The College Commons Podcast

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.

Fundamentally, Jewish prayer doesn't come naturally; we have to learn it to "own" it and, thence, to benefit from it. Join Rabbi Comins, in an exploration of his book and online course, Making Prayer Real. Rabbi Mike Comins is author of Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer is Difficult and What to Do about It (Jewish Lights) and the Making Prayer Real Course hosted by the College Commons (link). He is also founder of the TorahTrek Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality and author of A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism (Jewish Lights). Read excerpts and learn more at www.RabbiMikeComins.com. A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of UCLA, Rabbi Comins made aliyah and lived in Israel for fifteen years. He studied classical Jewish texts at the Pardes Institute, earned his MA in Jewish education from Hebrew University, and was ordained in the Israeli rabbinical program of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

From Kaddish to sexual harassment and Shakespeare, join Anita Diamant on a wide-ranging conversation about writing and giving voice to the voiceless. Anita Diamant was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1951, grew up in Newark, New Jersey until she was twelve years old when her family moved to Denver, Colorado. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in comparative literature and earned a Master’s in American literature from Binghamton University in upstate New York. Diamant was the founding President of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and is the award-winning author of The Red Tent, The Boston Girl, three other novels and six guidebooks on contemporary Jewish life. Photo by Gretje Fergeson

Rabbi Hahn explores the crossroads of Hebrew chant, kirtan, and Jewish prayer practice. Rabbi Andrew Hahn holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) and received rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform). He has also studied at the feet of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement. Dubbed “a Shlomo Carlebach for the twenty-first century,” he weaves traditional Jewish liturgy and musical modes into the increasingly popular call-and-response chant technology from India, known as Kirtan. A more quiet side of his personality, Rabbi Hahn has also been teaching martial arts for more than thirty years. Packaging these skills together, Rabbi Hahn travels extensively bringing Hebrew Kirtan, Jewish meditation and Torah learning to Jewish institutions and yoga studios around the world.

Rabbi Hoffman examines why prayer is an art form and how it can transform and transport us. Dr. Lawrence A. Hoffman was ordained as a rabbi in 1969, received his Ph.D. in 1973, and has taught since then at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York. From 1984 to 1987, he directed its School of Sacred Music as well. In 2003, he was named the first Barbara and Stephen Friedman Professor of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual. He teaches classes in liturgy, ritual, spirituality, theology and synagogue leadership. For almost forty years, he has combined research, teaching, and a passion for the spiritual renewal of North American Judaism. Rabbi Hoffman has written or edited over forty books, including My People's Prayer Book (Jewish Lights Publishing), a ten-volume edition of the Siddur with modern commentaries, which was named a National Jewish Book Award winner for 2007. His Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life (Jewish Lights Publishing) and his Art of Public Prayer (Skylight Paths) are widely used by churches and synagogues as guides to organizational visioning and liturgical renewal. In 2011, he received a second National Jewish Book Award for co-authoring Sacred Strategies: Transforming Synagogues from Functional to Visionary (Alban Institute).

Dr. Wolpe dives into questions of conversion fear, courageous dialogue, and ethics in science and society. Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D. is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Sociology, and the Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University. Dr. Wolpe also serves as the first Senior Bioethicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he is responsible for formulating policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects. He is Co-Editor of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the premier scholarly journal in bioethics, and Editor of AJOB Neuroscience, and sits on the editorial boards of over a dozen professional journals in medicine and ethics. Dr Wolpe is a past President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities; a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest medical society; a Fellow of the Hastings Center, the oldest bioethics institute in America; and was the first National Bioethics Advisor to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Rabbi Kariv provides a candid look into the social, political and religious life of Reform Judaism in Israel. Rabbi Gilad Kariv is a Reform leader and attorney in Israel, serving as the Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMRPJ). Rabbi Kariv was born and educated in Tel-Aviv. His involvement with the Reform Movement began in High School, when he joined Congregation Beit Daniel, the Center of Progressive movement in Tel-Aviv. Once completing his secondary education at the "Lady Davis" High-School, Gilad volunteered for a year of service (Shnat Shirut) in the Israeli Scouts, and worked on establishing educational "Nahal" groups. Kariv served in the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Corps under the "Haman Talpiot" program. Following five years of service, during which he completed with honors the officers' program, Kariv went to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2001 he earned his bachelor's degree in Law and Jewish Studies. Between 2001-2002 he interned in Supreme Court of the State Attorney Office. In 2003 he received his master's degree in Jewish studies at the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Jerusalem. In 2004, he was certified as a lawyer by the Israel Bar Association. In 2008, Kariv received a second Master's in Constitutional Law from Northwestern University in Chicago, through a combined program with Tel-Aviv University. During his academic studies, Kariv established the Progressive Movement's student network on campuses around the country. Following the economic sanctions of 2002, Kariv was one of the founding members of the Social Organizations Forum, and was active in several social initiatives, such as the single mothers protest. In 2003, Kariv was ordained as a Reform rabbi at HUC-JIR. Among his posts, Kariv served as a leader at Congregation Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv until 2008. Between 2003-2009, Kariv served as the director of the Israel Religious Action Center and headed the Reform Movement's public and legal initiatives in Israel on issues of freedom of religion, the relation between religion and state, conversion, and many other social causes. Kariv initiated the establishment of Keren Be'chavod ("Be'chavod Fund) – the Reform Movement's humanitarian aid foundation and "Kehilat Tzedek" – the training and guidance center for people of all Jewish sects in the field of social action. In 2009, Kariv was appointed to be the executive director of the IMRPJ. Since then, he has worked to expand the work of the Movement, advance its stance among the Israeli public, establish new Reform congregations around the country, and obtain government recognition of the Movement's activities.

Artist Ruth Weisberg explores the influences that have affected both her art and life. Ruth Weisberg, artist, Professor of Fine Arts and former Dean at the USC Roski School, is currently the Director of the USC Initiative for Israeli Arts and Humanities and the founder and President of the Jewish Artists Initiative of Southern California. She received the Printmaker Emeritus Award from the Southern Graphic Council International in 2015 and the Foundation for Jewish Culture’s 50th Anniversary Cultural Achievement Award in 2011. She has been the recipient of the Art Leadership Award, National Council of Art Administrators and the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Hebrew Union College, 2001, College Art Association Distinguished Teaching of Art Award 1999, Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome 2011,1995, 1994, and 1992. Her degrees are from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia, Italy and the University of Michigan. Weisberg has had over 80 solo and 190 group exhibitions, including a major exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena and a retrospective at the Skirball Museum, Los Angeles as well as a solo exhibition at the Huntington in San Marino. She was featured in five Pacific Standard Time exhibitions including a solo exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Ruth Weisberg: Now & Then, 2012 as well as included in the ‘I,You’,We’ exhibition at the Whitney Museum, New York in 2013. Her work is in 60 major Museum collections including The Art Institute of Chicago; The Biblioteque Nationale of France, Paris; Istituto Nationale per la Grafica, Rome; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; The Norwegian National Museum, Oslo; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery, Washington, DC; and the Whitney Museum, New York. Weisberg is represented by Jack Rutberg Fine Arts.

Join Bart Campolo and Josh Holo as they tackle the intersection of religion, philosophy, and morality. Bart Campolo is a secular community builder, counselor and podcaster who recently spent three years as the first Humanist Chaplain at the University of Southern California, before assuming a similar position at the University of Cincinnati. Born and raised in suburban Philadelphia, Bart became an evangelical Christian as a teenager and was immediately attracted to urban ministry. After graduating from Brown University, he returned to Philadelphia to found Mission Year, a national service organization which recruits young adults to live and work among the poor in inner-city neighborhoods. While becoming an influential evangelical leader, however, Bart increasingly questioned his own faith, but it wasn’t until 2011 that he finally completed his transition from Christianity to secular humanism. His work - and his podcast, Humanize Me - now focuses on inspiring and equipping people to flourish by building loving relationships, making things better for others, and cultivating gratitude for the many wonders of this life.