About this episode

Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg discusses themes of collapse and entanglement in relation to her experiences in Minneapolis and the Jewish calendar.

In episode #33 I talk with Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg about two terms that have been central to her lately: “collapse” and “entanglement.” We read from and discuss Anna Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World , a book that helps think through these themes. Rabbi Jessica talks about what it’s been like on the ground in Minneapolis this winter, how confronting state violence and authoritarianism in real-time by caring for her neighbors has been both terrifying and profound in how it’s changed her sense of what “entanglement” really means. We discuss how accepting that we are in a time of collapse (of institutions, structures, and climate) might paradoxically help us get out of bed in the morning, rather than paralyzing us with fear. I bring up my obsession with “Longtermism” (not a fan), and Rabbi Jessica shares her thinking around “spiral time” in the context of the Jewish calendar, insisting that we can think long term while “holding the collective liberation of all people on the planet right now in our minds and hearts.” We end by talking about what both personal and collective grief can teach us, awakening us to the now. Texts and people discussed: Ross Gay, Inciting Joy…

People in this episode

Host: Julie Carr

Guest: Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg

Topics covered

• collapse
• entanglement
• state violence
• authoritarianism
• Jewish calendar
• collective grief
• Longtermism

Keywords

• collapse
• entanglement
• Minneapolis
• state violence
• Jewish calendar
• Longtermism
• collective grief
• spiral time

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Mushroom at the End of the World, Inciting Joy: Essays, When Bombs Fall: Saying Yes to Life, ‘Minneapolis Community Defense Is “Riding on the Learning Edge of a Whirlwind’” (Interview), For Times Such as These: A Radical’s Guide to the Jewish Year

More episodes of Return the Key: Jewish Questions for Everyone

• Episode 36: My Country is the Page: Moudi Sbeity on the generative power of language · May 28, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 35: “What exactly are we doing here”?: Nishant Upadhyay on settler colonialism and its complexities · May 21, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 32: A Passenger on the Bus: Rob Fitterman · March 1, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 31: On Money, Lies, and God with Katherine Stewart · February 14, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 30: “Memory of a Larger Mind” with Daniela Naomi Molnar · January 25, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Episode 29: Thresholds: Ava Aviva Avnisan · January 17, 2026 · 1h 4m

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