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.
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Episodes
Search for Meaning with Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Alan Niku
In the latest edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts writer, filmmaker, linguist, and self-described "nerdy Indiana Jones" Alan Niku, who may or may not moonlight as a vigilante superhero. The Berkeley-educated Niku has a unique background, coming from an Iranian Jewish family. That background spurred his lifelong love of language and a deep and abiding sense of curiosity. That curiosity led Niku—who grew up speaking Farsi—to delve into the language his Kurdish grandfather spoke. The more he learned, the more he realized that his grandfather wasn't speaking Kurdish, but a dialect of Aramaic—the language of the Talmud and parts of the Hebrew Bible. Niku has used language as a window to history, as he has used linguistics to explore the development and nuance in the politics, culture, and faith, not to mention sociology, psychology, and human [...]
Search for Meaning with Rabbi Sari Laufer and Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback
In the latest edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Wise's Chief Engagement Officer, Rabbi Sari Laufer. The wide-ranging talk between two colleagues covers Israel, summer camps, sign language, their respective Torah portions, authenticity, and the recent Supreme Court decision to restrict reproductive freedoms in Dobbs v. Jackson. The topic of Rabbi Sari's early Jewish learning brings up the subject of gender equity and representation. A tangent about how New Yorkers use hands to talk—Rabbi Sari just finished reading "True Biz," a novel about the deaf community, which is all about non-verbal communication—leads to a fascinating discussion about liturgical sign language interpreters. All of these are weaved into the story of how Rabbi Sari came to find her calling, and how she came to Wise. The only child of a Conservadox mom and a classical Reform dad [...]
Search for Meaning with Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Rabbi Susan Silverman of Second Nurture
In the latest edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Rabbi Susan Silverman, the founder of Second Nurture, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting a path from foster care to adoption. "I grew up in a family that fostered kids, so I saw that up close," Rabbi Silverman says. "Also, I'm a rabbi, and I really believe strongly in the power of community, so I put the two together." In 2016, after meeting hundreds of people in dozens of cities across North America while touring with her book, "Casting Lots: Creating a Family in a Beautiful, Broken World," Rabbi Silverman was convinced that many more people would foster and adopt, if only they had support and direction. "Parenting in general is daunting," says Rabbi Silverman, who has adopted two children. "Foster parenting is extra daunting. The process itself [...]
Search for Meaning with Rabbi Yoshi and the leadership of Rwanda’s Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village
In the latest edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura and Shiri Sandler, the leadership team for the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. In 2005, while attending a talk about the Genocide against the Tutsi, Anne Heyman (z"l) learned that Rwanda had no systemic solution to support the well-being and development of its 1.2 million orphans. Recognizing the parallels to the orphan crisis spawned by the Holocaust, Heyman looked to Israel for a solution: After the Shoah, Israel had built residential communities that ensured the orphans’ safety, security, and development. In 2008, applying Rwandan culture to the Israeli model, Heyman opened Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village with a class of 128 students, all survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Nkulikiyimfura was born to parents forced to flee their country as teenagers. Had Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village existed then, [...]