Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations

Enrich Your Passover Experience

Explore a variety of ways to understand Pesakh and to immerse in its practices.

We have curated a series of essays that open discussions and analyses of Passover by Erica Riddick, Rabbi Margie Jacobs, Rabbi Mychal Copeland, Max Buckler, Dr. Chanda Prescott, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, Rabbi Vivie Mayer, Rabbi Ellen Bernstein, z”l, Dr Shoshana Fershtman and Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein.

The Israel-Hamas War: Reflections in a Time of Crisis

Engage in groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. Review multiple perspectives from Rabbis Haviva Ner-David, Yohanna Kinberg, Jason Bonder, Seth Goldstein, Nathan Kamesar, Arthur Waskow, Robert Tabak, Amy Eilberg, Micah Weiss, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Laurie Zimmerman, David Teutsch, and Dr. Ilan Peleg and Oren Jay Sofer. Explore what’s possible.

Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations

Evolve is an online platform with conversation-sparking essays from thought-provoking rabbis, leaders and creators. Explore essays on key topics, as well as curricula, sermon sparks and videos that apply the best thinking to contemporary questions.

Antisemitism, Identity

Prayer as Resistance: A Shabbat Service in Liberated Dachau

Polish non-Jewish inmates had threatened to break up the service by force if was held in the main square.

Justice, Spiritual Practice

Liberation is Up to Us: Understanding Our Ancestor’s Shortcomings Through the Lens of the Passover Story

The Torah doesn't steer people away from slavery; it merely regulates the “lawful” treatment of human property.

Spiritual Practice

Why Retell the Story of the Exodus From Egyptian Slavery?

We creatively insert ourselves into the mythic story in a way that reflects us, and by doing so, express our deepest values.

Justice, Spiritual Practice

What If We Read Passover as a Solidarity Story?

Abolition is more than the ending of legalized enslavement. It is a dismantling of institutionalized systems of oppression that enslave, imprison and devalue lives deemed expendable.

Episode 51
March 28, 2024

Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, an activist and author, shares what it is like to live in Israel – and be a parent – right now, with all the heartbreak, confusion and glimmers of hope. In this conversation, the author and spiritual director discusses the personal losses she suffered on October 7 and after (9:18) She also shares anxiety about living in Israel’s north and how and why she’s recommitted herself to interfaith peace activism (22:10) and her work with the Standing Together, the grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace . With views on the conflict becoming ever more entrenched, Ner-David’s perspective is refreshingly iconoclastic. Whatever your perspective, left, right or center, she says something to challenge you.

Web Conversations

Evolve Web Conversations are opportunities for you to interact with our authors in real-time, by asking questions and challenging their assumptions. Videos and transcripts are posted in an archive for those who are unable to attend live.