Judaism Unbound Episode 365: Spiritual But Not Religious - Alec Gewirtz
Alec Gewirtz is a community-builder and writer who co-founded The Nearness -- a community platform to nurture people in their spiritual lives. The Nearness offers 6-week journeys (the next journey begins in April 2023), where participants gather digitally, in regular small-group conversations structured on conversation prompts, shared practices, and mutual support. Gewirtz joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for the 8th episode in an ongoing mini-series focused on Jewish spirituality.
[1] Check out The Nearness by heading to TheNearness.coop! Their next 6-week journey begins in April 2023, and you can sign up to be kept in the loop as it approaches via this link.
[2] We start out this episode by referencing a piece Gewirtz wrote for Jacobin. Check out the article, entitled As Religious Institutions Decline, the Left Loses Out — We Can Change That by clicking here.
[3] Gewirtz gives a shout-out to Miriam Ezagui’s TikTok account, followed by over 1 million people. You can follow as well by clicking here.
[4] For “The Nearness of You” by Ella Fitzgerald, which partially inspired the name of The Nearness, click here!
[5] Late in the conversation, Gewirtz references the ways in which religious traditions have generally been “bundled.” For a past episode of Judaism Unbound that explores what it might look like to “unbundle” Jewish tradition, see Episode 25: Unbundling Judaism - Dan and Lex.
[6] Learn more about the social gospel movement, which Gewirtz referenced in discussing the history of the American religious left, via this piece from Religion & Politics.
[7] For the full quote from Willa Cather’s My Antonia, that Gewirtz delivers as a connection to dissolving one’s self in connection to broader whole, click here.
