Mar 8, 2016
On the March 8, 2016 Boomer Generation Radio show,
Rabbi Address welcomes Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling, director of the newly
created Social Justice Organizing Program at the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC). In the second half
of the program, the guest is Michael Lyons,
professional actor and motivational speaker.
About the Guests
- Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling
Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling has worked throughout his career
toward tikkun olam, repair of the world. He
is the first to direct RRC's unique Social Justice Organizing
Program; he leads the College's initiative to invest rabbinical
students with the clarity of purpose, vision and voice to become
uniquely effective, spiritually strong leaders in the drive toward
social justice and environmental sustainability.
Through his own experience, Liebling came to realize that
spiritual leaders hold unique power to demonstrate and inspire
ethical choices, and to lead a pursuit of justice fueled by caring
rather than rage. Most recently he served as the executive vice
president of Jewish Funds for Justice; prior to that organization’s
merger with The Shefa Fund, he held the title Torah of Money
Director at TSF, providing guidance to help people apply Jewish
laws and values to how they spend, invest and donate. For 12 years
he was the executive director of the Jewish Reconstructionist
Federation, and he later served there as senior consultant. Before
entering the rabbinical program at RRC, he worked as a community
organizer.
Liebling was a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major
Jewish Organizations for 12 years. He has served on the boards of
various national and international non-profit organizations;
currently he serves on the boards of the Faith and Politics
Institute and Rabbis for Human Rights-North America. Liebling also
is the president emeritus of the Shalom Center.
He has received awards from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
Association, the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and
Mazon. Liebling also has spoken out for justice for people
with disabilities, and his family was the subject of the
award-winning documentary film Praying With
Lior.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Cornell
University and Master of Arts in the history of American
civilization, specializing in American progressive movements, from
Brandeis University. Liebling is a 1985 graduate of RRC.
He has published articles in many publications,
including Tikkun, Israel
Horizons, Jewish Currents and The
Reconstructionist.
- Michael Lyons
Michael Lyons
Actor, speaker, writer, entrepreneur, hospitality
industry executive... Mike Lyons has led a very interesting
and diverse life.
Mike’s eclectic background began as a child while living in
Paris, France. He appeared in commercials and the film "Paris When
It Sizzles" with Tony Curtis, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden,
and also did dubbing for French and English movies using
his bi-lingual ability. Upon his return to the U.S. in
the mid-Sixties, he performed in the theater in a variety of
roles while also working on the stage crew of the Valley Forge
Music Fair - a professional theater located outside
Philadelphia, rubbing shoulders with entertainment legends such as
Gordon MacRae, Carol Lawrence, and Chita Rivera.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame,
he went to work in the business world, bypassing the
opportunity to pursue a vocation in the entertainment industry.
Fifteen years later while working in New York City, he resurrected
his dormant acting career and landed a national TV commercial for
"Honey Bunches of Oats" cereal. From there he joined SAG (Screen
Actors Guild) and began to book commercials, TV roles and other
jobs on a regular basis including "All My Children" and an Advil
commercial that ran on national television for 4 years. All the
while, he kept his "day job" as a
well-respected expert in the
travel/meetings industry. Over the years, he has
worked in New York city, Norwalk, CT, Philadelphia,
Columbus, OH, and Minneapolis; and his travels have taken him to
32 foreign countries, 43 U.S. states and 76 of the top
100 U.S. cities.
As an actor, he has dozens of credits in films, TV
shows, commercials and more than 350 live appearances on home
shopping network QVC as a product host. His roles have
included speaking parts in “The Sixth Sense”, “All My
Children, “Veep”, “What Would You Do”, “Arrest &
Trial”, and "Outsiders", among others. He can also
be seen in the popular Netflix series “House of Cards”
playing the Speaker of the House in Season 4, Episode 2. Mike
also enjoys performing as a singer and has produced a CD
of his own renditions of classic Frank Sinatra
songs.As a professional motivational speaker, he has given
talks to numerous groups over the past few years on how to
achieve goals, pursue your passion, and enhance your personal
brand. He has authored a number of articles in both
travel industry trade journals as well as consumer
magazines, and is frequently sought out by the media as one of the
experts in the meetings & events industry.A resident of suburban
Philadelphia, he has been married to his lovely wife
Lorie for 42 years. They are the parents of Mike Jr. (Krista),
Erin Oosthuizen (Simon) and Aimee, and proud grandparents of
seven beautiful children: Ella, Caitlin, Jesse, Ansley,
Joshua, Avery and Logan.
Boomer Generation Radio is sponsored in part by Kendal
Corporation, a Quaker-based provider of continuing care
retirement communities in the Northeast and Midwest, airs on
WWDB-AM 860 every Tuesday at 10 a.m., and features news and
conversation aimed at Baby Boomers and the issues facing them as
members of what Rabbi Address calls “the club sandwich generation.”
You can hear the show live on AM 860, or streamed live from
the WWDB website.
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