Judaism Unbound Episode 480: Judaism Shouldn’t Be About Judaism - Brent Spodek
Brent Spodek, one of Newsweek's "rabbis to watch" and one of the Hudson Valley's "people to watch," joins Judaism Unbound for a conversation linking recent discussions about Israel-Palestine with an upcoming episode (featuring Tirzah Firestone) on intergenerational Jewish trauma. In it, Spodek argues that Judaism shouldn't be "about Judaism" -- but rather be a platform to channel Jewish wisdom toward pressing questions in our lives as human beings.
[1] New UnYeshiva mini-courses, leading up to Shavuot, are now open for registration! Learn more about Spirit Guides & Past Lives: Reincarnation in the Kabbalistic Imagination, Disability Torah and Spiritual Subversiveness, and The Torah in the Tarot: The Lost Jewish History of the Tarot by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/classes.
[2] Learn more about Brent Spodek via this link! For many of his writings on a variety of topics, click here.
[3] For a variety of Judaism Unbound episodes related to the topic of weddings, which Spodek touches on at the beginning of this episode, see any of the following: Episode 439: Interfaith Weddings - Ari Saks, Episode 445: Intermarried Rabbis — No Longer Banned - Dan, Lex, and Miriam, Episode 451: Jewish Weddings — Who is the Client? - Irwin Keller, Episode 455: Wedding Magic - Miriam, Dan, and Lex, Episode 458: Unorthodox Celebrations - Getzel Davis, and/or Episode 459: The Art of Revolutionary Ritual - Rebecca Hornstein.
[4] Spodek references the (lost) ark of the covenant, mentioned in the book of Exodus. He hones in on its two “cherubim” — creatures looking at one another intimately, face to face. For the original text that describes this, see Exodus 25:18-22.
[5] Lex mentions the notion of communitas. For Victor Turner’s classic essay that introduces this concept, see “Liminality and Communitas.”
[6] For Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, which Spodek recommends, click here.
