About this book
“We’re living in an age where—at least in capacity and potential—everybody can be equivalent of a prophet or rabbi. And that is, of course, the opportunity, and maybe the challenge.”
—Irving “Yitz” Greenberg
This book is for those of us who hunger for deep conversations about what Judaism is and what it is for, what Judaism has been and what it might become. Whether you read Judaism Unbound (Bound) on your own or with a book group, in small bursts or in a single sitting, these pages will open your mind to a whole new way of thinking about Judaism. If you have longed for a Jewish life that was more meaningful or for a Jewish community that was more welcoming, you will be amazed and inspired at the creativity and experimentation happening on the cutting edge of Jewish life. You will be empowered to imagine how you might write the next chapter in the Jewish story.
“Those concerned about Judaism’s future will find plenty to chew on in these creative and expansive dialogues.”
—Publishers Weekly
Contents
A Time of Wandering
Benay Lappe / Exodus Part 1
Barbara Thiede / Not Your Rabbi’s Judaism
Irving ‘Yitz’ Greenberg / The Third Era
Irwin Kula / Death and Rebirth & Judaism’s Job
Mixed Multitudes
April Nichole Baskin / Audacious Hospitality
Joy Ladin / Judaism From A Transgender Perspective .
Paul Golin / Intermarriage and the Future
Juan Mejia / Becoming Jewish on the Web
Early Incarnations of Third Era Judaisms
Miriam Terlinchamp / Embrace the Weird
Shira Stutman / Spreading The Good (Jewish) News
Denise Handlarski / Secularsynagogue.com
Dan Horwitz / The Well
New Communal Structures
August Kahn And Tal Frieden / Judaism On Our Own Terms
David Cygielman / Moishe House
Sara Levy Linden And Shira Rutman / San Francisco Urban Kibbutz
Beth Finger / Jewish Without Walls (Jwow)
Artistic Re-Visions
Amichai Lau-Lavie / Lab/Shul
Adina Allen And Jeff Kasowitz / The Jewish Studio Project
Sarah Lefton / Bimbam
Empowering ‘Regular Jews’
Benay Lappe / A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva
Brett Lockspeiser / The Future Of Torah
Aliza Kline / Onetable
Jenna Reback / Bad Jew Weekly
‘Regular Jews’ Experimenting
Eileen Levinson / Haggadot.com
Tiffany Shlain / Six Days A Week
Kristin Eriko Posner / Nourish Co
About the Authors
Dan Libenson is the founder of Judaism Unbound and served as its first president from 2015-2023. Since 2023, Dan has been the president of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, while he continues to co-host the Judaism Unbound podcast and to teach in Judaism Unbound’s UnYeshiva digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning.
Prior to founding Judaism Unbound, Dan spent over a decade working with Jewish students at Harvard and at the University of Chicago. His innovative work on campus was recognized with Hillel International’s highest honor, and he was awarded the prestigious AVI CHAI Fellowship in 2009.
Dan has served on the faculties of numerous Jewish leadership education programs, and he has translated the work of an acclaimed Israeli novelist. An honors graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, clerked for a federal appellate judge, and taught law for five years. Originally from New York, Dan now lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Lex Rofeberg joined Judaism Unbound as Strategic Initiatives Coordinator soon after its founding and has co-hosted, produced, and edited the Judaism Unbound podcast since it launched in 2016. In 2021, Lex became Senior Jewish Educator, spearheading the launch of Judaism Unbound’s UnYeshiva, a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning.
Passionate about digital Judaism, Lex has led numerous projects within Judaism Unbound, such as its annual ShavuotLIVE gatherings (online, 24-hour Jewish learning festivals), and he is well known for his engagement with Jewish questions on Facebook. His writing has been featured in publications including JTA, Jewish Currents, and MyJewishLearning.
Lex is a graduate of Brown University, was ordained as a rabbi through ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and holds a certificate in Interfaith Families Jewish Engagement from Hebrew College. He serves on the advisory board or board of directors for The Shalom Center, Tikkun Olam Productions, and Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lex lives in (Divine) Providence, Rhode Island.
Advance Praise
Debut authors Libenson and Rofeberg, who cohost the Judaism Unbound podcast, collect 26 conversations from their show for this thought-provoking look at how Jews today are “re-thinking, re-imagining, and experimenting” with their faith. Guests discuss projects that reimagine “Jewish futures,” often by challenging the status quo. For example, Shira Stutman explains how the Washington, D.C., synagogue where she was a head rabbi served as a way station for Jews in their 20s and 30s to learn “what it means to live a full… Jewish life” before moving on to other congregations or finding a place in the wider Jewish community. Artist Eileen Levenson frames her website, Haggadot.com, which enables the creation of custom-made haggadahs, as a reflection of a DIY Judaism that sees every viewpoint about the faith “relevant in some way,” while Sarah Lefton’s BimBam, a website dedicated to short animated videos of the weekly Torah portion, highlights the importance of accessibility in Jewish learning. While not every innovation will resonate with readers, all prompt meaningful conversations about how Judaism can evolve in ways that maintain its relevance without sacrificing its core principles. Those concerned about Judaism’s future will find plenty to chew on in these creative and expansive dialogues.
—Publishers Weekly
