JTS Torah Commentary

“Zion in the Diaspora”: How Jews Imagined They Lived in Zion Wherever They Actually Lived

Jan 22, 2024 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Jews through the ages have hoped that one day the Messiah would come, leading them back to Zion. But in the meantime, they lived all over the world, making homes in one diaspora or another. And remarkably, they often spoke of their diaspora homes as “Zion,” a place of redemption long before actual redemption. In this session, we will examine multiple such teachings and traditions including teachings of the great Maharal of Prague (16th century), early Hasidic masters (18th century), and others. We will consider what it means for Jews to imagine themselves in their eternal homes while living abroad

Patient Change, Slow Influence: The Model of the Rabbis of Late Antiquity

Jun 26, 2023 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Download Sources Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change  With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS  Perhaps the most important change-agents in all of Jewish history were the Rabbis of Late Antiquity. It is they who transformed Judaism—and Jews—from a Temple-based religion to one that needed no […]

Talmudic Writings on the Passage from this Life to the Next

May 8, 2023 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

It may surprise you to learn that, in the opinion of Talmudic teachings and the traditions that emerge from them, death is not a moment but a process—a transition that leads from one stage of life (which we call “life”) to another (which we call “death”). These beliefs have profound implications for our understanding of Jewish rituals of death and mourning, Jewish theology, and much else. Prof. Kraemer offers a close reading of the texts that discuss these rituals as well as the beliefs underlying them.  

The Danger of Spreading the Word: Book Censorship in 16th-Century Venice

Nov 14, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In the 16th century, as the new technology of the printing press hit its stride, the church began to realize the danger that the dissemination of knowledge could represent. Instituting a regime of censorship in Venice (the center of the print industry) and elsewhere, all new books—Christian and Jewish—had to pass muster before appearing. But the church was not alone in this effort. Rabbinic authorities recognized the same dangers, and they too sought to outlaw certain “dangerous” books. 

Telling Difficult Stories

Jun 27, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

If stories express and transmit values and identities, contested values or identities will find expression in complex, challenging stories. This is certainly true of Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock, which gives expression to discomforts in Diaspora identities vis-à-vis Israel during the first intifada—and beyond. Join David Kraemer in exploring Roth’s recounting of the conflicts of this time, as Jews asked questions that are as pertinent today as they were then. 

Does Faith Matter? The Ancient Jewish Debate About Faith and Mitzvot

May 9, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

One often hears it said that “Judaism cares what one does, not what one believes.” But this is a distortion, an oversimplification. When one looks at sources from the period of the birth of Rabbinic Judaism (including early “Christian” writings), one finds that there was an active debate about this matter. In this session, we will begin by considering the arguments of those ancient Jews—Paul and James—who raised the important question of faith vs. mitzvot. We will then examine echoes of the same debate in early rabbinic sources.

The Importance of Shame in Rabbinic Tradition

Jan 24, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

We often think of shame or embarrassment as an experience to be avoided, and, to be sure, rabbinic tradition considers shaming someone else in public to be a grievous sin. But the Talmud also teaches that the capacity to feel shame is important, for the fear of shame will keep one from sin. Join Dr. David Kraemer to discuss this complicated emotion and how Jewish tradition “feels” about it.

Six Days Shall You Labor: Shabbat and the Meaning of Work

Oct 4, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Shabbat, a day on which “work” is forbidden, also offers a commentary on work—on its place in our lives, its importance, and its limitations. Notably, the rabbinic Sabbath—that is, the “traditional” Sabbath—offers a perspective that differs from that of the Torah, both original and unique. Join Dr. David Kraemer to explore biblical and rabbinic views of the Sabbath as commentaries on the significance of work.

Traveling to Babylon—For Good

Aug 23, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The first time Jews traveled to Babylon, it was part of a great exile. But when the rabbis returned to Babylon many centuries later, joining a now “native” Jewish community there, they found themselves very much at home. Some did indeed claim Babylon as home, while others traveled back and forth between Babylon and Palestine as rabbinic messengers to ensure that the teachings of each were available to the other. Two confident centers of Jewish life developed, not unlike modern New York and Jerusalem. In this session, Dr. David Kraemer explores the legacy of those rabbis and how their work continues to impact Jewish life today.

A Journey Across the Jewish Past

Feb 24, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video

Hidden in the nooks and crannies of libraries and museums across the world are clues to an often-surprising Jewish past: a 15th-century Italian woman’s siddur that includes a special prayer thanking God for “creating her as a woman”; a Haggadah from a Nazi concentration camp; manuscripts from the Court Jews enmeshed in the intrigues of European kings.

The Challenge of Accepting the ‘Other’: Jewish Attitudes Toward Converts

Jan 4, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

One of the best ways to understand the identity of a community or people is to consider what happens when someone who is originally an “other”—a “foreigner”—approaches to become a member of the community. How does the community respond? Does the community permit the “foreigner” to become one of its own? What residual attitudes are expressed toward one who began as “other” and part of the community? In the case of Jews and Judaism, all of these questions pertain to the case of the convert. In this session, we will examine how the convert has been viewed and treated in Judaism, from antiquity and through the ages. By doing so, we will gain a more nuanced understanding of who “we” are.

What a Manuscript Can Teach Us about the Jews of Medieval France

Dec 7, 2020 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video

Dr. David Kraemer explains what we can learn about the everyday lives of medieval French Jews from the text—and the margins—of a manuscript from the JTS Library collection.

The Real Lives of Jews in the Traditional World

Nov 23, 2020 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Many of us know the “official version” of the lives of Jews through the ages, according to which Jews were pious and thoroughly immersed in Jewish life—a life apart. But many of the rare materials in the JTS Library offer a different picture, according to which Jews lived in the world with their neighbors, experiencing life first as human beings and then as Jews. Dr. David Kraemer shares evidence from the Library’s great collections, surprising and even shocking you with a corrective to commonly repeated historical “truths.”

Anticipating Death and Finding Satisfaction in Life: The Profound Wisdom of Kohelet

Oct 5, 2020 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Wise people will have different views about what constitutes a “Life of Meaning.” But no one researched this question more completely than the biblical author, Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). In this session we review his report in Ecclesiastes ch. 2 and evaluate his conclusions concerning what truly makes a life “well-lived.” 

Imagining a New World When Your Old One Collapses: The Rabbinic Response to the Destruction of the Temple

Apr 20, 2020 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In 70 CE, the Jewish world changed catastrophically. The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the Judaism prescribed by the Torah became impossible. Into this gap, the rabbis emerged to create a new, vibrant Judaism that required no particular center in any place. What is the system they created and how does it fill the gap left by the destruction?  

A History of the Talmud

Feb 25, 2020 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video

A discussion with JTS’s Dr. David Kraemer about his new book, which offers a sophisticated but accessible introduction to the Talmud, its origins, and its status through history.

Rare Treasures of the JTS Library

Nov 8, 2018 By David C. Kraemer

Teshuvah in Two Directions

Sep 26, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

Forgiving and Asking Forgiveness: Sound Bytes for the High Holidays 5777

Retelling Your Story

Apr 13, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Short Video | Pesah

Rabbinic Judaism: Space and Place

Mar 15, 2016 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event audio

In the aftermath of the conquest of the Holy Land by the Romans and their destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, Jews were faced with a world in existential chaos—both they and their God were rendered homeless. In a religious tradition that equated Divine approval with peaceful dwelling on the Land, this situation was intolerable. In response, the Rabbis sought to build new “structures,” new homes for both God and Israel. Rabbinic Judaism: Space and Place offers the first comprehensive study of spatiality in rabbinic Judaism, exploring how the Rabbis reoriented the Jewish relationship with space and place following the conquest and destruction.