Apocry-Fest: Bonus Judaism Unbound Episodes for Hanukkah!
This year, Judaism Unbound — in partnership with The Torah Studio — is taking Hanukkah as a chance to explore a bunch of books from a genre called “Apocrypha.” These are books that were not included in the official Biblical canon, but which nonetheless were important to different groups of Jews in a wide variety of historical eras. Scroll down this page for all of our Apocry-Fest podcasts (from this year and past years!) where we dive into a variety of apocryphal books — and into questions of canon more broadly (episodes will arrive on this page one by one, over the course of Hanukkah)! And if you’d like to receive all sorts of fascinating apocrypha content direct to your inbox, you can sign up for our Apocry-Fest email list here.
Apocry-Fest 2024-25 Episodes!
Apocry-Fest 2024-25 I: Judith (December 20th, 2024) - Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) kick off the 2024-25 edition of ApocryFest: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized. They open up big questions about what “Jewish canon” does and doesn’t mean, why those questions are worth discussing on Hanukkah in particular, and dive together into one of apocrypha’s wild, wonderful texts: The Book of Judith.
[1] For the full text of the book of Judith, click here. For a great piece exploring the book in detail, see this article from JWA, written by Toni Craven.
Apocry-Fest 2024-25 II: Joseph and Aseneth (December 25th, 2024) - Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) continue with their second conversation of ApocryFest 2024-25: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized — a 4-part mini-series of Judaism Unbound. In this episode, they explore a fascinating text called Joseph and Aseneth.
[2] For a piece exploring the book in more detail, see this article by Patricia Ahearne-Kroll at TheTorah.com.
[3] For the Judaism Unbound episode featuring Irwin Keller referenced by Lex, head to Episode 451 - Irwin Keller.
Apocry-Fest 2024-25 III: The Letter of Aristeas (December 29th, 2024) - Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) continue with their third conversation of ApocryFest 2024-25: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized — a 4-part mini-series of Judaism Unbound. In this episode, they explore a wild text entitled The Letter of Aristeas.
[1] For the full text of The Letter of Aristeas, click here.
[2] For some articles exploring the book in greater detail, check out this link.
[3] Lex references the work of Andrew Tobolowsky — for his appearance on Judaism Unbound see Episode 327.
Apocry-Fest 2024-25 IV: Apocry-Fest Now (January 1st, 2025) - Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) conclude ApocryFest 2024-25: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized. This is the 4th bonus episode in a 4-part mini-series of Judaism Unbound, exploring the topic of canon, and apocrypha, in observance of the festival of Hanukkah. In this final episode, they zoom out to ask what Apocrypha can mean for us today, in 2025.
[1] The episode of Judaism Unbound featuring Melissa Klapper, which Lex mentions, can be found here: Episode 384.
Apocry-Fest 2023 Episodes Below
Scroll down for our 4 Apocry-Fest episodes from 2023.
Apocry-Fest 2023 Episode #1: Apocry-Fest 2.0 (Release Date: December 5th, 2023) - Lex Rofeberg and Liana Wertman (from Judaism Unbound and The Torah Studio, respectively) open up the second annual edition of Apocry-Fest: the greatest Hanukkah initiative this side of the Mississippi. And Lex and Liana are located on different sides of the Mississippi River, so that actually encompasses everywhere! Dive into questions of canon which are ancient, modern, and future-facing.
Apocry-Fest 2023 Episode #2: Esther’s Editions, Esther’s Additions (Release Date: December 7th, 2023) - The book of Esther isn’t (just) what you think it is. It’s even BIGGER! And it’s in GREEK, not just Hebrew. Lex and Liana dive into expansions of the book of Esther — expansions that came along long after the original book was written — and they explore what those editorial choices (and additions) have to teach us.
Apocry-Fest 2023 Episode #3: Tobit (Release Date: December 10th, 2023) - Have you ever thought “Dang, there aren’t enough demons in Jewish text. Especially demons with a hobby of killing potential husbands on their wedding nights.” No? That probably reflects well on you. But if, after hearing that question, you’re intrigued…wowee is the book of Tobit going to be exciting for you! Also, this book contains angels disguised as humans and fish guts, if you need any other strange selling points.
Apocry-Fest 2023 Episode #4: Apocrypha Now (Release Date: December 13th, 2023) - When we talk about Apocrypha, people tend to presume that we are focused on ancient books. Texts that were written a couple thousand years ago, but which did not make it into the Jewish Biblical canon. That’s…true, usually, even in our Apocry-Fest initiative! But we also are interested in diving into what “apocrypha” might mean for texts (and art) created in the 21st century in beyond. To conclude, Apocry-Fest, we consider that question.
Apocry-Fest 2022 Episodes Below!
Scroll down the remainder of this page to check out our 2022 Apocry-Fest bonus episodes!
2022 Episode 1: Apocry-Fest - Lex Rofeberg, Liana Wertman, and Dan Libenson introduce why Hanukkah is a perfect time to engage with books of the Apocrypha (a category of ancient works of literature that were never officially canonized as part of the Bible)!
2022 Episode 2: The Scroll of Antiochus - Lex, Liana, and Dan dive into a little-known book called Megillat Antiochus -- the scroll of Antiochus. They compare and contrast its Hanukkah narrative with some better-known versions, and ask what it would look like if we incorporated this book into our experiences of Hanukkah today.
2022 Episode 3: Jubilees - Lex, Liana, and Dan explore an apocryphal book called Jubilees. While not traditionally tied to the festival of Hanukkah, the three hosts argue that it could be part of a broader effort to consciously integrate, into our contemporary Jewish practice, books that never made it into the bible -- but which have been held as sacred by groups of Jews in a variety of historical contexts.
2022 Episode 4: Judith - Lex, Liana, and Dan celebrate the book of Judith. One of the better-known books of the apocrypha, there’s actually a great deal of historical precedent for tying the story of Judith to the celebration of Hanukkah. The three co-hosts ask why that is, along with talking through some of the nuts and bolts of what this fascinating story (with a fascinating heroine) is all about.
2022 Episode 5: Unbound and Un-Canonized - Dan, Lex, and Liana conclude the first-ever edition of Apocry-Fest by synthesizing some of the conclusions they've reached as a result of this mini-series. In doing so, they consider a variety of strategies to supplement, up-end, and/or re-shape our Jewish canon.
