Jewish Quest

Send us Fan Mail 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, Se...

Send us Fan Mail 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),...

Send us Fan Mail 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 B...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 comp...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 As...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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.

Send us Fan Mail 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, redempt...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail PLEAST NOTE THIS VIDEO CONTAINS TWO ADDITIONAL SHORT SECTIONS  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.

Send us Fan Mail 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 Heb...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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. fro...

Send us Fan Mail 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 confere...

Send us Fan Mail 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 w...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Othernes...

Send us Fan Mail 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 p...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Hu...

Send us Fan Mail 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 rati...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Daniel Zucker discusses the influence of Egyptian belief for understanding repeated references to Pharaoh’s heavy heart. Rabbi Zucker, D.D . i s 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 ord...

Send us Fan Mail 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 acclai...

Send us Fan Mail 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...