Making Mensches

Join Elana and Jesi from the Making Mensches team for a conversation with Stacy Friedman (she/her) and Elly Stern (she/her), the author and illustrator of new children’s book, “Never Again, for Anyone.” 

We talk with them about the genesis for this book and all the considerations that went into the writing and illustration of the book, the importance of community and how their community influenced this book, and the necessity of a children’s book like this one.

Stacy is a Jewish mama, educator, and organizer committed to creating a world where all children are safe. Guided by cultural teachings of empathy and justice, she learns and teaches with land, food, and community. Never Again, for Anyone is her first book and the first Jewish children’s book that supports Palestinian liberation.

Elly is an award-winning artist, animator, and community organizer who uses visual storytelling to inspire change. Through stop-motion film-making and mixed media, her works capture the textures of human experience. As a third-generation Holocaust survivor and anti-Zionist Jew from Israel-Palestine, Elly is committed to intertwining art with justice advocacy. Never Again, for Anyone is her first book.

If you want to read the book with children in your life or buy it for loved ones with kids, it’s available for pre-order and will be in stores in North America on September 29th.

If you want to support the book, request it at your local bookstore and library! Ask your synagogue or other local orgs to buy it for their library! Share it on social media!

[This episode was recorded in May 2026.]

Big thanks to Stacy and Elly for this conversation, Jesi for being part of the team, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join the Making Mensches team (Elana, Jesi/Rocki, and Jessie) and Rachel Joy (they/she) for the third episode of our Judaism and Abolition series! 

Rachel is an abolitionist social worker, lay leader, and organizer. Rachel has been teaching, leading Jewish services, and community building with folks inside jails for the past five years and spent the past 9 months organizing with Matir Asurim: The Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People. Rachel also started the NYC Resource Library - a database of free resources across NYC and an in-person mutual aid distribution.

In this episode, we talk about supporting Jewish folks who are incarcerated, the connections between anti-zionism and abolition, the importance of our own healing when engaging in movement work, racism in Jewish communities, how to get involved in mutual aid/organizing work, and soooo much more. 

It was a true pleasure to get to talk to Rachel and this episode is so full of wisdom. We hope it moves you in the direction of community and true justice <3

Show Notes:

• Matir Asurim 
• [email protected] 
• NYC Resource Library
• [email protected] 

If you enjoyed this episode, please donate to Matir Asurim.

[This episode was recorded in May 2026.]

Big thanks to Rachel for this conversation, Jesi for being part of the team, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join the Making Mensches team (Elana, Jesi/Rocki, and Jessie) and Ayeola Omolara Kaplan for the second episode of our Judaism and Abolition series!

Ayeola is a revolutionary surrealist artist who creates artwork that synchronizes abolitionist dreams and experiential reality. Ayeola’s craft is inspired by her Jewish eco-spirituality and the divinity that seeds the intersecting threads of disability justice, gender liberation, racial equity, and class abolition. 

In this episode, we talk about ecospiritualism, Cop City in Atlanta, the significance of ecological consciousness in abolition work, teshuva, how we can reconstruct Judaism, and so much more. We are so grateful for Ayeola’s wisdom and art and hope if you’re listening, you’ll go support her.

Show Notes:

• BUY AYEOLA’S ART
• DWELL in Revolution MM episode with Ayeola
• Why Cop City Goes Against Jewish Values
• The Prisoner’s Herbal by Nicole Rose
• Uncle Jim’s Worms
• Vermicomposting 
• Reorienting Within a World of Plastic episode
• Rose Luxemburg’s prison letters

If you enjoyed this episode, please support Ayeola’s work.

[This episode was recorded in April 2026.]

Big thanks to Ayeola for this conversation, Jesi for being part of the team, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

As a note, we discuss colonial violence in its many forms - including sexual and racial violence - in this episode.

In the liberatory tradition of pesach, the Making Mensches team (Elana, Jesi/Rocki, and Jessie) bring you the first episode in what will be an ongoing series on Judaism and Abolition. In this first episode, we discuss the many overlaps between Judaism and Abolition, how abolition shows up in Jewish text and ritual, what abolition means, what this can look like in practice, how it relates to anti-zionism, and so much more.  If you add berries to your seder plate, send us a picture!

We are excited to continue discussing this topic and bring other wise folks into the conversation in future episodes <3

Show Notes:

• Judaism and Abolition resource document 
• Making Mensches Haggadah Library
• Critical Resistance⁠
• ⁠Letter to the Anti-Rape Movement by Project Nia
• ⁠What About the Rapists? - Abolitionist Toolbox⁠
• ⁠Hidden Water⁠  
• Khalil’s fund

If you enjoyed this episode, we are suggesting that donations be made to Matir Asurim!

[This episode was recorded in March 2026.]

Big thanks to Jesi for being part of the interview and the team, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We are so excited to share this podcast mashup with you! Elana, Jessie, and Jesi of Making Mensches in conversation with the incredible Lexi Kohanski of Torah for Trans Lives (T4Torah). In addition to her podcast, Lexi is also the Director of Online Learning at the Torah Studio and is currently designing Worlds To Come, a first-of-its-kind tabletop roleplaying game to teach Biblical Hebrew. Obviously Lexi is brilliant beyond belief and it was a true joy to get to co-create with her.

In this episode, we explore the ways people engage with Torah both for life and for death, what it means to find ourselves in the texts as queer and trans people, how to begin your Torah exploration if it feels daunting, and so much more. 

Zionists love to suggest that anti-zionist Jews don’t know Torah and weaponize the text, but truly - the Torah is ours. We must continue to make it so.

Some links…

• You can find Torah Studio classes here
• Although Lexi’s class with Shel Maala has since happened you can find more Shel Maala classes here and listen to our podcast episode with the founders here or wherever you listen to podcasts
• More about the Jewish Liberation Theology Institute can be found here

[This episode was recorded in February 2026.]

Big thanks to Lexi for this collaboration, Jesi for being part of the interview process, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

After a brief pause, we're back and better than ever with the poetic presence of Aiyana Masla! In this episode, Elana, Jessie, and Jesi talk to interdisciplinary artist, intergenerational community member, and an anti-bias educator ⁠Aiyana Masla (she/her) about her debut poetry collection ⁠The Underdream. We talk with her about the inspiration for and process of writing The Underdream, the idea of presence as purpose, being in a body, accessible ritual, becoming a dream, finding and connecting to g-d in the world around us, and everything in between. We are so grateful for this gorgeous conversation and can't wait for you to listen too.

If you want to support Aiyana and The Underdream, the best way to do so is request a copy of the book at your local bookstore or library! You can also purchase it here.

In this episode we focus almost solely on The Underdream, but we encourage you to explore ALL of Aiyana's offerings and hope to have her back soon to talk about more of her practices <3

Some links…

-The Underdream

-Aiyana's website (With art for purchase!)

-Aiyana's Poetry Instagram

-Aiyana's Art Instagram

[This episode was recorded in January 2026.]

Big thanks to Aiyana for being on the pod, Jesi for being part of the interview process, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this episode, we talk to writer, performance artist, and organizational consultant Alissa Schwartz (she/her) and book worker, artist, and publisher Patrick Barber (he/they) about Alissa’s book Ancestral Performance Art, published through Patrick’s publishing company - Impeller Press. We talk with them about so many things - but it centers around how we can build deeper relationships with our ancestors (not just genealogical, deceased, human ancestors - but all ancestors!), through speculative work, re-narrativization, and drag. 

We are so appreciative to them both for this conversation and if you’re in NYC, we hope you’ll come see Alissa perform an ancestral drag piece at our upcoming Hanukah Market with Pushcart Judaica on December 14th!

Some links to things mentioned in this episode…

-Alissa’s new book!

-Alissa’s first book

-Patrick’s publishing company & instagram

-Alissa’s website & instagram

-Theydy Bedbug’s drag class

-Helen Klonaris’s workshop

-My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

[This episode was recorded in August 2025.]

Big thanks to Alissa and Patrick for being on the pod, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join Jessie (she/her) and guest interviewer (and beloved Making Mensches collaborator) Jesi (fae/they) for their conversation with artist Liz Awesome (he/him) 🎨

Jessie, Jesi, and Liz talk all things trash, art, and Judaism - as well as ways to infuse our lives with liberation, anger, and grief. As Liz says, “We already have everything we need, and we’re throwing it away in the trash.”

They discuss the ways that the internet both inhibits and encourages our modes of connection, including how we can best leverage the algorithm to ensure the most marginalized stories are being amplified and heard.

Some links to things mentioned in this episode…

Politics of Disposability

bell hooks on composting anger

[This episode was recorded in August 2025.]

Big thanks to Liz for being on the pod, Jesi for co-facilitating this interview, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hi Mensches! In this episode we’re joined by Wes (Wendy Elisheva Somerson), author of new book An Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing: Somatic Practices to Heal Historical Wounds, Unlearn Oppression, and Create a Liberated World to Come. This is a rich conversation filled with so much wisdom from Wes talking about trauma and somatic healing, taking actionable steps to address fear and shame in our bodies, how living into intention (kavanah) can guide us, and truly… so much more. We’re so excited for this episode to finally be out in the world and can’t wait for you to listen.

You can buy Wes’s book from the publisher - North Atlantic Books, at Third Place Books in Seattle, at Jewitches, or at any local bookstore. While Wes does not recommend purchasing the book on Am*z*n, they do ask that you go and write a review there to help boost the book :)

Some links to things mentioned in this episode…

Ruach Healing Group

Sefaria 

The Embodiment Institute  

[This episode was recorded in July 2025.]

Big thanks to Wes for being on the pod, Emily from North Atlantic Books, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome back, Mensches! Join us for a conversation with Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegal, co-authors of Ashkenazi Herbalism and new book Woven Roots: Recovering the Healing Plant Traditions of Jews and Their Neighbors in Eastern Europe. We discuss how Deatra and Adam began doing this work, the main differences between Woven Roots and Ashkenazi Herbalism, communal care in the Pale, the process of recovering traditions, plant medicine, and so much more. 

You can buy both of their books on Jewitches.com. Some of the things they mention during this episode are…

• Yizkor books 
• Memoirs of a Grandmother 
• Our episode with Julie Weitz
• Rokhl Kafrissen
• Max Dashu and the Suppressed Histories Archives

[This episode was recorded in July 2025.]

Big thanks to Adam and Deatra for being on the pod, Emily from North Atlantic Books, Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠⁠⁠⁠