PurimLIVE 2021

Join Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio for a two-hour creative, musical and revolutionary romp through the Book of Esther this Purim! We are inviting some of our favorite artists and Jewish thinkers to each tackle one of the ten chapters of the Book of Esther in a wide variety of formats. Each guest will bring their own distinctive approach to exploring this ancient story (**scroll down for more info about our presenters**).

PurimLIVE Presenters:

Chapter 1: Xava De Cordova

Xava De Cordova is a Sephardi trans woman, teacher and troublemaker. She got her start teaching when she created Beit Midrash Behind Bars, a Jewish learning program in Washington prisons. She went on to found the first ever Queer Talmud podcast, "Xai, how are you?" and to co-found the first online-first queer yeshiva, Shel Maala.

Chapter 2: Rebecca Chess

Rebecca Chess (they/them) is a teacher, a rabbinical student, and very Canadian. They are queer and genderqueer. Earning their Rabbinic Ordination from HUC-JIR in Los Angeles, they fill the rest of their time teaching Torah and working to strengthen the justice work being done by the Reform Movement in Canada. It is important to know that they love cheese and do play Ice Hockey.

Chapter 3: Alicia Jo Rabins

Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer and Torah teacher. She is the author of two poetry books, Divinity School and Fruit Geode. As a musician and performer, she is the creator of Girls in Trouble, an indie-folk song cycle about women in Torah with accompanying curriculum, and the forthcoming independent feature film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Visit her at www.aliciajo.com.

Chapter 4: Micha Chetrit

Micha Chetrit (he/him) is a Mizrahi/Sephardi/Ashkenazi farmer with roots presently planted in Tucson, Arizona (Tohono O'odham land). He is a co-founder of the Tucson-based Jewish farm and outdoor education initiative, The Midbar Project, and is on the board of the Jewish Farmer Network. When his hands are not in soil, they are holding a Siddur, or kneading dough for his local, dietary-needs-accessible Challah business.

Chapter 5: Lex Rofeberg

Lex Rofeberg (he/him) is a Jewish educator and activist who serves as Strategic Initiatives Coordinator of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, and as co-host of its Judaism Unbound podcast. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin who currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, Lex was ordained as a rabbi through ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Some things he talks about with far-too-many-passionate-hand-motions include: digital Judaism, interfaith families, and sports fandom as religious practice.

Chapter 6: Dan Libenson

Dan Libenson is founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast, and co-creator of jewishLIVE, where he co-hosts a video series entitled “The Oral Talmud” with Benay Lappe. He is the co-creator of “Text People,” a new project making Jewish texts accessible through short videos and other media. Dan is the translator of The Orchard, written by Israeli novelist Yochi Brandes, a novel about the early days of Rabbinic Judaism, and translation editor of Brandes's The Secret Book of Kings, a radical retelling of the stories of the early kings of Israel. He spent over a decade working with Jewish students on campus, at Harvard and at the University of Chicago, for which he received Hillel’s Exemplar of Excellence Award and an AVI CHAI Fellowship.

Chapter 7: Eliana Rubin

Eliana Rubin (she/they) is a queer artist and educator currently pursuing her Masters of Educational Leadership at HUC-JIR. She received her B.F.A. in Drama from NYU / Tisch. Eliana intersects Jewish, theatre and LGBTQ+ education wherever she can. She will never say no to a bowl of vegan ramen or a bag of movie theatre popcorn.

Chapter 8: Rena Yehuda Newman

Rena Yehuda Newman (They/Them) is a Jewish, transgender writer, educator, mediamaker, and comix artist. A recent graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in History, Rena Yehuda now works as the Editor in Chief of New Voices Magazine, a national online progressive Jewish student publication, where they edit and publish student works while running social media profiles and facilitating workshops and the New Voices Fellowship program. In their free time, Rena Yehuda self-publishes zines and comics, celebrating the intersections of queer and Jewish identity. Rena Yehuda is deeply passionate about Jewish communal memory, the power of art and storytelling, and queering the line between the personal and political.

Chapter 9: Jess Goldman

Jess Goldman is a queer, Jewish white settler writer based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Her writing has been published in the CBC, Room Magazine, and Plasma Dolphin. She is the recipient of the Research and Creation Grant from the Canada Council of the Arts, which she was awarded to expand SCHMUTZ, her collection of queered Yiddish folklore, into a book-length manuscript.

Chapter 10: Liana Wertman

Liana Wertman (she/her) is the founder of The Torah Studio. She’s been creating and leading Jewish learning and life experiences since she was 15 years old at religious schools, syagogues, on farms, at camp, and on Zoom! She sees her work as empowering Jews of all ages to own their Jewishness in the way that feels authentic to them. At The Torah Studio, she does this by creating accessible and inclusive Jewish text study classes that build your personal relationship with Torah and with the Jewish community.