All Else is Commentary: A Podcast of Jewish Ideas

Rabbi Kath Vardi returns for a Question and Answer session on all the rabbinic legends she and Elliott have talked about over the last few months. Together they respond to questions posed by listeners, as well as returning to some of the disagreements they had in the first four episodes. If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any talmudic stories you would love Elliott and Kath to...

This week, Elliott is joined by Keith Kahn-Harris, sociologist, Jewish researcher, and one of Elliott's teachers from his time at Leo Baeck College. Keith is here to talk about his new book: Everyday Jews . He argues that we should be celebrating the mundane, and not be so obsessed with the search for grander meaning. You can find out more about Keith on his website: https://kahn-harris.org/ And y...

We’re taking a break from regular episodes this week, but we wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about some of the exciting things that are coming up. In particular, in March we welcome back Rabbi Kath Vardi for a Q & A about rabbinic power in the Talmud – and it is not too late to submit your questions for that. You can write to allelseis@alyth.org.uk – or join the conversation on Fac...

This week, Elliott is joined by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, rabbi, podcaster, and academic, to talk about the biblical character of Ritzpah. They talk about the story of this courageous woman, its biblical context, and how it is relevant to politics today. You can follow the story on Sefaria by clicking here. You can find out more about Rabbi Robyn's podcast, 'Rabbiting On' (which she co-hosts wit...

In this episode, we are moving away from the texts of the ancient Jewish world, and jumping to the twentieth century. Elliott speaks to Rabbi Colin Eimer about a sermon he gave back in 1982, at the height of the Falklands Crisis. They talk about the context in which the sermon was given and how we go about writing our sermons. We think about what remains relevant today, and also how this sermon mi...

In this episode, Elliott sits down with Rabbi Daniel Lichman to talk about a particular Talmudic reading by the French Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas. They talk about the question of when to expect the messiah, and what we are being called to do during these extreme times. If you want to read the section of Levinas's work that Elliott and Daniel are talking about, you can find it here . If y...

This episode is the second part of Elliott's discussion with Rabbi Kath Vardi about the legend of Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. Together they address the human desire for autonomy, the Rabbis' use and abuse of Scripture, and whether the rabbis really like the idea of disagreement. Click here to read the legend on Sefaria.org . This is Elliott's last discussion with Rabbi Kath until the beginnin...

In this episode, Rabbi Kath Vardi returns for a discussion about one of the most famous stories in the Babylonian Talmud: the legend of Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. We were hoping to get through the whole episode in one sitting, but time got the better of us, so we will be bringing out Part 2 of this episode on Thursday. Click here to read the legend on Sefaria.org . If you have any comments o...

All Else Is Commentary is a podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this special solo episode, Elliott delves into legends from the Talmud in which rabbis kill with their eyes, and considers what it says about rabbinic power, and whether there is a possibility that – in a small way at least – the rabbis are laughing at them...

All Else Is Commentary is a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this episode, Elliott is once again joined by Kohenet Yael Tischler, who is a student rabbi in her fourth year at Leo Baeck College in London. After the last two episodes, Elliott asked Yael if they could talk about some women who fought back. Yael thou...

All Else Is Commentary is a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this episode, Elliott is once again joined by Kohenet Yael Tischler, who is a student rabbi in her fourth year at Leo Baeck College in London. They discuss the story of She'ilah, the daughter of Yiftach, who is sacrificed by her own father after he make...

All Else Is Commentary is a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this episode, Elliott is joined by Kohenet Yael Tischler, who is a student rabbi in her fourth year at Leo Baeck College in London. They discuss the story of Shelomit bat Dibri, the only woman to be named in the book of Leviticus. They talk about the wa...

All Else Is Commentary is a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this episode, Elliott is again joined by Rabbi Kath Vardi, in the second episode looking at rabbinic legends in the Babylonian Talmud - legends that cause us to reflect on the power of the rabbis and the boundaries they put in place around learning. Thi...

All Else Is Commentary is a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. In this episode, Elliott is joined by Rabbi Kath Vardi, in the first in a series of episodes looking at rabbinic legends in the Babylonian Talmud - legends that cause us to reflect on the power of the rabbis and the boundaries they put in place around lear...

This is the very first episode of All Else is Commentary, a new podcast of Jewish ideas from a curious, progressive and critical perspective and presented by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt, and in this first episode he is joined by the author, Toby Lloyd, to talk about his highly acclaimed new book, Fervour , described by Jonathan Coe as 'A fearless look into the dark heart of family politics' and by the...

All Else is Commentary is a podcast of Jewish ideas, hosted by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt. Elliott is part of the rabbinic team at Alyth Synagogue in London. In this podcast, he is joined by other rabbis, writers and academics to delve into texts as diverse as the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, to contemporary Jewish novels. All Else is Commentary takes deep dives into Jewish texts, considering how they...