This is our final episode and it’s an all endorsements episode! Tamar:From Zahava: From Mimi: My own: New:Escape the algorithm newsletter by Elan Ullendorf The Rest is Memory by Lily TuckConverting to Judaism in the Wake of October 7th By Jeannie Suk Gersen in the New YorkerYenta episode Jewish Lesbian Power Couple with Elana ArianRabbi Miles […]

This month we’re pulling back the curtain on what it’s been like to make this podcast, what we’ve learned, and what we’ll miss when the podcast ends. Further Reading Here are some of our favorite episodes, mentioned in this episode:Interfaith Chaplain Marcie Greenfield Simons & Times of Israel “State of Jerusalem” Documentaries Beyond the Synagogue […]

Sadly, we’ve decided to wind down the Talking in Shul podcast. We’ve produced almost 100 episodes over a decade, and a lot has changed for all of us. We are going to record two more episodes, in addition to this one, which will bring us to an even 100 episodes.  This month we’re talking about […]

his month we’re talking about… politics. How does it show up in our Jewish communities? And how do we want it to show up in our communities? How and when do we talk about politics at shul? Endorsements: Zahava endorses (1) the Gabfest Reads episode about Tablets Shattered by Joshua Leifer; (2) Rav Yehuda Amital’s […]

This month we’re talking about waste and Jewish practice, especially as we begin preparing for Passover. What if anything can we do on a global, local, and personal level about waste? Endorsements: Zahava endorses the folk song “Irish Eyes” by Rose Betts and encourages you to search for responses to Rose’s “Open Verse” challenge Mimi […]

This month we’re joined by Rabbi Shani (pronounced Shah-Knee)  Rosenbaum also in Somerville, MA. Shani is a teacher of Talmud and Halakhah at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. Welcome, Shani!  This month we’re talking about The Book of V. by Anna Solomon.  NYT review by Jennifer Haigh: “The Book of V.” […]

Hello! and welcome to Talking in Shul, a roundtable podcast. I’m your host, Tamar Fox, and I’ve got Zahava Stadler joining us from Toronto. Hi Zahava! And Mimi Lewis is joining us from Somerville, MA. Hi Mimi! And this month we’re joined by Hannah Lebovits, Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington. Hannah […]

This month we’re joined by special guest, Hila Ratzabi. Hila has joined us in the past to discuss Etty Hillesum. Hila is a poet, writer, and editor whose book of poems, There Are Still Woods was published by June Road Press in September 2022, and won a 2023 gold Nautilus Award and was a finalist […]

This month we’re talking about the television show Little Bird, available on PBS, and CBC. Created by Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch with the participation of Jeremy Podeswa as an executive producer, the series centres on a First Nations woman who was adopted into a Jewish family during the Sixties Scoop, as she attempts to […]

This month we’re doing kind of an unusual episode. Given how hard things have been for everyone since the events of October 7th, and the ongoing war in Gaza, we wanted to talk about things that are bringing us some Jewish joy.  Mimi’s Jewish joy My daughter entering shul shouting “Amen!”  Romantic Comedy by Curtis […]

Hello! and welcome to Talking in Shul, a roundtable podcast. I’m your host, Tamar Fox, and I’ve got Zahava Stadler joining us from Toronto. Hi Zahava! Mimi Lewis is taking a break this month, but we’re thrilled to welcome past and future guest Yael Kalman, who is joining us from Minneapolis. Hi Yael! This month […]

This month we’re talking about Passover, talking about our favorite rituals, texts, foods, and more.  Passover favorites Ritual Mimi: Hallel (when it happens!) and washing each others hands Zahava: Reciting the entire Hagaddah out loud, in unison, with my family Tamar: Making pickles the night before the holiday begins Text Tamar: Letter to My Old […]

This month we’re talking about Jewish influencers. What/how are the influencing us, and what trends do we see and like or dislike? “Influencer” can feel like a very shallow field–one that’s obsessed with trends and how things look to attract likes, views, followers. So what happens when influencers are speaking from a Jewish space? Raizy […]

This month we’re talking about how we prioritize kid services and programming versus our own communal needs. What is our ideal, and what we have we seen that didn’t work for us. Endorsements Mimi endorses Kapelya, an album of women singing Hasidic melodies soon to be released by the artist RAZA, watching the Klimovitcher Nigun […]

This month we’re talking about being Jewish at work.  How do we explain and present ourselves as Jews at a Jewish workplace, or a non-Jewish workplace? 1 in 4 hiring managers say they’re less likely to hire Jewish applicants by Kathryn Moody in HR Dive Zahava’s short twitter thread about a work conversation after the […]

Hello! and welcome to Talking in Shul, a roundtable podcast. I’m your host, Tamar Fox, and I’ve got Zahava Stadler joining us from Toronto. Hi Zahava! And Mimi Lewis is joining us from Somerville, MA. Hi Mimi!  You may have noticed that we took a bit of a break since our last episode. We are […]

Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is a new show on Netflix (it previously came out as 20 30 min episodes in Israel. Netflix has made it into 10 hour long episodes). It follows the ​​Hermosas, a wealthy Sephardic family who own a shop in Machane Yehuda in Jerudalem. Gabriel runs the shop, […]

This month we’re talking about a YouTube special called Recipe for Change: Standing up to Antisemism. And for our second segment we’re talking about how the expected end of Roe v Wade impacts the Jewish community, and how the Jewish community can and should be responding. For that segment we’ll be talking with my good […]

This month we’re talking about the TN school ban of Maus, and other attempts to limit education around difficult or uncomfortable subjects like the Holocaust and slavery.  And for our second segment we’re, oof, we are getting ready for pesach and thinking about some Seder topics we are (and aren’t) excited to discuss at our […]

This month we’re talking Marcie Greenfield Simons about what it’s like to be an interfaith chaplain in these intense covid times.   And for our second segment we’re talking about a series of video documentaries from the Times of Israel about three somewhat neglected populations within Jerusalem: secular Jews, Christians, and Arabs who might want to […]