Institute for the Next Jewish Future
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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.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Judaism Unbound tests inherited Jewish texts and practices through candid conversation, historical attention and a persistent interest in reinvention.
Judaism Unbound keeps asking what inherited Jewish practice can become when people examine it without treating custom as the final word. Dan Liebenson and Lex Rothberg move between guest interviews and conversations with each other, bringing a probing, playful manner to…
A pig valve can turn your tidy assumptions about Jewish law inside out.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
An Elul conversation about middles, spiritual work, and reading the year as a crest.
Lex Rothberg and Wendy Bernstein-Lash use this Elul special to linger on middles: Elul itself, a seven-year frame, the middle letter of Torah, and the shape of a menorah.
A conversation about Elul that treats silence, echo, and pause as part of Jewish practice.
The episode treats Elul as a season for looking inward and getting ready for the high holidays. It keeps returning to chant, silence, and echo, with the simple idea that a pause after sound lets both the room and the words settle.
A clear, humane Elul conversation that makes preparation feel livable.
Judaism Unbound treats Elul as a month of introspection and a practical lead-in to the High Holidays, and it does so with uncommon steadiness.
Biblical retellings here feel like a serious, lively act of interpretation.
Smashing the Tablets treats the Hebrew Bible as something to be retold, not sealed away. Dan Liebenson and Lex Rothberg speak with Sarah Lipman and Seth Rogoff about a collection of provocative new readings by major contemporary Jewish writers.
Tarot becomes a wake-up call for thinking about Jewish readiness, ritual, and teshuvah.
Judaism Unbound uses tarot to open questions about readiness, ritual, and teshuvah. It moves through Elul, Psalm 27, the shofar, Hanukkah, and the Omer, returning to them as ways of thinking about practice and about tarot as a possible wake-up call.
A sharp, curious debate about tarot, Jewish history, and how interpretation gets made.
This episode lets Stav Appel make a lively case for a lost Jewish history of tarot, while Dan Liebenson and Lex Rothberg give him room to work through fortune-telling, Kabbalistic material, and the line between what is forbidden and what is sacred in Judaism.
A milestone episode that turns weekly continuity, constraint, and calling into a plainspoken look back.
Judaism Unbound reaches episode 500 with a conversation about what 500 weeks of weekly Jewish talk can make possible. Dan, Lex, and Miriam treat the milestone as a chance to look back at why the show never missed a week, and at how an online format with limited resources became…
A calm, text-rooted meditation that turns Miriam into a guide for surviving and flourishing.
Judaism Unbound Episode 497 focuses on Survival Guide for a Spiritual Wilderness, Episode 5, Be'er Miriam, The Well of Miriam, with Jericho Vinson leading a meditation on Miriam and spiritual survival.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
MJ Dorian's solo deep dives trace genius through Blake, McQueen, da Vinci, and Jung's Red Book.
Two Methodist pastors and guests work through forgiveness, control, and grief in scripture.
Israel-Palestine arrives through letters.
Lex and Wendie explore the Shemitah cycle's fourth year as a 'middle' moment, using concepts like chiasm and menorah symbolism to argue for valuing sustainability and balance in Jewish time.
Dan Liebenson and Lex Rofeberg celebrate the 500th episode of Judaism Unbound by recounting their origins, from a firing at Hillel to building a digital Jewish community.
Lex and guest Wendy Bernstein-Lesch explore the theme of 'echo' in the Jewish month of Elul, discussing how echoes symbolize spiritual repetition, transformation, and introspection leading into the High Holidays.
Lex Rofeberg interviews Mandie McGlynn about her use of tarot cards as a Jewish spiritual tool, particularly during the month of Elul.
This episode explores the importance of finding joy in spiritual wilderness, using the biblical story of Miriam's tambourine and song after crossing the sea as a central metaphor.
This bonus episode from 'Lifting the Curtain on Antisemitism' introduces hosts Shoshana Brown and Ben Lorber, who explore antisemitism through personal journeys, historical context, and its weaponization in politics.
Hosts Dan Liebenson and Lex Rofeberg interview editors Sarah Lippmann and Seth Rogoff about their book 'Smashing the Tablets,' which features radical retellings of Hebrew Bible stories.
Lex Rofeberg and Wendy Bernstein-Lash introduce Elul Unbound, an annual series exploring the Jewish month of Elul as a time for introspection and preparation for the high holidays.
Dan and Lex explore Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning, discussing its origins, purpose as a concentrated day for collective sadness, and modern relevance including debates on Holocaust remembrance, camp culture, and connections to contemporary issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hosts Dan and Lex explore the role of pork and kashrut in Jewish identity, discussing how food rules spark visceral reactions and cognitive debates.
Elul works like an on-ramp.
Pig becomes the argument.
Historian John Efron discusses his book on how meat consumption and kosher laws shaped German Jewish history, from medieval economic ties to Nazi persecution.
Stav Appel discusses his research on the Jewish origins of the Tarot de Marseille, arguing that the deck contains hidden Hebrew letters, Judaic symbols, and Torah stories as a secret educational tool for crypto-Jews.
Miriam's well is with you.
Lex and Reena Yehuda discuss intergenerational Jewish storytelling and connection with guest Eli Raymer.
An interview with Sophia Fortenstein about the practice of Jewish law in Helsinki, Finland, exploring how Halakha adapts in the furthest reaches of the diaspora.
This episode promotes Hebrew learning and mini-courses, then introduces a featured podcast about pilgrimage across generations.
A Jewish podcast exploring feminist ancestral wisdom through the story of Miriam, offering tools for navigating spiritual wildernesses.
The hosts discuss the Unyeshiva Certificate Program in Unbound Judaism and upcoming Shavuot holiday learning event.
Lex Rofeberg and Rena Yehuda Newman discuss pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism, with a focus on the holiday of Shavuot and making it more prominent and unbound.
This episode discusses the revival of Hebe Media, a Jewish subversive media platform, through an interview with its leaders.
A podcast analyzing pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism through interviews and commentary.
A new limited series within Judaism Unbound explores Jewish ancestral feminist wisdom through the story of Miriam, offering tools for navigating spiritual wildernesses.
The hosts re-release an interview with Jewish historian David Beal, discussing his career and new book.