JTS Torah Archive

The Sabbath with Judith Shulevitz

Oct 5, 2012

Author Judith Shulevitz participates in the Henry N. Rapaport Memorial Lecture at The Jewish Theological Seminary, discussing her recent book, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time. She is joined in dialogue by Rabbi Shai Held, cofounder of Mechon Hadar.

Translating Psalms

Oct 5, 2012 By Stephen A. Geller | Public Event video

Translating Psalms: A Reading and Reflection. A discussion with translator Pamela Greenberg

A Jewish Feminine Mystique? Jewish Women in Postwar America

Oct 5, 2012

“A Jewish Feminine Mystique? Jewish Women in Postwar America” is a discussion between editors Shira Kohn, assistant dean of The Graduate School of JTS, and Rachel Kranson, a postdoctoral research fellow in Yiddish Studies at the libraries of New York University.

As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist

Oct 5, 2012 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event video

Dr. Eitan Fishbane, assistant professor in the Department of Jewish Though, discusses his new book “As Light Before Dawn- The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist” in this book talk held through The Library of JTS.

Hope Will Find You: My Search for the Wisdom to Stop Waiting and Start Living

Oct 5, 2012

Rabbi Naomi Levy delivers a talk on her new book Hope Will Find You: My Search for the Wisdom to Stop Waiting and Start Living.

A Feminist Commentary on Massekhet Taanit

Oct 4, 2012 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

As part of The Library’s series of book talks, Dr. Tal Ilan delivers a lecture on A Feminist Commentary on Massekhet Taanit: How to Read Gender into a Commentary of the Mishnah and the Babylonian Talmud.

Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Alterpieces of Medieval Spain

Oct 4, 2012 By Vivian B. Mann <em>z”l</em> | Public Event audio

Dr. Vivian Mann, director emerita of the Master’s Program in Jewish Art and Visual Culture, discusses Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Alterpieces of Medieval Spain in this Library Book Talk.

The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture

Oct 4, 2012 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event audio

What if the Hebrew Bible wasn’t meant to be read as “revelation”? What if the authors of the Bible meant to present us with a book that is not about miracles or the afterlife-but about how to lead our lives in this world? In this Library Book Talk, Dr. Yoram Hazony addresses these questions while discussing his latest book, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture.

Nazi-Looted Jewish Archives in Moscow

Jun 6, 2012 By David Fishman | Public Event audio

Dr. David Fishman, professor of Jewish History at JTS and director of its Project Judaica and the Jewish Archival Survey, gives this Library Book Talk at JTS on a book of which he is a coeditor, Nazi-Looted Jewish Archives in Moscow: A Guide to Jewish Historical and Cultural Collections in the Russian State Military Archive.

En Yaaqov: Jacob Ibn Habib’s Search for Faith in the Talmudic Corpus

Feb 7, 2012 By Marjorie Lehman | Public Event audio

Dr. Marjorie Lehman discusses the research behind her book The En Yaaqov: Jacob Ibn Habib’s Search for Faith in the Talmudic Corpus during a Library Book Talk at JTS in January. The book examines the tumultuous period surrounding the origins and development of the En Yaaqov, an early 16th-century collection of Talmudic Aggadah, and the En Yaaqov’s journey to the present as one of the most enduring texts of Judaism. Dr. Lehman argues that the experiences of Ibn Habib, its compiler, a Jew exiled from Spain in 1492, prompted him to make decisions not only about how the Talmud should be studied in the name of spiritual restoration, but also about how Jews could survive future expulsions by cultivating a sustainable faithful relationship with God.

Louis Finkelstein and the Conservative Movement: Conflict and Growth

Oct 27, 2011 By Michael B. Greenbaum | Public Event audio

Rabbi Michael B. Greenbaum, vice chancellor and chief operating officer of JTS, discussed his recently republished book, Louis Finkelstein and the Conservative Movement: Conflict and Growth (JTS Press, May 2009), a history of the Conservative Movement and and a case study of mission conflict through an exploration of Finkelstein’s presidency of JTS between 1940 and 1955.

Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder From the Rabbis of the Talmud

Oct 27, 2011 By Burton L. Visotzky | Public Event audio

Dr. Burton Visotzky, Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies and director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of JTS, presents a Library Book Talk on his new work Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder from the Rabbis of the Talmud.

Hope in a Democratic Age

Oct 27, 2011 By Alan Mittleman | Public Event audio

Dr. Alan Mittleman, director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies and the Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought, as well as professor of Jewish Philosophy at JTS, discusses his book Hope in a Democratic Age, in this Library book talk.

Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life

Oct 27, 2011 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event audio

Eitan Fishbane, assistant professor in the Department of Jewish Thought of The Jewish Theological Seminary, presents a Library book talk on Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Classical Texts, Contemporary Reflections.

The Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education

Oct 27, 2011 By Carol K. Ingall | Public Event audio

“Sacred Trash”: Library Book Talk about the Treasures of the Cairo Genizah

Apr 10, 2010

The authors of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman and the MacArthur Foundation Award-winning poet and translator Peter Cole, tell the story of the recovery from a Cairo genizah (a repository for sacred texts) of the most vital cache of Hebrew manuscripts ever discovered, a story of buried scholarly treasure that rivals in drama, scope, and importance the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and sheds profound light on 900 years of Jewish life.

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.

The Work of Her Hands: The Art of Lynne Avadenka and the Craft of Jewish Women Printers

This exhibit featured a selection of rare books printed by Jewish women from the earliest days of Hebrew publishing alongside new artwork created by American artist/printmaker Lynne Avadenka. 

The Jews of Corfu: Between the Adriatic and the Ionian

By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

This unprecedented exhibition offered a window into the rich history and culture of the little-known Jewish communities of Corfu. Columbia University and JTS, two of the world’s largest repositories of rare materials from Corfu, displayed a selection of illustrated prayer books, historical documents, celebratory poems, and elaborately decorated ketubbot telling the story of the island’s vibrant, distinct, and sometimes contentious Jewish communities. Situated on a major trade route, these communities thrived under Venetian and then Greek rule from the Middle Ages until 1944, when the Jews of Corfu were almost entirely annihilated by the Nazis.