The Podcast of Jewish Ideas

Podcast Episodes

41. Ethics of the Fathers

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Yair Furstenberg contextualize the ethical teachings of the Tannaim. 
 

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40. The Tosafists

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel comment on the happenings in Medieval Ashkenaz and add their spin on to the era of the Tosafists.

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39. Free Will

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Aaron Segal freely choose to wade through the murky medieval and contemporary debates over the existence of free will. 

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38. Athens in Jerusalem

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Jacob Howland round up a storm of fascinating comparisons between Talmudic and Platonic methods of discourse. 

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37. Wissenschaft des Judentums

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. David Myers scientifically examine the thought and legacy of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. 
 

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36. The Talmud in Context

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Shai Secunda set Talmudic discourse ablaze. They put the Talmud in its Zoroastrian and Sasanian context, and have bloody good discussion about how Judaism interacted with its socio-religious environment in the first few centuries of the Common Era. 
 

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35. Jews & The Italian Renaissance

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Joanna Weinberg make their way back to sunny 15th century Italy and the surrounding centuries to visit some of the more interesting Jewish characters of the Italian Renaissance. They weave their way through cross-cultural influences and intra-cultural tensions during this remarkable era of rebirth. 
 

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34. Josephus

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Martin Goodman go antiquing! They discuss the most important Jewish historian of the Roman period–Josephus Flavius. What did he write? Who was he writing for? And what ideological framework motivated his histories? 

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33. Abraham Geiger

Speakers: J.J. Kimche

J.J. and Dr. Susannah Heschel survey the fascinating life and brilliant ideas of Abraham Geiger. This guy was flagrantly influential. A practicing rabbi, a leader in the Wissenschaft das Judentums movement and a founder of Islamic studies in Europe, he was on the intellectual vanguard of the 19th century Reform movement, so strap in for a great conversation. 
 

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32. Spinoza's Reception and Relevance

Speakers: J.J. Kimche, Professor Daniel Schwartz

J.J. and Dr. Daniel Schwartz examine the convoluted legacy and enduring relevance of Spinoza.

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