Scholars in Resonance

 What are common misnomers about Midrash? How is Midrash akin to Magic Realism? How is the digitization of the Talmud affect its study? Are Judaic studies academics superheroes? Join Dr. A. J. Berkovitz, YU alumnus and assistant professor of liturgy, worship, and ritual at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, as he sits down with Dr. David Stern, Harvard University’s Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and professor of comparative literature, to discuss these questions and how he used his training in literary theory and Greek classics to unpack and understand how Midrash functions.  

 Dr. Adam S. Ferziger, S.R. Hirsch Chair for Research of the Torah and Derekh Erez Movement in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at Bar-Ilan University, speaks with Shlomo Zuckier about Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s “fragmentary Judaism” and his ideas about how observant Jews should relate to non-observant Jews. Dr. Ferziger describes Lichtenstein’s approach as being “distinctive among major Orthodox figures, in that he demonstrates far greater appreciation and effort to acknowledge positive elements in the positions of other Jews than his predecessors.” 

Dr. Danielle Wozniak, the Dorothy and David Schachne Dean of Wurzweiler School of Social Work, speaks with Dr. Susan Mason, whose expertise is in clinical research and clinical trials. Their discussion dives into the mechanics of clinical trials, and Dr. Mason explains why social workers’ abilities to provide emotional support to people would improve the outcomes of clinical research.

What are Greek and Biblical conceptions of divine law? What strategies did ancient Jews use to grapple with the dichotomy of divine law and human law? Join Dr. Christine Hayes, Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University as she sits down with Rabbi Ari Lamm, special advisor to the president at Yeshiva University, to discuss these questions and why we should be utilizing the Talmud Bavli more as a resource in western thinking.