Lisa Grafstein: Judaism Unbound Episode 312 - Jewish Debt Relief
Lisa Grafstein, creator of the Shmita Debt Release Campaign -- through the organization RIP Medical Debt -- joins Dan and Lex to talk about debt relief, its centrality to the Biblical Shmita year (year of release), disability justice, and how all of those topics tie to her campaign for public office in North Carolina.
[1] The Shmita Debt Release Campaign has already raised over 5,300 dollars this year, which will help to forgive 530,000 dollars (!!!!!!) of medical debt. Contribute toward this campaign reaching its goal of 10,000 dollars (and 1 MILLION dollars of medical debt forgiven) here.
[2] Grafstein alludes to an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, in which Oliver explores the issue of medical debt. Watch it by clicking here!
[3] Grafstein also mentions a piece by Arthur Waskow, entitled Toward a Jubilee Economy & Ecology in the Modern World, which she encountered in researching the Shmita and Jubilee years — you can read the piece at this link.
[4] To learn more about Disability Rights North Carolina, the organization that Grafstein works for, head to DisabilityRightsNC.org.
[5] In reading an excerpt from the book Debt: The First 5000 Years, by David Graeber, Grafstein connected this episode to a previous episode of Judaism Unbound, featuring Cindy Milstein. Learn more about the book by clicking here, check out Milstein’s episode by heading to Episode 289: Jewish Anarchism - Cindy Milstein, and read ‘A Jewish Goodbye to David Graeber’ — published when Graeber died — by clicking here.
[6] Lisa Grafstein alluded to a few other past episodes of Judaism Unbound. Listen in to Episode 185: An Army of Translators - Sarah Hurwitz and/or Episode 52: Nothing Sacred - Douglas Rushkoff to dive deeper into the context of her references. For an episode she didn’t mention directly, but which relates to the topic of “separation of church and state” — see Episode 75: The Myth of Apolitical Judaism - Lila Corwin Berman.