Best Liberal Jewish Synagogue Podcasts (2024)

1
"The Whole Book is Sort of a Meditation, a Prayer Designed to Protect the Person Who is Reading It": The Punk Rock Jewish Life of Author/Filmmaker Jeff Wengrofsky 52:49

4M ago52:49

52:49

"The whole book is sort of a meditation, of a prayer designed to protect the person who is reading it." Jeff Wengrofsky, the most authentic punk-rock person I personally know, wrote a memoir, and you should buy it and read it. In some ways an unintentional pean to the Lower East Side, Jeff gets into what it was like to grow up feeling like an outsi…

1
"How Do We Move People to a Different Place?": Assessing the War While Dreaming Past It with Israeli Citizen Shawn Ruby 1:20:23

5M ago1:20:23

1:20:23

It was both challenging and illuminating to speak with my old friend Shawn Ruby, an Israeli citizen who is deeply rooted in his Zionist identity (having originated in Canada and raised his family and made his life in Israel, one child a high-ranking IDF officer), firmly anchored in an unwavering pursuit of moral clarity, and overall one of the most…

1
"It’s Not a Time for Dialogue. It’s Just a Time for Checking Up on Each Other": The Tragedy of Victim-ism and Other Casualties of War with Coexistence Activist Rabbi Shaul Judelman 1:05:23

6M ago1:05:23

1:05:23

"One of my Palestinian friends said, Everybody’s pro-Hamas right now. Cause they did something! On an internal level, hamas’ bid to take over leadership of the Palestinian struggle is very strong. On the other hand, I have another Palestinian friend saying, what do you mean — Hamas is a disaster for our people. It’s always been a disaster for our p…

1
POETRY BONUS EPISODE! "Do They Sing, or Repeat a Song?": Laws vs. Miracles & the "Jewish Voices Missing from the Gospels," with Poet Atar Hadari 57:59

6M ago57:59

57:59

Poetry, right? I don't know about you but I'm feeling like I could use some poetry right about now. To that end! Right before the High Holidays started I had a conversation with one of my favorite Jewish writers, poet and translator Atar Hadari. The episode was slated for release on Monday 10/9, and of course intervening world events made it nearly…

1
"I Just Couldn't Accept That That Was Something That Was Being Said": Contemplating Humanity & Inhumanity from "A Weird Place," with Joshua Leifer 1:06:54

7M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

"So now I'm in a weird place" is a sentiment many can relate to these days. Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, following the latter's barbaric 10/7 torture-rape-massacre of 1400 Israelis, and kidnapping of 240 more, has provoked some of the most acute fissures of my generation, with implications that can't be fully predicted except to say we will …

1
HIGH HOLIDAY MOVIE BONUS EPISODE with Daniel Zana from the Jews on Film podcast! 45:44

8M ago45:44

45:44

“We are all characters in our stories, and we have to look internally, and hopefully at the end of 90 minutes we’ll become a better person. But sometimes the characters don’t change, and you’re just like, ‘Oh, you were offered the opportunity to grow and learn from your experiences, and instead you’re still being the same turd you started out as.’ …

1
"What is the Purpose of a Synagogue?": Championing Compassion, Curiosity & Awe with Rabbi Angela Buchdal 45:43

9M ago45:43

45:43

Since arriving at Central Synagogue almost two decades ago, Rabbi Angela Buchdal has transformed it into a sui generis experience of communal prayer: backed by a professional band and musical director, her own professionally trained singing voice, and a crew of clerical colleagues with similarly formidable vocal skills, not only is Central’s buildi…

1
"No One Has Screamed for Justice": Can We Summon the Moral Courage to Hold Epstein Abusers Accountable? with Nick Bryant 57:27

9M ago57:27

57:27

Friends, I can't tell you enough how excited I am to share my most recent Bad Rabbi Media interview with Nick Bryant -- intrepid investigative journalist, author (The Franklin Scandal), interviewer (The Nick Bryant Podcast), and most recently, Director of epsteinjustice.com -- an organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for the scores of v…

1
"Teaching From the Mud": Wandering, Witnessing, and Awakening with Melanie Landau 55:47

10M ago55:47

55:47

Early in my conversation with return guest Melanie Landau, I told her that she is one of my favorite wanderers, and she responded that I'm one of her favorite witnesses. Of course, it's an honor to witness such high-level wandering with the intensity of introspection and the commitment to translating insight into practice that Melanie brings to her…

1
“What’s the Jewish Future You Believe In?”: Systemic Strategies for Structural Change with Jordan Mann of the Jewish Liberation Fund 42:43

11M ago42:43

42:43

I was pretty rapt listening to Jordan Mann articulate the Jewish Liberation Fund’s (JLF) vision for a progressive Jewish future – and not only because “power,” “systemic strategies,” and “structural change” are my love language. Jordan’s personal connection to the work, both the crackling passion he brings to it and the personal journey that brough…

1
"We Need the Fantasy of a Destination and a Journey and a Path": Living Tangientially with Basya Schechter 50:36

1y ago50:36

50:36

“I think this is such a great line for your podcast. It’s from my third album, Exile. ‘I am in exile in my own home. My real home is moving, it’s a wandering home. I give birth to contradictions, I give up in indecision, and worry.' ” Basya Schecter is one of my favorite wanderers. From a prolific early singer-songwriter career as the leader of Pha…

1
"How Does it Feel?": Arnoff on Dylan on Empathy as Everything 53:55

1y ago53:55

53:55

Dudes: please check out Stephen Daniel Arnoff’s podcast and book, Bob Dylan: On Man and God and Law. One of my favorite pop-culture rabbit-holes, the podcast delivers on so many levels: informative, illuminating, a ton of fun and at times breathtakingly insightful. I was super excited to talk to him about how he came to approach song lyrics as sacr…

1
"If It Doesn't Hit You in the Kishkes It's Worthless": Jon Madof's Universe of Grooves 1:16:15

1+ y ago1:16:15

1:16:15

One of the things I love most about Jon Madoff is that on any given day in the midst of of numbly scrolling on my phone to avoid contemplating any number of personal and collective inevitabilities, I can run into a video of him JAMMING TF OUT on his guitar -- alone in his basement with headphones, in a venue backing up a friends band, on an interne…

1
"I'm Not Going to Be Anybody's Disciple": Sacred Nonconformity, Sahara Blues, and the Coming Cantorial Revolution with Jeremiah Lockwood 36:17

1+ y ago36:17

36:17

Jeremiah Lockwood is not only the hardest working man in Jewish music, he is one of its truly great living visionaries and practitioners. In this great conversation he describes his journey growing up in a "cantorial family" with a grandfather who was a famous, record-selling star at the end of the "Golden Age" of Jewish cantorial music; to being a…

1
BAD RABBI VS. BAD RABBI: The Yiddish Press and Lost Models of Jewish Identity with Eddy Portnoy 58:58

1+ y ago58:58

58:58

Check out this incredibly fun and lively live podcast recording I did with historian of Yiddish popular culture Eddy Portnoy. Appropriately enough, this episode, which deals with the lost forms of Jewish identity Eddy Excavated through his research in to the Yiddish Press, was itself temporarily lost. We recorded it in May 2020; in the interim, Edd…

1
IMPOSTER STORIES with Hal Niedzviecki 49:43

1+ y ago49:43

49:43

...the surprising things we learn about ourselves as we get older, the vast territories of unknown self suddenly exposed — eg, the ways our families’ immigrant histories impact our live and choices and relationships, every day — and how bracing and humbling it can be to realize we’ve labored under such partial understandings — was a recurring theme…

1
"There's a Difference Between Activists and People Working for Change": Rabbi Shaul Judelman on Hope, Despair, and Israel-Palestine PTSD 1:21:29

2+ y ago1:21:29

1:21:29

Remember Israel, Palestine, etc.? For a few weeks in May it led most news cycles, between the end of Bibi's 12-year reign and installation of a new leading coalition, to the renewal of Gaza hostilities and the ultra-disturbing flashpoints of violence between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. If this all feels a bit fuzzy and distant, to be fair it w…

1
“We Will Mess Up, and That’s Okay”: Dasee Berkowitz on Becoming a Soulful Parent 1:04:33

3y ago1:04:33

1:04:33

Parenting is one of those subjects where it always feels like there’s a reverse correlation between how much it’s talked about and how well it’s understood. Like, the more we talk about it, the dumber we get. This is why I was so happy to read Dasee Berkowitz’s new book, Becoming a Soulful Parent, and talk with her about it – because what she offer…

1
"Oh My God, This is Very Real": Rabbi Zac Kamenetz's Book of EthneoGenesis 1:08:48

3+ y ago1:08:48

1:08:48

"How can we blend the sense that the ecstatic, the effervescent, the beyond, is our human birthright, and we can also be modern liberal people thinking about intersectionality and social justice?" We're stuck, dudes; it's no joke. That's why I needed to keep talking about the transformative potential of psychedelics to facilitate real healing, on b…

1
"Why Are We Serving Bourbon in Shul and Not Psilocybin Tea?": The Psychedelic Vision of Aaron Genuth 1:03:43

4y ago1:03:43

1:03:43

Dudes. In the midst of a pandemic, deep economic crisis; shocking and mean-spirited governmental incompetence, abuse, and neglect; deep cultural malaise punctuated by eruptions of collective indignation and outrage at the systemic racial injustice embedded in U.S. society – what could possibly be worth talking about? What could possibly help? There…

1
Solidarity Iftar With the Muslim Uyghur Community on 4 May 2020 1:00:10

4y ago1:00:10

1:00:10

Event order: 1. Welcome by Rabbi Alexandra Wright 2. Introduction 3. Welcome words from Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress 4. Personal testimonies from members of the UK Uyghur Community 5. Words by Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner 6. Reading by Rabbi Michael Hilton 7. Reading by Mr Turgunjan Alawdun, Direct of the Committee for Religiou…

1
“Only the Left Can Defeat Anti-Semitism”: Raffi Magarik on the Real Crisis of American Judaism and Why the Only Real Solution is Solidarity (also, what “solidarity” means) 1:10:33

4y ago1:10:33

1:10:33

I really needed to talk to Raffi Magarik. Whenever the subject of anti-Semitism erupts into the news, the public discourse around it immediately and invariably become combative, contested, confusing, and confused. Are there different kinds of anti-Semitism or just one kind that shapeshifts through history, adapting to the parameters of its new host…

6y ago1:19:22

1:19:22

Rabbi Shaul Judelman traces his journey from WTO protester in search of his own indigenous culture, to Orthodox rabbi doing local peace work with Israelis and Palestinians in the Territories and beyond as co-founder and -director of Roots/Shorashim/Judur. Shaul talks about the hard, hard work of holding the truth and legitimacy of multiple narrativ…

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Liberal Jewish Synagogue Podcasts

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