PODCAST · religion
Judaism Unbound
by Institute for the Next Jewish Future
Listen in as Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even "regular Jews," Lex and Rena Yehuda look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.You can support Judaism Unbound at www.JudaismUnbound.com/donate.
Episodes
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Episode 558: Shabbat Unbound V - Shema/V'ahavta
Welcome to Shabbat Unbound, the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each...
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Everyday Mystics III: It Would Have Been Enough
When Moses turned and saw the bush that burned but was not consumed, it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, it was a map. Maybe the bush had always been burning. It just took someone willing to turn, to notice, to say this is sacred ground. Everyday Mystics tells the real stories of people who...
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Episode 557: The Great Jewish Anti-Debate - Halacha (Lex and Rena Yehuda)
Does Judaism need Halacha?** Lex and Rena Yehuda have some overlapping thoughts about that question, but also want to explore the ways that they disagree with one another. This question is one that Jews across many geographic contexts and denominational affiliations (or lack thereof) have debated...
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Everyday Mystics II: The Real Thing
When Moses turned and saw the bush that burned but was not consumed, it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, it was a map. Maybe the bush had always been burning. It just took someone willing to turn, to notice, to say this is sacred ground. Everyday Mystics tells the real stories of people who...
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Episode 556: Sadeh Farm - Talia Chain
Sadeh Farm is a Jewish farm and environmental community centre, located just southeast of London, England. Because why wouldn't there be a Jewish farm just southeast of London?? Talia Chain, founder of Sadeh Farm, joins Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman for a conversation about Sadeh's work --...
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Everyday Mystics I: The Flood
When Moses turned and saw the bush that burned but was not consumed, it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, it was a map. Maybe the bush had always been burning. It just took someone willing to turn, to notice, to say this is sacred ground. Everyday Mystics tells the real stories of people who...
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Episode 555: Everyday Mystics
In this episode, Lex Rofeberg and Miriam Terlinchamp introduce Everyday Mystics, a new podcast launching on this feed on October 7th, which tells the real stories of people who have had that turning. Small, ordinary moments that cracked open into something larger. Their stories of transformation...
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Episode 554: Shabbat Unbound IV - Lecha Dodi
Welcome to Shabbat Unbound, the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each...
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Episode 553: Yom Kippur 2026 - Brad Lander
Yom Kippur is here! For the past few years, Yom Kippur has been the single most popular day — all year — for folks to listen to the Judaism Unbound podcast. So to those of you incorporating our podcast into your observance of this holiday, wishing you a beautiful and unbound Yom Kippur. In this...
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Everyday Mystics Trailer
There’s a biblical story about Moses encountering a bush that burns but is never consumed. He stops. He turns and looks closer. And through that turning, he finds his call, and transforms the future of his people. That moment, was not just a once upon a time moment. But rather, an everyday…
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Episode 552: Asherah - Shaul Magid, Lila Rimalovski
ASHERAH is a new journal of Jewish liturgy — past, present, and future. Its name comes from an ancient goddess, related to a tree of the same name, and its first issue kicks off with a provocative quotation from Abraham Joshua Heschel: "Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive." Shaul Magid,...
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Shabbat Dinner Party V: Have the Damn Dinner
On this final episode of Shabbat Dinner Party, we have the real dinner. First, Neil Spears talks about how when we go somewhere over and over, we become known. Then, Gefelteria’s Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern put the final touches on their Shabbat dinner, and teach us about a dinnertime ritual...
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Episode 551: Elul 2026 IV - Nitzavim (Standing at Sinai) - Lex and Wendie
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this conversation, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash ask what the Torah portion Nitzavim (from Deuteronomy,...
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Shabbat Dinner Party IV: The Palace in Time
On this episode of Shabbat Dinner Party, we return to the imaginary Shabbat Dinner Table. Neil Spears talks about how to rid ourselves of the ‘tyranny of always having to produce.’ Gefelteria’s Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern return to the kitchen to teach Kate how to braid challah, a…
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Episode 550: Elul 2026 III - God? - Lex and Wendie
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this conversation, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore questions of who/what God is, and how Elul might…
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Shabbat Dinner Party III: No Bad Jews
On this episode of Shabbat Dinner Party, we return to the imaginary Shabbat Dinner Table. Neil Spears talks about how to have Shabbat dinner with a purpose, and why it can feel so hard to enter new Jewish spaces. Gefilteria’s Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern return to the kitchen to prep challah...
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Episode 549: Elul 2026 II - Shmita's Thurs-Year - Lex and Wendie
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this conversation, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash explore what it means to enter a "Thurs-Year" (a…
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Shabbat Dinner Party II: Is This the Life I Desire?
Shabbat Dinner Party, an auditory exploration through a Shabbat dinner, returns to the appetizer table, the kitchen, and the dinner table to go through all things Shabbat dinner. In this episode, Neil Spears talks about how Shabbat could be the perfect antidote to burnout through the act of...
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Episode 548: Elul 2026 - Lex and Wendie
Elul is the 12th and final month of the Jewish calendar year. Elul Unbound is a Judaism Unbound initiative all about making Elul meaningful, through creative digital modalities. In this conversation, Lex Rofeberg and Wendie Bernstein Lash kick off this year's Elul Unbound experience. This Elul...
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Shabbat Dinner Party I: Shabbat Shalom
Welcome to Shabbat Dinner Party, an auditory exploration through a Shabbat dinner. In this episode, we meet resident Shabbat expert Neil Spears, Gefilteria’s Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern, and comedian Mike Liebenson. Resources: Mike Liebenson’s comedy on Instagram Learn more about The...
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Episode 547: Shabbat Dinner Party
Shabbat Dinner Party is an audio exploration through a Shabbat dinner from setting the intention, to making the dinner, to the dinner conversation — all with audio. Each week over five episodes, Kate Mishkin talks to people we wish were at the real Shabbat dinner table with us because they think...
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Episode 546: Worlds to Come - Lexi Kohanski
Lexi Kohanski is a trans Jewish writer and educator, who recently created a Jewish TTRPG (table-top role-playing game) called Worlds to Come: The Hebrew Role-Playing Game. She is also a brand-new member of Judaism Unbound's staff team (our Education Content & Design Specialist)! Lexi joins Lex...
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Shabbat Dinner Party Trailer
Shabbat Dinner Party is an audio exploration through a Shabbat dinner from setting the intention, to making the dinner, to the dinner conversation — all with audio. Each week over five episodes, Kate Mishkin talks to people we wish were at the real Shabbat dinner table with us because they think...
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Episode 545: Shabbat Unbound III - Ana B'Koach
Welcome to Shabbat Unbound, the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each...
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Episode VII: Woven Back Together Again
Rest to Return is a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question…
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Episode 544: Tisha B'Av (the 9th of Av) 2026 II - Andrue Kahn, Dania Rajendra
Tisha B'Av (the 9th of Av) is an annual observance on the Jewish calendar, often understood as the saddest day of the year. It commemorates many different destructions and catastrophes throughout Jewish history, including (but not limited to) the destruction of the first and second temple in...
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Rest to Return VI: Making Time Sacred
Rest to Return is a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question…
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Episode 543: Tisha B'Av (The 9th of Av) 2026 - Lex and Rena Yehuda
Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman discuss the history, shadow-sides, and positive possibilities for observing the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’av (the 9th of Av) — understood by many to be the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. What is Tisha B'Av? How has it been observed -- and, often,...
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Rest to Return V: A Season for Everything
Rest to Return is a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question…
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Episode 542: Jewish Bodily Autonomy - Lex and Rena Yehuda
Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman conclude a mini-series of Judaism Unbound conversations that have been exploring the principle of bodily autonomy -- and how it intersects with Judaism. They bring new elements to previous conversations about abortion, the pill, mass incarceration, and gender,...
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Rest to Return IV: Couplet Rhymes
Rest to Return is a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question:...
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Episode 541: Shabbat Unbound II - Shiru L'Adonai
Welcome to Shabbat Unbound, the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each...
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Rest to Return III: Rhythm of Rest
Rest to Return is a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question…
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Episode 540: AJWS and Global Responsibility
This conversation explores how American Jewish World Service understands global justice as an expression of human dignity, solidarity, and the belief that every person deserves the opportunity to live a full and flourishing life. Through stories from Uganda, Kenya, and beyond, Joannine Nanyange...
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Rest to Return II: Weaving the World to Come
Rest to Return, a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We continue by gathering around a single question: What...
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Episode 539: Judaism and Abortion, Beyond 'Choice' - Danya Ruttenberg
Danya Ruttenberg is a rabbi, writer, and activist who has been on the front-lines fighting for reproductive justice, through Jewish lenses, for many years. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about abortion, the framework of bodily autonomy, and how we might best conceptualize what…
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Rest to Return I: Belonging to Time
Rest to Return, a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We begin by gathering around a single question: What do...
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Episode 538: Matir Asurim -- Judaism and Incarceration - Shir Lovett-Graff
Shir Lovett-Graff, a writer and community-organizer, is a founder and organizer with Matir Asurim: Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People -- they also serve as executive director for the Attleboro Area Interfaith Collaborative. Lovett-Graff joins Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman for a...
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Episode 537: Trans Jews Embody Holiness - Dubbs Weinblatt
Dubbs Weinblatt, an educator and facilitator whose work focuses on LGBTQIA+ inclusion and belonging, joins Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman for a conversation about the empowerment of Transgender people -- in Jewish spaces and in society more generally. This episode is the second in an ongoing...
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Rest to Return Trailer
We are exhausted…not because we lack discipline but because we’ve lost our relationship to time. Rest to Return is a seven-episode podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat - an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to...
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Episode 536: Shabbat Unbound I - Yedid Nefesh
Welcome to Shabbat Unbound, the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each...
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Episode 535: Shavuot 2026 - Lex Rofeberg, Rena Yehuda Newman, Miriam Terlinchamp
Shavuot! Is! Coming! As this episode is released, the festival of Shavuot is less than a week away. And with it, ShavuotLIVE: Judaism Unbound's 24-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and unlearning, approaches as well (begins Friday, May 22nd at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT)! Lex Rofeberg, Rena Yehuda…
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Shabbat Unbound Trailer
Starting May 22nd, we're launching a new monthly series called Shabbat Unbound, an experiment in slowing Jewish prayer down. Once a month, in place of our regular interview on Friday, we'll release Shabbat Unbound here on the Judaism Unbound feed. Each episode of Shabbat Unbound focuses on one...
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Episode 534: God Bless the Pill - Samira Mehta
Samira Mehta is the author of a new book entitled God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation exploring her book, along with what it can teach us about the history of American religion -- and…
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Episode 533: Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong - Chaia
Chaia is a composer known for her Yiddish techno music, sometimes known as "kleztronica" (klezmer + electronica). She joins Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman for a conversation honoring May Day (International Workers' Day). Together they explore the intersection of Yiddish, revolution, and...
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Episode 532: ANNOUNCEMENT - Shabbat Podcasts
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Judaism Unbound is thrilled to be bringing you not one, not two, but THREE different Shabbat-focused podcasts over the coming months! They'll be called Shabbat Unbound, Rest to Return, and Shabbat Dinner Party. In this episode, Lex, Rena Yehuda, and Miriam explore what these...
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Episode 531: Jewish Ancestors, Young and Old - Eli Ramer
Eli Ramer is a maggid (storyteller), an author, and a mystic. He joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about Jewish connections across generations. They explore what it means to do eldering work, discuss Jewish notions of reincarnation (gilgul), and exchange stories that have the potential...
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Episode 530: Halacha (Jewish Law) in Helsinki - Sofia Freudenstein
Sofia Freudenstein serves as the Director of Jewish Life and Learning for the Jewish Community of Helsinki, Finland. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about why being Jewish in Finland, and in other corners of the world that don't have the largest Jewish communities...really rocks!...
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Episode 529: Door to Door IV - Forever Unfolding
This week, Judaism Unbound is thrilled to feature the 4th episode of Door to Door: A Pilgrimage Across Generations -- another podcast in Judaism Unbound's family of podcasts! Full shownotes for Door to Door Episode IV can be found here. ------------------------- Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes...
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Episode 528: Passover 2026 (Rena Yehuda III - Liberation)
Chag Pesach Sameach! Happy Passover! Oh. And also...Chag Hamatzot Sameach (Happy Matzah-Fest), and Chag HaAviv Sameach (Happy Festival-of-Spring), and Z'man Cheruteinu Sameach (Happy Time of Our Liberation)! In this episode, Lex and Rena Yehuda explore the holiday of Passover, asking how we might...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Listen in as Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even "regular Jews," Lex and Rena Yehuda look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.You can support Judaism Unbound at www.JudaismUnbound.com/donate.
HOSTED BY
Institute for the Next Jewish Future
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Judaism Unbound have?
Judaism Unbound currently has 714 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Judaism Unbound about?
Listen in as Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even "regular Jews," Lex and Rena Yehuda look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the...
How often does Judaism Unbound release new episodes?
Judaism Unbound releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 714 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Judaism Unbound?
You can listen to Judaism Unbound on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Judaism Unbound?
Judaism Unbound is created and hosted by Institute for the Next Jewish Future.
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