Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals

Feb 2, 2018 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary

The most controversial tractate of the Talmud is undoubtedly Avodah Zarah, which discusses non-Jews and their religious practices. Most of the Talmudic passages in Justinas Bonaventura Pranaitis’s 1898 anti-Talmudic screed, Christianus in Talmud Iudaeorum (The Christian in the Talmud of the Jews) are drawn from this tractate. A surface reading of Avodah Zarah can be a demoralizing experience for modern Jews. Even though the Talmud is replete with more broadly humanistic statements, most of us would be scandalized by the provincial and xenophobic attitude toward non-Jews that one could take away from a rapid read through Avodah Zarah.

Maimonides and the Merchants: Jewish Law and Society in the Medieval Islamic World

Dec 4, 2017 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

Mark R. Cohen’s new book Maimonides and the Merchants suggests that, like the Geonim before him, Maimonides wished to provide Jewish merchants an alternative and comparable forum to the Islamic legal system and thereby shore up an important cornerstone of communal autonomy.

Shylock and the Jews

Dec 22, 2017 By Edna Nahshon | Commentary

In 1960, a global wave of anti-Semitic incidents led Orson Welles, known for his daring Shakespeare productions, to cancel his plans to star in The Merchant of Venice even though playing Shylock had been his lifelong ambition. He had been thwarted twice, he said. First, “a man called Hitler made it impossible,” and now, again, he felt he needed to give up the project as “hate merchants started scribbling swastikas all over the place,” referring to the onslaught of synagogue desecrations that had begun on Christmas Day 1959 in Cologne, Germany.  

Listening, Love, and Citizenship: Healing the Fractures in American Society

Nov 8, 2017 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

A panel discussion exploring what it means to be a citizen of the United States in today’s fractured society. What are the basic skills of citizenship that have eroded in our country? How can we learn to listen to and love one another to become responsible citizens?

The Other Peace Process

Oct 17, 2017 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

A discussion with Rabbi Ron Kronish on his new book, The Other Peace Process: Interreligious Dialogue, A View from Jerusalem.

Intermarriage and the Desert

Jun 16, 2017 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Shelah Lekha

In light of the recent work of colleagues and friends regarding the boundaries of the Jewish people and how that impacts the weddings that should or should not be performed, I cannot but help to read this Shabbat’s parashah in terms of boundaries.

Mighty Be Our Powers: Standing Together to Confront Tyranny

May 10, 2017 By Ruth Messinger | Public Event video

Renowned peace activist Leymah Gbowee delivers the annual John Paul II Lecture on Interfaith Understanding. Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work leading a women’s peace movement that brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War.

Teaching Mahshevet Yisrael: The Universalist / Particularist Issue

Feb 14, 2017

Elie Holzer: “Jews, Non-Jews, and Teaching the Hasidic Homily: Hermeneutic Approaches and Pedagogical Deliberations”

Avinoam Rosenak: “Machshevet Yisrael as an Encounter: Jewish Philosophy or Judaism as a Philosophy—Educational Implications”