Author and activist Lihi Lapid follows characters who yearn for each other across space, time and even cognition. Biography: Lihi Lapid is a writer, journalist, lecturer and performer, symbolizing the voice of the contemporary Israeli woman. Her activity in various media has earned her a following that sweeps through social media with thousands of shares and comments. Her books have been on the bestseller lists for weeks, led by the book "A Soldier's Wife," which is a milestone in personal femal...
Jul 15, 2025•16 min
Author Lee Yaron resists the simplification of politics, people, and, most of all, of October 7th — in favor of nuance and humanity. Biography: Lee Yaron is an award-winning Israeli journalist. Her new book, "10/7: 100 Human Stories," won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award Book of the Year — and the 2025 Natan Notable Books award. At 30, Yaron is the youngest Book of the Year recipient in the award's history. She joins distinguished past winners including Philip Roth, Elie Wiesel, David Grossma...
Jul 01, 2025•34 min
Rabbi Marc Katz uses the historical imagination to plumb the depths of Judaism’s greatest choice for survival.
May 20, 2025•40 min
Rabbi Elliot asks us to approach difficult times with depth of mind and spirit.
May 06, 2025•30 min
Rabbi Joshua Weinberg tackles both the complexity and the clarity of vision embedded in the idea of Liberal Zionism.
Apr 11, 2025•29 min
Poet Menachem Rosensaft transforms the Psalms into a search for God who permitted the Holocaust.
Dec 15, 2024•42 min
Who are we and where is home? Author Yariv Inbar investigates through the mental tightrope of espionage.
Nov 11, 2024•24 min
Aryeh Ben David plumbs the diaries of the epochal thinker Rav Kook. He finds the imperative of love.
Nov 02, 2024•27 min
Author Mari Lowe explores adolescence through the lens of the Orthodox experience – both unique and common to all.
Sep 29, 2024•18 min
Shai Held puts love at the center of Judaism, and explains why it may surprise you.
Sep 28, 2024•29 min
Deborah Dash Moore transports us to midcentury New York and the photographer who captured its people from street level.
Sep 28, 2024•25 min
Jeremy Brown’s Eleventh Plague captures Jewish responses to pandemics from across the millennia.
Sep 17, 2024•32 min
Julia Watts-Belser reveals disability as an engine for human creativity and spiritual depth - for everyone.
Sep 03, 2024•36 min
Richard Ho celebrates the Chinese and Jewish New Years – in the same family under the same lunar cycle.
Aug 20, 2024•27 min
Rabbi Yonatan Neril frames the ecological crisis in spiritual terms.
Aug 06, 2024•26 min
Dr. Paul Zeitz explores solutions to our greatest challenges, from our inner selves to the world around us.
Jul 09, 2024•24 min
John Inazu dissects disagreement to find opportunities for social trust, faith and democratic flourishing.
Jul 01, 2024•34 min
Rabbi Hirshel Jaffe invites us on his journey of healing and human solidarity.
Jun 11, 2024•23 min
Reform Judaism’s pioneering decision to mandate study in Jerusalem.
May 28, 2024•29 min
Hélèn Jawhara Piñer uncovers the Jewish secrets of a 13th-century Arab-language cookbook.
May 14, 2024•20 min
Stephen Mills shares his story of sexual abuse and reminds us of our still-unfulfilled obligations of protection and justice. Stephen Mills is the author of Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He's also the co-author of Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Since 1982 he has advised and written for an array of public interest organizations in the fields of human rights and environmental protection. S...
Apr 23, 2024•35 min
The best of all worlds: Jewish and Italian food from award winning cook and author Benedetta Guetta. Benedetta Jasmine Guetta is an Italian food writer and photographer. She was born in Milan, but she lives in Santa Monica, California. In 2009, she cofounded a website called Labna, the only Jewish/Kosher cooking blog in Italy, specializing in Italian and Jewish cuisine. Since then, she has been spreading the word about the marvels of Italian Jewish food in Italy and abroad, teaching the recipes ...
Apr 09, 2024•23 min
Kiryas Joel, a chartered municipality in New York State functions as a religious community and American village. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She is a legal scholar whose research spans a range of interdisciplinary interests, including law and religion, law and liberalism, law and feminism, law and psychoanalysis, and law and literature. After getting her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1987 and clerking ...
Mar 26, 2024•50 min
Jessica Marglin: The Citizen Who Didn’t Belong Jessica Marglin discusses the 19th-century Italian Jew, whose estate became a test of the nascent idea of “citizenship.” Jessica Marglin is Professor of Religion, Law, and History, and the Ruth Ziegler Early Career Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Southern California. She earned her PhD from Princeton and her BA and MA from Harvard. Her research focuses on the history of Jews and Muslims in North Africa and the Mediterranean, with a part...
Mar 12, 2024•33 min
Dr. Sivan Zakai uncovers the world of children’s opinions and insights about Israel, in peace and in crisis. Sivan Zakai, Ph.D., is the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles. A thought leader in Jewish and Israel education, Dr. Zakai is the director of the Children’s Learning About Israel Project and co-director of Project ORLIE: Research and Leadership in Israel Education and the Learning and Teaching about What Matters Project. She also serves as a senior e...
Feb 27, 2024•23 min
Rabbi Debra J. Robbins offers insight and practice to bring the Psalms into our lives. Rabbi Debra J. Robbins is a member of the clergy team at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, focusing on teaching, pastoral care, and spiritual practice. She was ordained in 1991 at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality Clergy Leadership Program. She is the author of Opening Your Heart with Ps...
Feb 13, 2024•23 min
Couple Haim and Claire Rechnitzer compose and recompose Hebrew poetry in English. Rabbi Dr. Haim O. Rechnitzer is a Professor of Jewish Thought at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a poet. He earned his doctorate from the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his rabbinical ordination from HUC-JIR (Jerusalem) in 2003. Rabbi Dr. Rechnitzer’s research is dedicated to themes of political theology, theological trends in Hebrew poetry, Israeli theology, and Jewish edu...
Jan 23, 2024•21 min
Host Joshua Holo speaks with HUC-JIR educator, Jeremy Leigh about his experiences on the ground in Jerusalem during the Israel-Hamas War. Jeremy Leigh teaches Israel Studies and Modern Jewish History at HUC-JIR’s Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem. He is the coordinator of the Richard J. Scheuer Israel Seminar for the Year-In-Israel Program, as well as director of the HUC-JIR-JDC Fellowship for Global Jewish Responsibility. He leads the Year-In-Israel Program’s program in Lithuania and coordinates...
Jan 16, 2024•15 min
Author Rabbi Michael Strassfeld encourages us to reorganize our thinking about—and reengage our lives with—Judaism. Rabbi Michael Strassfeld has served the Jewish community for over five decades, in numerous capacities, including as an educator, writer, editor, rabbi, and community leader. He is the author of Judaism Disrupted, which is being published on the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough best-seller that sold over 300,000 copies, The Jewish Catalog. Rabbi Strassfeld, the son of a Modern ...
Jan 09, 2024•24 min
Host Joshua Holo speaks with HUC-JIR educator, Michael Marmur about his experiences on the ground in Jerusalem during the Israel-Hamas War. Michael Marmur is Associate Professor of Jewish Theology at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem. Until July 2018 he served as the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost at HUC-JIR, having previously been Dean of the Jerusalem campus. After some 20 years in administrative capacities, he now concentrates his energies on teaching and writing. Born and raised in England, Rabbi Ma...
Jan 02, 2024•26 min
