elul and Sh'mitah in real time, with friends, by clicking here.
Dan and Lex like books! Very much! So much that...they want to consider what American Judaism would look like, if contemporary Jews centered reading Jewish fiction to the same extent that we center other elements of Jewish experience, like synagogue attendance. They also explore what might be different, if we understood that the seemingly mundane Jewish literature of one era is, potentially, the Jewish sacred text (Torah) of the next.
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Dan and Lex continue their deep-dive into the Pew Research Center's recently-released study on Jewish Americans. They also bring in another study of American Jews -- the Jewish Electorate Institute's National Survey of Jewish Voters -- which garnered a number of headlines due to its findings around shifting approaches of American Jews to Israel-Palestine.
There are a lot of numbers/percentages from studies thrown around in this episode! So that you’re able to soak them in most effectively, it may be worth having the studies themselves visible to you as you listen. You can access the Pew 2020 study of Jewish Americans here, and the JEI’s National Survey of Jewish Voters here.
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Tema Smith, Director of Professional Development for 18 Doors, joins Dan and Lex to discuss -- and re-frame -- the Pew Research Center's 2020 study of Jewish Americans.
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Philip Graubart, author of Planet of the Jews and Women and God (and many other books), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about those two books. Each of them, in different ways, provides commentary on what it is to be an American Jew, and what Judaism could look like in various alternate universes.
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Rachel Sharona Lewis, author of The Rabbi Who Prayed With Fire: a Rabbi Vivian Mystery, joins Dan and Lex to talk about her book, a mystery novel that doubles as a deep-dive into Jewish communal institutions, racial justice, queer representation, and more!
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Dan and Lex reflect on recent conversations (7 of them!) that have intertwined explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience. They consider the myriad ways in which trans Jews are (and will continue to be!) on the front lines of efforts to pioneer sacred forms of Judaism for our time and the future, and they ask what those folks have to teach us about upending binaries more generally.
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Binya Kóatz, a "queer&trans/diasporic/arab-jewish/ashkenazi/god-loving/musical/femme/multilingual/ancestral-dreaming soul making joy and art and radical community," joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about transness, diaspora, Talmud, theology, and more, along how all of those topics flow into one another.
This episode is the seventh episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
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Ari Lev Fornari serves as senior rabbi at Kol Tzedek, a reconstructionist congregation in West Philadelphia whose name means "a voice for justice." He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that weaves together his story of becoming a rabbi (and becoming a congregational rabbi in particular), political issues like prison abolition and white flight, and the upcoming sabbatical year ("Sh'mitah" in Hebrew).
This episode is the sixth episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature episode eight of their podcast as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
Written in Italy in the 16th century by Jewish dramatist Leone De' Sommi Portaleone, who also wrote what is considered to be the oldest extant Hebrew-language play, the poem "In Defense of Women" touches on the role of women in drama and reveals a great deal about the cultural considerations and power dynamics of this time when women were coming to the fore on the theatrical stages of Northern Italy, Rome, and Venice in the professional world of the commedia dell’arte.
Intercut with selections from the poem and other works of the era performed by theatre dybbuk actors, scholar Erith Jaffe-Berg, PhD unpacks the text's meaning and its relevance to both historical and contemporary issues of equity and belonging. "In Defense of Women" was originally presented as a hybrid of theatre and live podcast at San Diego Repertory's JFEST and premiered at the festival as a YouTube event on May 20, 2021. The audio from that presentation has been adapted for distribution on The Dybbukast in this episode.
Rachel Gross, the John & Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University and author of Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about delis, museums, children's literature, and other religious spaces that you didn't know were religious!
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Leiah Moser, author of Magical Princess Harriet and rabbi at Reconstructionist Beth Israel in New Jersey, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that weaves together threads around transgender identity, fantasy fiction, conversion to Judaism, and more.
This episode is the fifth episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Mike Moskowitz is the scholar-in-residence for Trans and Queer Jewish Studies at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about allyship, by cisgender Jews, toward transgender Jews.
This episode is the fourth episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Koach Baruch Frazier -- a musician, activist, audiologist, and rabbinical student -- joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that upends the dichotomy of prayer, on the one hand, and action, on the other. Frazier looks back at their own journey toward the rabbinate, and in doing so considers what drumbeats, the inner ear, and silence have to teach us. As it turns out, listening to what these vessels of sound have to say can help unlock many important concepts in contemporary Judaism, and in contemporary strivings for justice.
This episode is the third episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
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Dan and Lex were thrilled to transform from hosts into guests, in an episode of Contact Chai, "a podcast from Mishkan Chicago exploring down-to-earth Judaism in conversation," hosted by Lizzie Heydemann.
Heydemann is herself a past guest on Judaism Unbound, and you can listen to her appearance on Judaism Unbound here. We encourage you to subscribe to Contact Chai on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts!
Mishkan Chicago is a spiritual community in Chicago reclaiming Judaism’s inspiration and transformative essence. Not bound by a particular location, we create radically inclusive spaces for Jewish spiritual practice and community, engaging, educating, and empowering people across the spectrum of identity, background, age, and belief.
Jericho Vincent, a genderqueer and post-ultra-Orthodox writer and lecturer, is the author of the memoir Cut Me Loose and co-author of Legends of the Talmud. They join Dan and Lex for a conversation about being genderqueer, leaving ultra-orthodoxy, connecting to other religious traditions, and entering rabbinical school.
This episode is the second episode in a series that intertwines explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and explorations of gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Becky Silverstein and Laynie Soloman, co-founders of the Trans Halakha Project, join Dan and Lex to kick off a series of conversations that will intertwine explorations of Judaism, through lenses of transgender experience, and gender, through lenses of Jewish experience.
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
The Trans Halakha Project, housed at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, aims to curate existing resources that have been developed for trans Jews and by trans Jews, identify new areas of halakha that have yet to be developed, and finally to create opportunities for developing new halakhic literature and practice guides that speak directly to these areas of need. Learn more at Svara.org/Trans-Halakha-Project.
David Hirshberg, author of My Mother's Son, Jacobo's Rainbow, and A Bronx Cheer (Upcoming), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the role of Jewish fiction in the Jewish present and future.
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Natalie Ginsberg and Madison Margolin, two co-founders of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit, join Dan and Lex to discuss their upcoming event, taking place on May 2nd-3rd. Register for the Jewish Psychedelic Summit here!
The third co-founder of the summit, Zac Kamenetz, is himself a past guest on Judaism Unbound (listen to his episode here). Learn more about the Jewish Psychedelic Summit by heading to www.JewishPsychedelicSummit.org.
For full shownotes on this bonus episode, click here.
Aimee Lucido and Sofiya Pasternack, award-winning authors of novels geared toward students in middle grades, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish fiction. They explore some of the gaps in the ecosystem of Jewish literature and envision what it would look like to fill some of those gaps -- through their own work, but also through work done by other authors.
Aimee Lucido is the author of Emmy In the Key of Code, a semifinalist for the UK's Carnegie Medal (comparable to the American Newberry Award), and of Recipe for Disaster, an upcoming (Fall 2021) book centering a 12-year-old girl who isn't sure if she's "Jewish enough."
Sofiya Pasternack is the author of Anya and the Dragon and Anya and the Nightingale -- the latter a Finalist in 2020 for the National Jewish Book Award. These novels blend elements of Jewish tradition and history with the genre of fantasy, helping readers imagine when those two theoretically-separate realms collide.
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Dan and Lex close out a mini-series of conversations about Torah (and the Bible more generally) by claiming that Torah isn't just those books from a few thousand years ago. It's not even just those books, plus the oral conversations written down centuries later. We -- our experiences and our intuitions -- are also part of the term "Torah."
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Xava De Cordova and Michael Sokolovsky, co-hosts of Xai, How Are You? (a fellow podcast in the Jewish pod-o-sphere), join Dan and Lex for a crossover episode, airing simultaneously as an episode of Judaism Unbound and an episode of Xai, How are You! The four of them talk about what the Talmud is, who Shabbetai Zevi is, what Xai How are You is, and -- for the first time in Judaism Unbound's history -- how Dan and Lex are doing. Perhaps most importantly, they dwell on the figure of Shabbetai Zevi, and what his life may have to teach us as we build Judaisms for the future.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can support Xai, How are You by becoming a patron of theirs on Patreon. You can do so at this link!
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Tzemah Yoreh, author of Why Abraham Murdered Isaac: The First Stories of the Bible Revealed and leader of The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, joins Dan and Lex to talk about what Yoreh terms "the original bible." Find out how some of the stories, like the binding of Isaac, may not have always looked the way they do today, and why that matters for those who are interested in the stories of the Bible!
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Liana Wertman joins Dan and Lex to discuss her work as the founder of The Torah Studio, a new (and fully-digital) center for Torah study that encourages people to take ownership of traditional Jewish texts.
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Baruch Halpern, the Covenant Foundation Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Biblical history and Biblical archaeology. They explore how those two realms relate to one another (get it? "DIGGING" up Biblical History!), along with what these ancient texts and discoveries have to do with us today.
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Dan and Lex, in celebrating 5 years since Judaism Unbound launched its podcast, reflect on some of the core ideas they've explored in that time -- and they add on some new thoughts, drawing on a framework of "low-voltage" and "high-voltage" forms of Jewish experience.
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Shawn Lichaa is a Karaite. "What's that," you ask? Very valid question! Karaites are a group of Jews whose traditions, and interpretations, are built around the Bible alone -- not the Talmud or any other piece of what Rabbanites (rabbinic Jews) call "the oral Torah."
Lichaa, founder of The Karaite Press and A Blue Thread: A Jewish Blog with a Thread of Karaite Throughout, joins Dan and Lex to explore Karaite Jews' relationship to the Bible, and ways in which their approaches differ from rabbinic Jews'. In their conversation, they also ask what light Karaites can shine on broader issues affecting many other groups of marginalized Jews as well.
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Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V -- a contemporary novel that is crafted in relationship to the Biblical book of Esther -- joins Dan and Lex to discuss her work, along with and ways in which her contemporary novel could influence readers' experience of the holiday of Purim.
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Abraham Riesman, author of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, joins Dan and Lex to explore two meanings of the phrase "Marvel's Torah" (this episode's title).
First, "the Torah of Marvel" -- what can be learned from the Marvel comics universe when approached through a Jewish lens? And second, "Marvel is Torah" -- the idea that the structure of Marvel's universe, in and of itself, represents a kind of modern-day Bible.
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This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature episode four of their podcast as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
Episode four, presented in collaboration with The Contemporary Jewish Museum, explores two murder pamphlets, "The Murdered Jewess Sara Alexander: Life, Trial and Conviction of Rubenstein the Polish Jew" and "Rubenstein, or The Murdered Jewess: Being a Full and Reliable History of This Terrible Mystery of Blood.” Published in 1876, both pamphlets tell the tale of Pesach Rubenstein, a Jewish immigrant who was convicted of killing his cousin Sara Alexander and disposing of her body in a cornfield. The case was a sensation in the press and took hold of the popular imagination.
Dr. Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press (Stanford University Press 2017), discusses the story behind the pamphlets as the first significant intersection of Jews, the local and national press, and the American judicial system.
So there's the Torah. 5 books of Moses. But what happens right afterward? Rachel Havrelock, Associate Professor of English and Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, joins Dan and Lex to talk about the book that comes right after the Torah -- Joshua. Full of violent conquest, it's not a book that's easy for contemporary readers. But what can we learn when we look at it closely?
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Ron Hendel, the Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, joins Dan and Lex to open up a mini-series of conversations (to be released in the coming weeks) on the Hebrew Bible.
How old is the Bible? What "genre(s)" is it? Is it best understood as one big book or a bunch of smaller books? Why does any of this matter? These are questions asked and explored (but not necessarily answered!) in this podcast.
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The mittens. The vibe. You saw it, we saw it, everybody saw it -- everywhere, Bernie memes. Dan and Lex weave together a conversation about those memes, Jewish philanthropy, Jewish identity, and Torah (which is, as our title suggests, the genre within which "Bernie memes" is properly classified).
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Dan and Lex round out their mini-series of episodes on Jewish philanthropy. They ask questions about the possibility of new communal structures of philanthropic giving, explore monthly-gifts as a form of Jewish practice, and argue against the idea that Jews should allocate the majority of their giving to Jewish-specific organizations.
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Joanna Wareand Nadav David, Director and Steering Committee member, respectively, of Jewish Liberation Fund(JLF), join Dan and Lex for a conversation about organizing money on the Jewish left. They ask identify gaps in our Jewish philanthropic systems (especially around Jews of Color and Israel-Palestine), and they advocate for shifts to some conventional philanthropic practices that could yield a brighter, more liberated future.
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Amy Schilit Benarroch, co-founder of Righteous Crowd, a micro-giving platform that engages the Jewish community in support of small non-profit organizations, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how financial giving can be a collective process, along with how it can be a weekly (not just yearly!) spiritual practice.
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Liz Fisher is the CEO of Amplifier, an organization devoted to "igniting, strengthening, and informing giving to transform and grow philanthropy." She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about giving circles, and in particular what potential they have to contribute (pun intended!) to important shifts in Jewish philanthropy.
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Danielle Durchslag is an artist and filmmaker whose work frequently looks at questions of Jewish identity and wealth. A great-granddaughter of Nathan Cummings (founder of the Nathan Cummings Foundation), she joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about "the Jewish 1%" -- but also about what they together come to term "the Jewish 25%."
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Jay Ruderman and Shira Ruderman, the president and executive director, respectively, of the Ruderman Family Foundation, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish philanthropy, inclusion of people with disabilities, and the work they've done combining the two.
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Aaron Dorfman, President of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring what Jewish philanthropy has been, is, and could be.
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Mara Benjamin, Chair of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about her book The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought. They look through a Jewish lens at questions of obligation, choice, and (wait for it...) BOUNDedness -- along with how those questions intersect with the topic of motherhood.
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Jake Marmer is the author of a new poetry collection, entitled Cosmic Diaspora, and its corresponding album, entitled "Purple Tentacles of Thought and Desire." He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring the intersection of art and Judaism (the conversation also includes excerpts of Marmer's poems and music!).
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Rachel Mikva, the Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman Chair of Jewish Studies, and Senior Faculty Fellow of the InterReligious Institute, at Chicago Theological Seminary, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that dives into her book Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, recently published byBeacon Press.
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This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature this first episode of their podcast as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring novels, mythological narratives, poems, plays, and lyrics from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.
This first episode, presented in collaboration with Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), features selections from a children's play found in I-Tell-You, a 1926 religious school journal from Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia. The episode also includes essays from the publication written by both students and clergy.
Scholar Miriam Heller Stern, PhD, National Director, School of Education and Associate Professor of HUC-JIR, helps us unpack the journal’s meaning and what it has to say about education, assimilation, cultural expression of identity, and the complications of community.
There was a pretty big election recently! Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg ask what this presidential election can help to illuminate about Judaism, America, and how today's American Jews might relate to the two.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg open up what might be a strange question -- but we promise it's an interesting one! What happens if we understand Judaism as a medium of art, like paint, such that it can be deployed (painted with) in all sorts of creative ways? How would this differ from an image of Judaism (get it??) where we conceive of it as an already-completed painting, which we wouldn't be able to change, now that it's completed?
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Keshira HaLev Fife, the Oreget Kehillah (Weaver of Community/Executive Director) for Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation reflecting on the word "priestess" as both a noun and as a verb. They ask who priestesses are, what priestessing is, and why even priestesses themselves benefit from being priestessed. With respect to all of these questions, they explore how they tie to the Jewish past, present, and future.
This episode is the seventh in a series of episodes exploring the history and contemporary leadership of America's Jewish women.
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Yael Kanarek, an Israeli-American artist, has spent the past few years rewriting the entire Torah -- in Hebrew and English -- by changing the genders of all characters (and animals, and more). In this episode she speaks with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg about her project, called Toratah (Her Torah), and what it might mean for the future of Jewish text and Jewish practice. This episode is the sixth in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.
You can learn more about Kanarek's Regendered Bible at BeitToratah.org.
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Lila Corwin Berman, director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History and author of the book The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion Dollar Institution, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about American Jewish philanthropy's history. They also explore ways in which that history opens up expansive questions about issues ranging from the Holocaust, to Israel, to sexism, and key terms in Jewish life like "continuity" and "identity."
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Sheila Katz and Danya Ruttenberg, CEO and Scholar-in-Residence of the National Council of Jewish Women, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the history and legacy of their organization, along with the work that they're continuing to do today to build a more just, more liberated world.
This episode is the fifth in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.
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Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire Sufrin, co-authors of the book The New Jewish Canon: Ideas & Debates 1980-2015, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about what a contemporary Jewish canon even is, how they went about deciding the pieces that made it in, and how those questions connect to other Jewish textual canons, past, present, and (potentially) future.
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Sarah Waxman, founder of an organization called At The Well, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Rosh Chodesh (the Jewish practice of marking a new month). They explore the history of Rosh Chodesh, its relationship to women's spirituality, and At The Well's "Well Circles," which empower women to share this sacred monthly celebration in community with one another.
This episode is the fourth in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.
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Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.
Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.
In this episode, the 4th of four, the focus is on the book’s reach and popularity, as well as the problematic nature of its relationship to its Muslim characters, and the divisions among the Jewish communities of Northern Italy.
Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.theatredybbuk.org.
Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.
Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.
In this episode, the 3rd of 4, the focus is on investigating the social roles of both the women in the story and its female readership, as well as the sexual and gender dynamics present in the text.
Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.theatredybbuk.org.
Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.
Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.
In this episode, the 2nd of four, the focus is on the content of the book itself and the context within which it was created, illuminating the cultural forces at work in both the story and the society. The remaining two episodes in this series will be released on consecutive days: September 22nd and 23rd.
Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.theatredybbuk.org.
Aaron Henne and Erith Jaffe-Berg join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick-off a 4-part bonus series of Judaism Unbound, in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk, exploring and experiencing Bovo Buch, a 16th-century chivalric romance, written in Yiddish (yes, you read that right!).
The remaining three episodes in this series will be released on consecutive days: September 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.
Learn more about Theatre Dybbuk by heading to www.TheatreDybbuk.org. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Jill Hammer and Taya Shere, co-founders of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the old, the new, and the ways in which Kohenet's work blurs the line between the two.
This episode is the third in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Rosh Hashanah 2020/5781, as this episode is released, is less than a week away. But Wendie Bernstein Lash, Lex Rofeberg, and Estee Solomon Gray are ready to talk about Rosh Hashanah 2021/5782 already. Why? Well, next year's Rosh Hashanah will kick off a year-long observance called Shmitah (the Sabbatical year). And they think that if a year-long observance is really going to be meaningful, you gotta prep for it! In this bonus episode, they brainstorm what this coming year could look like, as an "on-ramp" into this year-long practice.
This “mini-episode” is the 4th of four that have been released as part of Elul Unbound 2020 (our 9th-12th Elul episodes overall). To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link.
Aaron Koller, author of Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Jewish Thought, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to dive deep into the story of the binding of Isaac in historical context and as it is utilized today.
Check out The Akedah Project, which features over 30 different perspectives on the Binding of Isaac (“akedah” means “binding” in Hebrew), in video form, at AkedahProject.com.
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The month of Elul, and the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are most often associated with personal forms of introspection and self-improvement. But how can we immerse ourselves not only in "I" work, but also "We" work? How can Elul be a time for introspection on a communal and societal level, and not just within each individual? In this bonus podcast, Wendie Bernstein Lash, Lex Rofeberg, and Dan Libenson explore those questions.
This “mini-episode” is the 3rd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link.
Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women's Archive (JWA), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring how, when you center the lives and narratives of Jewish women, the story of what Judaism has been fundamentally changes.
This episode is the second in a series of episode exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
What if, this whole time, we've been carving out these realms called "sacred" and "profane," but in reality, the mundane, everyday stuff of our lives could also potentially be holy? Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg talk it out, and connect the conversation to the holi-month of Elul. If you're curious why this episode is marked "EXPLICIT," well, you'll just have to listen!
This “mini-episode” is the 2nd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link.
NOTE: The title of this episode does not suggest, by any means, that our society is "all good" right now. It most certainly is not, and next week's Elul episode looks at that in detail. The title is meant only to suggest that we can find goodness/sacredness in everyday elements of our lives that we could easily breeze right past -- not just in spaces or contexts that we've marked specifically for spiritual or religious practice.
Pamela Nadell, author of America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick off a series exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women. America's Jewish Women was the recipient of 2019's National Jewish Book Award for Book of the Year.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Lash launch 2020’s edition of the “holi-month” known as Elul, which serves as an on-ramp into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, by asking a simple (but not simple at all) question: Why is this Elul different from all other Eluls?
This “mini-episode” is the 1stof four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here.
Experience the journey of Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link. Sign up for our second face-to-face gathering of Elul (via Zoom, on Friday, August 28th) by clicking here.
Dan and Lex look back on recent conversations, featuring organizations created by and for Jews of Color.
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Eric Goldstein, author of The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring the history of American Jews and their relationship to whiteness. Their conversation looks at the ever-evolving relationship between particularism and universalism for American Jews, contemporary discourse around white Jews and Jews of Color, and more.
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Audrey Sasson, Executive Director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking back on the origins of her organization, looking out at the present moment our society is facing, and looking forward, toward the Jewish (and global) future.
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Arielle Korman and Mira Rivera, of Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about Ammud and its work. They explore the power of spaces created specifically by and for Jews of Color, the importance of blending traditional Jewish texts with contemporary struggles for justice, and more.
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Ilana Kaufman, Executive Director of the Jews of Color Initiative, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about confronting racism, better understanding Jewish history, and why -- when counting Jews -- we need to do so in ways that reflect our contemporary reality.
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Yitz Jordan (also known as the hip-hop artist Y-Love), the co-founder of TribeHerald Media, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about building online and offline communities that center Jews of Color.
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Tal Frieden and Becca Lubow, two members of Never Again Action — a movement of thousands of Jews and allies fighting to end the United States’s cruel immigration policies — join Dan and Lex for a conversation reflecting on the first year of Never Again Action’s work. In doing so, they explore what it means to fight for justice through a Jewish lens, why the historic language of “Never Again” is so important, and why organizing that transcends generational divides can be particularly powerful.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg reflect on recent episodes of Judaism Unbound, touching on topics ranging from Jewish t-shirts, to psychedelics, to intersectionality, along with asking questions about what the terms “rabbi” and “antisemitism” should and should not connote moving forward.
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James Kahn, an ordained rabbi who works as the National Outreach Director for Holistic Industries (one of the largest privately-held cannabis operators in the United States) joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to talk about the relationship between cannabis and Judaism.
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Casper ter Kuile, co-founder of Sacred Design Lab and author of the book The Power of Ritual (coming out June 23rd -- pre-order here), joins Dan and Lex to talk about what rituals are, even, and why they can potentially be powerful in our lives.
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Nati Passow, an Assistant Professor of sustainable food systems at Temple University and past executive director of the Jewish Farm School (of blessed memory), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about biblical frameworks of sabbatical and jubilee. Together they explore what these ideas might have to teach us in the 21st century about how Judaism and food justice intertwine.
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Zac Kamenetz, an educator, rabbi, and aspiring healer who enrolled in a clinical study to give clergy members high doses of psilocybin (a psychedelic compound), joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about mysticism, entheogens (psychedelic substances), and the future of Judaism.
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Dan and Lex, in a conversation released one day early as prep for the festival of Shavuot, use that holiday as a jumping-off point into an exploration of how we might go about building new Judaism(s) in 2020 and beyond.
Check out a wide variety of digital Shavuot opportunities, including ShavuotLIVE (from our jewishLIVE initiaitve), at jewishlive.org/shavuot.
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Beccs Lubow, the 2020 Judaism Unbound and New Voices fellow, opens up a conversation that connects a variety of seemingly distant topics: mutual aid networks, synagogue accessibility, and an unusual Kaddish prayer. At the heart of this episode is a unifying question: Who does Judaism belong to?
To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
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Sandy Cardin and Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, of the Our Common Destiny initiative, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring the topic of Jewish unity.
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Joshua Lesser, who serves as rabbi of Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, Georgia, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish life through the lens of caterpillars, butterflies, and the chrysalis transitioning the former into the latter.
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Sisters Michal Birnbaum, a cast member from the hit Netflix series Unorthodox, and Tova Birnbaum, Director of Jewish Content at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation reflecting on what Unorthodox can teach us. Topics include what it was like for the Birnbaums to grow up in an Ultra-Orthodox community, their journeys to other forms of Jewish community, and their migrations to the United States.
Watch Unorthodox on Netflix by clicking here. And tweet your thoughts about the show via the hashtag #UnorthodoxNetflix.
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, head to jewishLIVE.org -- and stay in the loop by giving our Facebook page a like. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Steven Windmueller, the Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that dives into the past couple centuries of American-Jewish institutional evolution, along with a look forward into what the next century or two might hold.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are excited to talk about dinosaurs, mammals, and what they have to teach us about the evolutions of 21st century Judaism(s).
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, head to jewishLIVE.org -- and stay in the loop by giving our Facebook page a like.
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Lila Corwin Berman, director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History and author of the upcoming book The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion Dollar Institution, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking at the history of Jewish philanthropy, along with an exploration of how Jewish philanthropists are responding to COVID-19.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg explore a not-so-hypothetical question: "If 13 million Jews (and billions of others) built a new planet from scratch, what Jewish institutions would (and should) we create?"
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, head to jewishLIVE.org -- and stay in the loop by giving our Facebook page a like.
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Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul and creator of Storahtelling, joins Dan and Lex to consider what spiritual tools, learned during this COVID-19 pandemic, we can preserve for “the after.”
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg look at digital Judaism through two main ideas: that our current Jewish reality is comparable to a "migration," and that the digital Jewish ecosystem is analogous to a brand-new Jewish city, of 13,000,000 people, being founded from scratch.
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, head to jewishLIVE.org -- and stay in the loop by giving our Facebook page a like.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Barbara Thiede, Teaching Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and Dean of the Faculty for the ALEPH Ordination Program, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the Book of Jubilees, why it matters, and what we can learn from it — along with other Jewish books that didn’t make it into the Bible.
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, which is seeking to meet some important needs of communal gathering at this time of physical distancing, head to jewishLIVE.org. You can also join the jewishLIVE Connect facebook group by clicking here.
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Dan and Lex, in a bonus episode initially livestreamed via jewishLIVE, glean lessons from observing Shabbos (Shabbat) under physical distancing.
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, head to jewishLIVE.org -- and stay in the loop by giving our Facebook page a like.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg reflect on the digital Jewish ecosystem that has arisen rapidly in this moment of COVID-19 and social distancing, and ask what it could mean for the future of Judaism. In particular, they shine a light on a project they just launched, called jewishLIVE, which is serving as a digital hub for livestreaming Jewish programming.
If you would like to learn more about jewishLIVE, which is seeking to meet some important needs of communal gathering at this time of physical distancing, head to jewishLIVE.org. You can also join the jewishLIVE Connect facebook group by clicking here.
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Dan Libenson and Benay Lappe take a look squarely at Passover under COVID-19, in our moment of social distancing. What challenges arise for those celebrating this holiday via digital platforms, and what opportunities arise?
Dan mentions a new initiative, jewishLIVE, which is seeking to meet some important needs of communal gathering at this time of physical distancing. Visit jewishLIVE.org to learn more, and join the jewishLIVE facebook group by clicking here.
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To access shownotes for this episode, click here.
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg wrap up their series on creative approaches to Passover by invoking some of their recent guests and brainstorming their own ideas for experimental new forms of Passover observance.
At the top of the episode, Dan mentions a new initiative, jewishLIVE, which is seeking to meet some important needs of communal gathering at this time of physical distancing. Visit jewishLIVE.org to learn more, and join the jewishLIVE facebook group by clicking here.
This episode is the seventh and final episode in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Kristin Eriko Posnerjoins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about creating multicultural Jewish ritual. Posner is the founder of Nourish Co., a lifestyle brand that help people to come together, heal, connect to their lineage, and remember their rituals.
At the top of the episode, Dan and Lex take a moment to check in with listeners about the moment we are inhabiting, which necessitates increased social distancing for the sake of public health. They mention their new initiative, jewishLIVE, which is seeking to meet some important needs of communal gathering at this time. jewishLIVE is curating the virtual Jewish content you want and need, all in one place. Visit jewishLIVE.org to learn more, and join the jewishLIVE facebook group by clicking here.
This episode is the sixth in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Brian Field and Caryn Aviv, two professional leaders of Judaism Your Way (a Denver-based organization focused on engaging Jews and their loved ones), join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Passover. In particular, they take a look at ways in which it can serve as an opportunity for interfaith bridge-building and as a chance to manifest what they term the “Torah of Inclusion.”
This episode is the third in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Eileen Levinson, founder of Haggadot.com,joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about crowd-sourced haggadot (guide-books to the Passover seder), and about re-imagining Passover more generally. We hope to use this series as a case study of concrete practices for finding deeper meaning in contemporary Jewish practice.
This episode is the fourth in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Vanessa Ochs, author of The Passover Haggadah: A Biography, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the origins, evolutions, and revolutions of the Passover Haggadah — the text that is used as a ritual guide to the Passover Seder.
This episode is the third in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover.
Pre-order The Passover Haggadah: A Biography here!
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Dan Horwitz, Founding Director of The Well, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about outside-the-box approaches to Passover.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help to support our kickstarter campaign, currently underway to fund our book project, Judaism Unbound: Bound. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Barry Dolinger and Naomi Baine, co-founders of Mitzvah Matzos, join Dan and Lex for a conversation in which they explain that — despite what you’ve heard — matzah isn’t always hard like a cracker! More than that, they’re offering a new avenue for you, in eating it, to directly contribute to the betterment of our world.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help to support our kickstarter campaign, currently underway to fund our book project, Judaism Unbound: Bound. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Dan and Lex have one word for you, listeners……Nu? Just kidding, they have many thousands of words to offer in this episode, which concludes a unit of conversations about Yiddish language and culture in America. This episode is the sixth and final episode in a series produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help to support our kickstarter campaign, currently underway to fund our book project, Judaism Unbound: Bound. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
In this special episode, 2019 Judaism Unbound and New Voices Fellow Rena Yehuda Newman (they/them) explores a new concept called “Pluralism of Necessity,” when communities are formed not because their members have much in common, but because they need each other.
Click here to check out the shownotes for this bonus episode, including a bio of Rena Yehuda Newman and some questions about the episode for you to explore.
Tony Michels, the George L. Mosse professor of American Jewish History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the evolving role of Yiddish in America, from the late-19th century through the present. This episode is the fifth in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help to support our kickstarter campaign, currently underway to fund our book project, Judaism Unbound: Bound. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Sandy Fox, American Jewish historian and host of Vaybertaytsh, a “feminist podcast for the Yiddish-speaking and the Yiddish-curious,” joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that weaves together the topics of Yiddish, podcasting, summer camp, gender, and much more.(Fox is also known among Yiddish-speakers as סאָסיע־פֿריידל).
This episode is the fourth in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
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Asya Vaisman Schulman and Sebastian Schulman join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to talk about each of their individual relationships to Yiddish language and culture, along with their collective relationship to Yiddish that is embodied through their nuclear family. This episode is the third in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
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Naomi Seidman, the Chancellor Jackman Professor of the Arts at the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking at Yiddish’s intersections with politics, translation, gender, and shame. This episode is the second in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
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Dan Libenson shifts from his usual role as co-host to one of guest! He appears on the Yiddish Book Center's podcast, entitled "The Shmooze," where he engages in conversation with host Lisa Newman about Judaism Unbound, some initial takeaways from our current series about Yiddish in America, and more.
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Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and winner of a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the MacArthur “Genius Grant”), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the beginnings of the Yiddish Book Center, along with the role that Yiddish continues to play in American life today. This episode is the first in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
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Ruth Calderon, a former member of Israel’s parliament and the founder of two organizations (Elul and Alma: Home for Hebrew Culture) blending traditional Jewish study with contemporary Jewish culture, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about how to blend traditional Jewish sources with a radical spirit of contemporary creativity.
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Aaron Katler, CEO of UpStart, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that looks at ideas of Jewish change, creativity, and urgency through the metaphor of “marathons” and “sprints.”
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Benay Lappe, founder of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg as a co-host for this conversation, as the three of them look forward toward the future of Jewish education and reflect back on 200 episodes of the Judaism Unbound podcast.
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Abby Eisenberg, an independent Jewish educator and life cycle officiant, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in a conversation that asks what it would mean to conceptualize our Jewish practices as “Learning Judaism,” through which the continual engagement with Jewish texts would be centered above any particular relationship to Jewish law or belief.
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Darren Kleinberg, the Head of School at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, California, wants to remind you that Jews are human beings. He also wants you to remember that Judaism is not about Judaism. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to explain what those two sentences mean, and why both are of the utmost importance.
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Jay Michaelson, who works as a columnist for The Daily Beast and as an editor for Ten Percent Happier, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg about spirituality, heresy, and the prefix “un,” all through the lens of his new book, Enlightenment by Trial and Error.
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Abby Stein, author of Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman,joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how the topics of gender, fundamentalism, peoplehood, “tolerance,” and more intersect with one another in Jewish communities and beyond.
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To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Aaron Hahn Tapper, author of Judaisms: A Twenty-First-Century Introduction to Jews and Jewish Identities and founding Director of the University of San Francisco’s Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to talk about why, when talking about Jews and Jewish practice, you should add an “s” to the end of “Judaism.”
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Barry Finestone, President and CEO of the Jim Joseph Foundation, and Josh Miller, its Chief Program Officer,join Judaism Unbound to discuss the Foundation’s recently-completed process of rethinking and resetting its strategic approach to grantmaking in its main area of focus, Jewish education and learning.
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Dan Mendelsohn Aviv, the head of curriculum and design for Adraba (an innovative new educational institution in Toronto), returns to Judaism Unbound to speak with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg about ways in which Jewish education could be radically re-envisioned. This conversation is the 7th in an ongoing unit of Judaism Unbound episodes on the theme of Jewish education.
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Danielle Eskow, co-founder and CEO of Online Jewish Learning, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about leading one of the few for-profit businesses in a field (Jewish education) that is mostly made up of non-profit organizations.
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Ana Robbins and Neshama Littman join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Jewish Kids Groups, an innovative Atlanta organization that Robbins serves as Executive Director and Littman serves as Sunday Families Director.
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Avi Orlow, Vice-President for innovation and education at The Foundation for Jewish Camp, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that explores summer camp as a site for Jewish education. This episode is the 4th in an ongoing series of podcasts on American-Jewish education.
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Judith Rosenbaum, the Executive Director of the Jewish Women's Archive, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Lex Rofeberg, she looks at the life and activism of Emma Goldman. This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
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Judah Cohen, the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture at Indiana University, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Lex Rofeberg, he looks at the story of 20th century composer Irving Berlin. This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Judah Cohen, the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture at Indiana University, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Lex Rofeberg, he looks at the story of an often-overlooked historical figure -- Sheyndele di chazante (Sheyndele the cantor). This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
Tiffany Shlain, author of 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about her weekly practice of “Tech Shabbat.”
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Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash talk about the “holi-month” known as Elul, directly preceding the Jewish New Year. It is observed through a journey of introspection and personal growth. This “mini-episode” is the 4thof four that were released as part of Elul Unbound 2019. To listen to any or all of the four episodes that were part of Elul Unbound 2018, click here.
Sign up for Elul Unbound: SVARA-Style, a first-of-its-kind chance to learn Talmud in a traditionally-radical and traditionally-digital (?) way, here! Event will take place Tuesday, September 24th at 8 pm Eastern/5 Pacific.
Alicia Jo Rabins, the educator, artist, and midrashist (what’s that?? — you’ll have to listen!) who created the Girls in Trouble curriculum, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Jewish music, art, interpretation, and education.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
And don't forget: Elul Unbound - SVARA-Style, a first-of-its-kind digital Jewish learning event, is taking place Tuesday, September 24th at 8 pm Eastern/5 Pacific. Register for it by clicking here!
Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash talk about the “holi-month” known as Elul, directly preceding the Jewish New Year. It is observed through a journey of introspection and personal growth. This “mini-episode” is the 3rd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2019. To listen to any or all of the four episodes that were part of Elul Unbound 2018, click here.
Experience the journey of Elul Unbound, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link.
Sign up for our third face-to-face gathering of Elul (via video-chat, on Friday September 20th) by clicking here.
Rebecca Milder, Founding Director of the Jewish Enrichment Center in Chicago, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about rooting Jewish education in empathy, text study, and creative expression.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Lash talk about the “holi-month” known as Elul, directly preceding the Jewish New Year. It is observed through a journey of introspection and personal growth. This “mini-episode” is the 2nd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2019. To listen to any or all of the four episodes that were part of Elul Unbound 2018, click here.
Experience the journey of Elul Unbound, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link.
Sign up for our second face-to-face gathering of Elul (via video-chat, on Friday September 13th) by clicking here.
Miriam Heller Stern, National Director of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion School of Education, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick off a unit of episodes looking at shifting dynamics in contemporary Jewish education.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!
To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.
Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Lash talk about the “holi-month” known as Elul, directly preceding the Jewish New Year and observed through a journey of introspection and personal growth. This “mini-episode” is the 1st of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2019. To listen to any or all of the 4 that preceded it, as part of Elul Unbound 2018, click here.
Experience the journey Elul Unbound, through daily emails from Judaism Unbound, by signing up at this link!
Sign up for our first face-to-face gathering of Elul (via video chat, on Friday September 6th) by clicking here.
Sarah Hurwitz, former speechwriter for Michelle and Barack Obama, and author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life--in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to discuss a sometimes-overlooked question: Why bother with Judaism?
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg call for future forms of Judaism that will be less institutional and more disorganized.
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Sara Levy Linden and Shira Rutman, two members of San Francisco’s Urban Kibbutz, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about what constitutes an intentional community.
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Tal Frieden and August Kahn, two leaders of Judaism On Our Own Terms (a new national network of student-led Jewish communities) join Dan and Lex for a conversation about how Jewish campus life today can help us build the Judaisms of tomorrow.
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Joseph Berman, founding rabbi of The New Synagogue Project (NSP), and Lauren Spokane, NSP’s “lead instigator,” join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how their intentional community is looking to help build a better, more just world.
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Margaret Hagan and Kursat Ozenc, co-creators of the Ritual Design Lab, based at Stanford University’s Institute of Design (the “d.school”), and co-authors of the book Rituals for Work, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to investigate what rituals are, why they matter, and how they work.
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David Zvi Kalman founded and owns Print-O-Craft (an independent publisher of Jewish books), co-founded Jewish Public Media (a podcasting platform), and recently completed his PhD — in Jewish technology and Islamic jurisprudence — at the University of Pennsylvania. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about what it’s like to wear many Jewish hats, all at once.
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Shira Stutman, who serves as Senior Rabbi at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington D.C, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the second half of a 2-part conversation. [1] Together they ask some big questions about the ecosystem of 21st century Judaism, working to combat a disease (not physical!) they term “Wish-I-Had-This-Itis” in the process.
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Shira Stutman, who serves as Senior Rabbi at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington D.C, thinks that Judaism has a ton to offer the world. In the first half of a 2-part conversation with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, she has the chutzpah to argue that active Jewish outreach, and even forms of Jewish “evangelizing,” might be a pretty worthwhile idea!
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Zelig Golden, the Founding Director of Wilderness Torah, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about nature, roots, education, and the Jewish future.
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Sandy Zisser and Patrick Beaulier, of the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about digital rabbinic ordination.
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Marie Kondo isn’t Jewish. But Dan and Lex think her ideas are relevant to the Jewish future. In this conversation, they tell you why!
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Dan Libenson joins the Society for Humanistic Judaism at its movement-wide celebration and summit, to mark 50 years since its founding in 1969. He moderates a panel featuring five humanistic Jewish leaders (Adam Chalom, Jeffrey Falick, Denise Handlarski, Jeremy Kridel, and Tzemah Yoreh), who together explore the past, present, and future of humanistic Judaism.
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Andrew Ramer, an ordained Maggid (storyteller) and author of Fragments of the Brooklyn Talmud, among other works, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about ecological crisis, the blurry line between future and past, and Judaism in the 22nd and 23rd century. So nothing major, really.
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Lex enters into conversation with David Fainsilber and Jessica Kate Meyer, in a podcast recorded live at Hebrew College, in Newton, Massachusetts. This panel was part of a Hebrew College conference entitled “The Past and Future of Synagogues.” David Fainsilber serves as rabbi of The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe, in Vermont, and Jessica Kate Meyer serves as rabbi and chazan of The Kitchen, an emergent Jewish community in San Francisco.
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Ayalon Eliach, Director of Learning and Strategic Communications at the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation that re-imagines forms of halachah (traditionally defined as “Jewish law”) that could look different than many might expect, and imbue lives with a deep sense of purpose and meaning.
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Rachel Gross, the John & Marcia Goldman Professor of American Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University, thinks that food is “the world’s most important subject.” She joins Dan and Lex to tell them (and you!) why that is, and why that fact matters when we seek to understand the Jewish past, present, and future.
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Noam Sienna, author of the book A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969, joins Lex and Dan for a conversation about expanding our understanding of the Jewish past.
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Sarah Bunin Benor, Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and author of the award winning book Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language of Orthodox Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish languages, and the deeper discourses revealed through dialect.
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Greg Marcus, founder of American Mussar and author of The Spiritual Practice of Good Actions: Finding Balance through the Soul Traits of Mussar, joins Dan and Lex to look at what Mussar is, and how people can practice it effectively in an American context.
David Jaffe, author of the National Jewish Book Award-winning book Changing the World from the Inside Out, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Mussar -- both what it is, and the transformative potential that it possesses for individuals and the world.
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Arthur Waskow, noted activist, author, and rabbi, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about 1969’s Freedom Seder. They look at the process that led to Waskow’s invention of that Passover observance, and the impact it has had on both Judaism and the world over the 50 years since its creation.
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Denise Handlarski, rabbi and founder of SecularSynagogue.com, joins Dan and Lex for a wide-ranging conversation, looking at digital Judaism, interfaith relationships, colonialism, among other topics.
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Leon Wiener Dow of the Shalom Hartman Institute and BINA Secular Yeshiva joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in conversation about his new book, The Going. They discuss Jewish law — a system which both bounds and binds — probing the tensions between individual Jewish practice and an ongoing communal endeavor.
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Lizzi Heydemann, the rabbi and founder of Mishkan Chicago, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in conversation about creating a 21st Century Jewish spiritual community. In their discussion, she calls for embodied experiences of Judaism that are “primal,” “spiritual,” “bold,” “visceral,” and “powerful.”
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MaNishtana joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about race and intersectionality in contemporary Jewish life. As a jumping off point, they discuss these issues through the lens of the protagonist in MaNishtana’s new novel, Ariel Samson: Freelance Rabbi, a Black Orthodox rabbi.
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Daniel Matt is a scholar of Kabbalah who translated and annotated the Zohar — a central text of Jewish mysticism — into English. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the Zohar’s origins, his work that yielded The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (his landmark translation), and questions that the text opens up about the duality of old and new.
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Dan Libenson, one of Judaism Unbound’s co-hosts, heads to the annual Council of American Jewish Museums conference in Los Angeles and moderates a panel featuring recent podcast guests Ivy Barsky, Aaron Henne, and Yishai Jusidman.
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Lori Schneide Shapiro joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Open Temple, an emerging Jewish community she founded in Venice, California.
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Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Here I Am, and the non-fiction Eating Animals, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about the creative process. This episode is the fourth in a series of episodes on art, creativity, preservation, and museums, brought to you in partnership with The Council of American Jewish Museums.
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Ivy Barsky, the CEO and Gwen Goodman Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about what Jewish museums are, why they matter, and the impact they are having on contemporary Jews. This episode is the third in a series of episodes on art, creativity, preservation, and museums, brought to you in partnership with The Council of American Jewish Museums.
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Beth Wenger, the Moritz and Josephine Berg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Lex Rofeberg, she looks at a series of famously successful advertisements produced in the mid-late 20th century by Levy’s Jewish Rye. This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
For images of the advertisements discussed in this episode, click here.
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Deborah Dash Moore, Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History at the University of Michigan, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Dan Libenson, she looks at the origins and evolution of the organization B’nai B’rith. This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
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Adam Mendelsohn, Director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Capetown, joins Judaism Unbound on the ground at the National Museum of American Jewish History. In conversation with Dan Libenson, he looks at Jewish involvement in the Confederacy during the Civil War. This bonus episode is part of a series of bonus episodes, recorded in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.
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Yishai Jusidman, the painter behind a series of paintings called Prussian Blue — looking at the Holocaust, questions of memory, and representation — joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to discuss his work and the thinking behind it. This episode is the second in a series of episodes on art, creativity, preservation, and museums, brought to you in partnership with The Council of American Jewish Museums.
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Aaron Henne, Artistic Director of Theatre Dybbuk, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation blurring the lines between art, education, politics, preservation, and creativity. This episode is the first in a series, brought to you in partnership with the Council of American Jewish Museums.
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April Baskin, Yavilah McCoy, and Abby Stein, the three Jewish members of The Women’s March steering committee, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about intersectionality, coalition-building, and embodiment — and how all three of those key concepts served a key role in the success of the second annual Women’s March.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg get a bit revolutionary, introducing (and debating) 10 New Commandments for contemporary Judaism.
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Novelist Ruby Namdar, author of the award-winning The Ruined House, which interweaves the stories of an American-Jewish professor and an ancient Judean priest, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that straddles the Israeli and the American, along with the ancient and contemporary. The Ruined House won the Sapir Prize, Israel's highest literary honor, the first novel by an expatriate to receive the award.
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Ariel Burger joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to discuss his book Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, winner of a 2018 National Jewish Book Award.
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Joy Ladin, author of The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about being transgender, being Jewish, and how the two intersect.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg dig into conceptions of "Judaism,” “Jewish identity,” “Religion,” and a wide variety of other terms that should probably also be in quotation marks.
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Daniel Boyarin, author of Judaism: The Genealogy of a Modern Notion, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to ask whether Judaism exists (!!), and to explore what that question means — both for the study of Jewish history and for contemporary Jewish practice.
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We continue our conversation with Dan Judson, Dean of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, in the second part of a two-episode series, turning our focus to more recent history and to the future outlook for synagogues in the face of the demographic and religious changes American Judaism has been going through. Judson is the author of the recent book Pennies for Heaven: The History of American Synagogues and Money.
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Dan Judson, Dean of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College, joins Judaism Unbound for the first of two episodes on the story of how synagogues have sustained themselves economically throughout American history and how they will have to adjust to the great changes in Jewish life we are experiencing today. Judson is the author of the recent book Pennies for Heaven: The History of American Synagogues and Money.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are joined by Harvard Law School professor Robert Mnookin to discuss his new book, The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Choice in a Changing World, which explores what it means, and what it ought to mean, to be an American Jew in the 21st Century.
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We want to hear from you! Tell us what YOU think: What are your biggest challenges in experiencing Judaism as something more meaningful in your life?
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are joined by Tobin Belzer, an applied sociologist, for a conversation about why it might be time to re-conceptualize the study of American Jews and their identities.
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We want to hear from you! Tell us what YOU think: What are your biggest challenges in experiencing Judaism as something more meaningful in your life?
Continuing their exploration of the families Jews are creating in the 21st Century, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are joined by Samira Mehta, scholar of American religion and author of Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States.
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We want to hear from you! Tell us what YOU think: What are your biggest challenges in experiencing Judaism as something meaningful in your life?
Returning to our exploration of the 2013 Pew Study of Jewish Americans, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg are joined by Avi Rubel and Mike Wise, co-founders and leaders of Honeymoon Israel, the only major national initiative that we know to have been conceived and created as a direct consequence of the findings of the Pew Research Center’s population study, called “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.”
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg mourn the devastating murder of 11 Jews, during Shabbat services, at the Tree of Life - Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh. They explore the ways that this moment requires Jews to stand both with one another and in solidarity with other marginalized groups.
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After 11 were murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Judaism Unbound pre-emptively releases a conversation that initially wasn't going to be available for a few weeks. Eli Lederhendler, the Stephen S. Wise Chair in American Jewish History at Hebrew University, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about antisemitism, nativism, and immigration in the early 20th century. It's a conversation centered in the past, but it couldn't be more relevant to our contemporary context.
This episode highlights over 130 years of life-saving work by HIAS: the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, dating all the way back to 1881. We encourage you to learn more about them at Hias.org, and support them with whatever financial contribution you can allocate at Hias.org/donate.
Danny Grossman, CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, joins Judaism Unbound to look at the Bay Area as a case study for how Jewish federations address demographic and other changes in the Jewish community of the kinds revealed in the 2013 Pew Study and more recent population studies..
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Len Saxe, Director of Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, to kick off a unit of episodes reflecting on the Pew Research Center’s landmark 2013 Jewish population study, entitled “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” on the fifth anniversary of its publication.
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Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg close out their multi-episode series on God by asking what role God might play, and might not play, in the future of American Judaism.
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Theologian Rachel Adler, of Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion, explores Judaism through lenses of metaphor, liturgy, theology, and more, in a conversation with hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg.
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Shai Held, the President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about God, love, and the ways in which the two are indelibly connected.
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Judith Seid, author of God-Optional Judaism: Alternatives for Cultural Jews Who Love Their History, Heritage, and Community, joins co-hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about God, from the perspective of Secular Humanistic Judaism.
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Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about religion's "auto-immune disease," the concept of "God-intoxication," and other key ideas from his book Putting God Second.
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In honor of Yom Kippur, Dan and Lex are looking at the four major Biblical readings associated with the holiday. They ask how these texts can apply to 21st century life, and they provide a variety of answers, including many that incorporate historical understandings of the Bible gleaned from Biblical source criticism. In this "mini-episode," they tackle the Book of Jonah.
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In honor of Yom Kippur, Dan and Lex are looking at the four major Biblical readings associated with the holiday. They ask how these texts can apply to 21st century life, and they provide a variety of answers, including many that incorporate historical understandings of the Bible gleaned from Biblical source criticism. In this "mini-episode," they tackle Leviticus 18 and 19.
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In honor of Yom Kippur, Dan and Lex are looking at the four major Biblical readings associated with the holiday. They ask how these texts can apply to 21st century life, and they provide a variety of answers, including many that incorporate historical understandings of the Bible gleaned from Biblical source criticism. In this "mini-episode," they tackle Isaiah 57-58.
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In honor of Yom Kippur, Dan and Lex are looking at the four major Biblical readings associated with the holiday. They ask how these texts can apply to 21st century life, and they provide a variety of answers, including many that incorporate historical understandings of the Bible gleaned from Biblical source criticism. In this "mini-episode," they tackle Leviticus 16, which outlines the ancient scapegoat ritual.
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Continuing our exploration of a variety of views of God that might resonate with today's Jews, Andrew Hahn, known as The Kirtan Rabbi, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in a conversation that introduces and explores the idea of Non-Dualism, the history of Judaism importing ideas and practices from other traditions, and hypothesizes about what Jewish theology and practice might look like outside the context of community, such as if a person were isolated on a desert island.
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Dan and Lex explore the book of 1 Samuel, a text traditionally read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
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Dan and Lex explore Jeremiah 31, a text traditionally associated with the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
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Dan and Lex explore Genesis 22, a text traditionally associated with the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
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Lex and Dan explore Genesis 21, a text traditionally read on the morning of the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
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Lex Rofeberg, Dan Libenson, and Wendie Lash close out the month of Elul by looking at forgiveness -- a central and challenging component of the High Holiday (and High Holimonth!) season.
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Art Green, theologian and historian of Jewish religion, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the third episode in Judaism Unbound's series exploring the role of God in contemporary Judaism. Together they explore the history and contemporary practice of Jewish mysticism, questioning frameworks of "mainstream Judaism" and a commanding, personal God in the process.
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Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Lash connect the month of Elul to love and even (don't tell anyone) sex. They do so by looking at the Biblical book of The Song of Songs, through a contemporary lens.
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Musician and educator Eliana Light joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the second conversation in our series on the role of God in American Judaism. The conversation explores topics ranging from God as metaphor, Light's interest in the many different traditional names for God, how music can dovetail with experiences of holiness, and whether ideas about God could be addressed in better ways in Jewish educational settings.
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And don't forget to check out our Elul Unbound initiative, which brings you a daily dose of meaningful content, each day of the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah!
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Lex Rofeberg, and guest co-hosts Wendie Lash and Estee Solomon Gray, explore what Elul helps to teach about the broader flow of Jewish time, in the second of four bonus episodes for the month of Elul.
Experience Elul Unbound, through daily emails from Judaism Unbound, by clicking here!
Explore resources for the second week of Elul, which we have curated on our website, by clicking here.
As we launch a series of episodes on the subject of God, Dan and Lex are joined by Dov Weiss, associate professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and author of the National Jewish Book Award-winning Pious Irreverence: Confronting God in Rabbinic Judaism. In their conversation, they look at how ideas of God have changed over the course of Jewish history, discuss the Jewish tradition of disputing its God, complicate the idea that God has always been understood as perfect, and explore a concept Weiss dubs "protest ventriloquism."
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And don't forget to check out Elul Unbound initiative, which brings you a daily dose of meaningful content, each day of the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah!
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In the first of four bonus episodes, Dan, Lex, and guest co-host Wendie Lash argue that Judaism can be a technology of self-improvement. They explore how, in particular, the month of Elul provides an opportunity to experience that possibility.
Experience Elul Unbound, through daily emails from Judaism Unbound, by clicking here! Explore resources for the first week of Elul, which we have curated on our website, by clicking here.
Dan and Lex close out their unit on the relationship between American Jews and Israel. In their conversation, they explore a wide range of issues, ranging from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, to civil disobedience in American-Jewish life, to the idea of loving Israel.
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Don't forget to sign up for our Elul Unbound initiative, which will bring you a daily dose of content for the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, beginning on August 12th.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Lesley Sachs, the executive director of Women of the Wall, and by rabbi and author Susan Silverman, a member of Women of the Wall's Board of Directors and an activist on behalf of African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. 1 In their conversation, they discuss the efforts of Women of the Wall to fight for women's rights to pray as they wish at the Western Wall, explore questions related to religious pluralism in Israel, and consider how a Jewish state ought to deal with non-Jewish asylum seekers. They also consider the roles that American Jews might or might not take on in dealing with these issues and the nature of the relationship between American Jews and Israel.
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here. And don't forget to sign up for our Elul Unbound initiative, which will bring you a daily dose of content for the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, beginning on August 12th.
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Dan and Lex welcome back Zack Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, California. In their conversation, they explore his organization's "Zionism 3.0" conference, along with broader questions regarding the ever-evolving relationship between American Jews and Israel.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Wendie Lash, to announce an exciting project of envisioning, and re-visioning, how the observance of Elul -- the month directly preceding Rosh Hashanah -- could evolve and deepen. Sign up for Judaism Unbound's Elul emails by clicking here!
Dan and Lex are joined by Brant Rosen, founding rabbi of Tzedek Chicago, an intentional congregational community based on core values of justice, equality, and solidarity. In their conversation, they look at the central role that nationalism, and Zionism in particular, has come to play in many Jewish communities, and explore strategies for institutional change within American-Jewish life.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Rachel Sandalow-Ash and Eva Ackerman, two organizers with Open Hillel, an organization that works for pluralism and open discourse around Israel-Palestine in Jewish spaces on college campuses.
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In our ongoing exploration of the relationship of American Jews and Israel, Dan and Lex are joined by educator and activist Zach Schaffer, whose work focuses on helping Jewish federations and similar organizations talk across ideological, generational, and religious divides. Schaffer describes his approach to Israel education, engagement, and advocacy, encourages dialogue across ideological differences, and suggests that the framing of "pro-Israel" and "anti-Israel" is unhelpful to the project of engagement and relationship-building with Israel.
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Dan and Lex visit #TrendingJewish, another Jewish podcast, and they shape-shift from their usual role of co-hosts into that of featured guests. In a conversation with host Bryan Schwartzman, they discuss Judaism Unbound's work, along with the landscape of digital Judaism more broadly.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Ilana Levinson and Jill Raney, two members of IfNotNow, a national campaign led by young Jews, working to end American-Jewish support for the occupation and promote freedom and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis. Their conversation looks at a wide variety of issues, ranging from fear and trauma in American-Jewish life, to the idea that no Jew should be deemed "not Jewish enough" to express their viewpoints on Israel and Palestine.
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Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, joins Dan and Lex for an urgent conversation on the family separation crisis at the US borders. Cotler calls on American Jews to speak out against those who would callously separate children from their families, and she connects these recent events to the broader context of Donald Trump's administration and to Jewish values and historical experiences.
Sign onto Bend the Arc's Declaration of a State of Moral Emergency by clicking here. Plug into organizations that are part of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, working to resist the Trump administration, by clicking here.
Looking back at the first part of our series on American Jews and Israel, Dan and Lex discuss various topics, including the past, present, and potential meanings of Zionism and the "red lines" that some Jewish institutions have established, which put certain ideas (such as advocacy for boycotts of Israel) and people outside of their "big tents." Dan and Lex explore whether many American Jews relate to Israel in a fashion that is very analogous to "religious."
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To get a sense of the Israel conversation from the point of view of a congregational rabbi, Dan and Lex are joined by Sharon Kleinbaum, Spiritual Leader of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), in New York City. In their conversation, they discuss topics including the varied and evolving perspectives on Israel in Jewish-and-LGBTQ spaces, the consequences of institutional red-lines around Israel discourse, and the importance of interfaith bridge-building.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, for the 5th episode in Judaism Unbound's series on the relationship of American Jews and Israel. In their conversation, Kurtzer questions ideas of Judaism as a "family," puts forth a case for why American Jews should care about Israel in the first place, and provides ideas for new frameworks of Israel education.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Melissa Weintraub, Founder and Co-Executive Director of Resetting the Table. 1 In their conversation they examine ways in which conversations about Israel in Jewish communal life can often become toxic, along with ideas for how to do better.
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To help us better understand and think about the role that Israel might play in the future of American Jews, Dan and Lex are joined by Professor Noam Pianko of the University of Washington, author of the books Zionism and the Roads Not Taken and Jewish Peoplehood: An American Innovation. The conversation explores the origins and evolution of Zionism, its many early variations, the changing nature of American Zionism, and the ever-shifting place of Israel in the minds of American Jews.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern Universityand author of the book Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel. The conversation explores the debates, tensions, and divides over Israel and Palestine within the American Jewish community, and we discuss why a topic that once unified American Jews now divides them.
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As we launch a new series considering the role that Israel might or might not play in the future of American Judaism, Dan and Lex are joined by writer and commentator Peter Beinart, Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York. 1 Beinart is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a senior columnist for The Forward. His 2010 article in The New York Review of Books predicted a widening gap between Israel and young American Jews, and his framing has shaped the American Jewish community's discussion ever since. In this episode, we explore generational differences in Jewish life, denominational differences within generations, and the ever-present tension between universalism and particularism.
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Dan and Lex look back at their recent episodes, featuring guests that are part of Clal's Glean Incubator for spiritual innovators. They reflect on the ways in which fundamentalist practitioners of religion (Judaism and Christianity most prominently) have channeled their zeal and passion into the work they do with great success, and they focus on passion as the potential key to analogous successes in the landscape of Jewish innovation.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Sara and Isaac Luria, founders of Beloved, a home-based spiritual community in Brooklyn. Their conversation covers a wide variety of topics, all revolving around their work to infuse the world with deeper forms of community, love, and justice.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Geoffrey Mitelman, the Founding Director of Sinai & Synapses. Together they discuss the realms of science & religion, perceived by many as entirely separate, and the ways in which Mitelman blends them together every day of his professional life.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Miriam Terlinchamp, the spiritual leader of Temple Sholom in Cincinnati. In their conversation, they explore the radical re-visioning process of her congregation, which included selling their building, using the proceeds to experiment with new ways of "doing synagogue," embracing social justice as a core Jewish commitment, and investing 10% of their budget in communications, including fostering a vibrant culture of digital video production. We also discuss JustLove, a "multifaith movement provoking love and action," founded by Terlinchamp.
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As we continue to dig into various approaches to "spiritual innovation," Dan and Lex are joined by Aaron Bisno and Harlan Stone, rabbi and president, respectively, of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a synagogue that is over 150 years old and doing very well by conventional synagogue measures, which is nevertheless intensely interested in innovation and experimentation. Our conversation digs into the how a contemporary American synagogue is working to re-imagine itself around the goal of increasing human flourishing.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Debbie Bravo, spiritual leader of Makom NY: A New Kind of Jewish Community, located in Nassau County, Long Island. 1 They discuss how and why Makom NY's outside-the-box model has succeeded in engaging many of Long Island's Jews who have not otherwise connected to institutional Jewish life in the area.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Elan Babchuck, Director of Innovation at Clal and founder of the Glean Incubator, a program that combines coaching and a course in entrepreneurship aimed at helping new spiritual initiatives develop compelling strategies for launch and sustainability. In their conversation, they compare and contrast the challenges of Jewish legacy institutions with those of Jewish start-ups, re-examine the metrics used to measure success in Jewish life, and ask how lessons from community organizing can apply to 21st century Judaism. In the weeks that follow, we will profile organizations that were part of last year's pilot cohort of the Glean Incubator.
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Dan returns to History in the Bible, hosted by Garry Stephens. This time they discuss best-selling Israeli author Yochi Brandes' novel “The Orchard”. Dan translated the book into English. The novel centres on Rabbi Akiva, the man who forged rabbinic Judaism after the fall of the Temple. Along the way they encounter a host of other rabbis and Paul of Tarsus. They also ponder the difficulties of translation and working out what actually happened in history.
For a limited time (starting on March 20th, 2018, as this episode is released), The Orchard is available FOR FREE on Kindle. Get it here.
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Dan and Lex reflect on their conversations with members of The Open Dor Project's first cohort. They reconsider how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs relates to the challenges of. contemporary Judaism, explore how issues of social justice could take on a more central place in Jewish institutional life, and interrogate the conceptions of "community" and "variety."
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Dan and Lex are joined by Adina Allen and Jeff Kasowitz, founders of the Jewish Studio Project, which bills itself as "part urban art studio, part house of Jewish learning, part spiritual community," as part of our series exploring new experiments in spirituality and community building. Our conversation looks at how creative expression and Judaism can overlap in powerful ways and how the Jewish Studio Project, through its combination of Jewish learning and creative arts exploration, creates a context for folks to explore that overlap themselves.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Dan Ain, Founder and Spiritual Leader of Because Jewish. In their conversation, they discuss the ways in which music can engage people spiritually, the tension between "inspiration" and "institution," how the Grateful Dead are relevant to Judaism and how rabbis have it harder than Bruce Springsteen, as well as a wide variety of other important topics for contemporary Judaism.
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In honor of Purim, when everything goes topsy-turvy, Dan's role flips around from host to guest! He speaks with Lex about Yochi Brandes's book, entitled The Orchard, which connects to many ongoing themes of Judaism Unbound, and which Dan himself translated into English.
Purchase The Orchard, a best-selling novel in Israel that is now available English, by clicking here! You can purchase in paperback form or as an e-book.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Ari Moffic, Founder of Cohere, a Chicago-area organization that brings customized Jewish educational experiences into people's homes, along with other outside-the-box locations. Their conversation addresses why so many people do not feel comfortable in synagogue settings but still crave forms of Jewish life. They also re-visit the topic of interfaith families, which has arisen in many past episodes, and they ask what the idea of "Jewish community" really means.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Dan Horwitz, Founding Director of The Well, an inclusive Jewish community-building initiative geared towards young adults in Metro Detroit. Their conversation explores the founding and evolution of The Well, the ways it approaches the idea of pluralism, its unique relationship to a nearby Reform synagogue, and more.
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As we begin an exploration of "spiritual entrepreneurs" who are working to develop new organizations focused on meaning and spirituality in forms other than a typical synagogue, Dan and Lex are joined by George Wielechowski, the founding director of the Open Dor Project. In our conversation, Wielechowski provides a window into his work supporting new spiritual communities around the country, along with the story of his own journey into Judaism.
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It's hard to believe, but Judaism Unbound has been around for 2 years! Dan and Lex take this episode to look back on major themes from their conversations about American Judaism. Taking on abstract conceptions like "authority" and "creativity," along with practical realities like the internet and funding, Dan and Lex consider where the project of "unbounding" Judaism is at this moment and where it could be headed in the future.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Alix Wall, an award-winning journalist, founder of The Illuminoshi: The Not-So-Secret Society of Bay Area Jewish Food Professionals, and organizer of its "Trefa Banquet 2.0." The banquet (Trefa means "not kosher") gathered Jews together for an experience that combined the culinary and the educational. And yes -- pork was on the menu.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Tal Ben-Shahar, a lecturer and writer who specializes in the field of Positive Psychology. He describes what "studying happiness" looks like in practice, identifies some of the field's key findings, and explores how religion, and Judaism in particular, intersect with academic research on meaning, purpose, and human flourishing.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Barbara Thiede, who is both a Teaching Professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Charlotte and an ordained rabbi who serves as a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement. In their conversation, Thiede questions the myth that rabbis "saved Judaism" in the aftermath of the Second Temple's destruction and pushes us to consider and elevate narratives of Judaism that do not revolve around rabbinic texts and teachings.
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In celebration of Judaism Unbound's 100th episode, Dan and Lex are joined by Rabbi Irving ("Yitz") Greenberg, an important thinker whose ideas laid the foundation that Judaism Unbound and many of our previous guests have been building upon, to take a deep dive into his notion that we are living at the dawn of the "Third Era" of Judaism. We explore the theological, philosophical, practical, and political implications of this paradigm. Yitz Greenberg is considered one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the last half century, and his work has spanned the fields of theology, philosophy, education, activism, and philanthropy.
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Many Jewish institutions present the perspective that Jewish leadership requires mastery of a certain set of ideas and practices, discouraging anyone lacking that mastery (implicitly and explicitly) from creating the Judaisms that they wish to see in the world. In this episode, Dan and Lex push back against that idea, making the case for "regular Jews" to become creators of our Jewish present and future.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Brett Lockspeiser, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Sefaria for the last interview in this series exploring the creations of "regular Jews" (people who did not set out to become Jewish professionals). In this episode, we explore the beginnings, evolution, and future of Sefaria, a free digital library of Jewish texts that describes its work as "the Future of Torah."
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In our continuing series on "regular Jews" creating important new initiatives, Dan and Lex are joined by Jenna Reback, a television writer based in Los Angeles who has created a weekly podcast entitled Bad Jew Weekly. Reback talks us through her goal of helping people who have thought of themselves as "bad Jews" on their journey toward becoming "bad-ass Jews." The conversation covers a range of important issues in the Jewish world today, from how to fully welcome converts to the interplay between national and international politics and Jewish institutions.
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 8th night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 7th night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 6th night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 5th night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 4th night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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Dan and Lex are joined by Amy Kritzer and Jennie Rivlin Roberts, the President and Founder (respectively) of ModernTribe, "a Judaica store for people with innovative minds, spirits, and style." In our continuing exploration of innovation by "regular Jews," we explore what it looks like to run a successful business and try to help to re-invigorate contemporary Judaism at the same time.
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This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 3rd night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here.
This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 2nd night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here.
This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 1st night.
Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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Dan and Lex offer up 5-minute mini-episodes for each night of Hanukkah. This "long version" packages all of the episodes together so that you can listen before the holiday and map out which ideas you would like to utilize yourself. In addition, each night's episode will be released as a stand-alone podcast a few hours before candle-lighting for that night!
Check out all of our Hanukkah Unbound resources at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah!
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Dan and Lex are joined by Fredric Price, the founder of Fig Tree Books and a facilitator of multiple discussion groups focused on Jewish topics, in the first episode of our series looking at what "regular Jews" (non-professionals) have built. We learn about Fig Tree Books and the various discussion groups Fred runs, and our conversation ranges across a wide variety of topics, including the advantages of connecting to Judaism later in life, how one's professional life can inform Jewish projects, and an extremely broad (and perhaps unanswerable) question -- what is Jewish literature?
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Dan and Lex are joined by the star (Adam Goldberg) and director (Jonathan Kesselman) behind The Hebrew Hammer, the 2003 Hanukkah film that became a cult hit. Goldberg and Kesselman reflect on their first collaboration and look forward to the upcoming sequel, to be entitled The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler. Click here to help make this sequel a reality on Indiegogo!
In the final episode of our series exploring Reform Judaism as a concept and as a movement, Dan and Lex reflect on the interviews that were part of the series and consider whether the Reform movement could become an incubator of new ways of living Jewish life, even if those new ways did not look like traditional synagogue offerings, and whether Reform Judaism could become a "big tent" that could include those Jews and organizations that see themselves as non-denomination or post-denominational.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Rachel Timoner, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) in Brooklyn, New York. As the final interview in our exploration of Reform Judaism, we learn how a synagogue can be built out of a wide variety of micro-communities yet still constitute one organization. Our conversation also looks at political organizing through a Jewish lens, the value and values of the Reform movement today, and the possibilities that arise when those once on the outside are able to become leaders.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Steven Bergson and Andy Stanleigh, Editor and Publisher, respectively, of The Jewish Comics Anthology, Volume 1. They are in the midst of a kickstarter campaign to raise money for SCI: The Jewish Comics Anthology, Volume 2. We discuss the project, the intersection of Judaism, Hebrew culture, comics, and science fiction, and Steve and Andy provide a sneak preview of what will be included in this upcoming collection of Jewish sci-fi comics. To support their Kickstarter campaign and help take this book from idea to reality, click here!
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Dan and Lex are joined by three guests, Matt Gewirtz, Ben Spratt, and Blair Albom, who have helped to shape Tribe, a Jewish organization co-founded by a partnership of two Reform synagogues that is devoted to meaning-making and community-building in New York City, serving (and led by) Millennials. Matthew Gewirtz is Senior Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, NJ, and Ben Spratt is Associate Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan; this episode is part of our series exploring Reform Judaism.
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Jonah Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about social justice, Judaism, and the many ways that the two intertwine. They discuss the RAC's origins during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, its evolution, and the work it does today to bring about a world built on justice and equality.
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April Baskin, Vice President of Audacious Hospitality for the Union for Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for an in-depth look at ideas of welcoming, empowerment, inclusion, and hospitality in contemporary Judaism. 1 We discuss how the Reform movement is working to create communities that better reflect the full diversity of the Jewish people, and the ways in which historically marginalized Jews, in particular, have so much to add Judaism, now and in the future.
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Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about what the Reform Movement looks like today and how its leadership is thinking about its future. The discussion explores the role of congregations in Jewish life, opportunities for growth and innovation in the Reform Movement, the principle of "audacious hospitality," and the changes that are on the horizon as we enter an age of digital technologies.
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Daniel Freelander, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for the second segment in a two-part conversation about the history of Reform Judaism. In today's episode, Freelander walks us through Reform Judaism's journey from the mid-20th century to the present, and we discuss where Reform, and Judaism in general, may be headed in the future.
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Daniel Freelander, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for the first of a two-part conversation about the history of Reform Judaism. In today's episode, Freelander tells the story of the first 100 years of Reform Jewish history, beginning in Germany and continuing into the first few generations of Reform in the United States.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker once published a book entitled We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For. In this conversation, Dan and Lex suggest a similar idea -- that we are the Jews we've been waiting for! They ask how we can create a Jewish world that is led not by a small set of elites, but by everyday folks.
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Aaron Potek, Community Rabbi for GatherDC, joins Dan to talk about a Yom Kippur event he recently co-organized. Garnering national news coverage in the Washington Post, The Forward, and Religion News Service largely due to its location in a beer garden, Potek outlines the thought process that went into this event, what it consisted of, and some of his thoughts about contemporary Judaism more broadly.
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Isa Aron, Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, joins Dan and Lex to re-think a ritual that has turned into one of the central moments of the Jewish life cycle -- the B Mitzvah. Aron explores why Bar Mitzvahs (and later, Bat Mitzvahs) became such a core part of the American Jewish experience, and we discuss ways in which we may re-vision them for the future.
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Dan and Lex give their thoughts on the Biblical readings associated with the holiday of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). They provide historical context and bring their own contemporary twist to their interpretations!
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Dan and Lex are joined by Anthropologist Riv-Ellen Prell, author of Prayer and Community: The Havurah in American Judaism. Prell outlines the evolution, impact, and legacy of an important work called The Jewish Catalog, patterned after The Whole Earth Catalog and designed as a "Do-It-Yourself Kit" for living a Jewish life. She also discusses the broader political and social context within which it was published, comparing and contrasting the era of the late 60s and early 70s with the times in which we live today.
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Richard Elliott Friedman, scholar of the Hebrew Bible and author of the best-selling work Who Wrote the Bible?, joins Dan and Lex to discuss his newest book, The Exodus. He argues that the story of the Exodus outlined in the Torah represents a real historical event, experienced not by the whole Israelite nation writ large, but by a particular segment of it -- the Levites.
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Evan Moffic, author of the new book The Happiness Prayer: Ancient Jewish Wisdom for the Best Way to Live Today, joins Dan and Lex for a discussion of how a text that is over 1,000 years old aligns closely with the findings of positive psychology. The conversation moves beyond positive psychology into an exploration of the shifting role of American synagogues and even, of all things, the Chicago Cubs' recent World Series victory.
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Artist and writer Eli Valley joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about his newly-released book Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel. Valley brings the insight and passion that is well-known to readers of his comics to the episode, as we discuss the politics of American Jewish life, Israel, and more, all through the lens of his provocative comics.
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Dan and Lex deepen their exploration of how Burning Man might expand our thinking about 21st century Judaism. They look at the concept of pilgrimage as it manifests at Burning Man and in Jewish life, and they return to the question whether Judaism is best compared to an operating system or an app, as well as exploring other potential analogies.
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We continue our exploration of Burning Man and potential connections to re-imagining Judaism with an interview with Joel Stanley, who serves as Senior Director of House Programs at Moishe House. Joel has attended Burning Man every year for over a decade. Joel joins Dan and Lex to explore the ways in which Jewish organizations may be able to learn from Burning Man, as well as some of the ways he has sought to do that work in his own context of Moishe House.
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What is Burning Man? Why might it be particularly relevant for those who are thinking about the present and future of Judaism? Dan and Lex are joined by guests Jon Mitchell and Allie Wollner, longtime "burners" who help us think about those questions and many others. This episode is the first in a three-part series on Burning Man, which will continue with Judaism Unbound's next two episodes.
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Who determines what "counts" as genuine Judaism today? Those who serve in official leadership capacities of the Jewish world, or can ordinary Jews (the "folk") determine for themselves what what forms of Jewish life are "authentic" and what Judaism fundamentally "is"? In this episode, Dan and Lex wrestle with this basic question while looking back on a fascinating series of conversations with guests over the past few weeks.
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What are the goals of Jewish education, and what should they be? David Bryfman, Chief Innovation Officer of The Jewish Education Project, joins Dan and Lex to discuss the challenges ahead as we consider how to recalibrate education to shifting Jewish realities.
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Is it possible for Judaism, or its institutions, to ever be apolitical? Is it even desirable? Lila Corwin Berman, the Murray Friedman Chair of American Jewish History and Director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History at Temple University, joins Dan and Lex to engage with those questions, as well as questions about Jewish peoplehood, intermarriage, and the funding of Jewish institutions.
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Jewish communal conversations often take for granted that the goal of Jewish education and other endeavors is to develop or enhance "Jewish identity," but what does that term really mean? Stanford professor Ari Kelman, a leading scholar of Jews and Judaism in contemporary America, joins Dan and Lex to explore the language and concepts that are most helpful in thinking about American Judaism today.
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Dan and Lex are joined by writer and journalist Susan Katz Miller, author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family. In their conversation, they explore the growing phenomenon of families raising children in Judaism along with another religious tradition (families who are "being both") and consider the unique gifts these families may bring to Jewish life and to the wider world, as well as the challenges and barriers they face.
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Randi Zuckerberg is an entrepreneur, investor, public speaker, and media personality, passionate about the intersection of technology and our modern lives. She is also deeply passionate about her Jewish identity. In this episode of Judaism Unbound, Randi Zuckerberg joins co-hosts Dan and Lex for a conversation about the digital world, popular culture, and how the two intersect with Jewish life today.
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What's the point of Judaism? What's it for? In this episode of Judaism Unbound, Dan and Lex examine that question and try to provide some answers to it. In doing so, they discuss and debate the role of rabbis in contemporary life, explore the idea of "religion," and reflect on recent conversations with Rebecca Sirbu, Rami Shapiro, and Shulem Deen.
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Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, made national headlines by authoring Joy: A Proposal, which outlines his choice to begin performing interfaith marriages. Hear directly from Lau-Lavie as he engages in a conversation with co-hosts Dan and Lex about marriage and the rapidly shifting landscape of American-Jewish life. Joy: A Proposal can be accessed by clicking here.
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Shulem Deen, author of All Who Go Do Not Return, a National Jewish Book Award-winning memoir that tells the story of his exit from ultra-Orthodox Judaism, joins us to understand the people who do and do not leave ultra-Orthodoxy, the needs and hopes of those who do leave, and the roles formerly-Orthodox people might play in the rest of the Jewish community and in re-imagining the Jewish future.
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Judaism Unbound co-host Dan Libenson and Garry Stevens of The History in the Bible podcast discuss a range of topics related to Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible.
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Writer, philosopher, and mystic Rami Shapiro brings a wealth of knowledge about Judaism, along with a lifetime of experience immersed in interfaith spaces, to this episode of Judaism Unbound. In this conversation, he discusses a variety of important issues with Dan and Lex, including the strengths and weaknesses of Judaism, religion as a means to an end, and alternative conceptions of God, beyond the supernatural.
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What does "rabbi" mean in today's world? What should it mean? Rebecca Sirbu, Director of Rabbis Without Borders and founder of RabbiCareers.com, joins Dan and Lex to tackle these questions. Our conversation covers rabbinic education, shifts in the nature of rabbinic authority, the diversity of roles that the term "rabbi" can encompass, and more.
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Traditionally, many of the books from the "Writings" section of the Hebrew Bible are associated with various holidays from the Jewish calendar year. The Book of Ruth was connected to the holiday of Shavuot. Dan and Lex dive into this book and ask the question: what elements of this text can we learn from and apply to our lives today?
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But why is cheesecake part of Shavuot? Countless people have asked this question over the last few centuries, and a variety of answers have been provided. What are these answers? Why are dairy products considered by many to be an essential part of Shavuot? Dan and Lex look at this strange ritual, along with the (perhaps even strangers) arguments for it that have been discussed in Jewish texts. They also explore how we can create our own meanings for this quirky practice, along with the question of whether Jewish practices need to have tangible meaning at all!
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In part two of Judaism Unbound's Shavuot mini-series, Dan and Lex do what they enjoy most -- they look to the future! In part one they looked at various forms of Shavuot observance that have manifested in the past and present, but what are new rituals or ideas that could be "imported" into Shavuot in the future?
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So you might have heard the name -- "Shavuot" -- but what exactly does this holiday commemorate? How is it celebrated? In this first mini-episode in a series of four on Shavuot, Dan and Lex provide a basic overview of the history of Shavuot. They look at early iterations of it described in the Torah, shifts in its observance that came in the early rabbinic period, and further updates that occurred leading up to the present day.
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Dan and Lex close out their seven-episode series looking at the seven weeks of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, as an especially resonant symbol of our own time, which might be described as a time in between Judaisms. Looking back on our interviews drawing inspiration from Silicon Valley, the landscape of experimentation and innovation in our own day, Dan and Lex discuss the democratization of Judaism embodied and facilitated by the internet and revisit the question of Judaism as an operating system vs. Judaism as an app.
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What is the Haftorah? Why do we read it? Why is it so inaccessible? Jenna Reback, host of Bad Jew Weekly, chats with Dan and Lex about all of this this--and what it means to be a Jewish prophet. To support "Bad Jew Weekly," visit https://www.patreon.com/badjewweekly or email Jenna at badjewweekly@gmail.com.
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Zack Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, joins Dan and Lex in our Silicon Valley series to explore the shifting role of Jewish Community Centers, possibilities for a "Judaism 4.0," and what special role a JCC in the heart of the experimental and entrepreneurial landscape of Silicon Valley might play in playing with the possibilities.
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Oren Zeev, Founding Partner of Zeev Ventures, gives us a window into the mind of a Silicon Valley investor, as we continue to explore how the mindset of Silicon Valley might help us think about getting from the Jewish present to the Jewish future we hope might emerge. Oren Zeev is known for successful investments in early-stage companies. How does he decide which projects to back? To what extent are the perspectives he has developed in the business world translatable to the Jewish non-profit landscape?
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In the fourth episode of Judaism Unbound's seven-part series exploring Silicon Valley and the period between Passover and Shavuot known as the "Omer," Jesse Dorogusker, Hardware Lead for Square Inc, brings ideas from product design and technological innovation and thinks with us about how they might be applied to renewing contemporary Judaism. Dorogusker helps deepen our thinking on topics introduced in previous episodes, including integration, modularity, and "jobs to be done."
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Is the internet a place, among others, in which Judaism now "lives?" In this special, mid-week episode, Dan and Lex ask that question, using a recent ELI Talk given by Lex as a springboard into the conversation.
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Oona King, former member of the British Parliament, currently on leave from the House of Lords, and now Director of Diverse Marketing at YouTube, takes us on a deep dive into the democratization that new internet-based technologies, like YouTube, potentially represent, and we discuss possible applications to the process of re-imagining Judaism.
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What factors can cause a particular location to be one where "genius" thrives? How could perceptions of Judaism change such that Jews feel they can find holiness and meaning within the realm of their own "home" tradition? Eric Weiner joins Dan and Lex to discuss two of his books, The Geography of Genius and Man Seeks God, and the vast array of questions that the two works provoke.
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Dan and Lex are joined by guest co-hosts Zack Bodner and Tova Birnbaum, from the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, California. In this episode, they explore the Torah's narrative of the wandering in the wilderness, asking how lessons from that story can apply to contemporary Jewish life.
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Dan and Ruth dive into the history of the seder and ideas about how to use—or not use—the traditional haggadah. They also explore how to experiment with new seder rituals that resonate with us, with our guests, and with our children, while keeping everyone interested and focused on the purpose of Passover. Dan and Ruth are joined by Abigail Pogrebin, Vanessa Ochs, Amichai Lau-Lavie, and Justin Goldstein, all of whom share interesting perspectives and great ideas.
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Dan and Lex apply a famous William Gibson quote to the Jewish world. They reflect in particular on their recent conversation with Juan Mejia, on conversion to Judaism, new ways of understanding the role of ethnicity in Jewish life, and more.
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Dan and Ruth speak with scholars Steven Weitzman of the University of Pennsylvania and Richard Elliott Friedman of the University of Georgia (author of Who Wrote the Bible?) to explore the critical question—or is it?—of whether or not the Exodus was a historical event. Professors Weitzman and Friedman walk us through the elements of the story that seem to reflect true historical memories and the elements that are likely embellishments, and both reflect on the power of the story regardless of its historicity.
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Dan and Ruth begin the discussion of Passover by asking what the point of the holiday is! In answering, they consider the ideas of guests Shai Held, Rachel Kahn Troster, and Abigail Pogrebin.
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Dan and Lex are joined by Hayim Herring, expert in Jewish entrepreneurship and self-identified "Jewish futurist." They discuss challenges faced by synagogues and opportunities available to them in today's ever-shifting landscape of American Judaism.
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Dan Libenson and Ruth Abusch-Magder introduce a new podcast series exploring the Jewish Holidays, aimed at helping "regular Jews" get more creative with their holiday celebrations. They are joined by Abigail Pogrebin, whose recent book, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew, tells the story of her "extreme sports Judaism" year of observing every holiday on the Jewish calendar.
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How do Jews decide how (and whether) to invest their time and money in Judaism? Economist Carmel Chiswick joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about that question and more in this episode of Judaism Unbound.
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Juan Mejia, the Southwest/Latin America Regional Director for Be'chol Lashon, who grew up Catholic, converted to Judaism, and became a rabbi, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about conversion, the growing importance of the internet in contemporary Jewish life, and emergent forms of Judaism arising in Latin America, and what it all might mean for the future of Judaism.
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In celebration of our one-year anniversary as a podcast, Dan and Lex are joined by the very first guest we ever had on the show, Benay Lappe, making her third guest appearance on Judaism Unbound. In this episode, we do a deep dive into Lappe's organization, SVARA, which defines itself as a "traditionally radical yeshiva," a place to study Jewish texts through a "Queer lens."
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1 year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. It seems like just yesterday that Judaism Unbound launched a wild experiment -- this podcast -- designed to induce thoughtful conversation about the Jewish present and future. In this episode, Dan and Lex look back on themes of the jam-packed first year of the podcast. They also look forward to the second year of Judaism Unbound's continuing work.
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How does our approach to Jewish life change when we suggest that Judaism can be "hired" to accomplish various jobs? What are the "jobs" it can be "hired" to do? Irwin Kula sheds light on that question in this episode, the second half of a conversation that begin with Episode 53: Death and Rebirth.
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What does it look like when one version of Judaism dies and another is born? Irwin Kula, President of CLAL: The National Center for Learning and Leadership, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about that question and more. This episode represents Part I of a two-part conversation with Kula. The second segment will be released next week with the title "Episode 54: Judaism's Job."
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Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist, writer, and graphic novelist, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation reflecting on the decade since he published his book Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism, in which he advocated for "open source Judaism." Rushkoff argues that that 21st Century Judaism should be based on contemporary interpretations of the traditional pillars of iconoclasm, abstract monotheism, and social justice.
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What does American Judaism look like as we enter the Trump era? How might the new political reality of the United States alter the landscape of contemporary and future American Jewish life? Dan and Lex wrestle with these questions, and their implications for deeper questions of why Judaism matters, in Episode 51 of Judaism Unbound.
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Dan and Lex were lucky enough to be featured as guests on a recent episode of RIJ (Really Interesting Jews), a podcast hosted by Evan Schultz, a rabbi based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Evan graciously allowed them to release the episode on Judaism Unbound's page as well. In the episode, they talk a bit about their own Jewish background-stories, provide a behind-the-scenes look at how Judaism Unbound's podcast came to be, and explore their own favorite Jewish (and "unbound") teachings.
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Jason Kimelman-Block, Director of Bend The Arc: Jewish Action, joins Dan and Lex to discuss the ramifications of Donald Trump's presidency for American Jewish individuals, communities, and American society as a whole. The conversation explores questions as broad as "In what ways do politics and Judaism overlap?" and as specific as "What is the difference between a 501c3 and a 501c4 organization in terms of permissible political activity?"
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Shai Held, President and Dean of Mechon Hadar, joins Dan and Lex on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration to discuss what Jewish ideals have to say about the incoming president and what his rise means for contemporary Judaism.
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Dan and Lex reach back to the beginnings of the Judaism Unbound podcast, providing a look back at some of our foundational concepts for those who may have started listening recently. They also ask big questions about Jewish funding, ranging from "Who is a funder?" to "What is Jewish giving?"
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Andres Spokoiny, the President and CEO of Jewish Funders Network, joins Dan and Lex for a deep dive into questions of Jewish philanthropy. Spokoiny takes on big-picture questions like "what is Jewish giving" and also tackles the particulars of how such giving can be conducted most effectively. He also provides his thoughts on broader trends in 21st century Judaism.
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Jay Eidelman joins Dan and Lex to explain his theory of "How Hanukkah Explains Everything." Through a comprehensive encapsulation of the historical events of Hanukkah and analysis of them, Eidelman shines many new lights on what Hanukkah has meant and could mean.
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Dan and Lex are joined by guest co-host Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Rabbi-in-Residence and Director of Education at Be'chol Lashon, for a discussion about the future of Hanukkah in America. Starting with the premise that Hanukkah is no longer a minor holiday, but rather has become a major festival of contemporary Judaism, Dan, Lex, and Ruth explore how Hanukkah could (or maybe should) shift to meet contemporary Jewish needs.
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Adam Chalom is the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism's Dean for North America and serves as rabbi of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Secular Humanistic Judaism, Hanukkah, and trends in contemporary Jewish life.
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Dianne Ashton, Profession of Religion Studies at Rowan University and author of the book Hanukkah in America: A History, joins Dan and Lex to describe the evolution of Hanukkah over the course of American history. The conversation ranges from the Maccabees to gift giving to the "December Dilemma."
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Burton Visotzky, the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, joins Dan and Lex to discuss the topic of his recent book, Aphrodite and the Rabbis: the surprising degree to which Greco-Roman ideas shaped Rabbinic Judaism, so much so that, Visotzky argues, that Judaism should be understood as a Roman religion. With Hanukkah coming up, we discuss how this understanding of Judaism squares with the Maccabees well-known anti-Hellenist agenda.
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How should the Jewish present and future relate to the Jewish past? Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and author of the book Shuva: The Future of the Jewish Past, joins Dan and Lex for an exploration of the significance of history and memory in contemporary Judaism.
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Wrapping up our discussion of Jewish and "extra-Jewish" sensibilities, Dan and Lex begin an examination of which concrete elements of present-day Judaism will likely be retained in the next Jewish future, and which elements may end up "on the cutting room floor."
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Craig Taubman, acclaimed Jewish musician and founder of Pico Union Project in Los Angeles, Zach Lasker, the organization's new Executive Director, and Jason Chu, its Chief Storytelling Officer, bring their insights to Judaism Unbound for a timely discussion of art, "soul," loving our neighbors, and knowing our neighbors.
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Jay Michaelson, legal affairs columnist for The Daily Beast, contributing editor to The Forward, and teacher of Buddhist and Jewish meditation, joins Dan and Lex for a wide-ranging discussion on contemporary American Judaism. Building on last week's conversation on "Jewish sensibilities," we look at which "extra-Jewish" sensibilities might become part of the Judaism of the future, and then we go on to explore a variety of contemporary Jewish issues.
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Judaism Unbound co-host Dan Libenson visits TanakhCast, hosted by past Judaism Unbound guest Dan Mendelsohn Aviv. They dive deep into Yochi Brandes's recently released book, The Secret Book of Kings, exploring the alternative perspective it brings to the Hebrew Bible, ways in which it is relevant for readers today, and more.
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Jonathan Woocher and Lee Moore of the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah join Dan and Lex to kick off a series of episodes beginning to discuss the content of the Judaism of the future by introducing the idea of "Jewish sensibilities," exploring why and how such a framework might resonate with contemporary American Jews and their communities.
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Is being "welcoming" and "inclusive" enough? Is pain a necessary prerequisite to the successful implementation of radical, new, Jewish ideas? Benay Lappe, the founder of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva and recipient of the 2016 Covenant Award for exceptional Jewish educators (considered akin to the "Nobel Prize for Jewish education"), returns to Judaism Unbound as a guest co-host to tackle these questions, and many others, with Dan and Lex.
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UpStart Unbound is our first-ever collaborative podcast episode, recorded in front of a live studio audience in Silicon Valley. UpStart has been the premier accelerator of Jewish innovation over the last decade, and we wanted to explore together the idea that the over 40 organizations that UpStart has helped move from idea to organization could be viewed as prototypes that are field-testing some big ideas about the future of Jewish life. The episode was recorded as part of the UpStart Lab, an annual gathering of innovators from across the country.
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Rabbi Joshua Lesser, of Bet Haverim (House of Friends), a Gay- and Lesbian-founded synagogue in Atlanta, joins Judaism Unbound for a discussion on being Jewish and Queer, reflecting on the history of Queer Jews in American Jewish life, the positive shifts that have taken place over the past few decades, where there is still work to be done, and the significance of the Queer experience for other Jews who may feel less than welcome in many Jewish spaces.
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Sandra Lawson, described in a recent article as "an African-American lesbian who converted to Judaism, eats vegan, and is now studying to be a rabbi at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College," joins Dan and Lex in a discussion on the present and future of Judaism. She offers her take on issues ranging from race, sexuality, and intermarriage to the future of synagogues and emerging forms of digital Jewish life.
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Professor Helen Kim and Associate Dean of Students Noah Leavitt (both of Whitman College) join Judaism Unbound for an episode on their book, entitled JewAsian. The book provides an in-depth exploration of two important groups of people: couples made up of one Jewish partner and one Asian partner (the Asian individuals may or may not be Jewish themselves) and the children of such relationships. Kim and Leavitt discuss their findings with co-hosts Dan and Lex, along with a wide variety of related topics as they relate to the ever-shifting landscape of contemporary American Judaism.
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How can the methodology of an artist shape or re-shape Judaism in new ways? How can we begin to understand Judaism as a material of art in and of itself? In this final episode of Judaism Unbound's series on the role of art in Judaism, Dan and Lex ask explore the relationship between contemporary Judaism and the creative impulse.
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Aliza Kline, Executive Director of OneTable and former Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh, joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in a four-episode series on Judaism's relationship to art and artists. She explores the ways in which design thinking can play a crucial role in successful Jewish institutions, along with some of the unique contributions of the two organizations that she has directed to contemporary Judaism.
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How might Judaism, atheism, and art blend together into a deep exploration of the meaning of a key Jewish practice today? Celebrated comics artist and animator Nina Paley, creator of the highly regarded animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues and the animated feature film-in-progress Seder Masochism 1, joins Dan and Lex to discuss a wide variety of issues that have arisen as she has taken on the Passover seder in her current project. This episode is the second in a four-episode series on the role of art and artists in contemporary American Judaism.
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What role do art and artists play in contemporary Judaism? Amichai Lau-Lavie, founder, Executive Director, and Spiritual Director of Lab/Shul, joins Dan and Lex to kick off a unit of episodes exploring that question in detail. He speaks about his own experiences leading an artist-driven community, and he takes on a variety of related questions on issues ranging from technology, to pluralism, to literature, and more.
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We are proud to release our very first bonus episode of Judaism Unbound! Listen in as Garry Stevens interviews our co-host, Dan Libenson, about The Secret Book of Kings, a new novel by Yochi Brandes. This episode was initially released as an episode of Stevens's own podcast, The History in the Bible. We thank Garry for permitting us to re-release an episode of his show on our own feed, and encourage our listeners to subscribe to The History in the Bible on iTunes by visiting http://apple.co/2bM6D3C.
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In an act of role reversal, Lex enters the role of solo host of Judaism Unbound and welcomes Dan onto the show as this week's featured guest! In this episode, Dan discusses a newly published book entitled The Secret Book of Kings by Yochi Brandes, which he has been working for three years to bring to English-speaking readers. Together, Dan and Lex explore why this book's publication represents an important moment for American Judaism, along with ways in which its themes tie to many ideas that have previously been discussed on Judaism Unbound.
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Professor Richard Elliott Friedman joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about modern Biblical scholarship, which his book Who Wrote the Bible? brought to lay audiences in an accessible way nearly thirty years ago (and which had a major influence on Dan and Lex). Among the most influential books on Biblical literature of the 20th Century, Who Wrote the Bible? provides a scholarly overview of the authorship of the Torah through a lens known as the "Documentary Hypothesis." Subsequently, Professor Friedman wrote additional books making these ideas available to non-experts. Along with co-hosts Dan and Lex, Professor Friedman dives deeply into his ideas and scholarship, their impact on the world, and more!
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It's hard to believe, but this episode marks Judaism Unbound's six-month anniversary -- 26 weeks! In honor of the occasion, Dan and Lex look back at what they've learned from the topics we've covered thus far, and offer a lens into the next six months of the podcast and beyond.
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Dan and Lex close out a series of episodes entitled "Emergent Judaism," which featured Rachel Barenblat and David Markus (of ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal), Noa Kushner and Yoav Schlesinger (of The Kitchen), and Sarah Lefton (of BimBam). We discuss what it means to look at Judaism through a "modular" lens, such that various elements of Judaism are "unbundled" from the whole.
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What does it look like to start a Jewish organization that functions almost entirely in the digital world? Sarah Lefton, the founder and executive director of BimBam (formerly G-dcast), an organization that produces animated videos about Jewish texts, practices, and ideas, as well as apps and other new media, 1 joins Dan and Lex to give us a window into that process. She outlines her own Jewish story, the evolution of BimBam over time, some of the unique characteristics of digital forms of Judaism, and more.
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The Kitchen, an emergent Jewish spiritual community in San Francisco, made waves earlier this year when they launched their Hello Mazel initiative -- a "quarterly box of Jewish stuff" sent to people's homes, which quickly became the most-funded Jewish Kickstarter project ever and reached thousands of people across the country. Dan and Lex welcome two of its leaders -- Rabbi Noa Kushner and Yoav Schlesinger -- to explore what The Kitchen is, to understand its goals and methods, and to find out how Hello Mazel came to be.
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Rabbis Rachel Barenblat ("The Velveteen Rabbi") and David Markus, co-chairs of the board of ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal, join us for the first episode of a four-episode series entitled "Emergent Innovation." Along with co-hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofes, they look back at the history of Jewish Renewal, look forward towards its future, and discuss its animating philosophies and their application beyond the movement itself.
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Might we learn something about Judaism from the cell phones that we carry in our pocket every day? In this episode, Dan and Lex explore whether Judaism's "operating system" is functioning properly. If not, they ask whether it is need of a "patch," an "upgrade," or a "new release" -- or is it even possible that Judaism could shift from an "operating system" into an "app"?
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Beth Finger, founder of Jewish Without Walls (JWOW) joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in our "New Platforms in Jewish Life series." We learn from the successful strategies of her organization, and in doing so converse about issues ranging from contemporary denominational divides to the role of the internet in the Jewish present and future.
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David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House, joins Dan and Lex for the second episode in the four-episode series entitled "New Platforms for Jewish Life." Moishe House's mission is to provide vibrant Jewish community for young adults by supporting leaders in their 20s as they create meaningful home-based Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers.
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Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, experts on the emerging group of Americans known as the religious "nones," join Judaism Unbound for Episode 18. Thurston and ter Kuile are co-authors of two monographs, entitled How We Gather and Something More, respectively, and they serve as Ministry Innovation Fellows at Harvard Divinity School.
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Dan and Lex close out their three-episode series on Intermarriage: The New Normal in this episode. They explain why they don't think intermarriage is bad for American Judaism, explore questions of what it means to be a "Jewish leader," and discuss shifts away from binary, either-or ways of thinking.
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Paul Golin, formerly the Associate Executive Director of Big Tent Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for the second episode of our Intermarriage: The New Normal series. We examine the role that intermarriage plays in the Jewish world today, and we broaden our conversation to discuss broader trends affecting the Jewish present and future.
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Dr. Keren McGinity joins us for a conversation about intermarriage and gender. McGinity is the author of Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America and Marrying Out: Jewish Men, Intermarriage, and Fatherhood. She founded the Love & Tradition Institute and serves as Director of the Interfaith Families Jewish Engagement Program at Hebrew College.
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For the final episode of our "Judaism in America" series, Dan and Lex build on key ideas that emerged in the three previous conversations in the series, which featured Jonathan Sarna, Anita Diamant, and Shaul Magid, beginning to develop a set of ideas about where American Judaism will be headed in the future.
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Professor Shaul Magid joins Dan and Lex for the third episode in our four-episode series, entitled "Judaism in America: Evolutions, Revolutions, or Something Else?" Professor Magid's book, American Post-Judaism, serves as a springboard for a discussion about American post-ethnicity, the Holocaust, survivalism, and spiritual humanism. Next week, Dan and Lex close out the series by connecting elements of this conversation to Episode 11, featuring Jonathan Sarna, and Episode 12, featuring Anita Diamant.
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Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent and founder of Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh, visits Judaism Unbound for a discussion about trends in contemporary American Judaism.
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Dan and Lex welcome pre-eminent American Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna to the podcast for the first episode of a series entitled "Judaism in America: Evolutions, Revolutions, or Something Else?"
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Our Judaism Unbound podcast kicked off with five sets of two episodes, each of which connected to one book of the Torah. In this episode, connecting to Deuteronomy, we reflect on our previous episodes. We also provide a sneak preview of what will be coming up as our podcast progresses forward!
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How do all the pieces fit together? In episode 9, we synthesize key ideas from the previous episodes' conversations and try to lay out the lens through which we will be looking in future episodes. To help us, we welcome Dr. Dan Mendelssohn Aviv.
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You might be familiar with these questions: How many Jews are there in the United States? How many Jewish children are they having? How can we ensure there will be more Jews in the future? In this episode, we critique the premise of those questions -- that the current and future quantity of Jews should be a top priority -- and we offer some alternative frames at looking at Jewish communal life. Click the audio link below if you'd like to hear our take.
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How do Jewish institutions change? How do they resist change? Those are the key questions we wrestle with this week as Professor Barak Richman of Duke University joins us in conversation.
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What do science and art have to do with Judaism? That's the core question of this week's episode. Listen in as we answer it as best we can, while exploring related questions as well.
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What does it mean to "invent" Jewish ritual? Aren't rituals something we inherit or learn? Professor Vanessa Ochs, author of Inventing Jewish Ritual, helps us answer these questions and more.
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What, in Judaism, has crashed? Last episode, Rabbi Benay Lappe outlined her "Crash" Theory and in this episode, Dan and Lex engage with it further.
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Lex and Dan welcome Rabbi Benay Lappe onto the show to discuss ways in which Jews respond to various "crashes" throughout Jewish history. More than that, they analyze the question of whether we are in fact in the middle of a Jewish "Crash" today.
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Lex and Dan look back at Jewish history, using a historical lens to analyze contemporary American Judaism and its institutions.
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Co-hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofes introduce listeners to their new podcast: Judaism Unbound. They discuss their framework of understanding 21st century Judaism, why the word "Unbound" is a particularly apt one, and more.
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