Jewish Quest

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Professor Kenneth Seeskindiscusses how the luxurious design of the Tabernacle contrasts with simpler forms of worship described elsewhere in the book of Exodus. 

Professor Kenneth 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), and Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible (JPS, 2016).

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Rabbi Alex Matthews asks how we should understand the sin of the golden calf. 

Rabbi Alex Matthews has been part of the Congregation Ahavas Achim in Newburyport since 2015 and has been serving as its congregational leader since 2019.  Rabbi Matthews was ordained at Hebrew College in June 2023. He serves part-time as a staff chaplain at Beverly Hospital. He completed the 18 Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship focused on interfaith engagement, as well as the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Machloket Matters fellowship, focused on working toward and through constructive disagreement.

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Rabbi Ariel Abel asks why the Torah moves so abruptly from the cosmic revelation of Sinai to the detailed civil laws outlined in Mishpatim. 

Rabbi Abel encourages cooperation, discussion and debate across the spectrum of the Jewish community. He is a rabbinic graduate of Midrash Sephardi in Jerusalem. He is a practising lawyer and a Sandhurst graduate chaplain in the British Army. 

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Rabbi Ariel Abel encourages cooperation, discussion and debate across the spectrum of the Jewish community. He is a rabbinic graduate of Midrash Sephardi in Jerusalem. He is a practising solicitor and a Sandhurst graduate chaplain in the British Army. 

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Rabbi Samuel Klein discusses the remusiking of the Children of Israel. 

Rabbi Samuel Klein is Director of Jewish Engagement at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, where he leads strategic initiatives that build meaningful connections to Jewish life. His work focuses on strengthening community through education, leadership cultivation, and multigenerational programming. 

Rabbi Klein brings an interdisciplinary perspective to his work, shaped by a foundation in theology, the arts, and Jewish thought. He holds advanced degrees in Theology (Cambridge University), History of Art (University College London), and Jewish Studies (Spertus Institute), He frequently writes and lectures on the intersections of religion, ritual, and visual culture.

For over fifteen years, Rabbi Klein has supported mixed-heritage couples and young families, creating inclusive programs that reflect the breadth of Jewish experience. His doctoral research extends this work, exploring how Jewish ritual, text, and aesthetics shape identity in diverse Jewish contexts—with an emphasis on how these lived experiences expand and challenge prevailing communal narratives

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Prof. Ishay Rosen-Zvi is Professor of Rabbinic Literature in the department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel-Aviv University, and a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Kogod Center. He holds a Ph.D. in rabbinic literature from Tel-Aviv University and was elected to the Israel Young Academy of Sciences in 2013. Among his many publications are Demonic Desires: Yetzer Hara and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity (2011); Body and Soul in Ancient Judaism (2012); and Goy: Israel’s Others and the Birth of the Gentile (2018, with Adi Ophir).

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Dr. Rabbi Tzemah Yoreh has a PhD in Bible from Hebrew University, as well as a PhD in Wisdom Literature of the Hellenistic period from the University of Toronto. He has written many books focusing on his reconstruction of the redaction history of Genesis through Kings. He is the author of The First Book of God, and the multi-volume Kernel to Canon series, with books like Jacob’s Journey and Moses’s Mission. Yoreh has taught at Ben Gurion University and American Jewish University. He is currently the leader of the City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in New York.

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Dr Angela Erisman shares why the Exodus story serves as an allegory for King Hezekiah of the 8th Century in Judah.

Dr Erisman is owner of Angela Roskop Erisman Editorial and was the founding editorial director of the Marginalia Review of Books. She earned her M.A. in Hebrew and Northwest Semitics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Ph.D. in Bible and Ancient Near East at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is the author of The Wilderness Itineraries: Genre, Geography, and the Growth of Torah (2011), for which she won a Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise in 2014. Her most recent book, The Wilderness Narratives in the Hebrew Bible: Religion, Politics, and Biblical Interpretation (2025) is available from Cambridge University Press.

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Rabbi Nevins is dedicated to exploring the sacred realm of Torah and its intersection with contemporary ethics, culture, and technology. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He became Head of School of Golda Och Academy in 2021, dedicating himself to support the faculty and students in the creation of an outstanding and warm Jewish learning environment. Previously, he worked at The Jewish Theological Seminary as the Pearl Resnick Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership. He writes responsa on topics of contemporary halakhah, essays, prayers, and Torah commentaries, many of which can be viewed on his website rabbinevins.org. He is due to take up the post of Senior Rabbi at New North London Synagogue, London in the Summer of 2026. His most recent book is Torah and Technology: Circuits, Cells, and the Sacred Path, published by Izzun books.

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Rabbi Alex Matthews has been part of the Congregation Ahavas Achim in Newburyport since 2015 and has been serving as its congregational leader since 2019.  Rabbi Matthews was ordained at Hebrew College in June 2023. He serves part-time as a staff chaplain at Beverly Hospital. He completed the 18 Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship focused on interfaith engagement, as well as the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Machloket Matters fellowship, focused on working toward and through constructive disagreement.