Episode List

Hannah and Ari Brenman

Devin Leslie (LC ‘26) speaks with Hannah (LC ’12) and Ari Brenman (LC ’09), two List College Student Council Presidents who married after graduation. Communal leaders then and now, the episode explores their LCSC triumphs and travails, journey into post-grad, and the Jewish life they are now building with their three daughters in Queens.

Dr. Lisa Rosen-Metsch (LC ‘90) and Ben Metsch (LC ‘89)

Devin Leslie (LC ‘26) speaks with Dr. Lisa Rosen-Metsch (LC ‘90) and Ben Metsch (LC ‘89), who met at the very beginning of their List College experience and began to date shortly thereafter. Now married for 36 years, they still live in Morningside Heights, where Dr. Rosen-Metsch serves as the Dean of the Columbia School of General Studies.

Daniel (LC ‘03) and Anya Barak (LC ‘03)

Devin Leslie (LC ‘26) speaks with Daniel (LC ‘03) and Anya Barak (LC ‘03). Donnie came to List after a year on Nativ, while Anya discovered the school through a mailer about the joint program with Columbia. They met in a Talmud class their first year together — Anya and her friend recruited Daniel into their hevruta after noticing he was the only one who understood what was going on.

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”  

With Dr. Jack Wertheimer, Joseph and Martha Mendelson Emeritus Professor of American Jewish History, JTS

Within the first decade of his JTS presidency, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein energetically launched a broad range of new initiatives.  His efforts garnered widespread attention and even an adulatory cover story in Time magazine. They also prompted sharp public challenges from some of his closest colleagues.

This session examines his distinctive leadership style, the debates he provoked, and the reasons his legacy might be ripe for reconsideration. Dr. Jack Wertheimer, Emeritus Professor of American Jewish History, will present research from his forthcoming biography of Finkelstein. 

About the Series

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the JTS Summer 2026 Learning Series will explore the rich and surprising intersections between Jewish thought and American life. From baseball and youth culture to constitutional law, storytelling, and democratic theory, leading scholars reveal how Jewish ideas, texts, and experiences have shaped—and been shaped by—the American experiment. 

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Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

With Dr. Michal Raucher, JTS Fellow and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University 

In the 1980s, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards—the Conservative Movement’s central authority on Jewish law—ruled on abortion’s permissibility based on a justification framework. This framework assumes that abortion is generally prohibited but permitted in certain circumstances. They based their position on their reading of particular biblical and rabbinic sources. In the decades that followed, many Jewish institutions in the United States supported abortion rights on similar grounds and using the same texts. More recently, we’ve seen a shift in Jewish attitudes towards abortion. As more Jews have shared their own abortion experiences, their narratives have moved to the forefront and shifted the conversation. Jews are now advocating for abortion rights based on their experiences of abortion and a different reading of classical sources. In this session, we explore why and how this change occurred and consider the impact it might have on abortion rights in the United States. 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join JTS scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes—religious, political, and personal—throughout Jewish history and life. Together we’ll consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Inspired by the legacy of Rabbi Neil Gillman (��”l), in the year of his fifth yahrzeit 

Can Jewish thought help us understand our role in confronting climate change? Can it guide us when facing the loss of a loved one? In our modern, technology-saturated society, are there ways to feel close to God, to sense and appreciate sacred moments? Can Jewish theology speak to issues we care about and bring greater meaning to our lives? Rabbi Neil Gillman (��”��)—who taught theology at JTS and at countless synagogues during his long and distinguished career—believed that Jewish theology should be the province of all Jews and that it should honestly address the challenges of the day. Inspired by his legacy, our panelists will explore new directions in Jewish theology and what they have to say to contemporary Jews.

Panelists

Professor Mara Benjamin is chair of Religion and Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor and chair of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She is a scholar of modern Jewish thought and theology, and teaches a wide variety of topics in academic and community settings. Her most recent book, The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought, investigates the religious dimensions of caring for young children in the context of Jewish thought and tradition. Her first book, Rosenzweig’s Bible: Reinventing Scripture for Jewish Modernity, examined the theological and political stakes of the endeavor to reinvigorate the Jewish Bible in a historicist age. It focused on the work of Franz Rosenzweig, one of the key Jewish religious philosophers of the modern period.

Rabbi Toba Spitzer has served Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in West Newton, Massachusetts, since she was ordained in 1997 at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She recently published God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine, a book of popular theology that is already transforming hearts, minds, and lives. She is a teacher of courses on Judaism and economic justice, Reconstructionist Judaism, new approaches to thinking about God, and the practice of integrating Jewish spiritual and ethical teachings into daily life. She served as the president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association from 2007–2009 and was the first LGBTQ rabbi to head a national rabbinic organization. She is the immediate past president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis.

Rabbi Mychal B. Springer is manager of clinical pastoral education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and adjunct instructor of pastoral care and counseling at JTS. She founded the Center for Pastoral Education at JTS in 2009. Over a 10-year period she oversaw an intensive hospice chaplaincy training program in collaboration with Metropolitan Jewish Health System’s Hospice. She served The Rabbinical School at JTS as associate dean and director of field education. She co-edited Sisters in Mourning: Daughters Reflecting on Care, Loss, and Meaning and published “Presence in a Time of Distancing: Spiritual Care in an Acute Care Setting” in Jewish End-of-Life Care in a Virtual Age: Our Traditions Reimagined. She is a certified Jewish chaplain in Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains.

Moderator

Professor Arnold M. Eisen, one of the world’s foremost authorities on American Judaism, is chancellor emeritus of JTS and professor of Jewish thought. He became chancellor in 2007 and stepped down in spring 2020 to return to teaching and scholarship as a full-time member of the JTS faculty. During his tenure as chancellor, he transformed the education of religious, pedagogical, professional, and lay leaders for North American Jewry, with a focus on graduating highly skilled, innovative leaders who bring Judaism alive in ways that speak authentically to Jews at a time of rapid and far-reaching change. He is the author of Galut: Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming and Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community, among other works, and co-author of The Jew Within.

About the Rapaport Memorial Lecture

The annual Henry N. and Selma S. Rapaport Memorial Lecture was established in 1982 by Selma S. Rapaport (1916–2010), who served as president of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and as a longtime JTS board member, in memory of her late husband. A distinguished attorney and committed Jew, Henry N. Rapaport (1905–1980) served as president of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York, and as president of United Synagogue. He was an active member of the JTS board, and a generous benefactor of JTS’s scholarly programs.

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Part of the series, Relating to God

With Dr. Arnold Eisen, chancellor emeritus and professor of Jewish Thought, JTS

Professor Eisen explores recent developments in Jewish thought about God and what God requires of us as Jews and human beings against the background of past Jewish thought, recent work by non-Jewish thinkers, and Professor Eisen’s own theological reflections in the age of COVID.

This session was generously sponsored by Yale Asbell, JTS trustee

ABOUT THE SERIES

Relating to God Join JTS scholars to explore what Jewish texts and thought can teach us about how we might understand, experience, and be in relationship with the divine.

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SPONSOR A SESSION

Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? To learn more, contact learninglives@jtsa.edu.

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Jewish learning has long focused on texts by an elite group of ancient rabbis. What would it mean to radically expand our canon, incorporating the voices of women, Jews of Color, people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups? JTS scholars will introduce new voices and also offer new lenses through which to read ancient texts. Together we will explore how diversifying our canonical texts can help us create a more inclusive Jewish community. 

Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz
Keynote presentation: “Expanding the Canon at JTS and Beyond”

Study sessions led by JTS scholars and alumni: 

Program Partners:

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THE HENRY N. AND SELMA S. RAPAPORT MEMORIAL LECTURE

“The New Jew”—a recent Israeli TV documentary series exploring the diverse and creative ways in which American Jews express their Jewishness—was immensely popular in Israel. What accounts for Israelis’ positive response to several distinctively American models of Jewish identity and practice? How can religious expression in the U.S. help progressive Israeli leaders combat the understanding that persists among many Israelis that they can only be either Orthodox or secular? Join three creative Israeli experts and leaders to explore these questions, learn about progressive religious innovations already happening in Israel, and consider what’s at stake for all of us in how Israelis choose to be Jewish.

Due to copyright restrictions, the two clips from “The New Jew” that were screened during the program are replaced by explanatory slides in the recording.

Panelists:

Rabbi Tamar Elad Appelbaum, founder and spiritual leader of ZION: An Eretz Israeli Congregation in Jerusalem

Shmuel Rosner, columnist, editor, author, and think tank fellow based in Tel Aviv

Moshe Samuels, creator, chief of research, and deputy editor and writer of “The New Jew“ TV series; and CEO of Shazur / Interwoven

Moderator: Rabbi Julia Andelman, Director of Community Engagement, JTS