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 innovation to this day. And we ask the question: as new platforms for Jewish life and community emerge in the 21st century, what values and practices make a community truly sustaining and meaningful?

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Ph.D..

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Links:

• Rabbi Sid Schwarz | Rabbi, social entrepreneur, non-profit CEO, author
• Clergy Leadership Incubator | Training Visionary Spiritual Leaders for the American Jewish Community — The Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) is a two-year program to support and encourage rabbis serving congregations or other new models of spiritual community in the areas of innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
• Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network — Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network connects individuals who are leading contemporary efforts to re-imagine Jewish life and community.
• Congregation Beth Israel of Media
• Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation |
• About Pearlstone - Jewish Retreat Center & Outdoor Education Campus | Pearlstone — Pearlstone Center's mission: to ignite Jewish passion while connecting guests with the land and Jewish values; our peaceful retreat center, sustainable farm, and dynamic programming enable and inspire vibrant Jewish life.
• Congregation T'chiyah — Reconstructing Jewish life in Metro Detroit
• Detroit Jews for Justice — Organizing Jewish community in Metro Detroit to participate in movements for racial and economic justice.
• Justice in Detroit: Reconstructionists Lead the Way — 2016 article from Reconstructionism Today on the relationship between Congregational T'chiyah and Detroit Jews for Justice
• Ritualwell: Rituals and Prayers for Communal Life

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 Jewish community, but this isn’t a pitch for synagogues. It’s a pitch for binding relationships, for mutual obligation, for connection, so we’ll also be talking to folks building communities in spaces other than synagogues. I hope you’ll listen with open hearts and will find insights and strategies to fill you up and nourish you on your own journeys.

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

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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? In a conversation based on his essay for Evolve, Halleluyah, and his other work around spirituality and activism, we discuss how deeply-felt experiences of gratitude and blessing can move us toward empathetic action.

See below for a link to a guided meditation led by Rabbi Weissman for the 2018 cohort of Reset: Spiritual Practice for Activists.

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Alex Weissman.

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• Evolve: Halleluyah — Through practicing gratitude and recognizing the complexities of privilege, we are better suited to pursue the work of changing the world. (Essay by Alex Weissman)
• Evolve: Jewish Approaches to Justice Work
• Video from Reset: Meditation by Rabbi Alex Weissman — Video of guided meditation along the themes of this episode, led by Rabbi Alex Weissman for the 2018 cohort of Reset: Spiritual Practice for Activists
• Ritualwell: 10 Resources to Inspire Gratitude
• Shlomo Wolbe - Wikipedia

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 dynamics of the High Holiday days, and their power to help us find discernment, connection and renewal.

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Barbara Penzner.

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• "If Not Higher", by I. L. Peretz
• Audio: "If Not Higher by I.L. Peretz" (Courtesy of Yiddish Book Center)
• Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa — "Keep two pieces of paper in your pocket at all times. On one: “I am a speck of dust,” and on the other : “The world was created for me.”"
• Tashlikh Reconstructed — “We accept the responsibility for changing and for changing this world. That is what people need to stay in hope. And without hope, there is no energy for no creative new solutions,” says Rabbi Amy Bernstein in this moving video, Tashlikh Reconstructed. Produced by Kehillat Israel, A Reconstructionist Congregation in Pacific Palisades, Calif., the video explores the centuries-old Rosh Hashanah tradition of symbolically casting off sins into a body of water, illustrating how one community has reconstructed a ritual born in the Middle Ages for our anxious, post-modern times. Kehillat Israel also demonstrates how the phrase Reconstructing Judaism perfectly encapsulates the mission of Reconstructionist communities.
• Ritualwell Resources: Month of Elul — Each year as summer fades into fall, Jewish tradition invites us to turn inward. The month of Elul precedes the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We dedicate this time to preparing ourselves for the holidays so that we can experience them as fully as possible.
• Ritualwell: Rosh Hashanah — Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe). It weds seriousness with celebration and begins the 10 days of repentance that culminate in Yom Kippur. The new year focuses our attention on themes of judgment, repentance, memory, and the divine presence in the world. At the same time, Rosh Hashanah invites us to celebrate birth and creation on many levels
• Ritualwell: Yom Kippur — Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls ten days after Rosh Hashanah. When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the High Priest effected atonement for the entire people through an elaborate ritual. Today, in the absence of the Temple, each of us stands, alone, together, naked as it were, before God. Yom Kippur is the dramatic culmination of the entire season of teshuvah, repentance.

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 and spiritual resources for resilience, particularly for those grappling with the isolation and shame that can come with depression.

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

Special Guest: Daniel Jackson.

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• Portraits of Resilience — At once a photo essay and a compendium of life stories, Portraits of Resilience brings us face to face with twenty-two extraordinary individuals, celebrating the wisdom they have gained on the front line of a contemporary battle. With astonishing honesty and openness, they describe their experiences of depression and anxiety; how they endured their darkest moments and ultimately found purpose and meaning in their struggles.
• Portraits of Resilience (Amazon link)
• Daniel Jackson Photography
• Professor Daniel Jackson
• Ritualwell: 10 Jewish Mental Health Resources
• Need help with mental health?

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.

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

Special Guest: Koach Baruch Frazier.

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Links:

• Ritualwell resources: 10 Songs to Lift Up the Soul — Learn about the connection between music and activism from Dr. Koach Frazier in conversation with Rabbi Deborah Waxman at the podcast Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience.
• Video: "Cultivating Resilience Through the Practice of Lament"
• Breathing in Pesach
• Koach Frazier | Ferguson Voices
• Who Raised You? Podcast — Season 1, Episode 1 of this podcast featured Koach Frazier. "Join us for a kitchen table chat about remembering to breathe, the music of black church and Judaism, and revolutionary listening."

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 anchoring and sustaining individuals and groups in their work of tikkun olam.

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

Special Guest: Claudia Horwitz.

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• 18 Rituals for Social Activism from Ritualwell — Rituals have sustained the Jewish people throughout history. Below are 18 rituals which address, inspire, and motivate social activism, as recommended by Ritualwell.

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 experiencing the brokenness of the world and opening ourselves to the unity of all creation.

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

Special Guest: Rabbi David Jaffe.

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Links:

• Homepage of Rabbi David Jaffe
• The Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project: Spiritual grounding tools for today's social justice leaders.
• Ritualwell resources: 10 Poems, Prayers, and Songs to Lift up your Soul
• Amazon link: Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change
• Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe - Wikipedia
• Hitbodedut - Wikipedia
• Hitbodedut resource: "What’s Left When You Let Go? Pouring Out Oneself in Those Lone Moments and Quiet Places" - The On Being Project
• Hitbodedut resource from Ritualwell: "Walking With the King"
• Hitbodedut resource from Ritualwell: "Prayer in Times Unknown"
• Hitbodedut resource: "How to Pray" | Reconstructing Judaism

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 received) and spiritually-rooted justice (love extended not only to neighbors, but to strangers, even in the face of trauma and fear.) We conclude by discussing of the transformative practice of spiritual direction.

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg.

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Links:

• Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg homepage — Sheila Peltz Weinberg: Author, Poet, Rabbi & Teacher
• God Loves the Stranger: Stories, Poems, Prayers: Sheila Peltz Weinberg (Amazon link)
• Shalom Meditation – Institute for Jewish Spirituality — Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg for this meditation on shalom.
• In the Divine Image – Institute for Jewish Spirituality — Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg for a meditation on, and exploration of, what it means to experience life as b’tzelem Elohim – created in the divine image. 
• Walking as Practice – Institute for Jewish Spirituality — This meditation is from Preparing the Heart: Meditations for Jewish Spiritual Practice. Rabbi Sheila Weinberg describes walking practice as a way of paying attention to the sensations in the body, gathering our attention and focus in the body.
• Sylvia Boorstein: That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist (Amazon link) — Sylvia Boorstein was mentioned in this episode as a teacher of meditation who embraces and integrates her Jewish identity into her work.
• Spiritual Direction | Reconstructionist Rabbinical College — The spiritual director serves as a companion and witness — someone who helps you (sometimes with questions, sometimes just by listening) to discern the divine where you might have missed it, and to integrate that awareness into your daily life.
• 10 Mindfulness Rituals and Meditations from Ritualwell — In support of Hashivenu we are highlighting rituals that have sustained the Jewish people throughout history. Below are 10 mindfulness rituals and meditations recommended by Ritualwell.
• Meditation Resources from Ritualwell
• Embracing the Stranger resources from Reconstructing Judaism — The pieces in this collection address the stranger we encounter inside as we grow in self-awareness, the strangers we meet in the world around us, and the intersection between the two.

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 discuss ways to move beyond trauma and cultivate resilience, and how these approaches inform her development of Reset: Spiritual Practice for Social Justice Organizations.

Update: See the show links below to read Rabbi Rosenberg's new book, Introduction to Trauma, Healing and Resilience.

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

Special Guest: Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg.

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Links:

• "Introduction to Trauma, Healing & Resilience" by Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg — We are thrilled to make this accessible and groundbreaking work available to the public and hope that you will find it useful and will share it widely.
• Reset: Spiritual Practice for Social Justice Organizations
• Learning Network: Embodied Ritual for Trauma, Resilience and Healing — We will explore how trauma theory and the tools of Jewish ritual can help us to grieve and process hurts we’ve experienced, build resilience and power for surviving and thriving in oppressive conditions and experience joy, growth and celebration. We will explore how to acknowledge trauma in public ritual spaces safely, responsibly and accessibly. You will have the opportunity to design your own ritual(s) in a supportive and inclusive space. You will come away with the knowledge and practical tools to build healing rituals for yourself and your communities.
• Ritualwell: Rituals for Healing & Hard Times — Hard times are inevitable. But support and healing are available in many forms. Rituals — from mikveh to meditation — can help us move from darkness to light.
• Aurora Levins Morales - Historian as Curandera — Having a historical understanding of the present makes everything we do more effective. It allows us to see the local faces of large patterns of events and causes, and understand how our immediate experiences are connected to those of people who came before us or emerged out of different pasts than our own. History is also the story we tell about the past to explain the present and imagine the future, a job that can't be left to storytellers with a stake in exploitation. The Historian As Curandera talks about my vision of what an activist historian does and why it matters.
• The Historian as Curandera (PDF)
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (Amazon link) — Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
• generative somatics | the center for somatic transformation — The mission of generative somatics is to grow a transformative social and environmental justice movement -- one that integrates personal and social transformation, creates compelling alternatives to the status quo and embodies the creativity and life affirming actions we need to forward systemic change.
• Trauma, Healing and Resilience Resources (PDF) — A few of our favorite trauma and healing books, podcasts, and websites, lightly sorted, though they all