Listen to a new two-part High Holidays podcast “Here We Are,” fresh out of Providence, Rhode Island. In a time of unprecedented turmoil, this group of Jewish students has gathered stories and reflections on how they’re entering the new year in the face of a pandemic, climate change, political upheaval, and personal struggle.
Part One:
Part Two:
The Jewish community at Brown and RISD is in a moment of diaspora within diaspora—some of us are isolated on campus, some taking classes from afar and some (like myself) herding dozens of screaming geese through a smoky California valley. As we approach the High Holidays, this scatter feels jarring and unnatural; what should be the reunion and community of early fall has, this year, become a reminder of seemingly insurmountable distance and the hardship of prolonged isolation. Many beloved traditions of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are simply not possible given the inherent restrictions of casual plague, but all this means is that it is time again for the very Jewish practice of collective innovation.
That is precisely what we have tried to do with the Here We Are Podcast—in speaking to a diverse group of students across various spectra of our community, we seek to create a new way for Jewish students on campus to connect with one another during this time. Pieced together from nearly a dozen conversations about what the High Holidays mean to us, Here We Are meditates on and conceptualizes this time of the year, both in light of the ominous, semi-apocalyptic tint of our current world, and in general. We hope that the experiences of communal conversation, reinventing traditions, and collective, critical thought can deepen the meaning of the holidays for our listeners, just as it has done for us.
Here We Are is hosted by Elana Nussbaum-Cohen and Zachary Federman and was produced by Lex Rofeberg, co-host of the Judaism Unbound Podcast. You can listen on the player above, or visit the Brown RISD Hillel website to learn more.
