Rabbi Richard Address chats with this week’s guests, Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, center, and Rabbi Richard Agler, right.

This week’s guests on the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast are Rabbis Rifat Sonsino and Richard Agler, editors of a new collection of essays, A God We Can Believe In.

Do you believe in God? So many people answer this question in the negative because the God they have been taught to believe in is simply not all that believable. In the twenty-first century, a Deity who intervenes in history, supernaturally responds to prayers, favors and protects his faithful and chosen, and executes righteous judgment engenders doubt and disbelief in thinking people of all faiths, as well as those of no practicing faith.

A God We Can Believe In is a response to this moment. The book includes contributions from leading rabbis and scholars that articulate paths to heart, mind, and soul with God-teachings that are spiritually compelling and intellectually sound. The authors present God in ways that are consistent with the facts that higher learning has established, the principles of reason, and our shared life experiences. In these pages you will find a God that cannot be brushed aside by educated moderns; a God that does not violate the realities of logic or natural law; a God presented in accessible language; a God that can be lived with and lived for. It is a book for thoughtful individuals everywhere.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guests

Rabbi Richard D. Agler, DD

Richard Dean Agler is a native of New York City. He is a graduate of East Meadow High School in East Meadow, New York, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from New York University. Upon graduation, he entered the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, studying in Jerusalem and New York. He earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 1976 and received smicha–Rabbinic ordination in 1978. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree in March 2003 and was named to the President’s Rabbinic Council of the HUC-JIR in 2006.

Following ordination Rabbi Agler served at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan. In 1984 he became the Founding Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton. During his tenure the congregation grew from four families in a living room to over 1200 member families on the Yamato Road campus. In 2011, after twenty-seven years, he retired from that pulpit and was named Rabbi Emeritus by the con...

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, David Bernstein, founder of the Jewish Institute of Liberal Values, discusses the Institute’s work in encouraging principled debate over political and social issues.

Currently, the response to Critical Social Justice has been mixed in the Jewish world. There are Jewish groups that firmly oppose or ignore CSJ. There are groups that enthusiastically endorse it. And there are many mainstream Jewish organizations — national and local — that have yet to develop a clearly defined position. The Jewish Institute for Liberal Values will help Jewish organizations and individuals hold constructive conversations about CSJ and ensure balanced approaches.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

David Bernstein

A passionate advocate of the free expression of ideas, David Bernstein is the founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values (JILV), which opposes illiberal ideologies and supports liberal values in and out of the Jewish community. He is also a co-founder of the Institute for Liberal Values, a consortium of like minded organizations supporting liberal principles. He is past President and CEO of Jewish Council for Public Affairs and former executive director of the David Project. He spent 13 years at the American Jewish Committee in senior roles. David is a prolific speaker, podcaster and writer, having written hundreds of opinion pieces in the Jewish and general press. 

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Kyle Ruffin, author of “In Stroke’s Shadow: My Caregiver’s Story,” talks about caring for her mother after she suffered a debilitating stroke.

When Kyle left her marketing position at one of Philadelphia’s iconic media outlets to start her own consulting business, she thought she was finally in complete control of her life. She had no idea things were about to take a sudden and dramatic turn. A few short months after launching her dream, Paula, Kyle’s youthful, vibrant, and active mother, suffered the first of three strokes. Within the space of twenty-four hours, stroke catapulted the mother and daughter into a whole new world and a relationship for which neither was prepared. In Stroke’s Shadow is Kyle’s caregiver story.

Over the next three years, Kyle single-handedly managed her severely debilitated mother’s life through waves of medical and personal crisis, surprising ups, sudden and calamitous downs, generational clashes, shifting cultural expectations, and heartwarming moments of support and love from caring friends and family.

“We can’t believe how devoted you are to your mother,” friends and family would say. But in her heart, Kyle knew she was driven purely by the unshakable regrets that had haunted her since the sudden loss of her father and her sister’s prolonged suffering and death from lung cancer. But would that be enough to carry her through the anguish of caregiving and an ugly family controversy that sprung from secrets Paula had long kept?

In Stroke’s Shadow explores a journey so many are, will be, or have been on. This poignant memoir spurs readers to reflect on their own experience and release anxieties familiar to all who find themselves on this road. It is an unapologetic look at the struggles, conflicting family expectations, exhausting frustrations, self-doubt, and the internal tug of war that shapes every caregiver’s reality.

Kyle’s story offers a release valve to caregivers, particularly caregivers of color. It acknowledges the overwhelming hardships while encouraging often underappreciated family warriors to occasionally put themselves first so their healing can begin.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbis Jeffrey Salkin (center) and Gregory Marx (right) discuss their recent humanitarian mission to the Polish border with Ukraine to deliver aid to Ukrainian refugees from the Russian invasion.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guests

Rabbi Gregory S. Marx

Rabbi Marx has been spiritual leader at Congregation Beth Or since 1989. Previously he was the Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, Florida.

Committed to Jewish and interfaith education, he is the proud past President of the Wissahickon Faith Community Association, an interfaith organization supporting clergy from various faiths. He is a devoted liberal Zionist, celebrating the return of our people to our ancestral homeland after thousands of years of exile. He expresses that dedication in service to the State of Israel, having led numerous congregational and communal missions to Israel as well as serving as the Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of State of Israel Bonds. He is proud member of the New York Board of Rabbis, while serving the rabbinic community locally as the co-President of the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis. His local communal engagement includes the Board of Directors of the Abington Hospital Foundation Board, Abramson Senior Care, and the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia.

Rabbi Marx has published in several journals, periodicals and papers. Ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1984, and holding a BA from Oberlin College and an M.H.L. and D.D. from Hebrew Union College, he teaches extensively and has worked to instill pride in Jewish traditions for over 37 of Rabbinic service and leadership.

Rabbi Marx and his wife, Laurie have four children, Daniel, (married to Tyi), Joe & Ricca. He is the proud grandfather of Lilah.

Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin

Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin is one of American Judaism’s most prolific and most-quoted rabbis and thought leaders.  His colleagues have called him “an activist for Jewish ideas,” “courageous,” “always relevant,” and “a rabbi’s rabbi.”

Ever since his first book, “Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim The Spiritual Meaning of Your Child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah” (Jewish Lights Publishing), Rabbi Salkin has been known for his writing,

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Address offers a message for Passover, which begins at sundown this evening.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, elder care law attorney Jerold Rothkoff discusses issues surrounding elder care and elder law.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

Jerold E. Rothkoff, Esq.

Jerold E. Rothkoff, a practicing New Jersey and Pennsylvania attorney, is the Principal of the Rothkoff Law Group, where he dedicates his practice to serving clients in the areas of elder law, life care planning, asset protection, estate planning, and long-term care advocacy.  Jerry Rothkoff is Past President of the NJ Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Past President of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association (LCPLFA), and former Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Elder Law Section. Jerry Rothkoff has been, and continues to be, an outspoken advocate for the rights of the elderly and disabled. He writes for and gives presentations regularly to attorneys and other professionals about elder law. He is a frequent lecturer, speaker, and author for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Education, as well as non-profit and professional organizations.

You can get more information at www.rothkofflaw.com.

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Cheryl Weiner of Mishkan Miami reflects on her work in chaplaincy and her spiritual journey.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service and Jewish Federation’s J-Link Video Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

The show is also available on the J-Link video platform sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey. Subscription is free and the show is available here.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

Rabbi Cheryl Weiner, PhD, BCC

RABBI CHERYL WEINER, PhD, BCC is a staff chaplain and community rabbi for Mishkan Miami, the spiritual connection for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.  She is Director of the Sacred Jewish Conversation Initiative, which includes programs related to Wise Aging, End of Life Decision Making, Legacy and Ethical Wills, and Funeral Choices.  She is also the Director of the Refuat Hanefesh Fellows Program and Alumni Network, a volunteer training program for Bikkur Cholim, visiting the sick.  

Rabbi Weiner also serves as a chaplain for accentCare, formerly Seasons Hospice, Broward and works there as their Jewish liaison, a bereavement and trauma specialist and workshop leader. Recently, she has completed a Certificate in Gerontology and Palliative Care from Yeshiva University School of Social Work and is a certified facilitator for What Matters, a program in caring conversations about end of life from the Marlene Myerson JCC, NYC, and Wise Aging, a program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality under the direction of Rabbi Rachel Cowan. 

As an ordained rabbi from the Academy for Jewish Religion, CA, she developed a curriculum and congregational program entitled Menschlekeit Matters, which is a model for congregational renewal focused on Jewish values. She has served as an Educational Director for life long learning for synagogues in the Reconstructionist and Reform movements and has taught across the denominational spectrum. In addition, she has developed programs for congregations, JCC’s, University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, and the Academy for Jewish Religion, CA as well as for Limmud,  Kavod V’Nichum,  and the Florence Melton Adult Learning Program, Miami.

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz discusses his work establishing YATOM: The Jewish Foster & Adoption Network.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz has twice been named one of America’s Top Rabbis by Newsweek and has been named by The Forward as one of the  50 most influential Jews and one of The Most Inspiring Rabbis in America.

Rabbi Yanklowitz is the author of nineteen books on Jewish ethics and his writings have appeared in outlets as diverse as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the Atlantic among many other secular and religious publications. He has served as speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and a Rothschild Fellow in Cambridge, UK.

Rav Shmuly received a Masters from Harvard University and his Doctorate from Columbia University. He serves as the President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash (Jewish learning center), the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek (the Orthodox Social Justice movement), the Founder and CEO of Shamayim (Jewish animal advocacy), and the Founder and President of YATOM, (Jewish foster and adoption network). Rabbi Shmuly, his wife Shoshana, and their four children live in Scottsdale, Arizona. They are also foster parents.

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Catherine Fischer,  the creator of Sacred Practice: Reimagining Synagogue Engagement, discusses her work for the past two decades to strengthen relationships between people and organizations and their connection to Judaism.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

Catherine S. Fischer

Catherine S. Fischer is the creator of Sacred Practice: Reimagining Synagogue Engagement. 

Catherine has worked for the past two decades to strengthen relationships between people and organizations and their connection to Judaism.

In founding Sacred Practice, she aspires to bring the transformational power of Judaism into all aspects of Jewish communal work, from the seemingly most mundane task to the most extraordinary, finding the sacred and lifting it up so that Jewish organizations radiate purpose and thus thrive. 

She began her Jewish professional career in 2001 as the Pennsylvania Regional Director of Outreach and Synagogue Community for the Union for Reform Judaism. In 2004, through Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Catherine became the Coordinator for the Center City Kehillah (community), working cross-denominationally to strengthen Jewish life in Philadelphia. She was the Director of Membership, Programming, and Philanthropy at Congregation Rodeph Shalom from 2008 to 2020.

Catherine continues to learn from and be inspired by opportunities offered through The Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She serves on the Board of Trustees at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and is an active member of her synagogues, Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia and Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill.

Catherine graduated from Bard College (with honors) and received her MEd from Lesley University and Shady Hill School. Before she became a Jewish professional, Catherine spent two decades as an elementary, middle school, and college educator.

Catherine lives in Cherry Hill with my husband, Richard. She has two adult children, Sarah and David, a daughter-in-law, Rachel, and grandson, Oliver.

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Karen Hoffman, Founder/CEO Living on Purpose, discusses her company’s mission to develop workshops, activities and resources to facilitate shared connections and personal growth.

Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast Now Available on Roku Streaming Service

You can add the Jewish Sacred Aging TV channel to your Roku streaming subscription by visiting this page: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/600964/jewish-sacred-aging.

You can also watch this week’s show in the player below. The shows now include closed-captioning for the deaf or people with a hearing loss. Click the “CC” button on the video player to activate closed-captions.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

You can listen to the audio podcast version in the player below, or subscribe to the podcast in one of the popular platforms by clicking one of the buttons below the player.

About the Guest

Karen Hoffman

Karen Hoffman has been a professional in the Jewish community since becoming a licensed nursing home administrator in the 1980’s in Los Angeles.

Through the decades, she has enjoyed working in the Jewish and multi-faith communities, bringing her passion for exploring Jewish and universal values into the lives of others. Whether it’s ensuring that octogenarians continue living lives of meaning and purpose, or helping younger people on their individual journeys, Karen finds her greatest fulfillment when holding space for others in meaningful ways.

After nearly 15 years as a synagogue professional, Karen started her own company, sharing her insights and experience with others. She is a passionate writer and also facilitates individual and group explorations around themes of universal values — words that matter — like gratitude, humility, resilience and trust. Her aim in this chapter of her life is helping people live on purpose by bringing more attention to intentional living.

Karen has fully embraced her journey of growing older:  writing, teaching, facilitating and speaking; she truly lives her own life on purpose, and is enjoying this latest chapter of her life in ways beyond her expectation.

Karen lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband of almost 40 years. Karen and Alan have three adult sons and an ever-growing family, truly the greatest joy of her life.