Special Episode: OMfG & The Vibe of the Tribe Crossover

Shalom and welcome to the Vibe of the Tribe podcast from jewishboston.com. I'm Miriam Anzivin, and I'm joined on this episode by my co-host, Dan Seligson. Hi, Dan.

Hello, Miriam. The Vibe of the Tribe is a very Jewish pod, and we want to be BFFs with other very Jewish pods, or VJPs. It just makes sense. And we are excited to welcome Rabbi Jen Gubitz and Jodi Gordon from their new irreverently named podcast, OMFG: Jewish Wisdom for Unprecedented Times. Rabbis, welcome to The Vibe of the Tribe.

Hey, Dan.

Hey, Miriam.

Hi, guys. Thanks for having us.

And throughout this episode, you will also hear comments by Jesse Ulrich. He's not only the founder of The Vibe of the Tribe podcast, he's also our editor. And plot twist, he's also the editor of the OMFG podcast. So Jesse, thank you for being here in your all-knowing omnipresent capacity.

You are very welcome. Hello to my oldest and newest clients.

So, rabbis, tell us about your backgrounds, how you got to know each other, and why you decided to begin this podcast.

So I'm not sure that Jodi and I remember when we first met. I do know that in rabbinical school, because we have the same initials, we sometimes got each other's mail. So that was at least the classic mail exchange. I think this is for you. Jodi, do you remember when we first met?

I do. So I, we, I was applying to HUC, and as part of the application process, they make you go to like a very fancy dinner on the Upper East Side at the home of a board member, which is lovely and also totally feels like, is this part of the test? Like, what am I, you know, so you're like, I'm just going to like a nice dinner. And they also ask for a current student to be there as well. So Jen, you were the current student at my interview dinner. And there was somebody at our dinner who basically talked themselves out of going to HUC over the course of dinner. It was like with each course, they're like, well, you know, the more I think about it, maybe this isn't for me. And they never made it. I hope they're well wherever they are now. And then we rode the subway home to Brooklyn together and talked some more. So I think that might have been the first time.

It was so memorable that it resides deep within me somewhere. Thank you for unearthing it.

Totally, my pleasure.

But so we, Jodi and I, ultimately overlapped at school. There was this thing where the 5th-year students, which was my class, and the 3rd-year students, which was Jodi's class, really vibed together, had a lot of shared friends. And so we also shared a fellowship, which not only paid for most of rabbinical school, but allowed us to gather with lots of other cool thinkers and scholars and classmates to talk about big ideas. And then in the last, I don't know, 6 to 10 years, we've just been texting each other and G-chatting each other and ultimately realized, I mean, who wouldn't want to be inside of our text message, basically? Thus the podcast.

So the tagline for the pod is mining Jewish wisdom for strength and resilience in unprecedented times. And your first episode, we were in some awfully dark times. It was a few days before the presidential election. A lot was at stake. I didn't sleep. The winter was coming. My kids were both learning at home with me. They still are right now, actually. And the toxicity of political discourse and kind of the country was just— it was peaking. You couldn't, you couldn't escape it. And you challenge each other to find metaphors for the moment. And it started with a metaphor of a dumpster fire and ended with counting blessings like counting the stars. And if you can't see the stars, count the stones. And I was like, oh my God, that was just a really powerful beginning. Can you talk a little bit about that first episode? Because I feel like you, you started for me very much with a bang.

Sure. So I, you know, part of the sort of like the provenance story of the podcast also is that like that text message that Jen referred to at sort of at the point where we were nearly a year into the pandemic was also like my life, right? It was just like, it was like instead of screaming into the void, we could like scream into our group text. And Jen had said, hey, I have this idea. I think we should do this podcast. I know what it's called. I don't necessarily know what it's about, but I'm sure we'll figure it out as we go along. And like, and then exactly like you said, there we were, like with everything coming together, we were recording the first time. A week before the election. And Dan, like you, I recorded that first episode like locked away in the corner of my bedroom at this crappy desk I bought off Wayfair that was like already breaking. My kids had already figured out how to—

I'm sitting at that desk right now, like literally.

No thanks, Wayfair. Not— this is not sponsored by Wayfair.

Not sponsored by Wayfair. It's such a piece of junk. My kids had already like figured out how to like pick the lock that we did put on our bedroom door because of the pandemic, because sometimes we would need to really have a closed door. They're 5 and 7, and they, you know, so like everything about it was like deep, dark, dark times. And then, you know, we both love metaphors. And so I think there was something about those first episodes especially that were as much for me as they were for the project. Like, it was as much about that hour that I got to spend at my junkie desk behind a locked door thinking out loud with someone who I love and admire and is a friend and a colleague, right? Like, it was as much for me as it was for anyone listening. And I think probably if you asked me at the time, like, did I care if anyone listened, I'd be like, "I don't know," but like, that felt good, which was hard to come by in those days.

We had no idea if anyone would listen. And I think that that's actually, like Jodi said, not even the point, although we're so grateful to all of our listeners. But that something that people say about rabbis is that they often write the sermon they need to hear. And usually it dovetails with what's going on in the world or with the cycle of Torah. And I think that that's what we were doing was sort of, Dan, what you were, what really struck you, I think struck us too as we did it. And we were like, whoa, that felt really nourishing. And that felt really purposeful. And maybe it will help people too. That would be nice. And if not, what a nice exercise for the two of us to think out loud together and to really root the human experience of today and the human experience of the lifetime of the Jewish people.

So about those metaphors, it seems like we are a lifetime away and most of us two shots since that horrible early November. What is your metaphor now?

Is it like a regular fire?

It could be.

Controlled fire.

Now it's fireworks because that's what's going on in Boston at night.

Boom.

My dog is very upset about it.

Mine is on anxiety medicine.

Yes, mine too. I would just like to break into this podcast to say, if you are putting on fireworks, just don't. Just don't. For the dogs of Massachusetts and the world and the babies and the people who just can't stand loud noises, just stop what you're doing.

Resume.

Sorry.

Are they like test— is it just regular people setting off fireworks, or are they like testing the big show for—

I don't know who they are.

It's just regular folks.

I just know, as long as we're talking about this for like 5 more seconds, they are my enemy.

You all live in the city.

Well, Well, not you, Jesse, so maybe you're with me. Well, no, Tulsa's a city.

It's a city.

Yeah.

Excuse me, it's a city.

Rude.

It's not a real place at all.

My East Coast-centric asshole just came out. But what I mean to say is that I do truly live in the country with like Trumpies who live around me, and we have neighbors across the street that do set off fireworks like just for kicks all the time.

So I will say that there's a similar situation here.

I mean, it's Oklahoma.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah, we're actually escaping to the Berkshires for the Fourth of July so that we can do less medicine for our dog. Metaphors, metaphors.

So dog medicine.

So I think the code word metaphor, like if we're going to code switch, metaphor is also for me midrash, right? What is the story that I hang on to that maybe is an archetype story in Jewish tradition? And so, so I do love that the metaphor around bless what you have, just be glad for what you have. Is one of my favorite midrashim from Genesis. And there is another midrash that I think we've probably— I've probably used it because it's like one of my touchstones— is about when Joseph goes back from Egypt and he's already this big powerful guy, and he actually passes by the pit into which his brothers threw him. And, and they're freaking out because they're like, oh gosh, he's powerful, what's he going to do to us? And the midrash actually says that he doesn't— he's not devising a plan of retribution. Instead, he's reflecting on the depth of his life and offering a word of gratitude for who he has become in spite of or because of that pit. And so that's sort of my metaphor right now. I mean, I'm not— I'm always trying to like bless the pits, as it were, find gratitude in those dark moments. And I think I carry that hope with me even though it's hard to do. But I'm definitely still like, let's bless what we got. You know, if we don't have light for Havdalah. At least we have fireworks.

Uh, note to myself later: insert, uh, "We Fell in the Pit" from Proxima Creation.

Ooh, I fell in the pit.

You fell in the pit.

That is a really good way to visualize it. This past year has been a pit, and we are outside of the pit. And we're like, oh God, let's not fall back into that pit. Exactly.

The pit is—

Let's talk about the name of your podcast. OMFG, in its most common form, contains the F word, which while Dan and I have uttered from time to time, Try not to use too much on the vibe of the tribe. And what I mean by that is we use it constantly, and then Jesse has to edit it out.

I do.

He collects them to save in a folder to use it against us for incriminating evidence if he ever needs that.

It's called Miriam's Blackmail is the name of the folder.

That's true. But the F in OMFG actually has multiple meanings. Tell us about what it really means to you.

I mean, is this where we just admit, like, it means what you think it means? Because it's been that kind of year. And— And it's lowercase because, like, it's not everything, right? Like, how many times this year did we utter that delightful F-word, right? And really mean it. Like, let's just own that. And if I have congregants listening, like, it's true. Your rabbi knows the F-word and uses it like sprinkles on ice cream.

But amen, right?

Like, it's lowercase.

And that was the metaphor. That was the metaphor. Thank you.

Sprinkling F-bombs on ice cream.

Like, I Like, yes.

Totally. You know, and like, and it's not everything. And so, you know, part of, of sort of like the design of sort of how we started writing it with the lowercase f and also the sort of the device of having very cute little children with their cute little voices tell us their favorite F-word, I think was also a way of trying to sort of like defang the experience of this past year in a little way, right? How much— like, when could we find like a little bit more of the G in OMFG and sort of moments of light, um, or moments of spaciousness? And you know, like hearing a little kid be like, my favorite F word is french fries, you're like, you know what, got me through this year. And that's so true.

Shout out to french fries.

Huge shout out to french fries.

We had some pushback from various people being like, are you sure you want to include the F word? And so that was also our negotiation was like, if it's lowercase, it's expansive in meaning.

Which I would add one thing about that. So you guys are a Jewish podcast.

Allegedly, that's what we thought.

Allegedly. Us too. And I think that there's been this interesting human experience over the past 14 months of What does it mean to see some people that you thought were superhuman be really human? And so for the first couple of months of the pandemic, Jen, I think you were in a similar position, I was doing Zoom coffee dates and all sorts of just things on Zoom for my congregants because our job was to metabolize the crisis for them. I think that's a great line that Jen and I heard together recently. And to be the ones who had an answer of like, oh, we're just, we're going to make sure we see you more. We're going to get on Zoom and drink coffee together. We're going to do all these things. And eventually even the superheroes crash and scream the F-word, right? And so for the people who pushed back of like, what does it mean to have rabbis acknowledging like the F in OMFG? To me, it was also this like, yep, we've been living through the same pandemic, right? Like we didn't have a special place we got to go where it didn't exist and we could just take care of you from there. You know, we've been in that same rocky, vote too.

That's a really great point, and not holding, you know, spiritual leadership up to a standard that we don't hold the rest of ourselves up to during this time. Like, if the rest of us can express our deep frustration and sadness and fear and all these emotions by using some swears, I, as the official rabbi of the Five of the Tribe— I'm not a rabbi, I allow it. I have given myself smicha to allow it in this context.

Amen.

So one thing I really love about listening to your podcast is you give some shoutouts to female voices in the Torah, female figures in the Torah, like the daughters of Tzelekhad, especially Sarah bat Asher, who's a biblical character mentioned in both Genesis, Bereshit, and Bamidbar, Numbers. Can you give our listeners a sense of why you love her and her role in the Torah midrash, and what other female figures you are excited to introduce to your listeners and why?

So Sarah bat Asher is this kind of mother time, eternal character throughout Torah and throughout midrash. And basically, when it's time for them to leave Egypt, they need to take everything with them. And so someone says, you know, Where's Joseph's bones? And no one knows except for Sarah bat Asher, because somehow she was there from, from Genesis until Bamidbar/Numbers. And so the rabbis are like, how? And so she's also one of the few women that's mentioned, you know. She's the daughter of Asher. Mostly men are mentioned because patriarchy, because Torah. And so they sort of invent her as this, this wise being that is always there, and at really critical moments in Jewish time. And so I love that it's a woman who carries forward the memory that they need to take with them. It's also, you know, we think of all these redemptive moments. It's Miriam, who somehow in their fleeing of Egypt remembers to pack a timbrel. You know, they had— we had matzah. But she brought a timbrel. And so Sarah Ba'at Asher is this, like, amazing— I feel like definitely someone should make a superhero movie about her. Not really my superhero movies, like, I watch them, I'm not really well versed in them, but I think Sarah could be among them.

Wait, we've talked about this, Jen. Either a superhero movie, or if you've ever had the Fishes Eddy Heroes of the Torah drinking glasses that they made that are just like all of these Hasidic male rabbis.

Oh my goodness.

Rabbis, like, we love them too. But I feel like if there was like a Heroines of the Torah drinking glass series that, that Fishes Eddy could sell for, you know, like $54 for 4 glasses, like Sarah bat Asher definitely gets a glass.

Jodi, I think that should be our side project.

I was going to say, like, the swag. Is it sexist of me to say, should it be a wine glass? Right on top of a shot glass.

All right.

So that's— yeah, that's an item of swag you should make.

But Jodi, who are other women, um, because you brought up the daughters of Saleph HaKad—

um, who else are awesome? And, and here's one thing that I love. So Jen and I are like second-ish generation female rabbis, and there's already like women being ordained who, who, because of the world and technology and Gen Z, feel like a different generation than me. Even Jen, I don't know if you know if you feel the same way. And so like, we're at a point where it's like, okay, well, if you think like Miriam and the daughters of Tzilochad are cool, like wait till I tell you about Judith, right? They're like, oh my girl, Judah.

Okay, so yeah, yeah, El and Judith.

Yeah, El and Judith, I feel like definitely could use some uplift. You know, the stories for your listeners who maybe don't know why Judith is so great. You know, Judith is, you know, she's described first as this like as a wealthy widow. Who goes out of her house. So like, scandalous. First, she went out of her house, and she wasn't wearing her mourning garb. My God, save Jerusalem and to save the Jewish people. You know, she manages to sort of like wile her way into the presence of the enemy general Holofernes and get him like good and drunk so that she could, you know, behead him. So like, okay, so maybe whether we love violent stories like this, and maybe we don't, it would be such a Great HBO or Netflix miniseries, if anyone from those are listening.

Jodi, you forgot the salty cheese piece. Ah yes, the salty cheese, which I just think means that we should have a cheese store called Judith's Salty Cheese.

But also, it's like, here's this thing, like, where we— we're also where, like, women's wisdom isn't always honored or seen as wisdom, you know? Thinking about, like, the Sarah bat Asher story, it's like, of course a woman had to travel 400 years in history to remember where something was. Like, can you imagine? Like, did you look in the bridge, like, on the bones.

And like, no one wrote it down. Oh, he's buried over there. Can we get a woman to remember this for us?

Totally. And then it's like, with Judith, it's like, oh, how am I gonna— you know, I'm gonna make him thirsty, right? I'm gonna feed him salty cheese, like, literally and figuratively. Yeah, I don't know. Where am I? Just got that. I was like, you know, 8 seconds behind, and then— well played.

Yeah, so if somebody could make the, the Yael tent peg through the head and the Judith beheading Holofernes, I mean, I know that we hear about them because they are these sort of, quote unquote, violent characters, although I think it's completely defensible and I will defend everything they did. But yeah, they sort of fill this, quote unquote, masculine role in a way. I don't think it really is a masculine role, but that's kind of why we hear about them. But again, everybody go out and Google these people, look at these figures. They're very, very interesting biblical characters.

Subversive.

Subversive. Yes. Yes.

Just a reminder, the Torah, super violent. So—

What?

Yeah.

We're going to get into that a little bit later. In fact, right now in our question. Okay.

Good transition.

Okay. Because in a recent episode about the holiday of Shavuot, wherein Jews mark the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, you talk about how our tradition teaches that all Jews were present at the giving of the Torah. That means Jews who were alive then and also souls just who hadn't been put in bodies yet, just floating around. All the Jews were there. That's the, that's the whole thing about Mount Sinai. And in that episode, you speculate on what you would have worn at Mount Sinai. And I think this is a great and important question to also ask ourselves. Dan, what would you have worn to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai?

All right, so I put some thought into this because honestly you asked me this question earlier today, so I did have a chance to prepare. I want to be dressy but smart for a day like this. So dressy in that you got to wear a suit, you're getting the Torah for God's sake. And I would say, so I thought about this, I would wear a suit, but I think I'd want a linen suit because it's going to be hot as f, lowercase f. And I want to be ready So I'll have sneakers on so that if the shit hits the fan, which, you know, could happen at any moment when you have a moment of this, this kind of power and this sort of uncertainty and gravitas, like, I got to be able to bolt. I would wear a suit and some white sneakers ready to run if I need to.

This is a great, you know, very interesting point. So what I had said when I was thinking, what would I have worn at Mount Sinai? Initially, I was like, What outfit? And then I'm like, no, no, no, think about it more basically. I would have worn Kevlar because what a lot of the stories leave out is that Moses and the Levites go around and stab a ton of people who, um, were involved in the whole, uh, golden calf situation. So I would have worn a Kevlar under, uh, like shirt or whatever under everything, so I would have survived that. And on top, a cute like sundress, but Kevlar underneath. Jesse, what would have you worn?

I would have dressed in one of, uh, Michael Weston from Burn Notice's outfits because he was in Miami a lot, but also looking nice. So, you know, like a suit, but just like with a button-down shirt, like with the top button undone, uh, but then also Kevlar underneath that.

Yeah, I would bring a tie. I think you're right. I would bring a tie but not wear it unless I saw a lot of other people wearing ties.

Yeah, or even like the, the loose bow tie, like, like I just performed my hour show in Vegas.

Right, right.

This conversation is amazing. I'm pretty sure that when Jen and I answered this question, we both said some version of like comfy pants and flip-flops, which I would like to amend.

Please do.

Yeah, I turned 40 this year and I got tendinitis and I can't wear flip-flops anymore. I have to wear all these like crazy supportive shoes with a high arch. So I would have better footwear. Fine. I— is what I'd like to say.

Well, I would have walked in your footsteps. Jodi, and worn my Hokas because they similarly helped me to, you know, what if like you received it and just had to like take off? I would have packed a timbrel also, just because Miriam.

Yes. I would have also taken a parasol because really sunny. And until God holds the mountain up and goes, "You sure? Aren't you going to accept the Torah?" It would have been really sunny. Oh wait, it was at night.

I also would have brought—

Never mind, I take everything back.

I also would have brought a camera.

Totally.

To document it.

A video camera. We recorded it for posterity. I would have recorded a podcast there.

Yeah, coming to you live from Mount Sinai.

Wearing a Five of the Tribe t-shirt.

God would have been like, we're only allowing you to film for the last 5 minutes of the performance.

Right, you have to edit out the part with the Levites, I'm sorry.

So let's keep talking about Torah because I think it's important to all of us. The pandemic not only separated us from each other as a community, but it separated us from many of our ritual sacred objects. You had mentioned on one of the episodes not being able to touch a Torah scroll since last March. In what ways has this hands-on approach that you have as a rabbi to absolutely no hands on anything affected your relationship to, let's say, big T Torah and small t Torah? And what do you think about the pandemic's effect on the accessibility of Torah and maybe kind of Jewish learning writ large?

I think in some ways, you know, it took something so unfortunate and tragic to create more access than we've ever had before. All you needed, which is not a small thing, was Wi-Fi or an internet connection and computer, which again, not everyone has. But it meant that, um, people in communities that didn't have synagogues or rabbis or clergy of any sort or Jewish educators could access Torah. It also meant that people who might have a hard time leaving their homes because of disability or schedule, um, could participate in Shabbat and holidays in ways that they never could before. So I sort of see one of the outcomes of the pandemic was actually this universal design, which is that everyone all over the world had access to Torah in ways they never did before. I, I still haven't held a Torah, actually. I don't even know the last time I have. I have little consecration Torahs that I put in like an olive oil box that's so they have their own little ark. And I would parade them around and have everyone like blow a kiss to the Torah on Saturday mornings from their computer. But I hope that— I think the object, the sacred object, is so important, and I hope that people will continue to have access to Jewish learning in ways that they never have before, as well as being able to access educators and teachers around the world, right? It doesn't matter where you are, you can gather wisdom from anywhere.

I also think it forced me to be a better teacher, and it forced me to be a more prepared teacher. You know, thinking back to like your average Shabbat morning pre-pandemic, it happens to be that for me, like, chanting Torah is not very hard, so I could sort of cram. I could cram at the last minute, even Saturday morning, come in and make sure I learned a few verses, and I could open the Torah scroll and it would be a beautiful service. And then it was like comfortable enough to even sometimes when times were tough kind of ad libitum study, right, just sort of go with it as it went. And that was fine when everybody was in the same room. And if you weren't in the room, you weren't there. And so it didn't count to— we're going to be on Zoom. We know we're going to be on Zoom. I want everyone to be on the same page, like literally, not just sort of spiritually. And so it was like this real journey from learning, you know, getting some of our— my more aged and beloved congregants to learn how to understand screen share, to get to the point where— this was like something I was very proud of— I actually prepared Torah study ahead of time and could send out a PDF ahead of time, and folks could print it out or have it on another device. And so we could just look at each other's faces. And I was like, I really— I thought to myself, I was like, I have never been this well prepared for Torah study in my life. Which again, like, to the point of Jen's— to Jen's point about accessibility, write then about the quality of what we were able to offer in this, at the time, new medium.

So I have a weird story, but just follow me for a second here. It has a point. Around 11 years ago, I got heat stroke at Busch Gardens in Florida. It is relevant, just keep listening. I had to be pushed around in one seat of a two-seat stroller next to my 4-year-old cousin. So my 4-year-old cousin was here and I was in the stroller with them because of getting heatstroke. So I felt, I felt bad about that for a long time. But you told a story on your podcast about a Torah in a stroller that made me feel so much better about myself. It's a— if it's good enough for a Torah, it's okay that I was in a stroller as well. Tell us about the time, uh, the Torah was in the stroller and other specialized and maybe unexpected Torah care you do, including like the Torah onesie. Tell us about all that.

Torah in a stroller. I just came across that picture of me. I needed a place to put the Torah. I was in a room that did not have an ark. Floor obviously is not an appropriate place, and it was, it was a Tat Shabbat for Simchat Torah. So, you know, there was a stroller there, and I thought, what better way to show young children how much they have in common with the Torah as well? And clearly What better way to show you, Miriam, that you have so much in common with the Torah? Yes, thank you. And so, you know, I put it in the stroller and took a picture. And I actually think, you know, there's this moment in Torah services where we take the Torah around the room and people kiss it, although I think now we'll blow kisses at it. And that's called the Hakafah. And I kind of imagined this moment actually for the Hakafah where instead we call it the HaCafeh. Where you actually have a coffee cart that you push in front of the Torah so people can have a little espresso and blow kisses at the Torah. So that's my vision for when we return back to life as it will be, is that we push the Torah in a stroller, but it's led by a coffee cart.

No one steal this idea. If anyone out there steals this idea, we know.

You've had like 4 really solid ideas so far on this episode alone. I don't know if you were saving them up for us, You got to sprinkle them throughout your episodes too, because there's some money to be made there.

We'll have to remember. Yeah, I mean, Jodi, we need to open up our own line of Judaica, clearly. Clearly.

I would buy it. I would buy it.

Really, the only thing I can tell you about the Torah Wenzel is that there are many things I love about the congregation in which I work, one of which is it's only a little bit older than I am. So as a relatively new congregation, there's not a lot of like old inherited antique things. And so when this congregation was sort of incorporated and became a congregation and came to be in possession of this beautiful Holocaust memorial scroll, this 200-year-old Czech Torah scroll, you know, basically we needed to design all new sort of accoutrement, the dressing for it. And so the, the inside, um, which now I can't remember the real word for it, like the belt The wimple. The wimple, the wimple, right? So like in a, in a traditional congregation where you might have like really sort of like heavy like velvet Torah dressings and silver, we didn't have that stuff. And so instead what was created for our Torah was this like beautiful sort of sueded, um, like tight-fitting thing that the only way to describe it is a onesie. And the reason the onesie metaphor and title makes perfect sense is unlike with a wimple, which is just that belt, which if it gets stretched out over time or the Torah is not rolled tight enough, like it doesn't actually hold it together. The onesie is like full coverage. Like, it's— now, I, I'm not going to compare Torahs to babies and diapers, but it keeps it all in, is what I'm saying.

And it might be like the priestly vestments, Jodi. I'm sure the priests, which is what the Torah's clothing is designed after, I'm sure that they also wore a linen onesie and brought a tie.

I'm pretty sure in Daf Yomi it says that in, in this today's page.

Actually, I was going to say it, it just came out today.

There's, um, our Torah wenzih has these like beautiful ribbons, like these like very lovely ribbons, and you— and there's 3 and you have to tie them. And I started at my congregation as an intern, and it was like one of my first Shabbatot as an intern. And like this elderly man is watching me tie the wenzih, like I'm on the bima, this person is in the front seat. He goes, you still tie with bunny ears? And I was like, I just got hazed for how I tie. Like, wow, that's so funny. Yeah.

So I think you should start filming get ready with me videos, but it's getting ready with the Torah videos. I think there's something very funny you could do here in a loving, respectful way to the Torah.

Absolutely. Not—

yes, yes, right. We've got, we've got an episode coming up I kind of want to pick your brains about because it's kind of a Jewish Mythbusters episode with random questions that people have about Judaism. Maybe they never asked or felt a little uncomfortable asking, such as, do we really have horns? Obviously, the answer is yes. I get them filed down every 6 weeks when I get my highlights done. Shout out to Nina. So we are, you know, we've come up with all these very interesting questions that people have sent to us or asked us over the years, but I'm very curious as to what kind of random strange questions you have gotten as rabbis.

So I'm from Indiana. So, what I'll say is that the trope of Jews having horns, which comes from Moses having rays of light— my mom was actually asked that her freshman year of college by her roommate, who was like, "Where are your horns?" So, I have direct connection to folks asking questions like that. I mean, the strangest questions that I've encountered are actually about me as a female being a rabbi. You can— and, you know, I think it's important to note that we're on the pathway to the 50th year of women in the rabbinic in America. I was ordained on the 40th year, Jodi a few years later, and we're entering the 50th year. And it didn't matter. That's a long time, guys. It didn't matter. And folks would still say to me and still say to me, "You can be a rabbi?" And then their next question would be something about my sex life. So, or like, you don't have a beard, or, or do you have a beard, or it's invisible, right? Um, and so more questions just around like, oh, you can do that? Um, Jodi, have you gotten any strange questions in the Berkshires?

No, I have to say that my life path has been relatively East Coast-centric. With a brief foray into the Midwest, but still in the bubble of Madison, Wisconsin. And so I like, I haven't run into a ton of like sort of MythBusters questions. But I do have a great story if you ever want to know like the weirdest thing I've ever been asked to do as a rapper.

I do. I do want to know.

Yeah, sure do.

Yeah, this is probably like 5 years ago at this point. And our like front of office receptionist person comes back to my office and she's like, Rabbi Gordon, there's a guy in the lobby who wants to talk to you. And you can tell she looks like totally perturbed. And she's like, he's safe. I don't think— I can't even explain to you what he wants. Like, can you just come out and talk to him? And I come out to talk to him. And there is a young man in the lobby who does look somewhat agitated. And he pulls out a longboard, like a skateboarding longboard. And he said, I have a really deep interest in world religions. And I've been studying religion for years. Made this longboard to celebrate all of the religions in the world. And you can see that like there's all of this art with like symbolism of like all the world's religions. He goes, would you bless it? I'm going around to all of the houses of worship and I'm just trying to— would you bless my longboard? And I literally, I didn't bless the longboard. I told him I blessed him and his curiosity and wished him safety and good health on that longboard. But I still think about that today. It's like, if you were going to bless a multi-faith-inspired longboard, like, what would that blessing be?

I mean, it feels like a natural Sheheyanu, only the first time he uses it, though.

I know. And it looks like he maybe used it to get to the synagogue. So I don't know if it's the first time.

It is an interesting thing. People do, right? Like when they— people will say, can you bless this for me? And I think Jodi, I loved how you reframed it as blessing the person. But honestly, Sometimes when people say, can you bless this item or object for me? There's definitely sources of blessing inanimate objects, like in the Mussar tradition. But the bigger question I always say to them is, look, what do you want to say? What is the blessing? What are the words that you need to say? I don't actually have the inherent power to bless you. I can help you articulate what it is that you're seeking. And Jodi, I think you did that for him. But I also would be interested, Jodi, in printing a onesie for the Torah with the blessing for an interfaith longboard.

I love it.

I think you just tied it all together.

Idea number 6.

You really need to start a store, like an Etsy store, make these onesies and also make them for babies too. So it's like a onesie with a photo of the Torah onesie. And you could just like go deeper and deeper.

Very meta.

Also, like, if you're going to start a new business, Let me know. I will start it here in Oklahoma because it's way cheaper than starting an LLC in Massachusetts.

Got it.

Oklahoma, maker of Torah onesies.

That's right. Listen, as you learned from your last episode, Tulsa's got a lot of weird Jews doing interesting things.

So, and yeah, I was going to say, did you consider yourself as one of those weird Jews?

I could say should. So yes, in retrospect.

So I would I would love to talk to you about the Parsha. So we are recording with you the week of June 24th, and the Parsha, or Torah portion, for this week is Parshat Balak. It's a classic. I have a series of articles on Jewish Boston where I tell certain Jewish stories in millennial speak, and this one is the only Parsha that I've done because it's such a great Parsha. It's really got everything you need a talking donkey who stands up for her rights, a pissed-off angel, some curse-blessing switcheroos that you didn't expect, apocalyptic prophecies, and then it ends with some more violence from the Torah. I was going to say a bang, but in this context, we'll say a dramatic impalement. We would love to hear the OMFG dvar of this Parsha.

Well, I have an amazing bat mitzvah student this week who I have already gotten to hear her dvar Torah. On this. And so one thing I want to say is, Miriam, like, I love the idea of Millennial Torah, um, and I don't know what generation 13-year-olds are. Are they Gen Z now? There's—

is there something alpha, younger, something like— did we go to the beginning again?

Yeah, I don't know.

Are they baby boomers again now?

No, I think we go— it's Generation A. One point—

that's tropical storms, Miriam.

Oh, right, right, right, right.

Double A. Yes, Generation Alexis.

Alexa, Alexa, Alexa, for me. And she has this great take on digging out the unexpected blessings. But I think my OMFG drash on Parashat Balak is actually more about the words that are spoken as blessing. So, "Ma tovu ohelech hayah," right? That all of a sudden, these are the words that come out. And what I love is, and I feel like this is something I only learned myself a couple of years ago, is that then those words are taken out of this week's Torah portion, and then they are reframed as words of approach. They are the words you are meant to say when you approach a house of worship. And I always, like, one of, I love, there are so many beautiful settings for Matovu, it is one of my favorite things to sing, and sometimes I will teach it if I am singing it as part of services, is like, imagine if you had said these words when you pulled into the parking lot this morning, and then when you turned off your car, write the next verse, and when you stepped out and you faced the building, the next verse, and as you made your way to our doorway, write the next verse. And so at this time of return and reimagining what it means to be together in community and to like— and literally we're in a tent this summer. So how good are your tents, O Jacob? Thank God your tents are available for us to be able to gather safely outdoors together. I don't know. I just love this idea. Like after a year of there being plenty of curses, like plenty of times to say like the F extra loud, like to, you know, that we're in a beautiful time period of finally getting to say like, actually, how good are your tents? How lovely are your dwelling places? And like, thank God we get to come back to them in good health together.

I love that. I love— I was thinking too, like, and so back to the lowercase f, you know, it is so much easier just to drop the expletive, so much easier and sort of second nature. But what if instead, from the— like, we hear these little kids at the end of most episodes say friends, french fries, food, fun. Like, what if What if we find ourselves in a place where we can be— I mean, I love a good F-bomb, but what if we find ourselves in a place where we can be more expansive and find gratitude instead of fear and anger and sadness? Thanks, Balak.

Yeah, that is very profound.

And feel om.

Side note, technical question: is this the donkey that talks and then—

Yes, Tommy Shrekky.

Do you know another one?

Eddie Murphy, voiced by Eddie Murphy.

I was making sure because that was my bar mitzvah.

This is the parsha that everyone's like, that— oh, it's that parsha. Like, let's face it, this shit is weird.

I think these parshiot were perfectly timed for summer though, because of kids at summer camp who they're trying to like engage with Torah and they're like, wah wah, Torah, snakes, talking donkeys, Torah, wah wah.

Torah, Torah, this shit's weird.

Shirt, shirt, shirt. But that's what's funny, that's what's so fun about it, and that's why I like writing the parodies. Because I mean, it's parody Torah, like, it's like, obviously I'm not trying to make fun of it, but there are so many, um, ways you can view the, the story in a modern context of that animal standing up for her rights and being like, why the hell are you kicking me, get the fuck off. Like, I'll edit that. And, and the angel being so angry, like, it's actually very, it's a very engaging, bonkers story. So I think it's normal that people are really interested in that one.

I want to come back to where we started. You know, right at the beginning of the pandemic, my wife watched this skit, and it was like this woman said, I never knew that I was married to circle back guy, because like they're working together in the same room and she's hearing this like corporate speak. And I said, Jenny, I'm never going to utter circle back ever. I can't stand that. Well, let me circle back to the— to your very first episode, the bleakness of that time, to where we are now, which is kind of— we're in the re-emergence. Are we going to call this time the re-emergence, I guess? Um, and, and what will be a normal-ish summer for many people. In fact, we were even talking about doing our first in-person, in-studio podcast. What are your favorite moments when you think back to the year that you've had? You started this, uh, at a very particular time in your lives and in, in our— this timeline that we're in and, and where we are now. And what were your favorite moments from then, and where do you think you're going to be going to, uh, as we go forward?

We've had some really poignant moments. I actually pulled up our website omfgpodcast.com to refresh in my mind how we've spent our year together. And I'll tell you that What's Your Spiritual Mantra was actually the most popular episode. Part of that I think is because I created a tiny URL that sent people right to it by accident. So a lot of folks, I don't know if they heard What's Your Metaphor? So thank you all for listening to Spiritual Mantra, but we have really, I mean, we've traced from metaphor to gratitude, to miracles, to rest, to new beginnings. We spent a lot of time dedicated to Debbie Friedman, who really is the soundtrack of our lives. We talked about love, Purim, the mandatory fun episode, what we've lost, what we've learned, let my people get vaccinated about Passover memory, count up, um, counting the Omer, see what Sinai— and, and I think every single episode has had this aha moment where we just look at each other and it's— I mean, besides the fact that we're having a great time, and sometimes we're recording at 9 o'clock at night, committed to make it happen, but both Totally exhausted, which I think adds to the freshness of it. But we've just had so many aha moments of this is really something that we're proud of, and we feel like it's a way to reach people who wouldn't necessarily want to open a book. And lots of, you know, at the very least we're going to open an Etsy store with lots of really good swag in it. And so I, I know this is trite, but like the most special moments have been like just getting to spend the time together. On a regular basis. And the wisdom that we get to think through together has been so meaningful.

Totally. It did start out for me as this like 100%, like deepest, darkest days of the pandemic. I couldn't read a book. I didn't have— I just like, I didn't have the focus or the attention. I could never commit. I wasn't reading. I was like just doomscrolling every night, right? I would like sort of suffer through bedtime with our kids. And like collapse into my bed. It was dark already. And I was, you know, it was like everyone was miserable. I was miserable too, like everybody else. And then along came this project that wasn't work and it was somehow social because getting to hang out on Zoom with Jen was like as close to social as I was getting. I'm a huge extrovert and this year was really hard in the ways that like there's only so many times you can like make your husband or kids like hang out with you, which are like, we're all sick of each other. Like, what are we going to do? And by the way, like my husband's a huge introvert, so he is like this you know, just fine. He's like, what, why do you want to hang out so much? So, but I think actually some of the— so, A, cosign on everything Jen said, because our recording sessions and our planning sessions and our sort of getting good at it together and figuring out new things about what works for us has been really fun and edifying and has helped my Rabbinit and my personal life. But another interesting thing that has happened as like an aha moment is that I was a little I don't want to say shady, but I just, I didn't like put it out there to my congregation right away. Like I kept it as my own personal side project for a little while. I like didn't make sure it went in the congregational email. And then like eventually, maybe by January or February, so we were like 4 or 5 episodes in, something happened on social media where like I am connected to enough congregants and someone who I think of as like incredibly smart and pretty tough, like like she's not going to listen to junk. She listened to it without telling me and then said, Rabbi Gordon, why didn't you tell me you had a podcast? It's really good. And so then it started this, like, interesting other way of relating to my congregants because it is a different voice than they necessarily hear from me sort of on the bima or in various sort of like rabbinic moments when I'm working. But as they have commented to me and then I have come to really appreciate, like, it's a different way of hearing me speak, of getting to hear me speak sort of with someone who they can tell is both a colleague and a friend. And so that's also been a really fun and unexpected highlight of this project moving forward.

So we have two episodes coming out in the next few weeks, one about thanking teachers who really have sustained so many folks throughout the year. And always, we just finally realized it, um, Teacher Appreciation Day was really insufficient, um, once a year in thanking them. And then we also have An Ode to Summer Camp coming out. And then I think, you know, someone said, sometimes people will say, you know, the unprecedented times thing is kind of trite. And I always say to Jodi, like, how do we make this not only about the pandemic, right? Like, we have to transcend the pandemic. And the good news is that every day is unprecedented. 'Cause we've never, like, I haven't experienced tomorrow yet in 2021. My friend, our friend Nicole, who lives in Australia, has. But we haven't gotten there yet. And so I think we're excited to figure out— I mean, the good news is there's so much Jewish wisdom to mine, and being human will continue to be the greatest task of being alive. And so we have, I think, an exciting time ahead of us. And, and it's okay with me that eventually the pandemic can at least not be the central focus of it, but really to know that something, I think, beautiful and sustaining for us and for other people came out of it is really exciting and meaningful.

Well, thank you both so much. I mean, your, your pod is such a great combination of insight and uplift. And, you know, right from the get-go, from the metaphors to where you are now, it's just been, it's been a great thing to listen to. And thank you, pandemic, for allowing Jodi and Jen to get together and do this podcast for us. And thank you for joining us on The Vibe of the Tribe today.

Thank you so much for having us. So fun.

This has been so fun. Thanks, guys.

Thank you to everyone out there for listening. If you liked this episode, be sure to rate and review The Vibe of the Tribe wherever you listen to pods and follow @JewishBoston on social media. And while you're at it, go follow @omfgjewish. Take care, everybody!