The Light Lab Podcast

This week we’re grateful to bring you Ellen and Eliana’s conversation with Rabbi Toba Spitzer , author of the book “ God is Here: Reimagining the Divine .” Rabbi Spitzer takes us on a journey that includes Jewish liberation theology, playing dead (as in the grateful dead), liturgical gymnastics, and the three kinds of metaphors. Rabbi Spitzer’s work has been hugely influential to our thinking arou...

This week, Eliana & Ellen are joined by very special guest Rabbi Noah Diamondstein to explore Sim Shalom! We talk about “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” Paul Simon, the Force, and what “Shalom” is anyway. Plus, Noah shares the story behind his own beautiful melody for Sim Shalom and plays it for us live. What a treat!  How is your “Shalom” today? Check out this week’s show notes @lightla...

This week, Ellen, Eliana, and Josh explore “v’al kulam” and the threefold blessing, bridging the gratitude and peace sections of the weekday Amidah. Topics include Glinda the good witch, gematria, Siddur differences (it’s a full bingo board!), g?d’s face, and the ancient art of duchenning.  What is your blessing?  Check out this week’s show notes @ lightlab.co   Follow us on facebook and instagram...

This week, we are honored to bring you our interview with organizer, coach, and leader April N. Baskin. April is the founder and CEO of Joyous Justice,   a “multiracial community-powered social justice and spiritual transformation organization that seeds and leads systemic change and healing.” We explore the intersection of justice work and spirituality, her path to becoming a Kohenet, and the wor...

This week we’re re-airing episode 5 so “Modim Anachnu Lach” can take its rightful place in our Amidah journey! Josh, Ellen, and Eliana nerd out on Jewish-people-monikers, intertext, and gematria (numerology,) plus share our favorite melodies and Thanksgiving traditions. What a great excuse for gratitude! Check out this week’s show notes on our new website!  Follow us on facebook and instagram...

It’s our first in person live episode! Join us at Temple Isaiah in Lexington MA as Eliana interviews Cantor Lisa Doob and Rabbi Daryl Crystal. We explore their respective spiritual journeys, what prayer means to them now, and their unique roles; Cantor Doob has been at Temple Isaiah many years, while Rabbi Crystal has served 17 congregations in 19 years as an interim Rabbi. When we lead t’fillah,...

This week, Eliana, Ellen, and Josh explore the last of the petitionary prayers of the Amidah and the transitional section, “r’tzei.” Topics include our favorite sounds,  g?d (not) as vending machine, sacrifice and service, and the present (and presence) of present tense. Plus we share some favorite melodies! What does it mean to hear our prayers? Check out this week’s show notes on our new we...

We’re so honored this week to be joined by educator extraordinaire Evelyn Goldfinger ! Evelyn is a spiritual leader, performer, storyteller, and author, most recently of “Words from my Heart,” a hands-on prayer book for kids. In addition to sharing insights into her incredible new book, Ms. Eve also delivers her t’fillah journey in four acts, explores how prayer and theater are connected, and sing...

Our Amidah journey continues! This week Ellen, Eliana, and Josh explore and wrestle with blessings on rebuilding Jerusalem and salvation through messiah. There is so much variation amongst prayer books on these two! Topics covered include infrastructure bills, snowy white donkeys, Karens, horns, and classic Jewish jokes. How can we help a better world blossom into being? Check out this week’s show...

We are thrilled to bring you this interview with renowned liturgist Rabbi Reuven Kimelman . Rabbi Kimelman is an expert in the themes, structure, and poetics of the Jewish prayerbook, and shares enough wisdom to blow Eliana’s mind multiple times. Topics include t’fillah as an aural experience, the multi-mystical levels of Lecha Dodi, the power and point of the mourner’s kaddish, and so much more....

Your three regular podcast hosts are back as we continue our deep dive into the Amidah with a blessing that is more like a malediction than a benediction, “against enemies,” and its flipside, “for the righteous.” We do some ancestor empathy work and wrestle with language. Other topics include: theological coattail riding, the Talmudic power couple Bruriah and Rabbi Meir, and of course, holy glue....

We are thrilled to share this interview with educator, songstress, and space-holder extraordinaire Marni Loffman . Marni connects to thousands over social media with their soulful voice and warm presence, both of which they bring to our conversation (stay through the end for a spiritual song practice!) Through sharing their journey with prayer, liturgy, and g?d, Marni makes space for us to hold mu...

It's our first year-iversary! Aka one whole year of the Light Lab Podcast. In this ever so special minisode, Ellen, Eliana, and Josh check-in, share favorite moments, and look towards what's next. There's a baby, there's water aerobics, there's Cheshvan appreciation, and there's a whole lot of love.  Thank you for being on this journey with us. Here's to many more years!  Join our new fa...

Today we’re so honored to share our interview with Rabbi Minna Bromberg, PhD. Rabbi Bromberg is the founder and president of Fat Torah , an initiative dedicated to ending weight stigma in the Jewish community and raising up body liberation through a Jewish lens. Fat Torah is also a community with a presence on facebook for Jewish fat folks and allies, a first of its kind. Rabbi Bromberg shares her...

Today we’re excited to share our interview with Jewish educator and social media influencer extraordinaire, Tony J. Westbrook, Jr. You might know him better as @frumjewishblackboy if you’re one of his 39k+ followers on TikTok or Instagram (and if you aren’t yet, we highly recommend it!) Tony talks about the questions that led him on his Jewish journey, blessings as intentions, wisdom as liturgy, c...

From the start of the month of Elul through the fall holidays, it is customary to say Psalm 27 . This “psalm for the days of awe” is full of evocative imagery, poetry, and a seemingly unshakable protagonist. But in this week’s episode, we are diving deep into just one line- verse 4, also known as “Achat Sha’alti.” What is this “one thing I ask?” Why is this line so popular, and how do different me...

This week we’re excited to share a double-interview recorded live at the Ramah Darom Pesach retreat this past spring. Maharat Rori Picker Neiss is the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis and an inspiring activist and advocate. Rabbi Shai Held is president and dean of the Hadar Institute and a foremost theologian, scholar, and teacher. Neither of thought they h...

This week, Eliana and Ellen are live from the NewCAJE Jewish education conference! Together we dive deep into, appropriately, the blessing for studying Torah. Whether it’s the Torah of the James Webb Space Telescope or the Torah of grammar nerdery, small-t torah or big-T Torah, a knot in a string of pearls or a sparkly letter “aleph,” it is sweet and it is your business. Be sure to check out this...

We are thrilled to be joined this week by Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz , Director of Music and T’fillah at the Hadar Institute . Deborah is an acclaimed teacher, leader, and composer of prayer, and has collaborated on over two dozen albums of original Jewish music. Her beautiful debut album “The Narrow and the Expanse” was released in 2020. In our interview, Deborah reflects on her t’fillah journey (...

This week continues our journey through the weekday Amidah with the middle blessings on “in-gathering” and “justice.”  It’s a full bingo board- multiple translations, scrambling to find intertext, mentions of Shai Held and musical theater, and of course, exploring what these blessings might mean for each of us. What is home to you? Be sure to check out this week’s Transcript And show notes An...

We are so honored to share this conversation between Eliana, Ellen, and Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD . Rabbi Hoffman, (or “Larry” as good friends like Ellen call him) is one of the foremost liturgists and t’fillah teachers of our day. He has written and edited dozens of books on the subject, including the series “My People’s Prayerbook” which we reference for this podcast constantly! Rabbi Hoffm...

It’s time to talk about time. And trees! We’re back in the flow of the weekday Amidah, exploring the sixth of the middle petitionary blessings. We get into the connection between time and land, being “farmer-adjacent,” giving the earth a voice, and the shmita year of land-rest. Plus, an interview with Hazzan Jessi Roemer about t’fillah, shmita, and her beautiful song “Seij Años.” Support us on ko-...

How can we make our spiritual communities accessible both spatially and theologically? This is the question that animates Rabbi Emily Aronson, founder of Chronic Congregation . In our interview, Rabbi Aronson gives us so much to think about, including: disability theology, the power of the prayer for healing, and building a better sanctuary. Plus, she shares an original prayer with us, one of many...

This week, we’re back in the flow of the Amidah exploring the 4th and 5th middle weekday blessings. We talk timeless personal Passover stories, S&H green stamps, healing vs cure, and being in the body. There's also lots of inter-text, lots of liturgical variation, and lots of questions to be had. Support us on ko-fi! Membership tiers are now live. There are fun perks to be had! To support the...

To honor the life of Rabbi Steve Sager, in the light of his passing on May 15th, we are re-sharing Eliana’s interviews with him, conducted in fall 2021. Rabbi Sager was an extraordinary teacher, seeker, and human being. His presence is deeply missed, and his light lives on in all who knew him. Yehi Zichro Baruch- May his memory be a blessing Obituary for Rabbi Sager Notes for episode 12 (prayer is...