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Ariana Katz: Bridging Tradition and Technology

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Ariana Katz
 Ariana Katz, the inaugural recipient of the 2016 Auerbach Launch Grant, was initially inspired to create her monthly podcast Kaddish due to her involvement with the Philadelphia Reconstructionist Chevra Kadisha. Ariana believes that American society tends to avoid discussions of death and that Judaism offers a healthy and holistic approach to these issues, an approach that can benefit listeners, Jewish or not. As Kaddish talks frankly about death, mourning, and end-of-life preparation, Ariana hopes that her listeners and contributors can build an online community that “holds space at the intersection of life and death.” 

Kaddish covers a wide variety of topics—from chosen family to reproductive loss, suicide to tattoos, queer burial to ritual writing. Kaddish was recently chosen as one of Moment magazine’s “Top Ten Jewish Podcasts,” and Ariana has been interviewed by Treyf, Jewish Public Media, and more. You can listen to Kaddish here and follow Ariana on her website

“There’s a lot of ways we experience life, and they’re not all happy. There’s a lot of ways we experience death, and they’re not all sad. The bouncing between the two is actually what makes life meaningful.”

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