Episode #5: Why is Judaism Called Judaism?
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When a student asked about the nature of Judaism - about why it’s called Judaism - the stakes, for her, had suddenly grown very high. The Washington Post had recently published an article with the provocative headline: “” and people began asking: “if other people who aren’t even Jewish are going to tell us about the very nature of Judaism, we should probably know ourselves.” To answer the questions: "Is Judaism an ethnicity?" and "Is Judaism a nationality?" we uncover the roots of why Judaism is called that, and what it means for our understanding of the very nature of Jewishness....
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Episode #4: What's a Jewish Response to Crisis?
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Discussing the events at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where an armed attacker took four hostages, including the rabbi. We ask: "What's a Jewish response in a moment of crisis," and look at the idea of "Spiritual Pre-hab."
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Episode #3: Is Judaism a Religion? (Part II)
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What happens when a revolutionary Jewish thinker - fed up with his lower status as a Jew in 1700s Prussia - wants people to start thinking about Judaism in a new way?
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Episode #2: Is Judaism a Religion? (Part I)
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Turns out we actually aren’t entirely sure how to define “religion.” And we’re not even sure if Judaism fits the description to begin with. If we’re using the lens of “religion” to understand Judaism, what is the nature of that lens? How does its clarity and focus affect what we’re looking at? Is it magnifying or distorting things? When we use that lens, what are we seeing, and what are we not seeing? And who built that lens? Can we even call Judaism a religion?
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Episode # 1: The 1,200 Year Old Question
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1,200 years ago, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world asked a question. It was a question that would reverberate through history, and still impact us today. What does this simple act teach us about the role of questions and answers in Judaism, and how Jewish practice works and evolves across space and time?
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Introducing: Shoot!
Shoot!
A short-form explanatory Jewish podcast, with expansive questions and diverse commentary.
info_outline1,200 years ago, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world asked a question. It was a question that would reverberate through history, and still impact us today.
What does this simple act teach us about the role of questions and answers in Judaism, and how Jewish practice works and evolves across space and time?
In this episode, we learn about...
- How Jews have asked questions throughout history, and how the answers have helped form unique cultures, rituals, and communities.
- How the once-great centre of Jewish life, in what is today’s Iraq, inspired communities around the world to this day.
- One of the oldest and longest running institutions of learning in human history.
- Are answers actually more important than questions?
- How Jewish prayer evolved into what it is today.
- Why this podcast exists Learn more in the show notes on our website.
Lots more details and extras can be found in the show notes on our website, including translations of the Hebrew terms we used in this episode.
Download a transcript of this episode.
Credits
The translation of Rav Amram’s letter is from Abe Silver at The Open Siddur Project, an open-source, community contributed archive for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license.
The recording of the Jews of Kochi, India is courtesy of the Johanna L. Spector Papers and Audio-Visual Materials, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, (N.Y., ARC. 2008.03). The recording, along with others, is available in its entirety here.
Guest vocal talent by dear friends: in Aramaic/Hebrew by Rabbi Jason Fenster and in English by Aron Katz.