Parsha in Motion: Recent Episodes
Torah in Motion
Parsha in Motion is a new weekly podcast from Torah in Motion. Each week we will be treated to insights on the weekly parasha by thinkers and scholars. Tune in for the live broadcast on Thursday Nights, or listen on your favourite podcast app every Friday.
Rabbi David Grundland grew up in Toronto, has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from York University and studied in The Joseph and Gwendolyn Strauss Rabbinical Seminary at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel, receiving Semicha from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi Yehoshua (Shuki) Reich, and HaGaon Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, zt"l. He has spent the last nine years teaching Torah and creating meaningful Jewish experiences for various communities around the Toronto community, and is currently teaching Tanakh, Rabbinics and Talmud at Tanenbaum CHAT. Rabbi David is an educator, counsellor, and storyteller, and strives to inspire holistic Jewish life experiences. He recognizes Jewish rituals as the foundation of authentic Jewish spirituality and works to help others deepen their own connection to Torah, valuing each individual Jewish soul as essential to the communal whole.
Rabbi Jared Anstandig is one of the Sganim of Beit Midrash Zichron Dov. Prior to moving to Toronto he served as the rabbi of the Orthodox community in Ann Arbor, Michigan, leading a community of university students and adults. Before that, he taught Tanach and Gemara at Ramaz Upper School in New York City, and also served as a Chaplain is the US Army Reserve. He currently lives in the Shaarei Shomayim community with his wife, Sarit, and two children, Batya and Aryeh.
Rabbi Shulman is Spiritual Leader of the Young Israel of St. Louis, Saint Louis’ premier family oriented modern Orthodox Synagogue. Devoting his efforts to advancing the educational depth of the Saint Louis community, in addition to his Rabbinic duties and the many weekly shiurim, Rabbi Shulman has also served as the Founding Dean of Yeshivat Kadimah High School and Interim Head of School of Epstein Hebrew Academy in Saint Louis. Rabbi Shulman has taught extensively throughout his career, both in formal and informal educational frameworks.
His previous positions include Rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto, teacher at Ulpanat Orot Bnai Akiva High School in Toronto, and lecturer for Mekorot Advanced Torah for Women. Rabbi Shulman holds Rabbinic Ordination from the Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate, a B.Sc. in Computer Software Engineering from the Jerusalem College of Technology, and a Teacher’s Degree from the Sha’alvim Teacher’s College. He studied Tanach /Bible with Israel’s leading Bible scholars at Herzog Teacher’s College, Jewish Education at Touro College’s Master’s program in Jewish Education in Jerusalem under Nechama Leibowitz, and Milah under the Chief Mohel of Jerusalem, Yosef Halpern, of blessed memory. He is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Council, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Chicago Rabbinical Council.
Rabbi Shaul Robinson took up the position of Senior Rabbi at Lincoln Square Synagogue on September 1, 2005. Rabbi Robinson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1967 and earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Economics and Political Science at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. He was also awarded a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction from the University of Nottingham, England. His MBA focused on the management of Not-for-Profit institutions and his dissertation was titled "The Working Lives of Rabbis".
Rabbi Robinson attended Yeshivat HaMivtar and the Joseph Straus Rabbinic Seminary in Efrat for seven years where he studied under Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He attained semicha from the Joseph Straus Rabbinical Seminary (part of Ohr Torah Stone). His semichas were awarded by The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Rabbi Riskin and Rabbi Brovender, and also by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. He also undertook one year of professional training in Practical Rabbinics at Yad AviHaYishuv (Rothschild Foundation) in Jerusalem .
After graduation from Strathclyde, Rabbi Robinson spent a year as the National Secretary of the Union of Jewish Students, which combined fieldwork on behalf of Jewish students with the publication and coordination of educational materials.
Rabbi Robinson met his wife, Sarah, while in Israel and they married in 1992. Following that, he was appointed the first ever full-time Rabbi for Jewish Students at Cambridge University, England, where he and Sarah lived for 3 years with their children, Avrami and Esther. In 1997, the Robinsons moved to Barnet Synagogue, England, where he took up a part-time role and before becoming the full-time Rabbi in 1998. Over the years, the Robinsons welcomed four more daughters - Chaya in 1998, Ariela in 2000, and twins, Tova and Tehilla in 2003. During his time at Barnet, Rabbi Robinson also served as Director of the Centre for Rabbinic Development - where he set up and directed the first ever "Department for Professional Rabbinic Development" in the UK . He was also Executive Director of "Encounter" - the organization that runs the UK 's largest Orthodox Adult Education Event.
Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz serves as Associate Principal, General Studies and co-Director of Machon Siach at SAR High School in the Bronx, New York, and as a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She earned her Ph.D. in History of Science from Princeton University. Dr. Schwartz has spent more than twenty years in the field of Jewish secondary and post-secondary education. She writes and lectures widely about issues of contemporary importance in the North American Orthodox community.
Judah Kerbel is the rabbi of Queens Jewish Center, where he is dedicated to sharing intellectually stimulating Torah, cultivating spiritually moving tefillah, and building meaningful relationships with congregants. He is also a middle school rebbe at Yeshiva Har Torah. Rabbi Kerbal received semicha from RIETS and a master's degree in medieval Jewish history from the Bernard Revel Graduate School. Before going to Yeshiva University, Rabbi Kerbel learned in Yeshivat Har Etzion and completed his undergraduate degree in Jewish studies and psychology at the University of Maryland. Rabbi Kerbal serves on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. A passionate writer, Rabbi Kerbel has published articles in The Lehrhaus, the Jewish Press, and Times of Israel.
Wes Kalmar is the rabbi of Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah in Glendale, WI, a tree-lined and lake-dotted suburb of Milwaukee. He is a musmach of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and holds a masters degree in Medieval Jewish History from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He and his wife, Dr. Jessica Kalmar, and their four children have lived in Glendale for five years and they absolutely love it.
Ruth Shane is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She has a B.A. in biology from
Barnard College and a Master of Forest Science degree from The Yale School of the
Environment (previously the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science). She
taught high school biology for many years at The Fieldston School in Riverdale, New
York. Ruth returned to Baltimore and joined the Biochemical Genetics Lab of the
University of Maryland School of Medicine. She moved across town to the Molecular
Diagnostics Lab of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from which she retired in
2020. These were her day jobs. When Ruth returned to Baltimore, she also joined Rabbi David Fohrman, as student and
later as colleague, in his unique approach to Torah which he was developing at that
time. She combined the intertextual Torah study of Eretz Israel scholars with Rabbi
David’s insights and began teaching adult Tanach classes at Congregation Shomrei
Emunah in Baltimore. These are now her day jobs.
Leora (Moskowitz) Orenshein is currently a student in Yeshiva University's graduate program for advanced Talmudic studies (GPATS). Hailing from Teaneck, NJ, and a graduate of the Frisch school, Leora learned in Midreshet Torah v'Avodah in Israel and then received her undergraduate degree in Judaic Studies at Stern college. Leora is currently working towards a Masters in Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation, with a focus on Gemara and Halacha. This past summer she served as Director of Chinuch at Moshava Ba'ir in New Jersey. Leora is passionate about Torah and hopes to pursue a career in Jewish education, both in the classroom and the community at large.
Benjamin J. Samuels has served as rabbi of Cong. Shaarei Tefillah of Newton Centre since 1995, and teaches widely in the Boston Jewish community. He earned his semikhah (rabbinical ordination) from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, holds a PhD in Science, Philosophy, and Religion from Boston University, and received an MA in Biblical Studies and Medieval Jewish History, and a BA in English Literature from Yeshiva University.
Daniel Fridman studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, where he was privileged to learn in the shiur of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, and at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where he learned extensively with Rabbi Michael Rosensweig, and where he was ordained. Rabbi Fridman received his Tanach methodology from Rav Yitzchak Avraham Twersky, with whom he learned for four years. Rabbi Fridman has served as Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck since 2016, and as a Maggid Shiur at TABC since 2015. Rabbi Fridman is a Maggid Shiur at the Beit Midrash of Teaneck, where he directs the curriculum, as well as Lamdeinu. Previously, Rabbi Fridman was Resident Scholar at the Jewish Center in Manhattan from 2009-2015.
Rabbi Torczyner has been Rosh Beit Midrash of Beit Midrash Zichron Dov in Toronto since its founding in August 2009. Rabbi Torczyner received his B.A. (Comp Sci) from Yeshiva University in 1993, and studied toward a Masters (Comp Sci) at New York University while learning for the rabbinate in Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. After his ordination in 1997, Rabbi Torczyner served as Rabbi of Young Israel of Pawtucket, Rhode Island for four years, and then Congregation Sons of Israel, Allentown, Pennsylvania for eight years. While in Allentown, Rabbi Torczyner spent three years mentoring new pulpit rabbis for Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future. Rabbi Torczyner has served two terms on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, and he has headed and served on various committees of the RCA. Rabbi Torczyner enjoys blending different areas of knowledge with Torah, and utilizing diverse methods to develop curricula in Jewish history, Tanach and Jewish law. Rabbi Torczyner was honoured with the Ontario Medical Association‘s Community Service Award in 2019, for his accredited Medical Ethics classes. In 2016, Rabbi Torczyner received the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Fire Safety Award for programming geared toward raising fire safety awareness in the Jewish community. More than 2500 of Rabbi Torczyner’s shiurim and articles published in Toronto are featured on www.yutorah.org, and Rabbi Torczyner is a regular contributor to the Center for the Jewish Future’s “To Go” holiday publications. Beginning in 1995, Rabbi Torczyner pioneered a website, WebShas, offering a topic-driven index to the Talmud, and another website, HaMakor, offering bibliographies on a range of Torah topics. Rabbi Torczyner also maintains a popular blog, The Rebbetzin’s Husband, and lives in Thornhill with his wife, Caren, and their four children.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Rebecca spent time learning in Israel at Midreshet Lindenbaum, MATAN and at Stern's Graduate Program for Advanced Talmudic Studies. Rebecca has taught Tanach and Gemara at various elementary and high schools in Toronto, New York and Atlanta and has also been involved in adult education through teaching at the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning in Atlanta, GA. Rebecca holds a Bsc. in Psychology, an MA in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Sciences, and a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology. She currently works in private practice for neuropsychological assessment and serves on the faculty of Atlanta Jewish Academy (AJA) where she teachers Navi. Rebecca lives with her husband Josh, and 3 sons in Atlanta, GA.
Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin is mara d’asra (senior rabbi) of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation (“The BAYT”). He received his rabbinic ordination from HaRav Yaakov Ruderman zt”l, of Ner Israel Rabbinic College. He has served pulpits in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Allentown, PA. Rabbi Korobkin holds a Master of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Graduate School, as well as a Master of Arts degree in Medieval Jewish and Islamic Thought from UCLA. He is the translator and annotator of the Feldheim edition of Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi’s Kuzari. Rabbi Korobkin is the honorary president of the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest fraternal order of Orthodox rabbis in North America.
Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe serves as the rabbi of the Maimonides Kehillah, founded by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in 1963, and as the Dean of Judaic Studies at Maimonides School, both in Brookline, Mass. He received his ordination and doctorate from Yeshiva University, where he holds graduate degrees in Bible, Jewish History, and Jewish Education and where he also studied in YU’s Kollel Elyon for three years. Rabbi Jaffe's unique approach to Tanach and Hebrew poetry is informed by his degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and the historicist approach to the study of ancient texts. He has published more than two dozen scholarly articles on a wide array of topics, including Tanach and Jewish Philosophy. Rabbi Jaffe has also served as the Menahel of the Boston Rabbinical Court, and as the director of the United States Bible Contest, the Chidon Hatanach.
Rabbanit Dr. Adena K. Berkowitz is Scholar in Residence at Kol HaNeshamah NYC and Senior Educator at the Manhattan Jewish Experience. Her work includes reaching out to affiliated and not-yet-affiliated Jews and re-energizing their spiritual lives. With a background in law, Jewish Studies and Psychotherapy, Adena is a practicing therapist in NY and the author of the bestselling The Jewish Journey Haggadah and co-author of Shaarei Simcha: Gates of Joy, a mini prayerbook. (It is the first liturgical work in the modern era written by Orthodox women for use in the Jewish community.) She lives in New York with her husband Rabbi Zev Brenner and children.
Ruth Shane is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She has a B.A. in biology from
Barnard College and a Master of Forest Science degree from The Yale School of the
Environment (previously the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science). She
taught high school biology for many years at The Fieldston School in Riverdale, New
York. Ruth returned to Baltimore and joined the Biochemical Genetics Lab of the
University of Maryland School of Medicine. She moved across town to the Molecular
Diagnostics Lab of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from which she retired in
2020. These were her day jobs. When Ruth returned to Baltimore, she also joined Rabbi David Fohrman, as student and later as colleague, in his unique approach to Torah which he was developing at that time. She combined the intertextual Torah study of Eretz Israel scholars with Rabbi
David’s insights and began teaching adult Tanach classes at Congregation Shomrei
Emunah in Baltimore. These are now her day jobs.
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot is rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ and serves as Chair of the Department of Torah Shebaal Peh at SAR High School in NYC. He is coordinator of the annual community Yemei Iyun on Bible and Jewish Thought sponsored by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and has taught in various adult education settings throughout North
America, the UK and Israel.
R. Helfgot is a graduate of Yeshiva College with honors and was subsequently ordained by RIETS after studying for a number of years in its Kollel program. He also received a Masters in Jewish Education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Education and completed graduate work in Bible at the Bernard Revel Graduate School. R. Helfgot studied for many years in Israel with Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l at Yeshivat Har Etzion and the Gruss Institute, becoming a close disciple, and has been involved in editing some of his Hebrew essays for publication.
He has published widely in English and Hebrew in areas of Bible, Jewish law and Ethics, Jewish Philosophy and contemporary events. He is the author of Divrei Berakah U-Moed, (2003) a collection of Hebrew novellae on halakhic topics as well as the editor of Community, Covenant and Commitment :Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (2005) and The YCT Companion to the Book of Samuel (2006) and Mikra and Meaning: Essays in Bible and Its Interpretation (2012) .
Sofia Freudenstein is a second year student at Yeshivat Maharat and Bernard Revel Graduate School focusing on Jewish Philosophy. She graduated with an Honours Bachelor degree in Jewish Studies and Philosophy from the University of Toronto, and also completed her first basic unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Baycrest Geriatric Hospital at that time.
Before university, Sofia competed in the International Chidon HaTanach, and participated in the Drisha High School Program, the Bronfman Youth Fellowship, and the Tikvah High School Program. She spent a gap year at Midreshet Lindenbaum, has been Co-Rosh Beit Midrash at Camp Stone for two summers, and was the Director of Experiential Education at the Drisha High School Program this past summer. Sofia is the Maharat Intern for Anshe Sholom Bnai Israel in Chicago and a Machon Siach Graduate Fellow.
Rabba Wendy Amsellem directs the Beit Midrash program, a joint program of Yeshivat Maharat and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. She teaches Talmud and Halakha at Maharat and is the editor of Maharat's Keren Journal.
Rabba Wendy is the former Director of the Dr. Beth Samuels Drisha High School Program and she was the Rosh Kollel of the Drisha July Kollel. She has been a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Mandel Jerusalem Fellow. Rabba Wendy is an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle and she has a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University.
Rabbi Aviad Tabory studied for seven years at the hesder yeshivot of Ohr Etzion and Har Etzion (Gush) in Israel. In those years he served in a tank unit of the Israeli army and studied for the Smicha tests of the Israeli Rabbinate.
He received his degree in Jewish education from Herzog College, and is a graduate of Amiel - the rabbinical training programme of Ohr Torah.
He has taught in a range of places, including Orot, Midreshet Lindenbaum, Midreshet HaRova, and also took part in establishing a new Yeshiva High School in Susya. He served as the Rav Shaliach of the Jewish Agency to Bnei Akiva in the UK as well as the community Rabbi of Alei Etzion in Hendon. Aviad is married to Debra, and they have four children.
Rabbi Aviad is currently teaching full time in Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem.
Rav Yitzchak Etshalom was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavne, Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary and Yeshivat Har Etzion before receiving Semicha from the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim, Rabbi Itzhak Kolitz.
Rav Etshalom has been a dynamic and exciting educator in the Los Angeles community since his return in 1985. His ability to reach out to today's youth and share with them his passion for Jewish learning and Jewish life has enriched many young lives. He launched the Beit Midrash program at YULA Girls High School as well as opening the Beit Midrash at Shalhevet, where he currently serves as Rosh Beit Midrash. Rav Etshalom directs the Tanach Masters Program at YULA Boys’ High School as well as being as a sought-after Scholar in Residence throughout the country and in Israel.
He lectures annually at the prestigious “Ymei Iyyun” Tanakh Seminar at Herzog College. In addition, he teaches Daf Yomi and a popular Navi series at the Young Israel of Century City and his podcasts on Daf Yomi (http://www.dafyomiyicc.org/) have attracted an international following, as have his Tanakh podcasts, many of which are available at https://www.ou.org/
, http://www.yutorah.org/
, as well as on Spotify, iTunes and other popular podcast platforms. His critically acclaimed series “Between the Lines of the Bible” is a methodological guide to the study of Tanakh. He currently writes a weekly lecture for Yeshivat Har Etzion's Virtual Beit Midrash on the books of Amos and Hoshea and his book on Amos will be published as part of the Koren Maggid Studies in Tanakh.
Rabbi Etshalom lives in Los Angeles with his wife Stefanie, also a dynamic educator and their five children live in Alon Shevut, Washington Heights and Los Angeles.
Rabbi Shulman is Spiritual Leader of the Young Israel of St. Louis, Saint Louis’ premier family oriented modern Orthodox Synagogue. Devoting his efforts to advancing the educational depth of the Saint Louis community, in addition to his Rabbinic duties and the many weekly shiurim, Rabbi Shulman has also served as the Founding Dean of Yeshivat Kadimah High School and Interim Head of School of Epstein Hebrew Academy in Saint Louis. Rabbi Shulman has taught extensively throughout his career, both in formal and informal educational frameworks.
His previous positions include Rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto, teacher at Ulpanat Orot Bnai Akiva High School in Toronto, and lecturer for Mekorot Advanced Torah for Women. Rabbi Shulman holds Rabbinic Ordination from the Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate, a B.Sc. in Computer Software Engineering from the Jerusalem College of Technology, and a Teacher’s Degree from the Sha’alvim Teacher’s College. He studied Tanach /Bible with Israel’s leading Bible scholars at Herzog Teacher’s College, Jewish Education at Touro College’s Master’s program in Jewish Education in Jerusalem under Nechama Leibowitz, and Milah under the Chief Mohel of Jerusalem, Yosef Halpern, of blessed memory. He is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical Council, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Chicago Rabbinical Council.
Rabbi Gedalyah Berger serves as a Ra"M in the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Yeshiva University, and as a maggid shi'ur at the Yoatzot Halacha program of Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center and at Lamdeinu. He previously served for 15 years as Rabbi of Fleetwood Synagogue in Mount Vernon, NY, and has edited several volumes, including במזרח לבנו :Essays in Honor of Israel’s 70th (2018).
Rabbi Berger graduated from Yeshiva College in 1994 with a B.A. in physics, studied for three
years at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel under the tutelage of HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l,
received his semikhah from RIETS in 1998, and was a fellow of RIETS's Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon. He was Northeast Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America from 2013-2015, and currently serves on its Executive Committee.
Rabbi Berger lives in Teaneck, NJ with his wife Miriam and their five children.
Leah Silver enjoys learning and teaching Tanach and Torah Sheba'al Peh. She has taught at several high schools in New York and New Jersey and was also a long-time junior high school morah for girls. Leah has studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Stern College for Women, Drisha and Matan, and now focuses on community shiurim. Leah is currently in her third cycle of her original Siddur vSidra shiurim that meld text, traditional and contemporary commentaries into a timely narrative about tefilla and the weekly Torah portion.
Bereishit: From End to Beginning, with Rabbi Jay Kelman.
This episode is sponsored by Debby Sondheim in memory of her parents Ina and Heinz Sondheim.