This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk . We are proud to feature their fourth season's first 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. -----------------------------------------...
Jan 16, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Leibman is an award-winning author and scholar of religion in the early Americas and currently serves as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Adriana Brodsky is an award-winning author and scholar of Sephardic Jews in Argentina and currently serves as Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The two thinkers join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about their newly-published book, Jews Across the Amer...
Jan 12, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Digital Judaism is the geography in which Judaism Unbound operates! In this conversation Dan, Lex, and Miriam reflect upon the digital Jewish past, present, and future, and consider Judaism Unbound’s continued role as a leader in — and lover of — the digital Jewish landscape. This episode is the 7th and final episode in a series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism. Registration for the UnYeshiva’s new mini-courses is now open! We’ve got conversion, bodies, mishnah, and more! Vi...
Jan 05, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast LGBTQIA+ folks are among the most creative people on this planet, creating realities and reimagining a world from the inside out—not of how things are but to how things could be. Queer creativity is visionary. In what has been a time of isolation for so many people, Reed Love is teaching a mini-course in the UnYeshiva, called Cosmic Bodies: Celebrating Queer & Jewish Creativity, that will serve as a space to connect – to community, to oneself, and to creative curiosity. In this bonus episode of ...
Jan 04, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Biale is the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis and the the award-winning author/co-author of seven books on Jewish history. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about counterculture, secularism, and reaching for our roots, all in the context of understanding the Jewish past and present. New 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva begin soon! Learn more about them by heading to www.judaismunbound.co...
Dec 29, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Adam Mansbach is a best-selling author, screenwriter, cultural critic and humorist. His newest novel, The Golem of Brooklyn , tells the fictional story of a stoned Brooklyn art teacher who accidentally creates the Golem, a Jewish folkloric creature. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a discussion of the book and its broader explorations of race, faith, healing, and humor. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep t...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hasia Diner is the Director of the Goren-Goldstein Center for American Jewish History at New York University , and the award-winning author of over twenty books, many of which focus on the history of American-Jewish minority communities. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about questioning tradition, raising up long-quieted voices, and turning towards under-represented individuals instead of mainstream institutions when writing and re-writing the American Jewish historica...
Dec 15, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 4th and final episode of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized ...When we talk about Apocrypha, people tend to presume that we are focused on ancient books. Texts that were written a couple thousand years ago, but which did not make it into the Jewish Biblical canon. That’s…true, usually, even in our Apocry-Fest initiative! But we also are interested in diving into what “apocrypha” might mean for texts (and art) created in the 21st century in b...
Dec 13, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 3rd of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized ...Have you ever thought “Dang, there aren’t enough demons in Jewish text. Especially demons with a hobby of killing potential husbands on their wedding nights.” No? That probably reflects well on you. But if, after hearing that question, you’re intrigued…wowee is the book of Tobit going to be exciting for you! Also, this book contains angels disguised as humans and fish guts, if you need any other s...
Dec 10, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Zvi Kalman , owner of the independent publishing house Print-O-Craft Press , is a scholar, writer, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, religion, and art. Kalman joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about the present and future relationships between Judaism and artificial intelligence (AI). This episode is the sixth in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism . Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . We ...
Dec 08, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 2nd of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Lex and Liana want you to know that the book of Esther isn’t (just) what you think it is. It’s even BIGGER! And it’s in GREEK, not just Hebrew. Lex and Liana dive into expansions of the book of Esther — expansions that came along long after the original book was written — and they explore what those editorial choices (and additions) have to teach us. You can sign up for Apocry-Fest by heading to ww...
Dec 07, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 1st of a four-episode Hanukkah mini-series, Apocry-Fest: Hanukkah Unbound & Un-Canonized , Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio , respectively) open up the second annual edition of Apocry-Fest: the greatest Hanukkah initiative this side of the Mississippi. And Lex and Liana are located on different sides of the Mississippi River, so that actually encompasses everywhere! Dive into questions of canon which are ancient, modern, and future-facing. You can...
Dec 05, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brett Lockspeiser , product designer , mosaic artist , co-founder of Sefaria , and now the co-founder of Spiritual Hardware Labs, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the intersection between accessible technology and meaningful ritual. This episode is the fifth in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a o...
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Miriam Anzovin is a visual artist, writer, content creator, and massive Jewish nerd, exploring the juxtaposition of pop culture, nerd culture, and Jewish culture. Through her #DafReactions, an ongoing video series where she shares her reactions to the daily Talmud page on TikTok, she has become one of the world's best-known commentators on the Talmud -- though despite that, she hesitates to call herself a "teacher" of Talmud. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about #DafR...
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Olivia Devorah Tucker is a demonologist, Talmud educator, and artist teaching a course called Developing a Demon: Ashmodai Through the Ages in the UnYeshiva this fall. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the world of Jewish demons and its radical, imaginative potential. This episode is the third in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring digital Judaism. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , pl...
Nov 17, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Branfman , the Eli Reinhard Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Stanford University, researches and teaches about Jewish identity in U.S. popular culture -- focusing on the way that Jewish stars perform race, gender, and sexuality. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about his upcoming mini-course in the UnYeshiva, Rude, Lewd, and Fabulous: 21st-Century Jewish Feminist Comedy, from Haddish to Glazer to Bloom . What is this course about, why is it just as important as classes ab...
Nov 15, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rena Singer and Samantha Frank are the masterminds behind the viral Jewish Instagram account, Modern Ritual . When they aren’t crafting innovative Jewish social media content, Singer serves as a rabbi at Temple Sholom of Chicago , and Frank works at Sanctuary , the 92nd Y , and is a Rabbinic Fellow and DC’s Temple Micah . In this episode, they join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Jewish engagement, accessibility, and fun in the digital age. This episode is the second in an...
Nov 10, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Molly Tolsky is the founding editor of Hey Alma , and the editor of Kveller . She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about digital Judaism, pop culture as Torah, and finding humor in dark spaces. Learn more about Shawn Harris's upcoming (un)course, called Dungeons & Dragons & Dreidels , by clicking here! It starts in just a few days (November 5, 2023), as this episode is released! Learn more about other upcoming UnYeshiva mini-courses, beginning in late November, by heading t...
Nov 03, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jory Handelsman Mayschak is the founder and CEO of BaMidbar , the nation’s first Jewish wilderness therapy program. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about community-oriented approaches to youth mental health and wellness, all through a distinctly Jewish lens. Learn more about Shawn Harris's upcoming (un)course, called Dungeons & Dragons & Dreidels , by clicking here! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please h...
Oct 27, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Expanding the Canon is an initiative from the Washington DC-based Theater J , which has commissioned seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish writers to create new full-length plays. These plays will thematically and visually center diverse Jewish narratives in order to correct and broaden the historically limited portrayals of Jewishness on stages in the United States and around the world. Hayley Finn, Theater J's artistic director, and Zachariah Ezer, one of the seven playwrights that coll...
Oct 20, 2023•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Conversion to Judaism is a process dating back to roughly the 2nd century BCE, but even with this long history, mainstream Jewish institutions often fail to wholly welcome these individuals into their communities. In this conversation, Dan and Lex discuss attitudes towards conversion and explore the future of integrating the beauty and brilliance that people who convert bring to the Jewish community and beyond. This episode is the 10th and final episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring conver...
Oct 13, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tamar Kamionkowski serves as professor of Biblical Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the wide range of understandings of God in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history, and how those understandings open up new Jewish possibilities today. Kamionkowski is also teaching an UnYeshiva course this fall called God? Gods? Goddesses? Godexes?: Diverse Theologies in the Hebrew Bible – don’t miss it! Tamar Kamionkowski is teach...
Oct 06, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast What are the purposes of ritual in our lives? What are the ingredients that go into a successful ritual? Rachel Rose Reid , a ritualist and storyteller who was the first British person to be ordained by the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about crafting Jewish ritual. Rachel Rose Reid is teaching a course in the UnYeshiva this Fall entitled Crafting Jewishly-Rooted Ritual . You can register for it (and explore our other Fall 2023 courses as well) by headi...
Sep 29, 2023•1 hr 1 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." Register for the course he is teaching in the UnYeshiva, beginning in early October, via this link! To access full shownotes for this episode, click here . Learn more about current and upcoming courses in Judaism Unbound's UnYeshiva -- a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning -- by heading to ...
Sep 26, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Danya Ruttenberg , the Scholar-in-Residence for the National Council of Jewish Women -- and also (unofficially) the "Rabbi of Twitter" according to many -- joins Dan and Lex for a special Yom Kippur episode of Judaism Unbound! Together they explore her book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World , considering what it has to teach us about the process of making amends, and asking how its lessons could help us create deeper and more meaningful forms of Yom Kippur experie...
Sep 22, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Some people become Jewish at some point in life after they are born. Typically, they're referred to as either "Jews-by-choice" (in contrast to "Jews-by-birth") or as "converts" to Judaism. Amelia Dornbush , who underwent a conversion to Judaism during college, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about why she would not describe herself as a "Jew-by-choice," and why that term may create more problems than it solves. This episode is the 9th in an ongoing Judaism Unbound mini-series exploring conv...
Sep 15, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this fourth and final bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023 , Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore the topic of second chances, through ancient Jewish stories and contemporary life. This Elul bonus episode is the fourth of four that has been released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul episodes ove...
Sep 11, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Benay Lappe, the founder of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva -- and, way back in Judaism Unbound's earliest days, the first guest on our podcast -- joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about conversion to Judaism in the Talmud. As it turns out, the process of becoming Jewish was a lot simpler for the early rabbis than it is today. But just how much simpler? To find out, listen in to this episode, the 8th in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism. Access full shownotes for t...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this third bonus episode of Elul Unbound 2023 , Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore ways in which spirals might connect to the month of Elul, and the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This Elul bonus episode is the third of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2023 (our 18th-21st Elul ...
Sep 04, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tivona Reith and Holly Smith are two of Judaism Unbound’s most dedicated and longstanding listeners. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about becoming Jewish as adults, and whether we might benefit from shifting our terminology from “conversion” to “integration.” This episode is the 7th in an ongoing mini-series exploring conversion to Judaism. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And a reminder: Elul Unbound is back! Our annual exploration of the final ...
Sep 01, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
