Listeners' Reflections

This is your place to publicly comment on the topics and issues addressed in Speaking of Faith programs. React in a personal way, and put into words what this program meant to you.

Submit Your Reflection about "Days of Awe."

Touched (September 28, 2008)
I have always been fascinated with Judaism in all its manifestations, though I am not very versed or familiar in the practices. I appreciate this program because it has cracked open those doors and I can see a little light coming through.

Violeta Gutierrez
Milwaukee, WI (WUWM, 89.7 FM)

Deeper (September 28, 2008)
My reaction the first time I went to Bnai Jesherun was exactly the same. I felt I had come home and I burst into tears. I download these programs to my iPod and as I listened to this program, in preparation for the holidays, I had the same reaction. I am crying and crying. Where I live there is nothing like Rabbi Brous and or Bnai Jesherun and I long for either but I live on the east coast. This show has made my preparations much deeper and given much greater meaning to my holidays. How I wish I could attend her services.

Gloria Askin
Pikesville, MD (WYPR, 88.1 FM)

Heartfelt and Personal (September 28, 2008)
I'm one of those Jewish people who doesn't attend services very often and may not even be able to make it to New Year services. That said, I feel like listening to your show during an early morning run this Sunday provided me a way to remember and celebrate the holiday in a very heartfelt and personal way.

Susie Cohen
Austin, TX (KUT, 90.5 FM)

Refreshing and Encouraging (September 28, 2008)
I tuned in today and caught the last few minutes of the interview with Rabbi Brous and was thrilled to hear this on your program. It was a real pleasure to listen to such spiritual Jewish music and wonderful words as I enter the High Holidays this year. I will be going back to listen to the entire broadcast. Thank you!

Melissa Black
Lawrenceville, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Refreshing and Encouraging (September 27, 2008)
I first heard this program last year, and I have had the unedited version on my ipod since then. This was so meaningful to me and I wanted to thank everyone who brought this program forward. Rabbi Brous' statement that the Torah was brought down from Sinai when the mountain was on fire and that in fire it is handed down from one generation to the next really struck me. Faith that is on fire, faith that really means something, that is about something seems to be elusive. In my congregation people seem to be spectators rather than participants in their own spiritual experience. They are there because that's what you do. It was refreshing and encouraging to hear this conversation. Thank you.

Brenda Hogan
Hutchinson, KS (Listens to SOF Podcast)

Turning Up the Volume (September 27, 2008)
I do not recall ever hearing a voice in the world of religion as exuberant, as passionate, and as joyous as that of Sharon Brous. It forced me to listen to her every word. Since I was cooking at the time, I kept turning up the volume on the radio, so I would not miss anything. She was most inspiring! Her congregation must love to attend her services.

Dolores Heinze
Aberdeen, NJ (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Aleinu (September 27, 2008)
Thank you for your wonderful interview with Rabbi Sharon Brous. I grew up Orthodox and moved very far from that world. In my twenties, I found a community similar to Brous' where, on Yom Kippur, we prostrate fully (which is not what we did in my parents' Orthodox shul). I so appreciated what she had to say about how meaningful it could be in its discomfort. I will bow this year with a new intention. (I'll also add that it's ironic to be listening to a show about Yom Kippur on the radio on Saturday after a lifetime of observing Shabbat traditionally which includes a prohibition against using electronic devices such as radios! Thanks again and shana tova.)

Debra Kaufman
Brooklyn, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

You Make Me Want to Serve (November 17, 2007)
I listened to the uncut interview on the podcast. Afterwards I really wanted to find a community church and serve.

Carlos Ferrer
Reykjavik, Iceland (Listens to SOF Podcast)

Fantastic Program (September 22, 2007)
I will listen again and again. I love this rabbi and love Krista's progams. Thank you!

Marilyn Sloane
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

In Between the Lines (September 20, 2007)
First of all, the Rabbi had such a wonderful balance of intelligence and emotion as she spoke about Judaism. It was profound. And to hear such a strong Jewish voice that is a woman's voice — this is the voice that resonates with me — since I am a Jewish woman in her thirties as well. She speaks of the stories in between the text lines and the tears that drop on the page that merge a new voice — a woman's voice — with the voices from the past. This was a beautiful way of expressing the essence of Judaism, the merging of the old with the new. I listened to this the day before Yom Kippur and I will remember her words while I fast on the holiest day of the year.

Jodi Balis
Silver Spring, MD (WAMU, 88.5 FM)

Across Separation (September 17, 2007)
This show spoke to me on so many levels and in both a direct and a subtle way. It directly spoke to me of my feelings of separation from a friend. Liz and I taught together and became friends, but this year she moved to a new city and a new school. As is the case these days, our relationship became manifested in a prolonged email exchange. As a practicing Jew, Liz told me that as the Holy Days approached she was going into that mode. Listening to this show allowed me an insight into her faith and the practice of the that faith, giving me themes and subjects that I can bring up later. As well, the conversation between Krista and the Rabbi subtly addressed issues in my own spiritual life, particularly the need I feel at this time for personal atonement. Finally, it widened to include issues of social atonement and justice, which I needed to consider and pray about since I am beginning a season of fundraising at my school for Invisible Children, a campaign my school is involved in to help the children of Uganda. Thank you.

Martin Johnson
San Deigo, CA (Listens to SOF On Demand)

Gratefulness (September 10, 2007)
As a hospital chaplain, I deeply appreciated the tone and depth of this particular program. Enthusiasm for the Spiritually centered life crosses all boundaries. This was a wonderful, and appreciated, program on the living meaning of the Days of Awe.

Larry Ehren
Cerritos, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Kol Hakavod! (September 10, 2007)
All kudos to Krista Tippet and Rabbi Sharon Brous for this inspiring program. I appreciate your encouragement in this month of preparation to re-engage with the texts and tradition to find a way to make the coming year meaningful — even texts that are so challenging for us as contemporary women in search of the celebration of diversity. I see these texts as an injunction to make the changes that bring healing into the world — rather than accept any non-inclusive sentiments in our tradition as the way that things were and therefore must continue to be.

I was also intrigued to hear your view on a God who makes mistakes — could we not say instead that our view of a God 'making mistakes' challenges our notions of the nature of God and encourages us to expand our understanding? Imaging Divinity as 'verb' rather than 'noun' encourages the concept of a God that is constantly present and continually changing, and as we mature spiritually we come to understand more of the layers that comprise Divinity.

Heather Mendel
San Luis Obispo, CA (Listens to SOF Online)

Arise (September 9, 2007)
I was half asleep but she woke me up. She spoke to me. Terrific program.

Carol Solotoff
Gladwyne, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Reassurance for a Presbyterian (September 9, 2007)
I wanted to thank you for presenting your interview with Rabbi Sharon Brous. While I come from the Presbyterian faith, I found her message so moving and important for all people of all ages and faiths. I listened to her this morning on air and again tonight in the unedited version and it touched my heart and my soul. Her informative message of the Jewish Holy Day traditons was also full of meaning, joy, and reassurance that we can transform our lives and the world. Thank you.

Emily Foley
Savannah, GA (WSVH, 91.1 FM)

Rabbi Brous, Voice of Encouragement (September 9, 2007)
While I am not a Jew and I was not really intending to listen to the program this week, after listening to Rabbi Brous speak so openly and enthusiastically about her religion and her feelings, if I lived in L.A., I'd go to her synagogue and worship there. Today, and today is Sunday. We're in such need of voices like hers. What also went to my heart was Krista's comment about the happenings of the world these days being overwhelming. Yes! While I know the media is doing its job, it's making us, its audience, subtly numb with fear.

If you listen (and watch) carefully, even commercials are fear-based these now. "How To Get Their Attention? Scare them almost unto death." And we wonder why we're walking around with phones glued to our ears like ear pacifiers. We sit in search of comfort on the Internet and our fingers are frantically tapping out messages to friends? We're scared and we don't know what to do about it except huddle together in this feeble, electronic way. Bin Laden has no more work to do here. I hope he knows that.

Marcia Nelson
Fenton, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)

Indiscernible to a Baby Boomer's Ears (September 9, 2007)
The interview with the L.A. rabbi was like the over-talking prattle of two Valley Girls to this aging Boomer's ears. I guess that sort of "conversation" speaks to your next generation of listeners, but whatever "message" was supposed to be conveyed was lost in the din of the hi-speed chatter of these two women. Maybe that *is* the message — trade my dial-up brain for a Blackberry?

Alan Hull
Conyers, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Public Disservice Radio (September 9, 2007)
I happened to tune in this morning and was sad to find that my public radio station had been taken over by superstitious fundamentalists. Being relegated to 6 am on Sunday morning is a nice way to conceal your program, but I'll certainly be sending a message to my local station by withholding my contribution this year in protest of offering your show up as legitimate radio. At best it's comedy and at worst dangerous propaganda. I certainly wouldn't want to meet anyone who would actually care that some female rabbi cries into her fantasy novel. Your show is an insult to the intellect of the company you work for and to those of us who reject ancient superstitions. Yes, I chose to turn it off as is my prerogative, but the show itself is sinister and needs to be taken off the air. Proud member of local public radio and American Atheists.

James Miller
Deerfield Beach, FL (WLRN, 91.3 FM)

Descendants of Ishmael (September 8, 2007)
You said "Ismail is ancestor of all Moslems." This is not true. He is the ancestor of Arabs. Not all Moslems are Arabs. Arabs at the height of their power invaded other countries and ruled those countries and forced Islam onto the people. A good example of this is country of Iran which had Zoroastrian as its official religion. Iranians to this day hold grudges against Arabs for invading Iran, burning libraries, and forcing Islam onto them.

Mondana Rezania
Ossining, NY (WLRN, 91.3 FM)