Search for Meaning with Daniel Wordsworth

Jessica Elter tells her harrowing  October 7th story. She explains that she was supposed to be at the Supernova Music Festival with her boyfriend, Ben Shimoni, but at the last moment, decided not to go. Listen to the extraordinary tale of his heroism and her courage and strength. To learn more about Jessica, Ben, and some of the other people mentioned in this episode, click the links below.

https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1718984491761270983?s=42&t=I4_94Dtxzrfw9LvjyKJs9w

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaya-halifa-24-a-gentle-peaceful-soul-who-loved-music/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-shimoni-31-music-loving-angel-who-saved-9-from-supernova/

Professor, columnist, and host of "The Dan Schnur Political Report," Dan shares even-handed analysis on pressing political issues, from domestic policy to geopolitics.   
Rabbi Yoshi gets his take on the 2024 election, the situation in Israel, Jewish values, and the role kindness and empathy play today — no matter which "side of the aisle" you're on. 

In his latest "Search for Meaning" podcast, Rabbi Yoshi speaks with Susie Lubell (left), a self-taught artist and illustrator whose work has been included in galleries and private collections around the world. A friend of Rabbi Yoshi for more than 30 years, she made aliyah in 2011 and lives outside Jerusalem. They discuss her art, ketubot, and how she holds out hope despite the turbulent times.

When this is over there will be an encyclopedia of heroism because there were thousands of heroic moments..."
 
In his latest "Search for Meaning" podcast episode, Rabbi Yoshi speaks with Yitzhak Sokoloff, an Israeli political analyst and founder of educational travel company, Keshet. Sokoloff, a resident of Efrat in the Etzion bloc and of Yerucham, re-enlisted in the IDF at age 69 immediately after the October 7 massacre. Yitzhak speaks about the twin goals of destroying Hamas and saving the hostages — and the potential consequences if Israel can't achieve both. 

Rabbi Yoshi recorded this episode on his most recent trip to Israel, which happened to fall during the short-lived cease-fire. His only chance to speak at length with Yitzhak was on their drive together from Tel Aviv to a military base near the Gaza border, where they learned how soldiers use reconnaissance drones to avoid the loss of civilian life and protect IDF soldiers.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Stephen Wise Temple, "Forward" Editor-in-Chief Jodi Rudoren spoke with Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback on a new episode of "The Search for Meaning" podcast. The veteran reporter, editor and digital innovator spent more than two decades at "The New York Times," including nearly four years as its Jerusalem bureau chief. A sought-after speaker, she provided insights on the war in Gaza and the importance of the Yiddish word, rachmanus – empathy. 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Oman, Gary Grappo, met Rabbi Yoshi and Jacqueline through a mutual friend when Grappo was serving as Chief of Staff of the Quartet in Jerusalem  in 2010. Gary and his wife, Becky, soon became friends with Yoshi and Jacqueline. Over the years, Ambassador Grappo, a career diplomat with four decades of experience in the Middle East, has visited Stephen Wise Temple multiple times to share his insights on the Iran Deal, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and now this most recent war between Hamas and Israel.

In this episode, Ambassador Grappo shares his experience and insights with Rabbi Yoshi  concerning Hamas; the “Administration of Savagery” terrorist playbook; the roles of Qatar, Russia, and the wider Arab world; “proportionality”; and which news sources to trust (and not).

The existence of our universe is a miracle.
Our own, personal existence is a miracle.
This sermon celebrates creation, the Creator, and creativity.

Stay tuned and be inspired.

Featuring Cantor Emma Lutz and Dr. Tali Tadmor

Arranged by Dr. Tali Tadmor, Cantor Emma Lutz, and Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback

Yarone Levy, guitar 
Larry Steen, bass
Jeff Stern, percussion
Tali Tadmor, piano

Music to "Who is Like You God?" based on "Nobody Like You Lord" by Maranda Curtis

In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts travel writer, author, podcaster, and Stephen Wise Temple Board member Lisa Niver, who just released her memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

Lisa's memoir debuted as the top solo travel title on Amazon.com when it released on Sept. 19. Her podcast, Make Your Own Map, launched this summer and has been watched on six continents. It was a finalist for two Southern California Journalism Awards in 2023.

Elected this summer as a Congregational Director, Lisa is a graduate of Wise’s religious school program. Wise’s founder, Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, officiated her bat mitzvah. She began her “nomadic” lifestyle by spending a summer in Israel on LA Ulpan, and went on to study abroad in Jerusalem at Hebrew University. She returned to Israel with her family for Rabbi Zeldin’s 80th birthday celebration. As a journalist, Lisa often shares articles about Wise clergy and services, most often through her column in the Jewish Journal. 

Lisa has taught religious school at Wise and science at Brawerman Elementary, and has spoken at Wise about the Jews of Morocco (join our trip there next February!). Through the Jewish Federation, Lisa was part of the Rautenberg New Leaders Project and a mentor for the Julie Beren Platt Teen Innovation Grants Program.

Lisa’s mother, Judi Niver, also served on the temple’s board and both parents are active members in the temple community. Lisa is a regular at Shabbat services (speaking about her book on Sept. 29) and during COVID, she helped coordinate political leaders to read the prayer for our country.

 As we reflect during the High Holy Days on issues of life and death, Rabbi Yoshi shares an interview with Lauren Ullmann, a Stanford Business School student and former MIT varsity goaltender player whose life was saved by a donation of peripheral stem cells. Fans of the Search for Meaning podcast will know who made that donation.

Determined to use her experience as a team leader and the lessons taught from seeing the whole field as a collegiate goaltender to excel in business, Ullmann interned for the prestigious Bain & Company, eventually becoming a senior associate consultant.

Late in 2019, she headed to the San Francisco Bay Area -- where he grandparents lived -- for  an externship. The night before running a marathon in early January of 2020, she experienced "horrible, horrible" stomach pain. Though she was able to run the race, it returned several days later. After a miserable week and several blood tests at UCSF, Ullman thought it was the flu or appendicitis. While visiting her grandparents with her mother in town, she was rushed to the Stanford ER at 4:30 a.m. After 11 hours, she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia.

She began treatment immediately and soon was able to travel back to New York to Memorial Sloan Kettering. She needed a bone marrow stem cell transplant, and neither of her siblings were good enough matches. She turned to the Be The Match Registry. With only three potential matches and the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding, she miraculously found not only a donor, but a new family. 

If you have been any kind of nerd or geek or pop culture enthusiast in the last 20 years, chances are you know the voice of Rabbi Yoshi's guest this week on the Search for Meaning Podcast: voiceover actress Vanessa Marshall.

Though she has lent her voice to 226 shows, games, and movies, Vanessa is perhaps most famous for originating the role of the Rebel Alliance's Twi'lek pilot and general Hera Syndulla in the acclaimed Star Wars animated series Star Wars: Rebels, voicing the character in her subsequent appearances in the series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and continues to voice her in games and online web series.

During her career, she has voiced heroes -- Marvel's Black Widow and Gamora, and DC's Wonder Woman and Black Canary -- and villains - - DC's Poison Ivy and Catwoman, and Marvel's Hela, goddess of the underworld.

She's lent her voice to characters in multiple Star Wars video games (including Knights of the Old Republic II). You can hear her work in the Metal Gear Solid (Strangelove), Doom, Diablo, Ratchet & Clank, Mortal Kombat (Sonya Blade and Sheeva, and Mass Effect video game franchises; video game adaptations of the Dune novels, the James Bond franchise, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Conan, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Oh, and she also happens to have been Rabbi Yoshi's dorm neighbor during their freshman year at Princeton. From her parents -- news reporter John Marshall and actress Joan Van Ark -- to her unconventional path from a stand-up comic and plus-sized model to nerd queen, Vanessa tells her story with fun, excitement, and humor, while reflecting on the lessons she's learned.