Episodes

  • Episode 531: Jewish Ancestors, Young and Old - Eli Ramer
    Apr 17 2026

    Eli Ramer is a maggid (storyteller), an author, and a mystic. He joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about Jewish connections across generations. They explore what it means to do eldering work, discuss Jewish notions of reincarnation (gilgul), and exchange stories that have the potential to help build a brighter world.

    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Holy Chutzpah, and Rebbe Nachman of Bretslev! Financial aid is available via this link.

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    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    49 mins
  • Episode 530: Halacha (Jewish Law) in Helsinki - Sofia Freudenstein
    Apr 10 2026

    Sofia Freudenstein serves as the Director of Jewish Life and Learning for the Jewish Community of Helsinki, Finland. She joins Lex and Rena Yehuda for a conversation about why being Jewish in Finland, and in other corners of the world that don't have the largest Jewish communities...really rocks! Together, the three of them also explore what halacha (Jewish law) looks like in such communities -- with one strong supporter of it, one opponent, and one situated in the middle. Find out who's who by listening in!

    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link.

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    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Episode 529: Door to Door IV - Forever Unfolding
    Apr 3 2026

    This week, Judaism Unbound is thrilled to feature the 4th episode of Door to Door: A Pilgrimage Across Generations -- another podcast in Judaism Unbound's family of podcasts! Full shownotes for Door to Door Episode IV can be found here.

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    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: on Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link.

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    Door to Door is a deeply personal, five-part podcast series tracing one Jewish family’s multigenerational pilgrimage from a once-lost home in Wachenbuchen, Germany, to the present-day echoes of inherited memory, trauma, and resilience.

    Told through archival recordings, family reflections, and emotional returns to ancestral ground, this podcast chronicles the survival of Simon—a Holocaust survivor taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp during Kristallnacht—and the generations that followed him. It's a story shaped by suffering, but defined by rebuilding, remembrance, and an enduring commitment to legacy. Door to Door invites listeners to witness what it means to reclaim identity from the wreckage—and to carry forward the names, the stories, and the truths nearly erased.

    If you’ve ever felt the weight of inherited memory, or the pull to understand where you come from — subscribe to Door to Door wherever you get your podcasts. Let this be part of your story, too.

    We'd love to hear from you, so you can email us at miriam@judaismunbound.com or find us at: www.judaismunbound.com/door-to-door

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    41 mins
  • Episode 528: Passover 2026 (Rena Yehuda III - Liberation)
    Mar 27 2026

    Chag Pesach Sameach! Happy Passover!

    Oh. And also...Chag Hamatzot Sameach (Happy Matzah-Fest), and Chag HaAviv Sameach (Happy Festival-of-Spring), and Z'man Cheruteinu Sameach (Happy Time of Our Liberation)! In this episode, Lex and Rena Yehuda explore the holiday of Passover, asking how we might find deep meaning in the Seder -- in ways that balance having a joyous, fun time with holding the seriousness of our collective societal moment right now. They also explore the power of names -- from Rena Yehuda's two first names to the four different names that Passover goes by in Hebrew. This episode is the 3rd in a 3-part mini-series introducing Rena Yehuda Newman, the new co-host of Judaism Unbound.

    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming mini-courses in the UnYeshiva: Reproductive Justice, Torah during Climate Catastrophe, Yiddish Revolutionary Folksong, and Jewish Citizenship Bound & Unbound! Financial aid is available via this link.

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    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    55 mins
  • Episode 527: Rena Yehuda II - Revelation
    Mar 20 2026

    Rena Yehuda Newman is the new co-host of Judaism Unbound! In this second episode of a 3-part mini-series, they talk through some of their core ideological frameworks -- Jewishly and beyond. Rena Yehuda and Lex talk about Hasidic philosophy, pluralism, and the ways in which every single Jew is a letter in the Torah.

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    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva! Genesis: Peoplehood & Solidarity in the Book of Bereishit begins just a few days after the release of this episode. Financial aid is available via this link.

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    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    52 mins
  • Episode 526: Rena Yehuda I - Creation
    Mar 13 2026

    Rena Yehuda Newman is the new co-host of Judaism Unbound! They've been a guest on the podcast before, but this episode marks the first time that they truly and fully inhabit this new role of co-host. In this episode, Rena Yehuda introduces themself to Judaism Unbound listeners. In doing so, there is much discussion about frozen foods -- and more than a little discourse about the word "goofy" in multiple languages. This episode is the first in a 3-episode mini-series, as Rena Yehuda Newman embraces their status as co-host of Judaism Unbound!

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    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva! Every Body Beloved: A Jewish Embrace of Fatness begins just a few days after the release of this episode.

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    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    48 mins
  • Episode 525: Dan's Stories -- Looking Back on 10 Years
    Mar 6 2026

    Dan Libenson's farewell. Dan's proverbial "sermon on the mount." We really don't know what to write in this "description" area for an episode that marks a momentous turning point for Judaism Unbound, but we're trying our best. In this conversation, Dan says goodbye to his role as co-host of Judaism Unbound, as we turn next week to welcome Rena Yehuda Newman as a co-host. He decided to bid farewell through telling some of his favorite stories -- some ancient and some less-so. Throughout this podcast episode he brings these stories, and both he and Lex do their best to hold back tears.

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    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our up upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva! This time around we are offering courses on an Intro to Judaism (Judaism Inbound), the book of Genesis, the Magic & Medicine of Psalms, Jews and Revolution, and a Jewish embrace of Fatness!

    Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

    Join the Judaism Unbound discord, where you can interact with Judaism Unbound's hosts, and with fellow listeners all around the world, by heading to discord.judaismunbound.com.

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    55 mins
  • Episode 524: Door to Door III - He Sang So Loudly
    Feb 27 2026

    This week, Judaism Unbound is thrilled to feature the 3rd episode of Door to Door: A Pilgrimage Across Generations -- another podcast in Judaism Unbound's family of podcasts!

    -------------------------

    Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our up upcoming courses in the UnYeshiva! This time around we are offering courses on an Intro to Judaism (Judaism Inbound), the book of Genesis, the Magic & Medicine of Psalms, Jews and Revolution, and a Jewish embrace of Fatness!

    --------------------------

    Door to Door is a deeply personal, five-part podcast series tracing one Jewish family’s multigenerational pilgrimage from a once-lost home in Wachenbuchen, Germany, to the present-day echoes of inherited memory, trauma, and resilience.

    Told through archival recordings, family reflections, and emotional returns to ancestral ground, this podcast chronicles the survival of Simon—a Holocaust survivor taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp during Kristallnacht—and the generations that followed him. It's a story shaped by suffering, but defined by rebuilding, remembrance, and an enduring commitment to legacy. Door to Door invites listeners to witness what it means to reclaim identity from the wreckage—and to carry forward the names, the stories, and the truths nearly erased.

    If you’ve ever felt the weight of inherited memory, or the pull to understand where you come from — subscribe to Door to Door wherever you get your podcasts. Let this be part of your story, too.

    We'd love to hear from you, so you can email us at miriam@judaismunbound.com or find us at: www.judaismunbound.com/door-to-door

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    41 mins