The College Commons Podcast

Rabbi David Saperstein discusses religious freedom, the Supreme Court, civil rights, the Religious Action Center and the midterms. Rabbi David Saperstein is the Director Emeritus, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Senior Advisor to the URJ for Policy and Strategy. Designated by Newsweek Magazine as the most influential rabbi in America and by the Washington Post as the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill,” David Saperstein, for decades, directed the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, representing the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest segment of American Jewry, to Congress and the Administration. For over two years (through Jan. 2017), Rabbi Saperstein served our nation as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, carrying out his responsibilities as the country’s chief diplomat on religious freedom issues. Also an attorney, he taught seminars on Church –State law and Jewish Law for 35 years at Georgetown University Law Center. During his career, Rabbi Saperstein has served as the chair or co-chair of several national interreligious coalitions including the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty and served on the boards or executive committees of numerous national organizations including the NAACP, People for The American Way, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Religious Partnership on the Environment and the World Faith Development Dialogue. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at both the Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and its School of Foreign Service's Center for Jewish Civilization as well as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Policy for the Union for Reform Judaism.

In this thoughtful conversation, Imam Abdullah Antepli examines the parallels and differences between Muslim and Jewish experiences in America. Imam Antepli completed his basic training and education in his native Turkey. From 1996-2003 he worked on a variety of faith-based humanitarian and relief projects in Myanmar (Burma) and Malaysia with the Association of Social and Economic Solidarity with Pacific Countries. He is the founder and executive board member of the Association of College Muslim Chaplains (ACMC) and a board member of the Association for College and University Religious Affairs (ACURA). From 2003 to 2005 he served as the first Muslim chaplain at Wesleyan University. He then moved to Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, where he was the associate director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program & Interfaith Relations, as well as an adjunct faculty member. He previously served as Duke University first Muslim chaplain from July 2008 to 2014. In his current work at Duke, Antepli engages students, faculty, and staff across and beyond campus through seminars, panels, and other avenues to provide a Muslim voice and perspective to the discussions of faith, spirituality, social justice, and more. Imam Antepli also serves as a faculty member in the Duke Divinity School, teaching a variety of courses on Islam and Muslim cultures.

What is the power of questions? Rabbi Feigelson discusses how the right kind of questions can unlock conversation and community. Rabbi Joshua Feigelson is the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prior to joining the Divinity School, Feigelson founded and served as Executive Director of Ask Big Questions, a social startup venture of Hillel International dedicated to improving civic learning and engagement through reflective conversations about questions that matter to all human beings. Under Feigelson’s leadership, the Ask Big Questions initiative helped over 300,000 people on 175 college campuses and in dozens of communities around the world to connect, understand, and trust one another, and won the inaugural Lippman-Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. From 2005-2011, Feigelson served as Campus Rabbi at Northwestern University Hillel, where he was named one of the top 12 people to know on campus by the Daily Northwestern. While at Northwestern, Feigelson earned a PhD in Religious Studies; his academic interests include the intersection of American religion and higher education, with particular interest on the relationship between American Jewish life and American colleges and universities. The author of several book chapters and journal articles, Feigelson has been a keynote presenter and lecturer at numerous conferences, served on faculty for programs of a range of foundations and institutes, and been a scholar-in-residence at synagogues throughout North America.

Rabbi Green discusses Neo-Hasidism, Kabbalah, the Zohar and the search for a contemporary Judaism. Dr. Arthur Green was the founding dean and is currently rector of the Rabbinical School and Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion at Hebrew College. He is Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University, where he occupied the distinguished Philip W. Lown Professorship of Jewish Thought. He is both a historian of Jewish religion and a theologian; his work seeks to form a bridge between these two distinct fields of endeavor. Educated at Brandeis University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he received rabbinic ordination, Dr. Green studied with such important teachers as Alexander Altmann, Nahum N. Glatzer, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, of blessed memory. He has taught Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, and theology to several generations of students at the University of Pennsylvania, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (where he served as both Dean and President), Brandeis, and now at Hebrew College. He has taught and lectured widely throughout the Jewish community of North America as well as in Israel, where he visits frequently. He was the founder of Havurat Shalom in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1968 and remains a leading independent figure in the Jewish Renewal movement.

Cantor Dreskin takes us under the hood of her cantorial craft in this wide-ranging conversation on liturgy, country music, prayer and Reform Judaism. Cantor Ellen Dreskin is an innovative leader in the liberal Jewish movement. Her expertise extends from music to synagogue transformation, from experiential education to enlivened liturgy and mysticism. She has worked as a scholar-in-residence with Jews of all denominations, and has served as Cantor and Educator for congregations in Cleveland and New York. She consults with rabbis and cantors across the country, and has been an online educator for both Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and for the Union for Reform Judaism. Ellen is a graduate of HUC-JIR, has a Master’s Degree in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University, and is proud to have received her honorary Doctorate of Music from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2011. She is a synagogue consultant and clergy coach in the areas of liturgical innovation, personal prayer practice, and communal worship skills.

Rabbi Hartman explores the meaning of boundaries and their effect on Jewish identity in time and space. Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman is President of the Shalom Hartman Institute and holds the Richard and Sylvia Kaufman Family David Hartman Chair. He is author of the highly regarded 2016 book, "Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself." Rabbi Hartman is the founder of some of the most extensive education, training, and enrichment programs for scholars, educators, rabbis, and religious and lay leaders in Israel and North America. He is a prominent essayist, blogger, and lecturer on issues of Israeli politics, policy, Judaism, and the Jewish community. He has a Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy from Hebrew University, an M.A. in political philosophy from New York University, an M.A. in religion from Temple University, and Rabbinic ordination from the Shalom Hartman Institute.

David Fleischer and volunteers engage in thoughtful conversations with voters as way to help them reflect on their cruelest opinions and consider revising them. Dave Fleischer has directed the Leadership LAB of the Los Angeles LGBT Center since 2010. Before that, he created and ran the national training program of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund (1993-98) and then the organizing and training department of the organization now known as the National LGBTQ Task Force (1999-2006) before launching the national LGBT mentoring work that gave birth to the LAB. Fleischer is also the author of The Prop 8 Report, a data-driven evaluation of why we lost Prop 8 (on-line at Prop 8 Report). Fleischer has trained organizers, candidates, and campaign managers for more than thirty years.

In this musical interview, Daphna Rosenberg discusses her life's journey and sings selected songs from her latest album. After travelling the world for many years as a wandering troubadour, Daphna returned to Israel and reconnected to her Jewish roots through music. Daphna composes music to prayers and Israeli poetry, and is a main prayer leader in the Nava Tehila Jewish Renewal community in Jerusalem. Daphna has specialized in musically leading Circle of Life ceremonies – such as births, Bar/Bat mitzvas and weddings. In her music one can hear the influence of folk and rock with a touch of Klezmer. Daphna is active in the area of spiritual care for the ill, in creating heart-to-heart connections between people and in dialogue circles between Israelis and Palestinians. Her compositions to prayers have become popular in communities throughout the world.

Opera singer and Jew by choice, Marques Hollie discusses his journey and musical inspiration. Operatic tenor Marques Hollie, whose voice has been noted for its power, range, and triumphant qualities, has been singing professionally since 2008. Since his debut in Opera Omaha’s production of Verdi’s Aïda, he has gone on to perform more than 20 roles in the operatic canon, including rarely performed and new works. Additionally, he has made multiple appearances on the concert and recital stage (including, but not limited to, a New York Fashion Week runway). After a particularly meaningful Passover experience several years ago, he began seeking out opportunities (musical and non) to explore his identities as a Jew and a person of color. As an emerging Jewish leader, Marques was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Union for Reform Judaism’s JewV’Nation Fellowship, where he began developing Go Down, Moshe; a one man show that tells the Passover story through the musical tradition of Negro spirituals and slave narratives. In addition to his work on Go Down, Moshe, Marques has been a soloist for High Holidays services, spoken on panels about Jewish seeker-hood and the diversity of Jewish identity, and has helped facilitate creative Jewish ritual that is both meaningful and relevant.

Join Dan Nichols in a musical interview exploring his creative process and Jewish music today. Dan Nichols is a product of the URJ Jewish camping movement. He has toured Jewish summer camps across North America for the last 15 years. A classically trained singer, Dan received his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the University of North Carolina. In 1995, realizing the potential of music to make powerful connections with Jewish youth, Dan established the Jewish rock band Eighteen. Since that time, Dan and Eighteen have released 11 albums. Songs like, L’takein (The Na Na Song), B’tzelem Elohim, Kehillah Kedoshah, Chazak, Hoshia, and Sweet As Honey and have become Jewish communal anthems throughout North America.