Tablet Magazine’s “Unorthodox” and “Take One”
Podcasts Interview President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, visited Tablet Magazine’s studio for two podcast interviews last week.

Unorthodox, hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz, offers a smart, fresh, fun weekly take on Jewish news and culture. President Rehfeld discusses how HUC-JIR is adapting to face the challenges of the 21st century, targeting three areas: strengthening Jewish education, Jewish engagement, and Jewish identity; as he puts it, “the knowing, the doing, and the being of Jewish.” He also explains the history and theology of Reform Judaism, and shares where he sees the Movement today and going forward.

As Jews around the world engage in a seven-and-a-half year cycle of Daf Yomi, reading the entire Talmud one page per day, Tablet Magazine's new podcast, Take One, offers a brief and evocative daily study of the daf. President Rehfeld joins Take One to explore Berakhot 26 and question how we can balance tradition with personal passion. Do we pray to replicate the sacrifices offered by the priests in the ancient Temple, or are we simply mimicking the ancient rituals begun by our Patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? And should prayer, then, be carefully regulated and orchestrated, or left up to each one of us to practice as we see fit?