In this episode...
Karen sits down with Lisa Lisser, Executive Vice President at JewBelong. Long known for their slightly risque NYC bus shelter ads, lately JewBelong’s been pushing the envelope in expanding the conversation around antisemitism with their attention-getting Times Square billboards. Lisa chats with Karen about JewBelong’s core mission of making Judaism accessible to disengaged Jews, how she deals with Jewbarrassment, and why you don’t have to be an expert to experience the joy of Judaism.
You’ll find out:
- Why there’s no such thing as a bad Jew
- How we as Jews can keep rules from dividing us
- Why Passover is Lisa’s favorite Jewish holiday – and how she makes her seders her own
- Small, easy steps you can take to lean into your Judaism – and the awesome resources JewBelong offers to help you do exactly this
- What sparks Jewish joy for Lisa in her own life
- The story behind those famous in Times Square
- What JewBelong is doing to get people talking about antisemitism – and how their work is bringing Jews together
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Episode Guests...
Lisa Lisser
Lisa is the current Executive Vice President at JewBelong.com. She comes to JewBelong with a vast experience in the Jewish world, which includes being raised as a strong Jewish woman by decidedly feminist Jewish parents back in the late 70s, at a time when women were first being counted in the minyan. Though she flirted with the idea of becoming a cantor in the 80s (prior to women being allowed to be ordained as cantors in the conservative movement), she pursued a theater major in college and then became a litigator in NYC. She retired from litigation to raise her 3 amazing Jewish children and became deeply involved in Jewish communal lay leadership in synagogue, Hadassah and Federation, re-establishing her personal connection to Israel with multiple trips back and forth over the last 20+ years. Most recently, Lisa received an MA in Religious Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion School of Education in NYC with a focus on teaching adult Jews to reconnect to their Jewish souls, as well as teaching and designing curriculum for youth and families.
