Judaism Unbound

We often hear about “radical amazement” in Jewish circles. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, z”l, coined the phrase. “Awareness of the divine,” he wrote, “begins with wonder. … Wonder or radical amazement, the state of maladjustment to words and notions, is therefore a prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is.”

Over ten years after my first conversation with Lex Rofeberg, now senior educator and the co-founder of Judaism Unbound, I’ve realized that there is also such a thing as radical acceptance.

Back in 2014, Lex was working as an Education Fellow for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. I was the student rabbi for a small congregation in Concord, NC. He was looking for Jewish Renewal community to work with as part of his internship; I was thrilled to have the help.

Both of us were interested in all forms of Judaism, forms largely left unexplored by mainstream university courses and seminary settings. We appreciated rabbinic traditions without declaring rabbinic Judaism Judaism-per–se.

What did we make of a stele that described Yom Kippur in almost meditative terms from the Kaifeng Jewish community? What did either of us find fascinating about the drum regarded as the ark by the Lemba, a South African tribe? What might the Ethiopian Jewish festival of Sigd suggest about interfaith work is a natural outcome of Jewish practice? (A holiday, Lex later discovered, that lands on his birthday…)

Likewise, we were both attracted to a wide variety of Jewish writings that extended well beyond Tanakh and Talmud. We wanted to know what other ancient texts offer us, and that included anything from the short Book of Tobit to Jubilees, a richly developed work of quite some intricacy.

Both of us are now ordained rabbis, though neither of us defaults to the title. We are devoted to conversations around Judaism or Jewish practice with anyone who is interested to be rewarding. We do not aim to convert. We do not aim to convince. We aim to unpack.

Just one look at the wide-ranging of topics that Judaism Unbound has addressed, the incredible diversity of its podcasts, its programs, and its classes, makes clear how dedicated its leaders are to radical acceptance.

A good portion of Judaism and Jewish practice has been constrained by the need to create boundaries and fences, to define who is and who is not Jewish and who can and who cannot participate, share, and celebrate what Judaism offers.

But when we begin with open hearts, with radical acceptance of what diverse Jewish communities have offered in the past, what contemporary communities offer in the present, and what those alongside us want to offer the future, we are all the richer for it.

I’m so proud to be among the teachers for Judaism Unbound’s spring Unyeshiva schedule. I hope to practice radical acceptance in my teaching; I can guarantee that everyone who works with and for Judaism Unbound will be behind that effort.

To those of you I am soon to meet in God’s Bod: An Anatomy of YHVH, The Israelite Deity, welcome!

To those who are interested in enrolling, I have a coupon for 20% off the incredibly reasonable tuition to offer: 20GODWITHBOD25

To those of you who find the term radical acceptance intriguing, I suggest you check out each and every course the Unyeshiva is offering – now and in the future.

Here’s the link: Unyeshiva Spring 2025

American Jews mostly believe that “the” rabbis saved Judaism, that the Baal Shem Tov was a simple man of the people, and that Judas Maccabaeus led a battle against the dangers of assimilation.

None of this is true. Still,, we often rely on myths like these to define our failings as Jews.

It is too bad, really. Our history is far more complicated and far more interesting. What we can learn from it can be more than simply informative — it can press a reset button on our understanding of what it means to be Jewish.

I offer an example: the last myth I mentioned in the first paragraph: Hanukkah is a celebration of resistance. Judas Maccabaeus fought against oppression and assimilation and his story is a warning and an inspiration to us to maintain our Jewish practices and rituals.

I explored this myth with Judaism Unbound listeners this past week. I pointed out that while it is true that II Maccabees refers to both Hellenism and Judaism, nowhere do the references introduce these two words as competing concepts. As historian Erich Gruen notes: “The laudatory monograph on Judas Maccabaeus, II Maccabees, the one work regularly cited as the locus classicus for the battle against Hellenism, does not make the point” (my emphasis).

In I Maccabees, Greeks, as such, go entirely unmentioned. The author describes foes as the “surrounding nations.” He even uses Greek terminology, labeling the enemy as “barbarian hordes”!

Our author is engaging in a time-worn tactic of the Second Temple period: making current events like biblical ones. That’s how you add gravitas and authenticity to your story. Just as Joshua fought against the Canaanites, Moabites, and Amorites, we Jews of Second Temple must fight the “sons of Esau” and those who live in “Philistia.” The author of Esther does the same thing, tying his story to biblical history by claiming Agagite heritage for Haman and Benjaminite ancestry for Mordecai.

In actual fact, Jewish leaders of Second Temple times negotiated and parlayed with their royal overlords (sometimes playing one off against the other). Mostly, they get a good piece of what they want, too: the right to practice their customs, the right to offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor rather than to the emperor, the right to send tithes to the Temple, and so on. Is their occasional friction? Absolutely.

Still, there is no evidence that life among the Greeks was imagined as a bitter contest between “Hellenism” and “Judaism.” Ancient Jews wrote mostly in Greek, generally spoke Greek, and likely thought in Greek. Jews gave their children Greek names, they printed Palestinian coinage with Greek images on one side and Jewish ones on the other, and they are wrote their civil documents in Greek.

Ezekiel (not the prophet, a writer of 2^nd century BCE) wrote a play in which he depicted Moses in the mode of a Greek philosopher king. The author of Joseph and Asenath produced a romance in the style of Greek novels in which Joseph shows up with a crown of twelve radiant points that makes him look suspiciously like the god Helios. Aristobulus of Alexandria (2^nd BCE) claimed Plato got his best ideas from Moses and the Letter of Aristeas offered a picture of seventy Jewish elders explaining philosophy to King Ptolemy.

Jews successfully negotiate their position in the Greco-Roman society. They are appropriating, not assimilating. They not only remain Jews, they proudly declare their traditions to be superior to Greek ones, even the source for Greek ideas.

We should think about why this history is retold as one of oppositions and dangers around “assimilation.” There is a polemic and a subtext here that rabbis, mostly, insist on (past and present).

Should we see this story as one about the dangers of assimilation when the time really tells us how well Jews manage living in other cultures while remaining proud and confident Jews?

I vote for the latter. It might set us up for a wholly different kind of Hanukkah celebration.

I dedicate this post to soon-to-be-rabbi Lex Rofeberg (January 2021!), co-founder of Judaism Unbound. He and his colleague, Daniel Libenson, offer a venue for exploring Jewish life, Jewish doings, and Jewish history in ways that can excite and liberate Jews anywhere in the world.

Tag: Judaism Unbound

Radical Acceptance: Judaism Unbound and the Unyeshiva

Jewish History – Unbound