What does it actually mean to have a relationship with God, especially when we're not even sure what we believe?

In the season three premiere of Big Questions of Jewish Belief, the tables are turned as Sara Kalmus interviews regular host Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum about his own understanding of God, faith, prayer, and the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Zarum challenges the familiar picture of God as a distant Being who rewards, punishes, and intervenes from "out there." Instead, he proposes a radically different way of thinking about God: through relationship, consciousness, and our connection with the people and world around us. That perspective transforms the way he understands some of the most powerful ideas of the High Holy Days, from Unetaneh Tokef and divine judgment to teshuva, prayer, the shofar, and even the simple act of breathing.

What happens when we stop treating Rosh Hashanah as a test of whether we've been good or bad, and instead see it as an opportunity to wake up to who we are, who we could become, and where we are heading?

A thoughtful, challenging, and deeply personal conversation that may change the way you approach God, prayer, and the High Holy Days this year.

This week on Big Questions of Jewish Belief, Rabbi Raphael Zarum is joined by Stephen Frosh, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck and author of How to Be Real, for a searching conversation about prayer, psychoanalysis, and the limits of certainty.

Stephen explores what it means for the intellectual chatter to fall silent — and whether that silence opens a space for faith.

Is religion an illusion? A creative act? A dangerous certainty? Or a humble recognition of our limits?

A rich, nuanced discussion about faith, doubt, memory, and the fragile space between imagination and transcendence.

How to Be Real can be purchased from Amazon UK or from Amazon in the US.

Rabbi Zarum sits down with leading human rights barrister Adam Wagner KC to explore the foundations of morality, law, and Jewish identity. Adam has dedicated his career to defending human rights and is an active and dedicated member of the Jewish community, yet personally wrestles with belief, skepticism, and the role of God in his life.

They discuss his Orthodox upbringing in Manchester, his journey back into Jewish learning as an adult, and why community, tradition, and responsibility still matter profoundly to him—even without certainty of faith. We also explore the fascinating relationship between Jewish law and modern human rights: are universal rights grounded in God, human reason, or something else entirely?

This conversation raises one of the biggest questions of all: do we need God to be good—or is our shared humanity enough?

As always, Rabbi Zarum's aim is not to persuade, but to understand how thoughtful people make sense of belief, doubt, and what it means to live a meaningful Jewish life today.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you, or email [email protected] with comments or questions.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you, or email [email protected] with comments or questions.

Naomi Alderman is an English novelist, game writer, and television executive producer. She is best known for her speculative science fiction novel The Power, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017 and has been adapted into a television series for Amazon Studios. Her first novel, Disobedience, explores faith, identity, and forbidden love within a strict Orthodox Jewish community. It was published in ten languages and has recently been adapted into a feature-length film.

Naomi and I enjoy discussing our relationships with a God Who we can argue with, as well as the pitfalls of arguing with people as a way of taking them seriously. We question whether it's possible to be religious without actually thinking about God very much, as well as the God-like aspect of being the 'Creator' of novels and the insight this can give authors into the love God has for us, in spite of having to put us through hard things.

It was a fascinating, fun conversation which I hope you'll enjoy.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you, or email [email protected] with comments or questions.

Anthony Julius is a highly-regarded litigation lawyer. Best-known for being Diana, Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer and for his successful defence of Penguin Books and historian Deborah Lipstadt in the libel case brought by David Irving, Anthony continues to be a consultant and senior solicitor-advocate at the London law firm Mishcon de Reya. He is chairman of the London Consortium, and vice-president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, and has published a number of books including the recent Abraham: The First Jew.

We discuss atypical relationships - those we have with people no longer alive, or those we never met, and compare them to the relationships we can have with God. We speak about prayer as intergenerational conversation, as a communal shared activity, and as a spiritual, personal experience, and we consider the balance of time spent praying and studying in a relationship with God.

You can order Abraham: The First Jew here.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you.

In this special episode Big Questions of Jewish Belief, I collaborated with Rabbi Scott Kahn of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast to produce a conversation that's great for both of our podcasts at this time. Scott quizzes me on whether we can, and should, be angry with God. Can we argue with Him, and is there any point, if He's 'all knowing'?

Recorded in the leadup to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and at a very difficult time for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, we crack open the issue of how to relate to a God with whom we may feel many reasons to be upset, annoyed or angry.

You can listen to the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast here or read the Orthodox Conundrum Substack here.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Rabbi Zarum and other LSJS educators.

Does God actually change reality in response to prayer - and if so, why does prayer so frequently seem to fail? What does it mean for God to answer our prayers? In what ways does prayer help us? Why is it meaningful to pray for others? These are questions which people of faith have confronted for millenia, and continue to struggle with today. Join Rafi and his good friend Adrian Weller as they dive deeply into this essential and powerful issue.

For further study, Rafi's book Questioning Belief is now available on Amazon.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Rabbi Zarum and other LSJS educators.

Jews have long been proud to call themselves the Chosen People. But isn't that a little bit racist? Rabbi Zarum is joined by Jonathan and Sophia who bring their own experiences and knowledge to the journey of discovering what exactly 'chosen' means and what exactly we've been chosen for.

For further study, Rafi's book Questioning Belief is now available on Amazon.

Rafi takes Jonathan and Sophia along a fascinating route which takes in collective punishment in Sodom and Gomorrah, shooting Orcs in Star Wars, and the Israel Defence Force's policy on terrorists.

If that's not enough for you, you'll find a whole chapter on Collective Punishment and whether it's fair, in the book Questioning Belief by Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, available on Amazon.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Rabbi Zarum and other LSJS educators.

We've known the story of Noah and the Ark since we were babies. Do we as Jews believe it really happened? And if it didn't, why is it in the Torah? Armed with studies in classics and science, Jonathan and Sophia join Rafi to challenge the veracity of the flood and discover a surprising message for today's #climatecrisis era.

For further study, Rafi's book Questioning Belief contains a chapter dedicated to the story of the flood, as well as more chapters exploring the veracity of other Torah stories. It's available on Amazon by Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Rabbi Zarum and other LSJS educators.