Jewish Quest

Send us Fan Mail Chazan Jaclyn Chernett explores the meaning of Selichot and shares some of the wonderful melodies for the High Holy Days ahead! Chazan Jaclyn Chernett is a founder member of Kol Nefesh Masorti, as well as a founder of Masorti Judaism in the UK, and the first woman in the UK to be ordained as a Chazan. A love of Jewish teaching and its expression through the music of the liturgy ha...

Send us Fan Mail Kristine Henriksen Garroway was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Bible at the HUC-JIR's Skirball Campus in Los Angeles in 2011. She received her doctorate in Hebrew Bible and Cognate Studies at the HUC-JIR/Cincinnati in 2009. She has spent time studying and researching in Israel and has participated in excavations at Ashkelon, Tel Dor, and Tel Dan. Garroway’s scholar...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Mark Leuchter’s field of research is ancient Judaism. His work includes the study of mythology in ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism, the phenomenon of prophecy in the ancient near east, the formation of the Hebrew Bible, and the history of the Israelite priesthood. He earned his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2003 and currently serves as director of Jewish...

Send us Fan Mail Zvi Koenigsberg shares what light archaeology can cast when seeking to understand the whereabouts of ''The place that God will choose.''(Deut 12:5) Zvi Koenigsberg is the author of The Lost Temple of Israel. He spent almost a decade studying archaeology and the Bible under the informal mentorship of the late president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Prof...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Gary Rendsburg discusses God's central promise of rain, grain and grass which lies at the heart of the second paragraph of the Shema.  Professor Gary 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 ab...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Daniel Zucker asks in what way is God One? He also explores how interpretation of the opening line of the Shema has changed throughout the ages? 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...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Shoshana Cohen uncovers some of the key trends towards secularisation that we encounter with the Deuteronomist authors and find throughout the Book of Devarim. Rabbi Shoshana Cohen is SHI Senior Faculty and Director of Campus Engagement for the Hevruta Gap-Year Program. In this role she serves as a faculty member, teacher, and mentor for North American gap-year students stud...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Bradley Artson discusses the role of intention in creating new reality that both Mattot and Massei speak to in a number of important ways.  Rabbi Bradley Artson is one of the leading voices in Conservative Judaism. Author, speaker, and the occupant of the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University ...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Shawna Dolansky takes an historical-geographical approach to the daughters of Zelophehad.  Professor Dolansky is Associate Professor of Religion and Humanities at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. She specialises in Biblical Studies, with a focus on the history and religions of Israel and the ancient Near East and the development of the Hebrew Bible.  Her research...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Rabbi Joshua Garroway discusses Balaam as the prototypical Gentile seducer.  Professor 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, Phil...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Rabbi David Frankel shares his novel thesis that interwoven into the Merivah story are the missing opening verses of the non-Priestly spies story.  Professor Rabbi David Frankel is Associate Professor of Bible at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he teaches M.A. and rabbinical students. He did his Ph. D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem u...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove explores the lessons of leadership that may be drawn from Korach.  Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999, Rabbi Cosgrove earned his PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation on Rabbi Louis Jacobs, a leading Anglo-Jewish theologian of the 20th century, reflects his passion for the intersection of Jewish scholarship and fa...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Rachel Havrelock shares a critical reading of the scout story. 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 Ge...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Daniel Silverstein explores Beha'alotcha from the lens of Chassidic Masters.  Rabbi Daniel Silverstein directs, and teaches through, an online learning platform called Applied Jewish Spirituality. He also teaches at the Romemu Yeshiva, the Conservative Yeshiva and My Jewish Learning.

Send us Fan Mail Celebrating our 3,000th listenings, Simon Eder uncovers some of the many meanings behind the blessing perhaps more etched on the Jewish imagination - the Priestly Blessing!

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Send us Fan Mail Rav Professor Rachel Adelman discusses the blessings and the curses at the end of the Book of Leviticus.  Prof. Rav 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 2...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Gary 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 190 articles; his most recent book is How the Bible Is Written . Professor Gary Rendsburg discusses Mary Douglas' proposal for the literary c...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Tabick addresses the ableism of the laws of kohanim and how that interacts with the divinity of the Torah. 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 th...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Israel Knohl discusses the innovation of the Holiness School and its introduction of ethical principles into the concept of Holiness.  Prof. Israel Knohl is the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He holds a Ph. D. in Bible from Hebrew University. Knohl’s numerous publica...

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh discusses the laws concerning the scapegoat and their possible application for our times.  Dr Charles Middleburgh is founder rabbi of Congregation Shir HaTzaphon in Copenhagen and Dean and Director of Jewish Studies at the Leo Baeck College in London. Rabbi Middleburgh has lectured at Leo Baeck College since 1984 and has taught, over the years, Bible,...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Levy shares his own passion for the Song of Songs and its uniqueness within the Bible. Andrew Levy is a senior lecturer in Law at BPP. He is a founder member of New North London's ASIF community. . He has been interested in Jewish texts for many years and is author of Love in the Time of Tyranny, A new perspective on the Song of Songs . 

Send us Fan Mail Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffat discusses how the Seder replicates the very paradigm of the Greek symposium and shares what makes it so relevant in every generation.   Adam Zagoria-Moffet is 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...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Rav Rachel Adelman takes us on a journey through the Haggadah reflecting on some important themes for contemporary times. In conversation with Simon Eder. Prof. Rav 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 Repres...

Send us Fan Mail Simon Eder explores some of the insights of Menachem Mendel Schneerson on the different names for the week's parsha and how they are reflective of the stages of repentance.