(0:01 - 14:46): To begin the episode, Barbara Thiede explains that historians have known for decades that the story of rabbis "saving" Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple is a mythical narrative -- not a factual one. [2] Terming this story "the Rabbinic myth," she provides examples that demonstrate how Rabbinic Judaism was not at all central to the vast majority of Jews' lives for many hundreds of years (and, in some cases, much longer). As one example, she spotlights one community that embodies many of her important points -- the Jews of Kaifeng, China. [3]

(14:47 - 31:47): Thiede critiques the tendency to minimize non-Rabbinic forms of Jewish life through a comparison to Christians who attempt to minimize Judaism because Christianity "won." She then provides her take on an ongoing thread of Judaism Unbound, the duality of Elite Judaism and Folk Judaism, [4] along with ways that they interact with one another, and with the cultures in which they are immersed. Thiede then takes a look at contemporary life, honing in on what the role of the rabbi looks like today, and how she (a rabbi herself) balances her ownership of that role with her desire to change what it connotes.