We speak with Rabbi Sara Luria, co-founder of Beloved, a home-based spiritual community in Brooklyn. Our conversation explores the power of putting love, nurturing and acceptance at the center of community life. We also explore what Beloved Brooklyn can teach the broader Jewish communal world, and reflect on new models of leadership opened up by forty years of women in the American rabbinate. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at...

Rabbi Sid Schwarz has devoted his career to the practice and study of building rich and engaging Jewish communities. In our conversation, we talk about the groundbreaking congregation he built, Adat Shalom, which continues to serve as a laboratory for innovation to this day. And we ask the question: as new platforms for Jewish life and community emerge in the 21st century, what values and practices make a community truly sustaining and meaningful? Subscribe by Email This podcast is...

In this upcoming season of Hashivenu, we’re going to talk to a lot of people who are thinking about and practicing how to create community. Many of them will be talking about synagogues, since that is a primary location of Jewish community, but this isn’t a pitch for synagogues. It’s a pitch for binding relationships, for mutual obligation, for connection, so we’ll also be talking to folks building communities in spaces other than synagogues. I hope you’ll listen with open hearts and will...

What drives us toward justice? Often, we're driven by a sense of the world's brokenness that keeps us up at night. In our conversation with Rabbi Alex Weissman, we explore an alternative motivation: what gets us up in the morning? In a conversation based on his essay for Evolve, Halleluyah, and his other work around spirituality and activism, we discuss how deeply-felt experiences of gratitude and blessing can move us toward empathetic action. See below for a link to a guided meditation...

The holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur call us to deeply individual reflection while embedded and connected with community, and to a humility that nevertheless acknowledges that our choices matter. We speak with Rabbi Barbara Penzner about the spiritual dynamics of the High Holiday days, and their power to help us find discernment, connection and renewal. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest:...

Daniel Jackson is an MIT professor and award-winning photographer who edited an extraordinary collection: Portraits of Resilience pairs images and first-person accounts of MIT community members who have struggled with mental health issues. We dig deeply into Judaism's powerful psychological and spiritual resources for resilience, particularly for those grappling with the isolation and shame that can come with depression. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing...

Dr. Koach Frazier is an audiologist, an activist, a rabbinical student and a powerful musician. We speak about singing and drumming and how music can support us, uplift us, and lead us to transformation personally and collectively. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Koach Baruch Frazier. Support Hashivenu Links: Ritualwell resources: 10 Songs to Lift Up the Soul — Learn about the connection between...

Claudia Horwitz's life's work has focused on integrating spiritual practice with the work of social change. In this conversation, she shares the strains that social justice work can inflict on activists, and articulates the importance of deep inner work in anchoring and sustaining individuals and groups in their work of tikkun olam. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Claudia Horwitz. Support...

This compelling conversation with Rabbi David Jaffe explores the essential relationship between the pursuit of justice and the spiritual growth that comes from self-knowledge. We discuss his personal experiences of moral and spiritual awakening, as well as the tension between experiencing the brokenness of the world and opening ourselves to the unity of all creation. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special...

This wide-ranging conversation with noted teacher of spirituality Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg begins by recounting the influences that led her toward integrating meditation and yoga into Jewish spirituality. She then digs deeply into the essential interplay between spiritual experience (love received) and spiritually-rooted justice (love extended not only to neighbors, but to strangers, even in the face of trauma and fear.) We conclude by discussing of the transformative practice of spiritual...

In this interview, Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg delves into her deep interest and growing expertise in the varieties of trauma and how trauma has informed Jewish experience on both the individual and the collective level. Equipped with this awareness, we then discuss ways to move beyond trauma and cultivate resilience, and how these approaches inform her development of Reset: Spiritual Practice for Social Justice Organizations. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing...

This conversation with Rabbi Marc Margolius explores the spiritual practice of Tikkun Middot, a mindfulness-based approach to cultivation of character traits. We explore how this practice can help us better live out our values in challenging times, navigating and learning from our inevitable shortcomings in a sustainable and compassionate way. Production note: while Rabbi Margolius can be heard clearly, our phone connection with Rabbi Waxman was of unexpectedly poor quality. Our apologies...

This special episode was recorded before a live audience at the Reconstructing Judaism convention in November 2018. I interviewed Susan Levine, an extraordinary person and a member of the Board of Governors of Reconstructing Judaism. Trigger Warning: Susan and I discussed resilience in the aftermath of a suicide attempt. Susan is wise and grounded and deeply reflective, both about her attempts to end her life, and about her decision to live with integrity and beauty afterward. We want...

The recent shooting attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh has been deeply traumatic. In its aftermath, Rabbi Deborah Waxman shares a personal Jewish practice that sustains her in difficult times, in the hopes that it might help cultivate resilience among our listeners. Also, in this episode you'll learn how to tune in for a special episode of Hashivenu that will be streamed live during our upcoming convention. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us...

What's the connection between marathon training and prayer? Can CrossFit shed light on building meaningful communities? We speak with Rabbi Jason Bonder about the intersection between fitness and spirituality. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Rabbi Jason Bonder. Links: Ritualwell: 10 Embodied RitualsWhen Some Turn to Church, Others Go to CrossFit - The New York TimesChrissie Wellington – Head...

The holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur drive us to make sense of what's truly important, and sustain us as we strive to recapture those ideals. In this conversation recorded days before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi David Teutsch and Rabbi Deborah Waxman share the meaning they find in deep themes of the High Holiday season, and reflect on their own evolving relationship with those ideas. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at...

Multifaith dialogue has the power not just to build bridges of understanding, but to foster personal spiritual growth and transformation. We speak with Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and Professor Sa'ed Atshan, a Palestinian Quaker Christian, about their experiences in multifaith work. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guests: Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and Sa'ed Atshan. Links: 10 Jewish Interfaith Prayers...

Singing together can be a profound and powerful experience. We speak with Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, an ethnomusicologist and a research professor at the music department at Tufts, about the role that music plays both in animating Jewish life and in helping us to cultivate resilience. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Rabbi Jeffrey Summit. Links: Rabbi Jeffrey Summit | Tufts MusicJeffrey A. SummitThe...

The holiday of Shavuot is approaching. This year on the secular calendar it begins on Saturday evening, May 19. On Shavuot, we celebrate receiving the Torah, the foundational text of the Jewish people. "Torah" has multiple meanings in Jewish tradition. Most folks know it as the Five Books of Moses. But “Torah” in a broader sense is much more. It’s the collection of each and every generation’s engagement with sacred text and with our efforts to live lives of holiness and connection — to each...

The holiday of Shavuot is approaching. This year on the secular calendar it begins on Saturday evening, May 19. On Shavuot, we celebrate receiving the Torah, the foundational text of the Jewish people. "Torah" has multiple meanings in Jewish tradition. Most folks know it as the Five Books of Moses. But “Torah” in a broader sense is much more. It’s the collection of each and every generation’s engagement with sacred text and with our efforts to live lives of holiness and connection—to each...

For Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, prayer is a whole-body experience, helping us reboot our awareness of how good it is to be alive, even -- or especially -- in a troubled world. Join us for his deep conversation with Rabbi Deborah Waxman on this episode of Hashivenu. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Rabbi Jonathan Kligler. Links: 10 Embodied Rituals — Below are 10 embodied rituals recommended by...

In this special extended episode for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), we hear from Rabbi Phillip Lazowski, who survived the Holocaust as a child. He shares experiences that shaped his vision and sense of purpose: amidst horror and loss, episodes of hope and humanity. A note from Rabbi Deborah Waxman: Thanks so much for listening to Hashivenu. I want to let you know that this episode is slightly different from most of our episodes. It’s a conversation with my childhood rabbi, Rabbi...

On Passover, we retell our history as strangers and slaves in Egypt. What obligations flow from this memory? We speak with Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, whose congregation recently made a decision to serve as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. Join us as we discuss the Jewish values that moved his community to action. Subscribe by Email Special Guest: Rabbi Elliott Tepperman. Links: 10 Social Justice Haggadot and Supplements — We have gathered ten haggadot and supplements that focus on...

The Book of Esther contains striking examples of women speaking out against oppression in ways that both empower and imperil them. Are there parallels to the #metoo movement? Join Judith Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Jewish Women’s Archive, in a wide-ranging discussion with Rabbi Deborah Waxman on resilient responses to trying times. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Judith...

How do we pull ourselves together when we feel scattered or unfocused? In this episode of Hashivenu, Rabbi Myriam Klotz and Rabbi Deborah Waxman invite us into the spiritual practice of "hineni" -- being present and responsive. Subscribe by Email This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Special Guest: Rabbi Myriam Klotz. Links: Upcoming Shabbat Yoga: Putting the Pause in the Pose at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, March 2-4: — Let...