Judaism Unbound

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 could easily breeze right past -- not just in spaces or contexts that we've marked specifically for spiritual or religious practice.   

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.