How did the monetary guarantee of the ketubah develop? What light can similar contracts from the Ancient Near East and modern pre-marital financial agreements such as the pre-nup shed on the nature of the ketubah, including the question of whether it is binding?Prof. Michael L. Satlow is Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University. He holds a Ph.D. from JTS, and is an author of numerous works including the book Jewish Marriage in Antiquity, and the chapter “Rec...

CW// sexual assault/r*peWhat do Talmudic texts about vaginal bleeding and sexual assault tell us about how the rabbis perceived women’s humanity and subjectivity? Is a true gender-egalitarian halakha even possible?This is the second part of an interview. Listen to part one here.Dr. Rebecca Kamholz holds a PhD in rabbinics from Yale University. Her areas of focus are gender theory and legal texts about women in the Babylonian Talmud. Her dissertation, Virginity in the Babylonian Talmud: Sex, I...

CW// underage sex and sexual assault/r*peWhat is the rabbis' definition of virginity, and why is it so complicated? What does it tell us about their view of feminine subjectivity and sexuality? Dr. Rebecca Kamholz holds a PhD in rabbinics from Yale University. Her areas of focus are gender theory and legal texts about women in the Babylonian Talmud. Her dissertation, Virginity in the Babylonian Talmud: Sex, Identity, and Epistemology, focused on legal and cultural questions around the definit...

Last year around this time we were finishing up Tractate Pesachim — take another dip into our Peseach archive with this episode compilation featuring ideas from Kadesh to NirtzahWe thank our guests, Dr. Susan Weingarten, Dr. Jon Greenberg, Rabbi Dr. Vanessa Ochs, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier, Dr. Rachel Scheinerman, Dr. Marc Michael Epstein, and Dr. Sara Ronis for lending us their voices, ideas, and insights to enhance each step of our, and now your, seder. In addition to this audio experie...

What can levirate marriage teach us about ancient Jewish family structures? Why start Seder Nashim with death? Dvora Weisberg is the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics, HUC-JIR Rabbinical School Director and Rabbinical Program Director in Los Angeles. She is the author of Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism, which explores the ancient rabbis’ understanding of family and familial relationships. Rabbi Dr. Weisberg also teaches frequently in informal settings...

Who really was Elisha ben Avuyah, and why was he a mistake of rabbinic interpretation? How did he become a blank canvas for the Rabbis’ heretical anxieties? Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein is the founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, a nonprofit, international, UNESCO-sponsored interfaith organization. A noted scholar of Jewish studies, he has held academic posts at Tel Aviv University and has served as director of the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, Beit Mor...

How did ancient Jews relate to angels? Are “Biblically accurate angels” really Biblically accurate?Dr. Mika Ahuvia is an associate professor of Classical Judaism in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her book On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture investigates conceptions of angels in foundational Jewish texts and ritual sources. Mika also co-edited the volume Placing Ancient Texts: the Rhetorical a...

CW//brief mentions of sexual abuse and abusers When, why, and how did the rabbis of the Talmud excommunicate people? How did they craft a narrative of powerlessness to invest themselves with more power?Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy is the Director of the Pardes Year Program at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. In 2015, Meesh completed her studies at Beit Midrash Har’el and received ordination from Rabbi Herzl Hefter and Rabbi Daniel Sperber. She has a PhD in Talm...

How is climate a Divine language? Why should you get to know a tree?Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman is a writer, activist, and song-leader in Boston. She serves as the Director of Professional Development at Hebrew College, and as a rabbinic consultant to Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action. She is a contributing author to Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, and her song “The Tide Is Rising,” which she co-wrote with her husband Yotam Schachter, has spre...

What does an inclusive Megillah reading sound like? What could the future of layning be? Rabbanit Bracha Jaffe serves as the Associate Rabba at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Bronx, NY. A 2017 graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, she has taught many people women and girls to leyn and is the voice of the JOFA Megillat Esther and Megillat Rut apps.Special thanks to our executive producer, Adina KarpView a source sheet for this episode here.Keep up with Interleaved on Facebook and Twit...

Why is the Sages’ exposition of the Book of Esther so imaginative? How do we avoid blurring the lines between Midrashic homilies and what’s actually written in the text?Dr. Eliezer Segal is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Classics and Religion at the University of Calgary. He is widely published and some of his recent books include From Sermon to Commentary: Expounding the Bible in Talmudic Babylonia and Sanctified Seasons. Additionally he is the author of “The Babylonian Esther...

How did the Sages of the Talmud understand the connection between rain and the Divine? How do talmudic stories impart ethical values? Dr. Jonathan Wyn Schofer is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, with affiliation in the Schustermann Center for Jewish Studies at The University at Texas at Austin. He has published work on the connections between law, theology, and ethics in canonical Jewish sources of late antiquity, including his first book, The Making of a Sage: A Study in Rabbin...

Hadran Alach Mesekhet Rosh Hashanah! Since the modern period and beyond, the communal creative practice of calendar making, which our Tractate has mainly focused on, has mostly left us — but not entirely. Hear from some of the artists and collaborators of The Radical Jewish Calendar Project. Rabbi Ariana Katz is the layout editor for the Radical Jewish Calendar project. She is also the founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl. Ariel DiOrio is a Boston-based art...

What makes the shofar unique among Biblical instruments? How can a commandment to hear teach us to listen?Dr. Jonathan L. Friedmann is a scholar and practitioner of Jewish music. He serves as a pulpit cantor, he composes and arranges music, is a researcher in the area of the history and functions of synagogue song, and teaches at the Academy for Jewish Religion California. He has numerous books on music and religion and was co-editor of “Qol Tamid: The Shofar in Ritual, History, and Culture.”...

Is there mazal for the people of Israel? How did the Sages relate to the stars? Lorelai Kude has been a practicing, professional astrologer for more than 30 years. She received her Master’s Degree in Jewish Studies from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, with a thesis titled: “Yesh Mazal l’Yisrael: Astrology in Jewish Cultural Heritage”, and writes a syndicated Jewish astrology column (“Astrolojew”). Along with maintaining and growing her private astrological consulting practice, Lor...

What does an ethical Jewish meat company look like on the inside? How can we learn to care about where our food comes from?Naftali Hanau is the CEO and co-founder of Grow & Behold, the Brooklyn-based purveyor of fine kosher-pastured meats raised on family farms with no hormones or antibiotics. A shochet and menaker, Naf has learned with experts across the country.Special thanks to our executive producer, Adina KarpView a source sheet for this episode here.Keep up with Interleaved on Faceb...

How did the Yom Kippur Machzor come to be? What’s the real story of Kol Nidre and U’Netaneh Tokef?David Stern is the Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature and the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University. His fields of specialization are ancient and medieval Jewish literature and culture and the history of Biblical interpretation. Most of his current research and writing deals with the history ...

Hadran Alach Mesekhet Sukkah! We shall return to you Tractate Sukkah! Finish off the tractate with us by hearing about a new, collaborative multimedia commentary on the final chapter, created by the Kreuzberg Kollel of Berlin.Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz is the Director of Jewish Learning for Hillel Germany, the co-founder of Base Berlin, and the Rosh Kollel of the Kreuzberg Kollel, a collaboration between Hillel Deutschland and OyVey Amsterdam. The Kollel is built to be a communal learning space ge...

What is the Torah of music? How can we express our individuality through song while simultaneously singing together?Joey Weisenberg is the Founder and Director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute. He is a mandolinist, guitarist, percussionist, and singer who has performed and recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and has released or produced over fourteen albums, many together with the Hadar Ensemble. His most recent album, L’eila, was released on July 28 and will be available on all maj...

Why are some Jews using different species for the lulav ritual than those prescribed by the Talmud? How can we be more compassionate towards the land and produce the Sukkot festival celebrates, and better allies to the indigenous peoples whose lands we occupy?Gabi Kirk is a PhD candidate in geography with a designated emphasis in feminist theory and research at the University of California, Davis. Her research fields include political ecology, feminist geography, and geographies of colonialis...