Judaism Unbound

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 paper...

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...

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

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 co...

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...

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. If you're enjoying...

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. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound...

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 no...

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, philosophica...

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 pr...

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 "th...

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 c...

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

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

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

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

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

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 sam...

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,...

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,...

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

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 U...

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...

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" th...