Who The Folk?! Podcast

On this week’s show I’m very excited to welcome Plymouth Police chief and director of public safety Mike Goldstein. We talk about what it’s like to lead a police department, why he’s opted for transparency, and what the past few weeks have been like for him given his role. https://www.plymouthmn.gov/Home/Components/News/News/5957/2158 The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Netwo...

This week, I talk with Madalina Kelner, a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and an artist who will be presenting her first post-graduate gallery show, Behind The Veil, later this month at the Homewood Studio in North Minneapolis. We talk about the strangest senior year ever, what her plans for the future are, and how Behind the Veil came together. https://madalinak.com/galle...

On this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast, we talk to Dudley Dez-um Kohls, a black, gay, Jew who is also a nurse in the time of a global health pandemic. Mostly this week, however, I listen. I don’t try to fix. I don’t ask ‘what can I do’. I listen to and try to learn from someone who is going through things I can’t begin to understand. This episode isn’t tokenism. It’s an honest attempt to start to d...

This week I’m very excited to be joined by Rabbi Adam Rubin, who starting July 1, will be the new senior rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation. Rabbi Rubin talks about his path to the rabbinate, being a rabbi in this unprecedented era, and the secret to his homemade hummus, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, In...

Today we’re joined by Shira Yardley, who works at the Sabes JCC as a job coach with the inclusion program and the garden manager. Shira talks about the program has transformed itself in the coronavirus era, and how the garden is starting in her basement before heading to the JCC, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of...

This week we’re joined by Ronen Pink, a college student with a 3D printer who has started producing much-needed face shields for organizations throughout the Twin Cities. We talk about what inspired him, what the challenges are, and how long he can keep this work up. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by Jewfolk edito...

This week we are joined by the honorable Chief Judge Susan Segal of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. We talk about her appointment to the bench last November, how Public service is in her blood, and how her Jewish values guide her in the law, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by...

This week we talk to Joshua Olstein, a St. Paul resident and a nurse, who has relocated to New York during the coronavirus crisis. WE talk about why he decided to go to Manhattan, what he’s seeing in his work there, and what his nursing future may hold. https://www.twincities.com/2020/04/11/regions-hospital-nurses-head-to-new-york-to-help-relieve-staffs-hard-hit-by-coronavirus/ The Who The Folk?!...

This week we talk to Minnesota Department of Health’s Alisha Baines Simon about some of the COVID-19 modeling that she has been apart of. We talk about what her pre-COVID job was at MDH, how the data gets used, and what she’s looking forward to in post-shelter-in-place life, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. https://mn.gov/covid19/data/modeling/?fbclid=IwAR3k-5iqwIsKhAssKu_jk9ptSuTC3K3rC7ZPxB...

Today we’re joined by Ron Rabinovitz, who details his nearly 20-year friendship with Jackie Robinson. We spoke on April 15, which was the 73rd anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier about how that friendship started, and what Robinson meant not just to baseball, but to the American cultural landscape as a whole, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast i...

What’s it like to cook, under pressure, on television? Or to step into a kitchen and work as a 9-year-old? This week we are joined by teen cooking prodigy Ariana Feygin. We talk about Ariana’s Corona Time Cooking videos on her Instagram channel, working with Michelin-starred chefs, and how philanthropy is at the heart of what she does, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. https://www.instagram.c...

This week we’re joined by Leo Dworsky, a 16-year-old St. Louis Park High School junior who is a finalist in the MPR Classical Minnesota Varsity competition. We talk about his start in singing, why he likes to teach, and what it would mean to get your vote, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2020/01/02/minnesota-varsity-leo-dworsky https://youtu.be/l_KABQ5FQNQ...

This week I’m joined by Dr. Seth Baker, a pulmonologist and ICU physician who became Facebook famous last week for an important post on why we need to keep our distance and listen to the guidelines set forth to keep us safe. Seth and I talk about why he wrote that post, what he’s seeing as a physician on the front lines, and what he’s doing to stay safe. https://www.facebook.com/seth.baker.9400/po...

What makes Brandon Schorsch’s job at Jewish Community Action so personal? Brandon is JCA’s new outreach and engagement manager at Jewish, working on the organization’s campaign on combating anti-Semitism and white nationalism. We talk about his new role, the hate crimes bill in the Minnesota Legislature, and Indiana Jones, on this week’s Who The Folk podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of...

This week we sit down with the insatiably curious Zoe Moskowitz, a pastry cook at the James Beard Award-winning Spoon & Stable in Minneapolis. We talk about her move to Minneapolis last year, how the restaurant industry is in her blood, and how her favorite Jewish prayer became the inspiration for a dish, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podc...

This week I’m thrilled to be joined by Genevieve Parker, Jewfolk’s new Community Engagement Manager. We talk about what brought her to Minnesota, her Jewish journey, and what she’s looking forward to as she gets started in this new position, on this week's Who The Folk?! Podcast The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by J...

A singer, musician, actress, dancer, and occasional rapper, Lea Kalisch is not letting herself be defined by one type of art of genre of music. Lea, who is in the process of relocating to Minneapolis, has an incredible background in sports and music that has helped give her the discipline to take on all she’s trying to take on. We talk about Lea’s Swiss upbringing, her new hip-hop video, what genr...

This week we talk with Zachary Paige, an organic farmer in northern Minnesota who just recently launched North Circle Seeds, an organic, sustainable seed business out of his Vergas farm. We talk about the Jewish connection to his work, how he got into sustainable farming, and why he started this new endeavor, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. https://northcircleseeds.com/ The Who The Folk?! P...

This week we kick off Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month with Tasya Rosenfeld Kelen talking about becoming an inclusive hiring company as she moved her production to Jewish Housing and Programming’s commercial kitchen. Tasya also talks about the evolution that has come from that decision, and how the company now stands for something more than a healthy, delicious snack, on this week...

As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz as well as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we’re joined by Helen Siegel, who is with her mother Claire, a Holocaust survivor, and several other relatives on a trip to the concentration camps where she was once held prisoner. Helen talks about growing up the child of surviors, what this trip means to her, and why she con...

This week I’m joined by Miranda Weisbuch, the new executive director of Adath Jeshurun Congregation. We talk about what brought Miranda and her family here from Columbus, Ohio, what is so appealing about the position, and what she brings to Adath, in this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produc...

This week, we’re joined by Ariel Kagan, a strategy and innovation specialist at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Ariel and I talk about how she got into this field, the importance of agriculture to the state, and a new report on kosher meat that she helped lead into publication. https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/210220/Halal%20and%20Kosher%20Report.pdf The Who The Folk?! P...

This week we are joined by David Milavetz, the new President of the board here at Jewfolk. We talk about career changes, the law, and how he’s seen this organization evolve in the nearly 6 years he’s been involved at Jewfolk, in this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by Jewfolk editor-i...

We talk to representatives from more than 20 different community organizations to tell everyone about who they are, and what their synagogue, group, or agency does for the Twin Cities Jewish community. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by Jewfolk editor-in-chief Lonny Goldsmith. If you have questions, comments, or a...

Daniel Volovets is a doctor, psychiatry resident, and accomplished guitarist. Daniel talks about his musical roots and influences, when he knew he wanted to go into psychiatry, and how he balances the demands of residency with his love of playing, writing, and teaching, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, I...