The Pluralist Podcast - with Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg

Religious communities can either deepen division — or help repair democracy. In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast, Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Orly Erez-Likhovski speak with Rabbi Michael Holzman, rabbi of Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation and founder of Faith 250, about America’s 250th birthday, democracy, religious nationalism, and how communities can practice the habits liberal democracy ne...

Israel’s Haredi crisis is about more than IDF enlistment. In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast, Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Orly Erez-Likhovski speak with Dr. Yakir Englander — a scholar, educator, and community bridge-builder who grew up inside Israel’s Haredi community, later left it, served in the IDF, and has spent much of his life working across Jewish, Israeli, and interfaith communities. To...

In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast, Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Orly Erez-Likhovski share a conversation from Israel in Depth with Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Rabbi Lindsey Danziger, and Blake Ziegler of the Religious Action Center. Together, they discuss the partnership between RAC and IRAC, the threats facing democracy and religious pluralism in Israel and the United States, and the ways organizing ca...

What does it mean to be proudly queer, deeply Jewish, and connected to Israel in a time of growing polarization? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg speak with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie—an Israeli-born rabbi, storyteller, queer Jewish leader, and co-founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul in New York. Raised in one of Israel’s most prominent Orthodox...

In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Orly Erez-Likhovski speak with Nadav Tamir, Executive Director of J Street Israel, former Israeli diplomat, and former senior adviser to President Shimon Peres. This is a conversation about J Street — but it is also about something larger: how Jews who care deeply about Israel argue about its future without turning disagreement int...

The Pluralist Podcast shares a deeply moving conversation between Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, originally recorded live as part of the Reform Movement’s Israel in Depth program. Over the past two and a half years, Rachel Goldberg-Polin has become one of the most important moral voices to emerge from the struggle to bring the hostages home after October 7. In this conversation, sh...

Jerusalem Day is supposed to celebrate the unity of Jerusalem. But what is the reality of the city in 2026? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast, Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg sit down with Haaretz Jerusalem correspondent Nir Hasson for an honest and deeply important conversation about the realities shaping Jerusalem today: the growing extremism surrounding the Flag March, the un...

Israel is facing a dangerous moment. In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast, Rabbi Josh Weinberg and Orly Erez-Likhovski discuss the rising violence, extremism, racism, and democratic erosion shaping Israeli society — and why they believe it is becoming impossible to look away. Together, they examine the murder of Yemaenu Zelka, attacks against Christian clergy in Jerusalem, the normalization of...

In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean , we speak with educator and author Dr. Alex Sinclair about a moment that quickly went viral — when he was detained for wearing a kippah stitched with both Israeli and Palestinian flags, only to have it returned with the Palestinian flag cut out. But this conversation goes far beyond one incident. Together, we explore what it m...

As Israel marks 78 years of independence, the transition from Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut feels more complicated than ever. In this episode, Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg explore how Israelis and Jews around the world are grappling with grief, identity, and the challenge of celebration in a year shaped by war, loss, and deep political tension. Together, they ask: what does it mean...

After 16 years of democratic backsliding in Hungary, something shifted. In this episode, Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg speak with Hungarian public figure and activist Peter Arvai about what it actually felt like to live through the erosion of democratic institutions—and what changed in the recent elections that led to a dramatic political shift. This conversation goes beyond Hungary....

In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean, Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg speak with Rabbi Dana Sharon of Rabbis for Human Rights about the rising reality of settler violence in the West Bank. Dana shares her experience on the ground, providing protective presence to Palestinian communities facing increasing violence and displacement. She describes how the...

In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg speak with Samah Darwish, Director of IRAC’s Racism Crisis Center, and Yolanda Savage-Narva, Vice President for Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Union for Reform Judaism. At a time marked by war in Israel and growing fear within Jewish communities in the United States, this conversation explores how...

Women’s rights are facing new challenges in both Israel and the United States. In this episode of Pluralist: From Both Sides of the Ocean, Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg speak with Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch, CEO of Women of Reform Judaism, about the fight for gender equality, religious pluralism, and democratic values across the Jewish world. Drawing on her long-standing connection to Isr...

As Israel faces a new phase of war with Iran, daily life has again become defined by sirens, shelters, and uncertainty. In this special Purim episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Orly Erez Likhovski (Israel Religious Action Center) and Rabbi Josh Weinberg (URJ / ARZA) reflect on what it means to navigate a complex and painful moment — from both sides of the ocean. This conversation is not geopolitic...

For generations, Jews around the world have faced Jerusalem in prayer. Now, a bill in Israel’s Knesset could give the Chief Rabbinate the power to define which prayer is “acceptable” at the Western Wall — and potentially criminalize egalitarian worship. In this clip from The Pluralist Podcast, Orly Erez Likhovski and Josh Weinberg discuss: • Why dismissing this bill as “just politics” is dangerous...

Violence in Arab communities in Israel has reached unbearable levels — and many people are asking: what is actually happening?  In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg sit down with Lama Yassin of The Abraham Initiatives to unpack the rise in violence in Arab society, the policy failures behind it, and what would be required to reverse it.  This is a...

War. Democracy. Relationship. In this special episode of The Pluralist Podcast, we share an edited conversation recorded live at the Religious Action Center’s Consultation of Conscience conference in Washington, D.C. Moderated by Daryl Messinger and featuring Orly Erez-Likhovski (IRAC), Rabbi Josh Weinberg (ARZA), and Michael Koplow (Israel Policy Forum), this panel wrestles with the evolving U.S....

Haredi society. Shared responsibility. Israeli democracy. In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg take on one of the most sensitive and misunderstood questions in Israeli society today: the place of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) society in a shared Jewish and democratic state. Sparked by a recent tragedy in an unsupervised childcare setting, the conversatio...

What does it mean to grow up Jewish when the only Israel you’ve ever known is a Netanyahu-era Israel — and October 7 made everything harder? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg listen to three young Reform Jewish leaders — Tamara Upfall, Daniel Block, and Blake Ziegler — as they reflect on Israel, campus life, peer pr...

What does it mean to stand with Israel without looking away? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean , Orly Erez-Likhovski and Rabbi Josh Weinberg take on one of the hardest questions facing Jews today: How do we hold deep commitment to Israel while speaking honestly about the actions of its government? While much of the world has been focused on war, grief, and reco...

What happens when anti-Zionism and antisemitism blur together—and the people most affected are left to navigate the fallout alone? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean, Orly Erez-Likhovski (Executive Director of IRAC) and Rabbi Josh Weinberg (URJ Vice President for Israel & Reform Zionism, Director of ARZA) are joined by Marc Dollinger, Professor of Jewish Stu...

What happens to the Israel–Diaspora relationship when solidarity isn’t enough—and silence isn’t an option? In this episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean, Orly Erez-Likhovski (Executive Director of IRAC) and Rabbi Josh Weinberg (URJ VP for Israel & Reform Zionism, Director of ARZA) sit down with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, for a wide-ra...

What does it mean to be a Jewish pluralist in Israel—and why does it matter right now? In the launch episode of The Pluralist Podcast: From Both Sides of the Ocean , Orly Erez-Likhovski , Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) , and Rabbi Josh Weinberg , Executive Director of ARZA and URJ Vice President for Israel & Reform Zionism , sit down in New York for an honest,...

➡️ Subscribe to Pluralist Newsletter: Subscribe to the Pluralist — The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) ➡️ Support IRAC’s work: https://apzprxtx.donorsupport.co/page/PluralistPodcast What happens when courts stop protecting us—and start protecting power? In this urgent episode of The Pluralist Podcast, IRAC Executive Director Orly Erez-Likhovski is joined by award-winning journalist and legal...