Return the Key
Jewish Questions for Everyone
“We are all…the unchosen, but we are nevertheless unchosen together.” - Judith Butler
This is podcast in which Julie Carr and occasional cohosts interview artists, writers, activists, scholars, religious leaders and others, asking questions related to Jewish (and non-Jewish) themes, such as oneness and the one, time and the infinite, home and diaspora, return and renewal, knowing and unknowing, law and practice, text and textuality, the idea of justice and the idea of love.
The original music is composed and performed by Ben Roberts.
Julie Carr is the author of 13 books of poetry and prose, including Climate, co-written with Lisa Olstein, Real Life: An Installation, Objects from a Borrowed Confession, and Someone Shot my Book. Earlier books include 100 Notes on Violence, RAG, and Think Tank. Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2023. Underscore, a book of poems, was published by Omnidawn in 2024. Overflow, a trilogy, will be published sequentially over subsequent years.
Julie is a Professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder in English and Creative Writing, and is chair of the Women and Gender Studies department. With Tim Roberts she is the co-founder of Counterpath Press, Counterpath Gallery, and Counterpath Community Garden in Denver. You can reach her with comments or suggestions for the podcast at Juliealicecarr@gmail.com
Benjamin Roberts is a cellist, fiddler, and composer from Denver, Colorado. Having studied classical performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music and folk improvisation at the New England Conservatory, he now lives in New York City where he performs, teaches, and makes music. Contact Ben at Benjamin.Roberts447@gmail.com. Or on his website, here.
Episode #4: Queer Judaism: Coming out again and again and again: Daniel Eisenberg and Rabbi Dave Yedid
Julie and Jason interview Daniel Eisenberg and Rabbi Dave Yedid. Daniel and Dave talk about establishing Base Denver in their home, the intersection between queer and Jewish identities, Passover as a “coming out” narrative (coming out again and again and again), and the erotic eco-poetics of The Song of Songs.
Episode 3: The first principle is the principle of Lostness: Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman
Julie talks with poet-artist Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman about his project Wierzba Estery / Esther’s Willow, a collaboration with artists Katarzyna and Marta Sala in Chrzanów (PL), a half-Jewish city until the Nazi genocide and postwar processes that continued a long century of ethnic cleansing.
Episode 2: Humming with: Dr. Sarah Pessin
Julie and Jason interview philosopher Sarah Pessin about her work on Moses Maimonides and Emmanuel Levinas.
Episode 1: Getting to Know Us: Julie Carr and Jason Lipeles
In this pilot episode of Return the Key, Jason and Julie interview each other about our friendship, the origins of the podcast, and our Jewish upbringings. We list our “Jewish themes,” read a bit from our recent writing, and ask each other to talk about the vexing ideas of “oneness” and “the chosen.”