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Episode #2 – February 19, 2023

Jewish Almanac Podcast

Episode #2

(This is a machine-generated transcript with only minor editing, so there may be some errors)

This is the Jewish almanac podcast episode two with a release date of February 19 2023.

Your host is James M Branum.

On this weekly podcast, I explore resources for frugal DIY adult Jewish learning that I hope will be of interest to a broad range of listeners, including lifelong Jews converts, those studying for conversion, and of course non-Jews who are curious about our tradition.

In today’s episode, I will first be sharing some highlights of some of the best Jewish podcasts I’ve heard over the last week. After that, I’ll be discussing why affordable DIY adult Jewish education matters. Third, I’ll talk for a moment about a new Jewish (music) video that was recently released by Jew-grass band Nefesh Mountain. After that, I’ll give a quick nutshell summary of this week’s Torah portion for Parasha Terumah. And then to conclude, we’ll have the first edition of a new recurring segment, “the online service of the week,” in which I’ll give a sort of review of an online Jewish service that you might want to check out.

But first, let me mention that show notes with this, and our past episodes can be found on the podcast page at JewishAlmanac.com. Our shows can be downloaded directly from the website but are also available on most of the major podcast apps.

TRANSITION

This was a good week for podcast listening, so I’m gonna jump right into it. ,

On Judaism Unbound – Episode #366, this one was very exciting for me because Dan and Lex interviewed Michael Strassfeld, one of the co-editors of the classic Jewish Catalog. The interview was broad and far-reaching, asking questions about the need for disruption, but arguably not destruction of the role of liturgy, synagogues and other aspects of Jewish life. Also Strassfeld has a new book out and published by Ben Yehuda press entitled Judaism, Disrupted, which is going on my list of books I want to read very soon.

Also, going back in the archives of Judaism Unbound, I listened again to episode #3

, which featured Rabbi Benay Lappe discuss her crash theory and the three categories of how Jews respond to disruption. I listened to this one again, because Lappe’s theory keeps coming up again and again in conversations on the Judaism Unbound podcast, and I think arguably is central to the entire mission of unbinding Judaism, so I wanted to listen to it.

On Chutzpod – Episode #2.18, which I think I figured out their naming convention looks like that means season two episode 18. This week, regular co-host Joshua Molina was gone, rehearsing for an upcoming Broadway productions so actor, actor Sarah Podemiski filled his spot, alongside Rabbi Shara Stuttman. Most of the episode talked about Parasha Mishpatin, last week’s Torah portion. But there was there were some really good thoughts about the work in this about the ways the Jewish tradition, since at least the Talmudic era has sought to humanize and soften brutal mitzvot, such as the famous “eye for an eye” passage. In other words, Talmudicly and through to the present this text has not been interpreted as literally requiring the removal of an eye to punish an accidental injury that led to the the loss of an eye but rather, monetary compensation. And that’s been the norm since at least the town Talmudic era, and  probably earlier.

Along with it, I also appreciate hearing a little more about Sarah’s identity as a Jewish indigenous American person. Oh, I should say I guess she’s, I believe she’s Canadian, actually. So Jewish, indigenous Canadian person. And some of the questions about how identity works, including why phrases like half indigenous and half Jewish can be problematic. After all, she is fully an indigenous person. She is fully Jewish, and she has both heritages. That’s tricky, to encompass, but to just unpack that a little bit, I thought was very helpful.

In the Adventures in Jewish Studies, Season 4 Episode 7, do Jews believe in magic? This one was really interesting because it highlighted the contradictory and complicated ways the Jewish tradition has treated the concept of magic, but also how that many of the practices that we call today, magic wouldn’t have been thought of as such notion times.

Finally, on New Books in Jewish Studies podcast, host Schnarr Zalman Neufeld, talked with Dan Lasker about his book carry is an introduction to the oldest surviving alternative Judaism. This episode is admittedly a deep dive a little bit nerdy, but worthwhile as so little is known about the tradition of the Karaites by most mainstream rabbinic Jews, including myself. So I learned a lot and if you’re interested in the Karaites at all, I recommend that episode.

I want to talk for a few minutes about Jewish education, specifically adult Jewish education. Judaism is famously a religion that celebrates study so much that traditionally there was a blessing one says prior to engaging in Torah study:

“Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha’Olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah” — Roughly translated, “Blessed is the the eternal one, ruler of the universe, who commands us to engage with words of Torah.”


Unfortunately, for many Jews, formal study and learning about Judaism is mostly restricted to certain stages of life to Hebrew school and preparation for B mitzvah, maybe a confirmation class or if one is particularly motivated, maybe some Jewish Studies classes in college. But after that, what happens then?

Not enough, in my opinion, at least for the majority of the members of the Jewish community.

The good news is that this is a fixable problem. When that does not require lots of money or an inordinate amount of time. The solution is DIY, frugal adult Jewish education.

The Frugal part is important because it ensures that this education is open for all, but also that this education be sustainable over the course of a lifetime. No matter what stage of life one is in no matter what your income may go up or down. No person should be denied their education. Of course, as the old saying goes, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Free resources might be free for the student, but still cost money to create. But I will argue that as much as possible, we need to make the barriers to adult education as low as possible, whether that means doing creative fundraising, or it means exploring options to keep costs down or even shifting resources from other areas. And more and more, thanks to the power of the internet, this is doable.

The DIY part of this equation is all about empowerment. Traditional formal education is all about a curriculum and a syllabi and syllabi imposed by a teacher or an administration. The driver of the educational vehicle is not the student, the student is just along for the ride. Sometimes the journey is a good one, sometimes not so much.

DIY, do it yourself, education, on the other hand, puts the student in the driver’s seat. They get to decide what is studied, how they study, who they study with, et cetera. DIY learning is all about empowerment.

Obviously, there are times when formal education is a good thing. I’m not going to deny that. For instance, having had the opportunity to be friends with and work alongside several rabbis over the last few years, I am convinced that rabbinic training in North America does an excellent job of training and equipping rabbis to be the subject-matter experts of our tradition. But I would argue that even these formally trained rabbis will spend most of their lives not in rabbinic school, but rather as lifelong DIY learners themselves.

The challenge for those who aspire to be DIY learners is is really about getting started, and then carving out the time in our busy lives. For it to happen, which is where this podcast comes in. My hope is is that by sharing many resources, including podcasts, online classes, YouTube videos, et cetera, that it will make it easy for folks to find things to engage with in the context of our busy lives.

Next, I want to share a tiny taste of a new song by Jewish bluegrass band Nefesh Mountain the new song is “revival.”

(PLAY EXCERPT)

Do you want to hear the rest of this song? The good news is that you can watch a video for the song on YouTube that plays the song alongside a visually stunning, animated video that is deeply calming and joyful. You could find a link to the video in the show notes for this episode at JewishAlmanac.com. Or by searching for “Nefesh Mountain revival.” I can’t say enough good things about Nefesh mountain I, I just adore them.

This week’s Torah portion is Parasha Terumah, which is in Exodus 25:1-27:19. The portion gets its name Terumahm from the word for donation or offering, appropriate as this book discusses the many donations for the building of the Mishkan, also called the tabernacle, and the precise instructions provided by God through Moses for the construction of the Mishcon.

For those who want to dig into the text for the coming week, I would strongly suggest starting with Wikipedia, I know that many teachers don’t like Wikipedia, many argue that Oh, anyone can edit it. But there’s some tremednous power that comes from collaborative efforts and the power of consensus and when it comes to the Wikipedia articles on the Torah portions, I’m deeply impressed, and hope, I think you too. Give it a try. Just search for the Torah portion’s name, and you’ll find it. There’s a lot of good stuff there.

To close for today, I have a new recurring segment to introduce, “the online service of the week.” For this segment, I’ll be discussing one of the many opportunities that are available for engaging in online Jewish services. It won’t be so much a review like a clinical book or movie review, but rather is more of a preview. So for this week, I want to share the online services from the The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, the second oldest synagogue in the United States. It is affiliated with the Reform movement, but like many synagogues in areas with small Jewish populations, it serves a broader Jewish community.

I first got to know this community when I visited St. Thomas on a cruise ship stopped several years ago, and I’ve enjoyed participating in their online services several times since they are a small community and have had to weather recent changes and rabbinical leadership and of course, the challenges of the COVID pandemic. But I really appreciate your earnest and thoughtful services. Most of the services are live streamed on YouTube and Facebook but are also available for via zoom for a more interactive experience.

I also want to mention that for folks who are looking for an online community to be formally affiliated with, the St. Thomas’s synagogue’s Chai membership program might be worth considering. The cost is extremely reasonable, $36 a year and enables one to be an active supporter of this community.

In fact, I’m remembering that I’m overdue to pay my own dues for this year.

And that brings us to the end of episode number two. We would love to hear any comments, suggestions, critiques, etc. You can leave them on social media on our Facebook page look for JewishAlmanac.com, or on the mastodon social media platform or you can email me directly at JMB at jmb dot bike, again that is J M B at JMB dot B I K E.

Shavurah Tov! Have a good week!

We actually have another minute left. So to close this out, we’ll play a little bit of F minor klezmer from the Underscore Orchestra.

(NOTE: Other musical selections included excerpts from Nefesh Mountain “Revival,” Gillicuddy “Instrumental #2 Revisted,” The Underscore Orchestra “New Town Klezmer,” and “Wedding Dance” by the Jewish Russian Orchestra.)

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Episode 1 – An Introduction

Release Date: Feb. 12, 2023

CREDITS: Music includes “Wedding Dance” (1917) and “Dance on, dance on” by the Russian Jewish Orchestra, as well as snippet of Matisyahu from a live performance in 2022.

(this is machine-generated transcription, with only minor editing, so there could be some errors)

This is the Jewish Almanac podcast episode one, “An Introduction,” with the release date of February 12 2023. Your host for today is James M. Branum.

On this week’s episode, I’ll first be sharing a short introduction for this podcast series. After that I’ll be sharing highlights from other Jewish podcasts from the previous week. Next, I will share a very short introduction to the Torah portion for upcoming Shabbat Parasha Mishpatim. And finally we’ll close with a brief discussion of Shabbat Shekalim.

But first, just a quick reminder to our listeners that a transcript for this podcast episode, including links to all resources mentioned can be found on our website JewishAlmanac.com.

I should also mention that we are we have a running conversation thread for each episode on the mastodon social media platform, aka the fediverse. Just look for it under the hashtag of #JewishAlmanac. Please join the conversation, we want to hear from you.

Well since this is episode number one, I thought I would share a very brief introduction to this podcast. So the goal of the Jewish almanac podcast is to provide a weekly digest of resources and inspiration for adult learners of Judaism focusing especially on resources that are either free or low cost. And also we are focusing especially on audio resources, because for many people, it’s the best way to pack in some Jewish learning into a busy schedule. Each of our episodes will be around 10 minutes or so. And our hope is that it can be a kind of orientation to once a week of Jewish learning and practice.

As to our audience, we are casting a wide net. We are hoping to be relevant to all adult learners of Judaism, including lifelong Jews who are wanting to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the tradition, converts to Judaism who see their conversion as an initiation to further study and engagement, not simply as a graduation. We also hope to reach out to people who are in the process of conversion or who are thinking about it, as well as folks who are simply interested in Judaism and who want to experiment with Jewish practices in culturally appropriate ways. Finally, we hope to be a resource for young adults, especially those who have finished Hebrew School, finished Confirmation classes, and are now asking what now? Certainly there’s Hillel if you go to college. Certainly there’s other things. But in many ways this transition to adulthood, there’s not as many resources as there should be. Too often there’s a sense that people won’t keep learning, (so) you know, this podcast wants to counter that a bit. — In other words, we are hoping to reach out to all people a bit especially adults, who are wanting to to grow in their Jewish understanding.

So as far as my own denominational philosophical bias, I think it’s important to know the bias coming into it. So I want to be clear about where I’m coming from, particularly as to my background, but as I think it provides some interesting aspects that might help us in our conversation for you to know this. So I am a convert to Judaism, and I am active in two movements, the Humanistic Jewish movement and the Reform Jewish movement. I became Jewish through the humanistic movement and today I’m one of the lay leaders of the Spinoza Havurah an online community I also work as the editor of Humanistic Judaism magazine, a quarterly publication of the Society for humanistic Judaism.

Humanistic Judaism in many ways is my intellectual home. It’s the place that really reflects my intellect, what I believe, what I know, best. But I’m also a Reform Jew, thanks to being an active member of Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City. Being a part of the Temple has been an enriching experience, but also sometimes challenging because being part of a Reform Temple, in a city with a smaller Jewish population means by nature being in community with people you sometimes don’t agree with, because there’s just simply aren’t other synagogues to go to. That means I’m in community with people that I don’t agree with politically, religiously, etc. But over the last four years or so, I’ve come to see the value of being in community with folks who differ from myself.

Also, I should mention, on the god question. I describe myself as being an intellectual agnostic, but an intuitive pantheist. What I mean by that is intellectually I can’t prove or disprove the existence of God. So that puts me in the agnostic category, but intuitively, emotionally in ways that we go beyond what just logic, I would say I lean more pantheist, a little bit in a Spinoza direction, maybe. I do think there’s something bigger than ourselves out there. But I think the boundary line between that and US and the world is really, really blurry. And so I think pantheism might be a better way to describe what I’m about.

So with all that said, it should be obvious that I’m not approaching Judaism from a strict halachic perspective. In other words, God commands it and that’s that —- there’s a long tradition of either written Torah and Oral Torah, into the conversation.

But that’s not where I come from, but I do want to mention that I do read and gain insights from those who do. So I’m hoping that if I have some halachically- minded listeners, I hope you’ll give it a shot, what I’ll be sharing but I also realized that we were coming out from different places and that’s okay. too.

Finally, I should mention philosophy and politics. Because while this podcast will not be “political” in the electoral sense of the word, the podcast will have a political/ethical orientation, approaching Judaism from an anti Imperial, Anti Fascist, and at times anti capitalist perspective. That’s where I’m coming from and that will shape the selection of things I’ll be sharing on the podcast and I want to be very upfront with you. If you see the world very differently, if you believe in Empire, if you’re a strong believer in capitalism, and ? coming down from on high. You probably won’t like this podcast. On the other hand, I also hope that you’ll give it a try anyway because I think it’s good for us to stretch and grow.

By the way, that brings me to the topic of the State of Israel and its relationship with the population of Palestine. My own perspective does not fit well at all into either the Zionist or the anti Zionist frameworks. I will say that this topic will not be a major theme on this podcast, mostly because other people are already covering this topic well from a variety of perspectives. But to the extent that it does come up, I’ll mostly be focusing on amplifying the voices of those who are working for peace and justice for all of the peoples of Israel and Palestine.

(TRANSITION)

For our podcast reviews for this week, we’ll be looking at three that caught my ear.

First, on the Judaism unbound podcast, they are celebrating the release of episode number 365! Which means that one can listen to an episode each day for a year and not repeat any episodes. — By the way, just thinking about listening to that many episodes of that podcast… that’s an amazing thing. I highly recommend it. I’ve probably listened to about two thirds of the episodes so far, so I’m getting there but still gonna be a while.

Anyway, the other guests for this week was Alex, I’m sorry, Alec. Gewirtz, who is described as “a community builder and writer who found co founded The Nearness, a community platform to nurture people in their spiritual lives. The nearness offers six week journeys where participants gathered digitally in regular small group conversations structured on conversation prompts, shared practices and mutual support. Garrett joins Dan Levinson and Lex Rothberg for the eighth episode in an ongoing mini series focused on Jewish spirituality.”

I was really intrigued by, towards the beginning of the episode, where there was some conversation about the idea of folks who described themselves as being spiritual but not religious, and that really got me thinking. I may touch on that some in a future episode of this podcast as well, because I think it’s an interesting dynamic and I always come back to feeling frustration with the way we define the words “religion” and “spirituality,” but that’s neither here nor there.

Anyway that you can find this episode on any of your favorite podcast programs, or on their website at Judaismunbound.org.

Okay, the second podcast I want to talk about is Chutzpod, in particular, the latest one which is episode 2.17. On this episode, the regular co-hosts, Rabbi Shira stuntman and actor Joshua Molina, are joined by a guest co-host, Sarah Polinsky, an actor from the TV show Reservation Dogs. They talk about the story of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law and the important lesson he taught Moses about avoiding burnout.

You can find this episode on any of your favorite podcast programs or by going to Chutzpod.com that is spelled C H U T Z P O D dot com.

And finally, I have to mention The Wondering Jews podcast. This is the podcast where to Jewish dads get Chai on cannabis, but then talk about the news headlines and talk about Jewish stuff and wherever that takes them. For episode number 91, the hosts Josh and Rory enjoyed an infused joint and then talked about Superbowl commercials and then used chat-GPT (the AI system that is being talked a lot about right now) to learn about this week’s Torah portion. Interesting.

For this episode, you can to your usual places to download podcasts or you can go to WonderingJewsPodcast.com

TRANSITION

By the way, talking about Torah, I’m going to share a little bit about this week’s Torah portion Mishpatim, which is Exodus 21:1 through 24:18, and I will say I did NOT use chat GPT for this little summary, but I did make use of Wikipedia and some other resources.

So anyway, in this text Mishpatim, this text deals with some of the laws and teachings of the covenant that the Hebrews were entering into with the divine at Mount Sinai and let’s be frank, some of this stuff is really good. Some of it not so much.

In this passage, we do have quite a bit of subjects covered, this is probably one of the most packed in of the Torah portions. We have just a short list and this is not everything covered, but we have laws regarding slavery, sexual ethics, murder, financial practices, idolatry, judicial integrity, humane treatment of the enemy, but also instructions on ritual practices, the Sh’mita year, the Shabbat and the proper way to celebrate the major pilgrimage festivals.

But again, I would say some of the stuff is really good, humane, thoughtful teachings, some of it . . . no, not at all.

There’s also a lot of a lot of blood. There’s a lot of killing, and a lot of capital punishment for things that in our eyes today we would not see as appropriate for capital punishment. I personally don’t see it’s ever appropriate but particularly not for some of the things that Mishpatim says you should kill people for.

Throughout this recitation of laws we also have the idea amplified that these obligations, these mitzvot, come by way of a covenant or relationship between God and the people of Israel, which is finally highlighted at the end of this tour passage with a set of bloody ceremonies and then Moses going up Mount Sinai.

So this is a drama-filled section of Torah, but like the rest of Torah, is filled with both good and not so good teachings. So I, I feel the need to say that disclaimer, particularly approaching this from a humanistic standpoint. I I don’t just take it as that’s how God said (and it must be true). I just don’t.

TRANSITION

And finally, since the Jewish almanac podcast is created by JewishAlmanac.com, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we do like talking about the Jewish calendar. And so our upcoming Shabbat starting on the evening of February 17 is Shabbat Shekalim. According to a Sefaria source sheet by Rabbi Alex Kress (and I’ll have a link to that, by the way in the show notes), you’re going to find that on our website JewishAlmanac.com. So I’m going to read a little bit from Rabbi Kress’ source sheet:

From: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/99299?lang=bi

The First of the Arba Parshiot

During the month or so before Passover, four Shabbatot are characterized by special maftir readings, called the Arba Parshiot [four Torah portions], which relate thematically to Purim or Passover: Shabbat Shekalim, Shabbat Zachor, Shabbat Parah, and Shabbat Hachodesh.

Shabbat Shekalim–which takes place the Shabbat prior to Rosh Chodesh for the month of Adar or on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Adar itself–is named for the maftir reading, Exodus 30:11. The maftir describes a census requiring every Israelite man to contribute a half shekel to support communal sacrifices in the portable tent of meeting and later at the Temple. The egalitarian nature of this contribution is emphasized–“the rich shall not pay more, and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel.” The requirement that all individuals contribute equally to the community helped develop a sense of unity crucial to the new nation created by the Exodus.

In the special haftarah, 2 Kings 11:17-12:17, King Yehoash commanded that all money brought to the Temple be used for its repairs and renovations–both the required contributions and the free-will offerings. Shabbat Shekalim occurs about a month before Passover as a reminder that the due date for the half-shekel contributions was approaching, on 1 Nisan, a month later. Some people contribute to an institution of Jewish learning in remembrance of the half shekel.

I like that.

So in that spirit, I invite you to consider what institution of Jewish learning you might want to contribute to.

For myself, I’m going to give my half shekel equivalent to the Unyeshiva, the alternative yeshiva ran with the folks from JudaismUnbound and by the way, if you’re not familiar with them, check them out on Unyeshiva.

This brings us to the end of episode one. Thank you so much for checking us out. And be sure to look for us next week. And don’t forget we welcome listener comments our contact info is at Jewish almanac.com Take care bye for now.