Judaism Unbound

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). If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-d...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things...

Joanna Ware and 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 yiel...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us ke...

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%." If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support J...

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.  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 .

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. If you're enjoying Judaism...

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!). If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a on...

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 by Beacon Press . If you're enjoyin...

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 li...

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. 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 th...

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...

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 question...

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 si...

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...

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 contemporar...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please he...

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 ep...

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 occur...

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 occur...

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 occur...

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 mo...

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...