Rabbi Noa Kushner: How We All Get Free Series

Join us for Iliff’s Pulpit+ Exchange Series, an inspiring series of in-person and virtual gatherings where clergy, lay leaders, activists, scholars, ministers, journalists, and community organizers come together to wrestle with the most pressing questions of our time. Together, we’ll explore powerful stories of hope, healing, and action—each rooted in a shared vision of justice and liberation.

Rabbi Kushner’s presentation will focus on insights from her forthcoming book, Pretend You Believe. This work explores religion for the post-everything age, meditating on the necessity and viability of religious experiences and ideas even when (and precisely because) they demand humility, discomfort, commitment, and sincerity.

Rabbi Noa Kushner founded The Kitchen in 2011 in response to friends who were looking for an informal, transformative Shabbat experience that they couldn’t find. Along the way, she crashed headfirst into what has now been well documented as a generational trend away from many established religious institutions. The Kitchen quickly grew from a local Shabbat experiment into an active doorway for San Francisco’s Gen X and Millennials looking for serious Jewish life. Through an emphasis on first-hand experience and “doing Jewish” over pedigree, The Kitchen has become an international resource, growing to serve thousands of modern families annually in seven years.

In working with IDEO and by emphasizing design + communications, The Kitchen has also changed the ways religion is perceived and integrated into daily life. After graduating with a degree in Religious Studies at Brown, Kushner was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1998. She then served as a Hillel Rabbi for both Sarah Lawrence College and Stanford University.

The Kitchen has been featured internationally in Ha’aretz, Tablet, The Forward, and Medium.

What to Expect Each Evening:

5:00 – 5:45 PM (MST): Light meal and connection

5:45 PM: Lecture begins, followed by Q&A and deep discussion

Location: In-person at Iliff or online via livestream. Unable to attend in person? Register to receive the livestream link.

Because change starts in community. This is a space to be challenged and inspired, while meeting others who share your passion for faith-rooted justice, equity, and collective liberation.

Come for one evening or all. Stay for the conversation. Leave with new energy, new insights, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Whether you’re a faith leader, community builder, or someone seeking meaningful connection, this is more than a lecture series—it’s an invitation to be part of a growing network of changemakers committed to building a more just and equitable world.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Iliff School of Theology