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Jewish Quest

Jewish Quest

Written by: Jewish Quest
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Each week, join us on an adventure as we deconstruct that week’s parasha, exploring new insights and meaning in the Torah. Hosted by Simon Eder and sponsored by the Louis Jacobs Foundation, Jewish Quest aims to honour the statement of R' Jacobs z"l who said: 'The quest for Torah is itself Torah.' Welcome to that Quest.

Find out more about our work at louisjacobs.org

© 2026 Jewish Quest
Judaism Philosophy Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • 26/34 - Bo with Professor Ishay Rosen-Zvi
    Jan 23 2026
    Professor Ishay Rosen-Zvi discusses how the Mekilta and the Wisdom of Solomon differ in their portrayal of the plagues


    Prof. Ishay Rosen-Zvi is Professor of Rabbinic Literature in the department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel-Aviv University, and a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Kogod Center. He holds a Ph.D. in rabbinic literature from Tel-Aviv University and was elected to the Israel Young Academy of Sciences in 2013. Among his many publications are Demonic Desires: Yetzer Hara and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity (2011); Body and Soul in Ancient Judaism (2012); and Goy: Israel’s Others and the Birth of the Gentile (2018, with Adi Ophir).

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    20 mins
  • 26/33 Va'eira with Dr. Rabbi Tzemah Yoreh
    Jan 16 2026

    Dr. Rabbi Tzemah Yoreh has a PhD in Bible from Hebrew University, as well as a PhD in Wisdom Literature of the Hellenistic period from the University of Toronto. He has written many books focusing on his reconstruction of the redaction history of Genesis through Kings. He is the author of The First Book of God, and the multi-volume Kernel to Canon series, with books like Jacob’s Journey and Moses’s Mission. Yoreh has taught at Ben Gurion University and American Jewish University. He is currently the leader of the City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in New York.

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    21 mins
  • 25/32 Shemot with Dr Angela Erisman
    Jan 9 2026

    Dr Angela Erisman shares why the Exodus story serves as an allegory for King Hezekiah of the 8th Century in Judah.

    Dr Erisman is owner of Angela Roskop Erisman Editorial and was the founding editorial director of the Marginalia Review of Books. She earned her M.A. in Hebrew and Northwest Semitics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Ph.D. in Bible and Ancient Near East at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is the author of The Wilderness Itineraries: Genre, Geography, and the Growth of Torah (2011), for which she won a Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise in 2014. Her most recent book, The Wilderness Narratives in the Hebrew Bible: Religion, Politics, and Biblical Interpretation (2025) is available from Cambridge University Press.



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    28 mins
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