Judaism Unbound

This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 5th night. Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 4th night. Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

Dan and Lex are joined by Amy Kritzer and Jennie Rivlin Roberts, the President and Founder (respectively) of ModernTribe, "a Judaica store for people with innovative minds, spirits, and style." In our continuing exploration of innovation by "regular Jews," we explore what it looks like to run a successful business and try to help to re-invigorate contemporary Judaism at the same time.  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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 3rd night. Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 2nd night. Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

This Hanukkah, Dan and Lex are bringing you fresh ideas to enrich your Hanukkah experience every night of the holiday. In this episode, hear what tradition they propose for the 1st night. Check out all of Judaism Unbound's Hanukkah resources, including food to cook, movies to watch, guests to invite, and cocktails to drink, at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

Dan and Lex offer up 5-minute mini-episodes for each night of Hanukkah. This "long version" packages all of the episodes together so that you can listen before the holiday and map out which ideas you would like to utilize yourself. In addition, each night's episode will be released as a stand-alone podcast a few hours before candle-lighting for that night! Check out all of our Hanukkah Unbound resources at www.judaismunbound.com/hanukkah! 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.

Dan and Lex are joined by Fredric Price, the founder of Fig Tree Books and a facilitator of multiple discussion groups focused on Jewish topics, in the first episode of our series looking at what "regular Jews" (non-professionals) have built. We learn about Fig Tree Books and the various discussion groups Fred runs, and our conversation ranges across a wide variety of topics, including the advantages of connecting to Judaism later in life, how one's professional life can inform Jewish projects, and an extremely broad (and perhaps unanswerable) question -- what is Jewish literature? If you're enjoying Judaism, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here. To access full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Dan and Lex are joined by the star (Adam Goldberg) and director (Jonathan Kesselman) behind The Hebrew Hammer, the 2003 Hanukkah film that became a cult hit. Goldberg and Kesselman reflect on their first collaboration and look forward to the upcoming sequel, to be entitled The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler. Click here to help make this sequel a reality on Indiegogo!

In the final episode of our series exploring Reform Judaism as a concept and as a movement, Dan and Lex reflect on the interviews that were part of the series and consider whether the Reform movement could become an incubator of new ways of living Jewish life, even if those new ways did not look like traditional synagogue offerings, and whether Reform Judaism could become a "big tent" that could include those Jews and organizations that see themselves as non-denomination or post-denominational. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Dan and Lex are joined by Rachel Timoner, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) in Brooklyn, New York. As the final interview in our exploration of Reform Judaism, we learn how a synagogue can be built out of a wide variety of micro-communities yet still constitute one organization. Our conversation also looks at political organizing through a Jewish lens, the value and values of the Reform movement today, and the possibilities that arise when those once on the outside are able to become leaders. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Dan and Lex are joined by Steven Bergson and Andy Stanleigh, Editor and Publisher, respectively, of The Jewish Comics Anthology, Volume 1. They are in the midst of a kickstarter campaign to raise money for SCI: The Jewish Comics Anthology, Volume 2. We discuss the project, the intersection of Judaism, Hebrew culture, comics, and science fiction, and Steve and Andy provide a sneak preview of what will be included in this upcoming collection of Jewish sci-fi comics. To support their Kickstarter campaign and help take this book from idea to reality, click here! 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 and Lex are joined by three guests, Matt Gewirtz, Ben Spratt, and Blair Albom, who have helped to shape Tribe, a Jewish organization co-founded by a partnership of two Reform synagogues that is devoted to meaning-making and community-building in New York City, serving (and led by) Millennials. Matthew Gewirtz is Senior Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, NJ, and Ben Spratt is Associate Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan; this episode is part of our series exploring Reform Judaism. If you're en joying 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Jonah Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about social justice, Judaism, and the many ways that the two intertwine. They discuss the RAC's origins during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, its evolution, and the work it does today to bring about a world built on justice and equality. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

April Baskin, Vice President of Audacious Hospitality for the Union for Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for an in-depth look at ideas of welcoming, empowerment, inclusion, and hospitality in contemporary Judaism. 1 We discuss how the Reform movement is working to create communities that better reflect the full diversity of the Jewish people, and the ways in which historically marginalized Jews, in particular, have so much to add Judaism, now and in the 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about what the Reform Movement looks like today and how its leadership is thinking about its future. The discussion explores the role of congregations in Jewish life, opportunities for growth and innovation in the Reform Movement, the principle of "audacious hospitality," and the changes that are on the horizon as we enter an age of digital technologies. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Daniel Freelander, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for the second segment in a two-part conversation about the history of Reform Judaism. In today's episode, Freelander walks us through Reform Judaism's journey from the mid-20th century to the present, and we discuss where Reform, and Judaism in general, may be headed in the 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Daniel Freelander, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, joins Dan and Lex for the first of a two-part conversation about the history of Reform Judaism. In today's episode, Freelander tells the story of the first 100 years of Reform Jewish history, beginning in Germany and continuing into the first few generations of Reform in the United States. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker once published a book entitled We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For. In this conversation, Dan and Lex suggest a similar idea -- that we are the Jews we've been waiting for! They ask how we can create a Jewish world that is led not by a small set of elites, but by everyday folks. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Aaron Potek, Community Rabbi for GatherDC, joins Dan to talk about a Yom Kippur event he recently co-organized. Garnering national news coverage in the Washington Post, The Forward, and Religion News Service largely due to its location in a beer garden, Potek outlines the thought process that went into this event, what it consisted of, and some of his thoughts about contemporary Judaism more broadly. 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!