Joshua Snyder

I grew up in a Reform household, my two brothers and I went to Sunday School and Hebrew school on Tuesday nights.  For the High Holidays we would always go to synagogue.  We didn't keep kosher.  Our community was very Jewish so I attended a lot of friends' and family bar mitzvahs.  In terms of ancestry, on my dad's side we came from Russia, not entirely sure on my mom's side.

I got an Instagram DM from someone (TPF's star student recruiter Ilana Beacher) and it seemed relatively interesting, so I decided to pursue it.

I'm in grad school and every dollar counts, and it seemed interesting enough to fit it into my schedule.  So, the $15 was definitely enticing and got me interested in reaching out to start with TPF.

Honestly, no.  I would have not.  The stipend was a pretty big contributing factor.

Rabbi Chaim Shaps (of Project Shoresh, Rhode Island) was my mentor, we would meet on Wednesday mornings.  I really enjoyed it.  It was relatively quick, with 20-25 minute conversations.  We were respectful of each other's time.  It was nice to catch up for the first couple of minutes; we knew of each other's lives and we were able to connect.  It was also nice to talk about different topics that I wouldn't normally hear from an Orthodox perspective.  I thought that was one of the most unique components of TPF; growing up in a Reform home, with all of my friends being Reform, I don't always get the perspective from other sects of Judaism.  It's really nice to hear from other points of view, thoughts and ideas.

Charlie Harary.  There are two reasons for this.  First, I'm a bit biased because I got to meet him in Spain during an OLAMI event I qualified for when I was a Campus Ambassador back in 2019.  Also, I think his topics are more relevant to everyday life than other podcasts that deal with history or ideology.

It's really given me additional perspective on things; new ways to look at not only Jewish questions I've had, but also life questions.  It's also helped me check my own biases and understand how they can influence decisions or thoughts I have.

I would say that I'm in a much stronger connection to Judaism than I thought I would be going into grad school.  I'm really pleased, and I think TPF was a contributing factor to that.  After moving away from home and from college, it would be very easy for me to not be involved with Judaism--not having a synagogue nearby or rabbis on campus as I had as an undergrad.   This fellowship, in addition to making a few Jewish friends in my program, was able to help connect me to my Judaism much stronger than I imagined.

“The Podcast Fellowship is creative way to learn about myself and my religion through multiple perspectives, through taking different podcasts each week and using the topics to explore my own thoughts”.