The Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern Times

Steven Toby Weinberg
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The Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern Times

Somewhere along the way, many of us were forcefed the idea that philosophy is boring and esoteric. What? Philosophy is, in fact, rebellious and therapeutic! Using humor, personal anecdotes, and much hubris, the Schrift provides fresh and unexpected answers to life's most tricky and fateful questions. The anchor of the Schrift is the weekly reading of the Torah. These passages are analyzed not as religious dogma but as brilliant pieces of literature and anthropology which bring ancient wisdom back into our lives. The greatest philosophers and writers of the German canon also weigh in on these questions during the Schrift. Finally the lectures incorporate Buddhist teachings and the practice of Yoga to bring together East and West, body and mind, eternity and the moment. And the Schrift will always give you a "life tip" to carry with you along the way. IG: stevehead0001 s.t.weinberg@gmail.com

  1. 23/10/2024

    Interview 18 - Azzan Yadin-Israel, Professor of Classics and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University - Mishpatim

    The word "slave" cannot be found in the Torah. After all, the Torah was written in Hebrew, not English. But more still, the Hebrew version of the word for slave actually can mean a lot of other things, too: worker, servant, subject, intimate. Were the Hebrews who built the pyramids really slaves or just "laborers"? Why is an English dictionary so much bigger than a Hebrew one? Did Moses speak the same Hebrew as Gal Gadot? To answer these questions and more, I spoke with a scholar of Classics and Biblical Hebrew who is himself a native speaker of Modern Hebrew, Professor Azzan Yadin-Israel.

    1 h 6 min

  2. 08/08/2024

    Interview 17 - Bar Zemach, Principal Horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Yithro

    When Richard Wagner wrote his operas it was--wait for it--actually cool to be German. Indeed, one need only listen to this music for ten seconds to figure this out. Being Jewish back then on the other hand was, well, not so coveted. How times have changed. For today, horn players like Bar Zemach are welcomed to blast the shofar in the best orchestras of Germany.

    1 h 24 min

  3. 02/06/2024

    Interview 16 - Erica Weitzman, Associate Professor of German at Northwestern University - Bishalach

    "Ironic" is a word we throw around in casual conversation. And yet, when we peer back the curtain, we soon see that irony has explosive cultural and philosophical meaning. And what happens when we get ironic about irony itself? That was a devastating question which even Alanis Morrissette seems not to have foreseen. Schlegel, on the other hand... Nowadays, ironic speech is so commonplace that it irks more than it phases. By contrast, in the entire Torah we get just one ironic remark. Professor Erica Weitzman disentangles irony for us and shares her fascinating theory of comic irony.

    1 h 4 min

  4. 28/03/2024

    Interview 15 - Yady Oren, Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Potsdam - Bo

    In these all-too-modern of times, we not only have fast food and instant coffee, but we also get to enjoy bite-sized philosophy. Why read Hegel or Kant or Descartes when we can, you know, get their entire philosophy summed up in a YouTube video? If this sounds snobby, it shouldn't, for no one is more guilty of this "hack" than I. Fortunately, Yady Oren, who has actually read Hegel, is here to explain Hegel's real philosophy of history. We also hear his opinion on whether the tenth plague was a genocide and whether the Israelites had the right to jingoistically celebrate when the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea.

    1 h 25 min

  5. 08/02/2024

    Interview 14 - Rabbi Dovid Roberts - Va'era

    What, if anything, gets lost when we translate the Torah from Biblical Hebrew into English? Despite popular belief based on the English translation of the Torah, the Pharaoh did not exactly "harden his heart." Rather, he strengthened his heart, made his heart heavy, and even, perhaps, turned his heart into a liver. Rabbi Dovid Roberts is the rabbi and spiritual leader of the Kahal Adass Jisroel Synagogue, located in the heart of Berlin. In this interview, Rabbi Roberts explains why he reads secular books, shares an enthralling theory of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on Pharaoh's heart, and divulges the secret to great leadership.

    53 min

  6. 10/08/2023

    Interview 13 - Chaim Noll, German-Israeli Writer - Shemot

    In his 1940 work Moses and Monotheism, Freud made the provocative claim that Moses might have been an Egyptian! Even today, and even in secular circles, few would dare to voice this theory at the Passover Seder. Yet, Chaim Noll, German-Israeli writer and DDR dissident, explains why Moshe has far more controversy surrounding him than his lineage. In fact, it was Moshe's fondness for THE DESERT which was truly scandalous, at least by ancient standards.

    55 min

  7. 04/07/2023

    Interview 12 - Leigh Smith, VP of Student Affairs, ACM - Vayechi

    We all have professors and teachers who taught a course which changed our lives. Rarely, however, do we get to sit down with them years later and reminisce on the class. And even more rarely do we get to do so in podcast form. Yet, this is exactly what I do with the professor who introduced me to Kafka's novel The Trial, which has been my favorite novel ever since.

    52 min

  8. 01/06/2023

    Interview 11 - Richard Orodenker, Author - Vayigash

    We tend to view writers like J.K. Rowling and Shakespeare as magicians, baffled and floored by their ability to create exotic and captivating new worlds on the page. Yet, the dirty secret of writers is that fiction relies on time-tested storytelling techniques which anyone can learn. When Joseph reunites with his brothers, we see these ancient (and modern) storytelling tactics on full showcase. Richard Orodenker, writer and professor at Temple University, breaks down the literary stratagems of Vayigash.

    59 min
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À propos

Somewhere along the way, many of us were forcefed the idea that philosophy is boring and esoteric. What? Philosophy is, in fact, rebellious and therapeutic! Using humor, personal anecdotes, and much hubris, the Schrift provides fresh and unexpected answers to life's most tricky and fateful questions. The anchor of the Schrift is the weekly reading of the Torah. These passages are analyzed not as religious dogma but as brilliant pieces of literature and anthropology which bring ancient wisdom back into our lives. The greatest philosophers and writers of the German canon also weigh in on these questions during the Schrift. Finally the lectures incorporate Buddhist teachings and the practice of Yoga to bring together East and West, body and mind, eternity and the moment. And the Schrift will always give you a "life tip" to carry with you along the way. IG: stevehead0001 s.t.weinberg@gmail.com

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