The Bluegrass Schmooze
When Shani Abramowitz and Ben Freed took their first jobs as rabbis in Lexington and Louisville, they got one question from their classmates and friends: There are Jews in Kentucky? The short answer is yes! The long answer is right here, in your podcast feed. Every month, you'll hear a deep dive into upcoming holidays and their meanings, and kibitz with a Jewish Kentuckian who has a great story. And each episode wraps up with a L'Chaim of the Month — a toast to a person or group making our world a better place (bourbon in a kosher dill jar optional... but strongly encouraged). Zei gezunt, y'all!
Episodes
April 3, 2025 • 50 mins
March Madness is at a fever pitch, and baseball season has just begun. We couldn't think of a better time to talk about the many contributions of Jewish folks to all levels of sports. Crack open your peanuts and Cracker Jacks and join us for this conversation with the legendary Alan Stein, founder of the Lexington Legends Minor League baseball team.
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March 7, 2025 • 85 mins
A couple episodes ago we explored Lexington's Jewish history, and now it's Louisville's turn! Join us for a deep dive with historian and museum consultant Carol Ely, author of "Jewish Louisville: Portrait of a Community." And later in the episode, the delightful Bob and Margie Kohn reminisce about growing up here, and Margie shares her family's multi-generational story of being Jewish in Kentucky... guaranteed to feel like a warm h...
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January 30, 2025 • 56 mins
This month we're kibitzing with Dr. Raphael Finkel, a Yiddish scholar and educator who taught for almost 40 years at the University of Kentucky. We talk about the links between identity and language — Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and more — and the many fascinating ways they overlap for Jews in the United States.
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January 6, 2025 • 74 mins
This month on the Schmooze, Ohavay Zion legend Mike Ades takes us on a deep dive into the history of Jews in Lexington, and how Jewish life changed and evolved along with the city itself. And Janice Crane paints Rabbi Shani a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up here and how special the community has always been. Plus, big BIG news from Rabbi Ben. Don't miss it!
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December 2, 2024 • 51 mins
Going away to college is an exciting and sometimes scary time, especially for Jewish students at schools where there aren't large Jewish populations. This month, we reminisce about our own formative years in school. And we kibitz with Justin Sadle from the university of Kentucky about the value of helping Jewish students find and build community on campus.
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November 1, 2024 • 66 mins
We’re nearing the finish line of an unpredictable election season in the United States, so this month, we’re talking about the importance of civic engagement, and why Jews are called to live out our values by participating fully and enthusiastically in democracy. Our guest, Kentucky State Senator Dr. Karen Berg, says her political work is bolstered by a famous quote from Rabbi Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader from the first centur...
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October 10, 2024 • 66 mins
There are foods everyone thinks of as Jewish — matzo ball soup, bagels and lox, you get the idea — but there's no one way to define Jewish food. Our guest this month, food historian Avery Robinson, says that because Jews have lived all over the world, "we are culinary chameleons." After Avery gives us some historical and cultural context, we zoom into the bluegrass state, and talk with chefs Sasha Chack and Amy Messer about creatin...
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September 4, 2024 • 89 mins
This is it, folks: the last episode in our first season! And it’s a pretty special one. The tables have turned, and our spouses, Ariane Barrie-Stern and Joseph Eskin, are interviewing US, in a conversation we had live at Ohavay Zion Synagogue in Lexington. We laughed, we almost cried, and Joseph broke some very big personal news… about Ben and Ariane. We can’t wait for you to hear it.
But first we’ll talk about the month of Elul....
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August 5, 2024 • 78 mins
This month on The Bluegrass Schmooze, we learn about Tu B’av, the Jewish day of love. And we’ll kibitz with Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, a Kentuckian who moved away to lead a synagogue in New York City. Stick around for the end of this episode, when we share a big announcement about the future of our show!
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July 8, 2024 • 97 mins
Tikkun olam. It's a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." And our guests on this episode say it's the principle that compelled them to sue the Commonwealth of Kentucky over its near-total abortion ban. We'll talk about that lawsuit, and how the law affects people trying to become parents through IVF. And we'll learn about the month of Tamuz, a rather sleepy month that hits just when the summer heat has us feeling ready fo...
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June 7, 2024 • 80 mins
We’ve been counting up to it for seven weeks, and it’s finally here: Shavuot, in the month of Sivan! On Shavuot, we celebrate receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai after a long journey through the desert. We’ll learn all about it this episode. And we’ll meet some Kentuckians who had revelations of their own. Hal Forbess and Ken Shuck are both Jews by choice, and they share their journeys with us, and with you.
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May 23, 2024 • 17 mins
When Ira Glass created "This American Life" in 1995, he wanted to expand on traditional news reporting and tell stories in new ways. Same thing in 2014, when he and members of his production team brought "Serial" to life and changed the podcasting world. But while he's known for innovation, he traces his own storytelling roots to older influences he experienced growing up in a Jewish community in the 1960s and '70s.
Ira joined ...
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May 9, 2024 • 68 mins
We talk a lot on our show about old times. Like, reeeally old times, from many thousands of years ago. But this month, Iyyar, we explore three holidays that commemorate more recent moments in Jewish history: Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, Yom Ha’atzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day, and Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day. And we kibitz with three Kentuckians who help educators teach about the Holocaust in ways that are eth...
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April 9, 2024 • 92 mins
It’s Nisan, and that means time for Pesach! You might know it as Passover. With a nod to Charlton Heston and "Prince of Egypt," we'll explore the real story and why it's one of our favorite holidays. Then we'll kibitz with animator and theatre artist Yehuda Jai Husband, who converted to Judaism as an adult. "I didn't really understand God when I was growing up, and I was given a version of God that didn't quite gel with me," he say...
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March 11, 2024 • 62 mins
It's Adar! Wait, didn't we already have Adar? We sure did, but since this is a leap year, we're making it a double. Adar II contains the holiday Purim, which is the perfect time to raise a glass. So on this episode, we're kibitzing with Rabbi Chaim Litvin, also known as The Bourbon Rabbi. He has his own line of spirits and is an expert in kosher law, particularly as it pertains to creating Kentucky's favorite beverage.
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February 9, 2024 • 63 mins
Two rabbis and a comedian walk into a bar... ok, we're still workshopping the punchline. But this month we're kibitzing with Jewish comedian Ariel Elias! Ariel lives in New York City, she’s been on Jimmy Kimmel Live and featured in Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, and Good Morning America… and she grew up right here in Kentucky.
And we’ll talk about the month of Adar Rishon, or, Adar One. This year there are two of 'em, beca...
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January 11, 2024 • 68 mins
This month in Judaism, Tu BiShvat reminds us to be thankful for the natural world, and hold onto hope for springtime. And we meet Leon Wahba and Captain Promotable Jordan Disney. Both served at Ft. Knox — Leon in the 1960s and Jordan, currently. They kibitz about Army life, whether the kosher meals are edible, and how being Jewish impacts military service... and we ask them where the gold is.
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December 13, 2023 • 74 mins
This month, we’re breaking down kashrut, or kosher — the dietary laws governing what Jewish people do and don’t eat. They cover both the food itself, how it can be combined, and how meat should be prepared (animals must be slaughtered a certain way to minimize their pain). And we’ll kibitz with Top Chef Sara Bradley, who’s running a restaurant and raising a family in Paducah, KY, where the Jewish community is much smaller there tha...
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November 14, 2023 • 67 mins
It’s Kislev! That means time for Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. We’ll tell you the story, and the history of why the story itself is told the way it is. And we kibitz with Louisville Orchestra Music Director Teddy Abrams about Jewish composers’ place in the American music tradition. Teddy tries to trick us into some free therapy [disclaimer: we are rabbis, not therapists!] and we commiserate over his hit Christmas single that ne...
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October 15, 2023 • 79 mins
On today’s episode we’ll kibitz with University of Kentucky President Dr. Eli Capiluto. Capiluto shares his experiences of growing up as a Sephardic Jew in Montgomery, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Era. Sephardic Jews are Jews who were expelled from Spain after 1492, and that identity can make them feel out of place, even among other Jews.
And this month in Judaism, it’s Cheshvan — also known as the rabbi’s favorite month, b...
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