Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a Twist

21/06/2023

Happiest birthday to our favorite mock-mixologist midrashist and cohost !!! We think you’re pretty swell!

26/05/2023

For our last post on this particular last episode, Rabbi Amanda Katherine Weiss shares the following thoughts. In building relationships, it's always important to ask questions and then to follow up with more questions! Be. Ask. Engage. Answer.

25/05/2023

Our last episode dropped on Monday 5/22, and you can still find it at www.drinkinganddrashing.com! Co-host Snyder shared these words during our episode, reminding us all that Torah reveals itself in the way that we come to it. As we grow, so too, does our understanding and relationships with our texts and our traditions.

22/05/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

Each of us had some thoughts for this LAST EPISODE on and , but we felt that these words from Edon Valdman, our incredible Executive Producer, really summed up what we've built in these last 2.5 years. With almost 25,000 downloads, we are thrilled to have been on this journey with you! Follow us for more concluding thoughts (Thank yous, Closing Qs)--and get excited to end with us on a sweet note!

15/05/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

For our penultimate podcast episode, we brought back our "secret" advisor and advocate, our friend and YOURS, Rabbi Andrew A. Goodman, Director of Student Support at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion! Thanks to his good judgment and wonderful suggestion, our podcast came into fruition! In this episode on Parashat (cough, cough ) we focus on how to make everyone feel welcome and included, how to notice when we might miss the mark, and how important it is to make sure we know how and who we're counting when we are ready to tell our story.

09/05/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

We're ending the book of Leviticus with another DOUBLE portion-- (or... ). How incredible it was to talk about rest, freedom, criminal intentions, social wellbeing, and service to our neighbors and nations with incredible featured speaker Miranda Bass, a computer forensic analyst! Miranda was an INCREDIBLE guest and her bravery and breadth of leadership is an extraordinary way to look at Leviticus in a brand new way!

07/05/2023

Join us in a MASSIVE MAZAL TOV AND L’CHAYIM to the world’s newest Rabbi, Rabbi Amanda Katherine Weiss!
Rabbi Weiss was ordained (by another Rabbi Weiss) today at Temple Emanu-El in New York at HUC-JIR’s New York ordination ceremony, recognizing her for what we know her to be: a teacher, a leader, and a true light to the Jewish people.
Mazal tov, Rabbi!

05/05/2023

Mazal Tov to Drinking and Drashing cohost (aka ) on receiving his Masters Degree in Sacred Music!!! We can’t wait to celebrate your ordination on Cinco de Mayo 2024!!!

02/05/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

Learn about the worth of our words and how we impact our worlds when we invite brave conversations and truly take the time to listen. Rabbi Becky Jaye, Program Manager for Emor Institute, a project of T'ruah takes us on an incredible journey in this episode on , engaging us in pause and presence, realization and relationship.

24/04/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

A short one, but it's your favorite podcasting trio! (We swear Edon really was there the whole time!). Get excited for this week's mini-episode on - and how we can deal with the duality that gives us in dealing with the everyday nature of life, holiness, transgressions, and everything else!

18/04/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

A double portion this time, we are so grateful to Sam Klipstein and her work as an emergency room nurse tech as we chat about Parashat ! Whether we're talking about , , , and , Sam helps us truly hold on to the important message that healthcare workers want you to know: they want us home and healthy as much as we do! Listen in for a fascinating look at how Jewish values guide her through a day at work!

11/04/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

We're back at it with Parashat (or is it or Sh'mini?) with Cantor Julie Yugend-Green of Oak Park Temple who walks us through how we can best lead our communities in life's most sorrow-filled moments. Cantor Yugend-Green walks us through giving dignity to the deceased with a chevra kadisha (a Jewish burial society) and how to mourn alongside our communities, even when we need to lead them at the same time.

10/04/2023

While we have a post with a *new episode* for this week, we’re kicking off this Monday morning with a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our favorite executive producer !!! We love you Edon!!!

03/04/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

On this very special episode, we were thrilled to give a shoutout to our very first listener, Jewish leader extraordinaire Wendy Berelson! Whether she's singing at the Laramie Jewish Community Center, or advising Hillel at the University of Wyoming, or participating as a board member of Hadassah, there's no better connection for how one could explore doing Jewish in the beautiful state of

31/03/2023

Hello hello all! Our friend Beth Reinstein is recording her first album of Jewish music! This album will be a complete Shabbat Friday night service that incorporates traditional chant with contemporary musical styles, and the working title of it is Shabbos Dreams. She needs your help to make these Shabbos Dreams a reality. You can support her at her Kickstarter here: http://www.tinyurl.com/shabbosdreams

The Kickstarter ends on April 15th at 8:45am Eastern! We can't wait to hear this album and we hope you'll help Beth make this Shabbos Dream a reality!

27/03/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

Today we celebrate Gabe Snyder's Bar Mitzvah portion with an incredible teaching by Lisa Narodick Colton on ! How do we work to ensure that we are looking to the future even when honoring the past? What can Judaism look like when we focus on community and creative practice? Check this out if you're into , , , and epic Jewish content!

22/03/2023

Otherwise known as ! Thank you to the entire country for playing along with us these past two and a half years and for Wyoming for finally joining the party!

20/03/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

When you really encounter your life, do you ever think about what you're offering to the world? How about whether or not you were called to act, or whether you chanced upon something? What about our links to tradition--how do we maintain links to the past while cultivating the creativity of the present? We are so lucky to have had Cantor Harriet Dunkerley of Temple B'nai Chaim to walk us through the start of a new story with (small aleph!).

17/03/2023

Thank you so much to MRJ - Men of Reform Judaism and of Reform Judaism - Reform On Campus for continuing your support as you have from the beginning of this podcasting passion project! We are so grateful to learn with and from you year after year and are so happy that you continue funding creative vibrant Jewish projects on campuses across the country!

15/03/2023

We’ve hit over 20.000 downloads and are so excited! Thank you to all of our listeners new and old, near and far!

14/03/2023

We're taking a bit of a break this week, but enjoy this throwback to our original superstar, Rabbi Josh Warshawsky! To enjoy this classic episode, head over to: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/pRcm3gXtayb

07/03/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

We are so thrilled to be able to deliver this Purim sweet gift to our listeners (and friends!) featuring Dr. Miriam Heller Stern of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion ! Whether coordinating creativity by connecting community, or making meaning of our own multifaceted leadership, Dr. Stern helps us walk through a central crisis in and reminds us that everyone can play a part in the reconstruction.

27/02/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

When it comes to , Parashat originated . We are so grateful to Sloane Applebaum for walking us through yards of linens, buckets of color, ample accessorizing, and the significance of the hidden messages that were created and held in the priestly vestments. Are clothes used for projection or protection? Is branding a sense of belonging or are we buttonholing

21/02/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

In this episode on , we were thrilled to learn with and from Yoshi Silverstein, Founder and Executive Director of the Mitsui Collective about how we can embody our Judaism, build ourselves up into a stronger community, and create holy dwelling places for all involved. How do we do this? By bringing our bodies with us wherever we go!

13/02/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

In this awesome episode on Parashat Rabbi Goldsmith from Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester shows us that the best way to approach a meaningful Jewish practice is to start with a person-centered approach--to start where you are!--and to just try it! With a focus on questions, mysteries, sorceresses, and best practices, we get to engage in this with a fun twist and a glassful of single malt scotch!

10/02/2023

What a shabbat gift: we've hit 18,000 downloads - that deserves a BIG l'chayim! drinkinganddrashing.com

07/02/2023

We are so absurdly proud of and excited for our co-host,Amanda Katherine Weiss, as she joins the clergy team at Temple Isaiah! Following her ordination in May, she will officially begin her role as the congregation’s first Assistant Rabbi on July 1.

In honor of Temple Isaiah, let’s take an Isaiah quote wildly out of context:
‎כִּֽי־בְשִׂמְחָ֣ה תֵצֵ֔אוּ וּבְשָׁל֖וֹם תּוּבָל֑וּן הֶהָרִ֣ים וְהַגְּבָע֗וֹת יִפְצְח֤וּ לִפְנֵיכֶם֙ רִנָּ֔ה וְכׇל־עֲצֵ֥י הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִמְחֲאוּ־כָֽף׃
You shall go forth in joy and be led in peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out in song before you, and all the fields’ trees shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12).

Mazal tov Rabbi Amanda K Weiss & Temple Isaiah on this awesome occasion — we’re all singing and clapping for you!

Members of the Temple Isaiah community:

It is with great pleasure that we announce the addition of Rabbi Amanda Katherine Weiss(HUC-JIR, 2023) to our clergy team as Assistant Rabbi, beginning on July 1.

As we indicated previously, this search process involved many hours of engagement with a diverse field of excellent candidates. Throughout the entire process, our search committee took the time to carefully assess each candidate’s strengths and how they would potentially add to our community. In the end, Rabbi Weiss clearly stood out as a compassionate, energetic, and engaging individual who will be an outstanding sacred partner to our incredible staff and lay leadership. In an almost unheard-of situation, Rabbi Weiss was actually the unanimous top choice of all members of the search committee, and we feel tremendously fortunate to have entered into this partnership with her. We invite you to visit her website (https://www.rabbiamandakweiss.com/) to learn a bit more about her. A truly innovative and creative individual, she also records a highly entertaining podcast that blends both wonderful insight and humor into the weekly parshah. https://drinkinganddrashing.com/

We know there will be many questions regarding this transition to a “multiple clergy” model. However, every candidate that was interviewed, including Rabbi Weiss, noted just how eager they were to have an opportunity to be a part of our warm, welcoming, and caring community. We have no doubt that Temple Isaiah will not only benefit from Rabbi Weiss’ considerable talents, but will also give her many opportunities, under Rabbi Axler’s mentorship, to further utilize and enhance her already outstanding skillset.

We are gratefully indebted to Beth Millstein (chair), Ben Sandler, Alisha Rovner, Mitch Kavalsky, and Jill Nagiel for their extraordinary efforts in bringing this process to a successful conclusion. In addition, we wish to thank all of the staff and other individuals who took the time to meet with candidates and provide valuable feedback. Most of all, we want to thank all of you, for continuing to make Temple Isaiah a community that is truly committed to providing a kind and caring spiritual home to all who are blessed to be a part of it.

B'yedudit (in Friendship),

Beth Millstein, Search Committee Chair
Alex Hoffman, President
Rabbi Craig Axler
Shelley Engel, Executive Director

A note from Rabbi Craig Axler:
I could not be more overjoyed to share the news of our engaging Rabbi Amanda Weiss as the first full time Assistant Rabbi of Temple Isaiah. This is a truly momentous occasion in the ongoing story of our congregation and community. In addition to the rabbinic support that I know this creative, dynamic and intelligent individual will be providing to me and our whole community when she joins our team this summer, I am particularly excited to see the ways in which yet another voice and perspective adds to the beautiful harmonies of our congregation - metaphorically and literally. In Pirkei Avot 1:6 we read עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב, וּקְנֵה לְךָ חָבֵר - Get for yourself a teacher (Rav/Rabbi in Hebrew) and acquire a friend. I look forward to Rabbi Weiss’s leadership, teaching and friendship! And, once again, my deep thanks go to Beth Millstein and the whole team whose hard work has yielded this wonderful result.

06/02/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

We may be past the , but with , we're still ready to join the dance! Whether you're entering into a Judaism made of joy, mentoring leaders through conflict and challenge, or contemplating the refreshing message of revelation, Rabbi Cecelia Clara Beyer helps lead us through the timeless tune of the and how we can make our own!

31/01/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

SING IT LOUD! SING IT PROUD! We've made it back to with our newest duo of ! Learn about the magic of music, keeping religion relevant, and how we can build our community choir of voices, notes, and feedback during times of challenge, conflict, and crisis! With a huge thank you to Cantor Rosalie Will and Cantor Ellen Dreskin for their incredible words of wisdom and moving melodies!

24/01/2023

🎉 NEW EPISODE! 🎉 @ www.drinkinganddrashing.com

Looking for someone to shed some light on darkness, plagues, Zionism, and nuanced Judaism? Check out this week's episode featuring Rabbi Ari Goldstein of Temple Beth Shalom of Annapolis/Arnold, Md as he walks us through how we can find inspiration even during some troubling times!