Bec Richman: In entrepreneurship, I think it's really easy to feel like I have to create something that's never been created before. And what I love about the learning that I have done in this realm is that actually some of the best entrepreneurial work takes what is already in existence and recasts the mold for something new. Bryan Schwartzman: From the recording studios of Reconstructing Judaism, this is Trending Jewish with Bryan Schwartzman … Rachael Burgess: And Rachael Burgess. And welcome back to another episode of Trending Jewish. We've missed you. We hope that you've missed us too. And we have a really interesting episode today as we're thinking about and as we're talking to people about innovation in the Jewish world, and why we should be innovators, and what our Jewish leaders can do to become innovators. And- Bryan Schwartzman: Yeah, it's interesting because we talk about entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship in a Jewish space. And certainly, before I worked here, I thought of entrepreneurship as something you do to start a business and make money, and open a thousand Starbucks or build a better mouse trap or whatever. But here we're looking at the principles of entrepreneurship to give people access to new kinds of communal and spiritual experiences. It's like a different kind of entrepreneurship that our guests will explain more fully. Rachael Burgess: Exactly. I think one of the things that's really fascinating is we do have that separation between the non-profit sector, the people that are trying to do some good work in the world, and the business sector. And there's actually a lot of skills that come from the business sector that is very helpful [for] the non-profit sector and for especially Jewish communities. As Jewish communities are changing so much, there's a lot of skills that you have to learn in order to be successful in business. Like how to be a good listener, how to figure out what people are really needing and how do you adapt to your community in order to meet those needs. Rachael Burgess: I'm really excited to talk to our guests more about how to cultivate that in Jewish leaders and do that in the Jewish community. And also to talk to one of our guests about how she's doing that in the local Jewish community right here in Philadelphia. Bryan Schwartzman: Speaking of new things and our guest, Bec Richman, soon to be Rabbi Bec Richman, we just have to say Mazel, tov Bec. We recorded this episode in the latter stages of her pregnancy and she now has since given birth to a healthy baby boy. So- Rachael Burgess: Who is so adorable. Bryan Schwartzman: Mazel tov there. Rachael Burgess: Mazel tov and congratulations Bec, we're very, very excited for you and we're also excited to see the work that you are doing out in the world. And- Bryan Schwartzman: We might have a new potential listener there one day. Rachael Burgess: Yes. Bryan Schwartzman: And speaking about other potential listeners, we once got to number seven, I think was our high on the iTunes list for Jewish podcasts. We want to get back there and shatter that mark. Folks, like us, rate us on podcasts, give us what's the best rating we can get? Five? Rachael Burgess: Five. Give us five star rating. Bryan Schwartzman: At least five. A plus, plus. Same for folks who find us through Podcast Attic, Google Play, Overcast, Castro, rate us. It really helps folks find us. Anything else we usually do? Don't we usually ask for people to keep the lights on in the studio? That's- Rachael Burgess: Yes. It actually is very … we found that it's very hard to podcast in the dark. Actually, we haven't tried this yet. That might be for future a podcast challenge. BUT we do programs like this thanks to supporters like you. If you're interested in supporting our podcast or the Reconstructionist movement, you can do so by going to reconstructingjudaism.org/donate. Bryan Schwartzman: All right. I think it's time to introduce our guest in the room. Rachael Burgess: It's time. It is time. Bryan Schwartzman: It's time. Rachael Burgess: Yes. Bryan Schwartzman: It's time. You're looking at me. Rachael Burgess: Yes. Bryan Schwartzman: I'm thrilled to have our guests here. We have two guests today. Rachael Burgess: We're both thrilled by it. I should disclaim now, we're both thrilled. Bryan Schwartzman: All right. We have Cyd Weissman who is Reconstructing Judaism's assistant vice president for innovation and impact and expert on all things innovation, experimentation and entrepreneurial in Jewish spaces. Cyd here directs the Reconstructionist Learning Network, which is essentially a series of webinars that connect people together to discuss answers to Jewish questions that can't be Googled. She also teaches here as professor of Jewish education and impact, and had previously served as director of innovation in congregational learning for the Jewish Education Project. Bryan Schwartzman: We also have Bec Richman who is in her final year of rabbinical school at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Bec is an artist, a scribe, a calligrapher, and is also a Wexner Graduate Fellow. And Bec is here to talk about a new project she's launched with grant seed money. Welcome both to Cyd and Bec. We're thrilled to have you and ready to talk about social entrepreneurship. So glad to have you both here. Cyd Weissman: We're so happy to be here. Thanks for listening to our story. Bec Richman: Thank you so much for having us. Rachael Burgess: I actually wanted to jump in to help put some context to everything. This is a question... I think I want to start with you, Cyd, because one of the things that you teach as part of the rabbinical program is you teach entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. What is this and why do our rabbis need to know this? Cyd Weissman: Thank you for calling it social entrepreneurship because so often when people hear that word, their minds immediately go to, “They're teaching people how to make money.” Rachael Burgess: That was actually one of our thoughts as well. We're like, “What does entrepreneurship mean in this context?” Cyd Weissman: That word social really matters, because it means bringing that innovative, experimental, 'let's try to solve an important problem' to the work, but not about in order to make more dollars, but to solve the problem of bringing more meaning to people's lives, to issues that matter in people's lives. And that's what social entrepreneurship is. And it brings the discipline that is in the business world to saying, 'people are yearning for meaning and people want to connect, and we want to figure that out. Let's bring the tools of the business world and apply it to those really critical questions in people's lives.' Rachael Burgess: What are those tools that you're bringing from the business world, that you're teaching to the rabbis? Cyd Weissman: I would say one principle is leave your solution at the door. And that is really hard for rabbis. Rabbis are encouraged to, their systems encourage them to say, “Hey, we've got a problem here. Let's try to find a solution.” And one of the tools of entrepreneurship is yes, you may have a hunch, you may have an idea, leave that solution at the door and go to the people. Uncover how people are really living, what are the real needs in their lives. And maybe the solution you had at the door was a good idea, but humbly say the solution is actually going to come out of learning. What are people doing with their daily lives? Cyd Weissman: And there's a phrase called 'the pains and the gains.' What are people feeling, the pinch and the pain they're trying to resolve, and what's the gain? What's that meaningful goal they're trying to achieve? And if you understand that more deeply, good chance the solution you came with belongs out the door and you've got to be creative and say, “Okay, let's create something new.” And again, you have to respond with humility. Even when I'm at that point, I've got to say maybe that's not the right solution. Cyd Weissman: And so, a tool from the business world is called a minimum viable product. Let me test something small, see how it does, see how it works, and then I'll learn what's helping people and what's not. And then I'll have to pivot and adapt. Rachael Burgess: There's also this thing that you also bring up and you bring this up in your blog, and you touched on it a little bit just now. But you're talking about trying something and seeing whether or not it will work, which means that failure is almost part of the, almost part of the process. Is that something that we should be encouraged or why is that so important? Cyd Weissman: Well, I confess I don't like failure and I confess most people I meet don't like it either. And yet, that's where the humility comes. You have to be willing to say, “Well yeah, I'm creative. I can come up with a good idea,” and be prepared for that good idea not to work. And really the phrase that you hear in the entrepreneurial world is "fail forward." It's not like "yay, I messed up. It's so great." It's "You know what? We tried something but look what we learned from it and now I'm going to do something different." Cyd Weissman: And frankly, that's a really hard stance to take in an organization who hires the rabbi to make things work, to make things right. It's really hard to tell people we're going to test and we may very well fail, but we have to learn from it and move forward. Okay. Bryan Schwartzman: There is a tennis player named Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland, who was always like just a rung below the elite players. And one year, he just came up with a slogan: "Fail better." And that was his mantra, and eventually he did win a number of important championships. It just seems so close to "fail forward," and my mind is always two steps removed from tennis. On that note, Bec, I wanted to get your perspective as a very soon to be rabbi, what's it like to learn entrepreneurial skills and you know, have you felt that's really something you need to go out into the world? Bec Richman: It's a great question. I've been honored to have the chance to learn with Cyd and from Cyd, both in the classroom and also independently. And I received … I been honored to receive several Auerbach grants, and have had the chance to fail forward several times. And I strongly believe that the process of coming to understand exactly what Cyd said, learning how to identify needs in a community among a population and honor those needs, and setting my own ideas of what is needed aside is an incredible life skill and an incredible skill as a rabbi to not impose or project my sense of what's good for a community and for people. Bec Richman: But instead, to actually humble myself and step back and ask, “Hey, who are you? What do you need? What's working and what's not working?” And I would say that when I really came to accept that was by an embrace that was this past spring as I applied for the big Auerbach launch grant, and spent quite a bit of time interviewing, talking with people from the community I hope to serve, not about my vision for what I thought might work, but really asking them, “Hey, what's worked for you with Jewish learning and what's not worked for you? And what do you want to see? If you could dream big, what would it be?” Bec Richman: And it was an incredibly empowering experience, I think, for the people I spoke with, and ended up being not only a tool for entrepreneurial growth, but also an opportunity for pastoral care. Bryan Schwartzman: Before we go forward, you mentioned our grant program. Would you guys mind explaining for our broader audience what our grant program is, what it hopes to achieve, and I think that'll get us talking to Bec's project. Cyd Weissman: It's all in the name. We're Reconstructing Judaism. And if you're going to reconstruct, you can't just talk about it, you actually have to do it. We are so blessed to have a funder who provides grant money to rabbinical students and students who are recently graduated, rabbis to be able to go experiment, to do just what Bec said, try something, learn from it. And every year, we give a number of small grants allowing rabbis to test, experiment. And then one large grant of $20,000, which is a two to one matching grant. And we've been able to support a rabbi creating a home-based havurah, a rabbinical student creating a podcast around death and mourning, and building a community around that. And this year, we're so grateful to be supporting Bec and she'll be sharing her work. Rachael Burgess: And also, I wanted to chime in because one of the things that you do as part of your work, is you do a lot of work even with other Jewish seminaries about entrepreneurship and how do we teach these to our future Jewish leaders. Is this something that's pretty unique, what this program is, or what are you finding out? Cyd Weissman: The question we are asking here is how do we nurture rabbis for a generation where the world has tilted way off its axis. Everything is changing, so now how do you support rabbis to lead in that environment? And as much as that's been our work and we're able to do that by offering a course, and grants, and mentoring, I was able to talk to different seminaries from the most traditional to the most liberal, and every one of those seminaries, when I raise the question, said, “We are asking that question too.” Cyd Weissman: And for over a year, 10 rabbinical seminaries and colleges have been gathering, exploring what's our common work around that and everybody's asking the same question. The truth is we don't know the answer yet, but something very good is happening because we're coming together and trying to learn, and solve a real life problem. Rachael Burgess: Wow. That's something that we don't see necessarily enough these days, is people from different perspectives coming together to solve a problem. That's fabulous. Cyd Weissman: Can I share one thing about social entrepreneurship that Bec touched on? Even though I said that we're bringing tools from the business world, that's their language, but when you start applying, they are deeply rabbinic spiritual practices to listen to someone, to carry somebody's story, to be present to say, “What are your hopes and dreams? Tell me more about your journey.” To be able to both have the confidence to try something and the humility to step back. And no, we don't own the world, we're operating and serving within it. They're all very rabbinic practices and consistent with what you would hope rabbis are able to interact in the world with. Rachael Burgess: There were quite a few different applications that came in, I'm sure for the big Auerbach grants that Bec was able to get for her Beit Midrash and we're going to definitely dive in. What about Bec's projects, from your point of view made it … this was something that needed this big launch grant. Cyd Weissman: Every grant that comes in is really exciting and you want to fund it. I would say one reason that Bec's was chosen -- and we have a group of judges who read them and rate them, and very hard decision -- Bec demonstrated the ability to see in a world where there's a lot of brokenness, where there's a lot of shards, Bec sees light, and that's the entrepreneurial spirit. That instead of saying, “I'm overwhelmed by all that isn't working,” she has been able to say how clearly she sees that light and that energizes her. Cyd Weissman: And in her grant report, what we saw was example after example of how she's slowly, slowly gathering the sparks, meeting with people, testing, going across the country and doing some study. And what do you know, when small sparks are gathered together, what happens? You have a bright flame and that's really that spirit came through so strongly in her grant proposal. Bryan Schwartzman: Let's talk to her. Gee, what are we talking about? What's this project about? Who's it for? Where's it based? Bec Richman: Great, great question. I want to answer your question first actually by just circling back to the question about a Beit Midrash. The grant application that I submitted was to build a Beit Midrash, a house of learning, based in Mt. Airy, which is the community that many of our rabbis and students live in, close to RRC, and specifically housed at Germantown Jewish Centre That was the grant that I applied for and the grant that I am pursuing with some encouragement for modification is actually itself an example of what entrepreneurship I think should be, which is not to just build something but to try and experiment. Bec Richman: Just to say that the goal for this year is not to end the year having built a Beit Midrash, but to have spent the year experimenting with different modalities of learning and opportunities for engaging people who haven't traditionally been engaged and who haven't been involved in shul or synagogue life, and to see what holds, what works and use that learning as a foundation for growth. Bec Richman: I guess I'll start by just addressing this question of the Beit Midrash, which is not a new concept. And in entrepreneurship, I think it's really easy to feel like, “Oh, I have to totally reinvent the wheel. I have to start fresh. I have to create something that's never been created before.” And what I love about the learning that I have done in this realm is that actually some of the best entrepreneurial work takes from what is already in existence and re-molds it, recasts the mold for something new. Bec Richman: A Beit Midrash is a house of learning. There's precedent in our tradition, there's evidence in our tradition that Batei Midrash, houses of learning, have been around for a long time. The rabbis in the Talmud talk about the house of learning, so this is not new. This is not new to us. But, specifically in America, outside of Orthodox communities, there was a large drop off of the existence of the Beit Midrash as a center point for Jewish learning in communities and in synagogue life. Bec Richman: Specifically after World War II, when communities began a process of suburbanization and moving out of city centers and people … the synagogue became … I would say that one thing that has happened over time is that the synagogue has become less of a place for social gathering and learning and more a place that's focused on liturgy and ritual, and Shabbos practice. And a lot of nonorthodox shows have become really Shabbos shuls, not week-long places of gathering for folks. Bec Richman: What is amazing about the Beit Midrash though, is that it allows people to come together and ask big questions, and feel a claim to the tradition. But the Beit Midrash in its ancient form and in much of -- until pretty recently, was not a place that was open to much of the community. It was not a place that was open to people who hadn't been learning, who didn't have Jewish literacy. It was not a place that was welcoming to people who aren't men. It was not a place that was welcoming to people who are queer. It was not a place that was welcoming for different modalities of learning beyond talking about text. Bec Richman: And what's happened in the last 10 to 15 years in North America, one amazing thing that's happened is that there's been what I would call a renaissance or a re-emergence of the Beit Midrash in creative ways. Organizations like Hadar, SVARA and the Jewish Studio Project and others are working to reintroduce the Beit Midrash to communities as another mode of spiritual practice and engagement. Rachael Burgess: One of the things that I found interesting when you were talking about the Beit Midrash is that you add the word spiritual, but it comes from a context of actually more education. In your view, what is that connection between spirituality and education? Bec Richman: Great question. I think, specifically in the Beit Midrash, there's a pedagogical model. There's a pedagogy of hevruta based learning, partner based learning. And in that learning model, the teacher is not standing at the front of the room and telling students, "This is how things are. This is what the text says. This is what you are going to know. Got it? Good, great. Moving on." The Beit Midrash flips that model on its head and says, “Actually, here's something that we want you to learn. Here's a text that you're going to learn. You're going to find a partner. You're going to sit and you're going to study. As you study, you're going to ask big questions and you're going to meander into questions about your own life and the way that this text relates to your life.” Bec Richman: There's been a lot of research, which I'm happy to share at another time or provide resources on. But there's a lot of research about the value and uniqueness of hevruta learning that lets a pair of students ask each other questions that spark thought about their own lives and about meaning in the world. The learning becomes not just about imparting facts but about understanding one's place in the world, one's place in relationship to text and it can be a spiritual process. Bec Richman: It's pretty hard to explain how it happens outside of the learning, but I would say that for many people, there's something spiritual in the content that's learned, but there's also something spiritual about sitting with someone else and learning to listen to their ideas when they're different from yours. Learning to express your opinion when you're scared that it's going to challenged and specifically asking questions that are about meaning, which is what much of our textual tradition raises for us to ask. Bryan Schwartzman: I think I both want to understand a little better how this is going to work and gain a clearer picture of how this is living out the entrepreneurial model or method. And my hunch is it has something to do with the model, with -- you're an independent outside entity partnering with a synagogue, and in this case, a pretty unique synagogue in Philadelphia, which our listeners don't know is in an area where a lot of people live in close proximity and can walk to synagogue and it has a number of different communities within the synagogue itself. Bryan Schwartzman: I guess it's -- we talked about what's not new, but is the relationship with the synagogue something that is potentially new? Bec Richman: It's a great question. First to your point about the shul. Germantown Jewish Centre is an incredibly special place and I was so honored to have the opportunity to serve there as their rabbinic intern during my second year of rabbinical school. During what's often known as white flight, a phenomenon whereby many white folks left the city center and moved to the suburbs in the post-war period, there were some shuls that decided to stay in the city. And Germantown Jewish Centre was among them. Bec Richman: Germantown Jewish Centre is located in the city of Philadelphia and has been since it was born. And in my grant application, I included some graphics and research showing exactly what you just shared, that there are quite a lot of people who live very close to the shul, which means that it is a unique setup of a community gathering space. To your question about if this model of bringing a Beit Midrash into a shul is unique, I will say that, Hadar, for example, is an incredible center of Jewish learning and pioneer in this renaissance of the Beit Midrash and expanding who gets to come in. Bec Richman: And they are housed at West End Synagogue in Manhattan. There's definitely precedent for a related organization or a part of a shul that's going to be a Beit Midrash to exist within the shul walls. But it hasn't taken off as far as I know in many different communities around the country. Cyd Weissman: Our president, Deborah Waxman recently said to me when she travels the country, many lay leaders will say to her, “How do you engage the unengaged? How do you connect with the millennials?” And she said, “I tell them what we're teaching here at the college, which is go talk to them, go understand them," and that's part of what is unique about what Bec is doing. She's not sending a flyer and an email, “Just come.” She's going out to people who don't belong, who are not engaged and understanding their stories, building relationship with them and cultivating ideas and connection through that "go out and be among the people." Cyd Weissman: I would say the second thing that feels really unique is that sometimes, synagogues are feeling afraid of these new inventions, of these go out and do it different or we're not going to support a new initiative because you're not bringing people to be members. Something that's happening at Germantown and starting to happen in other synagogues is saying, instead of saying we only support projects if you will be a member, are congregations starting to say, “Okay, let's explore a relationship, a collaboration, some connection with an initiative that isn't about bringing new members to our congregation, but about finding new ways of engaging people with absolutely zero guarantee or thought that means they're going to eventually join.” But synagogues can serve the community in these ways of supporting nascent organizations like what Bec is doing. Bec Richman: And I would say that one important difference in this model is operating out of a place of opportunity rather than out of a place of urgent scarcity. Rachael Burgess: One of the things that I'm actually curious about and also tying back into some of these questions about listening to the people and leaving your ideas at the door, and trying to find out what people really need in order, I guess in this case, to actually engage with their Judaism in a new way, or actually in an old way that is now beginning to come back. What kind of research did you do in Mt. Airy that made you think this is the perfect place for a Beit Midrash? Bec Richman: It's a great question. First of all, I'll just say that there has to be people and there's a lot of people in Mt. Airy who are, many of whom are members of shuls -- not only Germantown Jewish Centre, there are many other shuls in the area, but there are a lot of Jews living in Mt. Airy. It's in the city, which means that for people who are … it's more of a central gathering place. And from the geographic data analysis … from the analysis that I did … well, I didn't do it from the geographic analysis but I hired someone to do, of where folks are living, there's a high concentration of people living close to shul. Bec Richman: And I will say that from my interviews with people and from conversations about "What limits you from getting to programming and to shul, and to gathering with other people?", pretty much the most common response was scheduling and time. Knowing that there are a lot of people who live close to this place and knowing that one of the biggest burdens is scheduling and finding space and time to get to learning, feels like at the very least we should be providing learning and making opportunities that alleviate as much of that burden as possible. And a lot of that is about proximity to home. Bryan Schwartzman: I know -- full disclosure, I've spoken to Cyd before this, before this podcast, we actually work together, so I've had... Cyd Weissman: Nice to meet you Bryan. Bryan Schwartzman: Good to meet you too. And I've heard you talk many, many times about testing hypotheses. And one hypothesis I noted in some of the documentation for this project is the idea that people of all levels or different levels of knowledge would be interested in a Beit Midrash where texts are taught in the original and that's possible, I guess is part of that hypothesis. I mean my working assumption and probably the working assumption of a lot of people would be you need a fair amount of Judaic, Hebrew, Aramaic knowledge to study ancient rabbinic texts in the original. I wonder if either or both of you could speak to that? Rachael Burgess: [Crosstalk] Bec Richman: Well, I will say that, of course, if you're going to study a text in a language that is not your native language, knowing that other language, of course, makes it easier, but it is far from impossible to access and learn that text in the original nonetheless. I'll say that I became a student at SVARA this summer, which is a traditionally radical Yeshiva. At SVARA, the only thing that you have to do to learn in a SVARA Beit Midrash is know your alef-bet. And actually, they have skills or they have teachers and tools to help you get if you need help. Bec Richman: And when you show up at a SVARA program -- I went to Queer Talmud Camp -- when you show up at a program, everyone in the room is learning the exact same text, regardless of if that person has just done their alef-bet for the sake of being there or has been learning gemarah for their entire life. And it's pretty incredible. I will say just briefly that I think what -- I did a teacher training with them this past summer and what goes into making that possible is an immense amount of work on the teacher and facilitators' part to ensure that there are hint sheets and guides for how to look up words. Bec Richman: If you can recognize what a word is and find it on the page you're learning and on the page that's the hint sheet, you can get a direction for how to find what that word means. It's not impossible at all. And I'll say that starting this weekend actually, I'm going to be helping to facilitate a class led by Rabbi Sarra Lev, who is a teacher here at RRC and an amazing, amazing Talmud scholar. We're facilitating a queer text study group and we're experimenting. We are not using a model that we've seen before, but we're taking from different models and different pedagogies that we have worked with and seen, and are experimenting with opening that up to people of every skill level. Bec Richman: There are people signed up who we know have been learning Talmud and learning rabbinic Hebrew for a long time, and people who don't know the alef-bet and we'll see how it goes. This is a gift of an opportunity to be able to experiment and try that learning together. Cyd Weissman: It's also not a straight line from Bec meeting someone, having coffee, hearing their story, and then somebody saying, “Sign me up.” Part of when I meet with Bec, I love hearing what she's uncovering about the steps from, “Hey, I want to hear your story,” to eventually, “Yeah, I actually want to do some study.” Bec, you told me a great story at Sukkot that somebody came, had been … I don't want to tell the story. You tell it. It gave me shivers. Bec Richman: Okay. I'll tell you what I remember and you can fill in if there's something I've left out. One of my dear, dear friends who I met as a kid at summer camp now lives in Philadelphia, and he is some … my partner also grew up with … my partner and I met at the summer camp. My partner and I have known this friend since we were children, and invited him over to come to our sukkah for a meal. And at the end of the meal, before everyone left, I said to the group, “Before everyone goes, I'd love to bentch. I would love to say thanks after this meal.” Bec Richman: We began bentching and I looked up and saw this friend of mine with a grin that spanned across his face. And I know that he is not engaged in Jewish community. He is not engaged in ritual practice. He doesn't go to shul. He's not part of organized Jewish community much. But he remembered the words of bentching from being at summer camp. And I could see that something was happening for him. And afterwards I said, “Hey, what was going on there for you? It looks like something transformative was happening for you there.” Bec Richman: And he said, “I never think about this anymore. I had no idea that I remembered these words. And it's so amazing to feel the nostalgia with you. And I love this, and this is exactly what I needed. This is exactly the kind of spiritual grounding that I needed.” And so for him, it's not a matter of getting him ... I would say that the success is not going from 0 to 60 from, not learning a zero, but it's not going from his place of being unengaged in Jewish institutions to getting him in the door for Jewish learning. But it's about saying like, “Hey, what is, what is your place of spiritual encounter and spiritual moving going to be that I can pick up on?” Bec Richman: And from that encounter, have decided that for him and for other folks who are maybe in a position like his, the Beit Midrash doesn't need to just be in a building. It can also be in my house. It can be a place where people are coming to gather for Havdalah or for other ritual, for singing and for using different modalities to elicit emotion and a spiritual "in", and we'll see where we go from there. But I think Cyd's right to recognize that this is not linear. It's not as though there's a starting point that is not good and an ending point that is right. I think that what I have learned so far is that people need to be met where they're at and accompanied on their way. Cyd Weissman: A big part of being a social entrepreneur is paying attention to data. And when you think data, you think numbers. But if you listen to Bec's story, she was practicing spiritual noticing and collecting data in that way. She saw the change in that person, she paused and took account of it. And that's really important data, but it's also a beautiful rabbinic practice of noticing the people, not counting heads, but noticing the change in people. Bryan Schwartzman: Well, you mentioned before we hit the proverbial record button, that you had a new name for the project to unveil. Cyd Weissman: Drumroll... Bryan Schwartzman: There's the drumroll. And I guess, and is there anything else besides the name you could tell us about where it's going or how folks out in the world could learn more about it? Bec Richman: Totally. First I'll stay that we as the Beit Midrash, I don't really know who we means right now, but it means me and it means Cyd's mentorship, and it means the people who are coming and the presence of something holy happening in this project. We have a working name, which is to say that I want it to be open to the possibility that as the masses grow and the people come, that maybe we'll want a different name, and that's beautiful. There's just so much precedent in our tradition for names changing as they need to. Bec Richman: But for now, the project is called Koleinu Beit Midrash and Koleinu means our voice. And it means really one collective voice. And I picked this name because I think it speaks to three big areas that I hope this Beit Midrash is able to build on and grow from. One is the inclusion of voices that have been left out of learning traditionally. And one group for example, are queer voices. This first learning series that we're kicking off this weekend as a queer text group, is going to be bringing people into learning in something called a Beit Midrash, a house of learning, who have traditionally not been welcome. And we are saying actually, our voice, our voices as queer people, in fact are welcome and are part of the broader voice of Torah learning as Jews. Bec Richman: The second is, providing new ways of giving voice, new methods of giving voice. And for me, as a Jewish artist, as an artist who makes art that is Jewish sometimes, I'm excited to use art as a modality as a new way of giving voice to what has been learned and expanding what it means to do spiritual practice and textual learning beyond conversation, and using art as a modality for expression of what's been learned and what has come up. Bec Richman: And the third is using music and song. It's really exciting to be doing this project at Germantown Jewish Centre in addition to the reasons I've mentioned, is that Joey Wiesenberg, who is an incredible artist and musician, and song leader and facilitator is running, starting in September, a fellowship through the House of Rising Song or the Rising Song Institute. Joey Wiesenberg is going to be kicking off a fellowship in the fall, connected to Hadar that's going to bring together musicians and folks who are interested in delving deeper into music, giving them nine months to do that project at Germantown Jewish Centre. Bec Richman: There's a lot of energy specifically in that building around bringing new voices into music and into song. And I'm excited to collaborate with Joey and we have been in conversation and are really excited to work with each other to see what would it mean to have this learning, again, take place rooted in Jewish text, rooted in Jewish ideas but expressed through song. The idea behind Koleinu, one collective voice, is that that voice is a voice that has the sounds of many voices in it, and also a voice that maybe has a different tone than the voice that has reverberated out of the walls of the Beit Midrash for the past many, many, many years of Jewish tradition. Rachael Burgess: It also seems very appropriate because leading up to creating this Beit Midrash, you also had to do a lot of listening to different voices too. I think that's also a very nice recognition of that process that you went through. Bec Richman: That's beautiful. Yeah. And I hope … I really appreciate that. And I hope that it's a constant reminder when people walk into Koleinu, that it's a practice which is not ever complete. Rachael Burgess: I think before we go, I had one question for Cyd, who is in charge of our department for Innovation and Impact. And you've been doing this Auerbach grant program, you've been teaching this entrepreneurship class, you go out into the world and you are constantly learning about organizations that are trying to do new and different things, especially in the Jewish world. From your vantage point, what does the Jewish world, what does the Jewish community look like now from your vantage point? Cyd Weissman: That is a big question. I do think it looks different and I think it's so exciting. I think the spaces, all the spaces that Bec mentioned that are inviting people in, all the projects that are there are living in a new ecosystem where synagogues are thriving. Now when you look at the map, you see bright lights from the synagogues that are thriving and all these new open doors, new ways, whether in person like what Bec is describing or like what we have with Ritualwell.org: This amazing space where people are gathering online to talk about deep questions like "How do I forgive, how do I wait for forgiveness?" People are able to bring their deep existential questions without judgment in many new spaces in our Jewish community. And that's unbelievably exciting. I think the future is only going to have more of that. Bec Richman: If I can, I just want to share one quick quote from someone from an interview I had. And it was a quote that was from a new learner, and a very similar quote -- I heard a very similar thing shared by an advanced learner and it's, “I want things to be intense, intentional and beautiful, full and rich.” I'm so honored to have an opportunity to build space for learners who haven't been in the door before and for learners who have, and want that intensity and that growth, and that richness. And I really want to thank again the Auerbach grant and the donors for their generosity in making this possible. Rachael Burgess: Great. Thank you both very, very much for being here and Bec sharing about your Beit Midrash and I cannot wait to see how this continues to grow, and this is very exciting. Thank you both very much for being here. Bec Richman: Thank you so much for having us. Rachael Burgess: Thank you so much for joining us. You can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google play and Spotify. 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