Advertise on podcast: Jewish Ideas to Change the World

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Joshua Holo The event was co-sponsored by Temple Beth Sholom and Temple Har Shalom About The Event: Abba Eban, Israel’s great spokesman and diplomat, famously wrote: “Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist’… Israel’s right to exist… is axiomatic and unreserved.” We may grasp Eban’s principle, but in practice it no longer applies. Today, we face a generation of fellow Jews who question that right, so it is time to explain the how, when, where, and why of our destiny in that small stretch of land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. This story amounts to proto-Zionism, that is, the story that undergirds the modern movement: the history of our people’s consistent, millennial connection to the Land of Israel, not only religiously but also economically, intellectually, literarily, and demographically.About The Speaker: Joshua Holo, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Jewish History and formerly served as Vice President of Academic Resources, Dean of the Hebrew Union College Jack H. Skirball Campus, and Director of the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies. He co-founded Hebrew Union College’s digital learning platform, the College Commons, and hosts a regular podcast called the College Commons Podcast. He was editor of the Brill Series on Jewish Studies and a contributor of Torah commentary to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. His publications range from the social and intellectual history of the Jews of the Middle Ages to contemporary liberal Zionism. ★ Support this podcast ★

Martin Luther King III in conversation with Rabbi Shmuly about the upcoming elections, the importance of disagreeing with civility, the enduring ethic of nonviolence, and the value of democracy. Mr. King is a distinguished global humanitarian who continues the legacy of human rights advocacy championed by his parents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Ner Tamid Funded in part by a grant from the National Center to Encourage Judaism About The Event: As Jews, we spend a lot of time praying, but not a lot of time looking at the texts of our prayers for meaning and understanding. In this session, we will explore a method that will aim to deepen your own engagement with prayer through rigorous interpretation. We will examine questions such as: Can traditional prayer formulas express my own values/ideas about prayer? What do you do when you "disagree" with the prayer's content? How can one interpret the siddur in a grounded, traditional, yet creative way? *Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17K4LUOzBUMR_l3t1PKydEjpDCLMTmOdxUEp-1BfvP5o/edit?usp=sharingAbout The Speaker: Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is President and CEO of the Hadar Institute. Elie has previously worked as a journalist, banker, and corporate fraud investigator. A graduate of Harvard College, he completed his doctorate in liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was also ordained. He received semikhah from his long-time teacher, Rav Daniel Landes. A Wexner Graduate Fellow and Dorot Fellow, Elie has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the top 50 rabbis in America. He is the author of Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities and is completing a book on the Amidah. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation with Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer Event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ About The Event: Throughout Jewish history, there have been a series of individual attempts to organize Jewish communities towards conquering the Land of Israel and reinstalling Jewish sovereignty. Time and again, these attempts were turned down and declined by the masses. Why? Learning about the fascinating stories of a few individuals, we learn a valuable lesson about freedom and the slippery slope from redemption to messianism. About The Speaker: Jonnie Schnytzer is probably the only PhD in Jewish Philosophy, focusing on medieval kabbalah, who can say that he once beat the head of Israeli Naval Commandos in a swimming race. His dissertation focused on the scientific kabbalah of Rabbi Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi. Jonnie’s forthcoming book is about Ashkenazi’s Kabbalah as well as a critical edition of the kabbalist’s majestic commentary on Sefer Yesira. Jonnie is also the author of the Mossad thriller, The Way Back, which paints a picture of contemporary Israel. Jonnie also orchestrated the publishing of an English edition of ‘The Hitler Haggadah’, an important piece of Moroccan Jewish history from the Holocaust. Jonnie has also taken on several leadership roles in the Jewish world, including advisor to the CEO of Birthright and executive manager with StandWithUs. He lectures on a wide variety of topics relating to Judaism and Israel, especially about the untold stories and unspoken heroes of Jewish history. Jonnie is happily married, with four gorgeous little kids, lives in Israel, and thinks that Australian Rules Football is the greatest sport ever invented. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Steven M. Bob About The Event:  The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return to Jerusalem from the first exile in ancient Babylonia. These books contain the foundational ideas for our modern sense of Jewish identity and key elements of our Jewish lives. The public reading of the Torah begins with Ezra reading from the scroll before the community in Jerusalem. In these books we will meet the first people to think of themselves as Jews. Jewish holidays take shape at the beginning of this period, as does the Jewish calendar. Ezra and Nehemiah are the first biblical books to use the names of the months we use today, such as Elul and Kislev.*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q44NR1z3HgJn2dhx0mvL4OPHxJl9rlU5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true About The Speaker:  Rabbi Steven M. Bob was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, IL, for 35 years. Rabbi Bob serves as a Guest faculty member at Wheaton College and as an Instructor at the Hebrew Seminary for the Hearing and the Deaf. He is a faculty leader at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. His newest book is When Judaism Began: Exploring the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (2026). He is also the author of Go to Nineveh (2013) and Jonah and the Meaning of Our Lives (2016), and Ha’aretz named Rabbi Bob as one of the 36 American Jews who helped shape the 2008 Presidential election. ★ Support this podcast ★

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz sits down with Mirabai Starr. Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author, internationally acclaimed speaker, and interspiritual teacher. In 2020, she was honored on Watkins’ list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Drawing from 20 years of teaching philosophy, world religions, and a lifetime of practice, Mirabai shares her wisdom worldwide on contemplative living, writing as a spiritual practice, and the transformational power of grief and loss. She has authored over a dozen books, including Wild Mercy, Caravan of No Despair, Ordinary Mysticism, and renowned translations of sacred literature.  Author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico. ★ Support this podcast ★

A hybrid event presentation featuring Reverend Terri Hobart, Imam Muhammad Kolila, and Rabbi Emily Hyatt, moderated by Ariel Nassau of VBM Denver. The event was co-hosted with St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Downtown Denver Islamic Center, and Temple Emanuel Denver. About The Event: Faith leaders from across Denver come together to explore how their traditions guide responses to today's most pressing local issues - and how interfaith partnership strengthens our shared community.About The Speakers: Rev. Terri Hobart is a student and practitioner of mystical Christianity. She preaches love as the powerful, generative, life-giving force that pulsates through all of creation and us to transformation. She is passionate about leading St. Thomas out into our neighborhood to share the presence of Christ as we feed, heal, love, and stand with those in need. Her life and ministry are guided by the following core values: Seek the Sacred Everywhere, Speak and Act From Love, Cultivate Deep Relationships, Honor Creation, Prioritize Relationships, Live Sustainably, Be Grateful, Welcome Everyone, Promote Transparency, Speak Truth, Take Faithful Risks, Abide in Christ. Terri holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Baylor University and a Master of Divinity from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She shares her life with her beloved spouse, the Rev. Canon Vanessa Stickler Glass, who serves as the Canon for Transition Ministry for The Episcopal Church in Colorado. Before moving to Colorado, she served as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Woodland, California. She loves foraging, gardening, and feeding people. Together they have four adult children. Imam Muhammad Kolila serves as the Imam at Masjid al-Shuhada’ Downtown Denver Islamic Center. Muhammad is a community leader and activist in education, charity, peacebuilding, interfaith partnerships, community development, project management, and spirituality. Muhammad has an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Denver and has a B.A. in Translation Studies and Linguistics.  Rabbi Emily Hyatt serves as Senior Rabbi and CEO of Temple Emanuel Denver. Together with Senior Rabbi Elizabeth Sacks, she is the first woman to lead Temple Emanuel’s Reform Congregation in its 150–year history. Rabbi Hyatt joined the Temple Emanuel team in 2018. A proud Denver native (and Temple Emanuel preschool graduate), Rabbi Hyatt is deeply committed to Temple Emanuel, to the Denver Jewish community, and to the principles of Jewish Peoplehood, Pluralism, and Jewish community. She proudly serves on the boards of the Denver Jewish Day School, ADL Mountain States, and the Golda Meir House. She is a member of ATRA: Rabbinic Pipeline Initiative Advisory Council and is the immediate past president of the RMRC – the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors. Rabbi Hyatt is a graduate of the American University, received her M.B.A. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and has a Master in Jewish Education from the Hebrew College in Boston. She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion: Los Angeles Campus, and is a member of class 25 of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Prior to joining the clergy team at Temple Emanuel, Rabbi Hyatt worked as the Network Director for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and as a Regional Director and then Director of Jewish Enrichment for BBYO International. Rabbi Hyatt, along with her son, Neil, loves being home in Denver. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Karyn Kedar The class is co-sponsored by Congregation Ner Tamid About The Event: Join Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar as she explores her award-winning book, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion. Drawing from meditations, poetry, reflections, retellings of Talmudic and Hasidic stories, and lyrical encounters with prayer and scripture, Rabbi Kedar will share insights from the book and offer selections that illuminate the path through the months of Av and Elul, Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, and Yom Kippur. Together, we will reflect on themes of grief, longing, forgiveness, repentance, and renewal, discovering how ancient wisdom and contemporary spiritual practice can help us navigate this season with greater depth and compassion. Whether this year’s High Holy Days were your first or you have new questions about familiar rituals, this gathering will offer inspiration on how to carry forward the lessons of the holidays into the new year ahead. Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pL1d6SjIp9mcGHz2IU6xvkjHNQR4USEm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true About The Speaker: Karyn Kedar is a gifted writer and teacher. She inspires people of all backgrounds and faiths to live intentionally, find beauty and purpose in everyday moments, and cultivate a life of spiritual depth, meaning, compassion, and purpose. Through poetic reflections and practical insights, she guides others to navigate life’s complexities with grace and deepen their connection to their essential self and to others. As the author of six non-fiction books, she writes poetry, liturgy, and essays that invite readers to pause, contemplate, and awaken the spirit. Her newest work, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion, invites readers to sit on the edge of what they know and explore the mysteries of forgiveness, beauty, and spiritual renewal. Her books, teachings, and retreats explore the shared human experiences of love, struggle, forgiveness, resilience, and the search for meaning. She invites us to “come to the edge of what you know and sit a while.” Karyn lives with her husband Ezra in the Chicago area. Their children and six grandchildren are making their way in life in both the United States and Israel. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Paul Franks The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ About The Event: What is kavanah — usually translated as “intention” — in the performance of mitzvot?  What, in particular, is kavanah in Jewish prayer?  Often used but rarely explained, the term will be illuminated by means of the speech act theory of the great Oxford philosopher and architect of the Normandy invasion, J. L. Austin (1911-60), articulated most famously in his 1955 William James Lectures at Harvard, later published as How to Do Things with Words. Source Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MHaWA3mLhMkt4-p_KzU6h1qOjyh9j7wh/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=trueAbout The Speaker: Paul Franks is the Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies and the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Yale University. Educated at Gateshead Yeshiva, Oxford, and Harvard, he has taught at Indiana University, Notre Dame, and Toronto, and has been a visiting professor at Chicago, Leuven, and Hebrew University.  He works on post-Kantian philosophy, Jewish philosophy, and kabbalah.  Among his publications are Franz Rosenzweig: Philosophical and Theological Writings and All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky The class was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel. About The Event: The Mishnah was written during a time period that included the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kochba Revolt. The 63 tractates of the Mishnah include the rabbis’ origin story for rabbinic Judaism and many clues about the world it was written in. We’ll explore Mishnahs that give us explicit information about the early rabbinic period as well as hints about the groundbreaking changes happening in the Jewish world at the time. *Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-XZetmWV3B5xwdGqpuD_iMMCIn2N0BgmC4sLL0XsO4Y/edit?usp=sharing About The Speaker: Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a career educator who teaches Jewish text and mathematics at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. In the summer, she works as a teacher and Rabba at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. She is the host of the podcast “Mishna Accomplished.” ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual presentation by Dr. Marc Dollinger The event is co-sponsored by Temple Solel About The Event: One of the thorniest questions in contemporary American Jewish life, the boundaries between anti-Israelism, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism are now the subject of university policy debates as well as proposed state and federal action. This presentation offers historical background on each category, outlining the points of debate in this highly contentious subject. About The Speaker: Dr. Marc Dollinger holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. Dr. Dollinger currently serves on the executive board of the Union for Reform Judaism. He is also board president of URJ Camp Newman. Professor Dollinger has spoken about his research with the CEO of the NAACP on CNN as well as the CNN podcast “Silence Is Not an Option,” the PBS docu-series Black and Jews: An Interwoven Alliance, the NFL Network, ESPN, and Germany’s National Public Radio. Just for fun, Dr. Dollinger helped actress Helen Hunt learn about her Jewish roots on the prime-time NBC show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler About The Event: From Abraham shattering his father’s idols to the challenges we face today, the Jewish tradition has always called us to question what our society holds sacred. Rabbi Gitler explores how the ancient practice of “smashing idols” speaks directly to our modern moment: the false certainties, distractions, and misplaced values that shape contemporary life. Together we’ll draw on Torah, commentary, and Jewish thought to ask what idols we might need to smash today. Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qz6y4-E-JdzN90pny_JBN1AUwFwniAmerJnwIUF_vu8/edit?usp=sharingAbout The Speaker: Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He founded Fast for Feast and lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife Sarah and their four children. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jack Riemer About The Event: In this class, we will compare and contrast the Declaration of Independence with Jewish statements that are similar to it and explore how Rashi might have interpreted some of the key phrases in the Declaration. About The Speaker: Rabbi Jack Riemer is now retired after serving as the spiritual leader of congregations in Ohio, California, and Florida. He is the author of six books of Jewish thought and of a three-volume commentary on the High Holy Day prayerbook. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ About The Event: The 21st-century Kabbalistic approaches to AI offer optimistic, utopian approaches based on the writings of Sefer Yetzirah and Rabbi Isaac Luria. Secular innovators of AI at MIT who see the world as informational and AI as creativity; authors in Jewish thought who see the world as the Lurianic network; and rabbis who treat the new informational era as the unfolding of the divine mind and even a messianic fulfillment. About The Speaker: Rabbi Prof. Alan Brill is the Cooperman/Ross Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Brill is an expert on Jewish thought and interfaith relations. He is the author of many books, including Judaism and World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Eastern Religions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), Judaism and Other Religions: Models of Understanding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). Brill received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He was a keynote speaker at the R-20 conference held in Indonesia. This research produced his recent volume, Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish-Hindu Encounter (Lexington Books, 2019). His recently published book is A Jewish Trinity: Contemporary Christian Theology Through Jewish Eyes (Fortress Press, 2025). ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Natan Margalit About The Event: Either/Or dilemmas such as Universal versus Tribal, Us versus Them, Culture versus Nature, and more only keep us stuck in conflict and confusion. But Judaism’s core mode of thought is not either/or; it’s nested, fractal, and leads us to the kinds of both/and solutions that we need today. We’ll explore the ways that Jewish wisdom of nestedness in our traditions, rituals, and texts can lead us to hold the complexity of Jewishness and universal values, of human progress and caring for the natural world, and of finding the balance between individual freedom and communal bonds. About The Speaker: Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a young adult, he lived for twelve years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990. He earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from UC Berkeley in 2001. Natan has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is currently the Dean of Faculty and a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the Aleph Ordination Program, and serves as chair of its Rabbinic Texts department. Natan is the author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking. He is the founder of Organic Torah, fostering holistic thinking about Judaism, the environment, and society, which is a program of Aleph: Alliance for Renewal. ★ Support this podcast ★