Jew-ish

Mysticism and Judaism and dreams, oh my!

Say More Network Season 2 Episode 7

Send us a text

Growing up Conservative Jewish in Ohio, Rabbi Cantor Judy Greenfeld turned away from her family traditions after her beloved father was murdered. Judaism became an unbearably painful reminder of her loss, and she became a "seeker" of other spiritual pathways as she tried to outrun her mourning. She explored, Buddhism, dance, holistic medicine, and psychology. Eventually, she found her way through dreams and mysticism back to Judaism, embracing traditions like Kabbalah, back to the religion and community she was born into, and discovered she had never really left.

In her books, she uses her unique interpretations and experiences to make Jewish traditions accessible for anyone, offering practices and prayers to make the day to day business of living just a little bit easier for everyone.

GLOSSARY:
Zionism: A political movement founded by Theodor Herzl in the 1890s to create a Jewish homeland, based in an assimilationist philosophy and cemented by antisemitic incidents like the Dreyfus affair (the false accusation and imprisonment of a French Jewish military officer that came to symbolize Jews' supposed disloyalty). 

Tzitzit: The dangling fringe of the Jewish prayer shawl, called a tallit.

Ma tovu: Traditionally said in morning prayers or, for Ashkenazic Jews, upon entering the synagogue, the first lines of the prayer for which it is named mean: "How good are your tents O Jacob, your dwellings O Israel."

Sitting Shiva: From the Hebrew word for seven, sheva, the tradition of mourning for seven days including customs like sitting low to the ground and covering mirrors, bringing the family of the deceased food, and sitting with them, in silence if they want. 

La dor va dor: Meaning "from generation to generation," also translated as "forever." 

Philological study: Text study using grammar, style and language to analyze meaning and origin.

Pardes: An acronym (Heb. פַּרְדֵ״ס) usually associated with Kabbalah that denotes a specific type of critical text interpretation

Kabbalah: A form of Jewish mysticism that became widespread in Provence and Spain in the 12th and 13th centuries. 

Gematria: A numerology system using the numbers which are assigned to Hebrew letters (Hebrew letters are also used as numbers)

LINKS ETC: On the idea of prayer replacing “sacrifice”: It is thought that after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE and expulsion of the Jews from Israel that without a central place to make animal sacrifices, the disparate surviving Jewish communities came to see prayer as the new form of sacrifice and "work" (avodah in Hebrew) acceptable to God.  

Jonathan Sacks
Connie Kaplan
Modeh Ani

Support the show

People on this episode

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

The Curl Code Artwork

The Curl Code

Say More Network
CONFLICTED Artwork

CONFLICTED

Message Heard
Handsome Artwork

Handsome

Headgum
The Daily Stoic Artwork

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Wondery
If Books Could Kill Artwork

If Books Could Kill

Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri
Stoic Coffee Break Artwork

Stoic Coffee Break

Erick Cloward
Maintenance Phase Artwork

Maintenance Phase

Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes
Serial Artwork

Serial

Serial Productions & The New York Times
Heavyweight Artwork

Heavyweight

Spotify Studios
Radiolab Artwork

Radiolab

WNYC Studios
Revisionist History Artwork

Revisionist History

Pushkin Industries
The Spy Who Artwork

The Spy Who

Wondery
Freakonomics Radio Artwork

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
DISGRACELAND Artwork

DISGRACELAND

Double Elvis Productions
Decoder Ring Artwork

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts
Hidden Brain Artwork

Hidden Brain

Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
You Are Good Artwork

You Are Good

Sarah Marshall + Alex Steed