JUDAISM UNBOUND PLAYLISTS
People who discover Judaism Unbound sometimes aren’t sure where to start listening. These playlists offer an entry point into the ideas we explore on the podcast, no matter what perspective you’re coming from. Find compilations of our conversations on topics like a “DIY” approach to ritual, activism, Jewish space, or going “beyond inclusion” to learn from the leadership of Jews on the margins. As you delve into our episodes about any of these topics, you’ll get a taste of the recurring themes of Judaism Unbound.
Playlist 10: Jewish Space
In these episodes, Dan, Lex and guests look beyond traditional synagogue buildings to explore the politics, design and future of Jewish space. Walls are optional.
Episode 20: Jewish Without Walls - Beth Finger
Beth Finger, founder of Jewish Without Walls (JWOW) joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in our "New Platforms in Jewish Life series." We learn from the successful strategies of her organization, and in doing so converse about issues ranging from contemporary denominational divides to the role of the internet in the Jewish present and future.
Episode 66: Jewish? Community? Center? - Zack Bodner
Zack Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, joins Dan and Lex in our Silicon Valley series to explore the shifting role of Jewish Community Centers, possibilities for a "Judaism 4.0," and what special role a JCC in the heart of the experimental and entrepreneurial landscape of Silicon Valley might play in playing with the possibilities.
Episode 18: How We Gather - Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile
Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, experts on the emerging group of Americans known as the religious "nones," join Judaism Unbound for Episode 18. Thurston and ter Kuile are co-authors of two monographs, entitled How We Gather and Something More, respectively, and they serve as Ministry Innovation Fellows at Harvard Divinity School.
Episode 19: Moishe House - David Cygielman
David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House, joins Dan and Lex for the second episode in the four-episode series entitled "New Platforms for Jewish Life." Moishe House's mission is to provide vibrant Jewish community for young adults by supporting leaders in their 20s as they create meaningful home-based Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers.
Episode 31: Designing OneTable - Aliza Kline
Aliza Kline, Executive Director of OneTable and former Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh, joins Judaism Unbound for the third episode in a four-episode series on Judaism's relationship to art and artists. She explores the ways in which design thinking can play a crucial role in successful Jewish institutions, along with some of the unique contributions of the two organizations that she has directed to contemporary Judaism.
Episode 59: Jewish Futurology - Hayim Herring
Dan and Lex are joined by Hayim Herring, expert in Jewish entrepreneurship and self-identified "Jewish futurist." They discuss challenges faced by synagogues and opportunities available to them in today's ever-shifting landscape of American Judaism.
Bonus Episode: Lex's ELI Talk (Migrating Judaism: The Internet Movement)
Is the internet a place, among others, in which Judaism now "lives?" In this special, mid-week episode, Dan and Lex ask that question, using a recent ELI Talk given by Lex as a springboard into the conversation.
Episode 92: Reinventing Synagogue - Matt Gewirtz, Ben Spratt, Blair Albom
Dan and Lex are joined by three guests, Matt Gewirtz, Ben Spratt, and Blair Albom, who have helped to shape Tribe, a Jewish organization co-founded by a partnership of two Reform synagogues that is devoted to meaning-making and community-building in New York City, serving (and led by) Millennials.
Episode 106: Cohere - Ari Moffic
Dan and Lex are joined by Ari Moffic, Founder of Cohere, a Chicago-area organization that brings customized Jewish educational experiences into people's homes, along with other outside-the-box (and outside-the-synagogue) locations. Their conversation addresses why so many people do not feel comfortable in synagogue settings but still crave forms of Jewish life. They also re-visit the topic of interfaith families, which has arisen in many past episodes, and they ask what the idea of "Jewish community" really means.
Episode 108: The Jewish Studio Project - Adina Allen, Jeff Kasowitz
Dan and Lex are joined by Adina Allen and Jeff Kasowitz, founders of the Jewish Studio Project, which bills itself as "part urban art studio, part house of Jewish learning, part spiritual community," as part of our series exploring new experiments in spirituality and community building. Our conversation looks at how creative expression and Judaism can overlap in powerful ways and how the Jewish Studio Project, through its combination of Jewish learning and creative arts exploration, creates a context for folks to explore that overlap themselves.
Episode 127: A Synagogue Without Flags - Brant Rosen
Dan and Lex are joined by Brant Rosen, founding rabbi of Tzedek Chicago, an intentional congregational community based on core values of justice, equality, and solidarity. In their conversation, they look at the central role that nationalism, and Zionism in particular, has come to play in many Jewish communities, and explore strategies for institutional change within American-Jewish life.
Episode 181: The New Synagogue Project - Joseph Berman, Lauren Spokane
Joseph Berman, founding rabbi of The New Synagogue Project (NSP), and Lauren Spokane, NSP’s “lead instigator,” join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about how their intentional community is looking to help build a better, more just world.
Episode 129: Women of the Wall - Lesley Sachs, Susan Silverman
Dan and Lex are joined by Lesley Sachs, the executive director of Women of the Wall, and by rabbi and author Susan Silverman, a member of Women of the Wall's Board of Directors and an activist on behalf of African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. In their conversation, they discuss the efforts of Women of the Wall to fight for women's rights to pray as they wish at the Western Wall, explore questions related to religious pluralism in Israel, and consider how a Jewish state ought to deal with non-Jewish asylum seekers. They also consider the roles that American Jews might or might not take on in dealing with these issues and the nature of the relationship between American Jews and Israel.
Episode 141: Federations Facing the Future - Danny Grossman
Danny Grossman, CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, joins Judaism Unbound to look at the Bay Area as a case study for how Jewish federations address demographic and other changes in the Jewish community of the kinds revealed in the 2013 Pew Study and more recent population studies.
Episode 156: Creating Jewish Theatre - Aaron Henne
Aaron Henne, Artistic Director of Theatre Dybbuk, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation blurring the lines between art, education, politics, preservation, and creativity. This episode is the first in a series, brought to you in partnership with the Council of American Jewish Museums.
Episode 158: Curating the Jewish Story - Ivy Barsky
Ivy Barsky, the CEO and Gwen Goodman Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about what Jewish museums are, why they matter, and the impact they are having on contemporary Jews. This episode is the third in a series of episodes on art, creativity, preservation, and museums, brought to you in partnership with The Council of American Jewish Museums.
Episode 183: Intentional Community - Sara Levy Linden, Shira Rutman
Sara Levy Linden and Shira Rutman, two members of San Francisco’s Urban Kibbutz, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about what constitutes an intentional community.
Episode 190: Jewish Camps, Jewish Utopias - Avi Orlow
Avi Orlow, Vice-President for innovation and education at The Foundation for Jewish Camp, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation that explores summer camp as a site for Jewish education.
Episode 231: A JCC for JOCs - Yitz Jordan (Y-Love)
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.
Playlist 11: Beyond Inclusion
In these episodes, Dan, Lex and guests talk about the Jewish people and ideas sometimes pushed to the margins of Jewish institutional life — Jews of Color, gay and trans Jews, Jews in interfaith relationships, and self-identified “Bad Jews.” They examine the idea that beyond mere inclusion, these Jews should be recognized as leaders of the Jewish future.
Episode 36: What Jewish Looks Like Today - Benay Lappe
Is being "welcoming" and "inclusive" enough? Is pain a necessary prerequisite to the successful implementation of radical, new, Jewish ideas? Benay Lappe, the founder of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva and recipient of the 2016 Covenant Award for exceptional Jewish educators (considered akin to the "Nobel Prize for Jewish education"), returns to Judaism Unbound as a guest co-host to tackle these questions, and many others, with Dan and Lex.
Episode 90: Audacious Hospitality - April Baskin
April Baskin, Vice President of Audacious Hospitality for the Union for Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for an in-depth look at ideas of welcoming, empowerment, inclusion, and hospitality in contemporary Judaism. [1] We discuss how the Reform movement is working to create communities that better reflect the full diversity of the Jewish people, and the ways in which historically marginalized Jews, in particular, have so much to add Judaism, now and in the future.
Episode 33: JewAsian - Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt
Professor Helen Kim and Associate Dean of Students Noah Leavitt (both of Whitman College) join Judaism Unbound for an episode on their book, entitled JewAsian. The book provides an in-depth exploration of two important groups of people: couples made up of one Jewish partner and one Asian partner (the Asian individuals may or may not be Jewish themselves) and the children of such relationships. Kim and Leavitt discuss their findings with co-hosts Dan and Lex, along with a wide variety of related topics as they relate to the ever-shifting landscape of contemporary American Judaism.
Episode 34: The Snapchat Rabbi - Sandra Lawson
Sandra Lawson, described in a recent article as "an African-American lesbian who converted to Judaism, eats vegan, and is now studying to be a rabbi at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College," joins Dan and Lex in a discussion on the present and future of Judaism. She offers her take on issues ranging from race, sexuality, and intermarriage to the future of synagogues and emerging forms of digital Jewish life.
Episode 35: Twice Blessed - Joshua Lesser
Rabbi Joshua Lesser, of Bet Haverim (House of Friends), a Gay- and Lesbian-founded synagogue in Atlanta, joins Judaism Unbound for a discussion on being Jewish and Queer, reflecting on the history of Queer Jews in American Jewish life, the positive shifts that have taken place over the past few decades, where there is still work to be done, and the significance of the Queer experience for other Jews who may feel less than welcome in many Jewish spaces.
Episode 52: Nothing Sacred - Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist, writer, and graphic novelist, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation reflecting on the decade since he published his book Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism, in which he advocated for "open source Judaism." Rushkoff argues that that 21st Century Judaism should be based on contemporary interpretations of the traditional pillars of iconoclasm, abstract monotheism, and social justice.
Episode 60: The Future is Already Here
Dan and Lex apply a famous William Gibson quote to the Jewish world. They reflect in particular on their recent conversation with Juan Mejia, on conversion to Judaism, new ways of understanding the role of ethnicity in Jewish life, and more.
BREAKING NEWS - Intermarriage: Changing the Rules - Amichai Lau-Lavie
Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, made national headlines by authoring Joy: A Proposal, which outlines his choice to begin performing interfaith marriages. Hear directly from Lau-Lavie as he engages in a conversation with co-hosts Dan and Lex about marriage and the rapidly shifting landscape of American-Jewish life.
Episode 73: Being Both - Susan Katz Miller
Dan and Lex are joined by writer and journalist Susan Katz Miller, author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family. In their conversation, they explore the growing phenomenon of families raising children in Judaism along with another religious tradition (families who are "being both") and consider the unique gifts these families may bring to Jewish life and to the wider world, as well as the challenges and barriers they face.
Episode 97: "Bad Jews" - Jenna Reback
In our continuing series on "regular Jews" creating important new initiatives, Dan and Lex are joined by Jenna Reback, a television writer based in Los Angeles what has created a weekly podcast entitled Bad Jew Weekly. Reback talks us through her goal of helping people who have thought of themselves as "bad Jews" on their journey toward becoming "bad-ass Jews." The conversation covers a range of important issues in the Jewish world today, from how to fully welcome converts to the interplay between national and international politics and Jewish institutions.
Episode 122: Let's Talk About Israel - Sharon Kleinbaum
To get a sense of the Israel conversation from the point of view of a congregational rabbi, Dan and Lex are joined by Sharon Kleinbaum, Spiritual Leader of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) in New York City. In their conversation, they discuss topics including the varied and evolving perspectives on Israel in Jewish-and-LGBTQ spaces, the consequences of institutional red-lines around Israel discourse, and the importance of interfaith bridge-building.
Episode 126: Open Hillel - Rachel Sandalow-Ash, Eva Ackerman
Dan and Lex are joined by Rachel Sandalow-Ash and Eva Ackerman, two organizers with Open Hillel, an organization that works for pluralism and open discourse around Israel-Palestine in Jewish spaces on college campuses.
Episode 127: A Synagogue Without Flags - Brant Rosen
Dan and Lex are joined by Brant Rosen, founding rabbi of Tzedek Chicago, an intentional congregational community based on core values of justice, equality, and solidarity. In their conversation, they look at the central role that nationalism, and Zionism in particular, has come to play in many Jewish communities, and explore strategies for institutional change within American-Jewish life.
Episode 129: Women of the Wall - Lesley Sachs, Susan Silverman
Dan and Lex are joined by Lesley Sachs, the executive director of Women of the Wall, and by rabbi and author Susan Silverman, a member of Women of the Wall's Board of Directors and an activist on behalf of African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. In their conversation, they discuss the efforts of Women of the Wall to fight for women's rights to pray as they wish at the Western Wall, explore questions related to religious pluralism in Israel, and consider how a Jewish state ought to deal with non-Jewish asylum seekers. They also consider the roles that American Jews might or might not take on in dealing with these issues and the nature of the relationship between American Jews and Israel.
Episode 151: Judaism from a Transgender Perspective - Joy Ladin
Joy Ladin, author of The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about being transgender, being Jewish, and how the two intersect.
Episode 162: 100% Black, 100% Jewish - MaNishtana
MaNishtana joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about race and intersectionality in contemporary Jewish life. As a jumping off point, they discuss these issues through the lens of the protagonist in MaNishtana’s new novel, Ariel Samson: Freelance Rabbi, a Black Orthodox rabbi.
Episode 165: SecularSynagogue.com - Denise Handlarski
Denise Handlarski, rabbi and founder of SecularSynagogue.com, joins Dan and Lex for a wide-ranging conversation, looking at digital Judaism, interfaith relationships, colonialism, among other topics.
Episode 170: Queering The Jewish Bookshelf - Noam Sienna
Noam Sienna, author of the book A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969, joins Lex and Dan for a conversation about expanding our understanding of the Jewish past.
Episode 178: I-Wish-I-Had-This-Itis - Shira Stutman Part 2
Shira Stutman, who serves as Senior Rabbi at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington D.C, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the second half of a 2-part conversation. Together they ask some big questions about the ecosystem of 21st century Judaism, working to combat a disease (not physical!) they term “Wish-I-Had-This-Itis” in the process.
Episode 182: Judaism On Our Own Terms - Tal Frieden, August Kahn
Tal Frieden and August Kahn, two leaders of Judaism On Our Own Terms (a new national network of student-led Jewish communities) join Dan and Lex for a conversation about how Jewish campus life today can help us build the Judaisms of tomorrow.
Episode 213: Passover Your Way - Brian Field, Caryn Aviv
Brian Field and Caryn Aviv, two professional leaders of Judaism Your Way (a Denver-based organization focused on engaging Jews and their loved ones), join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Passover. In particular, they take a look at ways in which it can serve as an opportunity for interfaith bridge-building and as a chance to manifest what they term the “Torah of Inclusion.” This episode is the third in an ongoing series exploring new, old, and new-old approaches to the holiday of Passover.
Episode 214: Finding a Jewish Voice - Kristin Eriko Posner
Kristin Eriko Posner joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about creating multicultural Jewish ritual. Posner is the founder of Nourish Co., a lifestyle brand that help people to come together, heal, connect to their lineage, and remember their rituals.
Episode 237: America's Jewish Women - Pamela Nadell
Pamela Nadell, author of America's Jewish Women, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to kick off a series exploring the history, and the contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women. The book America's Jewish Women was the recipient of 2019's National Jewish Book Award for Book of the Year.
Episode 231: A JCC for JOCs - Yitz Jordan (Y-Love)
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.
Episode 232: Why the Uncounted Count - Ilana Kaufman
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.
Episode 233: The Torah of Jews of Color - Arielle Korman, Mira Rivera
Arielle Korman and Mira Rivera, of Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, join Dan and Lex for a conversation Ammud and its work. They explore the importance and power of for-us-by-us spaces for Jews of Color, the excitement of blending traditional Jewish texts with contemporary struggles for justice, and more.
Playlist 12: Lightbulb Moments
When Judaism Unbound was created, Dan and Lex set out to explore big questions about Jewish life and the Jewish future. The episodes in this playlist trace some of the evolutions in their thinking. These are the “lightbulb moments” of Judaism Unbound.
Episode 3: Exodus - Benay Lappe
Lex and Dan welcome Rabbi Benay Lappe onto the show to discuss ways in which Jews respond to various "crashes" throughout Jewish history. More than that, they analyze the question of whether we are in fact in the middle of a Jewish "Crash" today.
Episode 21: jOS 4.0 - A New Jewish Operating System?
Might we learn something about Judaism from the cell phones that we carry in our pocket every day? In this episode, Dan and Lex explore whether Judaism's "operating system" is functioning properly. If not, they ask whether it is need of a "patch," an "upgrade," or a "new release" -- or is it even possible that Judaism could shift from an "operating system" into an "app"?
Episode 53: Death and Rebirth - Irwin Kula Part I
What does it look like when one version of Judaism dies and another is born? Irwin Kula, President of CLAL: The National Center for Learning and Leadership, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about that question and more. This episode represents Part I of a two-part conversation with Kula. The second segment will be released next week with the title "Episode 54: Judaism's Job."
Episode 54: Judaism's Job - Irwin Kula Part II
How does our approach to Jewish life change when we suggest that Judaism can be "hired" to accomplish various jobs? What are the "jobs" it can be "hired" to do? Irwin Kula sheds light on that question in this episode, the second half of a conversation that begin with Episode 53: Death and Rebirth.
BREAKING NEWS - Intermarriage: Changing the Rules - Amichai Lau-Lavie
Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, made national headlines by authoring Joy: A Proposal, which outlines his choice to begin performing interfaith marriages. Hear directly from Lau-Lavie as he engages in a conversation with co-hosts Dan and Lex about marriage and the rapidly shifting landscape of American-Jewish life.
Episode 86: We're the Jews We've Been Waiting For
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker once published a book entitled We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For. In this conversation, Dan and Lex suggest a similar idea -- that we are the Jews we've been waiting for! They ask how we can create a Jewish world that is led not by a small set of elites, but by everyday folks.
Episode 100: The Third Era - Irving "Yitz" Greenberg
In celebration of Judaism Unbound's 100th episode, Dan and Lex are joined by Rabbi Irving ("Yitz") Greenberg, an important thinker whose ideas laid the foundation that Judaism Unbound and many of our previous guests have been building upon, to take a deep dive into his notion that we are living at the dawn of the "Third Era" of Judaism. We explore the theological, philosophical, practical, and political implications of this paradigm. Yitz Greenberg is considered one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the last half century, and his work has spanned the fields of theology, philosophy, education, activism, and philanthropy.
Episode 130: Israel-Optional Judaism
Dan and Lex close out their unit on the relationship between American Jews and Israel. In their conversation, they explore a wide range of issues, ranging from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, to civil disobedience in American-Jewish life, to the idea of loving Israel.
Episode 139: The Future of God
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg close out their multi-episode series on God by asking what role God might play, and might not play, in the future of American Judaism.
Episode 154: Ten New Commandments - Dan and Lex
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg get a bit revolutionary, introducing (and debating) 10 New Commandments for contemporary Judaism.
Episode 184: Disorganized Religion - Dan and Lex
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg call for future forms of Judaism that will be less institutional and more disorganized.
Episode 215: Passover Re-Imagined - Dan and Lex
Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg wrap up their series on creative approaches to Passover by invoking some of their recent guests and brainstorming their own ideas for experimental new forms of Passover observance.
Episode 224: A New Sinai - Dan and Lex
Dan and Lex, in a conversation released one day early as prep for the festival of Shavuot, use that holiday as a jumping-off point into an exploration of how we might go about building new Judaism(s) in 2020 and beyond.