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 Profes…

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 s…

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 t…

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/podca…

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 con…

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 D…

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 Fo…

Dr. Rebecca Goldstein and J.J. communicate the story of Spinoza's herem 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 torahinmo…

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 t…

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 Phi…

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 Fe…

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 associ…

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 …

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…

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, Jew…

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. …

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 Fran…

J.J. and Dr. Daniel Matt become wiser and gain understanding while discussing the Kabbalistic ideas of The Zohar . Daniel Matt is a prominent scholar of Kabbalah and the Zohar. He has been featured in Time and Newsweek and on National Public Radio. His books include The Essential Kabbalah (translated into eight languages), Zohar: Annotated and Expl…

J.J. and Dr. Tamar Rudavsky trace the responses to Maimonides among Medieval Jewish Philosophers. T.M. Rudavsky is Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. She specializes in medieval Jewish philosophy and has edited three volumes: Divine Omniscience and Omnipotence in Medieval Philosophy: Islamic, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives(19…

J.J. and Dr. Michah Gottlieb shed light on the origins of the Haskalah in Berlin, and examine Mendelssohn's role in it. Michah Gottlieb is Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy at NYU. An expert on the German Haskalah and its reverberations, he has authored several books and dozens of articles. His bo…

J.J. and Dr. Noah Feldman attempt uncover what Maimonides was really trying to do in his halakhic and philosophical works. Noah Feldman is Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Chairman of the Society of Fellows, and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law, all at Harvard University. He specializes in constitutiona…

J.J. and Dr. Naomi Seidman wonder why Jews want to claim Freud so badly, and if that claim has merit. Dr. Naomi Seidman is the Chancellor Jackman Professor of the Arts in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto, and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow. Her publications include…

J.J. and Dr. Simon Goldhill try to nail down exactly what Midrash really is and try to place the classical Rabbis in their historical context. Simon Goldhill is a Professor in Greek Literature and Culture and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at King's College. His latest book is Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity: Art, Opera, Ficti…

J.J. and Dr. Ruth Wisse unpack the world or modern Yiddish literature from its beginnings with Rav Nachman of Breslov through Chaim Grade and the contemporary state of Yiddish studies. Ruth R. Wisse is professor emerita of Yiddish literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University and senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund. Her books on literatu…

J.J. and Dr. Yonatan Brafman define philosophy of halakha and discuss the competing halakhic philosophies of Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Eliezer Berkovits. Yonatan Brafman is an assistant professor of Modern Judaism in the Department of Religion and a member of the Program in Judaic Studies. He is a scholar of modern Jewish thought and a philosopher of…

J.J. and Dr. Shaye Cohen go deep into the world of the mishnah and try to mark the boundaries between the world of the mishnah and the world of history. Shaye J. D. Cohen is the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University, one of the oldest and most disti…

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Miriam Feldmann-Kaye get into the nature of postmodernism and how it relates to Judaism. Also, meta-narratives and mega-narratives. For more information visit our website, and to support more thoughtful Jewish content like this, donate here. Dr. Miriam Feldmann Kaye is a Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy at Bar-Ilan Univers…

In this episode J.J. and Peter Cole discuss Jewish poetry, aesthetics, and why Samuel ibn Naghrillah would probably make an excellent rapper. For more information visit our website, and to support more thoughtful Jewish content like this, donate here. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957, Peter Cole is the author of six books of poems—most recentl…

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Tamara Morsel-Eisenberg try to figure out what exactly we mean when we say "the Early Modern Period", also legal codes, and the scientific revolution. Tamara Morsel-Eisenberg is Assistant Professor of Jewish History. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy and the Humanities from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in H…

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Lenn Goodman discuss Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed, and the challenges of a brand new translation. Also: What Strauss, Pines, and the UChicago school of interpretation got wrong. For more fantastic Jewish content follow Torah in Motion on instagram or visit torahinmotion.org Lenn E. Goodman is Professor of Philosop…

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Simkovich dig into the differences between the Pharisees and the Saducees, and air some more second temple laundry. Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and the director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She is the author of The Making of Jewish …

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Derek Penslar get into the evolution of Zionism, and the ideas (or lack of ideas) of Theodore Herzl. You can find more fantastic Jewish content like this at torahinmotion.org Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History. He takes a comparative and transnational approach to Jewish history, which he …

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Alter explore the literary approach to the Bible, Dr. Alter's magnificent translation, and the impact of both of these works on the study of Bible in the university and the yeshiva. Also typescenes and how Dr. Alter met his wife at a modern-day well. Robert Alter is Professor of the Graduate School and Emeritus Professo…

In this episode J.J. and Dr. Miriam Goldstein dig into the ideas the animated the Rabbis (and Karaites) of the early Islamic period. For more thoughtfull Jewish content like this, visit torahinmotion.org. If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review the podcast in your app of choice. Miriam Goldstein is a professor in the Department of Arabic…

On this episode JJ and Dr. Shapiro get into the limits of Orthodox theology, as well as The Limits of Orthodox Theology. Marc B. Shapiro holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton. A graduate of Brandeis (BA) and Harvard (PhD), he is the author of numerous books, articles, and reviews and is a popular scholar in reside…

In this episode Dr. Jon Levenson and JJ get into questions about good, evil, and the Book of Job. _____________ Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, began teaching at Harvard in 1988, having previously taught at the University of Chicago and at Wellesley College. His work concentrates on the interpretation of the Hebrew Bibl…

In this episode J.J. and Professor Ariel Mayse of Stanford get into the major ideas that set early Hasidism apart, and how those ideas inform Hasidism to this day. _______ Ariel Evan Mayse joined the faculty of Stanford University in 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, after previously serving as the Director of J…

Welcome to The Podcast of Jewish Ideas!! In this episode JJ introduces himself, the podcast, and what we hope to do together in the coming episodes, we do hope you enjoy.By Torah in Motion