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a poignant reminder of how far we’ve strayed from the old days, so much so that gefilte has become synonymous with the outdated, the gray, the antiquated and the Old World.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 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 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”

March 20, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 15: Celebrating Life and Purim; on Drug and Alcohol Abuse w/Rabbi Mark Borovitz

“For me, Truth is more important than my job… it’s more important than you liking me. Because as soon as I hide… I die. And we haven’t realized that as a people.”

— Rabbi Mark Borovitz

The Jewish holiday of Purim has a long tradition of drinking a lot and getting wild. So I thought it fitting to bring on the show Rabbi Mark Borovitz for this special holiday episode.

A little bit about our Purim Episode guest this week: Rabbi Mark Borovitz..

Officially ordained in 2000 at the University of Judaism with a Master’s in Rabbinic Literature, Rabbi Mark Borovitz combined his knowledge of Torah and street smarts to shape his calling: helping recovering addicts find their way in the world. Spiritual Leader, Author, Senior Rabbi, CEO, ex-con, recovering alcoholic, and overall anomaly, he is able to reach both the addict and the congregant, and de-stigmatize this life threatening disease. Continue reading “Episode 15: Celebrating Life and Purim; on Drug and Alcohol Abuse w/Rabbi Mark Borovitz”

March 15, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 14: Starting a Brick and Mortar in the Tech Age of Apps w/Emily Weisberg

““When my daughter is playing with Legos… when the dad goes into work his boss is a woman, and when the mom goes into work – she is the boss!””

Emily grew up in a small town in Wisconsin where she started writing recipes and drinking coffee at the ripe old age of 7. She started working in restaurants when she was 14 and has hardly stopped since. She learned Spanish, developed an interest in coffee, went to college, shopped at the farmer’s market a lot, ate at some amazing restaurants, lived in Peru for a while and eventually got married in Jerusalem where she and her husband lived. They came back to the U.S. with a toddler and an even stronger desire to build a diverse community around food. Enter: Moss Café. Emily, her husband Alex and their two little ones live in Riverdale and can probably be found at the café. Continue reading “Episode 14: Starting a Brick and Mortar in the Tech Age of Apps w/Emily Weisberg”

March 8, 2019October 18, 2019

Episode 13: Breaking The Mold, Creating New Ways To Be and Do Jewish w/Roey Kruvi

“Any good innovative organization will tell you that you have to be okay with failure – that they look to ‘not’ have consensus. That those are the ideas that forge new spaces and opportunities.”

— Roey Kruvi

Roey Kruvi is the Senior Director of Immersive Experiences at Moishe House. He was born in Haifa and lived in different parts of Israel before moving to California at the age of 10, where he has been ever since. Since relocating to Encinitas, he has taken on several new hobbies, using his free time to surf, horseback ride, learn the piano, practice yoga, and spend time with his family. He graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor’s degrees in geography and interdisciplinary studies. Roey appreciates opportunities to live communally, skill share, laugh at himself, laugh with others, go to potlucks, breathe (thanks, lungs!), read books, negotiate bus fares, and eat lunch by gorging on farmers market samples.

Roey’s passion and dedication are in informal education of youth, especially in wilderness and/or outdoor settings, and he has several years’ experience designing and implementing experiential education curriculums, both in and outside of the Jewish world. Also, he’s a big fan of being alive and not taking himself too seriously. Roey is a cancer survivor and doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Roey is also the founder of Beacons Tech Consulting, a business that provides affordable tech solutions to small and medium-sized nonprofits. Continue reading “Episode 13: Breaking The Mold, Creating New Ways To Be and Do Jewish w/Roey Kruvi”