Shows
Judaism UnboundEpisode 432: Radical Spiritual Care - Elliot KuklaElliot Kukla (he/they) is a rabbi, author, and activist. Elliot has worked at the intersection of justice and spiritual care to those who are ill, dying and bereaved since 2007. They are currently on the faculty of SVARA, where they also direct the Collective Loss Adaptation Project (CLAP). Elliot joins Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about justice-based radical spiritual care, and what both the experience of chronic illness and the Jewish tradition offer our world as we contend with grief, loss, and the need for rest. This episode is the 6th in an ongoing series of...
2024-05-2449 min
On the NoseTrans HalakhaEarlier this year, the Trans Halakha Project—an initiative of SVARA, a queer and trans yeshiva—published a series of teshuvot, or answers to questions about halakha (Jewish religious law). These pieces speak to questions of Jewish life and practice for trans people, from who is obligated to undergo circumcision or to follow the prescriptions around menstruation, to whether it’s permissible to wear a chest binder when immersing in the mikveh (a ritual bath that traditionally requires nudity). While there have been some previous efforts to apply halakha to specific questions of trans life, almost none of this work h...
2023-09-1444 min
Dreaming the World to ComeNisan with Mazal Masoud EtedgiMazal Masoud Etedgi (they/them/theirs) is a trans/non-binary artist, arab/mizrahi/amazigh jew, first-gen, spoonie/chronically ill person, herbalist, Drama Therapist, clown, and cultural organizer. Maz utilizes imagination, play, and ritual as tools for liberation, healing and connection. You can find their herbal medicine apothecary at bsamimapothecary.com and @bsamim.apothecary
Special extra-long episode in honor of Passover!
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ASL version available at https://youtu.be/Zq7...
2023-03-301h 08
The Personal ElementEpisode 12: The Most Valuable Thing I Can Teach My Kid Is How to Be LazyRabbi Elliot Kukla writes about the importance of taking time to rest in his essay which was first published in the New York Times. With an ear to the pulse of a nation exhausted from natural disasters mass shootings and the pandemic, Kukla proscribes a remedy of laziness and relaxation to heal our deepest wounds. As a physically disabled person, Kukla has had no choice but to allow his body to rest and as a result, has reaped the rewards of slowing down, of taking time to lay in the grass and look at the clouds. Tavi and Chr...
2022-06-1532 min
Chaplaincy Innovation LabLaziness as a Spiritual PracticeIn this session we will explore, with Rabbi Elliot Kukla, rest as a liberatory spiritual practice that can help us heal as individuals, strengthen loving relationships, and create a more sustainable future. We will begin by discussing the racist and exploitative origins of the stigma surrounding the term “lazy.” Next we will explore sources on rest from Disability Justice activists, ancient Jewish folk wisdom on the sabbath, as well as contemporary rest activists like the Nap Bishop. Finally, we will begin to uncover how to integrate rest into our own lives and spiritual practices.
2022-04-0757 min
EvolveDisability JusticeIn our conversation with Rabbi Elliot Kukla, we discuss his essay for Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations about the profound and unexpected ways in which trauma can affect a person's health and overall spiritual wellbeing. In the piece and this interview, he shares some of what he's learned about life by being chronically ill. We discuss his heightened appreciation for the interdependence of people, and what that means for the responsibilities of societies and communities to care for their members, even the most vulnerable. We also talk with Rabbi Kukla about his recent New York Times piece, "My Life Is...
2020-07-1449 min
Here Be Tygers: Your Storytelling Guide“Choosing Life, That You May Live” with Deanna WonJoining today: former Air Force colonel, Health Coach and stage-four ovarian cancer survivor, Deanna Won
How do you choose—do you define—who you are and what to do when you have only a month left to ‘your time’? When the doctors describe to you symptoms, procedures and what your few weeks in hospice will be like?
For Deanna Won, a former military colonel, scientist and trained fighter, that decision to want, to survive, to take back her autonomy, chase her dreams, regain her life started with one simple moment:
“This cancer is not me, but it is mine.”
Oh, and this wasn’t...
2020-03-2855 min
Masculine Birth RitualThis Blessing Got Kind of Everywhere: an interview with Rabbi Elliot KuklaIn Episode 5 Rabbi Elliot Kukla talks with us about Jewish birth rituals, Yiddish women's traditions surrounding fertility and birth, non-binary parenting, and the documentation of gender-queer, non-binary, and intersex people within the Jewish tradition. He is the first known ordained Trans Rabbi and is a nonbinary Papa to a 3-month-old baby. Show notes and transcription of this episode are available at masculinebirthritual.com. To continue the conversation, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. If you liked this episode, share it with your friends! Thank you for supporting these conversations as they make their way out into...
2018-10-3150 min