The College Commons Podcast

Author Lori Banov Kaufmann transports us to an unlikely love story set against the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. National Jewish Book Award Winner, Rebel Daughter A young woman survives the unthinkable in this stunning and emotionally satisfying tale of family, love, and resilience, set against the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Lori grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. She received her...

Author Jai Chakrabarti muses on the power of art, friendship, and love to bridge the human experience. A Play for the End of the World, winner of the National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. New York City, 1972. Jaryk Smith, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Lucy Gardner, a southerner, newly arrived in the city, are in the first bloom of love when they receive word that Jaryk’s oldest frie...

Author and philanthropist Mark Gerson uncovers surprising delights and insights from the deceptively familiar text. The Telling: How Judaism’s Essen­tial Book Reveals the Meaning of Life, finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Award for Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Mark Gerson is an entrepreneur and philanthropist, as well as the author of books on intellectual history and education....

Guidance and provocations for finding meaning in ‘unprecedented’ times. Torah in a Time of Plague: Historical and Contemporary Jewish Reflections, winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. This collection of essays uses Torah – broadly understood to include any canonical Jewish text or tradition – to illuminate, explore, bemoan, or grapple with our curr...

Studying Jewish tradition as an expression of the Jewish purpose. Rabbi Helen Plotkin is co-founder of the Beit Midrash at Swarthmore College, where she taught courses in Biblical Hebrew and classical Hebrew texts for 20 years. She is founder and director of Mekom Torah (pronounced McComb Toe-RAH), offering deep Jewish study opportunities for adults and teens that transcend the boundaries of the v...

Major themes of Jewish life, reviewed, rethunk... remixed. Roberta Rosenthal Kwall is the Raymond P. Niro Professor at DePaul University College of Law. Professor Kwall earned her JD from the University of Pennsylvania and received her undergraduate degree in Religious Studies from Brown University. She also has a Master's Degree in Jewish Studies. Kwall is an internationally renowned scholar and...

Dig into the Jew­ish lit­er­ary land­scape with the Jewish Book Council’s intriguing and rich annual literary journal. Becca Kantor is the editorial director of Jewish Book Council and its annual print literary journal, Paper Brigade. She received a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Becca was awar...

Judaism's views on sex, sensuality, and intimacy within marriage. Noam is now emeritus at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where since 1978 he has been a senior research fellow and educator. He earned a graduate degree in general philosophy at Columbia University and the Hebrew University, while studying Bible and Rabbinics at JTSA and the Hartman Beit Midrash. His popular publications an...

Civil litigation as a powerful tool against white supremacy. Amy Spitalnick is the Executive Director of Integrity First for America, the civil rights nonprofit that spearheaded the successful landmark lawsuit against the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for the Charlottesville violence. Amy has extensive experience in government, politics, and advocacy, including as Comm...

Advancing social justice through Torah. Rabbi Barry H. Block serves Congregation B'nai Israel in Little Rock, Arkansas. A Houston native and graduate of Amherst College, Rabbi Block was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1991, and he received his DD, honoris causa, in 2016. A member of the CCAR Board of Trustees, currently serving as vice president of orga...

Feminism, intertextuality and 3000 years of making sense of God. Rabbi Kari Tuling received rabbinic ordination in 2004 and earned her PhD in Jewish Thought in 2013, both from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. She has served congregations in Connecticut, Indiana, New York, and Ohio, and has taught Jewish Studies courses at the University of Cincinnati and the Sta...

Tension and compatibility in the long story of our Jewish and American identities. Dr. Jonathan D. Sarna is University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, where he directs the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. He also chairs the Academic Advisory and Editorial Board of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archiv...

Controversy, confusion and confidence in God’s goodness, from antiquity to present. After being graduated from New York University with a B.A. in philosophy and Phi Beta Kappa, Rabbi Wayne Allen, Ph. D. attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he earned a Masters degree in Rabbinics and went on to receive rabbinic ordination. He served as a congregational rabbi for 35 years, takin...

Understanding bible translations as a key to Jewish history. Leonard J. Greenspoon holds the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University, where he is also Professor of Theology and of Classical & Near Eastern Studies. Greenspoon is the editor of the 32-volume (and counting) Studies in Jewish Civilization series. He has also written five other books, in additi...

Psychedelics as a key to exploring Jewish mystical experiences. Rabbi Zac Kamenetz is a community leader and aspiring psychedelic-assisted therapist based in Berkeley,CA. He holds an MA in Biblical literature and languages from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union and received rabbinic ordination in 2012. A sought-after educator and qualified MBSR instructor, Zac’s work has been centered...

Leading diverse progressive Judaism around the globe. Born in Buenos Aires in 1962, Rabbi Bergman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Pharmaceutics from the University of Buenos Aires, and three Master’s degrees: in Education from The Hebrew University, in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem, and in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological...

The Jewish Labor Committee’s rescue of European Jews and labor leaders in World War II. Catherine Collomp is Emerita professor at Université de Paris (formerly Université Paris-Diderot), France. A specialist of American history, she has taught at Université Paris XII Créteil (1985-1998) and Université Paris-Diderot ( 1998- 2008) where she specialized in American social and political history, with...

The history of coercive persuasion, from Pavlov to social media. Dr. Joel E. Dimsdale, M.D attended Carleton College and then Stanford University, where he obtained a MA in Sociology and an MD degree. He obtained psychiatric training at MGH and was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School from 1976-1985, when he moved to University of California, San Diego, where he is now Regent Edward A. Dickson...

A modern-day Yiddish folktale in an alternative Jewish world, with much to consider for our own. The Lost Shtetl, winner of The Jewish Book Council's Miller Fam­i­ly Book Club Award. A remarkable debut novel—written with the fearless imagination of Michael Chabon and the piercing humor of Gary Shteyngart—about a small Jewish village in the Polish forest that is so secluded no one knows it exists ....

The unique power of children's books in presenting diverse stories. "Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail," winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Children's Picture Book. Welcoming Elijah by celebrated author Lesléa Newman, unites a young boy and a stray kitten in a warm, lyrical story about Passover, family, and friendship. Lesléa (pronounced “Lez-LEE-uh”) Newman is the author of 7...

Reconstructing the tragic story of a medieval noblewoman who leaves her home and family for the love of a Jewish boy. The Convert, Finalist (Sephardic Culture), The National Jewish Book Award (2020) In this dazzling work of historical fiction, the Man Booker International–long-listed author of War and Turpentine reconstructs the tragic story of a medieval noblewoman who leaves her home and family...

Remarkable stories of Jewish women through the objects of their lives. The Art of the Jew­ish Fam­i­ly: A His­to­ry of Women in Ear­ly New York in Five Objects (Bard Grad­u­ate Cen­ter), winner of The National Jewish Book Award in three dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories: the Ger­rard and Ella Berman Memo­r­i­al Award for His­to­ry, the Amer­i­can Jew­ish Stud­ies Cel­e­brate 350 Award, and the Women Stud­i...

Piecing together family secrets & stories of bravery in Nazi Germany. "When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains," winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Autobiography and Memoir. In this remarkably moving memoir Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: years spent hiding in plain sight in war-torn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family memb...

What can Hebrew's usage in Jewish summer camps teach us about the American Jewish experience? "Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps" Winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity Each summer, tens of thousands of American Jews attend residential camps, where they may see Hebrew signs, sing and dance to Hebrew songs, and hear a cam...

Surprising statistics and lively analysis of the 2020 Pew Study results. Sarah Bunin Benor is Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles) and Adjunct Professor in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department. She received her Ph. D. from Stanford University in Linguistics in 2004. Her books include Becoming Frum: How...