The Podcast of Jewish Ideas

Torah in Motion
  • 4.7 (52)
  • Judaism
  • Biweekly

A space for exploring the great ideas at the heart of the Jewish tradition.

  1. 11h ago

    100. Cosmic Time | Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer

    J.J. and Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer cycle through the mystical cosmos in search of the meaning and direction of time itself.  Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer is a scholar of medieval kabbalah and its ripples through time. Some questions that interest me: what does it mean to be human in kabbalah? Why did some kabbalists imagine worlds before this one – and worlds yet to come – and how did those ideas shape their being in the present? What is the difference between a Golem and a robot? I am a Senior Lecturer at the Multidisciplinary Center for Jewish Studies at Bar Ilan University and head of the “Cramim” Excellence Program for Undergraduate Studies. My dissertation supervisor was Prof. Daniel Abrams, whom, under his tutelage I learnt to always ask ‘how do we know’, before ‘what is’? This led to the preparation of a criticaled ition of one of the most important, enigmatic and influential medieval kabbalistic texts – Rabbi Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi’s Commentary on Sefer Yesira (which I currently have the honour of preparation new annotated edition with a translation into English with Oxford University Press). Along side the edition, I explored three key themes of his thought: cosmicreincar nation, the dialogue between kabbalah and medieval science(extremely helpful for this theme, was a short spell spent as a Junior fellow at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg) and an astro-kabbalistic path toward prophecy. Upon completion of my dissertation I went on a philological hunt to unearth kabbalistic manuscripts and the next stage on my scholarly journey began. I had come across an extensive compilation of kabbalistic mysteries relating to cosmic cycles. This led to becoming a Postdoctoral Kreitman Fellowship and Ben Gurion University, under the guidance of Prof. Oded Yisraeli (Jewish Thought). Since then, I devout much time to discover new manuscripts and study this fascinating idea, especially as it manifests itself kabbalistically. It’s a bit like Alice in Wonderland in conversation with Franz Kafka. For other topics of interest see the relevant section. Beyond academic scholarship, as a cultural entrepreneur with a knack for identifying neglected yet important texts, I enjoy bringing these back into public life. That has involved discovering forgotten works, building public support for their publication, and working towards making them accessible to wider audiences – from ‘The Hitler Haggadah’, to the medieval Ethiopian Jewish legend ‘Tazaze Senbat’. If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  2. Oct 22

    99. The Body of Biblical Text | Dr. Jacqueline Vayntrub

    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). If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  3. Oct 1

    98. In the Image of God | Dr. Tomer Persico

    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. If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  4. Sep 3

    97. Jonathan Sacks | Dr. Raphael Zarum (Anglo-Judaism #5)

    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. If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  5. Jul 30

    96. Louis Jacobs | Dr. Miri Freud-Kandel (Anglo-Judaism #4)

    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). If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  6. Jul 9

    95. JH Hertz and his Pentateuch | Dr. Benjamin Elton (Anglo-Judaism #3)

    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. If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  7. Jul 2

    94. Claude Montefiore and Liberal Judaism | Dr. Edward Kessler (Anglo-Judaism #2)

    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.   If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

  8. Jun 18

    93. The English Haskalah | Dr. David Ruderman (Anglo-Judaism #1)

    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 If you or your business are interested in sponsoring an episode or mini-series, please reach out at  podcasts@torahinmotion.org  Follow us on Bluesky @jewishideaspod.bsky.social for updates and insights! 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

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4.7
out of 5
52 Ratings

About

A space for exploring the great ideas at the heart of the Jewish tradition.

Information

  • Creator
    Torah in Motion
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    101
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Torah in Motion
  • Show Website
    The Podcast of Jewish Ideas

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