Sam Wachs

Episode 59: The Reconstructionist Connection to Democracy: Past, Present and Future

October 31st, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 7 mins

decision 2024, democracy, donald trump, election, jd vance, joe biden, judaism, kamala harris, mordecai kaplan, on tyranny, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist judaism, timothy snyder

Democracy holds a special place in Reconstructionist teachings, liturgy and practice. Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., and Rabbi William Plevan, Ph.D., dive deep into Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s — the founding thinker of Reconstructionist Judaism — thinking on democracy and pluralism and why it matters today.

Episode 58: A Palestinian Scientist and Reconstructionist Rabbi Are Working Together to Rebuild Gaza

October 16th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 28 secs

arava, arava institute, climate change, east jerusalem, environment, environmental science, gaza, gaza war, israel, jerusalem, jewish, judaism, middle east, palestine, peace, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist, sukkot, war

Tareq Abu Hamed, Ph.D., and Rabbi Michael Cohen join host Bryan Schwartzman to discuss Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which for nearly 30 years has brought together students and faculty from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and elsewhere to build relationships and solve pressing environmental challenges.

Episode 57: The Anniversary of October 7 and BINA: the Jewish Movement for Social Change

September 26th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 1 min

bina, hamas, high holidays, israel, israel-hamas, israeli, jewish, judaism, october 7, palestine, rosh hashanah, social change, usa

It’s not easy to talk about and process the first anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, when war continues to widen, hostages remain in Gaza and a ceasefire seems less and likely. This wide-ranging episode featuring Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Ph.D., interim vice president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Elliott Glassenberg, senior educator at BINA: the Jewish Movement for Social Change aims to model such a conversation.

Episode 56: Human Rights Attorney Turned Rabbinical Student Maria Pulzetti on Confronting Problematic Torah Verses and Examining Reproductive Justice Through a Jewish Lens

August 29th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 4 mins

abortion, bible, jew, jewish, jews, judaism, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist, reconstructionist judaism, reproductive justice, reproductive rights

If we embrace Judaism, what do we do with passages from Torah and elsewhere that seem to directly undermine our worldviews and values? Human rights attorney turned rabbinical student Maria Pulzetti makes a compelling case that we should deal with these problematic biblical passages head-on.

Episode 55: Marc Dollinger on Black Power and Jewish Politics Before and After October 7

August 1st, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 4 mins

antisemitism, black lives matter, campus, hamas, israel, jewish, judaism, october 7

In this packed interview, Professor Marc Dollinger addresses the nature of academic freedom, the importance of DEI work in Jewish communities and the lines between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Episode 54: Religion Scholar Louis Newman Discusses Shattered Faith, the War in Gaza and Antisemitism on College Campuses

July 11th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 11 mins

anti-semitism, antisemitism, college campus, gaza, hamas, israel, israel-hamas, jewish, judaism, protest, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist, war

For a certain generation of Jewish Americans, Israel and the memory of the Holocaust represented twin pillars of civil religion, argues Louis Newman, a scholar of Jewish ethics and religion. While these pillars may have shown cracks for decades, Newman says they came crashing down on Oct. 7,2023. What can we learn from our history? Where do we go from here?

Episode 53: Rabbi Katie Mizrahi on being a Zionist and calling for a ceasefire, working for Palestinian rights and the anti-Israel upsurge on college campuses

May 30th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 17 mins

anti-zionism, ceasefire, college, college campuses, hamas, israel, palestine, protest, war, zionism

Rabbi Katie Mizrahi is a Zionist who was beyond devastated by Hamas’ mass killings, rape and kidnapping on October 7th. She explains why she is opposed to how Israel has conducted its war and why she has joined calls for a bilateral ceasefire.

Episode 52: A Supersized Passover Episode: Rabbi Nathan Kamesar on the Israel-Hamas War; Rabbi Maurice Harris on his starring role in the new Netflix series Testament: The Story of Moses

April 25th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 21 mins

jewish, judaism, moses, netflix, passover, reconstructing, reconstructionist

Rabbi Nathan Kamesar opens up about what it’s like being a pulpit rabbi and spiritual leader during wartime. Later, Rabbi Maurice Harris drops by to discuss all things Moses.

Episode 51: Rabbi Haviva Ner-David on Life and Death in War and Advocating for Peace

March 28th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  54 mins 56 secs

Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, an activist and author, shares what it is like to live in Israel – and be a parent - right now, with all the heartbreak, confusion and glimmers of hope.

Episode 50: Rabbi Elyse Wechterman on the State of the Reconstructionist Rabbinate

February 29th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  58 mins 29 secs

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association’s CEO for roughly the past decade, discusses the transformation of the rabbinate over the last 50 years and why it matters to everyone who cares about Jews and Judaism.

Episode 49: Bestselling author Jay Michaelson on his new book of fiction, covering the Israel-Hamas war, campus antisemitism, and more

January 25th, 2024  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 4 mins

creative writing, fiction, hamas, israel, jewish, judaism, middle east, war

Bestselling author and journalist Jay Michaelson returns to discuss his first book of fiction, "The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales" (03:30). The linked short stories explore the nature of heresy, queerness, kabbalah, mysticism and the sometimes-thin line between erotic desire and religious yearning. We also delve into some of Michaelson's recent op-eds for the Forward and Rolling Stone, which explore the ethics of war, the charged nature of the term genocide, the debate about campus antisemitism and more (31:40).

Episode 48: Lovingkindness in a Time of War

December 21st, 2023  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 7 mins

Can individual acts of loving-kindness really make a difference with Israel and Hamas at war? Rabbi Amy Eilberg, a longtime peace activist, says yes. This is a pastoral conversation in which Rabbi Eilberg addresses feelings of pain, anger and hopelessness that many of us have experienced during wartime. It’s about how individuals might seek healing and, maybe, how Jewish communities can address trauma to become healthier.

Episode 47: For Us, By Us: The Trans Halakhah Project

November 30th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  51 mins 5 secs

israel, jewish, judaism, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist

Halakhah is for Orthodox Jews. It means Jewish law: what you can and can’t do. Right? Not according to Laynie Soloman a passionate teacher of Jewish text and thought at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. Soloman says that Halakhah isn’t law, per se, since law – especially when it comes to queer and trans folks – can serve as an instrument of oppression. Rather, Soloman speaks of Halakhah as “Jewish practice and its surrounding discourse,” i.e. what Jews do.

Episode 46: Chat GPT, Artificial Intelligence and Jewish Ethical Wisdom

October 26th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 1 min

ai, chat gpt, ethics, jewish, judaism, reconstructionist, talmud

We sit down with Mitch Marcus, a computer scientist and linguist who has been studying A.I. since the 1970s. We discuss how programs like Chat GPT work, what he thinks governments should do to regulate A.I., and what it means for A.I. to succeed. He also shares how the study of Talmud and Zohar has informed his understanding of how language works and how Jewish ethics can guide social policy surrounding A.I.

Episode 45: Sukkot: What’s Divorce Got to Do with It?

September 28th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 11 mins

conflict resolution, divorce, ezra weinberg, jacob staub, jewish, judaism, marriage, reconstructionist judaism, relationship advice, sukkah, sukkot, tradition

Divorce may be normal, but, in too many Jewish communities, it hasn’t been normalized. This episode features Ariel Collis and Reb. Ezra Weinberg, who each have experienced divorce and been underwhelmed by the response within their Jewish communities and are advocating for change.

Episode 44: High Holidays: Making Your Soul a Vessel for Change

August 31st, 2023  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 7 mins

high holidays, jew, jewish, judaism, reconstructionist, rosh hashanah, yom kippur

In this pre-High Holidays episode, Bryan Schwartzman asks Rabbi Nathan Kamesar how he prepares to lead Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. They discuss ways people can the most out of the holidays, whether they go to synagogue or not.