the light lab podcast
Episode 29: The Torah is Your Business (Live at NewCAJE)
This week, Eliana and Ellen are live from the NewCAJE Jewish education conference! Together we dive deep into, appropriately, the blessing for studying Torah. Whether it’s the Torah of the James Webb Space Telescope or the Torah of grammar nerdery, small-t torah or big-T Torah, a knot in a string of pearls or a sparkly letter “aleph,” it is sweet and it is your business.
Episode 18: Siddur as Work of Art (with Rabbi Elie Kaunfer)
It's an honor to share our interview with Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, president and CEO of the Hadar Institute. Rabbi Kaunfer is an incredible teacher, author, and liturgist. In fact, we’ve quoted him on the podcast many times- if you’ve ever heard us say “intertext,” we learned that from him! Rabbi Kaunfer shows us how so much of the siddur is made up of quotes from our sacred texts. Looking at those lines in their original context can deepen our understanding of the liturgy itself. He’s currently working on a book applying the intertext model to the whole Amidah, and shares some of those gems in this episode. We hope this “news you can use” sparks new meaning for your t’fillah!