Judaism Unbound

Xava De Cordova and Michael Sokolovsky, co-hosts of Xai, How Are You? (a fellow podcast in the Jewish pod-o-sphere), join Dan and Lex for a crossover episode, airing simultaneously as an episode of Judaism Unbound and an episode of Xai, How are You! The four of them talk about what the Talmud is, who Shabbetai Zevi is, what Xai How are You is, and -- for the first time in Judaism Unbound's history -- how Dan and Lex are doing. Perhaps most importantly, they dwell on the figure of Shabbetai Zevi, and what his life may have to teach us as we build Judaisms for the future.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! You can support Xai, How are You by becoming a patron of theirs on Patreon. You can do so at this link!To access shownotes for this episode, click here. 

Tzemah Yoreh, author of Why Abraham Murdered Isaac: The First Stories of the Bible Revealed and leader of The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, joins Dan and Lex to talk about what Yoreh terms "the original bible." Find out how some of the stories, like the binding of Isaac, may not have always looked the way they do today, and why that matters for those who are interested in the stories of the Bible!If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Liana Wertman joins Dan and Lex to discuss her work as the founder of The Torah Studio, a new (and fully-digital) center for Torah study that encourages people to take ownership of traditional Jewish texts. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Baruch Halpern, the Covenant Foundation Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia, joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about Biblical history and Biblical archaeology. They explore how those two realms relate to one another (get it? "DIGGING" up Biblical History!), along with what these ancient texts and discoveries have to do with us today.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Dan and Lex, in celebrating 5 years since Judaism Unbound launched its podcast, reflect on some of the core ideas they've explored in that time -- and they add on some new thoughts, drawing on a framework of "low-voltage" and "high-voltage" forms of Jewish experience.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Shawn Lichaa is a Karaite. "What's that," you ask? Very valid question! Karaites are a group of Jews whose traditions, and interpretations, are built around the Bible alone -- not the Talmud or any other piece of what Rabbanites (rabbinic Jews) call "the oral Torah."Lichaa, founder of The Karaite Press and A Blue Thread: A Jewish Blog with a Thread of Karaite Throughout, joins Dan and Lex to explore Karaite Jews' relationship to the Bible, and ways in which their approaches differ from rabbinic Jews'. In their conversation, they also ask what light Karaites can shine on broader issues affecting many other groups of marginalized Jews as well.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V -- a contemporary novel that is crafted in relationship to the Biblical book of Esther -- joins Dan and Lex to discuss her work, along with and ways in which her contemporary novel could influence readers' experience of the holiday of Purim.If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

Josie Riesman, author of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, joins Dan and Lex to explore two meanings of the phrase "Marvel's Torah" (this episode's title).  First, "the Torah of Marvel" -- what can be learned from the Marvel comics universe when approached through a Jewish lens? And second, "Marvel is Torah" -- the idea that the structure of Marvel's universe, in and of itself, represents a kind of modern-day Bible. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here! To access shownotes for this episode, click here.

This bonus episode of Judaism Unbound is presented in partnership with Theatre Dybbuk. Once a month, their podcast -- called The Dybbukast -- releases a new episode, and we are proud to feature episode four of their podcast as a bonus episode here on Judaism Unbound's channel. In each episode, they bring poems, plays, and other creative texts from throughout history to life, all while revealing their relationships to issues still present today. Subscribe to The Dybbukast in Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are found.Episode four, presented in collaboration with The Contemporary Jewish Museum, explores two murder pamphlets, "The Murdered Jewess Sara Alexander: Life, Trial and Conviction of Rubenstein the Polish Jew" and "Rubenstein, or The Murdered Jewess: Being a Full and Reliable History of This Terrible Mystery of Blood.” Published in 1876, both pamphlets tell the tale of Pesach Rubenstein, a Jewish immigrant who was convicted of killing his cousin Sara Alexander and disposing of her body in a cornfield. The case was a sensation in the press and took hold of the popular imagination.Dr. Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press (Stanford University Press 2017), discusses the story behind the pamphlets as the first significant intersection of Jews, the local and national press, and the American judicial system.

So there's the Torah. 5 books of Moses. But what happens right afterward? Rachel Havrelock, Associate Professor of English and Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, joins Dan and Lex to talk about the book that comes right after the Torah -- Joshua. Full of violent conquest, it's not a book that's easy for contemporary readers. But what can we learn when we look at it closely?If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!To access shownotes for this episode, click here.