Jewish Quest

Dr Angela Erisman shares why the Exodus story serves as an allegory for King Hezekiah of the 8th Century in Judah.

Dr Erisman is owner of Angela Roskop Erisman Editorial and was the founding editorial director of the Marginalia Review of Books. She earned her M.A. in Hebrew and Northwest Semitics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Ph.D. in Bible and Ancient Near East at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is the author of The Wilderness Itineraries: Genre, Geography, and the Growth of Torah (2011), for which she won a Manfred Lautenschläger A...

Rabbi Nevins is dedicated to exploring the sacred realm of Torah and its intersection with contemporary ethics, culture, and technology. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He became Head of School of Golda Och Academy in 2021, dedicating himself to support the faculty and students in the creation of an outstanding and warm Jewish learning environment. Previously, he worked at The Jewish Theological Seminary as the Pearl Resnick Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership. He writes responsa on topics of contemporary halakhah, essays, prayers, and Torah commentaries, many of which can be viewed on his website rabbinevins.org. He...

Rabbi Alex Matthews has been part of the Congregation Ahavas Achim in Newburyport since 2015 and has been serving as its congregational leader since 2019.  Rabbi Matthews was ordained at Hebrew College in June 2023. He serves part-time as a staff chaplain at Beverly Hospital. He completed the 18 Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship focused on interfaith engagement, as well as the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Machloket Matters fellowship, focused on working toward and through constructive disagreement.

Rabbi David Zucker discusses the theological role of dreams in Miketz. 

Dr. Rabbi David J. Zucker is an Independent Scholar. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham (UK), and Ordination and an M.A.H.L. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He publishes regularly (see www.DavidJZucker.org) and his latest book is American Rabbis: Facts and Fiction, Second Edition.

Prof. Jack M. Sasson is the Mary Jane Werthan Professor (Emeritus) of Judaic and biblical Studies at Vanderbilt University as well as Kenan Professor (Emeritus) of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in Mediterranean Studies from Brandeis University. Sasson’s publications include commentaries on the Biblical books of Ruth (1979), Jonah (1991), Judges 1-12 (2014), and Judges 13-21 (forthcoming). His most recent monograph is From the Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters (Eisenbrauns, 2015).

Dr George Savran asks whether Esau and Jacob really reconciled.

Dr George Savran taught at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies since 1996, and was director of biblical studies. He received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and is the author of Telling and Retelling: Quotation in Biblical Narrative (Indiana University Press, 1989) and Encountering the Divine: Theophany in Biblical Narrative (Sheffield University Press, 2005).

Professor Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shares how Jacob's departure from Haran acts as a precursor for the Exodus from Egypt and how the Jacob story foreshadows so much else both in Torah and the development of Judaism itself. 

Professor Zvi Ben-Dor Benite is Professor of History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at NYU. He holds a Ph.D. in history from UCLA. He is the author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China and The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History and is working on a new monograph, C...

Rabbi Alex Matthews discusses Rivkah's moment of existential and physical crisis. 

Rabbi Alex Matthews has been part of the Congregation Ahavas Achim in Newburyport since 2015 and has been serving as its congregational leader since 2019. Rabbi Matthews was ordained at Hebrew College in June 2023. He serves part-time as a staff chaplain at Beverly Hospital. Rabbi Matthews completed the 18 Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship focused on interfaith engagement, as well as the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Machloket Matters fellowship, focused on working toward and through constructive disagreement. 

Professor Tammi Schneider discusses the life of Sarah in the context of the Ancient Near East. 

Tammi J. Schneider holds the Danforth Chair of Religion at Claremont GraduateUniversity. She specializes in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East. She received her BA is in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota and her doctorate in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania. Her books include: Sarah: Mother of Nations published by The Continuum International Publishing Group, she serves as the secretary for the Council for the Society of Biblical Literature. She is writing a b...

Dr Noam Cohen uncovers the fascinating link between the background to Isaac's birth and the Ugaritic text of the Aqhat Epic. 

Dr. Noam Cohen is Visiting Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. He received his PhD from NYU, with a dissertation examining portrayals of spousal violence in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient West Asian texts.

Due to several requests we are extending this series of audios featuring Rabbi Jacobs, from 2005 recordings. All are also avaialable with video by visiting www.booksof.louisjacobs.org. A free months subscription is available.

Rabbi Louis Jacobs reflects in this video upon his past appointments, starting from his early steps as assistant Rabbi in Eli Munk’s Beit Midrash in Golders Green, and concluding with the creation of the New London synagogue and the instigation of the Masorti movement. He offers intimate descriptions of his experience in these communities, each time contemplating the religious outlook of...

Rabbi Jacobs discusses the various Jewish groups which make up the contemporary world. 

He begins with a discussion of the charedim. He points out that their approach to religious matters, for example dress, is uncompromising, although the term ultra-orthodox is misleading. 

Turning to the orthodox he considers their interaction with and differences from the charedim. He outlines the various programmes of education in both the charedi and orthodox worlds and their ambivalence to secular learning. 

Modern orthodox however have a different philosophy to both the charedim and ultra-ortodox, particularly in respect of education. Mod...

Rabbi Jacobs discusses the relation of the Ten Commandments to the other biblical injunctions, which traditionally number 613 and their role as symbols of Jewish loyalty. The Ten Commandments both need to be amplified, and to understood in their simplicity. Despite changing social mores we continue to believe in the Ten Commandments as the best guide for society.

Recorded in 2005 Rabbi Jacobs reflects, in this Audio, on the Jewish notions of time and eternity. Faithful to his own convictions, he subjects both concepts to careful scrutiny – examining the biblical and rabbinic understandings of the terms – and draws out the implications of such considerations on a wide variety of theological motifs, including Creation and Revelation, redemption, and messianism. He does not hesitate to problematise traditional or fundamentalist conceptions of time and eternity in light of contemporary historical research, but nevertheless persists in his effort to maintain the relevance of faith in the modern era.xn

On a visit to London, Rabbi Dr Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York took the opportunity to interview Rabbi Jacobs. They first discuss the influences on Rabbi Jacobs’s thought, particularly the differences between his yeshiva and university experiences and his teachers. Rabbi Cosgrove then asks Rabbi Jacobs how he would characterise his intellectual legacy, and how he may have changed over the years.

Rabbi Cosgrove then asks Rabbi Jacobs how to reconcile a sense of being commanded with an intellectual approach to Judaism. Rabbi Jacobs responds that one cannot master the Talmud un...

PLEAST NOTE THIS VIDEO CONTAINS AN ADDITIONAL SHORT SECTION- A few seconds silence is in between each, so please dont switch off until the music plays.

Replacing this weeks Sedra podcast, we share a recording from Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs z"l "Teaching Videos" Recorded in 2005 by Ivor Jacobs, as part of a series of videos on the Foundations web sites.

Professor Dershowitz discusses the nature of guilt in the Torah’s restitution laws and also the laws concerning Sotah.

Professor Idan Dershowitz completed his undergraduate and graduate training at the Hebrew University, following several years of study at Yeshivat Har Etzion. In 2017, he was elected to the Harvard Society of Fellows. Dershowitz is currently Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and Its Exegesis at the University of Potsdam. He is the author of two books: The Dismembered Bible: Cutting and Pasting Scripture in Antiquity and The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book. Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and an...

Rabbi Andy Shugerman is a multifaceted Jewish educator and development professional currently serving as the inaugural Development Director at Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this role, he focuses on enhancing the synagogue’s fundraising initiatives and community engagement.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shugerman earned a Bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, where he was a Schiff Undergraduate Fellow. He furthered his studies at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and worked for the Masorti/Conservative Movement in Israel. Rabbi Shugerman received rabbinic ordination and a Master’s degr...

Professor James Diamond discusses the treatment of non-Israelite slaves from Moses to Moses.

Prof. James A. Diamond is the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo and former director of the university’s Friedberg Genizah Project. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and Medieval Jewish Thought from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M. from New York University’s Law School. He is the author of Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment, Converts, Heretics and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider and, Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Cano...

This very recently discovered audio tape has just been digitized. This lecture, although spoken almost 50 years  ago is an important contribution to the debate on Zionism. Simon Eder, Education Director of The Louis Jacobs Foundation  introduces the talk:-

Replacing this weeks podcast, we share a recording from Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs z"l in 1981. Speaking at a rabbinic conference in Israel, he sets out clearly how a Masorti approach to Zionism differs from Religious Zionism, and yet, with no less passion, or dedication to the sanctity of the land and what our commitment to the State of...

Dr Eve Levavi Feinstein discusses the uniqueness of the sexual prohibitions outlined in Leviticus 18 and 20. 

Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. Her dissertation, Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press), explores the Bible’s use of purity and contamination language to describe sexual relationships. She has also written articles for Jewish Ideas Daily and Vetus Testamentum. 

Dr Rabbi David Freidenreich discusses what the dietary laws teach us about holiness. 

Dr. Rabbi David M. Freidenreich is the Pulver Family Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College. He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is the author of the award-winning book, Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law.

Dr Yitzhaq Feder uncovers the parallels between The skin disease Tzaraat in Leviticus and literature of the Ancient Near East.
 
Yitzhaq Feder is a lecturer in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa and tel aviv His research synthesizes the traditional philological study of ancient texts with the cognitive science of religions. He has conducted research on purity and pollution in the Ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and has examined how this work can be applied to psychological and evolutionary theory. His most recent research focuses on biblical n...

Professor Berel Dov Lerner considers the commentary of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk on the breaking of the Tablets. 

Berel Dov Lerner is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the Western Galilee College in Akko. He is the author of many articles in philosophy and Jewish studies and of the book Rules, Magic, and Instrumental Reason (Routledge 2002). His latest book is Human-Divine Interactions in Hebrew Scriptures Covenants and Cross-Purposes (Routledge 2024).

Professor Kenneth Seeskin asks just what was heard by the people, if anything, during the revelation at Sinai?

Professor Seeskin is Professor of Philosophy and Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D in Philosophy from Yale University in 1972 and has been at Northwestern ever since. He specializes in the rationalist tradition in Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on Maimonides. Publications include Maimonides on the Origin of the World (CUP, 2005), Jewish Messianic Thoughts in an Age of Despair (CUP, 2012), Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible...

Rabbi Daniel Zucker discusses the influence of Egyptian belief for understanding repeated references to Pharaoh’s heavy heart.

Rabbi Zucker, D.D. is the Rabbi of Temple Israel of the Poconos, in Stroudsburg, PA, and President and CEO of Americans for Democracy in the Middle-East. He holds an M.A. in Hebrew Letters, a Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) from JTS, and rabbinic ordination from HUC-JIR. A sampling of Zucker’s many articles on the Middle-East can be found on his blog, and he is the author of “He Said: ‘It’s an Event not Pure...

Professor Edward Greenstein shares how the Moses story both conforms and deviates from fugitive hero narratives of the Ancient Near East?

Professor Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. He received the EMET Prize (“Israel’s Nobel”) in Humanities-Biblical Studies for 2020, and his book, Job: A New Translation (Yale University Press, 2019), won the acclaim of the American Library Association, the Association for Jewish Studies, and many others.  He is writing a commentary on Lamentations for the Jewish Publication Society. He has also spoken on Jewish Quest on Shemini and also Noach.

Rabbi Rachel Ain discusses the significance of the way Jacob blesses his sons and his legacy as Patriarch. 

Rabbi Rachel Ain is the Rabbi of Sutton Place Synagogue, a Conservative Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan. 

Before joining SPS, Rabbi Ain was the Senior Director for National Young Leadership at the Jewish Federations of North America, where she worked closely with lay leaders and professionals to engage the next generation of leaders for the Jewish community. 

She sits on the Chancellor’s Rabbinic Cabinet of JTS, is a co-chair of the NYC Partnership of Faith Round...

Rabbi Ariel Abel explores how Joseph delicately balances his 
identity as an Egyptian leader with his Hebrew roots during the reunion 
with his brothers.

Rabbi Abel lives with his wife 
Shulamit and two children together in Liverpool He is a rabbinic 
graduate of Midrash Sepharadi in Jerusalem, is a practising solicitor 
and a Sandhurst graduated chaplain in the British Army.

Rabbi Abel encourages cooperation, discussion and debate across the 
spectrum of the Jewish community.

Professor Gary Rendsburg invites us to understand the Joseph story as ancient literary art at its very best.

Prof. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. His Ph.D. and M.A. are from N.Y.U. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and about 200 articles; his most recent book is How the Bible Is Written.

Dr Dov Berel Lerner considers what Joseph's dreams symbolise and their importance within the wider themes of Genesis. 

Dr Lerner is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the Western Galilee College in Akko and also teaches at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He is the author of many articles in philosophy and Jewish studies and of the book Rules, Magic, and Instrumental Reason (Routledge 2002). His latest book is Human-Divine Interactions in Hebrew Scriptures Covenants and Cross-Purposes (Routledge 2024).

Dr Alison Joseph asks just who is the victim of the Dinah Story?

Dr. Alison Joseph is the Director of Digital Scholarship and Associate Professor of Bible at Gratz College, Assistant Managing Editor of The Posen Library for Jewish Culture and Civilization and an adjunct assistant professor of Bible and its Interpretation at JTS. She holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Jewish Studies from Emory University. Her first book Portrait of the Kings: The Davidic Prototype in Deuteronomistic Poetics received the 2016 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise.<...

Rabbi Dr Elliot Cosgrove discusses his timely new book:-

For Such A Time As This: On Being Jewish Today

Elliot Cosgrove is a leading voice of American Jewry and a preeminent spiritual guide and thought leader. The rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue since 2008, he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999 and earned his PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He sits on the Chancellor’s Cabinet of Jewish Theological Seminary and on the editorial board of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism. An officer of the New York Board of...

Rabbi Dr Naomi Kalish uncovers what Jacob teaches us about listening and how it paves the way for peace.

Rabbi Kalish is the Harold and Carole Wolfe Director of the Center for Pastoral Education and assistant professor of Pastoral Education at JTS. Prior to coming to JTS, Rabbi Kalish taught clinical pastoral education (CPE) at New York–Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) to students from diverse religious, denominational, national, and cultural backgrounds. 

Rabbi Kalish has extensive experience in interreligious dialogue and its application for peace-building and community relations. She was a founding national co-chair of the Sisterhood of...

Rabbi David Kasher asks just who is the villain in the Toldot story?

Rabbi David Kasher is the Director of Hadar West Coast. After graduating from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, he served as Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel, a part of the founding team at Kevah, and Associate Rabbi at IKAR. Rabbi Kasher completed a translation of Avot d’Rabbi Natan for Sefaria and is the author of ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary.

Rabbi Marc Soloway discusses the legacy of Sarah and the very contrasting responses of Abraham and Isaac to her death.

Rabbi Soloway has been Bonai Shalom’s Spiritual Leader in Boulder, CO. since 2004, the same year that he was ordained at The Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at The American Jewish University in Los Angeles. His rabbinical training spanned six years in London, Jerusalem, and Los Angeles. Before that, he was an actor and storyteller in his native London, and developed and performed a spirited one-man show of Jewish stories called The Empty Chair, as well as a...

Professor Kenneth Seeskin discusses the ambiguity and unresolved tension in the Akedah. 

Professor Seeskin is Professor of Philosophy and Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D in Philosophy from Yale University in 1972 and has been at Northwestern ever since. He specializes in the rationalist tradition in Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on Maimonides. Publications include Maimonides on the Origin of the World (CUP, 2005), Jewish Messianic Thoughts in an Age of Despair (CUP, 2012), Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible (JPS, 2016) and Maimonides: A Guide for T...

Dr Rabbi Joshua Garroway uncovers the importance of the minor character, Melchizedek. 

Dr. Rabbi Joshua Garroway is the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles. He holds a Ph.D. from the Religious Studies Department at Yale and ordination from HUC-JIR in Cincinnati. He is the author of, The Beginning of the Gospel: Paul, Philippi, and the Origins of Christianity.

Dr Jeremy Tabick discusses the centrality of God's transformation in the parsha.

Dr Jeremy Tabick is the content manager and faculty at Hadar, where he teaches, curates, and edits Hadar’s content – both online and in print – and project Zug courses. Jeremy recently completed a PhD in Talmud at JTS. He graduated from the University of Manchester (in the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is a member of the steering team of Kehilat Hadar.

This week for Bereshit, our director Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet fills in as host as we begin a new year, welcoming Rabbi Jeremy Gordon to discuss some of the ways in which Bereshit defies our expectations and requires new explanations. From the creation of the work to the creation of Adam and Eve - nothing is quite as it seems, 'in the beginning.'

Rabbi Jeremy has a first-class honours degree in Law from Cambridge University and subsequently went to work in television for the BBC and a number of independent production companies. His love of Judaism was...

Dr Rachel Havrelock uncovers the difference between the Priestly vision and the Deuteronomistic vision for the map of the land of Canaan. 

Dr. Rachel Havrelock is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Rachel’s book, River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line combines biblical studies, literary and political theory, and the politics of interpretation. Rachel’s current book project, The Joshua Generation: Politics and the Promised Land, focuses on the structure and meaning of the book of Joshua and its interpretation. Her co-authored book, Women on the Biblical Road...

Rabbi Eliyahu Jian discusses the inner meaning behind Pinchas' act of zealotry.

Rabbi Eliyahu Jian is a global thought leader, transformational life and business coach, spiritual coach, relationship coach, author and motivational speaker. He has been transforming thousands of lives around the globe for decades, including some of the world’s most famous and influential people, such as Madonna, Demi Moore, Blake Mallen, Eva Cavalli, Elie Tahari, Marla Maples, and Guy Ritchie.

Professor Everett Fox uncovers the unusual features of the Balaam narrative. 

Professor Everett Fox is the Allen M. Glick professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. Fox is the translator of The Five Books of Moses (Schocken Books, 1995), and The Early Prophets (Schocken Books, 2014).

Dr Ely Levine discusses the significance of the Red Heifer and the symbolic meaning behind the serpent of bronze. 

Dr. Ely Levine holds a PhD in biblical studies and archaeology from Harvard University. He has taught at Villanova University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Luther College. He has participated in archaeological excavations in Italy and Israel, and is a member of the staff of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project. Currently, Dr. Levine is Scholar-in-Residence and Ritual Coordinator at Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania.

Professor Naomi Graetz discusses the connection between Samuel and Korach and the parsha’s pertinence for today. 

Naomi Graetz taught English at Ben Gurion University of the Negev for 35 years. She is the author of Unlocking the Garden: A Feminist Jewish Look at the Bible, Midrash and God; The Rabbi’s Wife Plays at Murder ; S/He Created Them: Feminist Retellings of Biblical Stories (Professional Press, 1993; second edition Gorgias Press, 2003), Silence is Deadly: Judaism Confronts Wifebeating and Forty Years of Being a Feminist Jew. Since Covid began, she has been teaching Bible and Modern Midrash from a femin...

Professor Jacob Wright discusses the origins of the spy story.

Professor Jacob Wright is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and the Director of Graduate Studies in Emory’s Tam Institute of Jewish Studies. His doctorate is from Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen. He is the author of Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest Readers (which won a Templeton prize) and David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory.

Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffat discusses radical models of leadership. 

Audio of Session held on Tuesday 21st May 2024 with Simon Eder. 

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger shares how we might read some deeply troubling lines of the parsha. 

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger became the new spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Israel in Middletown in the summer of 2020. Rabbi Altenburger was born and raised in Brazil and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Sao Paulo. She received a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies in 2004 from the Zeigler School of Rabbinic studies and was ordained in 2006. Previous to joining Adath Israel, she was the Rabbi and Religious School Director at Congregation B’nai Isra...

Professor John Collins discusses the meaning of ''Love your neighbour as yourself!''
and how the Golden Rule emerged. 
 
Professor John Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale University. He received his Ph. D. from Harvard (1972) and holds honorary degrees from the University College Dublin and the University of Zurich. Collins' most recent books are The Invention of Judaism. Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul (University of California, 2017), and What Are Biblical Values? (Yale, 2019). He serves as general editor of the Anchor Yale Bible and Anchor Yale Bible Reference Librar...

Professor Elsie Stern shares how Acharei Mot acts as the bridge between the two sections of Vayikra. 

Elsie Stern is Professor of Bible at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She received her BA from Yale University and her M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago. Stern is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season. She is also General editor of a new torah commentary for the Central Conference of American Rabbis. 

In a special podcast for Pesach, Professor Berel Dov Lerner discusses the central theme of covenant on Seder night and reflects on Israel’s enslavement and redemption in Egypt as a meditation upon temporality and human agency. 

Berel Dov Lerner was born in Washington D.C. and is a member of Kibbutz Sheluhot in Israel’s Beit Shean Valley. He received a BA in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in philosophy from Tel Aviv University. He also studied Judaism at Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDat...

Geoffrey Stern asks how Metsorah is connected to evil speech and he discusses the importance of tsar'at in the Torah. 

Geoffrey Stern is founder of the podcast, Madlik, a disruptive Torah podcast, which is published on a weekly basis in an effort to insure that the spirit of Judaism continues to grow and flourish. He is a serial entrepreneur in the audio chip and self playing media playback product space. 

Rabbi Dr Wendy Zierler discusses the anthropological importance of skin and the unlikely connection between skin affliction and the messiah. 

Rabbi Wendy Ilene Zierler, Ph.D., is Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at HUC-JIR in New York. Prior to joining HUC-JIR she was a Research Fellow in the English Department of the University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D. and her M.A. from Princeton University; her B.A. from Stern College of Yeshiva University; and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. 

In Ju...

Miryam Margo-Wolfson asks what was the strange fire of Nadav and Avihu and just what are the lessons of their deaths for us today. 

Miryam Margo-Wolfson is an intern at Temple Adath-Or and a fifth year Rabbinic and Cantorial student at Aleph Ordination Program. 

Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet discusses the sacrifices as psychological impulses and argues that we should reclaim the notion of fire as the primary symbol of the Divine. 

Dr Yitzhaq Feder uncovers the fascinating and unexpected relevance of the sacrificial laws. 

Dr. Yitzhaq Feder is a lecturer at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical Ritual: Origins, Context and Meaning (Society of Biblical Literature, 2011). His most recent book, Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible: From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor (Cambridge University Press, 2021), examines the psychological foundations of impurity in ancient Israel.

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon discusses his new commentary on the Book of Esther and the book's supreme relevance for our troubled times. 

Rabbi Shimon Felix discusses the importance of sacred space in Judaism. 

Rabbi Shimon Felix is the Executive Director Emeritus of the program. He was born in New York, and has lived in Jerusalem since 1973. Rabbi Felix has been associated with The Bronfman Fellowship since 1991. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Hamivtar, where he served as educational director. Rabbi Felix has worked in a wide variety of educational programs including Michelelet Bruria, the Israeli school system and Yakar. He headed The Jewish Agency’s Bureau for Cultural Services to Communities and also served as assistant to Dr. Jon...

Rabbi Dr James Jacobsen-Maisels shares the connection between the heart and the Mishkan. 

Rabbi James Jacobsen-Maisels leads and directs the vision of Or HaLev.
Ordained by Rav Daniel Landes, with a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of Chicago, he has been studying and teaching meditation and Jewish spirituality for over twenty five years.

He was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Romemu Yeshiva and has taught and innovated programs in Jewish thought, mysticism, spiritual practices and meditation at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Haifa University, Yeshivat Hadar and in a variety of s...

Dr Jeremy Tabick uncovers a fascinating inner-biblical midrash. 

Dr Jeremy Tabick is the content manager and faculty at Hadar, where he teaches, curates, and edits Hadar’s content – both online and in print – and project Zug courses. Jeremy recently completed a PhD in Talmud at JTS. He graduated from the University of Manchester (in the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is a member of the steering team of Kehilat Hadar.

Rabbi Dov Linzer asks what is signified by the lighting of the Menorah?

Rabbi Dov Linzer is one of the leading voices of Modern Orthodoxy in the world today. He is the President and Rabbinic Head of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, New York. He is a teacher, lecturer, podcaster, and author.

Rabbi Linzer has been a scholar-in-residence in synagogues across the USA and has published in numerous Talmudic journals and Jewish newspapers.  In 2011, Newsweek, ranked him among the 50 most prominent rabbis in the United States, stating that "Linzer's students n...

Executive Director of Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow discusses the act of giving. 

Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow is Executive Director of Northeastern Hillel, previously the director of spiritual care at Hebrew Senior Life and co-author with Rabbi Joel Baron of Deathbed Wisdom of the Hasidic Masters, The Book of Departure and Caring for People at the End of Life.

Professor Jacob Wright explores the evolution of Shabbat. 

Professor Jacob L. Wright is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and the Director of Graduate Studies in Emory’s Tam Institute of Jewish Studies. His doctorate is from Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen. He is the author of Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest Readers (which won a Templeton prize) and David, King of Israel, Caleb in Biblical Memory and Why The Bible Began 

Rabbi Worch shares some of the Mei HaShiloach's insights on the giving of the Torah. 

Rabbi Worch comes from a European Hassidic family. He translated Esh Kodesh, the Piacezna Rebbe’s Torah commentary from the Warsaw Getto (1939-42), published as Sacred Fire, and published his own Kabbalist Haggadah, a handbook of the Passover Seder as well as a translation of the writings of the Mei HaShiloach's commentary on Torah. 

Rabbi Danny Nevins discusses both the cultic and covenantal response to freedom.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is dedicated to exploring the sacred realm of Torah and its intersection with contemporary ethics, culture, and technology. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Nevins was named Head of School of Golda Och Academy in 2021, dedicating himself to support the faculty and students in the creation of an outstanding and warm Jewish learning environment. Previously, he worked at The Jewish Theological Seminary as the Pearl Resnick Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership. He writes responsa on topics of contemporary halakhah...

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger shares different explanations as to the meaning and purpose of the plagues. 

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger became the new spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Israel in Middletown in the summer of 2020. Rabbi Altenburger was born and raised in Brazil and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Sao Paulo. She received a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies in 2004 from the Zeigler School of Rabbinic studies and was ordained in 2006. Previous to joining Adath Israel, she was the Rabbi and Religious School Director at Congregation B’nai Isr...

Professor Rabbi Shaul Magid explores the ethical problems of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. 

Professor Rabbi Shaul Magid is the Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, and the former Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University/Bloomington. He is also the rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue in Seaview, NY. His M.A. is from Hebrew University, his Ph.D. from Brandeis, and his ordination from rabbis in Israel. He is the author of American Post-Judaism: Identity and Renewal in a Postethnic Society (Indiana University Press, 2013), Hasidism Incarnate: Hasidism, Christianity, and the Cons...

Professor James Diamond discusses the philosophical and kabbalistic meaning of God's names and the most enigmatic three words of the entire Torah. 

Professor James A. Diamond is the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo and former director of the university’s Friedberg Genizah Project. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and Medieval Jewish Thought from the University of Toronto. He has recently been appointed as a fellow at the University of Hamburg,  Maimonides Center for Advanced Studies. He is the author of Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment, Convert...

Rabbi Dina Rosenberg discusses lying and deception in the Joseph story. 

Rabbi Rosenberg is the Senior Rabbi at CSI. She was ordained at The Jewish Theological Seminary in 2011 and previously served Conservative congregations in Mississippi, Brooklyn-New York, Maryland, and New Jersey. She has served as the secretary of the Interfaith Clergy Association in Freehold, New Jersey and currently serves on the Racial Justice Committee for the Rabbinical Assembly.

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger reflects on the meaning of Joseph's tears. 

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger became the new spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Israel in Middletown in the summer of 2020. Rabbi Altenburger was born and raised in Brazil and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Sao Paulo. She received a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies in 2004 from the Zeigler School of Rabbinic studies and was ordained in 2006. Previous to joining Adath Israel, she was the Rabbi and Religious School Director at Congregation B’nai Israel in Danbury, CT for fou...

Rabbi Amanda Weiss discusses the importance of dreams in the Joseph story. 

Rabbi Amanda Weiss is assistant Rabbi at Temple Isaiah, Maryland. 

Professor Alan Levenson asks why the brothers really hate Joseph. 

Alan T. Levenson holds the Schusterman/Josey Chair in Judaic History and is the Director of the Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Levenson has written extensively on the modern Jewish experience for both scholarly and popular audiences. His book, Between Philosemitism and Antisemitism: Defenses of Jews and Judaism in Germany, 1871-1932 was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award Prize (paperback edition 2013), and his textbook, Modern Jewish Thinkers, is widely used in classes on Jewish thought. He is also author of Jos...

Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet discusses Jacob's extra-human qualities and asks whether he is really worthy of bequeathing his name to the children of Israel. 

Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal shares the importance of Jacob's epiphany. 

Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal joined Central Synagogue in the summer of 2015 as the Director of Youth & Family Education. Prior to Central, Rabbi Rosenthal was the Director of Children and Family Education at IKAR, a nationally recognized, innovative spiritual community in Los Angeles. While at IKAR, she reimagined and redesigned the religious school, supervised IKAR’s Early Childhood Center from its creation to present, and created the IKAR teen program. She also taught in IKAR’s adult education program and participated in pulpit and pastoral duties. Before IKAR, Rabbi Rosenthal was t...

Adam Zagoria-Moffet is Director of the Louis Jacobs Foundation and the rabbi of St. Albans Masorti Synagogue. He was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he also received an MA in Jewish Thought, studying the political philosophy of Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag (Ba’al haSulam). He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and has lived in Minnesota, New York, and Israel before moving to the UK. He co-edited the first Hebrew/English egalitarian Sepharadi siddur and runs the independent publisher Izzun Books. He often teaches about Sepharadi halakhah and culture as well as mysticism, mythology and ethics.  

Rabbi Dr Daniel Zucker asks just who was Betuel?

Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker, D.D. is the rabbi of Temple Hatikvah (Flanders, NJ) and President and CEO of Americans for Democracy in the Middle-East. He holds an M.A. in Hebrew Letters, a Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) from JTS, and rabbinic ordination from HUC-JIR. A sampling of Zucker’s many articles on the Middle-East can be found on his blog.

Jon D. Levenson is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, having previously taught at the University of Chicago and at Wellesley College. He has a strong interest in the philosophical and theological issues involved in biblical studies, especially the relationship of premodern modes of interpretation to modern historical criticism. Much of his work centers on the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, both in antiquity and in modernity, and he has long been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue.His book Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (Yale University Press...

Dr Malka Simkovich asks whether Avraham is the great circumcisor or in fact the great un-circumcisor of Jewish history. 

Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and the director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at CTU. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016), and Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018), which received the 2019 AJL Judaica Reference Honor Award. Simkovich’s articles have been published in journals such as the Harvard Theological Review and the Journal for the Study of Judaism, as well as...

Professor Edward Greenstein outlines the Tower of Babel story as indicating the limitation of one language to convey the sense of another. 

Professor Edward Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. He received the Emet Prize in Humanities-Biblical Studies for 2020, and his book, Job: A New Translation, won the acclaim of the American Library Association, the Association for Jewish Studies, and many others. He has been writing a commentary on Lamentations for the Jewish Publication Society. 

Professor Menachem Kellner asks why the Torah begins with the account of creation and discusses the nature and purpose of Torah according to Rashi and Maimonides. 

Menachem Kellner is a scholar of medieval Jewish philosophy  with a particular focus on the philosophy of Maimonides. He is a retired Professor of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa and is the founding chair of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College in Jerusalem. He has taught courses in philosophy and religious studies, medieval and modern Jewish philosophy at numerous US universities and the University of Ha...

Avraham Leader discusses some of the important themes for this auspicious time of year as seen from the perspective of the Zohar and the Lurianic writings. 

Avraham Leader is an internationally acclaimed teacher of various schools of Kabbalah, a founder of Jerusalem's Leader Minyan, and chairman of the Wuste Tzega Center for Culturally Adapted Psychotherapy . He has published primary Kabbalistic texts, and founded the Matzref Academy for the Study of Rabbi Avraham Abulafia's Teachings. His students include teachers, researchers, rabbis and beginners.

Avraham discusses Rosh Hashana and the Tishrei Holidays from a Kabbalistic perspective in a s...

Dr. David Lambert is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) where he teaches Hebrew Bible. He received his Ph.D., M.A., and A.B. from Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He is the author of How Repentance Became Biblical: Judaism, Christianity, and the Interpretation of Scripture.

Dr Joy Ladin discusses how we should dress without drawing the abhorrence of God. 

Joy Ladin is an American poet and the former David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at  Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. She was the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution. She is the author of twelve books, including the National Jewish Book Award winning revised second edition of The Book of Anna (EOAGH, 2021). 

Rabbi Elihayu Jian discusses the connection between Shoftim and the month of Elul, drawing on important kabbalistic teaching from Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Sfat Emet and the Zohar.

Rabbi Eliyahu Jian is a global thought leader, transformational life and business coach, spiritual coach, relationship coach, author and motivational speaker. He has been transforming thousands of lives around the globe for decades, including some of the world’s most famous and influential people, such as Madonna, Demi Moore, Blake Mallen, Eva Cavalli, Elie Tahari, Marla Maples, and Guy Ritchie.

Rabbi David Frankel asks whether Moses or God is the commanding voice in the second paragraph of the Shema. 

David Frankel is Associate Professor of Bible at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. He has been on the faculty since 1992. He earned his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the direction of Prof. Moshe Weinfeld. His publications include “The Murmuring Stories of the Priestly School,” and “The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel.”  From 1991 to 1996, Frankel was rabbi of Congregation Shevet Achim in Gilo, Jerusalem.

Rabbi Cassi Kail asks whether zealotry can ever be condoned

Rabbi Cassi Kail is Rabbi of Temple Beth El in San Pedro, California. She was ordained in 2011 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also received a Master’s in Jewish Literature. For the past seven years, she worked as a congregational rabbi for Temple Emanu-El of Utica, NY and then Temple Or Elohim in Jericho, NY. Rabbi Kail is a proud member of the Interfaith Clergy Council of Syosset and Woodbury. Previously, she served on the steering committees of InterFaith Matters, Reform Je...

Dr Ethan Schwartz discusses the character of Balaam. 

Dr. Ethan Schwartz holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. He received his B.A. in philosophy and Jewish studies from the University of Chicago and his M.A. in Hebrew Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Nelly Altenburger became the new spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Israel in Middletown in the summer of 2020. Rabbi Altenburger was born and raised in Brazil and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Sao Paulo. She received a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies in 2004 from the Zeigler School of Rabbinic studies and was ordained in 2006. Previous to joining Adath Israel, she was the Rabbi and Religious School Director at Congregation B’nai Israel in Danbury, CT for fourteen years. 

Rabbi Francis Nataf is a Jerusalem based thinker, writer, and educator. He is the author of the Redeeming Relevance in the Torah series and of many articles on religious thought, biblical studies, and current events and is Associate Editor of the Jewish Bible Quarterly. He is known for his independent thought and creativity that simultaneously puts him to the right and to the left of everyone he knows. 

Rabbi Alex Goldberg is a barrister, chaplain, and human rights activist. He is currently the Dean of the College of Chaplains and Coordinating Chaplain at the University of Surrey. He is the only rabbi within this role in Europe. He is currently working on a number of international and UK-based community relations and community development projects and is the Jewish chaplain to the University of Surrey. Alex regularly co-hosts a BBC radio show, a contributor to BBC Radio 2's Pause For Thought and was a member of the BBC's Religion and Ethics Conference.

He chairs the English Fo...

Rabbi Gershuny explores the meaning and power of the Priestly Blessing. 

Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny is a writer, ritualist, musician, healer and teacher. Originally from the UK, she currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, where from 2014-2020 she was the rabbi of Nevei Kodesh, a Jewish Renewal congregation. Rabbi Gershuny has received two ordinations: one as a Rabbi from Boston’s transdenominational Hebrew College Rabbinical School; the other as a Kohenet from the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, a contemporary wisdom school devoted to female expressions of Jewish leadership. She is on a mission to transform human consciousness through dir...

Rabbi Alex Kress discusses what it means to be a desert people and some of the central themes of the Book of Bamidbar.

Rabbi Alex Kress serves Beth Shir Shalom in Santa Monica. He is passionate about innovating Jewish practice and making Judaism fun and meaningful. Born and raised in Philadelphia,  in 2012, he graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies and immediately flew to Israel to begin his studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Alex loves good coffee, shabbos ball, and reading an actual, physical newspaper.

Jeremy Tabick discusses the relevance of the Shmita and the Yovel for the world today. 

Jeremy Tabick is the Content Manager and faculty at Hadar, where he teaches, curates, and edits Hadar’s content—both online and in print—and Project Zug courses. Jeremy is also pursuing a PhD in Talmud at JTS. He graduated from the University of Manchester (in the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is a member of the Steering Team of Kehilat Hadar.

Dr Abigail Uhrman discusses holiness as being found between the polarities of separation and engagement. 

Abigail Uhrman is an assistant professor of Jewish education in the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She works extensively with The Davidson School’s Research Center and teaches courses in pedagogic skills, curriculum, and staff development and supervision.
Dr. Uhrman completed her PhD in 2013 at New York University, where her dissertation, Alike and Different: Parenting a Child with Special Needs in the Jewish Community, focused on parents’ experiences in Jewish day schools and educational decis...

Rabbi Steven Greenberg received his B.A. in philosophy from Yeshiva University and his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He served as a Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL (National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), a think tank, leadership training institute, and resource center in New York City for over twenty years from 1986 to 2010. Steve is the first openly gay Orthodox Rabbi and a founder of the Jerusalem Open House, the Holy City’s LGBTQ+ community center.  After coming out publicly in 1999 Rabbi Greenberg appeared in the film, Trembling Before G-d, a documentary about gay and lesb...

Rabbi Professor Rachel Adelman considers the anthropological function of skin and Leviticus' concern with boundaries. 

Rabbi Professor Rachel Adelman is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Boston’s Hebrew College. She holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is the author of The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha (Brill 2009) and The Female Ruse: Women's Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015). Adelman is now working on a new book, Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash (forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press). Duration: 00:28:14

Professor Edward Greenstein discusses the incident of Nadav and Avihu and asks whether it says more about a mysterious transgression or a mysterious Deity. 

Professor Edward Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. He received the EMET Prize (“Israel’s Nobel”) in Humanities-Biblical Studies for 2020, and his book, Job: A New Translation (Yale University Press, 2019), won the acclaim of the American Library Association, the Association for Jewish Studies, and many others. He has been writing a commentary on Lamentations for the Jewish Publication Society.

Rabbi Tzemah Yoreh explores the original history of the Exodus narrative; one without God as master of the story. 

Rabbi Dr. Tzemah Yoreh, leader of The City Congregation, is one of the intellectual leaders of Jewish humanism. He has been a student of the Bible since his earliest days, winning the Diaspora Division of the International Bible Contest in childhood. He attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he obtained his Ph.D. in biblical criticism in record time. He earned a second Ph.D. in Ancient Wisdom Literature at the University of Toronto for the joy o...

Robert A. Harris is professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Jewish Theological Seminary, teaching courses in biblical literature and commentary, particularly medieval Jewish biblical exegesis.

Dr. Harris is an expert in the history of medieval biblical exegesis. His most recent book is Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency: Commentaries on Amos, Jonah (with Selections from Isaiah and Ezekiel).  TEAMS Commentary Series. Kalamazoo, MI:  Medieval Institute Publications, 2017. In 2004 he published a book in the Brown Judaic Studies series, Discerning Parallelism: A Study in Northern French Medieval Jewish Biblical Exegesis. In addition, he has published many articles and revi...