91快播

Deuteronomy and the Separation of Powers鈥�

Jun 29, 2026 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Sources WithDr. Benjamin D. Sommer,Professor ofBibleand Ancient Semitic Languages, 91快播 The core of democracy as understood by the framers of the United States Constitution understood it was not just majority rule, but the separation of powers and the rule of law. […]

One Nation Under God? Heschel, Niebuhr, King and the Intersection of Religion and Politics in America

Jun 22, 2026 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Recommended Resources With Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor Emeritus; Professor of Jewish Thought, 91快播, and E.J. Dionne, Journalist, Harriman Chair in American Governance, Brookings Institute A frank and wide-ranging conversation between two admirers of these great religious leaders 鈥痑bout the fateful linkage of politics to prophecy in America from the […]

The Changing Landscape of Jewish American Literature

Jun 15, 2026 By Benjamin Resnick | Public Event video | Video Lecture

For decades, Jewish American literature was defined by giants like Roth, Bellow, Malamud, and Ozick, whose novels explored assimilation and the immigrant experience. But what defines Jewish American writing today? Author and 91快播 alum Rabbi Benjamin Resnickreflectson how the field has changed and asks whether the Jewish American novel still exists in the way readers once understood it.

Jewish Storytelling and American Lawin Post-WWII America

Jun 8, 2026 By Shira Billet | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In the decades after World War II, Jewish American legal thinkers began drawing on biblical and rabbinic stories to help explore fundamental questions of constitutional interpretation. The work of Robert Cover in the 1980s, first developed in the context of the Vietnam war, is the most famous and influential example. Butlesser-knownfigures such as Edmund Cahn and 91快播 professor Shalom Spiegel began developing this discourse in the context of the postwar moment in 1950s America, and the civil rights movement thatemergedin its wake.

Hard Cases: Facing Law鈥檚 Challenges in American Legal Theory and Rabbinic Literature

Jun 1, 2026 By Sarah Wolf | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Sources With Dr. Sarah Wolf, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, 91快播 How do judges settle cases when there is no clear right answer? How are precedents mined for new rulings? Should laws be the product of a legislator鈥檚 own creativity, or are […]

The Talented Dr. Finkelstein: His Initiatives, Allies and Critics

May 18, 2026 By Jack Wertheimer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Within the first decade of his 91快播 presidency, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein energetically launched a broad range of new initiatives. 鈥疕is efforts garnered widespread attention and even an adulatory cover story in Time magazine. They also prompted sharp public challenges from some of his closest colleagues.

Baseball (A Jewish American Pastime)

May 4, 2026 By Robert Harris | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Sources With Dr. Robert A. Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, 91快播 Baseball has long been called America鈥檚 pastime鈥攂ut what happens when we read the game through the lens of鈥痯hilosophy, theology,halakhah, andaggadah? This session explores the striking parallels between rabbinic interpretation and […]

From Anxiety to Action: Telling the Story of the World We Want

Mar 23, 2026

At the heart of Passover is a question that feels urgent today: how do we move forward when the future feels uncertain and frightening? This session explores the Crossing of the Sea through midrash and contemporary thought, treating imagination as a muscle that must be strengthened in times of crisis. As we concludeSeasons of Responsibility, we鈥檒l shift focus from individual anxiety to collective responsibility, inviting participants to consider how shared storytelling, community, and action help bring the world we long for into being.

Seasons of Reckoning: The Practice of Moral Accounting

Mar 9, 2026

Sources | Presentation From our Learning Series: Seasons of ResponsibilityJoin us for a timely conversation co-sponsored by the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. Featuring Karenna Gore and Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, this program explores how traditions of moral reflection can guide us.In partnership with the Center for Earth Ethics About the Speaker […]

Between the Lines: The Last Dekrepitzer by Howard Langer

Feb 4, 2026 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

About The Last Dekrepitzer The fiddler busking in the Columbus Circle subway station in 1965 is the Dekrepitzer Rebbe, the sole survivor of the obscure Dekrepitzer Hasidic sect known before the war for its rebbes鈥� fiddling. The Last Dekrepitzer follows the life and spiritual quest of Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher a/k/a Sam Lightup, from his isolated shtetl in the […]

The Gifts of Tu Bishvat: A Springtime Conversation

Feb 2, 2026

Seasons of Responsibilitybegins withTu Bishvat. The session explored how Tu Bishvat鈥檚 meaning has evolved over time.We discussed the gifts of Tu Bishvat for this unique moment. And we鈥檒l see Tu Bishvat not just as a single day, but as the beginning of a springtime season that leads to Purim, Pesach and Shavuot.

A Scholarly Revolution: Rewriting the Rules of Talmud Study

Dec 1, 2025 By Judith Hauptman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In his many volumes of Talmud commentary, beginning with publication of the first in 1968, Professor David Weiss Halivni introduced a groundbreaking approach to Talmud study: distinguishing between the attributed teachings of the rabbis and the anonymous editorial layer that surrounds them. This interpretive revolution transformed the field, offering a powerful tool for understanding the development of rabbinic thought.

Possibility and Peril: Jews and the Russian Revolution

Nov 24, 2025 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The Russian Revolution promised liberation and equality, but for Jews its legacy was far more complex. Dr. David Fishman examined the Jewish socialist movement known as the Bund, the revolutionary role of figures like Leon Trotsky, and Lenin鈥檚 complex position on the 鈥淛ewish question.鈥� Through images and historical context, we鈥檒l consider how the Revolution promised liberation even as it imposed new constraints, and how radical politics reshaped Jewish identity and community in the Soviet era.

Peshat: The Reinvention of Reading During the Twelfth Century Renaissance

Nov 10, 2025 By Robert Harris | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Dr. Robert Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, 91快播

Beginning in the 9th century in the Arabic-speaking Sephardic world and continuing through the 12th century in northern France, Jewish scholars introduced a new approach to reading the Bible. Alongside the traditional Rabbinic midrashim that had guided Jewish understanding for generations, they began writing plain-sense commentaries known aspeshat. Reading the Bible was never the same!

Before the Print Revolution: Manuscripts and the World They Made

Nov 3, 2025 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Before the print revolution transformed how Jews accessed and spread knowledge, handwritten manuscripts shaped Jewish intellectual and spiritual life. In this session, Dr. Mordecai Schwartz explores the quiet revolutions embedded in manuscript culture鈥攆rom scribal innovation to marginal commentary鈥攁nd what they reveal about continuity, creativity, and change before Gutenberg. This session will highlight pieces on display at the Grolier Club of NYC in the exhibit, 鈥淛ewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts from The 91快播 Library,鈥� which features over 100 manuscript and book offerings from The Library.

Revolutionizing Belonging: Disability Inclusion and the Future of Jewish Camp

Oct 27, 2025 By Abigail Uhrman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Jewish summer camps are bright spots of innovation in disability inclusion鈥攅xpanding access, investing in specialized staff, and reimagining what true belonging can look like. But the impact of these programs extends far beyond the individual camper with disabilities.

Monotheism: Evolution or Revolution

Oct 20, 2025 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Professor Benjamin Sommer discussed the debate among modern scholars about the origin of biblical monotheism: did this religious idea develop gradually among the ancient Israelites during the biblical period, or did it appear suddenly early in Israelite history? To what extent were the theological beliefs of the biblical authors radically innovative, and to what extent did they display continuity with the religions of the Israelites neighbors in Canaan, Babylonia, Assuria, and Egypt?

When It’s Easier to Hide: Jonah, Antisemitism, and Moral Courage

Sep 29, 2025 By Shuly Rubin Schwartz | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Yom Kippur

As we prepare for the Days of Awe, the Book of Jonah calls us not only to repentance, but to responsibility鈥攅specially in a fractured and fearful world. In this session,Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartzexplored Jonah鈥檚 reluctance to engage, his desire to retreat, and God鈥檚 challenge to him鈥攁nd to us. The Book of Jonah summons us to engage and build bridges鈥攅ven with those who may seem distant or hostile. This session engaged what it means to be brave and morally grounded when it would be easier to turn away鈥攁nd how, like Jonah, each of us has the power to make a difference.

Jews, Non-Jews, and the Purpose of the High Holidays

Sep 16, 2025 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

The Amidah for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur presents a striking, even radical, vision: a world where God alone reigns, where all people鈥擩ewish and not鈥攍ive in peace, and oppressive regimes vanish. In this vision, the Jewish people are neither erased nor centered. Instead, they are part of a broader human hope.

Beyond the Sermon: What the High Holiday Prayers Offer and Demand

Sep 8, 2025 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

We begin our High Holiday webinar series with guidance for how to engage more meaningfully in the prayer part of High Holiday services. Famously long and repetitive, services on these days may sometimes feel overwhelming, boring, or even alienating. In this session, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, Director of the Block / Kolker Center for Spiritual Arts at 91快播, offered practical strategies for participating more fully, and insight into what these services really ask of us and what they offer鈥攅specially in tumultuous uncertain times. Along the way, Rabbi Uhrbach will share some of her favorite passages in the Conservative Movement鈥檚 Machzor Lev Shalem, for which she was a member of the Editorial Committee. Whether you鈥檙e a seasoned prayergoer or showing up with hesitation, this session will help you begin the High Holiday season with openness, intention, and agency.