Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation Podcasts

If this life is the only life we know, how do we find comfort after loss? Death has always defined the human condition, but are we any better at dealing with it after all this time? How we remember can make all the difference.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Our problems are so large, and our powers seem so limited – what can one person or one community do? Facing earlier tragedies, the Jewish people trusted both supernatural providence and human effort. What must we do for human power to be enough for us.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Reading and interpretation of Viktor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

The Jews have been called “the ever-dying people.” Each generation is convinced it is the last. Yet we are still here and, like our ancestors, we must answer new challenges. Balancing continuity and change is a Jewish tradition and a key to Jewish survival. As is hope.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Reading, translation and interpretation of passage from Deuteronomy.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

It’s been said that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Today politics IS war: opponents are enemies, issues are black or white, the other side is not just wrong but evil. In Israel, in America, in Europe, civil society strains at the seams. We have also seen this story before, and we need to change the ending.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Babylonian Talmud[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Public expressions of hate are rising, and a rising tide lifts all bigotries. Even if numbers remain small, the haters are louder and bolder. Synagogue (and mosque and church) shootings, antisemitic cartoons, discrimination by both Christian foster care agencies and Dyke Marches – we have seen this before and had hoped never again. Why now? And what to do now?[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

The rumble in the desert between siblings. Why is it us vs. them? Who are the Goyim?[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

In a post-modern, post-revelation world, defining good and evil is challenging and yet necessary. Can we admit when we have done wrong, and can we accept when our opponents do right? What is an honest difference of opinion, and what is truly evil that must be resisted?[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

The smaller the world gets, the harder it is to live together. Some would abolish all borders and barriers, while others would raise them higher. As America builds walls, as Israelis and “Diaspora” Jews grow farther apart, we grapple with complex identities: individuals, Americans, part of the Jewish family, and human beings. Can we feel connected to “here” and “there”, rather than choosing one or the other?[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Rejection and fear of "the other" is deeply rooted in human psychology and culture. Can we build group loyalty on positive attraction rather than suspicion of the outside? An open family that includes both "us" and "them" may be the most successful future for the Jewish people in the 21st Century.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

The eternal battle between individual and community defines the human and the Jewish condition. What to give to others and what to guard for myself? Happiness, freedom, dignity, justice depend on the balance of me and we.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Competition has its place, but also its risks. We become blind to our own faults and exaggerate the danger and deficiencies of “the other.” We magnify our needs and minimize theirs. We need to seek self-esteem while avoiding chauvinism – as individuals, ethnicities and nations. Pride, honesty and humility dance a challenging but necessary waltz towards an ethical life.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

We can be crueler to our own family than we are to strangers. It is all too easy to judge others by our own arbitrary standards. Do they agree with us? Do they value what we value as much as we value it? Do they live t veir lives the way we live ours? If we can worry more about ourselves than what others do, we might just learn there’s more than one way to bake a bagel.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Can a tradition of 3,000 years speak with one voice? Too often, we want our identity to fully endorse our personal beliefs and behavior. Just as we cannot claim that all Jews were always secular, others cannot claim Jews were always religious and always united by religion. How can we achieve unity without demanding uniformity?[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

We must find a balance between individual perspective and objective reality. There are times it is appropriate to say, “I don’t know” or “I think,” and there are also times to say, “I DO know.” Human reason is limited — and partial, and collaborative — and it is also a powerful tool for discovering human truth.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

We would love it if the righteous were rewarded, the wicked punished, and everything worked out for our benefit. But wishing does not make it so. In the absence of cosmic providence, the work of justice, compassion, forgiveness and self-improvement is up to us.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

The Jewish "Days of Awe" were traditionally a time of judgment – who would live, who would die, and who would earn a portion in the World to Come. We believe in life before death, making the most of our time in this life, the only one we know. Living the best we can while we are here is the best we can do.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)

Our Humanism is a positive emphasis on this world – what we experience, what we need, what we can know. Our Rosh Hashana does not represent divine creation of the world; rather, it encourages us to discover what the universe truly is, and then to create the world we want.[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes.[RSS MP3] Add the Kol Hadash Podcast feed (in MP3 format)Listen (MP3)