About Us

Ask a Jewish teenager who Captain Ahab, or Huckleberry Finn, or Elizabeth Bennet is. No problem.

But Isaiah? Ruth? Shammai? Forget about it.

We've been working since 2008 to restore credibility to the phrase "The People of the Book."

G-dcast is a non-profit production company dedicated to raising worldwide Jewish literacy using the tools and storytelling style that speak to today’s youth. To date, we have created 66 short films - all available for free on this website - based on Jewish texts that have been viewed nearly a million times on the web, social media networks and mobile devices. Our companion curricula are in use by over 3000 educators at institutions across the Jewish spectrum and around the world.

The Team
Advisors and Board
Donors
Job Opportunities

The Team

Sarah has served on the boards the JCC of San Francisco and the independent, pluralist Mission Minyan. She was named one of the Forward 50 most influential Jews of 2009, and is a recipient of the Joshua Venture Group fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs. Sarah was a guest of the Obamas at the 2010 reception at the White House for Jewish Heritage Month.

Matthue Roth, Editorial Director
Matthue Roth is an acclaimed writer, dynamic performer and student of Torah. In his 2005 memoir Yom Kippur A Go Go and 2004 teen novel Never Mind the Goldbergs, he combines his experience growing up in the Philadelphia punk scene with his life as a practicing Orthodox Jew, mixing in meditations on sexuality, gender, and the conflict between vegetarianism and his grandmother’s cooking.  Matthue is an associate editor at MyJewishLearning.com, where he also blogs and produces video clips about Jewish life. He has performed in HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, the National Queer Arts festival, and Chabad's San Francisco Menorah Lighting. He's toured 4 of 5 continents as a solo performer.

Jeanne Stern, Animator
Jeanne Stern creates surreal microcosms using animation and experimental puppetry techniques. Her work has shown internationally at venues including the Smithsonian, the Athens Video Art Festival, SXSW, PBS, the Providence Children’s Museum, Berlin's Werk-Raum Gallery, and Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams traveling puppet film festival. In 2009 she animated a short documentary, "Yizkor," directed by Ruth Fertig, which earned a Student Academy Award. In 2010 Jeanne's film "Sprout" received Best Animation/ Experimental Film at the West Virginia Mountaineer Film Festival.

Evan Wolkenstein, Educator
Evan Wolkenstein is the Director of Experiential Education at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, and has been involved with Experiential Education for more than 8 years.

He holds an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University and a Certificate of Advanced Jewish Study from the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. Evan has taught Tanach at JCHS for 4 years.

Our Contributors


The 55 guest writers and narrators who are the weekly voice of G-dcast are an extremely diverse group. They are female and male, gay, straight and transgendered, living with disabilities, black, white and multiracial, Jews by choice and Jews by birth. They are single, married, young and old, Jewish professionals and rabbis, and represent every movement of Judaism, including the  secular one. They are right and left wing, unknown, famous and infamous. They live in California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, London, Melbourne and the middle of nowhere.

Our Advisors

G-dcast is fiscally sponsored and advised by the San Francisco Film Society, and 501c3 status is currently pending with the IRS. In the interim, a diverse and talented advisory board supports us, and we have provided their names below. Some of these individuals will become formal Directors in the near future. Additionally, note that G-dcast is part of both the Joshua Venture Fellows program and the UpStart Bay Area cohort, organizations that support and train Jewish social entrepreneurs.

Barbara Barza, Marketing consultant (formerly of Apple, Pixar and numerous startups)
Mike Bergelson, Cisco Systems, Dir. of Strategy
Mark Bernstein, CEO, Hundreds of Heads Media
Maya Bernstein, Dir of Jewish Ed, Upstart Bay Area
Rachel Brodie, Chief Jewish Officer, JCCSF
Ralph Guggenheim, CEO, Alligator Planet (formerly of Pixar)
Lisa Lepson, Executive Dir, Joshua Venture Group
Laura Scher, Co-Founder, Chair, Credo Mobile
Dr. Zvi Septimus, Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies
Joshua Weinberg, Owner, Digital Life Group PR

Our Supporters
G-dcast is made possible by the generous financial and creative support of the following organizations:

Individual Donors

G-dcast is delighted to have the support of individual donors including:

Tina DF Dinitz
Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle
The Khasidy Family
Leslie Schultz
Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, Texas
Howard Freeman
Alicia Cole
Charles Lowenstein
Susan Spivack
Marlene Herman
Shelley W. Gottlieb
Kathryn Lambert
Jeffrey Brown

...and many more anonymous donors

Make a Donation
G-dcast is fiscally sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. Your donations are tax deductible.

We encourage you to be old fashioned, and send a paper check if you have the time - it saves us 3% in credit card processing fees. Make checks out to the San Francisco Film Society with "G-dcast donation" indicated on the memo line. Mail to:

San Francisco Film Society
39 Mesa Street, Suite 110
The Presidio
San Francisco CA 94129-1025

Thank you for supporting independent Jewish film!

Job Opportunities
G-dcast is currently recruiting a Marketing and Communications Consultant (position posted 12/1/2012). Click here for a job description and to apply.

Contact Us
We'd love to field your feedback, inquiries, interviews, and collaborative ideas for future projects. Our G-dcast Live program brings us to cities around the world for in-person workshops for families, teens and adults, screenings and other speaking opportunities. You can contact us here.