JTS Torah Commentary

Evolution of Torah: Establishing Rabbinic Culture

In season two, we travel to four regions of the Medieval world to understand the specific Torah cultures that emerged from each place and their approach to Torah learning guided by Rabbi Mordecai Schwartz. SUBSCRIBE NOW → OPEN IN APPLE PODCASTS → RSS → Credits: Hosted by: Rabbi Mordecai Marcus SchwartzProduced by Ellie GettingerEdited by […]

Evolution of Torah: Journeys in Torah Study

By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Podcast or Radio Program

Establishing Torah Culture (Season 2, Episode 1) How did geographic diversity and separation impact rabbinic culture? In the season opener, we begin with the story of the four captives, the story that ended season one. This narrative offers an example of how rabbinic learning spread. We introduce the challenges and opportunities that faced Jewish communities […]

The Dynamics of Change

By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join JTS scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes—religious, political, and personal—throughout Jewish history and life. Together we’ll consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Psalm 19

Translation by Dr. Benjamin D. Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, JTS. Find more on Dr. Sommer’s thoughts on this psalm which is recited on Shavuot here. The skies recount God’s splendor                               the expanse above proclaims His handiwork.                      One day utters a word to the next,                               one night conveys […]

Evolution of Torah

By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Podcast or Radio Program

This JTS Podcast explores the ways in which Jewish legal culture changed after the destruction of the Second Temple with Rabbi Mordecai Schwartz. A History of Rabbinic Literature Season 1 An introduction to the first 1000 years of rabbinic literature in five episodes Establishing Rabbinic Culture Season 2 A six-episode series focused on the distinct […]

Evolution of Torah: France

By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Podcast or Radio Program

Establishing Torah Culture (Season 2, Episode 3) This episode focuses on Rashi (1040 – 1105, Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac) and his intellectual (and genetic) heirs. We start by exploring the significant differences between French rabbinic culture and that of North Africa and Muslim Spain. As opposed to summarizing the law as presented in the Talmud […]

Evolution of Torah: Maimonides

For this episode, we focus solely on Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204, Maimonides/Rambam), whose work in diverse disciplines from medicine to philosophy worked to elevate rabbinic legal culture. We examine the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides’s companion to the written Torah, which is the oldest in existence and delve into his rigorous work life. Through his letters, we get a sense of Maimonides personal challenges and extensive reach during his lifetime underscoring our desire to dedicate an episode to this transformational figure.

Evolution of Torah: Germany

The German Jewish community was at once highly organized and prosperous. At the same time, they were subject to the potentially violent whims of non-Jewish community around them. These parallels of strength and challenge are at the core of this episode about rabbinic culture in the Germanic provinces in the 13th century. We will focus on the specific struggles of two rabbis, the Maharam (Rabbi Meir ben Barukh) of Rothenberg and Rabbi Mordechai ben Hillel while exploring their and others’ contributions to Jewish practice.

Evolution of Torah: Christian Spain

Establishing Torah Culture (Seaon 2, Episode 5) All the legal cultures we discussed in this season come together in Christian Spain in the 14th Century. Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (the Rosh) is one of the rabbis leading the integration of the legal culture of Muslim Spain, with the interpretative work of France and the rabbinic […]

JTS High Holiday Reader 5784

By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Commentary | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

JTS provides extensive resources to help you reflect and focus your intentions around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year, we are pleased to provide a new printable reader to make your holiday experience more engaging, especially if you plan to spend many hours sitting in synagogue services. This curated collection of commentaries by JTS faculty and staff—entitled Choice and Change—offers insights into the text, liturgy, and themes of the High Holidays.

Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simhat Torah

Explore these sources from scholars and students at the Jewish Theological Seminary to enrich your fall holiday experience.

Fall Festival Torah Readings

Sukkot Multimedia

Kohelet’s Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes In his book Kohelet’s Pursuit of Truth, Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal, former president of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, presents an arresting new translation and commentary on Ecclesiastes that unlocks the ancient wisdom of one of the deepest and most controversial books of the […]

Holidays

By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Hanukkah | Pesah | Purim | Rosh Hashanah | Shavuot | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah | Sukkot | Tishah Be'av | Yom Hashoah | Yom Hazikaron-Yom Ha'atzma'ut | Yom Kippur

Explore these sources from scholars and students at JTS to enrich your holiday experience.

Cultivating a Habit of Generosity

By Eliezer B. Diamond | Public Event video

Part of the Global Day of Jewish Learning. With Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, PhD, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS  What is the relationship between our level of generosity and our beliefs, our attitudes, and our actions? For Rav Eliyahu Dessler (1892–1953, Belarus/England/Israel), love, faith, empathy, and social bonding are consequences of generosity—not its causes. In […]

Nusah and Cantillation

Recordings by Cantor Arianne Brown and Rabbi & Hazzan Seth AdelsonProject coordinator: Rabbi David Freidenreich Nusah hatefillah—or simply nusah—is the prayer chant tradition that Jews have been using in synagogues, homes, and batei midrash (houses of study) for nearly two millennia. Virtually all liturgy is associated with a traditional nusah—a particular musical mode and set of motifs […]

The John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recital 2024

Graduating cantorial students, Gedalia Penner-Robinson, Ingrid Barnett, David Childs, Max Silverstone, and Neal Taibel, share their talents and their vision for the 21st-century cantorate. The recitals feature a wide range of Jewish music in Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish, as well as hazzanut, and Israeli traditional and pop songs. Choral works, and compositions written and composed by our graduates, will also be performed. The soloists, along with guest artists, are accompanied by pianist Joyce Rosenzweig, JTS adjunct instructor, and the combined Choir of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, conducted by Hazzan Natasha Hirschhorn.

Capstone Project

Part of the JTS Certificate in Biblical Hebrew After completing the four-course sequence, participants are encouraged to apply their biblical grammar knowledge and skills to a section of Tanakh and develop an original translation.  There is no cost to complete this optional project.  Planning Your Capstone  Return to Biblical Hebrew at JTS

A Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity

By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

October 26, 2023–March 7, 2024 The JTS Library exhibit, “A Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity,” offers an exciting opportunity to view a large selection of rare prints depicting historic synagogues. The exhibit, co-curated by Samuel D. Gruber and Sharon Liberman Mintz, will trace the history of European synagogue styles from the 17th to the 19th […]

Living Yiddish in New York

By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

This exhibit introduced visitors to rare archival materials that provided a snapshot of New York City as an important center of modern Yiddish culture. Between 1880 and 1924, approximately two million Eastern European Jews immigrated to the United States. Many of them settled in New York City, which by 1914 was home to 1.4 million Jews, among them the world’s largest urban population of Yiddish speakers.