Though Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann’s son, Mint, had faced anxiety and depression before, his cry for help was as alarming as it was unexpected. The teen was thinking about ending his life. Yet by going to his parents, Mint was able, ultimately, to get the help he needed. On Rosh Hashanah, this past year, Rabbi Herrmann shared this most personal of stories to make a larger point: there’s an ongoing stigma around mental illness. As long as the stigma pervades, people's lives are at risk. (The stigma, and concerns for her son’s privacy, were reasons she hadn’t shared much of this publicly before.) In this expansive interview, Herrmann focuses particularly on trans youth and how political attacks on transgender rights could have devastating mental health consequences. She also shares how her NYC congregation responded to her sermon, how things are starting to change there, and what she thinks needs to happen in other Jewish communities. At the episode’s outset, Rabbi Jacob Staub, the show’s executive producer, offers poignant framing about the topic of mental health.

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/40

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read the Evolve essay, "Breaking the Silence on Mental Illness"
• Watch Rabbi Lauren’s High Holiday Sermon: Stigma & Shame Breaking the Silence on Mental Illness
• Support Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
• Affordable Care Act and Mental Health
• Mental Health Resources
• From The Atlantic, "American Madness"
• From Prism, "Communities prepare for increasing mental health struggles among transgender youth"

This Passover, please support the work of Evolve and Reconstructing Judaism with a donation so we can continue to build participatory, joy-filled communities that engage Jews, seekers, and our loved ones: https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/make-your-impact-this-passover/

Half a century ago, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld — a leader of the countercultural Havurah movement — co-edited “The First Jewish Catalog.” The book, which sold an astounding 300,000 copies, presented tangible practices for do-it-yourself Judaism. His new book, “Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century” argues that, some 2,000 years after the birth of rabbinic Judaism, it’s time to fashion Judaism into something new. In fact — newsflash — he suggests it might be time to do away with Shabbat services, at least in current form. A few weeks before Passover, he talks about how his ideas might apply to the Passover seder, and presents four new, alternate questions.

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/39

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Michael Strassfeld.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read the Evolve essay, "Why is This Passover Seder Different from All Other Passover seders?"
• Sign up for Evolve's emails
• From Hadassah Magazine, "The Essence of Judaism? Disrupting It" by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
• Buy the book, "Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century"
• The First Jewish Catalogue
• Rabbi Michael Strassfeld's recent appearance on the Judaism Unbound podcast
• Havurat Shalom and Jewish Counter Culture
• Support the work of Evolve and Reconstructing Judaism

A rafting trip got Rabbi Daniel Swartz — a longtime environmental activist — thinking about the way the human experience relates to the processes of the natural world. How do people live absent the belief that things are getting better, and could quite possibly be getting much worse? How do we muster the resilience to try to make a difference — especially on Climate Change — while simultaneously preparing for real losses, both to the natural world and human civilization? The director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life talks about the philosophical and theological questions he’s wrestled with as he’s marshaled his energies toward activism. He demonstrates his philosophy in action, recalling a 2021 gathering of global religious leaders at the Vatican in which participants shaped an important statement on Climate Change. And he shares his impressions of meeting Pope Francis.

Sign up for Evolve's email list: https://reconstructingjudaism.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=e8dc2f2d9405f4a028431548a&id=cef6081b93

Celebrate Five Years of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/uncover-the-light-purim-campaign/

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/38

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Daniel Swartz.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Sign up for Evolve's email list
• Celebrate Five Years of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
• Read Rabbi Swartz's Evolve essay, "Evolving Views of Evolution"
• Read Rabbi Swart's Evolve Essay, "Does the Earth Have a Prayer? Finding Hope As We Confront the Climate Crisis"
• From Reuters, "Pope, other religious leaders issue pre-COP26 appeal on climate change"
• The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
• From The Atlantic, "The People Cheering for Humanity's End"

This Israeli government is different, unprecedented, more religious, and righter wing than any before. At least, that’s what countless headlines and pundits are saying. According to two Israeli legal scholars and activists, Gila Stopler and Yofi Tirosh, this really is a moment of crisis for Israel. Stopler and Tirosh detail how the dramatic drop in women represented in government — two Orthodox coalition parties have no women representatives — is shaping an agenda that could dramatically curtail women’s rights. Rather than the cosmopolitan place in which women thrive and lead, they warn of a sobering future in which men and women are segregated in much of public life, looking more like other Conservative Middle Eastern nations than the nation Israel’s founders built and envisioned. Will it happen? Can the legal system — itself under assault — or popular protests prevent the worst fears from occurring? How much does this all have to do with the inability of Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make peace? We discuss all this and more.

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/

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

Special Guests: Dr. Yofi Tirosh and Gila Stopler.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read the Evolve essay, "The Israeli Government’s War on Women"
• Also on Evolve, "Kaplan, Herzl and the Current State of Israeli and American Politics"
• Last month's episode, "The State of Democracy in Israel and the U.S"
• Yofi Tirosh's recent appearance on Haaertz Podcast
• From the Jerusalem Post, "50 women’s groups form new coalition in response to Netanyahu gov't"
• From the Times of Israel, "Nobel laureate on judicial plans: ‘Not the Israel I want my grandkids to grow up in’"
• From the Times of Israel, "The Jewish path back to Israeli democracy"

Like many progressive Jews living outside Israel, Marc Overbeck watched the most recent Israeli election returns with mounting concern regarding the future of a democratic Israel. He feared the incoming government – described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history – could turn the country into something unrecognizable.  For example, one of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition partners, Itamar Ben Gvir, has said Arabs should be expelled from Israel. Overbeck, a Reconstructionist leader who has worked in government in two countries, sat down to write his thoughts. What came out was an impassioned defense of the longed-for ideal of Israel as a Jewish state and democracy and defender of human rights for all. He raises up two idealistic thinkers: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, and Theodor Herzl, catalyst of modern political Zionism. He also offers an impassioned defense of the idea of democratic government as a force for good. 

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

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

Special Guest: Marc Overbeck.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read the Evolve essay, "Kaplan, Herzl and the Current State of Israeli and American Politics"
• Rabbi Deborah Waxman: The Situation in Hebron is Oppressive
• 'They are joining me. I'm not joining them': Netanyahu defends far-right allies
• 'Old New Land' by Theodor Herzl
• Amos Elon's famous Herzl biography
• 'Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community' by Robert Putnam

This episode features polymath Jay Michaelson, a rabbi, journalist, scholar, LGTBQ activist and meditation teacher. Michaelson spent 20 years researching Jacob Frank for his new book, "The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth". In 18th century Poland, Frank led the largest mass apostasy in Jewish history. He was the most notorious Jew in Europe and, not without good reason, history has remembered Frank as something of a scoundrel. However, Michaelson separates myth from fact and explains why Frank’s radical philosophy may have been a precursor to how many non-Orthodox Jews relate to the tradition today. We dip into modern politics, including the endurance of the cult of personality in human affairs, but also spend a lot of time talking about the 18th century, which seems no less a wild time than our own.  

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.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read the Evolve essay, "The Allure of the Antinomian … or How Jacob Frank Seduced Me"
• Buy the book, "The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth"
• The Joy and Dread of Autumn
• "Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism" by Jay Michaelson
• Everything About Yom Kippur Is An Invention
• Diving into the Wreck
• Women and the Messianic Heresy of Sabbatai Zevi, 1666 - 1816

Imagine if there were a digital yeshiva where Jews of Color could gather to learn Torah and Jewish practices in a safe, supportive atmosphere in which no one’s Jewishness is questioned. Good news, Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy already exists! In this episode, we speak with Ammud's executive director, Alexandra Corwin, a noted educator and organizer with Ashkenazi, Peruvian, and Quechua heritages. We delve into why Jews of Color need affinity spaces and how such spaces can benefit all Jewish communities. We discuss the nuts and bolts of the digital yeshiva: how it operates, what it teachers, who are its teachers and students. And, of course, we learn about Alexandra’s plans for Ammud, which means pillar in Hebrew, and what’s at stake. Also, Alexandra discusses her own journey toward Jewish leadership.

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: Alexandra Corwin.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Ammud: Jews of Color Torah Academy
• Read Alexandra Corwin's Evolve essay, "Journey to Restorative Justice in Sunday-School Classrooms"
• Support Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations — The Evolve project demonstrates that Judaism is exciting, relevant and worth exploring. Please help us sustain this work by making a gift today.
• Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color
• Counting Inconsistencies from Jews of Color Field Building Initiative
• From JTA: "We asked people about their experiences as Jews of color. Here’s what they told us."
• From our archives: Rabbi Sandra Lawson joins the podcast to discuss "Racism in the Jewish Community"
• "Being an Ally with Empathy, Humility and Courage" from the Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience podcast

From the time she was a young girl, Rev. Wil Gafney knew something was wrong. Every major biblical figure, in both art and popular culture, was represented as white. Now a scholar and Episcopal priest, Gafney paints a more accurate picture of our Afro-Asiatic forebearers, making a case that engaging with the racist history of biblical criticism and western art is key to forging a more just future. Gafney also briefly discusses her love of sci-fi and Star Wars and tries to dissect the animus aimed at black actors that ventured into the Star Wars universe. She also discusses her love of Hebrew, praying in synagogues and connection with Jewish community, and some of the fraught nature of inter-religious interactions. Though the discussion isn’t High Holiday-themed per se, the content seems apt for the days of awe as it challenges all of us to question our assumption and, perhaps, to atone for harm caused intentionally or unintentionally.

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: Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D..

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read Rev. Gafney's Evolve essay, "Whitewashing Biblical Characters"
• Read Rev. Gafney's Evolve essay, "Reading the Scriptures While Womanist"
• Rev. Gafney's latest book, "A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A"
• From Vanity Fair, "John Boyega Gets Real About Star Wars and Racism"
• From Indie Wire, "Lucasfilm Warned ‘Obi-Wan’ Star Moses Ingram About Racist ‘Star Wars’ Hate"
• Jephthah in the Book of Judges
• Also on Evolve, "Transforming Our Unjust World and Personal Teshuvah: Considering Reparations for Slavery"

A friend once told Rabbi Kevin Bernstein that he’s the most anti-circumcision mohel they’d ever met. Bernstein isn't against circumcision; he’s performed hundreds of brit millah ceremonies. But he is sympathetic to people’s concerns, questions and downright discomfort with it. In this episode, the veterinarian turned Reconstructionist rabbi offers a Reconstructionist take on this most ancient of Jewish conventual ceremonies. He responds to critics who question the continued relevance and, yes, the safety of circumcision, including our two prior guests, novelist Gary Shteyngart and business consultant Max Buckler. And he attempts to demystify the process and explain what happens at a brit millah ceremony.

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 Kevin Bernstein.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read Rabbi Kevin's essay, "We Should Continue Practicing Brit Millah"
• Also on Evolve, "Be Honest About the Bris"
• Evolve guest Gary Shteyngart's New Yorker Essay, "A Botched Circumcision And Its Aftermath"
• A Mohel's response to Gary's New Yorker essay
• From ReformJudaism.org, "Why Reform Never Abandoned Circumcision"
• Also on Evolve, "The Case for Welcoming Uncircumcised Jews From Rabbinic Sources"
• Also on Evolve, "We Should Reconstruct ‘Brit Milah’"
• "The Mohel" on Seinfeld

Popular culture and Jewish humor are rife with circumcision jokes. Remember Mel Brooks explaining the practice to Robin Hood and his Merry Men? Seinfeld and Shakey the Mohel? Yet serious examinations of circumcisions and brit millah and what it means today — and why non-Orthodox Jews keep up the practice — are much harder to come by. In this first of a two-part series, we talk with critics — if not outright opponents — of circumcision. The first needs no introduction: Bestselling novelist and memoirist Gary Shteyngart. His New Yorker article about his own botched circumcision as a 7-year-old sparked conversation across the Jewish world and beyond. And Max Buckler, a business strategist who has been increasingly active and vocal on the issue. We discuss circumcision from the perspective of morality, Jewish tradition, medicine, gender norms and the rights of parents and children. We even address the question of whether circumcision decreases male sexual potency and pleasure. And we explore alternative rituals to mark the covenant between God and the Jewish people.

Warning, this episode contains graphic descriptions of male genitalia and includes a discussion on how racism plays a role in the history of circumcision in the U.S. Still with us? Stay tuned, next month we’ll talk to a Reconstructionist mohel.

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: Gary Shteyngart and Max Buckler.

Support Evolve

Links:

• Read Max's Evolve essay, "Be Honest About the Bris"
• Read Gary's New Yorker essay, "A Botched Circumcision And Its Aftermath"
• Also on Evolve, "We Should Continue Practicing Brit Millah"
• Also on Evolve, "The Case for Welcoming Uncircumcised Jews From Rabbinic Sources"
• Also on Evolve, "We Should Reconstruct ‘Brit Milah’"
• Gary's collected writings on Penguin Random House
• Max's org Bruchim is fostering welcoming spaces for Jews opting out of circumcision
• A Mohel's response to Gary's New Yorker essay
• On Ritualwell: Brit Atifah, A Jewish Baby Naming - one possible alternative to the brit millah
• The NY Department of Health on Metzitzah B'peh (direct oral suctioning)
• Mentioned in the episode - David Reimer's botched circumcision and the "John/Joan" case
• Gary's Fresh Air appearance
• Max and his partner Charlene on Judaism Unbound
• From Tablet Magazine, "Why I Didn't Circumcise My Second Son"
• "The Mohel" on Seinfeld
• Mel Brooks as The Mohel in Robinhood: Men in Tights