While sitting zazen at a 5-day Zen meditation sesshin that happened to coincide with Yom Kippur, the words "Jew Gone Zen" kept circling around in my head. I didn't know what it meant or what it would become, but one week later, in a post-October 7th world, it became clear.

I was going to start a podcast - and question... EVERYTHING - including my own Jewish identity.

In this introductory episode, I discuss the apparent overlap between Jewish and Zen practice (did you know that Jews make up a disproportionate percentage of the Zen community?), tell the story of my non-traditional Jewish upbringing and adulthood (like becoming a Bat Mitzvah at 28), and reveal stealth recordings of conversations with my newlywed non-Jewish husband, (who I am forever grateful to for asking questions that most non-Jews would be afraid to ask, and is the reason I was introduced to Zen in the first place). Plus like a million tangents.

New episodes the 18th of every month at sundown.

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Music in this episode:

"Hey There Gentile" on Instagram / YouTube

"Within Yourself" by Janna Pelle on Spotify