“Judaism Unbound (Bound)” by Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg (editors)
After working at a synagogue all day, I like to sit back in my comfy chair, turn on TV and watch one of my favorite Bengals podcasts, like “Locked on Bengals” or “Wincinnati,” with Ace and Zim Whodey. I don’t usually choose something with more Judaism to unwind. So it didn’t surprise me that I’d never heard of the “Judaism Unbound” podcast. Instead of lamenting the Bengals’ latest woes, I could have experienced ten years of eye-opening conversations.
Local rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp is the Executive Director of the “Judaism Unbound” podcast. She served as the senior rabbi of the innovative Temple Sholom congregation for 13 years. Faced with a shrinking congregation, she sold the building, eliminated standard dues and produced over 50 videos on Jewish vision and values. The new direction led to 70% growth. Reimagining the status quo is what the “Judaism Unbound” podcast is all about. It quickly grew in popularity when Apple featured it on iTunes during the early days of podcasting. Hosts Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg compiled highlights from their first 200 interviews in the “bound” version of their podcast. Reading “Judaism Unbound (Bound)” was the perfect way for me to catch up on some of the most enlightening interviews.
Yitz Greenberg was interviewed on the 100th episode. His views were representative of a recurring podcast theme that we are living in a new phase of Judaism. His bio fills a full page of the book, so I can’t rewrite it all here, but he focuses on “the meaning of the Holocaust for Judaism and Jewish theology.” He refers to living in a third era of Judaism that started after the Holocaust. The idea is that we live in a time when G-d is hidden from us, and it’s up to the people to take on full responsibility. He said, “Today, the average lay person will have to become as knowledgeable, as participatory, as aware, as religiously active, as the rabbis.” He suggests that a thousand years from now, people might call this new era “Lay Judaism.”
The interviews are organized into three main sections. Part one examines “The Crash of Rabbinic Judaism and the Rise of the Third Era.” Part two, “Mixed Multitudes,” focuses on inclusivity. Part three is the largest section and explores “Reinventing Jewish Practice.”
The book references the Pew studies that found that only about 35% of Jewish adults lived in a household where someone was a member of a synagogue. Synagogue boards and rabbis have been developing strategic plans for years on how to engage the unengaged. The synagogue where I work hired an “Engagement Rabbi” to connect with the other 65%.
Synagogues and Temples can see themselves as “warm and welcoming,” while the people they are trying to attract may see things very differently. Podcast guest April Nichole Baskin served as the Vice President of Audacious Hospitality at the Union for Reform Judaism. April’s team developed six guiding principles for Audacious Hospitality based on middot (virtuous actions) and Mussar (Jewish ethics). She said, “It’s not just about welcoming. That’s the common phrase, but it includes the question of who is actually already here that we are just not seeing. And who could we begin to have different conversations with if we just noticed and acknowledged them and engaged their talents and insights?”
If I still served on a synagogue board, I would reprint April’s entire chapter. It’s a roadmap on how to be truly inclusive. Host Dan Libenson summed it up by saying, “Hospitality says that you are welcome in my space. While Audacious Hospitality says I’m giving you the keys — it’s your space.” He continued, “Can I empower you to come in with an agenda and tell me what it would look like for this place to be the way it should be?”
April said, “It’s a shoutout to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and his speaking of moral grandeur and spiritual audacity. It’s about courage. It’s a way of thinking of inclusion and hospitality and diversity as a tekiah moment — a wakeup call — to really be bold and courageous and step outside of normative practice to function beyond it. That normative practice has left 60% of our community not engaging in Jewish communal life, which to me is a call to action for us to reconsider our practices.”
April gave an example that stuck with me. She talked about lowering the mezuzah on doorways so people in wheelchairs could reach it. She said an added benefit would be that children and small adults would also be able to reach it. She spoke about ways of engaging Jews with disabilities, Jews of Color, LGBTQ Jews, Jews from interfaith families, Jews who are poor or working class and other affinity groups.
Many of the chapters end with a summary and a list of discussion questions. I taught at the Mercaz Hebrew High School (now Shelanu) for over 10 years, and I think “Judaism Unbound (Bound)” would be a great resource for starting discussions with teens and college students. Several interviews in the book show how young Jewish adults are innovating their Jewish practice.
Teachers will appreciate Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp’s 50-page companion guide titled “Beyond the Bindings: A Companion Guide for the One Who Learns by Doing.” It includes wonderful illustrations and exercises that can be used in an educational setting or by anyone who wants to delve deeper into the topics. She also offers lesson plans from her website.
When I read Adina Allen’s interview in the book, I realized I had just met her at the Song Leader Boot Camp conference I attended in St. Louis. Adina spoke about how we are created in G-d’s image, so we are all creative beings. Her work through the Jewish Studio Project encourages people to tap into their creativity, which can give insight and help solve problems. I also saw Shira Kline of Lab Shul at the same conference. Her co-founder, Amichai Lau-Lavie, was interviewed in the book. As the name suggests, Lab Shul is about experimenting with new ways to experience Judaism. In part three of the book, the authors invite us to “imagine a primordial soup where molecules (new Jewish ideas and experiments) come into contact with one another, recombine and evolve.”
Books like Judaism Unbound (Bound) and conferences like Song Leader Boot Camp open the door to what’s happening in the Jewish world outside of my bubble. As I get older, I am attracted to new ways of finding a spiritual connection in my Jewish practice. But change is hard, even if it is required for growth. People feel safe surrounded by the familiar. Will we keep the door of possibilities open, or will we hide behind the door and change the locks?