Podcast
Judaism Unbound
Hosted by Institute for the Next Jewish Future · EN
Listen in as Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even "regular Jews," Lex and Rena Yehuda look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.
You can support Judaism Unbound at www.JudaismUnbound.com/donate.
29episodes
Episodes
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Episode 535: Shavuot 2026 - Lex Rofeberg, Rena Yehuda Newman, Miriam Terlinchamp
6d ago00:49:08Tap to summarizeShavuot! Is! Coming! As this episode is released, the festival of Shavuot is less than a week away. And with it, ShavuotLIVE: Judaism Unbound's 24-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and unlearning, approaches as well (begins Friday, May 22nd at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT)! Lex Rofeberg, Rena Yehuda Newman, and Miriam Terlinchamp dive into the wild twists and turns that have characterized Shavuot's journey from the Torah to the present-day. They explore how ShavuotLIVE serves as a continuation of Shavuot's past iterations, while also bringing some new energy to the festival as well. Also...they talk about Jewish time-travel! ----------------ShavuotLIVE will take place from Friday, May 22nd at 6 pm ET (3 pm PT) through Saturday, May 23rd at 6 pm ET (3 pm PT). Click here to register. It's free to attend! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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!
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Shabbat Unbound Trailer
1w ago00:01:24Tap to summarizeStarting May 22nd, we're launching a new monthly series called Shabbat Unbound, an experiment in slowing Jewish prayer down. Once a month, in place of our regular interview on Friday, we'll release Shabbat Unbound here on the Judaism Unbound feed. Each episode of Shabbat Unbound focuses on one prayer through song, study, and story. Before the first episode drops on May 22nd, we wanted to share our trailer for the series with you now. ------------------------------------------------- ShavuotLIVE, Judaism Unbound's BIGGEST event of the year, is coming up! This 24-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and unlearning will take place on Friday, May 22nd through Saturday, May 23rd. Click here to register! 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!
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Episode 534: God Bless the Pill - Samira Mehta
2w ago00:47:54Tap to summarizeSamira Mehta is the author of a new book entitled God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation exploring her book, along with what it can teach us about the history of American religion -- and about Jewish history in particular. This episode is the 1st in an ongoing unit of Judaism Unbound episodes exploring reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, and their intersections with the Jewish past, present, and future. For 30%-off on God Bless the Pill, just head to this link and enter the code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout! ------------------------------------------------- ShavuotLIVE, Judaism Unbound's BIGGEST event of the year, is coming up! This 24-hour extravaganza of Jewish learning and unlearning will take place on Friday, May 22nd through Saturday, May 23rd. Click here to register! Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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!
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Episode 533: Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong - Chaia
3w ago00:49:27Tap to summarizeChaia is a composer known for her Yiddish techno music, sometimes known as "kleztronica" (klezmer + electronica). She joins Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman for a conversation honoring May Day (International Workers' Day). Together they explore the intersection of Yiddish, revolution, and folksong -- which, as it turns out, is an extremely prolific and inspiring intersection! They also explore broader Jewish questions about how we understand oldness and newness in Jewish tradition. -------------------------------------------- Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Holy Chutzpah, and Rebbe Nachman of Bretslev! Financial aid is available via this link. Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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Episode 532: ANNOUNCEMENT - Shabbat Podcasts
4w ago00:49:14Tap to summarizeBIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Judaism Unbound is thrilled to be bringing you not one, not two, but THREE different Shabbat-focused podcasts over the coming months! They'll be called Shabbat Unbound, Rest to Return, and Shabbat Dinner Party. In this episode, Lex, Rena Yehuda, and Miriam explore what these podcasts will be, and why Judaism Unbound has chosen to make Shabbat such a big part of our programming moving forward. ------------------------------ Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Holy Chutzpah, and Rebbe Nachman of Bretslev! Financial aid is available via this link. Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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Episode 531: Jewish Ancestors, Young and Old - Eli Ramer
Apr 1700:48:57Tap to summarizeEli Ramer is a maggid (storyteller), an author, and a mystic. He joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about Jewish connections across generations. They explore what it means to do eldering work, discuss Jewish notions of reincarnation (gilgul), and exchange stories that have the potential to help build a brighter world. Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Holy Chutzpah, and Rebbe Nachman of Bretslev! Financial aid is available via this link. ------------------------------ Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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Episode 530: Halacha (Jewish Law) in Helsinki - Sofia Freudenstein
Apr 1001:09:48Tap to summarizeSofia Freudenstein serves as the Director of Jewish Life and Learning for the Jewish Community of Helsinki, Finland. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about why being Jewish in Finland, and in other corners of the world that don't have the largest Jewish communities...really rocks! Together, the three of them also explore what halacha (Jewish law) looks like in such communities -- with one strong supporter of it, one opponent, and one situated in the middle. Find out who's who by listening in! Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link. ------------------------------ Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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Episode 529: Door to Door IV - Forever Unfolding
Apr 300:40:43Tap to summarizeThis week, Judaism Unbound is thrilled to feature the 4th episode of Door to Door: A Pilgrimage Across Generations -- another podcast in Judaism Unbound's family of podcasts! Full shownotes for Door to Door Episode IV can be found here. ------------------------- Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: on Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link. -------------------------- Door to Door is a deeply personal, five-part podcast series tracing one Jewish family’s multigenerational pilgrimage from a once-lost home in Wachenbuchen, Germany, to the present-day echoes of inherited memory, trauma, and resilience. Told through archival recordings, family reflections, and emotional returns to ancestral ground, this podcast chronicles the survival of Simon—a Holocaust survivor taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp during Kristallnacht—and the generations that followed him. It's a story shaped by suffering, but defined by rebuilding, remembrance, and an enduring commitment to legacy. Door to Door invites listeners to witness what it means to reclaim identity from the wreckage—and to carry forward the names, the stories, and the truths nearly erased. If you’ve ever felt the weight of inherited memory, or the pull to understand where you come from — subscribe to Door to Door wherever you get your podcasts. Let this be part of your story, too. We'd love to hear from you, so you can email us at miriam@judaismunbound.com or find us at: www.judaismunbound.com/door-to-door
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Episode 528: Passover 2026 (Rena Yehuda III - Liberation)
Mar 2700:55:24Tap to summarizeChag Pesach Sameach! Happy Passover! Oh. And also...Chag Hamatzot Sameach (Happy Matzah-Fest), and Chag HaAviv Sameach (Happy Festival-of-Spring), and Z'man Cheruteinu Sameach (Happy Time of Our Liberation)! In this episode, Lex and Rena Yehuda explore the holiday of Passover, asking how we might find deep meaning in the Seder -- in ways that balance having a joyous, fun time with holding the seriousness of our collective societal moment right now. They also explore the power of names -- from Rena Yehuda's two first names to the four different names that Passover goes by in Hebrew. This episode is the 3rd in a 3-part mini-series introducing Rena Yehuda Newman, the new co-host of Judaism Unbound. Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link. ------------------------------ Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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Episode 527: Rena Yehuda II - Revelation
Mar 2000:51:42Tap to summarizeRena Yehuda Newman is the new co-host of Judaism Unbound! In this second episode of a 3-part mini-series, they talk through some of their core ideological frameworks -- Jewishly and beyond. Rena Yehuda and Lex talk about Hasidic philosophy, pluralism, and the ways in which every single Jew is a letter in the Torah. ------------------------------ Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva! Genesis: Peoplehood & Solidarity in the Book of Bereishit begins just a few days after the release of this episode. Financial aid is available via this link. ------------------------------ Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. 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! Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.
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