Judaism Unbound

Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.In this episode, the 4th of four, the focus is on the book’s reach and popularity, as well as the problematic nature of its relationship to its Muslim characters, and the divisions among the Jewish communities of Northern Italy.Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.theatredybbuk.org.

Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.In this episode, the 3rd of 4, the focus is on investigating the social roles of both the women in the story and its female readership, as well as the sexual and gender dynamics present in the text.Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.theatredybbuk.org.

Bovo-Buch: Chivalric Romance, Cultural Collision is a four-episode podcast series produced by theatre dybbuk, presented in collaboration with Judaism Unbound.Bovo-Buch is Elia Levita's 16th century Yiddish adaptation of the popular Italian chivalric romance Bovo d’Antona. The book was extremely popular among Jewish communities of the time, and is an example of the cultural convergence that occurs when a narrative is adapted into a new context. Our three episode podcast is a combination of scholarship around the book and its history – led by Erith Jaffe-Berg in conversation with Aaron Henne – and performed readings of the text by actors from theatre dybbuk.In this episode, the 2nd of four, the focus is on the content of the book itself and the context within which it was created, illuminating the cultural forces at work in both the story and the society. The remaining two episodes in this series will be released on consecutive days: September 22nd and 23rd.Learn more about theatre dybbuk by heading to www.thea

Aaron Henne and Erith Jaffe-Berg join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick-off a 4-part bonus series of Judaism Unbound, in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk, exploring and experiencing Bovo Buch, a 16th-century chivalric romance, written in Yiddish (yes, you read that right!).The remaining three episodes in this series will be released on consecutive days: September 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.Learn more about Theatre Dybbuk by heading to www.TheatreDybbuk.org. To access shownotes for this episode, click here.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

Jill Hammer and Taya Shere, co-founders of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the old, the new, and the ways in which Kohenet's work blurs the line between the two.This episode is the third in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Rosh Hashanah 2020/5781, as this episode is released, is less than a week away. But Wendie Bernstein Lash, Lex Rofeberg, and Estee Solomon Gray are ready to talk about Rosh Hashanah 2021/5782 already. Why? Well, next year's Rosh Hashanah will kick off a year-long observance called Shmitah (the Sabbatical year). And they think that if a year-long observance is really going to be meaningful, you gotta prep for it! In this bonus episode, they brainstorm what this coming year could look like, as an "on-ramp" into this year-long practice.This “mini-episode” is the 4th of four that have been released as part of Elul Unbound 2020 (our 9th-12th Elul episodes overall). To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link. 

Aaron Koller, author of Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Jewish Thought, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to dive deep into the story of the binding of Isaac in historical context and as it is utilized today.Check out The Akedah Project, which features over 30 different perspectives on the Binding of Isaac (“akedah” means “binding” in Hebrew), in video form, at AkedahProject.com.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

The month of Elul, and the holidays  of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are most often associated with personal forms of introspection and self-improvement. But how can we immerse ourselves not only in "I" work, but also "We" work? How can Elul be a time for introspection on a communal and societal level, and not just within each individual? In this bonus podcast, Wendie Bernstein Lash, Lex Rofeberg, and Dan Libenson explore those questions.This “mini-episode” is the 3rd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link. 

Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women's Archive (JWA), joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring how, when you center the lives and narratives of Jewish women, the story of what Judaism has been fundamentally changes.This episode is the second in a series of episode exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

What if, this whole time, we've been carving out these realms called "sacred" and "profane," but in reality, the mundane, everyday stuff of our lives could also potentially be holy? Wendie Bernstein Lash and Lex Rofeberg talk it out, and connect the conversation to the holi-month of Elul. If you're curious why this episode is marked "EXPLICIT," well, you'll just have to listen! This “mini-episode” is the 2nd of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here. Participate in Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link. NOTE: The title of this episode does not suggest, by any means, that our society is "all good" right now. It most certainly is not, and next week's Elul episode looks at that in detail. The title is meant only to suggest that we can find goodness/sacredness in everyday elements of our lives that we

Pamela Nadell, author of America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick off a series exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women. America's Jewish Women was the recipient of 2019's Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award for Book of the Year.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Lash launch 2020’s edition of the “holi-month” known as Elul, which serves as an on-ramp into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, by asking a simple (but not simple at all) question: Why is this Elul different from all other Eluls?This “mini-episode” is the 1st of four that will be released as part of Elul Unbound 2020. To listen to our first four Elul bonus episodes, released in 2018, click here. For the next four, released in 2019, click here.Experience the journey of Elul Unbound 2020, through a piece of Elul content arriving daily in your inbox, by signing up at this link. Sign up for our second face-to-face gathering of Elul (via Zoom, on Friday, August 28th) by clicking here.

Dan and Lex look back on recent conversations, featuring organizations created by and for Jews of Color.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Eric Goldstein, author of The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring the history of American Jews and their relationship to whiteness. Their conversation looks at the ever-evolving relationship between particularism and universalism for American Jews, contemporary discourse around white Jews and Jews of Color, and more.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Audrey Sasson, Executive Director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking back on the origins of her organization, looking out at the present moment our society is facing, and looking forward, toward the Jewish (and global) future.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Arielle Korman and Mira Rivera, of Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about Ammud and its work. They explore the power of spaces created specifically by and for Jews of Color, the importance of blending traditional Jewish texts with contemporary struggles for justice, and more.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Ilana Kaufman, Executive Director of the Jews of Color Initiative, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about confronting racism, better understanding Jewish history, and why -- when counting Jews -- we need to do so in ways that reflect our contemporary reality.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Yitz Jordan (also known as the hip-hop artist Y-Love), the  co-founder of TribeHerald Media, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about building online and offline communities that center Jews of Color.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Tal Frieden and Becca Lubow, two members of Never Again Action — a movement of thousands of Jews and allies fighting to end the United States’s cruel immigration policies — join Dan and Lex for a conversation reflecting on the first year of Never Again Action’s work. In doing so, they explore what it means to fight for justice through a Jewish lens, why the historic language of “Never Again” is so important, and why organizing that transcends generational divides can be particularly powerful.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg reflect on recent episodes of Judaism Unbound, touching on topics ranging from Jewish t-shirts, to psychedelics, to intersectionality, along with asking questions about what the terms “rabbi” and “antisemitism” should and should not connote moving forward.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.