The Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern Times

di Steven Toby Weinberg

Somewhere along the way, many of us were forcefed the idea that philosophy is boring and esoteric. What? Philosophy is, in fact, rebellious and therapeutic! Using humor, personal anecdotes, and much hubris, the Schrift provides fresh and unexpected answers to life's most tricky and fateful questions. The anchor of the Schrift is the weekly reading of the Torah. These passages are analyzed not as religious dogma but as brilli ... 

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Episodi del podcast

  • Stagione 3

  • Interview 18 - Azzan Yadin-Israel, Professor of Classics and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University - Mishpatim

    Interview 18 - Azzan Yadin-Israel, Professor of Classics and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University - Mishpatim

    S03 E18
    23 Ottobre, 2024
    01:05:58

    The word "slave" cannot be found in the Torah. After all, the Torah was written in Hebrew, not English. But more still, the Hebrew version of the word for slave actually can mean a lot of other things, too: worker, servant, subject, intimate. Were the Hebrews who built the pyramids really slaves or just "laborers"? Why is an English dictionary so much bigger than a Hebrew one? Did Moses speak the same Hebrew as Gal Gadot? To answer these questions and more, I spoke with a scholar of Classics and Biblical Hebrew who is himself a native speaker of Modern Hebrew, Professor Azzan Yadin-Israel.

  • Interview 17 - Bar Zemach, Principal Horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Yithro

    Interview 17 - Bar Zemach, Principal Horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Yithro

    S03 E17
    8 Agosto, 2024
    01:24:08

    When Richard Wagner wrote his operas it was--wait for it--actually cool to be German. Indeed, one need only listen to this music for ten seconds to figure this out. Being Jewish back then on the other hand was, well, not so coveted. How times have changed. For today, horn players like Bar Zemach are welcomed to blast the shofar in the best orchestras of Germany.

  • Interview 16 - Erica Weitzman, Associate Professor of German at Northwestern University - Bishalach

    Interview 16 - Erica Weitzman, Associate Professor of German at Northwestern University - Bishalach

    S03 E16
    2 Giugno, 2024
    01:03:38

    "Ironic" is a word we throw around in casual conversation. And yet, when we peer back the curtain, we soon see that irony has explosive cultural and philosophical meaning. And what happens when we get ironic about irony itself? That was a devastating question which even Alanis Morrissette seems not to have foreseen. Schlegel, on the other hand... Nowadays, ironic speech is so commonplace that it irks more than it phases. By contrast, in the entire Torah we get just one ironic remark. Professor Erica Weitzman disentangles irony for us and shares her fascinating theory of comic irony.

  • Interview 15 - Yady Oren, Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Potsdam - Bo

    Interview 15 - Yady Oren, Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Potsdam - Bo

    S03 E15
    28 Marzo, 2024
    01:25:16

    In these all-too-modern of times, we not only have fast food and instant coffee, but we also get to enjoy bite-sized philosophy. Why read Hegel or Kant or Descartes when we can, you know, get their entire philosophy summed up in a YouTube video? If this sounds snobby, it shouldn't, for no one is more guilty of this "hack" than I. Fortunately, Yady Oren, who has actually read Hegel, is here to explain Hegel's real philosophy of history. We also hear his opinion on whether the tenth plague was a genocide and whether the Israelites had the right to jingoistically celebrate when the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea.

  • Interview 14 - Rabbi Dovid Roberts - Va'era

    Interview 14 - Rabbi Dovid Roberts - Va'era

    S03 E14
    8 Febbraio, 2024
    52:48

    What, if anything, gets lost when we translate the Torah from Biblical Hebrew into English? Despite popular belief based on the English translation of the Torah, the Pharaoh did not exactly "harden his heart." Rather, he strengthened his heart, made his heart heavy, and even, perhaps, turned his heart into a liver. Rabbi Dovid Roberts is the rabbi and spiritual leader of the Kahal Adass Jisroel Synagogue, located in the heart of Berlin. In this interview, Rabbi Roberts explains why he reads secular books, shares an enthralling theory of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on Pharaoh's heart, and divulges the secret to great leadership.