Hashivenu

Hashivenu

Reconstructing Judaism

Hashivenu is a podcast about Jewish teachings and practice around resilience. Cultivating resilience in challenging times, both individually and collectively, is an essential path to personal renewal.

44 minutes 33 seconds

Building Covenantal Community in the New Year and Beyond
With the High Holiday season underway, Deborah welcomes Justin Rosen Smolen, Reconstructing Judaism's Vice President for Thriving Communities and Partnerships, for a wide-ranging conversation about covenantal community. They explore how the idea of covenant, from biblical narratives to contemporary community-building, emphasizes relationships, mutual responsibility and interdependence. They consider how liberal religion can help address societal issues like loneliness and division, and advocate for conversations that build inclusive, thriving communities. Later, Deborah and Justin explore a Reconstructionist understanding of covenant, emphasizing the importance of shared values and intergenerational dialogue, and recognizing that while diverse perspectives may create tension, they also provide opportunities for growth and deeper understanding within the community.

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Justin Rosen Smolen.
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10 October 2024, 10:00 am
38 minutes 45 seconds

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, CEO of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Rabbi Elyse Wechterman recently announced that she will step down from her position as CEO of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) in June after leading the organization for the past nine years. Elyse stops by Deborah’s office to look back on her tenure and look ahead to what’s next. The two longtime colleagues commiserate over the day-to-day realities of leading an organization, including a friendly debate over the pros and cons of “zeroing out” one’s email inbox (4:54). Elyse explains how being willing to let some things go in order to focus on what’s important has helped her decision making as a leader (9:21). Elyse reflects on how the RRA has changed over the last nine years and on the accomplishments she’s most proud of, such as increased collaboration amongst rabbinical associations (15:30). Deborah and Elyse discuss the nature of change and how although it can be scary, it is often a positive (26:22). Finally, Elyse shares her favorite verse from the Talmud and why it’s resonating with her as she approaches this transition (34:00).

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Rabbi Elyse Wechterman.
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16 May 2024, 10:00 am
38 minutes 55 seconds

Cheryl Cook, CEO of Avodah
Rabbi Deborah Waxman welcomes Cheryl Cook, CEO of Avodah, for a wide-ranging conversation. The two longtime friends and hevrutah partners recall their early conversations about Israel and Palestine (3:00). They discuss the nature of leadership in general as well as their own perspectives as women in leadership (10:10). They touch on the importance of resilience in how they have been able to navigate the turbulence of the last 10 years (12:10). Cheryl lays out the mission and work of Avodah (16:30). Later, Cheryl asks Deborah to reflect on the role of gender in leadership and Deborah shares how her feminist ideals shape her approach (18:15). Cheryl talks about stepping into the role of CEO in 2015 as a mother of young children and how she is making the effort to model a different kind leadership for other women (23:00). They close by looking ahead to future generations of leaders that they hope will include not only women, but Jews of Color and people from underrepresented groups as well (33:03). At the start of the show, Deborah catches us up on all things Hashivenu and previews her upcoming 10th anniversary celebratory event “When Women Lead" (happening Wednesday, April 3rd at 7pm EDT). You can find ticket information here.

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Cheryl Cook.
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28 March 2024, 10:00 am
59 minutes 34 seconds

How to become our fullest, most expressive selves? Practice, practice, practice
Weeks ago, Rabbi Deborah Waxman and founder Yoshi Silverstein scheduled this discussion about embodied Jewish practice and antiracism. Did it make any sense to have this conversation in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Israeli civilians and hostage taking, the subsequent and unfolding war and its tremendous toll on Palestinian civilians? After pausing to consider, they decided that such a conversation is more important than ever, both to themselves and listeners. Silverstein, founder and director of the Mitsui Collective, explains that in difficult times like these, embodiment practices can help us understand and name the extent to which strong emotions are having an impact on us. Awareness and practice are key to being able to respond to stressful stimuli in a healthy way. He outlines several simple practices that can help, including orienting and box breathing, and quotes Viktor Frankl, the psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor whose writing deeply informs how humans understand trauma. "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Yoshi Silverstein.
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24 October 2023, 10:00 am
38 minutes 40 seconds

Yom Kippur: A Celebration of Collective Release
In ancient times on Yom Kippur, the high priest of Israel presided over an elaborate, mystical service atop the Temple Mount. Today, many traditional synagogues recount this ritual with the avodah service. In this episode, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., speaks with Rabbi Vivie Mayer about what the avodah service — which they acknowledge is mainly attended by the “die-hards” — can teach us today. “What Yom Kippur is really enacting and celebrating is collective release,” Mayer says. The two discuss what it means to move from the most intense, holy day of the year to the mundane business of daily life and how to bring insights from the former to the later. They delve into the differences between individual and collective atonement and responsibility; wondering about the collective release and catharsis offered by practices of the Second Temple era. They also lift up a contemporary Israeli song, “Seder Ha'Avodah” by Ishay Ribo.

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Rabbi Vivie Mayer.
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12 September 2023, 10:00 am
38 minutes 10 seconds

S4 Ep. 9: Season of Reflection and Repentance
In this special episode, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D and Rabbi Sandra Lawson discuss their respective processes of preparing for the High Holidays. This isn’t about leading services, but about how, as human beings, they undertake an accounting of the soul, leading to repentance for their own actions and forgiveness toward others. The two friends and colleagues delve into Maimonides as interpreted by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg in her new book On Repentance and Repair. (Among his many contributions, Maimonides, a medieval Torah scholar, philosopher and physician, outlined five steps needed to make true repentance.) Rabbi Sandra describes her difficult relationship with her late mother, and the forgiveness needed to truly care for her mother during illness. The two widen the lens and examine repentance from a societal point of view: how can society account and repent for harms caused to so many groups: Blacks, indigenous Americans, Asian Americans and so on. The two agree that an American reckoning with its troubled legacy is needed. “I think about teshuvah and when it comes to racial justice work, my focus first of all, is primarily within our Jewish spaces,” Lawson says. “I have found that many Jews who benefit from white privilege tend to continue to look outward on racial justice in the larger world, which is fine. But that also needs to be with our own internal work.”

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
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19 September 2022, 10:00 am
39 minutes 52 seconds

S4 Ep. 8: Songs of Joy and Mourning
Reconstructing Judaism board member and Tikkun Olam Commission co-chair Shahanna McKinney-Baldon opens up with Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D. and Rabbi Sandra Lawson about her time singing for the ska and reggae band Highball Holiday. The educator, activist and artist, who comes an African American and Ashkenazi family, talks about rediscovering her singing voice in middle age, and shedding certain inhibitions and self-consciousness. (Co-host Rabbi Sandra Lawson also recounts embracing public singing in her 40s, partly to connect with Jewish liturgy.) McKinney-Baldon frankly discusses the grieving process following the 2021 loss of her father, as well as her wrestling with the Jewish prohibition on listening to music — let alone performing — during the traditional morning period. The trio discusses a Reconstructionist, values-based approach to engaging with, but not necessarily being dictated by, Jewish tradition. She also discusses her work on the Tikkun Olam Commission and describes the ongoing process of gaining support for a movement-wide resolution supporting reparations for slavery.

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Shahanna McKinney-Baldon.
Support Hashivenu
Links:
- Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity Collaborative — Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity Collaborative (“Edot”) is a network of partnerships and activities focused on affirming Jewish racial and ethnic diversity across communities in the Midwest region. Investing in the leadership of Jewish People of Color (JOC’s) is our driver for change.
- "I helped coin the term ‘Jews of color.’ It’s time for a history lesson" by Shahanna McKinney-Baldon
- Listen to Highball Holiday on Bandcamp
- Follow Highball Holiday on Instagram
- Milwaukee ska legends Highball Holiday preached racial unity
5 May 2022, 10:00 am
46 minutes 6 seconds

S4 Ep. 7: The Smooth River
On Sept. 3, 2019, Richard Cohen’s wife, Marcia Horowitz, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Horowitz lived 160 more days. In his acclaimed 2021 book, The Smooth River: Finding Inspiration and Exquisite Beauty during Terminal Illness, Cohen, a lawyer and Reconstructionist leader, recounts those days and what the couple learned about life as Horowitz's death approached.

In this special episode, Richard Cohen discusses with Rabbi Deborah Waxman how the couple eschewed the common framing of terminal illness as a battle with the disease – something that is either one or lost. “We wanted to regain some sense of normalcy of who we were, and by doing good for other people, we felt good about ourselves. We were getting our heads above the cancer. It was not going to subsume us.”

Rabbi Waxman and Cohen also discuss how the couple’s approach mirrors resilience practices contained in many Jewish teachings. Quoting from the book of Psalms, Waxman says, “Out of a narrow place, I called to God. God responded and got me out into an expansive place. That tension between narrow and expansive, for me it has been such an incredible guiding metaphor."

Rabbi Sandra Lawson will be back as co-host in the next episode.
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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org. Episode transcript is forthcoming.
Special Guest: Richard S. Cohen.
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- Read the book: The Smooth River
- Ritualwell - death and mourning — While Judaism places great emphasis on our lives in this world, death is an inevitable end for all of us. Often Jews who have been distant from traditional Jewish practice for their whole lives seek the comfort of traditional Judaism in the face of death. For mourners, whose lives are often turned upside down by death, the traditional practices of mourning can provide structure and comfort. Here you will find resources that address each aspect of the process of navigating death and mourning—from the moment of death, to the burial of the body, the tearing of clothes, the weeklong practice of shiva, and the recitation of kaddish.
- A Mussar Practice for Grief
- Kaddish: A Podcast about Death and Dying
- Reconstructing Judaism
- Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
8 April 2022, 10:00 am
40 minutes 25 seconds

S4 Ep. 6: Being an Ally with Empathy, Humility and Courage
There’s an increasing focus in popular discourse on allyship, particularly when it comes to people of color and other marginalized groups. What does it mean to be an ally, both to individuals and to groups? How can one begin to do that work in a way that is meaningful and is about helping others and not about assisting one’s ego or placing oneself at the center of the story? In this episode, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D. and Rabbi Sandra Lawson – longtime friends and now colleagues – discuss these questions using examples from their own lives. Noting the importance of relationships and context, they delve into the difficulty of saying and doing the right thing at the right time, citing examples of which they were proud and where they might have done better. In the discussion, Rabbi Sandra stresses that white people who aim to be allies to people of color should, “be humble and be curious, and be open to learning, instead of thinking that [you] can't learn anything.”

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Read these show notes on the web at https://hashivenu.fireside.fm/47

This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Support Hashivenu
Links:
28 December 2021, 11:00 am
39 minutes 53 seconds

S4 Ep. 5: JewAsian
Helen K. Kim is Professor of Sociology at Whitman College and in 2019 assumed the position of Associate Dean for Faculty Development. She is also the co-author of JewAsian: Race, Religion, and Identity for America's Newest Jews along with her husband Noah Leavitt. In this interview, Kim discusses macro topics such as racism in the Jewish community and the rancorous debate over communal demography. She also discusses more personal matters, including her experience of her son’s recent bar mitzvah. The episode begins with Kim talking about her search for wisdom in the Jewish tradition and how she found inspiration in the works of Maimonides, the medieval Jewish philosopher and Torah commentator. Later, she expresses her frustration with Jewish organizations that long acknowledged the prevalence of racism behind closed doors but steered clear of addressing racism publicly. “Why are we choosing to run away from [these realities]? Why don't we choose to run towards them and try to do something about them to become anti-racist.”

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Helen K. Kim.
Support Hashivenu
Links:
- JewAsian: Race, Religion, and Identity for America's Newest Jews — JewAsian is a qualitative examination of the intersection of race, religion, and ethnicity in the increasing number of households that are Jewish American and Asian American.
- "Funny - You Don't Look Jewish" by Helen K. Kim — Episode guest Helen K. Kim writes that, "Raising [my children] Ari and Talia with a strong and nuanced sense of identity is not so simple as having kimchi in our refrigerator and challah on Friday nights."
- What It's Like For Non-White Jews During The High Holidays — Helen K. Kim and Rabbi Sandra Lawson were both featured in this 2015 HuffPost Religion piece asking a few racially and ethnically diverse American Jewish families to offer a reflection on their relationship to Judaism.
- A Jewish-Asian Couple's Union Leads to a Scholarly Interest in Intermarriage — NY Times profile on Helen Kim and Noah S. Leavitt
- The Laws of Teshuvah in the Mishneh Torah — The Laws of Teshuvah By Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides"); translated by Eliyahu Touger
- Rabbi David Basior on Teshuvah as Resilience — Rabbi David Basior speaks about how the Jewish value of teshuvah holds power in interpersonal relationships.
- The Challenges and Unexpected Rewards of ‘Teshuvah’
26 October 2021, 10:00 am
33 minutes 10 seconds

S4 Ep 4: In the Same Place, As the Same Person
Amanda Mbuvi, Ph.D., is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s new vice president for academic affairs. Mbuvi, a Hebrew Bible scholar and nonprofit leader, is the first Jew of Color to hold such a leadership position at an American rabbinical seminary. We delve into Mbuvi’s desire to deepen how people and communities think about diversity and identity. Mbuvi shares her enthusiasm for using the Bible in general, and Genesis and Exodus in particular to explore questions related to community and identity. Mbuvi and Lawson talk what it means to be women of color and leaders in the Jewish community, reacting to the findings of the Jews of Color Initiative's latest study, “Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color.” (Eight in 10 respondents said they have experienced discrimination in a Jewish setting.) “So I think for a lot of people, when they say Jew of Color, they think about it like a child with divorced parents: on the weekends, you're Jewish and then during the week you're Black. It's like, you sort of go from one to the other, but not that you were both at the same time, in the same place as the same person. I think that's just something people have had a lot of difficulty getting their minds around,” Mbuvi says. The episode was recorded the week before Rosh Hashanah and Lawson, Mbuvi and Waxman share their hopes for the High Holidays and the coming year.

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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Amanda Mbuvi, Ph.D. .
Support Hashivenu
Links:
- Reconstructing Judaism's High Holidays Collection for 2021/5782 — featuring Mahzor resources, original music, video teachings, new liturgy, resources from congregations & rabbis and more.
- "Grief Belongs in Social Movements. Can We Embrace It?" by Malika Devich-Cyril — A Black activist reflects on intergenerational trauma, community, and coming to terms with death in movement building.
- https://forward.com/news/471478/in-a-first-jew-of-color-to-lead-major-us-rabbinical-school/ — From The Forward: Amanda Mbuvi’s appointment marks the first time a Jew of color will lead a major rabbinical school. But that’s not why officials there selected her.
- High Holidays 2021/5782: Feeling Grief and Hope Through the Shofar Blast — Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., explores the sounds of the shofar blasts - the vibrations that give us permission to feel our losses and grief and at the same time point us toward cycles of renewal – in this High Holiday 5782 video message.
- “Beyond The Count” Study by the Jews of Color Initiatve — Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color is an unprecedented study of the Jews of Color community that will enable the Jewish community to implement more change for racial equity and inclusion.
- Belonging in Genesis: Biblical Israel and the Politics of Identity Formation — In her 2016 book Belonging in Genesis, Amanda Mbuvi highlights the ways narrative and the act of storytelling function to define and create a community. Building on the emphasis on family in Genesis, she focuses on the way family storytelling is a means of holding together the interpretation of the text and the constitution of the reading community.
- Reconstructionist Rabbinical College — Founded in 1968 to serve the Jewish people and the wider world, RRC is dedicated to teaching Judaism as an evolving religious civilization and to engaging with the riches of Jewish tradition to create meaning, connect to the sacred and bring individuals and communities to greater love, justice and peace.
10 September 2021, 10:00 am
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Hashivenu

Reconstructing Judaism

Read these show notes on the web at https://hashivenu.fireside.fm/47