Evolve

Episode 72: Everything Evolves: Rabbi Deborah Waxman and Rabbi Jacob Staub Look Back on Nine Years Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations

As Evolve winds down, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D. talks with Rabbi Jacob Staub, Ph.D., the project's founding director, who has been part of the Reconstructionist Rabbini

Episode 71: How Two American Jews Navigate Fundamental Disagreement about Israel with Love and Respect: A Conversation with Rabbi Sid Schwarz and Sam Sherman

Note: This podcast is also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_J8I4ZB72bo This is the kind of conversation about Israel and Palestine you won't hear anywhere else. R

Episode 70: Board Covenants and the Fate of Democracy

In times of chaos and turmoil, how can we overcome our differences to tackle problems? How can we move from our own individual thinking into the thinking of what's the co

Episode 69: I’m Right, You’re Wrong: What Data Reveals About North American Jewish Opinion on Israel, Zionism and Anti-Zionism

What do North American Jews think and feel about Israel and why do they feel it? As researcher Matthew Boxer explains, we have, at best, an incomplete understanding of op

Episode 68: Ali Michael, Ph.D., on Whiteness, Race and Antisemitism

Researcher-educator Ali Michael, Ph.D., who has written about concepts such as Whiteness and White Privilege, unpacks what they mean, responding to common critiques. Mich

Episode 67: Rabbi Sid Schwarz on World Jewry, Zionism and the State of Israel

In this month’s episode of Evolve, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, driven by a deep love for Israel, makes a powerful case for spiritual Zionism— the commitment to an Israel that nurt

Episode 66: Roan Boucher on Anti-Trans Legislation and Christian Nationalism

Activist and organizer Roan Boucher details the unprecedented surge in anti-trans legislation across America and its connection to Christian Nationalism. Despite addressi

Episode 65: Rabbi James Greene on Aiding Refugees Despite Government Resettlement Pause

Jewish tradition emphasizes welcoming the stranger. Many organizations like Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts live that value by helping to resettle refugees

Episode 64: Rabbi David Jaffe and Yehuda Webster on Anti-Racism and the Balance of Care

What does it mean to apply the concepts of Mussar (Jewish ethical teachings) to everyday life? What about to confronting racism in the world, at a particular institution

Episode 63: Ilana Kaufman on Jews of Color, Racism and Antisemitism

In a conversation both deeply personal and grounded in history and sociology, Ilana Kaufman, CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, shares her mission and why the work has

Episode 62: Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Alex Weissman on Dismantling Racism

“Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out.” The idea is deceptively simple and strongly rooted in Jewish tradition. To change society, individuals must first address their

Episode 61: Myra Sack on Traumatic Loss and Living with Grief

In losing her two-year-old daughter, Havi, Myra Sack suffered the kind of loss most people cannot even fathom. By telling her Havi’s story, Sack discovered she can help o

Episode 60: Former Rep. Andy Levin on Courage, the Election, AIPAC and Gaza

Former Congressman Andy Levin sits for a truly wide-ranging interview about the election, his concerns about the incoming Trump administration, Israel and so much more. T

Episode 59: The Reconstructionist Connection to Democracy: Past, Present and Future

Democracy holds a special place in Reconstructionist teachings, liturgy and practice — though most Jews have embraced American democracy as hospitable to Jewish life. Rab

Episode 58: A Palestinian Scientist and Reconstructionist Rabbi Are Working Together to Rebuild Gaza

Tareq Abu Hamed, Ph.D., and Rabbi Michael Cohen talk about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel’s Negev region. The nearly 30-year-old academic and res

Episode 57: The Anniversary of October 7 and BINA: the Jewish Movement for Social Change

It’s not easy to talk about and process the first anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, when war continues to widen, hostages remain in Gaza and a ceasefire seems less and likely.

Episode 56: Human Rights Attorney Turned Rabbinical Student Maria Pulzetti on Confronting Problematic Torah Verses and Examining Reproductive Justice Through a Jewish Lens

If we embrace Judaism, what do we do with passages from Torah and elsewhere that seem to directly undermine our worldviews and values? Human rights attorney turned rabbin

Episode 55: Marc Dollinger on Black Power and Jewish Politics Before and After October 7

Marc Dollinger has seen a thing or two. In his academic career, the historian of American Jewry has been labeled a “self-hated leftist Jew” and “right-wing Zionist coloni

Episode 54: Religion Scholar Louis Newman Discusses Shattered Faith, the War in Gaza and Antisemitism on College Campuses

For a certain generation of Jewish Americans, Israel and the memory of the Holocaust represented twin pillars of civil religion, argues Louis Newman, a scholar of Jewish

Episode 53: Rabbi Katie Mizrahi on being a Zionist and calling for a ceasefire, working for Palestinian rights and the anti-Israel upsurge on college campuses

Rabbi Katie Mizrahi is a Zionist who was beyond devastated by Hamas’ mass killings, rape and kidnapping on October 7th. She reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself. And