JTS Torah Commentary

Cultivating a Habit of Generosity

By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | 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 […]

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.

JTS High Holiday Webinars 2024

Prepare for 5785 with three meaningful, enriching sessions.

Seeking the Hiding God: A Personal Theological Essay

By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

To mark this period of spiritual atonement and reflection, Dr. Eisen discussed his rich, original, and moving work and invite us to ask, perhaps for the first time, what we actually believe about ultimate matters of faith and doubt. Those of us searching for ultimate meaning will find reassurance that the search itself can be a source of personal fulfillment, vibrant community, and great joy. The book’s three chapters include a Passover Seder with its theme of past and future redemption; the Yom Kippur liturgy that guides worshippers through the difficult work of atonement, forgiveness and return; and the day-to-day responsibilities, personal and communal, of covenant, mitzvah, and love. 

Zionism: Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond – Expanding the Conversation

What does it mean to be a Zionist in 21st Century North America? The JTS Convening, “Zionism: Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond” is a two-day program which will explore this and other questions. In this webinar series, we expand on these conversations, presenting both the significant insights and debate that emerged, as well as enhancing the context that is informing contemporary issues. JTS faculty will highlight the political, religious, and philosophical perspectives that shape the current landscape for Jews in North America in relationship with Israel.

What’s Dikduk Got to Do With It? Language, Law, and Theology

The innovations of the rabbis can be seen not only in the content of their laws but also in their creative use of the Hebrew language. While they preserved the laws and formulations that they inherited from the Bible, the rabbis also transformed them in significant ways. In this session, we closely examine passages about the return of lost objects to uncover how linguistic shifts reflect new rabbinic understandings of property and their theological implications. 

Standing Together: Prayer, Presence, and the Power of Community

The High Holidays invite us into a season of profound reflection—not only on who we are as individuals, but on how we show up for one another and the world. This three-part webinar series explores the emotional and spiritual heart of this sacred time, focusing on the themes of vulnerability, responsibility, and connection. 

You Say You Want a Revolution: Jewish Encounters with Radical Change 

What does revolution look like in Jewish life—spiritual, social, technological, or political? This fall, join JTS scholars for a provocative webinar series exploring transformative moments across Jewish history. From the emergence of monotheism to the Russian Revolution, from handwritten manuscripts to digital frontiers, from summer camps to the Talmud, we’ll consider how Jews have sparked, resisted, and reimagined change. Each session invites reflection on what revolution means—then and now. 

Senior Sermons: Class of 2026

By JTS Senior Sermon | Commentary | Public Event video | Senior Sermon

Presentations by senior Rabbinical School students in 5786 Find the written text for the senior sermons on Exploring Judaism Sarah Rockford – Bereshit Noa Rubin – Noah Sara Birnbaum – Lekh Lekha Zachary Bernstein-Rothberg – Vayera Rachel Cohn – Hayyei Sarah Jacob Lipkin – Toledot Micah Cowan – Vayishlah Marc Hersch – Beshallah Eitan Bloostein – […]

The John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recital (December 2025)

Graduating Cantorial School senior Marc Szechter headlined an exciting evening of music and spirit. The recital featured a wide range of Jewish music, along with choral works and both existing and newly premiered compositions by Marc and Cantor Gerald Cohen. Marc was accompanied by pianist Joyce Rosenzweig, JTS adjunct instructor, and the combined choir of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music.  

Seasons of Responsibility: Interreligious Conversations on Environmental Justice and Repair

Winter-Spring 2026 Learning Series Across Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu traditions, the early spring season is a shared period of reflection, renewal, and ethical clarity. While rooted in different stories and practices—from Tu BiShvat to Lent and Easter, from Ramadan to Holi and Passover—these holidays collectively invite communities to consider how human choices shape the […]

Truth or Fiction?

By MFA in Creative Writing | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The JTS MFA in Creative Writing is built around conversation about hard truths and strange fictions—about writing, teaching, failure, ambition, and why anyone keeps doing this in the first place. This three-part online series invites you into those conversations, with faculty and students speaking honestly about craft, community, and what it really means to commit to the work.

Between the Lines: Children of the Book

By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together (St. Martin’s Press / On Sale: August 26, 2025), Ilana Kurshan reveals how literature weaves an invisible thread through the tapestry of family life. Kurshan, a mother of five living in Jerusalem, struggles to balance her passion for books with her responsibilities as a parent. Gradually she learns how to relate to reading not as a solitary pursuit and an escape from the messiness of life, but rather as a way of forging connection and teaching independence. Introducing her children to sacred and secular literature—including the beloved classics of her childhood—she becomes both a better mother and a more compassionate reader. 

Law, Agency, and Ecological Responsibility: A Catholic–Jewish Conversation Drawing on the Book of Esther 

What does it mean to act responsibly when power is uneven, harm is systemic, and silence can feel safer than action? Drawing on the Book of Esther, this Catholic–Jewish conversation reflects on moral agency, ecological responsibility, and the challenges of ethical decision-making within contemporary legal and institutional systems. 

Between Fast and Feast: Hindu and Jewish Perspectives on Restraint and Responsibility  

What does it mean to act responsibly when there is no guarantee of results? Jewish and Hindu traditions both turn to fasting as a practice of restraint and agency. Focusing on the Fast of Esther, alongside Hindu fasting traditions, this session explores how intentional self-restraint—held in tension with celebration—can shape ethical responses to the climate crisis.

America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this series explores the rich and surprising intersections between Jewish thought and American life. From baseball and youth culture to constitutional law, storytelling, and democratic theory, leading scholars reveal how Jewish ideas, texts, and experiences have shaped—and been shaped by—the American experiment. Sources for each session will […]

Relationships and Commitments: Land Beyond Ownership

There are ways to exist in harmony with all of creation that cultivate the soul and a relationship with the Divine. Hussein Rashid and Rabbi Gordon Tucker bring Muslim and Jewish texts into dialogue to explore how religious traditions resist transactional relationships with the earth and with one another. Drawing on the sabbatical vision from Leviticus and a Muslim sources on overtaxation, they reflect on restraint, renewal, and the dangers of extraction. Timed with converging sacred moments—the beginning of the Jewish calendar, Persian New Year, and the close of Ramadan—this session offers a shared language for ethical living in a fragile world.