The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture

Josh (Host):

Eric Stern builds Jewish community and is a curator of Jewish culture. He's a very interesting, multi-layered renaissance man who is the irector of Programming at Portland's Eastside Jewish Commons, an important player in the emergent Jewish scene here in Portland Oregon.

Eric is also musician, vocalist, accordionist, pianist, composer, arranger, he trained as a classical singer and went on to found the eclectic, genre-bending band Vagabond Opera, which toured nationally, appeared on NPR and at the Kennedy Center, and mixed opera, jazz, cabaret, Klezmer and Balkan influences.

Rabbi Josh and Eric explore his EP and its roots in Greek Rebetiko, trace the parallels between marginalized musical traditions like Klezmer and blues, discuss Stern's transformation from performer to facilitator, talk about whether religious experience and music-making are connected, and whether Jewish art on its own can sustain community in the absence of synagogue life.

Part two of Rabbi Josh's conversation with Lou Cove, CEO of CANVAS, an organization seeding "The 21st Cultural Renaissance in Jewish Life".

In this episode, Rabbi welcomes Lou Cove—writer, cultural strategist, and longtime champion of Jewish arts and storytelling—for a rich and personal conversation about Jewish cultural identity, memory, and the power of creative revival.

Lou shares the story of how a casual visit to the Yiddish Book Center unexpectedly transformed his life and career. Raised with little connection to Jewish communal life, Lou recalls how this moment set him on a path to reclaim a cultural legacy he didn't even know he had.

Rabbi Josh and Lou discuss the emotional and intellectual journey of reconnecting with Jewish culture through literature, storytelling, and memory. They also explore whether this revival in Jewish life can be seen essential not just for preservation, but for ongoing meaning-making in Jewish life. (Part 2 will be released next week).

Today on the podcast, Rabbi Josh speaks with Ahuva S. Zaslavsky — a Portland-based multidisciplinary artist whose work grapples with the raw, layered questions of identity, transformation, and belonging. Ahuva was born and raised in Tel Aviv in a deeply mixed family — Mizrahi and Ashkenazi, traditional and secular — and it wasn't until a move to the United States as an adult that she unexpectedly stepped into her life as an artist.

Zaslavsky's work spans sculpture, printmaking, painting, video, writing, and performance — but at its core, it wrestles with what she calls "metamorphosis": how something shifts forms while carrying the imprint of its origin. She draws inspiration from Jewish mythology, especially the golem — a creature formed from clay, brought to life to protect, and ultimately beyond its maker's control — and explores what it means to be both the creator and the created.

The conversation covers exile, motherhood, Jewishness in America, the Israeli art world, October 7th and its aftermath, and what it's like to feel alienated from both the place you left and the place you live. And we talk about art as a survival instinct — not just for the artist, but for the self.

Enjoy.

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In this episide, Rabbi Shai Held and Rabbi Josh talk about Rabbi Held's book 'Judaism is About Love,' what it means to have love at the center of Jewish teaching, and why so many in the Jewish community don't understand that Love is central to their own tradition. In this moment of cultural conflict, at a time when the Jewish state is engaged in a horrific war, when Jewish communities are finding themselves confronting anti-Jewish hatred, Rabbi Held's ideas are profoundly important. The conversation starts with the book but covers a lot of other topics as well - at times philosophical and very personal, this is a powerful conversation. Enjoy. and please follow/subscribe!

Rabbi Josh continues his weekly additional episode/reflection on Israel.

Today Rabbi Rachel Joseph steps into the podcast. She will become, in 2027, the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, one of the two largest synagogues in Portland.

Rabbi Josh and Rabbi Joseph have known and worked together over the years, and they met in her office to go deep on a range of topics. They talk about what it means to be a "political rabbi" without preaching politics, the challenge of holding space for people who don't all agree, and why sermons may not matter as much as relationships do. We also talk about grief, baking challah, synagogue strategy, and what it means to build a community where everyone belongs — even if you hate salmon.

Enjoy the conversation.

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This week Rabbi Josh speaks with Sonya Sanford — a Portland-based writer, culinary educator, recipe developer, and podcast host.

Sonya is the the author of Braids: Recipes from My Pacific Northwest Jewish Kitchen hwihc has delicious Jewish recipes with flavors of the Pacific Northwest. She is also the co-host of the highly rated Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy, a podcast that offers practical recipes and creative kitchen inspiration. Sonya was part of Art/Lab's first cohort for contemporary Jewish artists.

Please follow or subscribe to the show for more upcoming conversations about Jewish culture. If you want to reach out you can find Rabbi Josh at [email protected]

This week we bring you a conversation that Rabbi Josh had recently with Raghad Jaraisy, a Palestinian-Israeli advocating for Palestinian equality and civil rights in Israel. Jaraisy is the Co-Executive Director, along with Ofer Dagan, of Sikkuy Aufoq, "a shared Jewish and Arab nonprofit organization that works to advance equality and partnership between the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel – descendants of those who remained within the Israeli borders after the founding of the state in 1948 – and the country's Jewish citizens."

We discuss the particular challenges faced by Palestinians in Israel, we discuss how the Gaza war has affected Palestinian Israelis and Jewish Israelis, and what it means to have hope in the current climate.

Raghad is an profoundly inspiring person who is committed to peace, co-existence, and equality. She and Rabbi Josh delve into the complexities of contemporary Israel with compassion and honesty. Enjoy the conversation.

This event was hosted by the New Israel Fund (NIF) and was co-sponsored by the Eastside Jewish Commons, Congregations Shir Tikvah, Congregation Havura Shalom, J-Street, and Co/Lab: Reimagine Jewish.

Rabbi Micah Streiffer is a friend of the podcast, colleague, a teacher of Jewish ideas, and the founder of the Jewish organization Laasok, which is an online center of liberal Jewish teaching - a virtual 'beit midrash.' We talk about truth claims and what they mean for the Jewish tradition, we discuss Jewish belonging, the changing landscape of Jewish orgnaizational life and a whole lot more. Enjoy this conversation with the always thoughftul Rabbi Micah Streiffer.