Evolve

It’s a supersized Passover edition of Evolve! First, Rabbi Nathan Kamesar drops by to discuss his recent essay, "The Legitimacy of the State of Israel: Surviving in a Hostile Region." Bryan and Nathan reflect on their respective relationships with Israel and Israeli politics. Nathan opens up about what it’s like being a pulpit rabbi and spiritual leader during wartime and how he’s been approaching his job the last few months (5:00). Nathan and Bryan offer some of their personal opinions about the Israel-Hamas war and war in general. Nathan shares which of the many unknowns he would most like to know in order to make sense of things. Bryan asks Nathan about his response to the recent Atlantic Magazine cover story “The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending” (31:05). Nathan reflects on how he’s thinking about Passover this year, how he’s trying to center empathy and why it’s impossible to avoid politics at the seder table (42:30). Then, for a special bonus interview, Reconstructing Judaism’s own Rabbi Maurice Harris stops by for a conversation with Sam Wachs about all things Moses, including his starring role in the new Netflix Docudrama Testament: The Story of Moses (54:30).

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

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Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guests: Rabbi Maurice Harris and Rabbi Nathan Kamesar.

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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. In this conversation, the author and spiritual director discusses the personal losses she suffered on October 7 and after (9:18) She also shares anxiety about living in Israel’s north and how and why she’s recommitted herself to interfaith peace activism (22:10) and her work with the Standing Together, the grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace . With views on the conflict becoming ever more entrenched, Ner-David’s perspective is refreshingly iconoclastic. Whatever your perspective, left, right or center, she says something to challenge you.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Rabbi Haviva Ner-David.

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• Reconstructing Judaism joins call for ceasefire, release of all hostages and increase in humanitarian aide to Gaza

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association was founded in 1974 to serve as the professional association of the small but growing number of rabbis affiliated with the Reconstructionist movements. These rabbis were trained with a very different approach than their peers in other movements. Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, the RRA’s CEO for roughly the past decade, discusses the transformation of the rabbinate and why it matters to everyone who cares about Jews and Judaism (5:00). She shares how disparate factors ranging from COVID to the emergence of the gig economy have shaped the rabbinate in unexpected ways (31:50). The discussion turns to how the events of October 7 and subsequent Israel-Hamas War have placed unprecedented strain on rabbis (44:45). There are some lighter moments as well. Wechterman quotes Billy Joel: “The good old days weren’t always good. Tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Rabbi Elyse Wechterman.

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After 20 years of work, Jay Michaelson —scholar, rabbi, lawyer, activist, meditation teacher —has published his first book of fiction, “The Secret That Is Not a Secret: Ten Heretical Tales” (03:30). The linked short stories focus on a range of Jewish characters: Men and women, Orthodox and secular, straight and gay, Israeli and American. Yet each carries a secret desire that could be described as queer, and their stories explore the nature of heresy, queerness, kabbalah, mysticism and the sometimes-thin line between erotic desire and religious yearning. Michaelson would probably have preferred we discussed “The Secret That Is Not a Secret” for the full episode. Yet, we’re living in a post October 7 world and Michaelson, who’d stopped writing about Israel about a decade ago, felt compelled to jump back in. In the Forward and Rolling Stone, he’s written about the ethics of war, the charged nature of the term genocide, the debate about campus antisemitism and the fates of the two Ivy League presidents forced to resign after public uproar. We delve into some of these op-eds (31:40) and discuss how’s he taken care of himself during one of the most emotionally trying times of his life.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Jay Michaelson.

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• Support Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations

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. Eilberg, the first woman ordained by the Conservative movement, believes that nearly everyone with a connection to Israel and Gaza — and maybe even those without such a direct connection — are experiencing pain and trauma. In this podcast, Eilberg explains that so many of us are consuming every op-ed and podcast about the conflict as a means to avoid deep pain. She shares her decades-long journey into metta meditation and how she turned to it after October 7. We also discuss how even though many Jews have felt isolated in recent months, she doesn’t buy into the narrative that the whole world is against Jews. Nor has she given up on coalition-building or the importance of anti-racism efforts. This is a pastoral conversation in which she addresses the feelings of pain, anger and hopelessness that host Bryan Schwartzman, and many others, have experienced during wartime. It’s about how individuals might seek healing and, maybe, how Jewish communities can address trauma to become healthier.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Rabbi Amy Eilberg.

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Halakhah is for Orthodox Jews. It means Jewish law: what you can do 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. Soloman discusses SVARA’s Trans Halakhah Project, which seeks to empower trans Jews. Soloman talks with hosts Bryan Schwartzman about what the project means in a political climate hostile to trans people. “Celebrating our transness is a political act.” Recorded early in the Israel-Hamas War, Soloman describes how they have turned to ancient rabbinic sources to understand how Jews have dealt with catastrophe and violence in the past.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Laynie Soloman.

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• Read Laynie Solomon's Evolve Essay, "Euphoric Halakhah: The Trans Halakhah Project"

“I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.” That’s the famously chilling line spoken by HAL, a sentient computer, in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. By refusing orders, HAL sets out to kill Dave. Will artificial intelligence do something like this in reality (something on the scale of the Terminator or the Matrix?) Will A.I. put most of us out of work? Or are these concerns overblown? To address these questions, 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. He breaks down the difference between a computer and the mythical Golem.

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Mitch Marcus.

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• Evolve coverage of Israel/Palestine

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 (12:40). In the conversation, Collis and Weinberg imagine what more embracing responses might look like: from organizing meal trains and Shabbat invitations to, possibly, including divorce announcements in synagogue bulletins. Weinberg talks about his work with the group he’s founded: Revoice, a Journey of Discovery for Jewish Families After Divorce. At the top of the show, executive producer Jacob Staub shares experiences from his own painful divorce. He also speaks about connections between Sukkot and divorce, including the holiday’s focus on impermanence and the tradition of inviting guests into our sukkot.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/45

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guests: Ariel Collis and Reb Ezra Weinberg.

Support Evolve

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• Read the Evolve Essay, "The Case for Jewish Communal Divorce Support"

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. Although as a congregational rabbi, Kamesar does make a pitch for showing up in-person or virtually. He also discusses his own contemporary theology as it relates to the High Holidays and also addresses the existential dread many may be feeling from climate change, the perils facing democracy and so much more. More broadly, he offers a defense of Jewish prayer and speaks about how the traditional prayer structure can be meaningful today. And, father-to-father, Bryan asks for advice for young parents who might be struggling to find the time for serious reflection, let alone transcendence. The short answer: cut yourself some slack.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guest: Rabbi Nathan Kamesar.

Support Evolve

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• Read Rabbi Nathan Kamesar's Evolve essay, "Breaking Open: A Paradigm for Jewish Prayer"

Confused, angered, and heartbroken by the push to weaken Israel’s independent judiciary? Not sure what to think? Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., Reconstructing Judaism's CEO, and Rabbi Maurice Harris, its Israel affairs specialist, don't claim to have all the answers. Yet, they’ve each just spent extended stays in the country immersed in conversations about its future as well as its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. In conversation, they make an impassioned, moral defense of sustained engagement with Israel, even as they take a principled opposition to the government's attempts to strip away the country’s democratic character.

Harris and Waxman describe what it’s like to be in Israel, and taking part in demonstrations, as this all unfolds. They explain the Reconstructionist commitment to a multi-vocal, multi-perspective conversation about Israel/Palestine as exemplified by the running debate on Evolve itself. Our guests also respond to several Evolve essays putting Palestinian suffering front and center. This is a grounding, not-to-be missed conversation about some of the most pressing questions facing the Jewish world today.

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org

Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss

Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.

Special Guests: Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D. and Rabbi Maurice Harris.

Support Evolve

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• Rabbi Deborah Waxman on Israel, Kaplan & Diaspora Jews