All Episodes
Judaism for the Thinking Person — 103 episodes
Are Modern Social Justice Values in the Torah?
Do Jews Outside Israel Have a Say? The Bewitching End of Numbers
The Biblical Meaning of "Holiness" - That Isn't Yours!
DO NOT Forget on Passover! In Praise of Biur Chametz
Israel and Iran: Malachi, Xerses, and Liza Minnelli
Why Jurgen Habermas Died Between Exodus and Leviticus
The Visual Language of Norms in Judaism -- And We are the Poorer for Losing It
Forced Labor was Used to Build the First Temple?
10 Commandments or 10 Speakings? Speech as the Center of Our Worship
Seeing ICE Through Scripture (from local rally)
Jacob's Blessings and Aging Out of People Pleasing
Agriculture, Economic Collapse, and the Joseph Story
The AI Gods Taking Away our Souls and Our Community
Parashat Toldot: Is Imposter Syndrome a Fault or a Gift from God?
What Can the Rabbinic Debate about Noah Teach Us About Equity?
Maimonides' Laws of War & Talking About Gaza
Getting "Miracles" Right in Judaism and in Our Lives (Yom Kippur Sermon 2025)
Parashat Behaalotkhah: Grievance and Getting the Leaders We Deserve
Pinchas and Superman as our Mirror
Abraham Joshua Heschel Second Class: Ethics vs Holiness
Abraham Joshua Heschel First Class: Gratitude, Awe, and Actually Connecting to God
Passover as the Secret High Holidays: Making Your Rosh Hashanah Resolutions Real Halfway Through the Journey
The Mishkan, Indigenous Wisdom, and the Right to Repair
A People of the Book and a Generation That Has Never Read One
The Tower of Babel and the Problem of Identity-Based "Truths"
Misunderstanding Consent, Property and Patriarchy in Jewish Wedding Ceremonies
Moving Beyond the Progressive Lens to True Religion (Yom Kippur 2024)
We're All Looking for Empathy after October 7th, Including Me! (Rosh Hashanah Sermon 2024)
Writing G-d and the Danger of Idolatry
Did a Biblical Outlaw Understand the Arab-Israel Conflict Better than Today's Students?
The Biblical Battle of the AI Priesthood Lineage
Amalekites, Gaza and the End of Megillat Esther on Purim
The 19th Century Reform Rabbi Who Changed Physics
The Israelites Left Egypt Armed: Gender & Chauvinism Preceding October 7
Who Gets to Be a Spokesperson for Israel? The Soft of Heart and Slow of Speech
Tikkun Olam and Redeeming the Hostages
Halakhah and Aggadah: The Ten Stories We Tell PART TWO
Halakhah and Aggadah: The Ten Stories We Tell PART ONE
Is There a Fear of God In This Place? Our Different Experiences of the Israel Gaza Conflict
The Commandment of Shevut: How Do We Handle its Inherent Subjectivity?
The Kol Nidrei Ritual: Stepping into Your Future Self
Hineni Resolutions: I’m Ready but Are They?
The Genders Within God, and Within Ourselves!
The Three Covenants: God Cares About God’s Brand. Do You?
Is the Book of Numbers about Remote Work?
Be Someone Else: Victor Turner and the Subversiveness of Ritual Performance
”Make Yourself a Wilderness” To Receive Torah
Jubilee and the Passing on of Generational Wealth
Two Forms of Action: Embodying the Kabbalistic Forces of Netzach and Hod
Torah In a Minute: What’s the Big Deal About the Lunar Calendar?
The Golden Calf and the Present Government in Israel
Jewish Law, Head Covering, and Knowing Before Whom You Stand
God the Stutterer, God the Reluctant
The Unalloyed Joy of Grandparenting
Oppenheimer: The 20th Century ”Joseph”
Achieving our Dreams while Living with Anxiety
Eco-Burial and Jewish Law
Listening Like It’s Shivah
The Spiral of Progress/History
Learning from 12 Step: The ”El Anon” Theology of the Exile Prophets
Those in 12 Step Recovery are Our Teachers (Rosh Hashanah Sermon 2022)
Chatter and Our Relationship with God through Our Relationship with Our Inner Voice
Moses the Mother in Transition (Ilana Kurshan’s Teaching)
Eikev and the Torah of Ambivalence
Ableism, Torah, and ”Greatness Comes from Being Lifted Up By Your Brothers”
Judaism and Abortion: The Process of the Decision IS Religion
Believing in Miracles (or not) in 5 Minutes
Is the Wailing Wall an Orthodox Synagogue? The Kotel Agreement, Yuval Noah Harari and Anat Hoffman
Self-Improvement, Judgment, and Seeing God’s Back
Clothing God? Sewing as an Act of Lovingkindness
Does God Have a Plan for Us?
Lecture: Halakhic Sources, the Fetus, and the Morality of Abortion
Patriarchy, Gaze, Voice and Intersectionality? Exodus and bell hooks
Joseph‘s Brothers and Robert Bly‘s The Sibling Society
Joseph, Hanukkah, and the Assimilation Narrative
The Incommunicability of Experience and the Rape of Dinah
Dara Horn‘s ”People Love Dead Jews” and the Erasure of Jewish Difference
Changing our Relationship with Time from Productivity to Presence
The Potentially Limitless Commandment of Honoring Parents As They Age
Combatting the Curses Against Israel with History, not more Scapegoating
Instagram, Depression and the Serpent Voice: ”And They Knew They Were Naked”
The Halakhah of Zoom Minyan: Adding Windows to the House of Israel
The Victim Triangle: Moving from Blame to Self-Creation, from Drama to Authenticity
It‘s Time to End the Fertility Bias: Our Shame in Shutting Out Those Without Children
Saving One Life is Saving the World: Jewish Law and the Death Penalty
The Depth of Loving Torah and Being Loved Through It: Being Taught is to Be Loved
Leading our Children to Transcendence
Reopening the Synagogue When People Are Coming up the Down Staircase
God the Mother
Ross Douthat, Biblical Impurity, and Antipathy toward the Temple
Jewish Law on Cremation and Burial, and What We're Facing as the Numbers Rise
The Tabernacle -- and our Lives-- as a Purposeful Composition
Keruvim, Cherubim, Griffins, Sphinxes, and the angel Rafael
The Building of the Tabernacle through the Lens of the Black Church
Making Sense of the Most Disturbing Statement in the Bible
"God, Let me receive good counsel!" The 5 minute practice that will change your life
Jonah versus Moshe: When Do We Hold the King Accountable and When Do We Move On?
Zikaron and the Filibuster: The Memory of Slavery and Dreaming God's Dream for America
Geneivat Daat: The Theft of Subjectivity by Media and its Pull Upon Us in the name of Justice
The Dreams of Genesis and Our Dreams: Our Alignment with the God World
Reuniting Religion and Psychology: Jacob's Dreams and the Therapeutic Uses of Psilocybin
"It's Their Money!"- The Ketubah, Traditional Jewish Marriage, and the Defrauding of Rachel and Leah
Two Types of Fear: Avoiding "Ideolatry" in our Political Divide