Judaism Unbound

You might be familiar with these questions: How many Jews are there in the United States? How many Jewish children are they having? How can we ensure there will be more Jews in the future? In this episode, we critique the premise of those questions -- that the current and future quantity of Jews should be a top priority -- and we offer some alternative frames at looking at Jewish communal life. Click the audio link below if you'd like to hear our take. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

How do Jewish institutions change? How do they resist change? Those are the key questions we wrestle with this week as Professor Barak Richman of Duke University joins us in conversation. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

What do science and art have to do with Judaism? That's the core question of this week's episode. Listen in as we answer it as best we can, while exploring related questions 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

What does it mean to "invent" Jewish ritual? Aren't rituals something we inherit or learn? Professor Vanessa Ochs, author of Inventing Jewish Ritual, helps us answer these questions and more. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

What, in Judaism, has crashed? Last episode, Rabbi Benay Lappe outlined her "Crash" Theory and in this episode, Dan and Lex engage with it further. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Lex and Dan welcome Rabbi Benay Lappe onto the show to discuss ways in which Jews respond to various "crashes" throughout Jewish history. More than that, they analyze the question of whether we are in fact in the middle of a Jewish "Crash" 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Lex and Dan look back at Jewish history, using a historical lens to analyze contemporary American Judaism and its institutions. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!

Co-hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofes introduce listeners to their new podcast: Judaism Unbound. They discuss their framework of understanding 21st century Judaism, why the word "Unbound" is a particularly apt one, and more. 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 full shownotes for this episode, click here!