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Welcome to Temple Sholom's podcast, where we strive to create a sacred community that truly embraces, inspires, and matters. Each episode features enlightening sermons from Shabbat and holiday services, engaging guest lectures, and thought-provoking conversations that reflect our commitment to fostering a meaningful and inclusive environment. Join us as we explore the depths of faith, spirituality, and community life. Whether you're here for inspiration or information, we're delighted to share this spiritual journey with you.
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Recorded live on February 13, 2026.Reflecting on Bad Bunny’s unapologetic performance in Spanish and the debate it sparked about who “belongs” in America, Rabbi Antman connects the Torah’s call to pursue justice and aid even those we dislike with the moral responsibility to expand our shared sense of community. Drawing on Exodus, midrash, and the teaching that holiness lives in everyday deeds, he challenges us to unburden not only one another’s struggles, but also the hatred in our own hearts—so that together, we might build a more expansive and compassionate society.
Recorded live on February 6, 2026, this Musical Shabbat service features Rabbi Joe Black in an evening shaped entirely by song, storytelling, and spiritual reflection. Through original music and gentle humor, Rabbi Black explores memory, aging, grief, love, and the threads that bind the Jewish people across difference and time.Rabbi Joe Black is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Denver and a nationally recognized, award-winning songwriter and musician whose decades-long rabbinic career has spanned congregations in Denver, Albuquerque, and Minneapolis. He has recorded multiple acclaimed albums, published widely across Jewish and literary publications, won American Songwriter Magazine’s Lyric Contest twice, and shared his music and writing with communities around the world.This episode includes selections from the service. The full Musical Shabbat—featuring Rabbi Black’s music throughout—is available to watch via the YouTube livestream:https://youtube.com/live/70EbU6hv1XY
Recorded live on Jan. 30, 2026 Temple Sholom welcomed author, teacher, and speaker Amy Fish for a special Shabbat service marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the season of Tu BiShvat—a powerful pairing of memory and renewal.Amy shares the extraordinary true story behind her book One in Six Million: The Baby by the Roadside and the Man Who Retraced a Holocaust Survivor’s Lost Identity: an infant found abandoned in Poland in 1942, the decades-long search for her origins, and the global network of volunteers and genealogists who helped reunite her with family—against all odds. Through humor, heartbreak, and awe, Amy explores what it means to reclaim identity, honor the past, and carry forward a spark of light in dark times.This program is part of the Elaine and Monroe Roth Speaker Program.
This month, the Temple Sholom clergy welcomed Yolanda Savage-Narva to a special episode of Beyond the Bimah for Black History Month. Yolanda, who serves as the Vice President of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the URJ, shared her experience as a Black Jew and the complicated story of Black–Jewish partnership during the civil rights movement and beyond. She also encouraged the creation of “brave spaces” and gave voice to how synagogues can continue doing the essential work of addressing systemic biases in their communities.
Is hope something you feel—or something you do?In this special Beyond the Bimah roundtable, Rabbi Scott Gellman sits down with Rabbi Shoshanah Conover, Cantor Sheera Ben-David, and Rabbi Max Antman to wrestle with one big question: how do we hold onto tikvah when the world feels fragile, exhausting, and uncertain?From the prophet Jeremiah’s 70-year vision to gam zeh ya’avor, from religious school carpools to elders who refuse to disengage, this conversation explores why Jewish hope is not optimism, not denial—and never passive. It’s brave. It’s demanding. And it asks something of us.A candid, funny, and deeply grounding conversation about resilience, responsibility, and why Judaism insists we keep showing up—even when we don’t know how the story ends.
Recorded live on Jan. 23, 2026Drawing on this week’s Torah portion, Bo, and an audacious rabbinic midrash that imagines Pharaoh himself capable of repentance, Rabbi Conover explores what Jewish tradition teaches about tyranny, accountability, and moral transformation. From the Exodus story to the Book of Jonah, she traces how our most central narratives are not meant to be remembered passively—but reenacted as calls to action in every generation.This sermon asks urgent questions for our own time: How do we respond to broken systems, leaders who harden their hearts, and moments that demand courage? What does it mean to raise our voices together—not only in defiance, but in affirmation of a shared mission grounded in dignity, justice, and equity?
Recorded live Jan. 16, 2026In this special Sholom Justice Shabbat, Rabbi Gellman reframes a familiar phrase—not as permission to wait, but as a call to act. Justice does not move forward on its own; it passes through moments because people show up, organize, and refuse to look away.Joined by co-chairs of Sholom Justice, Maddie Sulkin and Zachary Friedmayer, this episode lifts up the real, tangible impact of Temple Sholom’s justice work over the past year—from serving thousands of meals, to lifesaving blood drives, to advocacy victories, refugee support, and standing up to hate and injustice in our city and beyond.This is a sermon of pride and purpose: a reminder that justice is not abstract at Temple Sholom. It is hands cooking, voices advocating, and a community committed to turning values into action—again and again. A powerful reflection on hope, responsibility, and what it means to be partners in shaping what comes next.
Recorded live on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026What if every day is lagniappe—an extra gift you didn’t earn, but get anyway?In this sermon, Rabbi Conover explores the power of names—and the power of second chances. From the surprising concept of lagniappe (the 13th bagel in a baker’s dozen) to Alfred Nobel’s “early obituary” that changed his legacy, Rabbi Conover reflects on the moments that wake us up and invite us to live differently.With Moses’ call from the burning bush and the Torah’s pattern of transformational renaming—Sarai to Sarah, Avram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel—this teaching asks a piercing question we can’t avoid: when the time comes, will we have lived as who we truly are meant to be?A timely meditation on destiny, courage, and choosing what kind of difference we want to make—before we run out of “extra days.”
In this sermon on Parshat Vayechi, Rabbi Gellman explores what it means to gather—again and again—especially when it’s inconvenient, exhausting, or uncertain. Drawing on the final moments of Jacob’s life and the legacy he leaves through Joseph and his children, Rabbi Gellman reflects on how Jewish continuity is built not through passion alone, but through repeated acts of presence, honesty, and shared values.From lifelong friendships forged at Jewish summer camp to the quiet courage it takes to walk into a community for the first time, this sermon invites us to consider what we choose to gather around, what we bless, and what we carry forward together. Because Judaism doesn’t endure by accident—it endures because people keep showing up.
Recorded live on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025In a world shaped by relentless trauma, violence, and uncertainty, many of us have learned to numb ourselves just to get through the day. In this deeply moving sermon, Rabbi Antman explores what it means to feel again—and why doing so is essential to healing.Weaving together personal reflection, the rising tide of antisemitism, modern psychology, and the biblical story of Joseph in Parshat Vayigash, Rabbi Antman examines how emotional paralysis can become a survival strategy—and how tears, vulnerability, and honest feeling can become a path back to ourselves. Drawing on Torah, contemporary research, and moments of profound human connection, this sermon invites us to honor the cracks in our hearts as the beginning of repair.As we enter a new year, this episode offers a gentle but urgent reminder: our emotions are not a weakness. They are an instrument of healing.
Recorded live on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. What if Chanukah isn’t just a gentle holiday of light—but a bold statement about power, identity, and refusal to disappear?In this sermon, Rabbi Scott Gellman reframes Chanukah as a story of Jewish power rooted not in dominance, but in conviction, communal courage, and moral clarity. Beneath the candles, latkes, and familiar melodies lies a confrontational narrative about who gets to define Jewish life—and what it means to remain visible in a world that often demands erasure.Drawing connections between ancient empires, modern antisemitism, interfaith courage, and Reform Jewish values, Rabbi Gellman invites us to rethink how we show up in the world. From the Maccabees to Joseph, from public resistance to quiet acts of continuity, this sermon calls us to embrace a Judaism that is lived, substantive, and unapologetically present.This Chanukah, may we wish one another something deeper than “happy.”Have a powerful Chanukah.
What is hope, really—and can it be measured?In this special guest conversation, recorded at a live event on Dec. 5, Rabbi Scott Gellman sits down with political psychologist Dr. Oded Leshem, founder of the International Hub for Hope Research (ReHOPE) at Hebrew University and author of Hope Amidst Conflict. Together, they explore hope not as a vague slogan, but as a measurable force with two dimensions: what we wish for, and what we believe is possible.From the difference between hope and wishful thinking to why hope only counts when it’s tied to action, Dr. Leshem offers a powerful framework for anyone trying to hold onto tikvah in complicated times.
Recorded live on Dec. 12, 2025, Rabbi Max Antman explores Parashat Vayeshev in a sermon titled “Between Truth and Peace.” Drawing on a powerful midrash about the angels of truth and peace, Rabbi Antman reflects on the danger of wielding truth without compassion and the spiritual cost of honesty that fractures relationships rather than heals them.Through the story of Joseph and his brothers, contemporary examples, and personal reflection, this sermon asks what it means to balance emet (truth) and shalom (peace) in a world shaped by trauma, misinformation, and division. Rabbi Antman challenges us to consider not only whether something is true, but how and why we choose to say it — and invites us to speak in ways that build dignity, connection, and hope.
Recorded live on Dec. 5, 2025, Temple Sholom welcomes political psychologist Dr. Oded Leshem for a special Shabbat exploring what it means to hope in times of crisis. Drawing on Parashat Vayishlach and his research on “hope amidst conflict,” Dr. Leshem reflects on Jacob’s struggle as a model for active hope—the kind that both comforts and compels us to act. He considers how hope can shape Israeli and global society today, from social movements and war-weariness to rebuilding the relationship between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.
An intimate, pre-Shabbat conversation between Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl and Rabbi Shoshanah Conover explores the stories and spirituality behind Buchdahl’s new memoir, Heart of a Stranger. Together they reflect on identity, belonging, and the “heart of a stranger” as a profoundly Jewish experience—shaped by family, resilience, and honest self-examination. They speak candidly about building communities where all feel seen, confronting painful truths in Jewish institutions, and leading with vulnerability. The gathering closed, fittingly, with a rendition of Debbie Friedman’s ‘L’chi Lach’.
Recorded live on Nov. 28, 2025, Cantor Ben-David offers a heartfelt and deeply human reflection. Drawing on Parashat Vayetze and the week of Thanksgiving, she explores Jacob’s complicated family story—not as distant biblical history, but as a mirror to our own lives filled with love, frustration, longing, jealousy, gratitude, and growth.Through humor, Torah, and honest storytelling, Cantor Ben-David highlights the sacred work of looking out for one another, embracing our role as each other’s gabbai—a safety net—and practicing shmirat haguf, the care and guardianship of our bodies and our community.
In this week’s sermon recorded live on Nov. 21, 2025, on Parashat Toldot, Rabbi Scott Gellman explores what happens when we mistake blessings for something scarce — something to hoard, compete for, or trademark like a plant at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Through the story of Jacob and Esau, and through the lived reality of North Side Chicago’s vibrant Jewish ecosystem, Rabbi Gellman invites us into a theology of abundance: a world where community, compassion, and justice grow when shared. With reflections on homelessness, immigration, and mental health, he reminds us that each person has a unique blessing to bring — and that when we trust one another to carry our lanes of sacred work, our collective blessings multiply.
Temple Sholom welcomed Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, for an unforgettable Shabbat filled with song, spirit, and storytelling. Rabbi Buchdahl reflected on her remarkable journey—from her interfaith upbringing in Korea to becoming the first Asian American ordained as both cantor and rabbi—and spoke about her latest book, Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.This episode was recorded live on Nov. 14, 2025 | Temple Sholom of Chicago
Recorded live on Nov. 7, 2025 In this week’s sermon on Parashat Vayeira, Rabbi Scott Gellman explores what it means to build real community across profound differences. Inspired by a viral video of middle-schoolers belting out a K-Pop song together—off-beat, imperfect, but united—he turns to Abraham’s open-sided tent as a model for radical hospitality and shared purpose. In a moment when political, religious, and social divides feel sharper than ever, Rabbi Gellman reflects on how his own congregation already embodies a living coalition: praying together, serving together, and choosing human dignity over ideological purity. This is a call to widen our circles, trust the “music” of our shared values, and bring the compassion of our sanctuary into the streets of Chicago and beyond. Shabbat Shalom.
Recorded live on Oct. 31, 2025 | Parshat Lech LechaRabbi Antman draws on a midrash about Avram and the “palace in flames” to explore what it means to see a burning world and choose responsibility over resignation. Interweaving personal family history and the call of Lech Lecha, he challenges us to sharpen our awareness—to stop, notice, and respond when injustice, pain, or indifference threaten to consume what is sacred. With moral clarity and compassion, Rabbi Antman reminds us that being a caretaker of God’s world is the holiest inheritance we can claim.
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