Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation Podcasts

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

High Holidays 2020Listen (MP3)

From the Archives: Originally recorded in 2017, Rabbi Chalom discusses mindfulness and the culture of blessings.Listen (MP3)

From the Archives: Originally recorded in 2017, Rabbi Chalom discusses mindfulness and the culture of blessings.Listen (MP3)

From the Archives: Originally record in 2009, Rabbi Chalom examines the idea of what is sacred.Listen (MP3)

When modern Zionism started in 1897, there were already many varieties. They shared the main goal of the creation of an independent Jewish state, which was achieved in 1948. Over 70 years later, “Zionism” has become a controversial accusation. Is Zionism just Israeli nationalism, or is there still relevance to the idea for non-Israeli Jews?Listen (MP3)

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.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.Listen (MP3)

Reading and interpretation of Viktor Frankel's Man's Search for MeaningListen (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.Listen (MP3)

Reading, translation and interpretation of passage from Deuteronomy.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.Listen (MP3)

Babylonian TalmudListen (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?Listen (MP3)

The rumble in the desert between siblings. Why is it us vs. them? Who are the Goyim?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?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?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.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.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.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.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?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.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.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.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.Listen (MP3)

We celebrate what we share rather than argue the unprovable. Our individual beliefs do not always have to agree in order to find community and common ground. Ours is a Jewish tradition of change, diversity and integrity. And, as Humanistic Rabbi Sherwin Wine once wrote, "Believing is better than non-believing."Listen (MP3)

Human beings are the most powerful species on the planet, but this was not always so. In a fascinating exploration of our earliest origins through the evolution of modern society, Hebrew University professor Yuval Noah Harari's bestseller delves into the origins of society, religion, economics and much more. Rabbi Chalom's review also marked the relatively new Humanist holiday of Darwin Day, and the interfaith initiative of Evolution Weekend.Listen (MP3)

Taking responsibility is not easy, particularly when others prefer seeking excuses or spreading blame. Dignity and self-respect are children of responsibility, but so too are risk and failure. The confidence we find from taking charge of our lives flows through our actions to the world around us, transforming desire into will, and will into reality.Listen (MP3)

We want so much to control our lives, and our deaths. Yet experience teaches again and again that we may steer the boat, but we cannot control the current. Learning when and how to say goodbye — and when and how to accept death with dignity — is key to the art of living.Listen (MP3)

Forgiveness can repair relationships, and it can also be healing for both parties in the conflict. But can we learn to forgive ourselves? Guilt is a powerful emotion, and forgiving others can sometimes be easier than facing our guilt. If Yom Kippur is an opportunity for new beginnings, we need to start fresh with ourselves as well.Listen (MP3)

No one is an island. We grow up in families and societies, and we learn the balance between mutual responsibility and self-actualization. In the space between obligation and freedom lies “help” – a hand we all need from time to time that gives us the strength to do for ourselves what we no longer need others to do unto us.Listen (MP3)

As awful as human suffering can be, it can be even harder to suffer alone without understanding or empathy. The most basic step in overcoming conflict and isolation is an ability we evolved countless generations ago: to speak, and to truly listen.Listen (MP3)

The Theory of Evolution transformed our understanding of the world and our place in it. And Charles Darwin knew it would; he held back publishing his ideas for many years because of it. Today we understand not only biology, but also culture and economics and many other human endeavors through gradual change over time and "survival of the fittest."Listen (MP3)

Without cosmic judgment, Yom Kippur becomes an internal experience – self-judgment and self-forgiveness. In moderation, both are healthy and important, but only if they lead to changed behavior in the future. In the negotiation between individual self-fulfillment and communal responsibility lies the dignity of proving ourselves to be good people, if we can live up to our own standards.Listen (MP3)

The religious approach to life has been around for a long time. Believing that people, and only people, have conscious power to improve the world is a much more recent innovation, even if its evolutionary ancestors first appeared centuries ago. But people do terrible things, and some fight modernity and progress with all their might. Is a Humanistic approach to life, and to Judaism, a path to despair or to hope?Listen (MP3)

With rising anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East, never-ending and heart-rending conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, militant Orthodoxy fighting modernity on one side and ongoing Jewish integration into Western Culture on the other, who would be crazy enough to want to be Jewish? And yet we do, and we are. The truth is that, with all of its challenges, being Jewish adds deep meaning to our lives.Listen (MP3)

Labels divide people - different ethnicities, religions, nationalities, even sports allegiances can be lethal. An infant from anywhere in the world can grow up fluent in any other language and culture, so why should we be attached to the accident of our birth? Yet there are limits to choosing one's own identity. In the quest for balance, how should we negotiate our individuality with our group identities?Listen (MP3)

Rabbi Chalom leads an adult education discussion on Reconstructionist Judaism.Listen (MP3)

Rabbi Chalom leads an adult education discussion on Reform Judaism.Listen (MP3)

Rabbi Chalom leads an adult education discussion on Orthodox Judaism.Listen (MP3)

The most famous narratives in Jewish and world literature can be very different if we look with new eyes. Our narrative “re-visions” reveal ourselves as well as the figures we thought we knew.Listen (MP3)

The most famous narratives in Jewish and world literature can be very different if we look with new eyes. Our narrative “re-visions” reveal ourselves as well as the figures we thought we knew.Listen (MP3)

The most famous narratives in Jewish and world literature can be very different if we look with new eyes. Our narrative “re-visions” reveal ourselves as well as the figures we thought we knew.Listen (MP3)

The most famous narratives in Jewish and world literature can be very different if we look with new eyes. Our narrative “re-visions” reveal ourselves as well as the figures we thought we knew.Listen (MP3)

For too long, we have understood Judaism as controlled by someone or something else: the past, the Orthodox, the affluent. Our connection to Jewish culture and heritage is not a commodity, packaged and sold.Listen (MP3)

No person, and no people, springs from the dust of the ground, without heritage or inheritance. The wise know to evaluate the treasures of the past, and to celebrate what is most valuable.Listen (MP3)

Great literature speaks to the human condition. Great Jewish characters – from David to the god Yahveh to Tevye – express what it can mean to be part of the Jewish people, and to be human. Our Torah is the literary creativity of our people, both before and since the Bible.Listen (MP3)
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The Torah knows nothing of feminism, science of mind, democracy, freedom of conscience or multiculturalism. If we define our own values throughout our lives, why bother exploring what our ancestors considered ethical?Listen (MP3)
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Rosh Hashanna marks the beginning of a new Jewish Year. This year, 5773, Rabbi Adam Chalom explores the text of the Torah and why it is relevant even today. This is part 2 of the High Holiday sermons.Listen (MP3)
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Rosh Hashanna marks the beginning of a new Jewish Year. This year, 5773, Rabbi Adam Chalom explores the text of the Torah and why it is relevant even today.Listen (MP3)
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Adherance to an ethical standard etched in stone and backed by the promise of eternal reward or damnation is an easy road to take. Decisions are based simply on following the rules. The outcome of following the rules are irrelevant to the righteous. Humaistic Jews have no such net, and as such, are faced to consider the consequences of action or inaction.Listen (MP3)
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A Provocative People: A Secular History of the Jews, available at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/ProvocativePeople-amazon .Listen (MP3)
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Discover why the Society for Humanistic Judaism selected Ernestine Rose as its person of the year.Listen (MP3)
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Being able to explain who we are, what we believe, and how we celebrate our cultural Judaism can be challenging, but also very simple. Explore part 2 of the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) of Humanistic Judaism, as well as some effective answers.Listen (MP3)
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Being able to explain who we are, what we believe, and how we celebrate our cultural Judaism can be challenging, but also very simple. Explore part 1 of the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) of Humanistic Judaism, as well as some effective answers.Listen (MP3)
Listen (AAC)

The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism Colloquium 2012 takes place on the campus of Northwester University in Evanston, Illinois April 20-22, 2012. This preview with Rabbi Chalom explores some of the topics of the colloquium and why attendees should look forward to this event.Listen (MP3)
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Traditional Judaism is about a connection to God. Humanistic Judaism is about a connection to people. Rabbi Chalom explains why this connection to people is so important for us as humans and as Jews.Listen (MP3)
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The Kol Hadash Sunday School curriculum is driven largely by the Jewish Calendar. In this episode of Sunday School for Adults, Rabbi delves into that calendar and how it is used in a Humanistic Jewish Education.Listen (MP3)
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Spinoza was excommunicated for daring to claim that Moses may not have written the entire Torah. More than 350 years later, the actual history of the writing and editing of the Bible remains a controversial subject. We can certainly appreciate the literature of the Bible as received, but we also want to know who wrote it, and when, and why. Our questions can make the stories even more interesting.Listen (MP3)
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Rabbi Chalom discusses what promises (or threatens) Israel in 2012.Listen (MP3)
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Rabbi Chalom reviews the year of 2011 and looks forward with some prognostications for 2012.Listen (MP3)
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Rabbi Chalom reviews the movie Ushpizin and discusses the larger social issues related to this movie for both Hasidic and their interaction with others in Israel.Listen (MP3)
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Agnosticism and Atheism are both philosophies that are based on the denial of something - a personal god or the knowledge of such and existence. Humanism, however, is a positive look at what we do know, that people have the strength to change their world. Rabbi Chalom discusses the strengths of such an outlook.Listen (MP3)
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There is an irony in creating a community of individuals. A synagogue based on commandments and required observance has authority and structure; one built on personal responsibility and autonomy could become anarchy in belief, practice and function. Of course, we all know the truth of “2 Jews, 3 opinions,” so better to build on reality than denial. But the challenge remains: from many, one.Listen (MP3)
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What makes a movie a Jewish movie? When artistic expression can be classified as part of a culture, it helps define that culture. Find out why Jewish movies are Jewish.Listen (MP3)
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Is Israel a democracy, a Jewish state or a nation that includes the West Bank. Find out why it can't be all three.Listen (MP3)
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Humanistic Judaism is founded on self improvement. We can use personal honesty to improve our lives and our relationships with others. Rabbi Chalom explains how.Listen (MP3)
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The story of Ruth wasn't even real. Yet the story of Ruth is about being yourself (a Moabite) and being part of a community (Hebrew). Explore what we as Humanistic Jews can learn from this tale.Listen (MP3)
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Finding truth in the Hebrew bible can often be difficult. Rabbi Chalom reconciles the value of a fabricated story about being true to oneself.Listen (MP3)
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Finding truth in the Hebrew bible can often be difficult. Rabbi Chalom explores the validity of the historical text and how it impacts Humanistic Jews and progenitors such as Baruch Spinoza.Listen (MP3)
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Some see the publication of The Good Book: A Secular Bible by English philosopher A.C. Grayling as an attempt to displace, destroy or otherwise attack “The Bible” that they revere. The truth is that both religious bibles and this new “secular Bible” come from the same source—human experience. What wisdom does Grayling offer, and is it time for a secular sequel to the “Book of Books”?Listen (MP3)
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Without American support, the modern State of Israel would not have begun. Today, however, the relationship is much more complicated. Differences over the Palestinians, Iran and other regional challenges have strained relations as much as at any point in the last sixty years. The American Jewish community has been divided by the tension: some appalled, some angry, some indifferent. What does the future hold for this “strategic partnership”?Listen (MP3)
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Israel is simultaneously one of the most inspirational and challenging elements of our curriculum. We are inspired by the achievements of secular Jews: a Jewish state, a revived secular Hebrew language and culture, a new ethos of self-confident Judaism. But the challenges of war and peace, religion and government remain. This topic is taught in 7th/8th grade.Listen (MP3)
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Shabbat Sermon: Many animals besides humans demonstrate generosity for the good of the colony or the herd. But human generosity can help individuals and communities that have little survival value for ourselves. From where does this impulse spring, and how can it be taken too far? What is the right balance of giving to others and strengthening ourselves?Listen (MP3)
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In 2004, Kol Hadash hired Rabbi Adam Chalom as our full-time cultural and philosophic guide. Rabbi Chalom immediately used his energy, talents and good humor to move our congregation forward into our second stage. In this retrospective, Rabbi Chalom's inaugural address to the congregation is featured.Listen (MP3)
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The history of American Jews is changing. The immigrant experience is fading, and new challenges and dynamics are more intriguing. How have we negotiated multiple identities? What have been our successes and failures? An important part of knowing who we are is discovering how we came to be.Listen (MP3)
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In December of 1910, the first ethnic (secular) Jewish school opened in New York City. One hundred years later, we are the heirs not only to traditional Jewish culture, but also specifically the secular and sometimes radical innovations of our precursors in cultural Judaism. What can we glean from this legacy?Listen (MP3)
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Education has always been central to Judaism. Explore how teachers are part of that core and how a good teacher is defined.Listen (MP3)
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Aaron Elster is a child survivor of the Holocaust. He was born in 1933 in the small northeastern village of Sokolow, Podlaski in Poland. Aaron lived in the Sokolow Ghetto with his two sisters, mother and father until the liquidation of the ghetto in September, 1942.

He escaped the liquidation and hid in the surrounding forests and farms. Eventually, Aaron found refuge in the attic of a Polish family, where he hid for two years until the war's end.

More information, including how to obtain a copy of his book can be found at http://www.aaronelster.com

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Rabbi Chalom explores in further detail the institution of the synagogue by looking towards the future and theorizing the role it will play in modern Jewish life.Listen (MP3)
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On March 31, 2011, Rabbi Chalom visited Georgetown University and answered the question of "What is Secular Humanistic Judaism?". We hope you enjoy this bonus edition of the Kol Hadash podcast.Listen (MP3)

Sunday School Guest Speaker Marguerite tells her story to the 7th/8th grade class of growing up in Nazi occupied Belgium. During WWII, Mishkin and her sister Annette were placed under the care of a Belgian Catholic family in 1943 following the death of her father in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. Her mother was able to bring the two girls to safety through the help of the Belgian Resistance. They remained under the Belgian family’s care until 1946, during which time Mishkin’s mother was brought to Auschwitz, where she also perished.
At the end of WWII, Mishkin and her sister moved to a Jewish orphanage in Brussels, Belgium. Then, in 1950, a Chicago rabbi and his wife adopted the girls and raised them in Chicago, where Mishkin was able to graduate from Roosevelt University and later become a teacher. She retired from teaching and now speaks about the Holocaust and her experiences to schools, colleges and community groups.Listen (MP3)
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The central Jewish institution for the past 2000 years has not been a house of God; it has been a house of meeting (beit knesset, or “synagogue”). The synagogue has enabled a dispersed nation to survive, and even to thrive, in very diverse circumstances and surroundings. Discover what the origins of the synagogue can teach us about its current challenges and its future.Listen (MP3)
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Sunday School for Adults. When we only have our students for a few hours a week, why do we spend their precious time learning about other religious beliefs and traditions? Because the more we know about other visions of reality and the good life, the stronger our choices will become. The secret of a Humanistic Jewish education is, that in the end, your life and your beliefs are your own.Listen (MP3)
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Rabbi Chalom reviews Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. This book is a fascinating view of Israeli society and culture and what made it one of the world’s leaders in high-tech industry and creativity.Listen (MP3)
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Rabbi Chalom discusses the political climate in America and analyzes the most recent election results.Listen (MP3)
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Sunday School for Adults. In our 4th/5th-grade Sunday School class, our students begin discovering who they are (and want to become) by exploring the concepts of heroes. Drawing on myth, movies, literature and history, these examples open up conversations of dignity, identity, and choice. These questions remain relevant our entire lives.Listen (MP3)
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Shabbat Service. Jewish communities have bemoaned intermarriage for generations, and it still happens to Jewish families of all affiliations because love has a way of breaking down barriers in a free society. Is it time for new, more welcoming answers to Jews who fall in love with "the other?" And how can this improve Jewish prospects for the future?Listen (MP3)
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Shabbat Service. Recorded on 10/29/2010. Available at Amazon.com - Jews and the Muslim World: Solving the Puzzle
Three years ago, in the aftermath of the death of Humanistic Judaism founder Rabbi Sherwin Wine, the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism held its Colloquium program under the leadership of newly-appointed Dean for North America, Rabbi Adam Chalom. Now the selected proceedings of that conference have been published, and are more timely than ever.Listen (MP3)
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Yom Kippur Memorial Service. Recorded on 9/18/2010. Hope: Grief is a part of life. Those who love, will lose. We seek love, nurture children and work for a better world because of hope. Those who gave us life and love have proven the power of hope through their example.Listen (AAC)

Yom Kippur Morning Service. Recorded on 9/18/2010. Balance: We face many desires, demands and priorities. What we need above all is our sense of self amid the pushes and pulls of life. To maintain composure, find integrity and live with dignity, we seek balance.Listen (MP3)
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Yom Kippur Evening Service. Recorded on 9/17/2010. Recorded on 9/17/2010. Beauty: Imagination and the quest for beauty are essentially human -- and necessary for the good life. Finding beauty in nature and in human creativity not only pleases the senses; it attunes us to seek beauty in human interactions. Aesthetics and ethics inspire each other.Listen (MP3)
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Rosh Hashana Morning Service. Recorded on 9/9/2010. Joy - There is no substitute for happiness. Without the energy, enthusiasm and satisfaction that joy brings to our existence, no amount of concentration and effort can significantly transform our existence.Listen (MP3)
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Rosh Hashana Evening Service. Recorded on 9/8/2010. Purpose - A life without meaning is difficult. That is why we must seek purpose through our choices and actions. No outside authority will tell us what to do -- we are condemned, and liberated, to define a life worth living for ourselves.Listen (MP3)
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