Just a few days ago, one of the leading luminaries of Jewish Studies scholarship, David Biale , died at the age of 75. He was a 3-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and a committed scholar-activist who devoted his life not only to intellectual pursuits – but also to justice. His work had a profound influence on the ways we understand Judaism Unbound, and in the wake of his passing, we wanted to re-release his appearance on our podcast that was initially released toward the end of 202...
Jul 30, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dan and Lex conclude their series of episodes on disability and Judaism. They discuss the wisdom from these episodes, including strategies for imagining accessible Jewish futures, how to navigate a tradition that contains both harm and insight, and how we make choices about editorializing our tradition in order to speak to who Jews are in the present. This episode is the 8th and final episode in a series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring disability justice and Judaism. Access full shownotes ...
Jul 26, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tales of the Unbound is a new addition to the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts! Its first season follows the stories of Ari and Josh, two men pursuing Jewish conversion while incarcerated. Despite facing obstacles and judgments, they find belonging and community within Judaism. “Tales of the Unbound: Episode 2 – “Yes Way” explores the role of prison chaplaincy in cultivating a sense of belonging and Jewish connection among incarcerated people. This episode specifically follows Amy, the Jewish ...
Jul 19, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ari Saks recently completed an 11-year career as a full-time pulpit rabbi, and is currently focused on reaching out to interfaith families, primarily through his podcast called Interfaithing . He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about co-officiating interfaith weddings, how he thinks about presiding over meaningful marriage rituals, and the importance of celebrating interfaith families. Are you pining for a trans-generational community of Jewish learning and growth, spanning multiple time-zo...
Jul 12, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rena Yehuda Newman (They/Them) is a Jewish, transgender writer, educator, independent publisher, and illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Rena Yehuda is also the new Director of the UnYeshiva Certificate Program . They join Lex on the podcast for a conversation about the UnYeshiva Certificate Program and how creative, collaborative learning environments can help us envision emergent Jewish futures. Are you pining for a trans-generational community of Jewish learning and growth, spanni...
Jul 05, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sharon Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR . Her book, The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Hearts and Mend Our Broken World , is a national bestseller, and her 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been viewed by more than 1.5 million people. Brous was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of most influential Rabbis in America , and has been recognized by The Forward and Jerusalem Post as one of the fifty most influential Jews. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversat...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sharoni Sibony is a multi-talented Jewish educator, and the artist behind an exhibition entitled My Body’s Keeper: Provocations and Possibilities . Sibony joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Jewish ritual technologies, art, disability Torah, and more. This episode is the 7th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-time...
Jun 21, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tales of the Unbound is a new addition to the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts! This new series follows the spiritual journeys of folks who leave one way of being for another, claiming agency as they embrace revolutionary Jewish innovation. They build circles of belonging and imagine new ways to engage with their emergent communities. With every awakening, others awake alongside. Tales of the Unbound's first season follows the stories of Ari and Josh, two men pursuing Jewish conversion while i...
Jun 14, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s almost time… for Shavuot! Dan, Lex, and Miriam come together for a conversation about what Shavuot will look like this year at Judaism Unbound. They explore the connections between Shavuot and conversion, renewing our commitment to Judaism through ritual, and how we can meaningfully experience Shavuot in new and ancient ways. Click HERE to register for ShavuotLIVE 2024, taking place June 8th-June 9th! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound ...
Jun 07, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shai Held, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and leaders in America, is president and dean of the Hadar Institute in New York City. Held received the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, and has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the most influential rabbis in America and to the Forward's list of the most prominent Jews in the world. He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013) and The Heart of Torah: Essays on the ...
May 31, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elliot Kukla (he/they) is a rabbi, author, and activist. Elliot has worked at the intersection of justice and spiritual care to those who are ill, dying and bereaved since 2007. They are currently on the faculty of SVARA, where they also direct the Collective Loss Adaptation Project (CLAP) . Elliot joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about justice-based radical spiritual care, and what both the experience of chronic illness and the Jewish tradition offer our world as we conten...
May 24, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk . We are proud to feature their fourth 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. ----------------------------------------...
May 21, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jess Belasco is the founder and director of The Disability Justice Torah Circle , a space in which Jews with disabilities can build community around Torah, engage Jewish text through a disability justice lens, and nurture and amplify their voices to impact the broader Jewish community. They join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about what disability has to say about Torah and what Torah has to say about disability. There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning next week ...
May 17, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chava Shapiro is the founder of the Jewish Zine Archive , an archival collection of Jewish zines and a digital Jewish cultural space. They join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation related to their upcoming UnYeshiva mini-course, Unraveling Jewish Zines: From Rashi to the Haggadah to Instagram , which will explore the intersection of Jewish identity, DIY ethos, and artistic innovation through the lens of zine culture. Learn more about (and register for) Chava Shapiro’s UnYeshiva 3-we...
May 10, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalia Marx , an author, teacher, and activist who promotes liberal Judaism in Israel, is the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. Her book, From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar , uses a progressive approach to explore each Hebrew month and its holidays alongside art and literature. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about the Jewish calendar of the past, present, and future. Our newest round of UnYeshiv...
May 03, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Livia Thompson serves as the Executive Director of JBI (formerly Jewish Braille Institute): an organization enabling access to Jewish life through audio, braille, and large-print texts. She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about JBI and its powerful work. This episode is the 4th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah. There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound....
Apr 26, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tzemah Yoreh is a rabbi, scholar, and liturgist who recently wrote a book entitled So Compassionate It Hurts: My Life as a Rabbi On the Spectrum . He joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in an ongoing series exploring Disability Torah. There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes ! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help ...
Apr 19, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist. She teaches spirituality and Jewish mysticism at Malchut , a mystical school teaching direct experience of God, creates art focused on shifting societal narratives, such as Prostrations and The Selichot Project , and writes about Judaism through the lens of intersectional feminism, as seen in her Feminism All Night project. She joins Lex Rofeberg for a conversation conversation about her upcoming UnYeshiva class , which delves into the cu...
Apr 12, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Judaism Unbound’s executive director Miriam Terlinchamp , senior Jewish educator Lex Rofeberg , and senior fellow Dan Libenson take a close look at Passover, discussing everything from matzah scultpures to individual vs. collective liberation. ---------------------------------------------------- There are some amazing mini-course offerings beginning at the end of April in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes ! Access full shownotes for this episode via this li...
Apr 05, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lauren Tuchman is a sought-after spiritual leader and educator whose work focuses on disability access and inclusion. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, she is, as far as she is aware, the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the nexus between visual impairment, inclusion, and Jewish tradition. This episode is the second in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah....
Mar 29, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julia Watts Belser is a rabbi, scholar, and longtime disability and queer activist. She currently serves as a professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, and core faculty in Georgetown's Disability Studies Program. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about her latest book, Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole , which won a National Jewish Book Award ...
Mar 22, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Judaism Unbound’s executive director Miriam Terlinchamp , senior Jewish educator Lex Rofeberg , and senior fellow Dan Libenson dig into all things Purim: the darkness of the book of Esther, the yonic nature of hamantaschen, and the appropriate ratio of comedy to tragedy when it comes to honoring the holiday. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . In honor of our 8-year anniversary, if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly ta...
Mar 15, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ariana Katz , founder of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl , sees rooted ritual and radical organizing as her Jewish legacy. Jessica Rosenberg , author of Introduction to Trauma, Healing and Resilience for Rabbis, Jewish Educators and Organizers , is a teacher on integrating trauma-informed pedagogy into Jewish education, ritual and organizing. The two are co-authors of a new book entitled For Times Such as These: A Radical Guide to the Jewish Year , and they join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofebe...
Mar 08, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Analucía Lopezrevoredo is the founder of Latin Jewish cultural and educational organization Jewtina y Co , as well as an award-winning activist and sociologist known for her work on human migration, immigrant identity development and global Jewish communities. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Latin Jewish diaspora, diversity, and emerging creative movements. Access full shownotes for this episode via this link . And if you're enjoying Judaism Unbound , please help...
Mar 01, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Eleyna Fugman is a Jewish community-builder focused on populations that have been historically marginalized. She is the co-founder of the leadership development organization, TischPDX , and the alternative grassroots Jewish community, The Alberta Shul , both based on the Eastside of Portland, Oregon. She joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about crafting Jewish community outside of the mainstream as a tikkun (a healing process) for organized Judaism. It’s not too late to regis...
Feb 23, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nate DeGroot is a Jewish experiential educator and activist, and currently serves as the Associate Director for The Shalom Center . He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Judaism as a prompt for making the world a better place. It’s not too late to register for our full-semester spring courses in the UnYeshiva! We’ve got Biblical animals, Jewish apocrypha, mythic approaches to climate change, and beyond! Visit JudaismUnbound.com/classes to learn more and register. Access...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yosef Rosen is a historian of Kabbalah and Jewish magic, a creative Jewish educator, and an immersive ritual designer. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is an award-winning author, teacher, and spiritual leader serving as Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte. The two thinkers join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about their upcoming UnYeshiva classes ( sign up here! ), which both use Jewish history and tradition to grapple with ...
Feb 09, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vanessa Harper is the Senior Director of Adult Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA and as the Reform Rabbi-in-Residence at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA. She bakes challah that interprets the Torah portion each week in what was originally an Instagram-based educational project, then a kinetic midrash class, and now a book: Loaves of Torah: Exploring the Jewish Year Through Challah . She joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about living in creative relationship to Judaism, and chal...
Feb 02, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jessica Tamar Deutsch is an artist whose work explores the connections between ancient Jewish tradition and contemporary creative culture and expression. Her newest visual story, Rebbe Nachman’s The Lost Princess , will be released in February and is available for pre-order through Ayin Press. In this episode, Deutsch joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Hasidism, the creative process, and art’s potential to open up Jewish text. Check out our upcoming full semester classes in the UnYeshiva...
Jan 26, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jill Hammer – award-winning author, scholar, ritualist, poet, dreamworker and midrashist – is co-founder of Beit Kohenet and of the Kohenet movement, and currently serves as the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion . She joins Dan Liebenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about dreaming as a medium for communal connection, Jewish meaning-making, and divine revelation. Check out our upcoming full semester classes in the UnYeshiva by heading to www.judaismunbound....
Jan 19, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
