Podcasts on Saying You're Sorry
By: Arielle Nissenblatt
Atonement. Apology. Reckoning. Fasting. These are all things that take place on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur is the second of the high holy days in the Jewish calendar. And if you’re like me, you probably have a complicated relationship with this day.
It’s a holiday that asks you to not eat for 25 hours AND spend pretty much all day in a synagogue. I grew up doing just that. Now that I’m older, I find meaning in the holiday in different ways. I do love the opportunity to reflect on the year that was, to think about who I wronged or where I went wrong. But I don’t necessarily believe fasting is going to get me there…faster.
As you may be able to tell from the fact that this blog post is being shared on my podcast recommendation website, I am a big-time podcast listener. So it may come as no surprise that I turn to podcasts when I want to understand more about a subject, or when I want to celebrate or mark an occasion. This holiday is about acknowledging where we may have gone astray with regards to ourselves and others. And the lessons of Yom Kippur are applicable not just to my Jewish readers.
Maybe you don’t want to, can’t, or it just isn’t in your tradition to abstain from food during Yom Kippur. Maybe going to temple just doesn’t do it for you. But maybe you do find meaning in conversations about atonement, apology, goal-setting, and other topics that Yom Kippur resolves around. You’ve come to the right place.
With that in mind, here’s a list of podcast episodes that address atonement, saying sorry, reflecting on the year that was, or even straight up explainers of the holiday of Yom Kippur. Whether you’re spending the day in synagogue or that’s not really your thing, these episodes will bring you into that tough but nuanced YK mindset. Some of these episodes are explicitly Jewish, others are about apologies, and some touch combine the two.
Podcasts on Saying You’re Sorry
Judaism Unbound
Yom Kippur – Repentance and Repair: Judaism Unbound Episode 397 - Danya Ruttenberg
Danya Ruttenberg, the Scholar-in-Residence for the National Council of Jewish Women – and also (unofficially) the "Rabbi of Twitter" according to many – joins Dan and Lex for a special Yom Kippur episode! Together they explore her book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, considering what it has to teach us about the process of making amends, and asking how its lessons could help us create deeper and more meaningful forms of Yom Kippur experience.
Orthodox Conundrum
Guilt and Shame, Repentance and Redemption: A Deeper Dive into Teshuva with Elisheva Liss (175)
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are dedicated to teshuva, commonly translated as “repentance” or “return.” According to the Rambam’s classic formulation, repentance consists of three elements: regret, determination not to repeat the sin in the future, and confession. In many ways it sounds relatively simple… though in practice, it’s often much more difficult. Moreover, from a psychological perspective, the processes of repenting, apologizing, and forgiving are very complex.
Unorthodox
This week on Unorthodox, we’re preparing for Yom Kippur by learning how to communicate better.We interview linguist Deborah Tannen, who coined our favorite phrase, “cooperative overlap.” She explains the real reason why we’re always interrupting each other on this show, and shares some tips for talking to people with different conversational styles.
We talk to Julie Rice, co-founder of Soul Cycle, whose new project, Peoplehood, teaches people how to better listen and communicate with each other. She tells us why we should be working out our “empathy muscles,” and what we can learn when we finally shut up and listen.
We chat with Mitchell Silk, the former assistant secretary of the Treasury for international markets (and the first Hasidic Jew to be appointed to a Senate-confirmed position in the federal government). He recently published the first English translation of the Kedushas Levi, a classic Hasidic commentary on the Torah. He shares how communication, whether in Chinese, Hebrew, or English, is the key to revealing what we all have in common.
Dear Nina
Grudges and Apologies in Friendships
Sometimes we hurt a friend unintentionally, but an apology is still in order. Is there a friend out there who might be waiting for you to say, “I’m sorry?” Are you ready to forgive the friend who comes to you with an apology? This is the episode where we encourage you to think about forgiveness—asking for it and granting it.
The Ten News
Celebrating The Jewish Holidays & Hispanic Heritage Month
Today on The Ten News: we brought in Jewish educator, Miriam Kanani, to tell us all about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Adventures in Jewish Studies
Kol Nidre: Yom Kippur's Most Famous Melody
Kol Nidre is recited at the beginning of evening Yom Kippur services, and serves as an emotional and dramatic opening to the Day of Atonement. However, over the centuries, this legalistic text has been maligned, ridiculed, banned – and even used to justify anti-Semitic attacks.
In this episode, guest scholars Laura S. Lieber and Judah Cohen, along with host Avishay Artsy, discuss what Kol Nidre says, where its melody comes from, and the unique place it holds in Jewish religious and cultural life.
The Science of Happiness
A Better Way to Say Sorry
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Some apologies can actually make things worse. Our Happiness Guinea Pigs, Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer of the By the Book podcast, try a more effective way of saying sorry.
On Air Selects
A self-portrait made out of apologies sent in recent emails. Originally produced for Audio Playground. Credits: Eleanor McDowall (producer), Jeremy Warmsley (music)
Submitted by Joe Dobkin, who made this piece called “So I’ve been missing you.”
Jewish Sacred Aging
Rabbi Address discusses the new book, The Year of Mourning: A Jewish Journey, with its editors, Rabbi Lisa Grant, Director of the New York Rabbinical Program and Eleanor Sinsheimer Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish Education Coordinator, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Cantor Lisa B. Segal, cantor of Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn, NY.
