Back in February, Elliott gave a lecture to the Progressive Judaism Education Hub about Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck. This is a recording of the first part of that lecture, giving an account of Baeck's life and times. Next week will be an additional lecture that dives into Baeck's writings, specifically his most famous work, The Essence of Judaism (originally published 1905, then re-published in expanded form in 1922).

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topicx you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elliott is joined by Anthony Julius, the author of a new book on the biblical figure of Abraham. It's not just a biography though - the conversation gets to the heart of what it means to be a Jew.

You can buy Anthony's new book here: https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300266801/abraham/

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topicx you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Over the next two weeks we will be putting out a two-part lecture from Elliott about Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck

Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are here on a Thursday to bring you a special Purim episode! Elliott is joined by Dr Sherry Ashworth, who has recently finished her PhD in the study of the story of Esther and how the characters from Purim seem to pop up all over the place in Victorian novels.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any biblical stories you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

Next week in our regular slot, Elliott speaks to the lawyer and writer Anthony Julius about his new book, Abraham: The First Jew.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rabbi Kath Vardi returns for a Question and Answer session on all the rabbinic legends she and Elliott have talked about over the last few months. Together they respond to questions posed by listeners, as well as returning to some of the disagreements they had in the first four episodes.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any talmudic stories you would love Elliott and Kath to talk about, please be in touch with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

Next week in our regular slot, Elliott speaks to the lawyer and writer Anthony Julius about his new book, Abraham: The First Jew. Before that, a Purim special with Dr Sherry Ashworth, exploring the story of Esther, and the way in which it resurfaces in Victorian literature.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elliott is joined by Keith Kahn-Harris, sociologist, Jewish researcher, and one of Elliott's teachers from his time at Leo Baeck College. Keith is here to talk about his new book: Everyday Jews. He argues that we should be celebrating the mundane, and not be so obsessed with the search for grander meaning.

You can find out more about Keith on his website: https://kahn-harris.org/

And you can still book for his book launch event at JW3 here: https://www.jw3.org.uk/whats-on/celebrating-everyday-jewishness-seriously-playful-evening

A reminder that on 4 March Elliott will be recording another episode with Rabbi Kath Vardi – a Q&A about the stories they have been studying together from the Talmud. If you have any questions for the two of them, please email: [email protected] – either as text or you can send us a voice note if you want to hear your voice on the podcast. You can also join the conversation on Facebook or Bluesky.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else is Commentary.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re taking a break from regular episodes this week, but we wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about some of the exciting things that are coming up.

In particular, in March we welcome back Rabbi Kath Vardi for a Q & A about rabbinic power in the Talmud – and it is not too late to submit your questions for that. You can write to [email protected] – or join the conversation on Facebook, or Bluesky. We would really love to hear your questions. 

This week, Elliott will be teaching a session as part of the Progressive Judaism Education Hub, about Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck (President of Alyth 1946-1956). You can sign up to attend these Zoom sessions here. 

Next week: Elliott speaks to Keith Kahn-Harris about his new book, Everyday Jews.

All Else is Commentary is brought you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elliott is joined by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, rabbi, podcaster, and academic, to talk about the biblical character of Ritzpah. They talk about the story of this courageous woman, its biblical context, and how it is relevant to politics today.

You can follow the story on Sefaria by clicking here.

You can find out more about Rabbi Robyn's podcast, 'Rabbiting On' (which she co-hosts with Rabbi Miriam Berger and Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers) by clicking here.

Next week we are taking a break – there won’t be a full podcast, but we will be posting a short episode with details of what is coming up over the next few months. In particular, a reminder that on 4 March Elliott will be recording another episode with Rabbi Kath Vardi – a Q&A about the stories we have been studying together from the Talmud. If you have any questions for the two of us, please email: [email protected] – either as text or you can send us a voice note if you want to hear your voice on the podcast. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else is Commentary.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we are moving away from the texts of the ancient Jewish world, and jumping to the twentieth century. Elliott speaks to Rabbi Colin Eimer about a sermon he gave back in 1982, at the height of the Falklands Crisis. They talk about the context in which the sermon was given and how we go about writing our sermons. We think about what remains relevant today, and also how this sermon might have been different if it had been delivered in 2025.

If you want to read Rabbi Colin's sermon, including some explanatory footnotes, click here.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there is a sermon that you remember that you would love us to talk about, please be in touch with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

Next week, we are going back into the Hebrew Bible – Elliott is joined by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen to talk about the figure of Ritzpah.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Elliott sits down with Rabbi Daniel Lichman to talk about a particular Talmudic reading by the French Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas. They talk about the question of when to expect the messiah, and what we are being called to do during these extreme times.

If you want to read the section of Levinas's work that Elliott and Daniel are talking about, you can find it here.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are parts of the Jewish rabbinic or philosophical tradition you would love us to talk about, please be in touch with us at [email protected]. You can also join the discussion on our Facebook page, and on Bluesky. We would love to hear from you.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Next Week: Elliott sits down with his colleague, Rabbi Colin Eimer, to talk about a sermon that Rabbi Colin gave in 1982 at the height of the Falklands Crisis. They will be discussing the context in which the sermon was given, who rabbis talk to about their sermons, and what might be different about that sermon today.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is the second part of Elliott's discussion with Rabbi Kath Vardi about the legend of Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. Together they address the human desire for autonomy, the Rabbis' use and abuse of Scripture, and whether the rabbis really like the idea of disagreement.

Click here to read the legend on Sefaria.org.

This is Elliott's last discussion with Rabbi Kath until the beginning of March, when they will be back with a special Question and Answer episode - so please email in your questions to: [email protected]. You can send it either as a text email or as a voice note. We would really love to hear from you. 

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Next week we are back to weekly episodes coming out on a Monday. We are sticking with the Talmud, but the next episode will be very, very different. I’ll be speaking to Rabbi Daniel Lichman about a particular reading of the Talmud by the philosopher Emmanual Levinas, and the way in which we conceive of the Jewish messiah.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.