The Podcast of Jewish Ideas

J.J. and Dr. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal meditate on Talmudic responses to Christianity.  Follow us on Twitter (X) @JewishIdeas_Pod to get into arguments with other listeners about Monks, The Talmud, and Kabbalah.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/p...

J.J. and Dr. Yosef Bronstein resurrect some of the most fascinating ideas that animated the thought of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe. This is part three of our mini-series on the intellectual history of Chabad Hasidut. Thank you to Rabbi Gary Huber for sponsoring this mini-series!  If you would like to support us directly please shoot us an email or visit torahinmotio...

J.J. and Dr. Reuven Leigh finally bring Chabad into the 20th century! They inspect the life and thought of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe–Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn. This is part two of our mini-series on the intellectual history of Chabad Hasidut.  Thank you to Rabbi Gary Huber for sponsoring this mini-series!  If you would like to support us directly please shoot us an email or visit torahinmo...

J.J. and Dr. Eli Rubin revel in the traditional and rebellious thought of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, author of The Tanya, and first Rebbe of the Chabad Hasidic sect.  Thank you to Rabbi Gary Huber for sponsoring this mini-series!  If you would like to support us directly please shoot us an email or visit torahinmotion.org/donate Follow us on Twitter (X) @JewishIdeas_Pod to argue with fellow lis...

J.J. and Dr. Yair Furstenberg contextualize the ethical teachings of the Tannaim.  Follow us on Twitter (X) @JewishIdeas_Pod to get into arguments with other listeners about Seneca and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org...

J.J. and Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel comment on the happenings in Medieval Ashkenaz and add their spin on to the era of the Tosafists.   Follow us on Twitter (X) @JewishIdeas_Pod to get into arguments with other listeners about Rabbeinu Tam or the Rash MiSchantz.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.o...

J.J. and Dr. Aaron Segal freely choose to wade through the murky medieval and contemporary debates over the existence of free will.  Follow us on Twitter (X) @JewishIdeas_Pod to get into public arguments about Crescas and Spinoza.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visi...

J.J. and Dr. Jacob Howland round up a storm of fascinating comparisons between Talmudic and Platonic methods of discourse.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Jacob Howland is Provost and Dean of the Intellectual Foundations Program at th...

J.J. and Dr. David Myers scientifically examine the thought and legacy of the Wissenschaft   des Judentums movement.  Please rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! We welcome all complaints and compliments at podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor of History and holds the Sady and Ludwig Ka...

J.J. and Dr. Shai Secunda set Talmudic discourse ablaze. They put the Talmud in its Zoroastrian and Sasanian context, and have bloody good discussion about how Judaism interacted with its socio-religious environment in the first few centuries of the Common Era.  Don't forget to rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@tor...

J.J. and Dr. Joanna Weinberg make their way back to sunny 15th century Italy and the surrounding centuries to visit some of the more interesting Jewish characters of the Italian Renaissance. They weave their way through cross-cultural influences and intra-cultural tensions during this remarkable era of rebirth.  Don't forget to rate and review the the show in the podcast app of your choice! Please...

J.J. and Dr. Martin Goodman go antiquing! They discuss the most important Jewish historian of the Roman period–Josephus Flavius. What did he write? Who was he writing for? And what ideological framework motivated his histories?  Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Martin Goodman is Emeritus Professor of Jewis...

J.J. and Dr. Susannah Heschel survey the fascinating life and brilliant ideas of Abraham Geiger. This guy was flagrantly influential. A practicing rabbi, a leader in the Wissenschaft das Judentums movement and a founder of Islamic studies in Europe, he was on the intellectual vanguard of the 19th century Reform movement, so strap in for a great conversation.  Please send any complaints or complime...

J.J. and Dr. Daniel Schwartz examine the convoluted legacy and enduring relevance of Spinoza. Our first mini-series!! Welcome to the second episode of our three-parter covering friend of the pod, Benedict " Barukh " Spinoza. Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit  torahinmotion.org/podcasts Daniel B. Schwartz is a professor of modern Jewi...

J.J. and Dr. Yitzhak Melamed untangle Spinoza's famed Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and assess the religiosity of its author, a supposed atheist.  Our first mini-series!! Welcome to the second episode of our three-parter covering friend of the pod, Benedict " Barukh " Spinoza. Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit  torahinmotion.org/pod...

Dr. Rebecca Goldstein and J.J. communicate the story of Spinoza's  h erem and outline the radicalism of his Ethics.  Our first mini-series!! Welcome to the first episode of our three-parter covering friend of the pod, Benedict " Barukh " Spinoza. Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit  torahinmotion.org/podcasts Rebecca Newberger Goldstei...

J.J. and Dr. Eric Lawee comment on Rashi's astounding career, and refuse to gloss over his contentious journey to join the Jewish canon.    Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Eric Lawee is a professor in the Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, where he teaches the history of Jewish biblical scholarsh...

J.J. and Dr. Menachem Fisch decided that this is the time for studying the philosophy of the book of Qohelet, and they don't study it in vain.   Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Menachem Fisch is the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science at Tel Aviv University and Co...

J.J. and Dr. Maren Niehoff comment on Philo's ideas and attempt to weave him back into the fabric of Jewish history.  Send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Before joining the Dept. of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Maren R. Niehoff was a Junior Fellow at Harvard and received her doctorate and MA...

J.J. and Dr. Neil Rogachevsky skip down the winding (theoretical) road towards Israeli independence, and tell the story of the drafting of Ben Gurion's declaration of independence.  Send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Neil Rogachevsky is assistant professor and associate director at the Straus Center of Yeshiva Univ...

J.J. and Dr. Jonathan Garb march down the various paths of the Ram"chal's thought, and straighten out some mysteries of his life, thought, and reception. Send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.org For more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcasts Jonathan Garb is the Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jeru...

J.J. and Dr. Jeremy Brown circulate some of the Jewish responses to Copernicus. Jeremy Brown is the author of New Heavens and a New Earth; The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought (Oxford University Press 2013) and Influenza; The Hundred Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History (Simon and Schuster 2018). He is an emergency physician and Director of the Office of Emergency Care Research...

J.J. and Dr. Christoph Schulte contract a serious case of mystical curiousity, and diminish the mysteries around the idea of Tzimtzum. Prof. Dr. Christoph Schulte is Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam since 2001 and for many years head of the Department of Jewish and Religious Studies. He studied Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Theology and Journalism in Heidelberg...

J.J. and Dr. Sam Lebens prove God?! (Or at least, they discuss the history of some Jewish arguments for God.) Samuel Lebens is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa. He works in a wide array of philosophical fields including metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of fiction, and most centrally, the philosophy of religion. His recent books include, The Principles of Judais...

J.J. and Dr. Leora Batnitzky look for hidden truths in Strauss' thought. Dr. Leora Batnitzky is the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish studies and professor of religion at Princeton University. She is the author of Leo Strauss and Emmanuel Levinas: Philosophy and the Politics of Revelation and Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered (Princeton). If you or y...