Evolve
Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
Displaying items 1-10 of 22 in total of Evolve with the tag "judaism".
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Episode 69: I’m Right, You’re Wrong: What Data Reveals About North American Jewish Opinion on Israel, Zionism and Anti-Zionism
July 24th, 2025 | Season 1 | 1 hr 3 mins
american jews, anti-zionism, brandeis university, cognitive testing, intermarriage, israel, jewish community, jewish continuity, jewish demographics, jewish education, jewish identity, jewish inclusion, jewish studies, jewish surveys, jewish values, judaism, matt boxer, reconstructing judaism, social science research, zionism
How do people really feel about Israel? Brandeis University researcher Matthew Boxer learned some surprising things from surveying more than 1,800 North American Jews.
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Episode 63: Ilana Kaufman on Jews of Color, Racism and Antisemitism
January 30th, 2025 | Season 1 | 1 hr 6 mins
academia, antisemitism, black, black and jewish, diversity, inclusion, jewish, jews of color, judaism, october 7, race, racism, soviet jewry, zionism
In a conversation both deeply personal and grounded in history and sociology, Ilana Kaufman, CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, shares her mission and why the work has been so challenging in a post-October 7 world.
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Episode 62: Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Alex Weissman on Dismantling Racism
January 16th, 2025 | Season 1 | 56 mins 36 secs
10/7, anti-racism, anti-semitism, antisemitism, jewish, judaism, mussar, october 7, rabbi, racism, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist, rrc
“Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out.” The idea is deceptively simple and strongly rooted in Jewish tradition. To change society, individuals must first address their own attitudes, biases and inner lives. Easy to say, much harder to carry out. Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Alex Weissman reflect on why, in an age of skyrocketing antisemitism, it’s as important as ever for Jewish communities to address racism from within.
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Episode 60: Former Rep. Andy Levin on Courage, the Election, AIPAC and Gaza
November 26th, 2024 | Season 1 | 1 hr 17 mins
2024, aipac, congress, courage, election, elections, gaza, israel, jew, jewish, judaism, palestine, politics, protest, reconstructionist judaism, redistricting, timothy snyder, two state solution, war
Former Congressman Andy Levin sits for a truly wide-ranging interview about the election, his concerns about the incoming Trump administration, Israel and so much more.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?