Evolve
Reconstructing Judaism
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Top 10 Evolve Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Evolve episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Evolve for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Evolve episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
01/30/25 • 66 min
In a conversation both deeply personal and grounded in history and sociology, Ilana Kaufman, CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, shares her mission and why the work has been so challenging in a post-October 7 world. Kaufman explains why it’s been so counterproductive to consider Blacks and Jews as separate groups — erasing a sizable population identifying as both. She talks about why statistics and demographic matter for Jews of Color and the entire Jewish community. She shares how she came to write the afterward to Marc Dollinger’s book, “Black Power, Jewish Politics.” The conversation also touches on the Civil Rights and Soviet Jewry movements and why educators should draw more explicit connections between the two.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Ilana Kaufman.
Links:
- Sign up for Evolve's free newsletter to stay up to date on the latest essays, videos and podcasts
- Read Ilana's Evolve essay
- Watch Ilana's Eli Talk
- Learn more about the Jews of Color Initiative
- Listen to Bryan's conversation with Marc Dollinger
- Read Marc's Evolve essay
- Check out The Forward's coverage of the controversy surrounding the publication of "Black Power, Jewish Politics"
- Register for Writing Disability Torah
- Support Evolve with a donation of $36
11/19/20 • 48 min
Does the Talmud offer a perspective on police reform, and whether it makes sense to, as the slogan says, defund the police? Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, a Talmudic scholar and an advocate for redirecting police funding, explains what ancient Judaism does and doesn’t have to say about policing. After a quick post-election debrief, Cohen lays out the case for a new approach to policing, one in which far fewer officers would carry arms. He addresses questions about armed guards protecting Jewish institutions during a time of rising antisemitism and touches on how his experience as a soldier in the first Lebanon War shaped his anti-violence worldview.
Read Rabbi Cohen’s Evolve essay: "What Happens When Everything Is Broken? Grappling With #DefundthePolice"
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/14
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Rabbi Aryeh Cohen.
Links:
- Evolve Essay: What Happens When Everything Is Broken? Grappling With #DefundthePolice — The entire paradigm underlying contemporary policing in the United States is broken. Jewish sources provide a way forward to a new model of policing.
- Justice in the City: An Argument from the Sources of Rabbinic Judaism (Amazon link)
- Daf Shvui/Weekly Daf: Give me forty minutes or so and I'll give you a daf or so on Apple Podcasts — I know that all the cool kids are jumping on to the daf yomi bandwagon. However, if you are looking for something a bit more mellow, a bit more curated, less a part of the rough and tumble of the daf yomi speedway—I invite you to daf shvu'i, a weekly page of Talmud. In about 40-50 minutes you can learn a page of Talmud. No previous experience required.
- Justice in the City | Thinking about Judaism and Social Justice (Blog)
- Murder with Impunity | Washington Post — In the last year, The Washington Post has gathered data on almost 55,000 murders over the past decade in 55 of America’s largest cities. The analysis goes beyond what is known nationally about the unsolved cases, revealing block by block where police fail to catch killers.
- Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America (Amazon link)
07/10/19 • 25 min
All good things must come to an end. In this final all-banter episode of #TrendingJewish, Bryan and Rachael go behind the scenes of podcast production. Highlights are reviewed, kudos are given, and take-aways are taken away. And last but not least, stay subscribed to this feed for a new podcast coming in September: Evolve.
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Links:
- Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
- Kehillat Israel Podcasts — Torah study, sermons and seminars on Jewish topics presented at Kehillat Israel, the largest Reconstructionist congregation in the world.
- Judaism Unbound podcast — Listen in as Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg analyze pressing issues for 21st century American Judaism. Mixing their own analysis with interviews of leading thinkers, practitioners, and even "regular Jews," Dan and Lex look to push past the bounds of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.
- Unorthodox podcast — Unorthodox is the world’s leading Jewish podcastTM - but you don’t have to be Jewish to love it! Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz of Tablet Magazine, each episode we bring you interesting guests (one Jewish and one gentile), News of the Jews, and so much more.
- BimBam Bids Farewell: Press Release Announcement
- Song Exploder — Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.
- Freakonomics Radio: The Most Interesting Fruit in the World (Ep. 375) — The banana used to be a luxury good. Now it’s the most popular fruit in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the production efficiencies that made it so cheap have also made it vulnerable to a deadly fungus that may wipe out the one variety most of us eat. Scientists do have a way to save it — but will Big Banana let them?
- Weezer Made A Video For Its 'Africa' Cover, And Of Course It Stars 'Weird Al' Yankovic : NPR
Tareq Abu Hamed, Ph.D., and Rabbi Michael Cohen talk about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel’s Negev region. The nearly 30-year-old academic and research institution brings together students and faculty from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and elsewhere to build relationships and solve pressing environmental challenges. Arava is partnering with a Palestinian organization on a new plan to meet needs for water, sanitation, hygiene and energy in a devastated Gaza Strip that’s years away from being rebuilt. Abu Hamed and Cohen each share how they hold on to hope in a seemingly hopeless time for those dedicated to regional peace.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guests: Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Rabbi Maurice Harris, and Rabbi Michael Cohen.
Links:
- Read the Evolve essay, "Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza: The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies"
- Also on Evolve, "The Year Since October 7" essay collection
- Sign up for Evolve's free newsletter to stay up to date on the latest essays, videos and podcasts
- Support Evolve with a donation of $36
- Learn more about the Arava Institute
- Register for "Holding Each Other," Ritualwell's weekly Monday afternoon minyan
- Remembering October 7: Resources from Reconstructing Judaism
- From The Times of Israel, "Israelis, Palestinians to launch joint bid to bring humanitarian aid to post-war Gaza"
- Explore Sukkot resources from Reconstructing Judaism
02/19/18 • 48 min
Taking a page from the Judaism Unbound podcast, Rachael and Bryan ask the questions: What does Judaism do and what it is for? What does it do for those who don’t feel compelled by God to live life according to Jewish law? Rabbi Maurice Harris fields these questions, and also explains why he avoids “outing” himself as a rabbi while he’s a passenger on a commercial flight.
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Rabbi Maurice Harris.
Links:
- Moses: A Stranger Among Us (Amazon link)
- Leviticus: You Have No Idea (Amazon link)
- The Accidental Rabbi — Where my thoughts on progressive religion, adoptive parenting, politics, and baseball collide
- Pew Research Center: A Portrait of Jewish Americans (2013 study)
- Sefaria: a Living Library of Jewish Texts Online
- The Open Siddur Project — The Open Siddur is a libre open access volunteer-driven digital humanities project developing an open-source web-to-print publishing tool for crafting print-ready prayer books from a growing archive of liturgy and ritual praxis, historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure, in every language that Jews pray or have ever prayed
04/24/25 • 71 min
Activist and organizer Roan Boucher details the unprecedented surge in anti-trans legislation across America and its connection to Christian Nationalism. Despite addressing these troubling developments, Boucher discusses sources of hope and resilience, pointing to mutual aid networks and Jewish spiritual practices. This compelling dialogue weaves personal experience with sharp political analysis. It’s essential listening experience for anyone trying to understand our current moment. Boucher also addresses deep divisions within Jewish communities and stresses Jews need to work across divides to oppose antisemitism and assaults on human rights.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Roan Boucher.
Links:
- Sign up for Evolve's free newsletter
- Read Roan's Evolve essay, "Defending Trans Communities: Why American Jews Should Mobilize Against the Christian Right Agenda"
- New on Evolve: ‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism
- 2025 anti-trans bills tracker
- Vote Hatikvah in the World Zionist Congress elections
12/15/20 • 45 min
Endowments and donor-advised funds: They may sound like boring financial terms, but they're actually part of a fascinating history of philanthropy in the Jewish community. They reflect the ways in which individuals and organizations use financial resources to impact the Jewish community and democratic society writ large. For half a decade, Lila Corwin Berman has been raising eyebrows, and sparking conversation, with her writings about wealth and charitable giving, Jewish communities, and democracy. In this interview with Berman, we explore the origins of both endowments and donor-advised funds, and examine how they have shaped communal decision-making.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Lila Corwin Berman.
Links:
- Philanthropy in a Time of Crisis—and Why History Matters (Evolve essay) — How might we re-envision philanthropy so it is less a handmaiden to capitalism and more an agent of the broad citizenry of democracy?
- The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution (Amazon link)
- How Norman Sugarman Became $50B Godfather of Charitable Funds – The Forward — If you asked most people why the year 1969 was important in American life, few would mention that year’s federal Tax Reform Act. But Norman Sugarman’s fingerprints on that document may have had as much of a lasting effect on this country’s history as Neil Armstrong’s feet on the moon.
- Jewish philanthropies acted as if their work was above politics. Until now. - The Washington Post
- Lila Corwin Berman (Temple University faculty page)
If we embrace Judaism, what do we do with passages from Torah and elsewhere that seem to directly undermine our worldviews and values? Human rights attorney turned rabbinical student Maria Pulzetti makes a compelling case that we should deal with these problematic biblical passages head-on. Maria and Bryan also examine reproductive justice, as well as the legacy of slavery and systemic racism, through a Jewish lens. Later, they discuss what motivated Maria to become a rabbi, her opposition to the death penalty and her time, in the early 2000s, as a human rights worker in Russia.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Maria Pulzetti.
Links:
01/02/25 • 52 min
In losing her two-year-old daughter, Havi, Myra Sack suffered the kind of loss most people cannot even fathom. By telling her Havi’s story, Sack discovered she can help others live with grief. Sack is the author of Fifty-Seven Fridays: Losing Our Daughter, Finding Our Way, an excerpt of which appears on the Evolve website. She discusses the important role ritual played after Havi’s diagnosis and following her passing. Sack traces her journey into grief literacy and how she has used her own painful experiences to help others process grief. She talks about the tragic consequences of a doctor’s mistake and how she and her husband, Matt, have worked to ensure no family suffers a similar fate. The former collegiate soccer standout also shares the place that sports have played in her life and the blessings she’s looking forward to in the New Year.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Myra Sack.
Links:
- Support Evolve with a donation of $36
- Read Myra's Evolve essay, "Rituals of Grief"
- Purchase Myra's book, "Fifty-Seven Fridays: Losing Our Daughter, Finding Our Way"
- From Ritualwell, "The Four Yizkors: Grief and Memory Hold Hands"
- From Ritualwell, "Balancing Grief and Gratitude"
- Bryan's previous conversation with Myra
- Myra's Philly Jewish Sports Hall of Fame profile
- J-Screen
- Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief
- Learn more about Shelley Barnathan, Myra's rabbi
12/21/23 • 67 min
Can individual acts of loving-kindness really make a difference with Israel and Hamas at war? Rabbi Amy Eilberg, a longtime peace activist, says yes. Eilberg, the first woman ordained by the Conservative movement, believes that nearly everyone with a connection to Israel and Gaza — and maybe even those without such a direct connection — are experiencing pain and trauma. In this podcast, Eilberg explains that so many of us are consuming every op-ed and podcast about the conflict as a means to avoid deep pain. She shares her decades-long journey into metta meditation and how she turned to it after October 7. We also discuss how even though many Jews have felt isolated in recent months, she doesn’t buy into the narrative that the whole world is against Jews. Nor has she given up on coalition-building or the importance of anti-racism efforts. This is a pastoral conversation in which she addresses the feelings of pain, anger and hopelessness that host Bryan Schwartzman, and many others, have experienced during wartime. It’s about how individuals might seek healing and, maybe, how Jewish communities can address trauma to become healthier.
Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb
Visit our home on the web — Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations: http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Subscribe by Email at http://subscribebyemail.com/evolve.fireside.fm/rss
Read these show notes on the web at https://evolve.fireside.fm/1
This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.
Special Guest: Rabbi Amy Eilberg.
Links:
- Sign up for Evolve's newsletter to receive exclusive content
- Read Rabbi Eilberg's Evolve Essay, "Lovingkindness in a Time of War"
- Support Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
- Rabbi Eilberg's book, "From Enemy to Friend"
- Watch the Evolve web conversation with Rabbi Amy Eilberg in which she discusses her views on the conflict:
- Jewish wisdom on reparations:
- Read Rabbi Eilberg's previous Evolve essay, "Holding the Pain and the Love"
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FAQ
How many episodes does Evolve have?
Evolve currently has 95 episodes available.
What topics does Evolve cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Podcasts and Judaism.
What is the most popular episode on Evolve?
The episode title 'Episode 46: Chat GPT, Artificial Intelligence and Jewish Ethical Wisdom' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Evolve?
The average episode length on Evolve is 53 minutes.
How often are episodes of Evolve released?
Episodes of Evolve are typically released every 28 days.
When was the first episode of Evolve?
The first episode of Evolve was released on Oct 10, 2017.
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