Rosner’s Torah-Talk: Sukkot with Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback

Our special guest today is Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback, senior Rabbi of L.A.’s Stephen Wise Temple. Rabbi Zweiback graduated from Princeton University in 1991 and was ordained as a Rabbi by the Hebrew Union College in 1998. He trained as a Jewish Educator at HUC's Los Angeles campus, where he received a M.A. in Jewish Education. Before coming to the Stephen Wise Temple, he served Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California, as Rabbi and educator, for eleven years. Rabbi Zweiback is a lecturer at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, and a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is also the volunteer Executive Director and Founder of Kavod, a non-profit tzedakah collective which is dedicated to protecting human dignity. Rabbi Zweiback is also an author, musician and composer. His publications include the teacher’s guide to Shalom Ivrit II; Day of Days; and Days of Wonder, Nights of Peace: Family Prayers in Song for Morning and Bedtime. As part of Mah Tovu, he has released three albums, published two books, and performed across the United States.

Our Sukkot conversation focuses on the curious command that orders us to be 'completely joyful’ during the holiday.

Our past discussions of Sukkot:

Rabbi David Segal on the idea of Sukkot as the perfect epilogue to Yom Kippur

Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg on the inclusive and universal aspects of the holiday