The Bagel Report: The Bagel Report is a pop-culture entertainment podcast featuring award-winning culture and entertainment writers Esther D. Kustanowitz and Erin Ben-Moche. Each episode, these entertainment junkies discuss all things Jewish in the arts & entertainment world while exploring how Jewish identity is portrayed on the big and small screen. Follow them on social @estherk and @ebenmoche , and on Twitter and Facebook @TheBagelReport . ---------------------------------- Episode Notes: Es...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Her name is Zipporah Chava McConnell, but everyone calls her Zippy. See, the thing is...that she's a witch — and this year she's having her Bat Mitzvah! ------------------------------------ This is the premise of The Witch of Woodland , the latest novel from Laurel Snyder . Snyder is a Sidney Taylor Award-winning author who has written over a dozen works of fiction. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about The Witch of Woodland , her ongoing effort to overcome "Jewish Imp...
May 12, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast ShavuotLIVE , the biggest and best(est) event on the Judaism Unbound calendar, is approaching in just a few weeks (May 26th/27th)! It's a 24-hours-straight festival of digital Jewish learning, and it's entering its fourth year. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg check in about what Shavuot is (and could be) in 2023, and they also explore what ShavuotLIVE helps to show about the state of digital Judaism today. Register for ShavuotLIVE 2023 via this link! Access full shownotes for this episode via this...
May 05, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Lauren Grabelle Herrmann , rabbi at SAJ: Judaism that Stands for All -- the synagogue where the first-ever Bat Mitzvah took place in 1922 -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about re-visioning B Mitzvah for the next 100 years. This episode is the 2nd in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender sp...
Apr 28, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast In March of 1922, the Bat Mitzvah -- now a widely-recognized ritual across Jewish denominations -- made its first appearance on American soil! Judith Kaplan , at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York City, was the pioneer, and in the coming decades, many women would follow suit. Carole Balin and Judith Rosenbaum , who each played a key role in the Jewish Women's Archive's Bat Mitzvah at 100 initiative, join Dan and Lex to talk through the history of Bat Mitzvah, its contemporary...
Apr 21, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dan Libenson , one of Judaism Unbound's two co-hosts, and Miriam Terlinchamp , spiritual leader of Temple Sholom in Cincinnati, are co-teaching a course called Judaism In-Bound: An Introduction to Judaism for Everyone in the UnYeshiva. With an initial three classes on consecutive weeks, followed by once-per-month class-meetings for the following 9 months, this course is designed to help people learn about Judaism -- through our unbound Jewish lens. Terlinchamp joins Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Passover is here! The traditional seder night(s) passed by (or over?), but there are still a whole bunch of days left in the holiday as this episode is released. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg explore how we might think a bit more creatively about our seders in future years, along with how the "non-seder days" could be activated towards more meaning-making. They also explore the UnYeshiva's new certificate program in Unbound Judaism -- learn how to apply by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/certi...
Apr 07, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elijah the Prophet is a popular guy! To our knowledge, he is the only person invited to every Passover Seder in the world -- and even encouraged to drink wine at each one of those Seders (drink responsibly, Elijah). But uhhh....who exactly is he? If you've opened the door for this fella every year, but never known exactly what his story is, this is the conversation for you! Daniel Matt , scholar of Jewish mysticism and author of the book Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation , joins Dan Lib...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Catherine Horowitz , the 2022-23 New Voices Magazine / Judaism Unbound fellow, joins Lex Rofeberg for a conversation on how TV, and the way we watch it, creates ritual. They also discuss how we can use TV to further shape our religious practices and communities. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by heading to www.judaismunbound.com/classes ! The next block of mini-c...
Mar 28, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk . We are proud to feature their third season's fourth episode as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's feed. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast on Apple Podcasts , or anywhere else that podcasts are found. --------------------------------------- I...
Mar 26, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) is a Gen Z-led movement dedicated to combating climate change and environmental injustice from a Jewish lens. Two of its activists, Isaac Ostrow and Sophie Raskin, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about JYCM's recent trip to COP-27 (the United Nations' Climate Change Conference). Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . Register for our 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unle...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg offer their perspectives on spirituality, in the final episode of a 12-episode mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality, featuring a wide variety of thinkers, practitioners, writers, performers, and more. They also announce some exciting news , for Judaism Unbound and for the Jewish collective as a whole! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearing -- by h...
Mar 17, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ariel Mayse serves as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, and is the co-author of the two-volume A New Hasidism: Roots and A New Hasidism: Branches , with Arthur Green. Mayse joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring the history of Jewish mysticism, from the Hebrew Bible through today. This episode is the 11th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . Learn more abou...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Gashmius is an online magazine dedicated to Jewish mystical thought, practice, and culture, founded on the core belief that "progressive Neo-Hasidism has the potential to uplift and heal the Jewish community and the world." Its two co-founders, Jonah Gelfand and Daniel Kraft , join Judaism Unbound for the 10th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . Learn more about Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center fo...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Let My People Sing is a cultural project expanding the ancient and transformative practice of Jewish communal singing. Let My People Sing gathers in multi-racial, multicultural and genderful Jewish community, uplifting songs and leaders historically and ongoingly pushed to the margins. Three of its team-members -- Batya Levine , Anthony Russell , and Margot Seigle -- join Dan and Lex for the 9th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality. Let My People Sing's 2023 summer re...
Feb 24, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Strassfeld was one of the co-authors of The Jewish Catalog , a book released in 1973 (happy 50th anniversary!) that served as a kind of "Jewish do-it-yourself kit" -- and became one of the bestselling Jewish books of all time. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to speak about a new book of his being released in 2023, entitled Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century . Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , ...
Feb 17, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alec Gewirtz is a community-builder and writer who co-founded The Nearness -- a community platform to nurture people in their spiritual lives. The Nearness offers 6-week journeys (the next journey begins in April 2023), where participants gather digitally, in regular small-group conversations. These conversations are built on structured conversation prompts, shared practices, and support among the participants, and are supplemented by additional workshops, offered by poets, activists, wisdom tea...
Feb 10, 2023•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tzitzit Project is an invitation for everyone, and every body, to engage with the mitzvah of wearing the four-cornered ritual garment, with fringes, called a tallit katan (also referred to as tzitzit ). Its co-founders, Julie Weitz and Jill Spector , launched Tzitzit Project to open up this practice, historically held by cisgender men, to women, trans, and non-binary Jews. They join Dan and Lex for the 7th episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality. Access full shownotes for this e...
Feb 03, 2023•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dan and Lex , in the 6th episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality, want to soak in some of the lessons they've taken from their previous conversations in this unit. They explore how spirituality ties to questions of self, of community, and of society, and whether a central component of spirituality might boil down to dissolving one's sense of self. They also announce some exciting news: the launch of the UnYeshiva's brand-new certificate-program in Unbound Judaism! Learn more via...
Jan 27, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shefa Gold is an educator, composer, and spiritual leader whose music, teachings, and spiritual methodologies have influenced clergy, lay-leaders, and seekers around the world. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 5th episode in an ongoing series on Jewish spirituality, and together they explore the transformative potential of the Song of Songs (a biblical book whose central theme is love). They also immerse in forms of Jewish sacred-chant -- Gold brings some of those chants to our po...
Jan 20, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ariana Katz , the founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl ("Shtiebl" refers to an intimate, cozy space where prayer and study meet), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 4th episode in an ongoing series on Jewish spirituality. Together they explore what it means to build an intentional, spiritual, community, and also consider the importance of holding a mindset of spiritual abundance. To access full shownotes for this episode, click here . New UnYeshiva courses kick off in...
Jan 13, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yoshi Silverstein is the founder and executive director of Mitsui Collective , an organization that seeks to "build resilient community, through embodied Jewish practice and somatic antiracism." Silverstein joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 3rd episode in an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality, and in their conversation they explore ways in spirituality connects not only to our souls -- but also to our physical bodies. To access full shownotes for this episode, click here . Lear...
Jan 06, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Wendie Bernstein Lash , a longtime friend and collaborator of Judaism Unbound who co-facilitates our Elul Unbound initiative every year -- as an on-ramp to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg in the 2nd episode of an ongoing mini-series on Jewish spirituality. Bernstein Lash, a spiritual director (and teacher of other spiritual directors) for decades, outlines what spiritual direction is -- along why it may be worth emphasizing it more in contemporary Jewish life....
Dec 30, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 5th and final episode in a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman conclude the first-ever edition of Apocry-Fest by synthesizing some of the conclusions they've reached as a result of this mini-series. In doing so, they consider a variety of strategies to supplement, up-end, and/or re-shape our Jewish canon. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-d...
Dec 25, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Josh Feigelson, the president and CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality -- and also the author of a new book entitled Eternal Questions: Reflections, Conversations, and Jewish Mindfulness Practices for the Weekly Torah Portion -- joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 1st episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring contemporary Jewish spirituality. To access full shownotes for this episode, click here . If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-...
Dec 23, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 4th of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman celebrate the book of Judith. One of the better-known books of the apocrypha, there’s actually a great deal of historical precedent for tying the story of Judith to the celebration of Hanukkah. The three co-hosts ask why that is, along with talking through some of the nuts and bolts of what this fascinating story (with a fascinating heroine) is all about. You ca...
Dec 23, 2022•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 3rd of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman dive into an apocryphal book called Jubilees . While not traditionally tied to the festival of Hanukkah, the three hosts argue that it could be part of a broader effort to consciously integrate, into our contemporary Jewish practice, books that never made it into the bible -- but which have been held as sacred by groups of Jews in a variety of historical context...
Dec 21, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 2nd of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman dive into a little-known book called Megillat Antiochus -- the scroll of Antiochus. They compare and contrast its Hanukkah narrative with some better-known versions, and ask what it would look like if we incorporated this book into our experiences of Hanukkah today. You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest . Do so, and we’l...
Dec 19, 2022•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 1st of a five-episode mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Dan Libenson, Lex Rofeberg, and Liana Wertman introduce why Hanukkah is a perfect time to engage with books of the Apocrypha (a category of ancient works of literature that were never officially canonized as part of the Bible)! You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest . Do so, and we’ll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal (ApocryFUN!) stuff, during Hanukkah, to help ...
Dec 17, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Kasher , associate rabbi at IKAR and author of a new book entitled ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary , joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to provide some commentary (get it??) on how we read the Torah. In their conversation, they explore some of the incredible opportunities, and potential drawbacks, that arise when reading Torah through traditional and less-traditional lenses. ------------------------------------ This Hanukkah, Judaism Unbound is partnering with Th...
Dec 16, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
