The Podcast of Jewish Ideas

Latest Episodes:

99. The Body of Biblical Text | Dr. Jacqueline Vayntrub Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Jacqueline Vayntrub on what is gained and lost when the written Torah replaced its oral performance.
Jacqueline Vayntrub is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School. Her research spans biblical studies, philology, literary theory, and intellectual history, focusing on how ancient texts conceptualize literature and transmit culture. She is the author of Body Language: Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible (Yale University Press, 2026) and Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms (Routledge, 2019). Alongside her research, she serves as editor of the Library of Hebrew Bible and Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS) series and the International Critical Commentary (ICC).
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98. In the Image of God | Dr. Tomer Persico Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Persico study the origin and impact of the idea that humans were created in the Divine image.
Dr. Tomer Persico is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and a Senior Research Scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Persico was the Koret Visiting Assistant Professor at the UC Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies for three years and has taught for eight years in Tel Aviv University. His fields of expertise include cultural history, the liberal order, Jewish modern identity, Contemporary Spirituality and Jewish fundamentalism. His books include The Jewish Meditative Tradition (Hebrew, Tel Aviv University Press, 2016), Liberalism: its Roots, Values and Crises (Hebrew, Dvir, 2024 and German, NZZ Libro, 2025) and In God's Image: How Western Civilization Was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea (Hebrew, Yedioth,2021, English, NYU Press,2025). Persico is a liberal activist in Israel and has written hundreds of articles on current events for the legacy media, including Haaretz and the Washington Post. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and two sons.
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97. Jonathan Sacks | Dr. Raphael Zarum (Anglo-Judaism #5) Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

Does this one really need a description? You know the man. Now learn some more about his ideas and impact.
This series is generously sponsored by Larry and Sarah Krauss in honour and gratitude to Larry's mother, Kato Krauss, and in loving memory of his father, Nathan "Noteh" Krauss. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sarah’s father, Joe Casse. Yosef ben Zvi v’Koyna.
Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum is Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) where he holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair in Modern Jewish Thought, established by the Zandan family. He is also the Scholar in Residence at the Central Square Minyan in Hampstead. His recent book, Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt, was a Yeshiva University Prize finalist. Rabbi Zarum hosts the Big Questions of Jewish Belief podcast and travels the globe lecturing in Jewish communities and diverse institutions.
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96. Louis Jacobs | Dr. Miri Freud-Kandel (Anglo-Judaism #4) Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Miri Freud-Kandel on the twentieth century's most influential, interesting, and controversial Mancunian Jew.
This series is generously sponsored by Larry and Sarah Krauss in honour and gratitude to Larry's mother, Kato Krauss, and in loving memory of his father, Nathan "Noteh" Krauss. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sarah’s father, Joe Casse. Yosef ben Zvi v’Koyna.
Dr. Miri Freud-Kandel is Fellow and Lecturer in Modern Judaism in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. She is also affiliated with the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and is co-convenor of the annual Oxford Summer Institute on Modern and Contemporary Judaism. Her research interests include the development of Orthodox Jewish theologies, particularly concepts of a Modern Orthodox Judaism; the distinctive features of Judaism in Britain; and gender issues in modern Judaism. Aside from her varied contributions to journals and edited collections, she is author of Louis Jacobs & the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology (Liverpool: Littman Library, 2023); Orthodox Judaism in Britain Since 1913: An Ideology Forsaken (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2006) and co-editor of Yitz Greenberg: Modern Orthodoxy and the Path not Taken (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2019), and Modern Judaism, An Oxford Guide (Oxford: OUP, 2005).
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95. JH Hertz and his Pentateuch | Dr. Benjamin Elton (Anglo-Judaism #3) Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Benjamin Elton comment on one of Britain's most influential chief rabbis.
This series is generously sponsored by Larry and Sarah Krauss in honour and gratitude to Larry's mother, Kato Krauss, and in loving memory of his father, Nathan "Noteh" Krauss. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sarah’s father, Joe Casse. Yosef ben Zvi v’Koyna.
Benjamin Elton read history at Queens’ College Cambridge and has a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London in Anglo-Jewish religious history. He has written and lectured on Anglo-Jewish and Australian Jewish history and theology, on Jewish philosophy and architecture, and on contemporary challenges facing the Jewish world. He has Semicha from rabbis in the UK, the USA and Israel and is Rabbi of The Great Synagogue in Sydney. He holds honorary positions at the University of Sydney and the University of Notre Dame, Australia and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of London.
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94. Claude Montefiore and Liberal Judaism | Dr. Edward Kessler (Anglo-Judaism #2) Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Edward Kessler progress through the history of Liberal Judaism and its promethian founder, Claude Montefiore.
This series is generously sponsored by Larry and Sarah Krauss in honour and gratitude to Larry's mother, Kato Krauss, and in loving memory of his father, Nathan "Noteh" Krauss. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sarah’s father, Joe Casse. Yosef ben Zvi v’Koyna.
Dr Edward Kessler, MBE is Founder President of the Woolf Institute and a leading thinker in interfaith relations, primarily, Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations. He was described by The Times Higher Education Supplement as 'probably the most prolific interfaith figure in British academia' and was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations. He has written or edited 13 books, including An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations (Cambridge, 2010), Jews, Christians and Muslims in Encounter (SCM, 2013) and Jesus (The History Press, 2016). His Documentary History of Jewish-Christian Relations was published by Cambridge in 2024. In 2024 he was awarded the Seelisberg Prize for his contribution to fostering Jewish-Christian relations. Kessler regularly appears in the media commenting on religion and belief issues of the day, such as the impact of October 7th 2023 attacks on Israel and the Gaza War on the Leading Podcast, and hosted the weekly podcast Naked Reflections (2020-23). Since 2015, he has been working with local actors in Israel, Palestine and Jordan to agree measures to safeguard Jerusalem's holy places. Kessler also explores the tensions, positive as well as negative, between religion and civil society.
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93. The English Haskalah | Dr. David Ruderman (Anglo-Judaism #1) Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. David Ruderman open our series with a discussion about the unique character and interesting characters of the Jewish Enlightenment in England.
This series is generously sponsored by Larry and Sarah Krauss in honour and gratitude to Larry's mother, Kato Krauss, and in loving memory of his father, Nathan "Noteh" Krauss. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sarah’s father, Joe Casse. Yosef ben Zvi v’Koyna.
David B. Ruderman is the Joseph Meyerhoff Professor Emeritus of Modern Jewish History and the Ella Darivoff Director Emeritus of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and reviews, and the recipient of the Koret Jewish Book Award and two National Jewish Book Awards in history. He was also awarded a lifetime achievement award for his work in Jewish history from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. You can access his most recent book for free here: degruyterbrill.com/the-making-of-an-anglo-Jewish-scholar
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92. Analytic Philosophy (Repent!): Dr. Noam Oren Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Noam Oren bridge the gap between the analytic philosophical tradition and the Jewish one.
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Dr. Noam Oren is the Gruss Scholar-in-Residence at the New York University School of Law. His research ranges across analytic philosophy of religion, modern Jewish thought—including the philosophy of Halakhah—and, above all, the points at which these fields converge. He concentrates on the rationality of religious belief and practice and on the dynamic interplay between the two.
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91. The Halakhic Man | Dr. Lawrence Kaplan May 14, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Lawrence Kaplan analyze the life and thought of Joseph B. Soloveichik through the lens of Halakha.
The new edition of Halakhic Man (edited, annotated, and introduced by Dr. Kaplan) is available for purchase here: Link
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Lawrence Kaplan is Professor of Rabbinics and Jewish Philosophy in the Department of Jewish Studies at McGill University, and a leading scholar in both medieval and modern Jewish Thought. He is best known for his studies of Soloveitchik and for his translation from the Hebrew of Soloveitchik’s classic Ish ha-Halakhah (Halakhic Man), lauded by scholars as the gold standard for Soloveitchik translations.
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90. Joseph B. Soloveichik's Existentialism | Dr. Daniel Rynhold Apr 17, 2026

Show notes

J.J. and Dr. Daniel Rynhold discuss lonely and halakhic men and minds.
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Daniel Rynhold is Dean and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, and director of the Revel doctoral program, having arrived on these shores from London, England, in August 2007. Educated at the universities of Cambridge and London, Dr. Rynhold had previously been a lecturer in Judaism in the department of theology and religious studies at King’s College London, a position he had held since 2001. This followed two years as a lecturer at the renowned Jews’ College of London.
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