Bryan: Who's making the announcement? Rachael: Want to rock, paper, scissors this? Bryan: From the recording studios of Reconstructing Judaism, this is Trending Jewish with Rachael Burgess... Rachael: And Bryan Schwartzman. Bryan: And hello, welcome. We have an announcement. Rachael: Rip off the bandaid. Bryan: Bittersweet announcement or bittersweet announcement. Rachael: Yeah, so this is our final episode of Trending Jewish. Bryan: I can't believe it. This has been two years, a labor of love and it's true. It is our final episode, and we'll talk more about that in a minute, but rest assured... help me out here. How do we transition? Rachael: And the reason why we're doing this is we're making way for a new podcast that's going to be coming to Reconstructing Judaism. And if you love #TrendingJewish and you're a fan of this, you're definitely going to be a fan of this new podcast called Evolve. And Bryan Schwartzman is the host of the show, talking to really interesting people and talking about the questions that are happening in the Jewish world and talking to experts about what is happening and answering the big questions that we're all asking today. Bryan: And it is going to continue on on this very feed. So if you subscribe to us, you'll at least have the chance to check out Evolve. And we are giving you fair warning so we are not pulling a U2 and automatically downloading "Songs of Innocence" on your iTunes. Rachael: I think I remember when that happened. Bryan: We're giving you warning. So when a show shows up on your feed, "Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations", that's what it is. And this show is going to be... It's going to be similar to this one in that we're having conversations that we hope to advance the Jewish conversation, point the way to the Jewish future. If you want to know what the Evolve project is about, check out evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org and you can see it there because the goal is going be to have the podcast be an extension of that project. Bryan: And if you look at it's got some really fascinating topics. A bunch of essays are grouped by topic, gender, spirituality, antisemitism, why be Jewish, Judaism and technology, identity, community, race, justice, Israel and Palestine. It's all there. It all came from surveys with rabbis about what their congregants and people they meet are interested in. And it's kind of a big project and I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm sad because that means I won't be co-hosting a show with Rachael Burgess anymore who's going to be concentrating on her development efforts for the organization. And it's sad for me. Bryan: I mean, if folks don't know out out in the world, Rachael built the podcast studio that we're recording in, got the organization's podcasting program off the ground, was our editor for really the first half of our life and has taught me a lot about being on air and has not only brought some really provocative questions, but just lent a warmth and welcoming nature to the show that I know I can sometimes lack with more my straight ahead interview style. So it's kind of a bummer we won't be doing this anymore. Rachael: Bryan, I think on the plus side, and thank you for all of that because this has been an amazing project and I feel like I learned a lot being able to work with you, because what is going on in Judaism today has been a huge interest of yours and you've spent a lot of your career really exploring this. So I think this podcast for Evolve is going to be incredible because you are, I mean frankly, you're fabulous at this and I think you ask a lot of really great questions and get a lot of interesting, thoughtful responses. So I think this is going to be great and I hope everybody continues to listen and get your friends to subscribe because Bryan's going to do an awesome job. Bryan: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for that. I appreciate the warm words. Personally, I feel like my on air interviewing is a work in progress. It's such a different medium from print journalism, which is how I've spent most of my career, and thank you. I think you might be grading me on a generous curve, but I'll take it. Rachael: So now that we're kind of wrapping up everything, what was your big takeaway from this two year project? Bryan: Wow. There's lots of them. I think it would be hard to go through our show and pick out themes. Number one, I think this is an incredible medium to explore these questions. I'm falling more in love with podcasts every day. I think it really is opening up a whole new world of knowledge and, and insight on whatever you're interested in. If you're interested in literature, you can get extensive interviews with your favorite writers or artists, directors, musicians. I think so many processes, especially creative processes are being opened up in new ways. If anybody knows the podcast Song Exploder, you can now listen to that and understand how a song is put together. And I think we're also doing that a little bit with how new Jewish communities are being put together and the nitty gritty of how these questions about outreach and engagement, how they work. And you can read a lot about this stuff online, but I don't know that you can get it the same way in an extensive conversation. Bryan: And I'm hoping with the Evolve podcasts, each podcast is going to be based on a written essay. So I'm hoping, and I think we really can, move beyond the essay to really explore on all the different topics I talked about. So I think one of my biggest takeaways is a love for the medium. Maybe it'll be like we're ordering a meal and I'll think of some more while while the waiter or server is coming around to you. So what are you having for breakfast, that we're recording at 10 o'clock in the morning here, right? Brunch maybe. Rachael: It's funny because we think about, my background actually a lot of my time in school was actually around radio and we were just kind of getting into podcasting. We were fairly new at it when I was first in school, but just seeing the medium blossom, it's really incredible. And some of the things that you can find... like for me, I'm a big listener of podcasts at the gym, and there's that one podcast from one of our Reconstructionist congregations in Pacific Palisades where they just sit down and they record one of their Torah studies every week. Congregation Kehillat Israel. They have a podcast. You should definitely listen to it. And I would sometimes listen to that at the gym because I don't always really have time to go to services anymore. It is a really incredible medium. There is something about being able to listen to voices and to be able to be part of a conversation that you can really miss that in a digital age, especially with on demand content. Bryan: By the way, I highly recommend Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics radio podcast on bananas. Everything you ever wanted to know about bananas and how it went from a delicacy to the most common, inexpensive fruit in the world and also apparently how the global banana stock is in danger from a banana eating fungus. I recommend that podcast, but I guess I also have to say we were really welcomed into the Jewish podcasts space. I mean it's a small growing space. We've talked about the folks from Judaism Unbound on this show. We've actually had Dan and Lex as guests. I mean those, those guys reached out to us immediately and offered support and a lot of tangible ideas that we tried to put in place. Unorthodox, very, very... Rachael: Very cool people as well. Bryan: Cool people and popular podcast put out by- Rachael: Tablet Magazine. Bryan: Tablet Magazine. The hosts were also helpful and they partook in a webinar we did for members of Reconstructionist communities, Reconstructionist Learning Network on podcasts. So we've definitely gotten support from the folks out there. And I think I want to thank them because I think it made the show better. Rachael: Right. I think we learned a lot from them because both of us... I had a background in radio but not so much in podcasting and we kind of took the studio out for a spin, and we were really interested in what was going on in the Jewish world and we had these mentors that were kind of helping us going, oh, we're really excited about what you're doing. How can we partner together and what kind of tips can we give you? And so we learned a lot from them and they're also just delightful people. So we made some friends out of this. Bryan: We did, we did, and those friendships will continue. I guess if I had to think about lessons learned, I mean, there's a lot of exciting things happening right now, a lot of interesting experiments. How to make Judaism relevant for 21st century Jewish life and diversifying Jewish community. I think one lesson we have to take away is not everything is going to work or not everything is going to last forever. I mean, one of the most exciting interviews we had was with the founder and director of BimBam, which was a Jewish animation studio. Rachael: Right. That was like where I started learning a lot about Judaism, not having a formal Jewish education as a kid, and this was something that was so accessible and was actually designed for adults. Bryan: And, and then it folded. Rachael: Yeah, we were very upset to hear about that. Bryan: So maybe, I mean maybe the economic, the philanthropic landscape wasn't ready to support indefinitely something as expensive as producing animated content on a regular basis. But yet, the content still exists. I believe it's on the Union for Reform Judaism's website. But it got in the air and it changed the landscape of and showed us the possibility of what Jewish animation can be. So I think it made a difference even though it's not there in perpetuity. I mean, we've certainly seen a lot of different ways that the Jewish community can function, from Judaism Your Way out in Denver to the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, D. C. Rachael: And a lot of the insights from rabbi Sid Schwartz. And then we also got a very good look, I remember at the very beginning, of what it was like being a rabbi and a chaplain in the military when we talked to Rabbi John Cutler. You never did go out running with him after that interview, did you? Bryan: You know what? It's possible that we were definitely running together for a while. He's a hard person to keep running with because he's really intense. Rachael: Oh and also had- Bryan: Folks, I had a foot injury that kept me out of action, but I've discovered swimming. So runners out there, I'll say, if you have access to a pool, you might want to consider using it. It's a great exercise and it doesn't wreck your bones in quite the same way. Rachael: And also, be careful playing tennis with Sam because I'm pretty sure- Bryan: Sam? Rachael: Yeah. Bryan: Sam? Rachael: Sam was the one who is- Bryan: Oh my God, we haven't thanked Sam. Rachael: Oh, my gosh, Sam. Sam: Wait. So what's happening to me in all this? The show's going away. Bryan: Sam is going to- Rachael: No, you don't leave the studio. Bryan: Sam, what episode did you come in and start recording on, in the teens? Yeah, somewhere in the teens. I feel like Brian Field was probably one of my first ones, somewhere in there. Sam is a true professional and has taken #TrendingJewish up another a notch and brought us in line as much as possible. I haven't been banging tables with the mic quite as much since doing my Khrushchev since Sam came on board, and we're going to continue working together, right? Sam: Yeah, I suppose so, sure. Bryan: Because I sure as heck don't know what those buttons do. Sam: Yeah. No, I'll be here along for the ride for the new podcast, Evolve, which I'm excited about. You'll still never hear from me. I'll still be silently sitting and recording everything. Rachael: We've always said- Bryan: Do we get a Beatles song from you? No, not today. Not singing on air? Rachael: He's always been our silent partner. Although we've told him this entire time that we always wanted to mic him because we would do an interview and he goes, you know what was a really good point? And it's like Sam, why didn't you say that? That would have been great. Bryan: Yeah. Sam: I don't know. I feel like it's diminishing returns with me. I feel this is a good amount. You can hear from me today. Rachael: And then that's it. Bryan: You know what? This is my Hannibal Lecter theory, you're proving it right here. Rachael: Wait, what? Bryan: There's diminishing returns. Like in Silence of the Lambs you get 19 minutes of Anthony Hopkins on screen. He's incredible. Everybody remembers it. He's chilling, it's an unforgettable performance. And then there've been I don't know how many sequels with Hannibal in it, where he's in it the whole time, and it just gets less and less special and diminishing returns. So I have just compared you to a fictional serial killer but... Sam: Well, we're both cannibals. Bryan: Okay. Sam: So it fits. Rachael: You know that's why finding places to go to lunch with you is very difficult. Sam: Right. [inaudible 00:16:34]. Bryan: On that note, there are definitely other folks that we need to thank, including somebody who's played a huge role in the show behind the scenes. We may not even have mentioned him before, but... Rachael: Right. So our unseen teammate, Rabbi Michael Fessler, he was the one who really, on the technical side, getting our podcast out there, making sure we had transcripts so everyone had access to all of the content in our podcasts. He did a lot of research and- Bryan: He built our website. Rachael: He did build our website. Bryan: If anybody's seen our Fireside website, he built that. Rachael: And he's, besides being a rabbi, he is very, very technically savvy. He actually helped me like fix a Linux server once way back in the day. So a brilliant guy and we couldn't have done this without him. So shout out to Rabbi Michael Fessler. Bryan: We'd also love to thank our first guest, Rabbi Leah Moser who composed our theme song. Rachael: Absolutely. Bryan: Which I have loved all this time. Rachael: Absolutely. That's I think my new theme song to life I think was the things that... that song was amazing. I remember the first time we listened to it and we just thought, yes, this is perfect. Bryan: But unfortunately my enduring memory from that taping was a loose bit of soundproofing tile that was dangling during the recording and it was really positioned right above the rabbi's head as she was performing a song for us. And Rachael and I looked at each other like, do we stop this? Do we tell her? I mean, if it falls, it's really just getting hit by a foam padding so it's no injury involved. So we decided to let it go and it just kind of dangled the whole time. So we soon fixed that problem. Rachael: Right, and Leah kept looking at us going, I kept looking at us going, I was wondering, what's going on, what's happening, after we were done recording. And we were like, oh, we've been watching the ceiling tile hovering over your head. And she was like, oh that all makes sense. Bryan: I love the theme song though. It was kind of a blend of the Nerdist podcast theme song and the intro to Stranger Things and it seems like Pac-Man meets the '80s meets, I don't know, space or something. Rachael: All the things that bring us joy. Sam: Let me just give her a quick plug. Her blog daggadol.org, D-A-G-G-A-D-O-L dot O-R-G. Her most recent posting is Adon Olam to the tune of Toto's Africa. So if you want to check out- Rachael: So cool. Sam: ... Jewish music kind of done electronically in a cool way, very rReconstructionist, I would say, you can check out her blog daggadol.org. Bryan: I thought it was pretty cool when Weezer covered Toto's Africa. Rachael: Yeah, they did a nice- Bryan: Weezer has got nothing on Rabbi Moser. Rachael: Yeah. Bryan: So yeah. Thank you for actually providing useful information that folks can act on. I think there's another thank you. We needed to properly give, which is to this organization, the Reconstructing Judaism for allowing us to take this chance and actually paying us, like they paid us to come- Rachael: Well, we worked here. Bryan: ... to come into this studio and experiment. So not everyplace would would do that and I think it speaks to the nature and character of this organization and its willingness to take a calculated chances, right? Rachael: They were incredibly supportive and gave us lots of feedback and support, so cannot thank them enough. And also of course, our listeners. We've gotten to meet some of you and you've given us some great feedback and things to explore and it's been incredible and it's amazing the people we've gotten to talk to and meet because- Bryan: There've been a lot of you. Rachael: Yeah. Bryan: People have actually, this is a thing, people have downloaded this hundreds, thousands. Rachael: Yeah. We were pretty happy about that. We were like, who would possibly want to listen to these two jokers. Thank you for that, and thank you for that and thank you for all of your support. Bryan: Some of you have even written to us, and we begged for good ratings on iTunes and Spotify. Rachael: Right. Bryan: And some of you actually actually did it. Sam: And you can continue to. Please continue to give ratings. We're keeping the feed. The new podcast is going to appear on this feed. So continue to review or rate, tell your friends. Bryan: And you'll probably see an Evolve teaser episode sometime this summer and we're all geared towards a full launch in the fall. So hopefully, you give us a chance. I won't be the exact same show. We're going to miss a Rachael's warmth and humor, but it's, I think, going to be in the same ballpark and there should be some really interesting guests and it's fun for... a bonus for me is I get to work with Rabbi Jacob Staub, who is one of the leading intellectual lights of the Reconstructionist movement and the wider Jewish world. And he directs the Evolve project and I'm working closely with him on putting all that together. Rachael: It's going to be fabulous, so definitely make sure you keep on listening. I think it's going to be a great podcast and Bryan is awesome. So if you like this, you'll love Evolve. Bryan: I'm going to miss the banter. That's the best part, right? Rachael: Yeah. Bryan: Our listeners tell us, they're like, we want to hear you guys talk to each other more. So they're getting a whole episode of it. They're finally getting what they've asked for. Rachael: Finally, we finally listened to you and we finally acted. Bryan: So if anybody out there has a suggestion as to how we end the show, we can take it now because I think we didn't actually plan for that part. Sam, what would you suggest? Sam: I don't know. Just kind of Soprano style, cut to black. Bryan: Fade to black? Sam: Yeah. Dead air. Bryan: Or do we do Game of Thrones style and name you host? Sam: That's great. Bryan: So this is... thank you. This has been great. So do we have a sign off? Rachael: So definitely make sure that you are still subscribed. So you can still subscribe on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts. And also, this is our last episode, but please, leave us a review. Tell us what you liked and hopefully, give us feedback more as we go into the new show, Evolve. Sam: Yeah, go check out Evolve. Read some of the essays. Get ready for the new show. Let us know if there's anything that you have questions about. Rachael: Right. Bryan: Again, evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org. Rachael: And if you do like the work that we're doing here, please consider supporting Reconstructing Judaism by giving a gift to our organization. They help support our work and the great work of our organization. So you can do that by going to reconstructingjudaism.org/donate. So thank you very, very much for listening and all of your love and support, and we're looking forward to what the future will bring for Evolve. I'm Rachael Burgess. Bryan: I'm Bryan Schwartzman. Rachael: And this has been our last episode of Trending Jewish. Thank you for listening and remember, be responsible and make good decisions.