Professor Gary Rendsburg invites us to understand the Joseph story as ancient literary art at its very best.

Prof. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. His Ph.D. and M.A. are from N.Y.U. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and about 200 articles; his most recent book is How the Bible Is Written.

Dr Dov Berel Lerner considers what Joseph's dreams symbolise and their importance within the wider themes of Genesis. 

Dr Lerner is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the Western Galilee College in Akko and also teaches at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He is the author of many articles in philosophy and Jewish studies and of the book Rules, Magic, and Instrumental Reason (Routledge 2002). His latest book is Human-Divine Interactions in Hebrew Scriptures Covenants and Cross-Purposes (Routledge 2024).

Dr Alison Joseph asks just who is the victim of the Dinah Story?

Dr. Alison Joseph is the Director of Digital Scholarship and Associate Professor of Bible at Gratz College, Assistant Managing Editor of The Posen Library for Jewish Culture and Civilization and an adjunct assistant professor of Bible and its Interpretation at JTS. She holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Jewish Studies from Emory University. Her first book Portrait of the Kings: The Davidic Prototype in Deuteronomistic Poetics received the 2016 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise.

Rabbi Dr Elliot Cosgrove discusses his timely new book:-

For Such A Time As This: On Being Jewish Today

Elliot Cosgrove is a leading voice of American Jewry and a preeminent spiritual guide and thought leader. The rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue since 2008, he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999 and earned his PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He sits on the Chancellor’s Cabinet of Jewish Theological Seminary and on the editorial board of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism. An officer of the New York Board of Rabbis, he serves on the boards of UJA-Federation of New York, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Hillel of University of Michigan and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rabbi Cosgrove was honored to represent the Jewish community at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum during the visit of Pope Francis to New York. A frequent contributor to Jewish journals and periodicals, he is the author of fifteen volumes of sermons and the editor of Jewish Theology in Our Time.

Rabbi Dr Naomi Kalish uncovers what Jacob teaches us about listening and how it paves the way for peace.

Rabbi Kalish is the Harold and Carole Wolfe Director of the Center for Pastoral Education and assistant professor of Pastoral Education at JTS. Prior to coming to JTS, Rabbi Kalish taught clinical pastoral education (CPE) at New York–Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) to students from diverse religious, denominational, national, and cultural backgrounds. 

Rabbi Kalish has extensive experience in interreligious dialogue and its application for peace-building and community relations. She was a founding national co-chair of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom’s Sadaqah-Tzedakah Day. Rabbi Kalish received a JTS Seeds of Innovation Grant in 2018 for her volunteer work in coordinating teen interreligious dialogue activities in her home community of Hudson County, New Jersey, one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse communities in the United States.

Rabbi David Kasher asks just who is the villain in the Toldot story?

Rabbi David Kasher is the Director of Hadar West Coast. After graduating from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, he served as Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel, a part of the founding team at Kevah, and Associate Rabbi at IKAR. Rabbi Kasher completed a translation of Avot d’Rabbi Natan for Sefaria and is the author of ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary.

Rabbi Marc Soloway discusses the legacy of Sarah and the very contrasting responses of Abraham and Isaac to her death.

Rabbi Soloway has been Bonai Shalom’s Spiritual Leader in Boulder, CO. since 2004, the same year that he was ordained at The Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at The American Jewish University in Los Angeles. His rabbinical training spanned six years in London, Jerusalem, and Los Angeles. Before that, he was an actor and storyteller in his native London, and developed and performed a spirited one-man show of Jewish stories called The Empty Chair, as well as a show for children called The Jewish Princess and Other Stories with the acclaimed Besht Tellers Theatre Company. 

He was also a practitioner of complementary medicine, including massage and cranial-sacral therapy. Marc is a fellow of Rabbis without Borders, an alum of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, the former chair of Hazon’s rabbinical council and was in the Forward’s 2014 list of America’s most influential rabbis. 

Professor Kenneth Seeskin discusses the ambiguity and unresolved tension in the Akedah. 

Professor Seeskin is Professor of Philosophy and Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D in Philosophy from Yale University in 1972 and has been at Northwestern ever since. He specializes in the rationalist tradition in Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on Maimonides. Publications include Maimonides on the Origin of the World (CUP, 2005), Jewish Messianic Thoughts in an Age of Despair (CUP, 2012), Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible (JPS, 2016) and Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed (Behrman House). 

Dr Rabbi Joshua Garroway uncovers the importance of the minor character, Melchizedek. 

Dr. Rabbi Joshua Garroway is the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles. He holds a Ph.D. from the Religious Studies Department at Yale and ordination from HUC-JIR in Cincinnati. He is the author of, The Beginning of the Gospel: Paul, Philippi, and the Origins of Christianity.

Dr Jeremy Tabick discusses the centrality of God's transformation in the parsha.

Dr Jeremy Tabick is the content manager and faculty at Hadar, where he teaches, curates, and edits Hadar’s content – both online and in print – and project Zug courses. Jeremy recently completed a PhD in Talmud at JTS. He graduated from the University of Manchester (in the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is a member of the steering team of Kehilat Hadar.