Hashivenu by Reconstructing Judaism

03.28.2024

Cheryl Cook, CEO of Avodah

Rabbi Deborah Waxman welcomes Cheryl Cook, CEO of Avodah, for a wide-ranging conversation. The two longtime friends and hevrutah partners recall their early conversations about Israel and Palestine (3:00). They discuss the nature of leadership in general as well as...

10.24.2023

How to become our fullest, most expressive selves? Practice, practice, practice

Weeks ago, Rabbi Deborah Waxman and founder Yoshi Silverstein scheduled this discussion about embodied Jewish practice and antiracism. Did it make any sense to have this conversation in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Israeli civilians and hostage...

09.12.2023

Yom Kippur: A Celebration of Collective Release

In ancient times on Yom Kippur, the high priest of Israel presided over an elaborate, mystical service atop the Temple Mount. Today, many traditional synagogues recount this ritual with the avodah service. In this episode, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., speaks...

09.19.2022

S4 Ep. 9: Season of Reflection and Repentance

In this special episode, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D and Rabbi Sandra Lawson discuss their respective processes of preparing for the High Holidays. This isn’t about leading services, but about how, as human beings, they undertake an accounting of the soul,...

05.05.2022

S4 Ep. 8: Songs of Joy and Mourning

Reconstructing Judaism board member and Tikkun Olam Commission co-chair Shahanna McKinney-Baldon opens up with Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D. and Rabbi Sandra Lawson about her time singing for the ska and reggae band Highball Holiday. The educator, activist and artist, who...

04.08.2022

S4 Ep. 7: The Smooth River

On Sept. 3, 2019, Richard Cohen’s wife, Marcia Horowitz, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Horowitz lived 160 more days. In his acclaimed 2021 book, The Smooth River: Finding Inspiration and Exquisite Beauty during Terminal Illness, Cohen, a lawyer...

12.28.2021

S4 Ep. 6: Being an Ally with Empathy, Humility and Courage

There’s an increasing focus in popular discourse on allyship, particularly when it comes to people of color and other marginalized groups. What does it mean to be an ally, both to individuals and to groups? How can one begin to...

10.26.2021

S4 Ep. 5: JewAsian

Helen K. Kim is Professor of Sociology at Whitman College and in 2019 assumed the position of Associate Dean for Faculty Development. She is also the co-author of JewAsian: Race, Religion, and Identity for America's Newest Jews along with her...

09.10.2021

S4 Ep 4: In the Same Place, As the Same Person

Amanda Mbuvi, Ph.D., is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s new vice president for academic affairs. Mbuvi, a Hebrew Bible scholar and nonprofit leader, is the first Jew of Color to hold such a leadership position at an American rabbinical seminary. We...

06.23.2021

S4 Ep. 3: Creating a Jewish Community Where All Can Thrive

Marcella White Campbell is executive director of Be'chol Lashon -- a pioneering organization that strengthens Jewish identity by affirming the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the Jewish people. We discuss her multiracial Jewish family's own experiences as a window...

04.13.2021

S4 Ep 2: Paradox, Complexity and Liberation: A Conversation with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

We're joined by Professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, one of fewer than 100 Black American women to earn a doctorate in physics -- and a Reconstructionist! We discuss the insights she draws from her background as a Black and Ashkenazi Jew, and...

03.02.2021

S4 Ep. 1: Judaism, Resilience, and Racial Justice - Beginning the Conversation

We begin a new season focusing on Judaism, resilience, and racial justice, and welcome a new co-host: Rabbi Sandra Lawson, director of racial diversity, equity, and inclusion for Reconstructing Judaism. We dig deeply into the complexities of engaging in...

09.11.2020

S3 Ep. 12: Writing Ourselves into the Book of Life — The High Holidays and Choosing Life

At this extraordinary High Holiday season, so many people are experiencing losses of many kinds. We speak with Rabbi Margot Stein about the lessons she learned about resilience while navigating profound loss -- the death of her eldest son,...

08.20.2020

S3 Ep. 11: Creativity and Counterculture

Rabbi Michael Strassfeld has made a life and career at the core of Jewish counterculture, combining a deep connection with Jewish text and tradition with a passion for creative experimentation with new, accessible and relevant forms of Jewish community and...

08.03.2020

S3 Ep. 10: Moments of Wholeness

When our world falls apart, what sustains us? We recorded this conversation with Rabbi Shira Stutman, senior rabbi at 6th and I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C, in early April 2020 — shortly after coronavirus response had brought face-to-face ...

06.25.2020

S3 Ep. 9: The Power of Ritual

Is Harry Potter a sacred text? According to our guest, Casper ter Kuile, Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and the co-founder of the Sacred Design Lab, it is if you bring that approach to the series. His...

05.21.2020

S3 Ep. 8: Whole-Body Judaism

Yoshi Silverstein’s passions — which include Jewish outdoor and environmental education, as well as fitness and movement — each strive toward creative embodied Jewish practice. We explore how these approaches can contribute to a resilient Jewish community, and conclude by...

04.21.2020

S3 Ep. 7: Including Everyone

It's a fundamental Jewish belief that all human beings are created in the divine image. But society all too often treats those with disabilities as second-class citizens. In our conversation with Jay Ruderman, we discuss his family foundation's work...

04.02.2020

S3 Ep. 6: Spiritual Leadership in Times of Crisis

As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, Rabbi Joshua Lesser created a Facebook group to support and connect clergy of all faiths struggling to respond to the crisis. Over five thousand people joined within the first two weeks. We discuss the...

03.24.2020

S3 Ep. 5: Catching Our Breath

As the current pandemic disrupts our lives and everyday connections, we each face the dual challenge of saving lives and caring for our souls. Rabbi Deborah Waxman reflects on the Jewish spiritual imagery that unites these concerns and shares a...

03.20.2020

S3 Ep. 4: Despair to Awakening

As our lives are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we speak with Dr. Ameet Ravital, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating trauma. We reflect on personal experiences of anxiety and grief, and discuss strategies he uses to support an...

02.03.2020

S3 Ep. 3: The Song of Community

We speak with Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, Rabbi of the SAJ: Judaism That Stands For All. Our conversation explores the importance of placing joy and connection at the center of vibrant Jewish community, even (or especially) one deeply committed to...

01.09.2020

S3 Ep. 2: Living in Beloved Community

We speak with Rabbi Sara Luria, co-founder of Beloved, a home-based spiritual community in Brooklyn. Our conversation explores the power of putting love, nurturing and acceptance at the center of community life. We also explore what Beloved Brooklyn can teach...

12.10.2019

S3 Ep. 1: Finding Sustenance in Covenantal Community

Rabbi Sid Schwarz has devoted his career to the practice and study of building rich and engaging Jewish communities. In our conversation, we talk about the groundbreaking congregation he built, Adat Shalom, which continues to serve as a laboratory for...

12.09.2019

Season 3 Intro: Resilience Through Community

In this upcoming season of Hashivenu, we’re going to talk to a lot of people who are thinking about and practicing how to create community. Many of them will be talking about synagogues, since that is a primary location of...

11.07.2019

S2 Ep. 8: Halleluyah: Fueling Our Social Activism through Gratitude and Praise

What drives us toward justice? Often, we're driven by a sense of the world's brokenness that keeps us up at night. In our conversation with Rabbi Alex Weissman, we explore an alternative motivation: what gets us up in the morning?...

09.20.2019

S2 Ep. 7: Discernment and Renewal at the High Holidays

The holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur call us to deeply individual reflection while embedded and connected with community, and to a humility that nevertheless acknowledges that our choices matter. We speak with Rabbi Barbara Penzner about the spiritual...

09.11.2019

S2 Ep. 6: Portraits of Resilience

Daniel Jackson is an MIT professor and award-winning photographer who edited an extraordinary collection: Portraits of Resilience pairs images and first-person accounts of MIT community members who have struggled with mental health issues. We dig deeply into Judaism's powerful psychological...

08.02.2019

S2 Ep. 5: Raising Our Voices

Dr. Koach Frazier is an audiologist, an activist, a rabbinical student and a powerful musician. We speak about singing and drumming, and explore how music can support us, uplift us, and lead us to transformation personally and collectively. Subscribe by Email This...

07.01.2019

S2 Ep. 4: The Spiritual Activist

Claudia Horwitz's life's work has focused on integrating spiritual practice with the work of social change. In this conversation, she shares the strains that social justice work can inflict on activists, and articulates the importance of deep inner work in...

06.11.2019

S2 Ep. 3: Changing the World from the Inside Out

This compelling conversation with Rabbi David Jaffe explores the essential relationship between the pursuit of justice and the spiritual growth that comes from self-knowledge. We discuss his personal experiences of moral and spiritual awakening, as well as the tension between...

04.28.2019

S2 Ep. 2: Love Received, Love Extended

This wide-ranging conversation with noted teacher of spirituality Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg begins by recounting the influences that led her toward integrating meditation and yoga into Jewish spirituality. She then digs deeply into the essential interplay between spiritual experience (love...

03.21.2019

S2 Ep. 1: Trauma, Healing and Resilience

In this interview, Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg delves into her deep interest and growing expertise in the varieties of trauma and how trauma has informed Jewish experience on both the individual and the collective level. Equipped with this awareness, we then...

02.04.2019

Episode 21: Tikkun Middot

This conversation with Rabbi Marc Margolius explores the spiritual practice of Tikkun Middot, a mindfulness-based approach to cultivation of character traits. We explore how this practice can help us better live out our values in challenging times, navigating and learning...

12.04.2018

Episode 20: Choosing Life

This special episode was recorded before a live audience at the Reconstructing Judaism convention in November 2018. I interviewed Susan Levine, an extraordinary person and a member of the Board of Governors of Reconstructing Judaism. Trigger Warning: Susan and I...

11.08.2018

Episode 19: Gratitude

The recent shooting attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh has been deeply traumatic. In its aftermath, Rabbi Deborah Waxman shares a personal Jewish practice that sustains her in difficult times, in the hopes that it might help cultivate resilience among...

10.16.2018

Episode 18: Fitness

What's the connection between marathon training and prayer? Can CrossFit shed light on building meaningful communities? We speak with Rabbi Jason Bonder about the intersection between fitness and spirituality. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at...

09.06.2018

Episode 17: The High Holiday Season

The holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur drive us to make sense of what's truly important, and sustain us as we strive to recapture those ideals. In this conversation recorded days before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi David Teutsch and Rabbi...

07.09.2018

Episode 16: Multifaith Encounters

Multifaith dialogue has the power not just to build bridges of understanding, but to foster personal spiritual growth and transformation. We speak with Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and Professor Sa'ed Atshan, a Palestinian Quaker Christian, about their experiences in multifaith...

06.04.2018

Episode 15: Singing Together

Singing together can be a profound and powerful experience. We speak with Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, an ethnomusicologist and a research professor at the music department at Tufts, about the role that music plays both in animating Jewish life...

05.14.2018

Episode 14: Midrash

The holiday of Shavuot is approaching. This year (2018) on the secular calendar it begins on Saturday evening, May 19. On Shavuot, we celebrate receiving the Torah, the foundational text of the Jewish people. "Torah" has multiple meanings in Jewish...

05.07.2018

Episode 13: Hebrew Poetry

The holiday of Shavuot is approaching. This year on the secular calendar it begins on Saturday evening, May 19. On Shavuot, we celebrate receiving the Torah, the foundational text of the Jewish people. "Torah" has multiple meanings in Jewish tradition....

04.24.2018

Episode 12: Embodied Prayer

For Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, prayer is a whole-body experience, helping us reboot our awareness of how good it is to be alive, even -- or especially -- in a troubled world. Join us for his deep conversation with Rabbi Deborah...

04.10.2018

Episode 11: Yom HaShoah

In this special extended episode for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), we hear from Rabbi Phillip Lazowski, who survived the Holocaust as a child. He shares experiences that shaped his vision and sense of purpose: amidst horror and loss, episodes...

03.19.2018

Episode 10: "You Were Strangers in Egypt": Passover and Sanctuary

On Passover, we retell our history as strangers and slaves in Egypt. What obligations flow from this memory? We speak with Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, whose congregation recently made a decision to serve as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. Join us...

02.26.2018

Episode 9: Purim and #metoo

The Book of Esther contains striking examples of women speaking out against oppression in ways that both empower and imperil them. Are there parallels to the #metoo movement? Join Judith Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Jewish Women’s Archive, in a...

02.13.2018

Episode 8: Hineni — Being Present

How do we pull ourselves together when we feel scattered or unfocused? In this episode of Hashivenu, Rabbi Myriam Klotz and Rabbi Deborah Waxman invite us into the spiritual practice of "hineni" -- being present and responsive. Subscribe by Email This podcast...

01.30.2018

A Special Announcement

This is Rabbi Deborah Waxman. Thanks so much for listening to our podcast, “Hashivenu: Jewish teachings on resilience.” Our next regular episode is on its way in February. But I wanted to take a moment to let you know about...

01.22.2018

Episode 7: Ecology

In a wide-ranging conversation about ecology, Tu B'Shvat and shmittah (sabbatical year), Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb and Rabbi Deborah Waxman explore the ways in which Jewish tradition and ecological consciousness provide compelling models for resilience and sustainability. Subscribe by Email This...

01.07.2018

Episode 6: Mindfulness

In challenging times, we often search for firm ground to stand on. In this interview with Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Rabbi Deborah Waxman explores mindfulness as a path that can anchor us, nourish our Jewish...

What's Hashivenu about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Hashivenu episodes: