Judaism Unbound

Chag Sameach! Shavuot, the annual festival of receiving Torah/revelation, is coming up soon. And that means.....ShavuotLIVE, Judaism Unbound's 24-consecutive-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and Unlearning, is back and better than ever! 

Dan and Lex are joined in this episode by Annie Prusky, a Jewish educator and current rabbinical student who has presided over many of ShavuotLIVE's most popular sessions over the years. The thr...

The "semi-quarterly glossy home for subversive Jewish culture" during the Bush years -- better known as Heeb Magazine -- is back! Re-launching as Heeb Media, this storied publication is returning, and two of the people behind its revitalization -- Mik Moore and Libby Lenkinski -- join Judaism Unbound for a conversation about reconnecting with those who knew and loved Heeb the first time around, along with building a new audience of...

Tirzah Firestone is a rabbi, author, Jungian psychotherapist, and leader in the international Jewish Renewal Movement. She joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring intergenerational Jewish trauma, through the lens of her book Wounds Into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma.

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ShavuotLIVE, Judaism Unbound's annual 24-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and un...

We are proud to introduce the 3rd podcast in the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts: Survival Guide for a Spiritual Wilderness, hosted by Jericho Vincent. 

"We are the ancestors of the future." This new podcast offers a spiritual home for listeners seeking to connect Jewish ancestral, feminist wisdom with their own svara: moral intuition. Each episode of this limited series delves into a different story of our ancestor Miriam, illum...

Brent Spodek, one of Newsweek's "rabbis to watch" and one of the Hudson Valley's "people to watch," joins Judaism Unbound for a conversation linking recent discussions about Israel-Palestine with an upcoming episode (featuring Tirzah Firestone) on intergenerational Jewish trauma. In it, Spodek argues that Judaism shouldn't be "about Judaism" -- but rather be a platform to channel Jewish wisdom toward pressing questions in our lives...

Israel-Palestine, one of the world's most contentious conversations, is also (all the more so!) one of the most contentious conversations among American Jews. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg close out their recent mini-series of episodes, exploring American-Jewish discourse about Israel-Palestine, with a discussion about Zionism and Anti-Zionism, Jewishly loving Palestinians, and how all of this connects to Judaism Unbound's many yea...

Happy Passover! Chag Sameach! The holiday known simultaneously as Pesach (Passover), Chag HaMatzot (Matzah-Fest), Z'man Cheruteinu (Time of our freedom), and Chag Ha-Aviv (Spring/Barley-Fest) has arrived. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, co-hosts of Judaism Unbound, are joined by guests Daniel Spiro and Marques Hollie for a conversation that explores how we can get more wacky and creative with our Passover seders (traditional rituali...

Rafael Neis is a professor, talmudist, historian, artist, and author of When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species. They join Judaism Unbound for a conversation about why the notion of Tselem Elohim is more dangerous than it appears. They explore human exceptionalism, rabbinic texts that place humans alongside other living creatures, and more -- all as a sneak preview of their upcoming 3-week mini-c...

Amichai Lau-Lavie, co-founder and spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, is a leading voice calling for compassion toward all Palestinians and all Israelis. He joins Dan and Lex for a conversation exploring how the notion of V'ahavta (and you will love) could be channeled more thoroughly in the world -- toward peace and justice for all people. They consider connections between contemporary work for liberation, and the holiday of Passover as...

We are proud to introduce the 3rd podcast in the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts: Survival Guide for a Spiritual Wilderness, hosted by Jericho Vincent. 

"We are the ancestors of the future." This new podcast offers a spiritual home for listeners seeking to connect Jewish ancestral, feminist wisdom with their own svara: moral intuition. Each episode of this limited series delves into a different story of our ancestor Miriam, illum...

Matthew Boxer and Janet Krasner Aronson are both sociologists whose work focuses on American-Jewish life. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about two studies that they've been working on, that explore the wide range of meanings that the terms "Zionism" and "Anti-Zionism" hold for American Jews. This episode is the 8th episode in an ongoing mini-series, discussing American-Jewish discourse about Israel-Pales...

Alissa Wise is the founder and lead organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire. Andrue Kahn is the executive director of The American Council for Judaism. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about the role of rabbis in this heightened political moment, the work of their two organizations, and the growing movement of Jews creating communities grounded in Jewish diasporism.

Together, they are co-teaching a class in Judai...

People sometimes call Jews "people of the book." And when they say that, they tend to be referring to the Bible, or the Torah (first five books of the Bible). But Eva Mroczek, the Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies at Dalhousie University, thinks that Jews may actually have a relationship to far more books than we've realized -- including many "lost books," and even many "imagined books" that likely never existed. She joi...

Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author, activist, and rabbi, whose most recent book -- On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World -- won a National Jewish Book Award. Ilana Sumka is a nonprofit leader, experiential educator and community organizer with over 20 years of experience, who recently founded Shleimut: Jewish Paths to Wholeness and Peace. The two of them join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the...

In October 2024, Dan and Lex participated in Elevate -- a summit for podcasters hosting shows in the realm of faith and spirituality -- to connect and collaborate with one another. The gathering took place at BYU – Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah – and was hosted by In Good Faith, a podcast produced by BYUradio. After an amazing few days at the summit, In Good Faith invited Dan and I to be guests on their podcast – to speak...

Jay Michaelson, an award-winning journalist, professor, rabbi, and author, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring centrism and radicalism, misinformation that circulates far and wide on the topic of Israel-Palestine, and how we might strive for a better Jewish collective relationship to this important issue. This episode is the 5th in an ongoing mini-series exploring North American-Jewish discourse about I...

This week, we’re bringing you an episode of another podcast in the Judaism Unbound family of podcasts -- Tales of the Unbound! In its inaugural season Tales of the Unbound follows the Jewish journey of two incarcerated individuals, their chaplain, and the community they co-created in the most unlikely of places.

In Tales of the Unbound, Episode 7: Happily Ever After?, the narrative explores the challenges and transformations within ...

Mira Sucharov is professor of Political Science at Carleton University. Joshua Shanes directs the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston. Together, they are the co-founders of a digital discussion group called D’rachim — a New Path Forward for Israel/Palestine. They join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 4th episode in an ongoing mini-series exploring North American-Jewish discourse a...

Peter Beinart, a columnist and political commentator, is the author of a new book entitled Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring narratives of Jewish victimhood and survival, how Biblical texts like Joshua and Esther are mobilized in contemporary debates, and how we might have better intra-Jewish conversations about perhaps the most contentious t...