Episode 23: Is Instagram The New Go-To Jewish Space? With @Modern_Ritual cofounders Rabbi Samantha Frank and Rena Singer

View this post on Instagram

THE NOTORIOUS G-O-D 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 … … … We want to talk about God a little more here at Modern Ritual because “God” is such a loaded word/concept/idea!!! … … … When we say that we “believe in God” we do so because we see God as a hugely expansive concept that could encompass all meaning/change/the universe. But also sometimes God feels very personal! Something we experience in the day to day in a hug or in the sunshine or after drinks with a friend. … … … Did you know that in Judaism there are around 100 names for God? That God is described in so many ways? … … … This is important because we want to make it clear that we do not believe that God is a man in the sky!!! 👨 + ⛅️ = 🤷‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏿‍♀️ … … … We do want to take ourselves theologically seriously though. This means that we are truly seeking wisdom in our lives, looking for greater meaning. We are open to evolving ideas of God and questions about God and feeling differently on different days. … … … We try to stay away from the binary of belief versus not belief. … … … So we want to know- how are you feeling about God? What are some of your questions? Does the word make you feel uncomfortable? Let’s talk! … #god #theology #feminism #judaism #ideas #questions #love #exploring #jewish #modernritual

A post shared by Modern_Ritual (@modern_ritual) on Nov 28, 2018 at 3:14pm PST

Rabbi Samantha is the co-founder of Modern Ritual, an Instagram account claiming a space for feminist Jewish engagement in our modern world. Outside of social media, she received her ordination the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Samantha decided to become a rabbi because she saw the ways in which Judaism guided people through the most difficult and most joyous moments in life. Sam has worked as a student rabbi in Monessen, PA, Yale University and currently the rabbinic intern at Temple Micah in DC, working on the Haftarah Project. Continue reading “Episode 23: Is Instagram The New Go-To Jewish Space? With @Modern_Ritual cofounders Rabbi Samantha Frank and Rena Singer”

May 10, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 22: Pride In Our People From Pride in Our Food w/Jeffrey Yoskowitz of ‘The Gefilteria’

“In today’s reality, most families don’t store a live carp in the bathtub before the holidays, or spend all day preparing labor-intensive foods. Under the banner of convenience, the past several decades have seen treasured food traditions stuffed into jars and neglected, gefilte included.

Gefilte fish was once an innovative way to stretch how far one fish could go to feed a family, a powerful symbol of European peasantry. The canned variety, by contrast, is a poignant reminder of how far we’ve strayed from the old days, so much so that gefilte has become synonymous with the outdated, the gray, the antiquated and the Old World.

But we need not accept the extinction of this tradition, or of the robust, colorful, fresh flavors of Ashkenazi cuisine.”

–Excerpt from the “The Gefilte Manifesto” Continue reading “Episode 22: Pride In Our People From Pride in Our Food w/Jeffrey Yoskowitz of ‘The Gefilteria’”

May 3, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 21: Part Two – Tensions within Mussar w/Geoffrey Claussen

“Take time. Unclutter the mind….
Take time….. Unclutter …. the…. mind.”

Geoffrey Claussen is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University, North Carolina. He was the founding coordinator of Elon’s Jewish Studies program, which launched in Fall 2012, and he is the current chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

Prof. Claussen’s courses explore the history of Jewish traditions, from the Hebrew Bible to contemporary Judaisms. His scholarship focuses on Jewish ethics and theology, and he has particular interests in questions of love and justice, war and violence, animal ethics, moral formation, and the legacy of the nineteenth-century Musar movement. He is a past president of the Society of Jewish Ethics and is the author of Sharing the Burden: Rabbi Simhah Zissel Ziv and the Path of Musar (SUNY Press, 2015) and Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought (JPS/University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming). Continue reading “Episode 21: Part Two – Tensions within Mussar w/Geoffrey Claussen”

April 26, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 20: Two Part Series on Mussar – Deep and Real Communal Change w/Rabbi Marcia Plumb

““Whatever may obstruct me from reaching my goals, it is possible to bear the burden of the situation.””

— Alan Morinis, “Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar”

Rabbi Marcia Plumb is the Rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the Rabbi for London’s Akiva School and the Southgate and District Reform Synagogue. For 15 years, she was the Director of Spiritual Formation at Leo Baeck, the rabbinic seminary in London. She has also served as the Rabbi at the North London Progressive Synagogue, and Congregation Beth Shalom in Connecticut. Hoping to lead others on a path towards spiritual enlightenment, she founded Neshama: For Spiritual Wellbeing, a center for spiritual reflection, meditation and the study of Mussar literature. Rabbi Plumb was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York. She holds a Masters in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas. Continue reading “Episode 20: Two Part Series on Mussar – Deep and Real Communal Change w/Rabbi Marcia Plumb”

April 25, 2019October 18, 2019

Seize the Opportunity

Joshua 18:3

“Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you be lackadaisical about taking possession of the land which the Holy Blessed One, the God of your ancestors, has assigned to you?”

There was a meme used by the Obama campaign in the final few months of his Presidential contest against John McCain. The meme was a short video clip of a bicyclist nearing the end of a race.

The man, seeing an end in sight, began to shake his hands in the air feverishly to celebrate his soon-to-be victory. But due to his wild gesticulating, his balance was thrown off, so he crashed just before the finish line. So close, and yet so far. Continue reading “Seize the Opportunity”

April 18, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 19: Celebrating Freedom and Passover w/Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz

““Imagine if someone came to you and offered to give you $86,400 every day for the rest of your life. The only condition is that you had to spend every penny each day and that you wouldn’t be able to save a dime. This is what God has given us: 86,400 seconds each day, not one of which can be recovered. Each moment counts.””

— Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Pirkei Avot: A Social Justice Commentary

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of the Valley Beit Midrash (Jewish pluralistic adult learning & leadership), the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek (Jewish Social Justice), the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim Institute (Jewish animal advocacy), the Founder and President of YATOM, (Jewish foster and adoption network), and the author of sixteen books on Jewish ethics. Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America and the Forward named him one of the 50 most influential Jews. Continue reading “Episode 19: Celebrating Freedom and Passover w/Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz”

April 12, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 18: The Invisibility of Russian Speaking Jews w/Alex Zeldin

“You are a Jew, Sashinka. V soyuze, (in the Soviet Union) they made us feel dirty and ashamed of this. But you, you will be proud of it.”

— Alex’s babushka in Israel, excerpt from his Tablet Magazine article

Alexander Zeldin is the former Senior Communications Associate at the American Jewish Committee (AJC). He is currently a strategic planning senior analyst for American Express. Alex graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Political Science. As talented and creative as he is in his day job, Alex is also an active writer and political pundit. You can find his work in publications such as The Jewish Daily Forward and Tablet Magazine. You can always reach out to him directly at his Twitter account: @Wonko_the_sane_ just be sure you are bringing your A-game, because he sure will be. Continue reading “Episode 18: The Invisibility of Russian Speaking Jews w/Alex Zeldin”

April 10, 2019October 18, 2019

All Human Life is Infused with Divinity

Joshua 8:29

“And the king of Ai was impaled on a stake until the evening. At sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down from the stake and it was left lying at the entrance to the city gate. They raised a great heap of stones over it, which is there to this day.”

Deut 21:22-23

“If a man is guilty of a capital offense and is put to death, and you impale him on a stake, you must not let his corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury him the same day. For an impaled body is an affront to God: you shall not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.”

Continue reading “All Human Life is Infused with Divinity”

April 5, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 17: Begging for Change w/Kitchens for Good cofounder Aviva Paley

““Wasting food is a tragedy, but the real tragedy is that we’re wasting people.””

— Robert Egger

Aviva Paley is a passionate social entrepreneur with professional experience in marrying a social mission with proven business driven strategies. In 2014 Co-Founded Kitchens for Good, a social enterprise food service operation that provides culinary job training for the unemployed, while simultaneously transforming surplus produce into nutritious meals for the hungry.

Aviva serves as the Senior Director overseeing all programs, as well as managing the marketing and fundraising efforts for Kitchens for Good. In just four years the organization has trained 215 individuals for jobs in the culinary industry, rescued 86,591 pounds of surplus food and turned it into 151,227 nutritious meals for hungry San Diegans; and developed a strong social enterprise catering operation that has generated over $3.9 million in earned income and provided an ongoing 59% of the organization’s budget. Continue reading “Episode 17: Begging for Change w/Kitchens for Good cofounder Aviva Paley”

March 29, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 16: A Jewish Mysticism of Time and Space w/Hadar Cohen

““When in doubt – LOVE!””

Hadar is a spiritual leader and community organizer manifesting visions of feminism, soulful prayer, and communal care. Hadar loves birthing her own projects including feminism all night – a communal all night learning immersive around feminism and spirituality. She is a graduate of Cooper Union, where she studied Electrical Engineering, and alt*div, a alternative divinity school centering the intersection of justice and spirituality. She is a lover of dance, song, and communal transformation. She writes about spirituality, justice, and embodied experiences in a newsletter called in loving faith. To receive updates for her events and writings, subscribe at tinyletter.com/hadarcohen. Continue reading “Episode 16: A Jewish Mysticism of Time and Space w/Hadar Cohen”