Podcast Episodes

Why Israel matters: A conversation about the National Library of Israel with Raquel Ukeles

No one ever asks, "Why should India exist?" Or Albania. Or the United States. Or any country in the world.

Except for one country: Israel.

So, let me m…

2 years, 4 months ago

A Jewish rock star reflects on Oct. 7 + Peter Himmelman

Do you know what it’s like to fall in love?

I don’t mean falling in love with a romantic partner.

I am talking about the moment of falling in love with…

2 years, 5 months ago

What's your story? A new podcast reveals the depth of the Jewish narrative

I first encountered Nora Gold when I read her amazing novel, Fields of Exile, which is about the anti-Israel ideologies that are now sweeping across …

2 years, 6 months ago

What do we do now? Coping with the challenges of being Jewish today with David Hazony

What do we do now?

Many Jews, all over the world, are asking themselves that question during these difficult weeks.

Israelis are asking: What do we do …

2 years, 6 months ago

We need to talk about antisemitism.

A blood libel.

That was the first thing that went through my mind when I heard about the bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which claime…

2 years, 7 months ago

How the _____ did this happen? Israel, Hamas, the Bible, trauma, and a podcast with Prof. Jacob Wright

I can't.

I just can't.

At Kibbutz Kfar Aza, they have found the bodies of some 40 babies, some of whom had been beheaded.

This past week has been the mo…

2 years, 7 months ago

Why social justice in Israel cannot wait: a conversation with Orly Erez-Likhovski

"Embarrassed."

"Ashamed."

"Confused."

"Ambivalent."

"Frightened."

Last week, I sat with a group of Jews in a synagogue. It was an adult education session,…

2 years, 7 months ago

Five people in a submersible? OMG. Five hundred refugees? Meh.

The word is "postmortem," and it fits.

For that is what the media has been conducting in the wake of the catastrophe that befell the Titan in the Nort…

2 years, 11 months ago

Is Your Career Over?

This conversation with author Bruce Feiler could not have happened at a more opportune time.

I am in the process of retiring from the full time congre…

2 years, 11 months ago

Why We Have Trouble Praying

“So, Rabbi, in your more than forty years in the rabbinate, what are those things that surprised you – those things that you never expected, or that …

2 years, 11 months ago