Judaism Unbound

There was a pretty big election recently! Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg ask what this presidential election can help to illuminate about Judaism, America, and how today's American Jews might relate to the two.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 open up what might be a strange question -- but we promise it's an interesting one! What happens if we understand Judaism as a medium of art, like paint, such that it can be deployed (painted with) in all sorts of creative ways? How would this differ from an image of Judaism (get it??) where we conceive of it as an already-completed painting, which we wouldn't be able to change, now that it's completed?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.

Keshira HaLev Fife, the Oreget Kehillah (Weaver of Community/Executive Director) for Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation reflecting on the word "priestess" as both a noun and as a verb. They ask who priestesses are, what priestessing is, and why even priestesses themselves benefit from being priestessed. With respect to all of these questions, they explore how they tie to the Jewish past, present, and future.This episode is the seventh 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.

Yael Kanarek, an Israeli-American artist, has spent the past few years rewriting the entire Torah -- in Hebrew and English -- by changing the genders of all characters (and animals, and more). In this episode she speaks with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg about her project, called Toratah (Her Torah), and what it might mean for the future of Jewish text and Jewish practice. This episode is the sixth in a series of episodes exploring the history, and contemporary leadership, of America's Jewish women.You can learn more about Kanarek's Regendered Bible at BeitToratah.org.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.

Lila Corwin Berman, director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History and author of the book The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion Dollar Institution, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about American Jewish philanthropy's history. They also explore ways in which that history opens up expansive questions about issues ranging from the Holocaust, to Israel, to sexism, and key terms in Jewish life like "continuity" and "identity."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.

Sheila Katz and Danya Ruttenberg, CEO and Scholar-in-Residence of the National Council of Jewish Women, join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the history and legacy of their organization, along with the work that they're continuing to do today to build a more just, more liberated world.This episode is the fifth 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.

Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire Sufrin, co-authors of the book The New Jewish Canon: Ideas & Debates 1980-2015, join Dan and Lex for a conversation about what a contemporary Jewish canon even is, how they went about deciding the pieces that made it in, and how those questions connect to other Jewish textual canons, past, present, and (potentially) 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.

Sarah Waxman, founder of an organization called At The Well, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about Rosh Chodesh (the Jewish practice of marking a new month). They explore the history of Rosh Chodesh, its relationship to women's spirituality, and At The Well's "Well Circles," which empower women to share this sacred monthly celebration in community with one another.This episode is the fourth 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.

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.