Dr Rachel Havrelock uncovers the difference between the Priestly vision and the Deuteronomistic vision for the map of the land of Canaan. 

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 Generation: Politics and the Promised Land, focuses on the structure and meaning of the book of Joshua and its interpretation. Her co-authored book, Women on the Biblical Road, was the beginning of her work on gender and the Bible.

Rabbi Eliyahu Jian discusses the inner meaning behind Pinchas' act of zealotry.

Rabbi Eliyahu Jian is a global thought leader, transformational life and business coach, spiritual coach, relationship coach, author and motivational speaker. He has been transforming thousands of lives around the globe for decades, including some of the world’s most famous and influential people, such as Madonna, Demi Moore, Blake Mallen, Eva Cavalli, Elie Tahari, Marla Maples, and Guy Ritchie.

Professor Elsie Stern shares how Acharei Mot acts as the bridge between the two sections of Vayikra. 

Elsie Stern is Professor of Bible at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She received her BA from Yale University and her M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago. Stern is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season. She is also General editor of a new torah commentary for the Central Conference of American Rabbis. 

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 Generation: Politics and the Promised Land, focuses on the structure and meaning of the book of Joshua and its interpretation. Her co-authored book, Women on the Biblical Road, was the beginning of her work on gender and the Bible.

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.

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!

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 2009) and The Female Ruse: Women’s Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015). Prof Adelman is now working on a new book, Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash (forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press)

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 construction of Leviticus as a tabernacle. 

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 the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is a member of the Steering Team of Kehilat Hadar.

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 publications include: The Sanctuary of Silence, which won the Z. Shkopp Prize for Biblical Studies and The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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, Parshanut, Rabbinic Literature, Aramaic and Practical Rabbinics. He is now Reader in Bible and Liturgy.

Rabbi Middleburgh has a BA Hons in Ancient and Medieval Hebrew with Aramaic and Syriac and a PhD in Targumic Studies from UCL.

His publications include: Siddur Lev Chadash (assoc Editor); Machzor Ruach Chadashah (Co-Editor); High and Holy Days: A Book of Jewish Wisdom (Co-Editor) 2010; A Jewish Book of Comfort Co-Editor 2014; Prayers of Awe, 2010 – 2016 (contributor); Bright and Beautiful: Poems inspired by the Natural World (2015)

His research interests are Liturgy, Animal Iconography in illuminated medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Islamist Fundamentalism and Afghanistan.

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. 

In a special podcast for Pesach, Professor Berel Dov Lerner discusses the central theme of covenant on Seder night and reflects on Israel’s enslavement and redemption in Egypt as a meditation upon temporality and human agency. 

Berel Dov Lerner was born in Washington D.C. and is a member of Kibbutz Sheluhot in Israel’s Beit Shean Valley. He received a BA in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in philosophy from Tel Aviv University. He also studied Judaism at Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDati.  Berel is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the Western Galilee College in Akko and also teaches at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. 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 Human-Divine Interactions in Hebrew Scriptures Covenants and Cross-Purposes (Routledge 2024). 

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 Yehudah Ashlag (Ba’al haSulam). He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and has lived in Minnesota, New York, and Israel before moving to the UK. He co-edited the first Hebrew/English egalitarian Sepharadi siddur and runs the independent publisher Izzun Books. He often teaches about Sepharadi halakhah and culture as well as mysticism, mythology and ethics.

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 Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha (Brill 2009) and The Female Ruse: Women’s Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015). Prof Adelman is now working on a new book, Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash (forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press).

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. 

Dr Jason Rogoff discusses the confusing descriptions of the biblical skin afflictions and their prescience in light of the recent global pandemic. 

Dr. Rogoff is the academic director of Israel Programs and assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at JTS’s Jerusalem campus, located at the Schocken Institute. An integral part of JTS’s presence in Israel, he is responsible for the overall quality of the academic program for rabbinical and cantorial students, coordination and planning of programs with partner institutions, and Israel student recruitment. 

As a member of the Talmud faculty, Dr. Rogoff is responsible for teaching Talmud and Rabbinics to JTS students as well as students of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary and Argentina’s Seminario Rabínico

In the summers, Dr. Rogoff also teaches and mentors JTS rabbinical students who are working and learning at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires as part of JTS’s Nishma program.

In addition to his post at JTS, Dr. Rogoff is a faculty member at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He is the co-author of Reconstructing the Talmud: An Introduction to the Academic Study of Rabbinic Literature (Hadar Press, 2014).

Rabbi Shai Held discusses the the death of Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, who brought “strange fire” to the Lord and died for their pains. In discussion with Simon Eder, they chart possible parallels with this tragic and enigmatic episode. 

Rabbi Shai Held–theologian, scholar, and educator–is President and Dean at Hadar. He has taught both theology and Halakhah at the Jewish Theological Seminary and also served as Director of Education at Harvard Hillel. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; his main academic interests are in modern Jewish and Christian thought, in biblical theology, and in the history of Zionism. Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna in conversation with Simon Eder discusses the concept of holiness in the parsha and how it relates to the founding of Jewish community in the UAE. 

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg discusses the concept of holiness, sacrifice and the power of memory and how they might be applied in a world with such tragic events today. 

Rabbi Wittenberg is the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK. He is a leading writer and thinker on Judaism. He is Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue, with ovr 3,000 members. He is also a member of the Elijah Interfaith Institute Board of World Religious Leaders.

Rabbi Dr David Frankel did his doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include The Murmuring Stories of the Priestly School, The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel, and many scholarly articles. He teaches Hebrew Bible to Israeli M.A. and Rabbinical students at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem.

Simon Eder is Editorial Director of Jewish Quest. He writes regularly for the site and has written for the Judaism column of the Jewish Chronicle. He is a founder of the Jewish Community in Dubai and due to feature in a documentary later this year about its founding. He studied Theology at The University of Cambridge.

Search for “Between The Lines” or “Jewish Quest” on your favourite podcast app.

Dr Alex Sinclair argues that that the more radical you are theologically, the more conservative you should be liturgically, in this exploration of Vayakhel.

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Dr Alex Sinclair is the Chief Content Officer for Educating for Impact. Alex grew up in London, England, and received an M.A., (Oxon) in Hebrew Studies from Balliol College, University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in Jewish Education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Alex was a member of faculty at the Davidson School of Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary between 2002 and 2019, and remains a Consultant for JTS’s Legacy Heritage Instructional Leadership Institute, in which role he has coached instructional leaders in Jewish Day Schools throughout North America. He has taught or run programs for the Hartman Institute, the Schechter Institute, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hebrew Union College, and the Jewish Agency. He has published many academic articles on Jewish education and his book, “Loving the Real Israel: An Educational Agenda for Liberal Zionism”, was published in 2013.

Dr Eitan Fishbane investigates the mystical undercurrents surrounding the story of Moses smashing the two tablets. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Dr Eitan Fishbane is Associate Professor of Jewish Thought at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he teaches students in all five graduate and undergraduate schools. Fishbane earned his Ph.D. and B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University, and he served on the faculties of Carleton College and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion before coming to JTS in 2006. 

Dr. Fishbane has devoted his research and writing primarily to the development of Kabbalah in medieval Spain. At present his scholarship is devoted to three main topics: The Zohar as mystical poetry; The Sabbath and sacred time in hasidic mysticism; and ideas of the self and identity in the Kabbalah.  

Among his published works are The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar (Oxford University Press, 2018) and As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Stanford University Press, 2009). Dr Fishbane was a 2011 recipient of the Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Geoffrey Stern asks how Metsorah is connected to evil speech and he discusses the importance of tsar'at in the Torah. 

Geoffrey Stern is founder of the podcast, Madlik, a disruptive Torah podcast, which is published on a weekly basis in an effort to insure that the spirit of Judaism continues to grow and flourish. He is a serial entrepreneur in the audio chip and self playing media playback product space. 

Why are garments so symbolically important in Jewish thought, asks Rabbi Herzl Hefter, as he explores Parashat Tetzaveh.  In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Rabbi Herzl Hefter is the founder and Rosh Beit Midrash Har’el in memory of Belda Kaufman Lindenbaum, in Jerusalem. It is a beit midrash for advanced rabbinic studies for men and women. He is a graduate of Yeshiva University where he learned under the tutelage of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveichik, and received smikha from Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein at Yeshivat Har Etzion where he studied for ten years. 

Rabbi Hefter taught Yoreh De’ah to the Kollel fellows at the Gruss Kollel of Yeshiva University and served as the head of the Bruria Scholars Program at Midreshet Lindenbaum. He also taught at Yeshivat Mekor Chaim in Moscow and served as Rosh Kollel of the first Torah MiZion Kollel in Cleveland, Ohio. He has written numerous articles related to modernity and Hasidic thought. His Torah essays and online shiurim can be accessed at www.har-el.org.

The juxtaposition of the description of the building of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, with the story of the Golden Calf, in Parashat Terumah, raises intriguing questions, says Prof Rav Rachel Adelman.

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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 2009) and The Female Ruse: Women’s Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015). Prof Adelman is now working on a new book, Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash (forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press).

Rabbi Dr Meesh Hammer-Kossoy argues that the medium is the message in Parashat Mishpatim, the message being the centrality of law in building a just society.

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Rabbi Dr Meesh Hammer-Kossoy teaches Talmud, directs the Social Justice Track, and serves on the Senior Staff at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, an open, co-ed and non-denominational Jewish learning community, where students encounter and grapple with classic texts and traditions of Judaism, while exploring their relevance to today's most pressing issues. 

Rabbi Hammer-Kossoy is engaged with a variety of social campaigns especially in the areas of women’s and human rights and cultural peacebuilding. She was among the first cohort of Orthodox female rabbis ordained in June 2015. She completed her studies at Beit Midrash Har’el and received ordination from Rabbi Herzl Hefter and Rabbi Daniel Sperber. She has a PhD in Talmud from New York University.

Professor Benjamin Sommer explores the ambiguities in the telling of the giving of the Ten Commandments, in parashat Yitro. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Benjamin Sommer is a Professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Kogod Research Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Previously he taught at Northwestern University, where he was Director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies. An overarching concern of Professor Sommer’s scholarship involves the close and manifold relationships between biblical thought and later Jewish theology.

His most recent book, Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition (Yale University Press, 2015), was awarded the Goldstein-Goren Prize in Jewish thought for 2014–2016 and was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and the Jordan Schnitzer Prize. Reviewing the book, the newspaper Ha’aretz described Professor Sommer as “a traditionalist and yet an iconoclast – he shatters idols and prejudices in order to nurture Jewish tradition and its applicability today”.

It’s time for Miriam’s role and reputation to be re-evaluated, says Professor Carol Meyers, as she explores the Song of the Sea in Parashat Beshalach. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Professor Carol Meyers, the Mary Grace Wilson Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Duke University, specialises in biblical studies, archaeology, and gender in the biblical world. A prolific scholar, she has written more than 450 articles, reports, reference-book entries, and reviews; and she has authored, co-authored, or edited twenty-two books. Her reference work, Women in Scripture, is a comprehensive look at all biblical women; and her book Rediscovering Eve is a detailed study of women in ancient Israel. 

Professor Meyers has co-directed several of Duke’s archaeological projects in Galilee. She recently served as President of the Society of Biblical Literature and is currently a trustee of the American Schools of Oriental Research and of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation.

Through the themes of Parashat Bo, Rabbi Samuel Klein explores the power and the centrality of questions and questioning in Jewish life. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Rabbi Samuel Klein is Director of Jewish Engagement for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Samuel was Chief Jewish Officer of the Jewish Community Center San Francisco and Executive Director of the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre, Montreal. He holds Masters degrees in Theology from Cambridge University and History of Art from University College London and trained as a teaching artist at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 

Prior to his move stateside, Rabbi Klein was director of a contemporary art gallery in London and a specialist at Sotheby’s in Hebrew rare books and manuscripts. A lecturer and writer on religion and the arts, he has taught Jewish thought and philosophy in a variety of community settings including, synagogues, JCCs, and Federations nationally.

We understate the importance of the Egyptian-ness of Moses, says Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffat, as we begin the Exodus story. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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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 Yehudah Ashlag (Ba’al haSulam). He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and has lived in Minnesota, New York, and Israel before moving to the UK. He co-edited the first Hebrew/English egalitarian Sepharadi siddur and runs the independent publisher Izzun Books. He often teaches about Sepharadi halakhah and culture as well as mysticism, mythology and ethics.

Through the prism of the Burning Bush, Prof Rav Rachel Adelman asks, what is the nature of sacred space and how is it determined?

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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 2009) and The Female Ruse: Women's Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015). Prof Adelman is now working on a new book, Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash (forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press).

Rabbi Roni Tabick asks, why do werewolves appear so frequently in mediaeval Jewish texts, and what is their relevance to this week’s parasha?

Sources: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/367788.1?lang=bi

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Rabbi Roni Tabick is rabbi of New Stoke Newington Shul. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. With a Masters in Ancient Judaism, Rabbi Tabick specialises in Talmud, mysticism and Jewish Mythology, especially the Leviathan and other sea monsters.

Professor Meira Polliack explores how the trauma of Joseph’s experiences informs his actions, as the Joseph story reaches its climax. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Prof Meira Polliack is Professor of Bible at Tel Aviv University and chair of the Department of Biblical Studies (2016-17). She holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil from Cambridge University and a B.A. from the Hebrew University. From 2012-2018, she was one of the Principal Investigators of the Biblia Arabica: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians and Muslims international research project.

 Prof Polliack’s research interests are Medieval Bible translation and exegesis; modern literary approaches to the Bible; Judaeo-Arabic literature; Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic sources in the Cairo Genizah; intellectual and cultural history of the Jews in the medieval Islamic world; historical development of biblical hermeneutics and notions of biblical narrative

Rabbi Dr Wendy Zierler discusses the anthropological importance of skin and the unlikely connection between skin affliction and the messiah. 

Rabbi Wendy Ilene Zierler, Ph.D., is Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at HUC-JIR in New York. Prior to joining HUC-JIR she was a Research Fellow in the English Department of the University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D. and her M.A. from Princeton University; her B.A. from Stern College of Yeshiva University; and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. 

In June 2021, she received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Maharat. She is the author of Movies and Midrash: Popular Film and Jewish Religious Conversation (SUNY Press, Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience, 2017) and of And Rachel Stole the Idols: The Emergence of Hebrew Women’s Writing (Wayne State UP, 2004), as well as many articles in the fields of Jewish literature, and Jewish Gender Studies. 

Rabbi Joel Levy explores the role of awakenings in Jewish mythology, through the prism of this part of the Joseph story in parashat Miketz.

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Rabbi Joel Levy is Rosh Yeshiva of the Conservative Yeshiva in Israel & Rabbi of Kol Nefesh Synagogue in the UK.

 Rabbi Levy studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, was chair of programming at Limmud conference and is an ex-director of NOAM. He received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi David Hartman in 2000. He has been the part-time rabbi of Kol Nefesh Masorti Synagogue, Britain’s first fully egalitarian traditional shul, since 2001. 

Prof. Rabbi Pamela Barmash offers a highly original view of the Joseph story through a legal and literary lens. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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 Prof. Rabbi Pamela Barmash is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Hebrew at Washington University in St. Louis. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a B.A. from Yale University, and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. 

 Prof. Barmash has published widely on biblical and ancient Near Eastern law and on history and memory. She teaches courses at Washington University on modern perspectives on the Bible, law and justice, mythology, the problem of evil, traditional Scriptural interpretation, and biblical and ancient Jewish history, culture, and religion.

 She is the author of The Laws of Hammurabi: At the Confluence of Royal and Scribal Traditions (Oxford 2020) and Homicide in the Biblical World (Cambridge 2005). She is the co-editor of the Exodus: Echoes and Reverberations in the Jewish Experience, and the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law.  She serves as a dayyan on the Joint Beit Din of the Conservative/Masorti movement.

What was really going on with Jacob’s showdown/reconciliation with Esau? Prof. Rabbi Marty Lockshin offers an alternative view. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Prof. Rabbi Marty Lockshin is Professor Emeritus at York University and lives in Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University and his rabbinic ordination in Israel while studying in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook. 

Professor Lockshin’s primary area of scholarly expertise and writing is the history of Jewish biblical interpretation, particularly the interplay between tradition and innovation. Most of his research has been centred on those medieval biblical commentators who valued tradition intellectually, who lived traditional lives and who still innovated unabashedly in their understanding of the Bible. Among Professor Lockshin’s publications is his four-volume translation and annotation of Rashbam’s commentary on the Torah.

Professor Shawna Dolansky explores the story of Jacob’s return to Canaan and how it played a formative role in the identity of the people of Israel. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Professor Shawna 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 incorporates the tools of literary criticism, comparative religion, historical study, anthropology, archaeology, political science and classics in order to understand the worlds of the original authors and audiences of the biblical texts, and the subsequent development of Judaism and Christianity out of ancient Israelite religious beliefs and practices.

Professor Dolansky is the author of Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Biblical Perspectives on the Relationship Between Magic and Religion and co-author with Richard E. Friedman of The Bible Now.

Rabbi Dr David Frankel revisits the story of Jacob’s deception of Isaac, and wonders whether it’s all that it seems. In conversation with Simon Eder.

Rabbi Dr. David Frankel did his doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include The Murmuring Stories of the Priestly School, The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel, and many scholarly articles. He teaches Hebrew Bible to Israeli M.A. and Rabbinical students at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem

In his exploration of parashat Chayei Sarah, Rabbi Dr David Frankel questions the story of the cave of Machpelah and considers its ramifications. In conversation with Simon Eder.

 
Rabbi Dr. David Frankel did his doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include The Murmuring Stories of the Priestly School, The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel, and many scholarly articles. He teaches Hebrew Bible to Israeli M.A. and Rabbinical students at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon explores parashat Vayera, including negotiating with God at Sodom and Gomorrah, a unique critique of Abraham and a look at the role that angels play in the Torah. In conversation with Simon Eder.

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Rabbi Jeremy Gordon is Rabbi of New London Synagogue. He has a first class honours degree in Law from Cambridge and, following five years working for the BBC and other television companies decided to train for the Rabbinate. He studied at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he volunteered with the Red Cross at Ground Zero on ‘9/11.’  His latest book is An Angel Called Truth.

Professor Everett Fox examines parshat Lech Lecha for clues to the mythic role that Abraham plays in three religions.

Professor Everett Fox on how the Epic of Gilgamesh and the films of Cecil B. DeMille help us understand parashat Noach.

Professor Marc Brettler examines the textual clues to the different authors of the Torah’s first parasha, Bereshit.

Miryam Margo-Wolfson asks what was the strange fire of Nadav and Avihu and just what are the lessons of their deaths for us today. 

Miryam Margo-Wolfson is an intern at Temple Adath-Or and a fifth year Rabbinic and Cantorial student at Aleph Ordination Program. 

Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet discusses the sacrifices as psychological impulses and argues that we should reclaim the notion of fire as the primary symbol of the Divine. 

Dr Yitzhaq Feder uncovers the fascinating and unexpected relevance of the sacrificial laws. 

Dr. Yitzhaq Feder is a lecturer at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical Ritual: Origins, Context and Meaning (Society of Biblical Literature, 2011). His most recent book, Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible: From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor (Cambridge University Press, 2021), examines the psychological foundations of impurity in ancient Israel.

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon discusses his new commentary on the Book of Esther and the book's supreme relevance for our troubled times.