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PODCAST

The College Commons Podcast

The College Commons Podcast, passionate perspectives from Judaism"s leading thinkers, is produced by Hebrew Union College, America"s first Jewish institution of higher learning.

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

31:41

Jordan D. Rosenblum: You Are What You Eat

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/10/28

When it comes to pigs, however, maybe you are what you don’t eat… Maybe…Jordan D. Rosenblum is the Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His most recent book,Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig(New York University Press, 2024), won a 2024 National Jewish Book Award. According toThe Wall Street Journal, “’Forbidden’ isan engaging and surprisingly cheerful study of that odd couple of the religious imagination,

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33:46

Hannah Pollin-Galay: Yiddish, Vibrant among the Ashes

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/10/14

Description: HannahPollin-Galayreveals the Yiddish of destruction, and its capacity to bring life and meaning.Biography: Hannah Pollin-Galay is a scholar of East European Jewish culture, with a focus on the Holocaust. Drawing on both historical and literary methods, her work explores themes such as cultural production under catastrophic conditions, space, gender, interethnic relations and language identity. Her first book,Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place, and Holocaust Testimony(Yale

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35:23

Joshua Leifer: The Jigsaw Puzzle of American Judaism...

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/10/13

Description: Complicated contours and tortuous fissures emerge as a picture of the American Jewish experience in Tablets Shattered.Biography: Joshua Leifer is a journalist and historian. He is a columnist for Haaretz. His essays and reporting have also appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, and elsewhere. His first book, Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life (2024), won a National Jewish Book Award. He is currently

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23:44

Ayelet Tsabari: “If music be the food of love, play on”

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/09/22

Love of family, culture, and home, set to the music of Yemenite Jews in Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel.Ayelet Tsabari is the author ofSongs for the Brokenhearted, winner of a National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award andA Globe and MailBest Book of 2024. Her memoir in essaysThe Art of Leaving, was a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Hilary Weston Prize and The Vine Awards, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for memoir, and an Apple

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20:05

Howard Langer: A Lost World in a New World

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/09/02

Novelist Howard Langer transplants a fictional Hasidic Dynasty to the heart of segregated America, to discover a truly New World.Biography: Howard Langer was born in New York and brought up on the west side of Manhattan. His father served on the U.S.S. Missouri and was present at the Japanese surrender in 1945. His mother taught reading in Spanish Harlem for over thirty years. Howard attended the City College of New York when its English faculty included, among others, William Gaddis and Joseph

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30:31

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg: Judaism’s Teaching for...

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/08/19

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg takes us on a majestic odyssey of religious purpose and Covenant.Biography: Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg serves as the President of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life (JJGI) and as Senior Scholar in Residence at Hadar. Rabbi Greenberg was ordained by Beth Joseph Rabbinical Seminary of Brooklyn, New York and has a PhD in history from Harvard University. He has had a long and notable career in the service of the Jewish people. He served in the

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12:17

Danielle Sharkan: Culture Is a Crossroads

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/08/05

Author Danielle Sharkan finds cultural identity in multicultural community, in her picture book Sharing Shalom.Biography: Danielle grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and has sincehad the privilege of living in Canada, Israel, and Argentina. As an educator and aproud mother of two wonderful children, she is deeply committed to both personal and professional growth. Danielle is passionate about nature, yoga, and all things Israel — especiallyits vibrant culinary culture. She

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31:42

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl: The Pulpit Isn’t a Pedestal

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/07/29

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl disentangles the power of the pulpit from the stature of its holder, by sharing the vulnerability, musicality and ethical of sermons.Biography: Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central’s Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi. Rabbi Buchdahl was

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15:32

Lihi Lapid: “In the End, It’s Family That’s Important”

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/07/15

Author and activist Lihi Lapid follows characters who yearn for each other across space, time and even cognition.Biography:Lihi Lapid is a writer, journalist, lecturer and performer, symbolizing the voice of the contemporary Israeli woman. Her activity in various media has earned her a following that sweeps through social media with thousands of shares and comments.Her books have been on the bestseller lists for weeks, led by the book "A Soldier's Wife," which is a milestone in personal female

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34:28

Lee Yaron: Weaving the Threads of October 7th

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/07/01

Author Lee Yaron resists the simplification of politics, people, and, most of all, of October 7th — in favor of nuance and humanity.Biography:Lee Yaron is an award-winning Israeli journalist.Her new book, "10/7: 100 Human Stories," won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award Book of the Year — and the 2025 Natan Notable Books award.At 30, Yaron is the youngest Book of the Year recipient in the award's history. She joins distinguished past winners including Philip Roth, Elie Wiesel, David Grossman and

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00:26:28

Louis Fishman, Ph.D.: At the Dawn of the State of Israel

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/06/03

Middle East Historian Louis Fishman reshapes our understanding of the birth of Zionism in its Ottoman context.

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00:39:30

Rabbi Marc Katz: A Civilization’s Inflection Point

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/05/20

Rabbi Marc Katz uses the historical imagination to plumb the depths of Judaism’s greatest choice for survival.

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00:29:39

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove: A New Era for Judaism and Israel

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/05/06

Rabbi Elliot asks us to approach difficult times with depth of mind and spirit.

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00:29:10

Rabbi Joshua Weinberg: What do We Even Mean by...

The College Commons Podcast ·

2025/04/10

Rabbi Joshua Weinberg tackles both the complexity and the clarity of vision embedded in the idea of Liberal Zionism.

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00:42:02

Menachem Rosensaft: Burning Psalms

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/12/15

Poet Menachem Rosensaft transforms the Psalms into a search for God who permitted the Holocaust.

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00:24:10

Yariv Inbar: I, Spy

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/11/12

Who are we and where is home? Author Yariv Inbar investigates through the mental tightrope of espionage.

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00:27:04

Aryeh Ben David: The Jewish Thinker of the Millennium

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/11/04

Aryeh Ben David plumbs the diaries of the epochal thinker Rav Kook. He finds the imperative of love.

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00:17:49

Mari Lowe: Growing up is tough business

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/10/01

Author Mari Lowe explores adolescence through the lens of the Orthodox experience – both unique and common to all.

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00:25:24

Deborah Dash Moore: On a Human Scale

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/09/29

Deborah Dash Moore transports us to midcentury New York and the photographer who captured its people from street level.

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00:28:56

Shai Held: What the World Needs Now

The College Commons Podcast ·

2024/09/28

Shai Held puts love at the center of Judaism, and explains why it may surprise you.

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231 results

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