Judaism Unbound

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, spanning multiple time-zones, featuring a rich diversity of Jewish backgrounds and experiences? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 conversation about loneliness, the importance of connection, and the power of showing up for one another.Interested in deepening your relationship to Judaism Unbound? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.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 or monthly tax-deductible don

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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!Interested in deepening your relationship to Judaism Unbound? Apply to be part of our Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism. Learn more at www.judaismunbound.com/certificate. The deadline to submit your application for cohort 2 of this program is July 8th, 2024.

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 incarcerated. Despite facing obstacles and judgments, they find belonging and community within Judaism. Episode 1 (Jewish Enough) explores themes of identity, conversion, and belonging, shedding light on the challenges and joys of practicing Judaism behind bars. Through their journey, listeners witness the power of faith, resilience, and the pursuit of personal transformation. Join us on this heartfelt exploration of Judaism and the human spirit.For information on how to reach out to connect with Jewish agencies who supp

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, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 Weekly Torah Portion (2017). In this conversation, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg welcome him to the show to explore his newest book, entitled Judaism is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life.Sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024! 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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking

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 contend with grief, loss, and the need for rest. This episode is the 6th in an ongoing series of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring Disability Torah.Sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024! 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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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.---------------------------------------------In this episode, presented in collaboration with Hebrew College, we begin by exploring two poems from the second half of the 19th century by prominent American poets. One, "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is generally thought to have been written during a visit to Newport in 1852 and was then published in 1854. The other, a response to that work by Emma Lazarus, called "In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport," was likely written in 1867 and then published in 1871.Rabbi Dan Judson, Provost

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 in the UnYeshiva. Check out these classes at www.judaismunbound.com/classes! And sign up for ShavuotLIVE, our 24-hour festival of Jewish learning (June 8-9) by heading to bit.ly/shavuot2024!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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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-week mini-course, Unraveling Jewish Zines: From Rashi to the Haggadah to Instagram, which starts on May 22nd! Check out our other 3-week mini-courses via www.judaismunbound.com/classes -- financial aid is available for all of them, just fill out this form.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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! 

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 UnYeshiva mini-courses is now live, and it’s not too late to register! We’ve got everything from Phish to zines to death. Learn more and sign up at JudaismUnbound.com/Classes. Financial aid is available if needed, just fill out this form!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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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.com/classes!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 or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 cultures, traditions, and stories that make Sephardi and Mizrahi communities unique.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 us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 link. 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!

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.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 tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 in 2023.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 tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 Rofeberg for a conversation about it — and all things radical-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 one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation, in honor of our 8-year anniversary. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

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 us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!