The Study (Raviv Ullman)

Raviv and Rabbi Adam invite author and professor Fannie Bialek to unpack Abraham Joshua Heschel's THE SABBATH to further contextualize and clarify the intention behind The Study.

Raviv and Rabbi Adam discuss how the Torah offers them both inspiration and plenty of room for questions in part two of The Study's introductory episodes. 

Actress, neuroscientist, and New York Times best selling author Mayim Bialik joins Raviv and Rabbi Adam for the very first chapter of the Torah, Breishit, to interpret and unpack the beginning of creation. What do we make of a narrative that starts with two opposing, incompatible stories, and what does it mean for our upcoming journey? 

Ortal Ullman from the Union of Concerned Scientists joins Rabbi Adam and Raviv to unpack the original text of the Noah and the Ark story, trying to make sense of Noah’s silence and coming to terms with the work ahead needed to protect our planet and its inhabitants. 

Writer and director Daniel Kwan (Swiss Army Man)  joins The Study to discuss leaps of faith in both Abraham's story and our own lives, compare Judaism’s methodologies of study with those from his fundamentalist Christian upbringing, and unpack the importance of exposition in storytelling.  

Dr. Matt Reznicek, Associate Chair of the English Department and Associate Professor of Medical Humanities at Creighton University discusses how the binding of Isaac elucidates differences between liberal and orthodox textual interpretations in Judaism and Christianity, and helps us trace some of the Torah’s narrative lineage all the way back to greek mythology, pointing us to some problematic power dynamics at play in both Torah and ancient myths.

Rabbi Sarah Bassin from Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills worked for many years as the Executive Director of New Ground: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change where she worked to build alliances between the two communities. Her work in that field continues, and she joins The Study to share and unpack some lessons learned from this week's Torah portion including trading notes with Rabbi Adam about how this parsha hits a little different now that both of them are parents. 

Our brothers Nadav Ullman and Zachary Greenwald join the show for a frank discussion about sibling rivalries and the danger of only focusing on our differences. We continue the thread of generational trauma and explore ways to break harmful patterns. 

Naomi Ackerman, founder and executive director of the Advot Project creates curriculums that use drama techniques to deal with social, gender, and educational issues as well as exploring identity and promoting tolerance and dialogue. Naomi helps us unpack the importance of making space for the sacred, and how she and the Advot Project uses theater to do just that.

Vanessa Chester, actor and activist, joins Rabbi Adam and Raviv to unpack what it means to wrestle with yourself and the world around you. How much friction is needed to create progress? 

Aimee Bender, author of six book of fiction and a teacher of creative writing at USC, joins us to discuss Joseph's journey, the emotional language of adolescence, the differences between editing fiction and communicating interpreted dreams, Joseph's coat and magical realism, and how readers of Torah might recontextualize the text's varied modes of connecting to God.

Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, is the director of the Sleep and Dream Database and the author of many brilliant books including Dreaming in the World’s Religions: A Comparative History. Kelly helps us understand the scientific basis of dreams, how they fit into religious studies, and what we can make of our own.

Aly Michalka, singer, songwriter, actor and activist joins the show to discuss how art and expression can be an access point for the harder discussions in life, as well as the difficulty and comfort of “keeping the faith”. Rabbi Adam will help us understand the meaning and implications of the Jewish concept of Tshuvah, and, continuing in the vein of prior episodes, together we’ll explore what it means to “return” and how that relates both to our current political moment and the endless process of self-work.

Douglas Petrie, writer and producer of some of our favorite shows including Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Pushing Daisies, American Horror Story and Marvel’s Daredevil joins the show to discuss what it meant to him to have a bar mitzvah at 50 years old,  reading between the lines in torah, and why exploring our past is a necessary aspect of building our future.

Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and former chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, joins the show to discuss themes of liberation,  her work with BLM,  how the current judicial system has failed us, and the role of education in the equation of imbalanced justice.

Pam Grossman, author of Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power , host of The Witch Wave podcast, and named by Vulture "The Terry Gross of Witches" joins Raviv and Professor Fannie Bialek to unpack the beginning of the Passover story, the ancient practice of deciphering “good magic” from “bad magic”, and the power of ritual.

Alda Balthrop-Lewis, research fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University, PhD in religion from Princeton, and author of the newly released book Thoreau’s Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism joins Professor Fannie Bialek and Raviv to discuss what Thoreau did with his time in the woods, and how it relates to the ancient Jewish practice of Passover, the exodus story, and yes, even eating matzah.

Neshama Carlebach joins Raviv and Rabbi Adam to discuss her journey in stepping away from orthodox Judaism, finding her own voice in her spiritual practice, and the importance of making torah study personal. 

Joshua Dubler, professor of religion at the University of Rochester and director of the Rochester Education Justice Initiative, joins Professor Fannie Bialek and Raviv to discuss guilt, the unique status of the Ten Commandments within Jewish law, and how this relates to prison abolition. We also discuss the significance of the names given to Moses and Zipporah's sons.

Kaia Stern, PhD, Cofounder and Director of the Prison Studies Project at Harvard University joins Professor Fannie Bialek and Raviv to discuss human dignity and free will, some of the differences between restorative and transformative justice, and the ethics of eye contact. 

Professor Stern is the author of Voices from American Prisons: Faith, Education, and Healing, and received her master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and her PhD from Emory University. She is ordained as an interfaith minister and has been teaching in and about U.S. prisons for 25 years.

Rachel B. Gross, author and professor at San Francisco State University, joins Fannie and Raviv on the heels of the release of her new book Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice to discuss nostalgia and its function in Judaism. 

Use the code GROSS30-FM for 30% off  Rachel's book and free shipping NYUPress.org

Kara Hoover, Professor of Biological Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Deborah Green, the Greenberg Associate Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature in the Department of Religious Studies at The University of Oregon and author of The Aroma of Righteousness: Scent and Seduction in Rabbinic Life and Literature, join Fannie and Raviv to discuss the significance of incense in this parsha and the broader importance of smell in religious and human history.

Rabbi Amichai Lau Lavie, Founding Spiritual Leader of Lab/Shul in NYC, joins Fannie and Raviv to discuss whether cancel culture appears in the bible, what it means to “mask up” in a non-Covid sense, and our role in reimagining and applying Torah Study as modern-day free-thinking members of society.

Maharat Rori Picker Neiss,  Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis, joins Fannie and Raviv to talk gender and Torah, and the role of Torah study in relation to our communal responsibilities and our shared visions of progress.

Asa Keisar, initiator and founder of the Vegan Kosher Certification, talks to Fannie and Raviv about the textual basis in Torah for a vegan kosher movement, the necessity of setting boundaries to keep society in line, and his theory concerning animal sacrifice, kashrut, and the Israelites' journey from idolatry to monotheism.

Daniel Picus, professor of Biblical Studies and the Ancient World in the Department of Global Humanities and Religions at Western Washington University joins Fannie and Raviv to discuss the historical context of sacrifices and how a people transitioned from a tight knit society that burned animals as offerings, to communities spread across the globe practicing their religion by way of the book.

Ilana Glazer joins Fannie and Raviv to unpack parts of the Torah reading from Passover, and to discuss our shared responsibility for facing truth while owning one’s place in the world. Ilana also discusses her work with The Generator Collective and looks back at her time creating Broad City.

Rabbi Zac Kamenetz of Berkeley, CA and founder of Shefa joins Raviv and Rabbi Batshir Torchio of JCC San Francisco to help us understand how psychedelic experiences fit into Jewish practice, where he sees the work going in the future, how he plans to help that future come into being- and what it all has to do with this week’s torah portion, parsha Shmini. 

Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University, joins Rabbi Batshir Torchio and Raviv to discuss how secular bioethics and Jewish law intersect and diverge, the role of bioethics in today's ongoing pandemic, and ways to read peculiar passages about cleanliness and purity in this week's Torah portion.

Jhos Singer joins Rabbi Batshir and Raviv to talk about a line from the so-called “clobber passages” that have been at the heart of a lot of pain for a lot of people: “a man shall not lay with a man as he does with a women.” 

Our conversation aims to understand possible aspects of the historical context behind this law and those like it, as well as the damage it’s done, and how we as a people can and should overcome it.

Micah Riot joins Rabbi Batshir Torchio and Raviv to discuss tattooing, Torah, and finding your place in the world through artistic expression. 

Rabbi Matt Green joins Raviv for the month of May, but today he serves as both co-host and guest to unpack our 30th Torah reading of the year. He’ll help contextualize how different rituals from the Torah can actually help us frame the work that must be done if we’re all to not only keep our wits about us but also thrive as we begin to reestablish a sense of post-quarantine social normalcy.

Katya Gibel Mevorach, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies at Grinnell College in Iowa and author of Black, Jewish and Interracial: It's Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity joins Raviv and Rabbi Matt to discuss the creation of the census, its historical context and implications, and how the ways in which we talk about identity can be both helpful and harmful.

Washington State Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis joins Rabbi Matt and Raviv to discuss justice, community, and the resources needed to enact mercy. Justice Montoya-Lewis is the first Native American to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court, and the second Native American to serve on a state supreme court nationwide. She previously served as Chief Judge for the Lummi, Nooksack, and Upper Skagit tribes, giving her a holistic understanding of social and legal issues affecting Native Americans and indigenous peoples. Justice Montoya-Lewis will also share her thoughts on some of the key differences between serving on indigenous versus state/federal courts, and in doing so will thoughtfully critique aspects of the contemporary judicial system in relation to this parsha's tension between justice and mercy. 

Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society and author of The Cloudspotter’s Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds  joins Raviv and Rabbi Matt to discuss the nature of clouds, their relationship to ancient biblical texts, and why we project our own narratives onto them.

Check out The Cloud Appreciation Society at https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

Jonathan Zasloff, Professor of Law at University of California Los Angeles, joins Raviv and Rabbi Matt to unpack how Moses' negotiations with God informs the power we have to challenge laws and the tactics by which we might do so most effectively.

Rabbi Elie Spitz, author of Healing from Despair: Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World and Does the Soul Survive? A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife, Past Lives & Living with Purpose has spent his career meditating, speaking, and writing about the afterlife. Raviv and Rabbi Matt talk with Rabbi Spitz about some of the many takes on jewish beliefs about life after death, notions of the soul, and even reincarnation.

Simon Shimshon Rubin, Director at the International Laboratory for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Human Resilience, author of Working with the Bereaved: Multiple Lenses on Loss and Mourning  and Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at University of Haifa School of Psychological Sciences joins Raviv and Rabbi Matt to discuss the psychological effects of losing those we love, Jewish practices that ritualize mourning, and he'll share some wisdom from Torah that’s been useful in his work.

Rabbi Matt and Raviv spend one last episode together, discussing a Maimonides quote that holds a theory of the creation of the universe, the difference between cults and religion, how portions of Torah might have been written to make us laugh, and a whole lot more.

Shai Held, Rabbi, President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar Institute in New York City and author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence joins Rabbi Jessica Minnen and Raviv to talk through Parshat Pinchas, a fairly complicated portion. We'll come to understand how to interpret problematic texts in Torah, the connection between idolatry and our bodies, and Abraham Joshua Heschel's take on it all. 

Dr. Kimberleigh Jordan, Associate Director of Educational Design at Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology and Religion shares a history of Spirituals,  and discusses with Rabbi Jess and Raviv how music can be an act of personal and political resistance, and how two cultures—Black Americans and The Jewish people—are inextricably tied. 

Sarah Hurwitz, former senior speechwriter for President Obama, head writer for First Lady Michele Obama, head speech writer for Hilary Clinton’s 2008 campaign and acclaimed author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life--in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There) joins Raviv and Rabbi Jess to discuss structure in speechwriting, the kind of Judaism they hope to practice, and how to transform study into action.

Saul Kaiserman, Founding Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Emanu-El in New York City, joins Raviv and Rabbi Jess to discuss early and adult Jewish education, the responsibility and tradition of passing rituals from one generation to another, the Shema prayer, and the essence of what it means to be Jewish.

Connor Goldsmith from the Cerebro podcast joins Rabbi Jess and Raviv to discuss the commonalities between studying the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Torah, what "retcons" are and their role in storytelling, and the ways in which the Mishna is like fan fiction from days of yore. Rabbi Jess discusses what the Jewish world can learn from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the power of engaging with spaces we don't understand.

Jess and Raviv have a one-on-one conversation to discuss parshat Re'eh and uncover what they "see" as part of the larger Jewish narrative. Jess discusses her relationship with asking "what" vs "why" when working to understand Torah passages, how one can abstract laws and apply them to our own lives, and what about studying makes her feel inspired.

Magician Tanya Solomon joins Raviv and Rabbi Jess to discuss her journey around the world as a performer, the parallel lives of magicians and rabbis, what we might take from the inclusion of demons, angels, amulets, and charms in the Torah, and why so many magicians throughout history have been Jewish.

Natalia Abrams, executive director of Student Debt Crisis, a non-profit organization dedicated to fundamentally reforming student debt and higher education loan policies, joins Raviv and special guest Molly Wernick to discuss what got us into a nearly two trillion dollar crisis in the first place, what kind of preventive measures can be taken to avoid further devastation, and we'll also try to understand debt from a historical Jewish perspective.

Jake Cohen, author of NYT Bestselling JEW-ISH Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch, joins Raviv and Jess to talk about all things Jewish food, our connection to how we prepare our meals and where those ingredients come from, the incredibly long journeys that dishes take to get to our tables, and Jake’s journey as he’s learned it all. 

Kylie Unell, host of the new podcast for Tablet Magazine How To Fix A Soul In Thirty Days  and founder of Rooted joins Raviv and Rabbi Adam Greenwald to discuss fearing God and saving souls. 

James Darrah, stage and film director, and newly appointed artistic director of Long Beach Opera sits down with Rabbi Adam and Raviv to discuss a pivotal turning point in the Torah narrative- when Moses passes the torch to the next leader of the Israelites. What does it mean to carry a tradition for the next generation, and how does a  young interpreter of old texts make them accessible, exciting, inspiring, and relevant. Tune in to find out.

Robert Alter, Professor in the Graduate School and Emeritus Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and award winning translator of the Torah joins Rabbi Adam and Raviv  to discuss why the Torah ends in a poem. We’ll discuss what clues this poem gives us about the ways in which people communicated and how they used language at the time the torah was written, and even their views on monotheism and the way judaism was practiced. 

Professor Alter is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Council of Scholars of the Library of Congress, and is past president of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics. Professor Alter has published 24 books unpacking the poetry and prose of ancient literature.

After over 60,000 downloads in over 100 countries, we are so glad to have brought an entire cycle of Torah study to our listeners. Rabbi Adam and Raviv look back at a year filled with inspiring conversation, insight, and wisdom. Thanks for joining.

The Study is produced by Evan Scott Nicholas and Raviv Ullman.
Artwork by Julia Pott.