Judaism Unbound

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 got...

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 AkedahPr...

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...

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. If you're enjoying Judais...

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...

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 w...

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 1st of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020 . To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released...

Dan and Lex look back on recent conversations, featuring organizations created by and for Jews of Color. 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 .

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 m...

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

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

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

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. 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 epi...

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 s...

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

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

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. 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 clic...

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. If you're enjoying J...

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

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

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

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. 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 .

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.  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 cli...

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 co...

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. If you're enjoying Jud...