The Voices of Emanu El Podcast

The Grasshopper Feeling: Crossing New Thresholds

In this episode of The Vocies of Emanu El, Rabbi Pam Silk weaves together summer camp send-offs and the Torah portion Sh’lach L'cha, where twelve scouts survey the Promised Land and declare, “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” Their report is factually accurate, but their fearful interpretation keeps a generation wandering for forty years. Through the lens of Caleb and Joshua’s ruach acheret, a “different spirit,” we look at the thresholds that define our lives: children heading to camp, endings of relationships, retirement, empty nests, and grief. Rabbi Silk explores how to notice the “maybe not me, maybe not now” voice and instead tell a new, braver story about ourselves and the future that awaits us.

Let It Rise: Learning to Let Go

This week on Voices of Emanu El, Rabbi Oren Hayon reflects on Aretha Franklin’s “Call Me,” the Torah portion Beha’alotcha, and the haunting image of a menorah whose flame must eventually rise on its own. Drawing on Rashi’s teaching that Aaron is commanded to kindle the lamp “until the flame rises by itself,” Rabbi Hayon explores what it means to love our children, students, and friends enough to step back and trust the light we’ve helped ignite in them. As kids leave for camp, graduates head into new chapters, and we all face summertime goodbyes, this sermon invites us to see those moments not only as loss, but as the holiest completion of love: when the brightness finally rises in the ones we love, not by might, not by power, but by spirit alone.

Reproductive Freedom is Religious Freedom

Rabbi Josh Fixler recently sat down with Reverend Katey Zeh, CEO of the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice, for a powerful conversation about reproductive justice and why “reproductive freedom is religious freedom." Together they trace the often-erased history of clergy who helped people access safe abortion care before Roe, examine how white Christian Nationalism has shaped today’s laws and myths, and explore how people of faith can confront abortion stigma, reclaim sacred storytelling, and imagine freedom- and justice-focused futures rooted in pluralism and human dignity.

Cooking Israel, Sharing Shabbat: A Conversation with Adeena Sussman

In this episode of The Voices of Emanu El, Rabbi Oren Hayon is joined by NYT Best Selling cookbook author Adeena Sussman to talk about “easy-breezy Tel Aviv-y” cooking, Shabbat “forever recipes,” and how simple food became her therapy after October 7. Together they explore Israeli food, how to host Shabbat without exhausting yourself, why great hospitality starts with letting guests bring “good conversation” to the table, and the healing, joyful power of sharing meals and Jewish ritual. This conversation was recorded on May 7, 2026 as part of Emanu El's ongoing Endowment Speaker Series.  Information on Adeena is available at adeenasussan.com [https://www.adeenasussan.com]. Her newest cookbook, Zariz [https://www.adeenasussman.com/zariz], is available wherever you buy books.

Ownerless Like a Wilderness: A Beginner’s Mind in a Noisy World

In this episode of The Voices of Emanu El, Rabbi Josh Fixler asks a deceptively simple question: What is the difference between a desert and a wilderness? Through the lens of Parashat B'midbar, he reimagines the midbar as a wild, ownerless space where Torah — and truth itself — cannot be claimed by any one person or ideology. Rabbi Fixler weaves together rabbinic midrash, the Kabbalistic idea of tzimtzum (sacred contraction), Zen “beginner’s mind,” and reflections from Rachel Carson and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. He invites us to empty our overfull cups, step away from a culture of loud certainties, and approach Shavuot — and our lives — with curiosity, humility, and a renewed learner’s mind. Along the way, we hear how practices like counting the Omer and regular Torah study, including Emanu El’s new Shabbat morning Torah class launching June 13, can help us cultivate wisdom, hold multiple truths, and stay in loving relationship even when we disagree.