The College Commons Podcast

Lessons and challenges from Black church leadership for Jewish and other allies.

Pastor John Cager is an Ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He has shepherded four congregations in his ministry: St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Baldwin Hills as a visiting pastor; First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Santa Monica, CA as a supply pastor; St. Stephens African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, CA; Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Fontana, California, and most recently was the proud pastor of Second African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles.

His ministries exceed the boundaries of the local church, evidenced by his various leadership positions: Politically active, Reverend Cager worked for Tom Hayden’s “Campaign California” and was elected a Delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Reverend Cager serves on the Board of Directors of Progressive Christians Uniting, Greater Capacity Consortium; and First To Serve Treatment Centers; and, volunteers on the Prostate Cancer Awareness Team for the American Cancer Society.

He was named 2007 “Pastor of the Year” by the Inland Valley News. Reverend Cager presently serves as the Interim President of the Los Angeles Council of Churches and is the President of the AME Ministerial Alliance of Southern California.

Fighting for gay and civil rights, and Jewish pluralism.

Rabbi Noa Sattath is the Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the social justice arm of the Israel Movement for Reform Judaism. She is charged with leading the staff of the organization, developing social change strategies in the fields of separation of religion and state, women’s rights, and the struggle against racism. Prior to her work in IRAC, Noa was the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Open House, the LGBT community center in Jerusalem and the Executive Director of MEET, a non-profit organization that uses technology to create a common language between Israeli and Palestinian young leaders.

The compelling journey of a biracial Jew.

Marra B. Gad was born in New York and raised in Chicago. She is an independent film and television producer and now calls Los Angeles home. Ms. Gad is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds a master’s degree in modern Jewish history from Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University. She is the author of The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish girl.

Seeking meaning in a spiritual approach to aging.

Rabbi Address was ordained at HUC-JIR 1972 and currently serves as the Director of Jewish Sacred Aging® (jewishsacredaging.com) and host of weekly podcast "Seekers of Meaning." He served on staff of the URJ for over 3 decades as Regional Director and Director of Jewish Family Concerns, in addition to serving congregations in CA and NJ. He is active in several national and local (Philadelphia-area) organizations dealing with aging, caregiving and end of life. He also serves as Dean of Gamliel Institute and teaches classes associated with Jewish Sacred Aging work at HUC-JIR in New York, Yeshiva Univ, as well a local JCC and numerous congregations.

Leaders of Atlanta's Berman Center and Blue Dove Foundation tackle addiction and mental health in the Jewish community.

Alyza Berman, LCSW, is the founder, owner, and executive director of the Berman Center, a treatment program created to address the needs of individuals who suffer from addiction, mental illness, and co-occurring disorders. She is a trauma specialist as well as an individual, group, couples, and family therapist. Alyza specializes in the treatment of addiction, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and trauma. She has a passion for helping others and fully immerses herself in the people she meets and works with daily. The Berman Center doors first opened to address a problem in the Jewish community, while creating a place and program where Jewish individuals can get help for mental health and/or addiction. The Berman Center is founded on the Jewish principles of connection, community, and belonging.

Daniel Epstein, LMHC, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist; co-founder of the Blue Dove Foundation and Director of Client Care at The Berman Center, a Jewish-based intensive outpatient treatment program for mental health and substance abuse. A South Florida native, Epstein specializes in teens, young adults and crisis intervention. In 2019, Daniel was recognized by the Atlanta Jewish Times as a 40 under 40 honoree.

Gabrielle (Gabby) Leon Spatt is a genuine connector who is passionate about bringing people and organizations together to accomplish big dreams. A personal tragedy led Gabby to start volunteering with The Blue Dove Foundation, an Atlanta-based non-profit focusing on mental health and substance abuse education, outreach and awareness through a Jewish lens. Gabby transitioned from board member to staff member in April 2019. She devotes her time to her professional role along with community engagement through different leadership roles. In 2017, Gabby was recognized by the Atlanta Jewish Times as a 40 under 40 honoree and a member of the 2019 Outstanding Atlanta Class.

Justin Milrad is a passionate and engaged businessman and individual who believes that we each have a responsibility through tikkun olam to make this world a better place. Justin is the CEO of the Berman Center, a mental health and substance abuse intensive outpatient program. Driven by his passion for the Jewish community, Justin is on several Jewish boards including the Blue Dove Foundation, an Atlanta-based non-profit focusing on mental health and substance abuse education, outreach and awareness through a Jewish lens. Justin is also He is also involved in the National Young Leadership Program at Jewish Federation and is currently enrolled in the Wexner Heritage Institute, a program developing Jewish leaders across North America.

The Blue Dove Foundation's book, "Quieting The Silence: Personal Stories" is a collection of personal stories dedicated to raising awareness, understanding, support and hope for those who struggle with mental illness and addiction in the Jewish Community and is available on Amazon.

Exploring new community models for the next generation of Jews.

Rabbi Mike Uram is the Executive Director at Penn Hillel and the author of the best-selling book, Next Generation Judaism: How College Students and Hillel Can Help Reinvent Jewish Organizations, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2016. He is a sought-after speaker and consultant on the changing nature of the American Judaism, Jewish innovation, cutting-edge engagement and how legacy organizations can reinvent themselves in the age of millennials. He has spent time in all of the different denominations and is most passionate about breaking down the boundaries that prevent people from having full self-actualized Jewish identities.

Off-Script: Old Wisdom, New Realty

Audio insights from religious thinkers on the Covid-19 pandemic -- a special series of the College Commons Podcast.

Episode Contributors:

BART CAMPOLO is a secular minister, speaker, and writer who currently serves as the humanist chaplain at the University of Cincinnati and the host of the award-winning Humanize Me podcast. Bart has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine and, together with his famous evangelical father, he is the author of Why I Left, Why I Stayed and the subject of the documentary film, Leaving My Father’s Faith.

Dr. LEAH HOCHMAN, PH.D. directs the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies at the University of Southern California and serves as Associate Professor of Jewish Thought at HUC-JIR's Skirball Campus in Los Angeles.

AZIZA HASAN is the executive director of NewGround: A Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change, a national model for building authentic relationships, productive engagement and social change between American Muslims and Jews. Named one of 50 people quietly changing the nonprofit world by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Aziza currently serves on L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Interfaith Leaders Collaborative and previously served on President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Host:

DR. JOSHUA HOLO, PH.D. is the Dean of HUC-JIR's Skirball Campus in Los Angeles and Associate Professor of Jewish History. He served as Director of the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies at USC from 2006-2010. Dr. Holo's publications focus on Medieval Jews of the Mediterranean, particularly in the Christian realm. His book, Byzantine Jewry in the Mediterranean Economy, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.

Sources of inspiration from great teachers—and unexpected ones, as well.

Ariel Burger is the author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom, which won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award in Biography. He is also an artist and teacher whose work integrates education, spirituality, the arts, and strategies for social change. An Orthodox rabbi, Ariel received his PhD in Jewish Studies and Conflict Resolution under Elie Wiesel. A lifelong student of Professor Wiesel, Ariel served as his Teaching Fellow from 2003-2008, after which he directed education initiatives at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. A Covenant Foundation grantee, Ariel develops cutting-edge arts and educational programming for adults, facilitates workshops for educators, consults to non-profits, and serves as scholar/artist-in-residence for institutions around the U.S. When Ariel's not learning or teaching, he is creating music, art, and poetry. He lives outside of Boston with his family.

Mutually inspiring sources of Reform Judaism—from places you may not expect.

Rita Fruman was raised in the Reform Movement in Belarus, beginning in 1999. In 2001, she became a madricha and then the Director of the Minsk Netzer club, where she oversaw the training of the next generation of leaders in Jewish summer camps. In 2003, she made Aliyah, and can say that her love for Israel was given to her at the Netzer camp. In Israel, her relationship with Reform Judaism has become even stronger both emotionally and professionally. She has been working for World Union for Progressive Judaism since 2005 and today serves as the Director of WUPJ Operations & Programs in the Former Soviet Union.

Cantor Rustein currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, Angélica Tobón. He serves as CEO, Student Rabbi and Chazzan at Templo Libertad, Argentina's most historical Jewish congregation. He is currently an advanced rabbinical student in the Iberoamerican Institute for Reform Rabbinical Education. Previously, he trained in Jerusalem (Conservative Yeshiva) and Seminario (Chazzanut). Cantor Rustein was selected by the URJ for the Klal Yisrael Fellowship (as the first South American). Additionally, he has sung in the Vatican to Pope Francis and travelled through Jewish Germany as a guest of the German Government.

Fighting anti-Zionism in progressive spaces.

Amanda Berman is the Founder and Executive Director of the Zioness Movement, a new initiative empowering and activating Zionists on the progressive left to stand proudly in social justice spaces as Jews and Zionists. Until she recently made the transition to focusing exclusively on building the much-needed Zioness community, Amanda was also a civil rights attorney fighting anti-Semitism legally, spearheading such groundbreaking initiatives as the international action against Kuwait Airways for its discrimination against Israeli nationals, and the dual cases against San Francisco State University for its constitutional and civil rights violations against Jewish and Israeli students and community members.

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Amanda writes on Jewish and civil rights issues and is a media contributor across various mediums and outlets. She has spoken and presented before diverse audiences including Hadassah, JNF, B'nei Brith, Jewish Federation, AIPAC, JCRC, Hillel, and many others. She is a graduate of the Anti-Defamation League's Glass Leadership Institute, the recipient of Hadassah's prestigious Myrtle Wreath Award, and was listed by the Algemeiner as one of the top "100 people positively contributing to Jewish life" in 2018. She previously served for 5 years as an Executive Board Member at Friends of the IDF, Young Leadership NY.

Amanda graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Diplomatic History and a Master of Governmental Administration and received her Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Public Service Scholar; served in the Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic, providing legal services to the underrepresented; served in the Advanced Human Rights Clinic, providing legal services to immigrants and refugees; sat on the Executive Board of the Cardozo Advocates for Battered Women; and was a Fellow in the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Clinic. She practiced securities litigation at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP before dedicating her career to the advancement and protection of the Jewish people and the Zionist community.