Join Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback as he talks with an eclectic variety of thinkers, artists, and change-makers about their experiences (Jewish or otherwise) and their own search for meaning and purpose in their lives.
Subscribe and Listen
Episodes
Search for Meaning With Suzanne Horwich
In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts artist and educator Suzanne Horwich. Horwich, who hails from Rabbi Yoshi's hometown of Omaha, is the founder of Artists Giving Back, a program she started to bolster the spirits of Ukrainian refugees who have fled their warn-torn country for Poland. Horwich has long been drawn to the Syrian refugee crisis, but felt helpless as the world turned a blind eye to the horrors wrought by the Assad regime. When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, she resolved to take action. She eventually connected with Jonathan Ornstein, a friend of Wise and the head of the Krakow Jewish Community Center, which has pivoted from rebuilding the shattered Polish Jewish community to providing food, aid, medical supplies, and housing to those fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. The former Director [...]
Search for Meaning With Ben M. Freeman
In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Ben M. Freeman, author, educator, and founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement. Born in Scotland, Freeman rose to prominence during the Corbyn Labour Jew-hate crisis and quickly became one of his generation's leading voices against anti-Jewish racism. In February of 2021, he published Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, which became known as the Jewish Pride manifesto. In October of 2022, he followed that book up with Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride, the second in what will become a groundbreaking trilogy when he publishes his finale in 2024. Freeman's journey to Jewish Pride marries two distinct identities and experiences. For a long time, his identity as a gay man and his Jewish identity were, as he puts it "totally separate." While he was raised in a [...]
Search for Meaning With Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur
In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts writer, educator, and human rights advocate Rabbi Michael Marmur, Ph.D. Until 2018, Rabbi Marmur served as the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Before that, he served as Dean of HUC-JIR's Jerusalem campus, where he hired a young Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback to be the Director of HUC-JIR's Year-in-Israel Program in 2009. A published author, passionate educator, and inquisitive historian, Rabbi Marmur thinks critically about the evolving role of spirituality and what it means to be religious in modern Jewish life. With his wry British sense of humor and a quick wit, Rabbi Marmur is an expert storyteller, using anecdotes and keen observations to illustrate philosophical ideas. A board member of Rabbis for Human Rights, Rabbi Marmur also shares what spurred him [...]
Search for Meaning With Rabbi Zoë Klein Miles
In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts old friend Rabbi Zoë Klein Miles of Temple Isaiah, author of the new book, Candle, Feather, Wooden Spoon (CCAR Press, 2023). Rabbi Klein Miles serves Temple Isaiah in West Los Angeles, where she brings her unique blend of innovation, tradition, creativity, and wisdom. The two speak about the lost art of letter writing, the process of authoring a book, Jewish symbols and holidays, storytelling, homiletics, and Rabbi Klein Miles' childhood as the daughter of a studio artist. Possessed of a drive to become an author at an early age, Rabbi Klein Miles recalls a seminal moment in her young life when her father told her: "I will not consider you a writer. You are not a writer until you finish a book. It doesn't matter if it is [...]