Between Two Shabbatot

What do we actually hand a kid on the morning of their bar mitzvah? In this episode, Hazzan Noam starts with the basket of fidget toys on his desk and the origami he folded through his own childhood in shul, then follows the thread to the surprising name our tradition gave the marks that teach us how to chant Torah — and what that name says about the whole day. Plus a conversation with Rabbi Ari Averbach and Chaplain Benny Sommerfeld — back as the show's first returning guests — about their own b'nei mitzvah, one in the Valley in 1996 and one in Sweden in 1973, the thirty seconds before a kid steps onto the bimah, and a new game called Drash Me If You Can.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

Who holds a synagogue up? In this episode, Hazzan Noam brings his field recorder to the Men's Club's annual summer barbecue — the one they throw in memory of Jeff Finn — and gets to thinking about all the unpaid, unwatched work a synagogue quietly runs on. Plus a conversation with the two congregants trading the gavel, Felicia Toporoff and Dan Lubetkin, about why the top job at a temple is, by design, not a job, and a lightning round on dishwashers, Mel Brooks, and the one word they both land on for this place.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

What does it mean to say we all sing the same songs? In this episode, Hazzan Noam chases a momentary stumble from his first week on the job into the idea of musical dialect: why every congregation, and every voice in it, carries an accent we can't hear in ourselves. He follows the thread through the word shibboleth, a melody the congregation now calls "the Rachael one," and a bar mitzvah weekend that put six continents in one room around a single lullaby. Plus a conversation with Mariano Dugatkin — musical director, Latin Grammy-winning bandoneonist, LAUSD music teacher, and the Buenos Aires accent in Temple Etz Chaim's sound — about growing up around artists, tango in the sanctuary, and the flavor that makes music feel Jewish.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

What does it mean to put your name on something? In this episode, Hazzan Noam walks the building with longtime congregant Wendy Margolis, cataloguing every donor plaque, dedicated room, and named mezuzah he can find along the way — and asking what gets remembered when there's no plaque for it. Plus a conversation with Rabbi Emeritus Richard Spiegel about shepherding the congregation through 9/11, getting married next to the room that now bears his name, and a lightning round on schnapps, neckties, and Passover desserts.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

What stays when the person who taught you a tradition moves on? In this episode, Hazzan Noam reflects on a small ritual — the three circles preschoolers make before covering their eyes for Shabbat candles — and what it reveals about how tradition travels. He looks into the phrase ledor vador, and what this week makes it feel newly urgent. Plus a conversation with Debbie Blumenthal — preschool director, master storyteller, Gesher program architect, and keeper of the felt board — about nearly 30 years at Temple Etz Chaim, the families who keep coming back generation after generation, and what it means to give a child a feeling of belonging.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

What happens to prayer when it leaves the building? In this episode, Hazzan Noam explores the world of weekday minyan — from Sunday mornings in a congregant's living room to Monday and Wednesday evenings on Zoom — and what it means to show up for practice, not performance. He talks with longtime regulars about why they keep coming back, and reflects on the difference between hol and Shabbat: the bound and the expansive, the petitionary and the praise. Plus a conversation with Chaplain Benny Sommerfeld — engineer, pluralist, basso profundo, and Swedish lox enthusiast — about chaplaincy, showing up for mourners, and what it means to be a minyan for someone else.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].

What makes Shabbat feel like Shabbat? In the first episode of Between Two Shabbatot, Hazzan Noam reflects on the sounds and spaces that shape how a congregation gathers: the story behind a recent packed Friday night in the chapel, what happens in the week between two Shabbatot, and the quiet work of reading what each gathering needs. Plus a conversation with Rabbi Ari Averbach about how he prepares for each week, drawing inspiration from the Talmud, Stephen Sondheim, and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Between Two Shabbatot is a weekly podcast from Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, California, hosted by Hazzan Noam Fields-Meyer Gould. Questions and thoughts welcome at [email protected].