Episodes of Jewish Studies Today
Research. Discuss. Design.
In the Jewish Studies Today podcast, we deal with all research areas of Jewish Studies - Jewish culture and civilizations, philosophy, religion and history, Hebrew linguistics and Jewish literatures, Jewish art, Jewish biblical interpretation, rabbinic literature and Talmud, Jewish education, as well as Israel and Middle Eastern studies.
Twice a month we put an episode online that zooms in on Jewish Studies for us. Be it in the form of interviews, discussion rounds or by the researchers themselves briefly presenting their projects. And we can take something away from each episode: be it scientific findings and thus new knowledge about Judaism, a literature or film tip at the end of the episode or simply good entertainment.
Dr. Dorothe Sommer introduces the new podcast. What is Jewish Studies Today about? What can we look forward to?
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Dr. Andreas Brämer introduces himself. Where does he come from, where does he want to go with the university and what is it that has connected him to Heidelberg and the HfJS for so long?
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Provenance research - i.e. researching the origin of cultural assets - is a key topic for many academic libraries, especially when it comes to collections that were looted during the Nazi era. In our latest episode, Philipp Zschommler provides an in-depth insight into the work at the Heidelberg School of Jewish Studies. The focus is on the origin and history of the library's holdings, the role of provenance research and the importance of restitution to the rightful owners or their descendants.
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Interview with Philipp Zschommler for the French magazine Centrale
"Poet, translator and organizer", "research assistant at the Chair of Bible and Jewish Bible Interpretation" - a wanderer between worlds, cultures and conventions, Jewish, queer, Arab - Yona-Dvir Shalem researches without borders. He alternates between the natural sciences and the humanities, travels to his Arab, Jewish relatives on Djerba and works at the university. Travel with us!
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Who was Felix Weil and what role did he play at the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research? Cosmopolitan, revolutionary, Comintern delegate, employee of the Argentine government, tax expert in California, lecturer for the US Army in Ramstein, patron of the arts, and family man. One day before the 50th anniversary of Felix Weil's death, Dr. Hans-Peter Gruber sheds light on a man who pursued the idea of a more just society until the end of his life and was at the same time “one of a kind.”
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"Out of sorts" is also the logical title of Gruber's biography.
Interview with Dr. Hans-Peter Gruber in the Spanish ARCHIVOS de historia del movimiento obrero y la izquierda from March 2025.
What constitutes a Jewish identity? Where do Jewish educational institutions stand today, what should Jewish religious education be able to achieve?
Personal reflections and ideas from Dr. Sandra Anusiewicz-Baer, deputy professor for the Chair of Jewish Religious Education, Pedagogy and Didactics
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Dr. Sandra Anusiewicz-Baer on her career, the history of Jews in the GDR and formative encounters in her past.
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Prof. Dr. Michael Engel, the new chair holder for Jewish Philosophy and Intellectual History explains "Jewish Philosophy," what fascinates him about Elijah Del Medigo, and what philosophical focus he would like to set in Heidelberg.
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