Podcasts

In this episode, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak about the Jewish views on death and dying with Rabbi Melanie Levav, founder and director of the Shomer Collective, a new Jewish organization focused on improving end-of-life experiences.

Episode 7 is a part two of “How We Talk About Art.” Jen Stern Granowitz speaks with PAS Artist-in-Residence Ellen Alt about creative ways to integrate art into teaching

Can a miracle be difficult for God? Follow Rabbi Cosgrove into a sea of stories and interpretations as we discover how building a relationship is like making a miracle.

In this episode, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Rabbi Geoff Mitelman, the Founding Director of Sinai and Synapses. The organization bridges the religious and scientific worlds, offering people a worldview that is scientifically grounded and spiritually uplifting.

We all make missteps. Sometimes we need to receive a second chance, and sometimes we need to offer one. Rabbi Witkovsky discusses the sacrificial system of Va-yikra as the Torah’s way of codifying the importance of second chances, a message we all need today.

May we break Shabbat in order to keep Shabbat? The tension between working to make Shabbat and resting to have Shabbat is as old as Shabbat itself. Looking back over our pandemic year, Rabbi Cosgrove questions how our use of technology will affect how we keep Shabbat in the future.

In this episode, Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak to Jewish educator and artist Sarah Damelin about the importance of integrating art in Jewish education to teach valuable critical thinking skills of exploration, interpretation, and decision making.

Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on the vituperative reaction of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox to last week’s Supreme Court decision regarding conversion and the uncomfortable choice faced by diaspora Jewry.

Is it better to make change from the inside or outside? On our annual UJA Shabbat, Rabbi Cosgrove looks to the Megillah for two models of leadership that can guide our choices today.

In this episode of How We Talk About, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Purim Spiel Director Cantor Rachel Brook about the adult themes of the Book of Esther, a biblical text that involves forced sex, substance abuse, genocide, and mass murder.

“Laws are the love language of the Torah.” Rabbi Witkovsky explores Parashat Mishpatim and an 1838 speech given by Abraham Lincoln. He shows the importance of laws in Jewish and American tradition and of ensuring that our laws reflect our values and are followed.

In the face of sin and addictive behavior, how can Torah guide us to realize our best selves? The legacy of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, z”l, inspires us to take personal agency over our lives.