Extended Kiddush

S1:E18- The 614th Commandment

27.8.25

After a three-week break, we are back, sadly without Marissa, but with an appearance by TST’s newest staff member Renata Feinstein! We cover a lot of ground about what we’ve all been up to, review the ongoing work in and around the building, learn about some lesser-known material from Shoftim, and talk about a very busy few weeks just right around the corner. Renata comes by and we talk about East Coast/West Coast living, Come From Away and country music, preferred snacks from BJ’s, and climate zones at TST. Make sure to listen for updates about pizza dinners, High Holy Day registration, enrollment numbers for our education programs, Camp Shabbat with Omri Shklar, and more. We also struggle to agree on what the best episode of this podcast has been- what do you think? Not to be missed, a bonus track which honors Renata’s first few weeks with us.

5 August 2025: Everything Is Forward

Well- Logan’s back from the Mountain Time Zone, Marissa is Red Sox TikTok famous, Dan saw back-to-back wins at Fenway, Talia encountered sea snails, John Legg throws shade at… fish, and Jenna preps for Renata’s arrival next week. We talk about the end of ELC camp, TST’s PMC riders, and building improvements, review some ridiculous Talmudic arguments, check in on the community brick pathway, and get ready for a work-from-home week on Aug. 18. Later on, we’ve got some quality squirrel banter, not one, but two bonus post-outro audio tracks, and a potential road trip? You never know.

S1:E16- Land-Based, Water-Adjacent

29 July 2025 

It’s our first episode without Logan, but we make it up with both Jenna and Talia in the studio as we hear about weekend travels, High Holy Day registrations, Alison’s borscht recipe and a congregant gazpacho recipe taking the world by storm, and the putting together of the FY25 Annual Report. Dan celebrates his 23rd wedding anniversary at Fenway and in Gloucester, Talia makes friends on her Wayland lunch excursion, Marissa gets ready for Bravo Night at Fenway, and Jenna pumps us up for the arrival of Renata Feinstein in less than two weeks! We do some learning about fast days on the Jewish calendar, do a little astrology, John Legg reminds us all about how he ended up at TST, Talia’s brother gets on board with KPop Demon Hunters, and somehow we get into some hot takes about coffee and the Cape. Stick around for a bonus song about, what else, fast days in Judaism. See you in August!

22 July 2025

Amidst a perfect stretch of summer weather, we make time to talk about kitchen demolition, Jenna’s camp trips, the excellent response to the High Holy Day registration email, and more! Dan endorses “KPop Demon Hunters”, we’ve got a rebellion in Nonantum, taco options in the Seaport, and the highs and lows of being a Red Sox fan, while learning about the magic of the number 42 in this week’s parasha, the Torah, and beyond. Logan gets ready to go to Montana, Marissa makes plans for Chicago, and Jenna preps for Ocean City, while Dan awaits his 23rd wedding anniversary next week. We also get into the ancient, modern, and natural wonders of the world, as John Legg envisions retirement in… Ecuador. Not to be missed, as usual, is this week’s bonus track about what else- the call that ended the Sox game on Monday night.

15 July 2025

After a below-average morning in the building, we dig deep to save the day with the help of Talia Hirsh. We recap Rabbi Lisa’s first class, Shabbat at the Lake, the new issue of Chai-Lights, and the successful end of the Imagine The Possibilities campaign.

We’ve also got the Red Sox on a heater, Marissa heading toFenway for a Red Sox-adjacent experience, Logan name-shaming Biblical Hebrew names, some Ring Camera shenanigans, and floods in the NY/NJ area. Dan talksabout the Daughters of Zelophehad from this week’s Torah portion, John Legg discusses potatoes and parking, and Talia elevates, perhaps, the TST Ice Program.

Not to be missed: Logan’s secret segment, a bonus track, and sipping gin with Ryan Reynolds.

7.7.25

After a one-week hiatus, we’re back this week and turn this podcast on its head as Marissa steps into the hosting chair. We jump off into a review of summer in the office, the start of camp in the ELC, a quiet Shabbat on July 4, and a bevy of staffing changes. Marissa participates in drill shaming, Dan plots to get down to the Oasis concert at MetLife Stadium, Logan gets jazzed about the Book of Judges, and given this week’s Torah portion, we have to talk about talking donkeys and other mystical/magical animals in the Jewish tradition.

Also this week: using the phrase “Writ Large”, Red Snapper Night in Portland, the double meaning of the term “Food Desert” this summer, all-you-can-eat pancakes in the Berkshires, the Hoosac Tunnel, John Legg weighs in on the metric system, and we talk about coins again for a second.

S1:E12- Almond Joy

24 June 2025

It’s 101 degrees today in MetroWest and John Legg isn’t here, but Jenna Friedman is and that’s all we needed for an epic show. We recap the ACE barbeque, the end of TST softball, the Monday board meeting, and our new vegetable beds, and hear about Kansas City burnt ends, a Brockman family dinner at The Chat, a yard sale in West Concord, and a U14 softball championship in Natick. A debate breaks out about the sandwich-or-not statuses of hot dog, hamburgers, falafel pockets, wraps, and more as Logan reviews potential b’rachot over those options, Dan recaps Korach and gives a pop quiz about almonds in the Jewish tradition, Marissa leads us on a show-and-tell escapade, and we look back up our family trees at the Borscht Belt and summers in the Catskills. We also discuss taking Rabbi Lisa’s summer class, Jenna’s upcoming camp visits, and look at some upcoming summer programming as Dan plans a next merch order. And, of course, we’ve got a pretty awesome song about almonds to bring it to a close post-credits. See you in July!

S1:E11- We’re Done With Pennies

18 June 2025

Now that we’re 11 episodes in, it’s time to expand the XK universe, so this week we level up and welcome two new voices into the studio- Jenna Friedman and Talia Hirsh. We recap last Friday night’s service celebrating Susan DeSelms, a Sunday softball victory for Chai Heat 1, and Father’s Day activities, and begin to say goodbye to the amazing Marissa Kaye. We give Jenna her flowers for being an XK OG but Dan and her disagree about “Tenet”, Marissa’s secret segment gets us into a debate on whether or not chocolate is candy, John Legg sends us into a tizzy about the phasing out of the penny as we debate both changing his name and his potential Hebrew name, and Talia tells us tales from a whale watch. We also have our first externally-submitted question for John, Dan talks about t’chelet and blue dye, Logan reminisces about his time in the youth choir, July 4 plans are shared, and we review karaoke songs that the internet says are popular as we get ready for the ACE barbeque, Red Cross blood drive, and prepare for a day off on Juneteeth. Finally, and obviously, we’ve also got a melancholy but boppy song for you about Marissa Kaye leaving- we will miss her!

S1:E10- A Series of Unfortunate Events

10 June 2025

TL,DR; this is our best pod yet. We’ve got something for everyone today: a pizza Friday, softball and a mini Brandeis reunion on Sunday, a Jewish-adjacent snapping turtle laying eggs at our playground playdate, and, of course, the Annual Meeting. Dan is unimpressed with a seasonal flavor of Polar seltzer, Marissa gets pulled over and is getting stalked by fire alarms, and Logan pops a tire in Cambridge. Logan comes in hot with a secret segment which shockingly results in a google search that turns up one of Dan’s blog posts from 2011, we offer to GoFundMe John’s diner “The Legg”, and we go over the Akkadian and Sumerian origins of the months on the Jewish calendar. We’ve also got a brand-new look for the membership newsletter, a karaoke preview for Friday night, and Dan shouts out the Massachusetts high school softball Gatorade player of the year from Bedford. Obviously we’ve got a new song about the upcoming summer vacation, but trust us— there’s a lot more. 

4 June 2025

Happy Shavuot from all of us to you! This week we’ve got some merch unboxing, tales from a softball doubleheader, the debut of “what has Logan broken this week”, and some learning about the seven species and the Canaanite harvest calendar. We reflect on camouflage options, Sunday night’s “Wine & Cheesecake”, our upcoming pizza dinner, get ready for the Annual Meeting next week and the Shabbat barbeque on June 20, and more. And don’t worry, we’ve got another world premiere song.