Looking for your next great podcast? Graduates from each of our programs have taken to the airwaves this past year, whether on their own podcasts or as guests on others’. The next time you’re taking a walk, commuting, or just lounging around, consider giving one of these (or all of them) a listen!
As our community grows, we’re proud to highlight how Mandel graduates are contributing across their fields of practice. These wide-ranging conversations represent the perspectives of individual graduates and do not imply endorsement.
Cultural Leadership Program
- Antonia Lassar (Cohort II) hosted Eliana Light (Educational Leadership Program, Cohort II) on Yenta!, a podcast Antonia co-hosts with Raye Schiller. Antonia and Eliana discussed inclusive prayer services, having “permission to suck,” what it takes to have a transcendent singing experience, and more. You can also catch Antonia as a featured guest on Frieda Vizel’s channel.
- Laura Elkeslassy (Cohort I) joined Meklit Hadero on Movement to share about how Laura came into the music of her Moroccan ancestors. Although she learned the Arabic of her grandparents later in life than she would have liked, Laura now relishes the ability to sing in the languages of her forebearers. On the show, she speaks about the power of her reclamation work, sharing material from her project Ya Ghorbati, a folio with recordings, essays, and images highlighting the music of Judeo-Arab divas from the past century. She also connects her cultural work to the ruptures produced by a “politics of exile,” reflecting her family’s history in North Africa and the Middle East and forces that continue to shape the region today.
Educational Leadership Program
- Yael Jaffe (Cohort II), a Judaics teacher at an Orthodox day school, started Let’s Take a Step Back to get parents and educators in Jewish day schools “to really think about what they are trying to achieve and how they get there.” Yael unpacks the tensions created when fun rather than depth of knowledge is employed as a marker of success; she discusses how students can better engage with opposing opinions; and she shares about a program she piloted to deepen students’ connections to God. Episodes are released monthly, and Yael has already featured the work of fellow Mandel graduate Rachel Dingman!
Executive Leadership Program
- Daniel Held (Cohort I) featured on an episode of Tête-à-tête: Conversations in Canadian Jewish Studies, hosted by Jonathan Slater. Dan shared his insights about the issues facing Canadian Jewish education and the field more broadly. He relayed the importance of the family for establishing continued Jewish practice while stressing that family traditions and learning must happen in concert with experiences outside the home.
- Adina Frydman (Cohort I) joined the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Identity/Crisis podcast, hosted by Claire Sufrin. Adina, who serves as the CEO of Young Judaea Global, spoke at length about Jewish summer camp and what she has observed over the years at Camp Judaea. The pair discussed camp culture and how it seeps into everyday life once the summer ends, and they engaged in a deeper conversation about Camp Judaea’s attempts to facilitate meaningful dialogue around Israel. Adina shared her efforts to “expand the tent” of who feels at home in the Camp Judaea community while maintaining its identity as a movement deeply connected to Israel.
- Betsy Polk Joseph (Cohort IV) took what was a seed from her final Mandel capstone project and turned it into inCollaboration, a podcast unpacking collaborative capacity within and beyond the Jewish communal ecosystem. In each episode, she spotlights examples of people who’ve collaborated in deep and creative ways, most recently engaging in conversation with Liz Berger and fellow Executive Leadership graduate Stacey Aviva Flint (Cohort IV).
-Andrew Barnwell: Program Associate, Mandel Institute
