LECTURES
Here you can access our lectures online. Conversations with scholars, artists, and intellectuals from diverse places around the world, offering contemporary, philosophical, social, and critical perspectives through multidisciplinary viewpoints.
Judaism in the Anthropocene - Jewish Thought and the Environmental Crisis
Watch the lectures from the Beit Midrash for Jewish Thought: **Judaism in the Anthropocene**. Scholars explore Jewish sources and contemporary environmental thought, reflecting on responsibility, justice, and the relationship between humans and nature in the age of ecological crisis. Discover the conversations and ideas that shaped this spring semester series.
The occupation from within
Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard reflects on the dilemma of challenging occupation and apartheid through the very legal system that sustains them, discussing his legal work in recent years and the themes of his book The Occupation from Within. The lecture is part of ZMAN EMET, a joint project of EJB, JCall Spain, and the Barcelona Jewish Film Festival.
Political Imagination in Times of Crisis
“Tikkun Olam” in a Minor Key – Lecture with Prof. Viviane Liska
In this lecture, Prof. Viviane Liska examines the idea of Tikkun Olam through modern Jewish thought and philosophy.
An internationally recognized scholar of Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin, Liska is Professor of German Literature and Director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp.
Arab Society in Israel: After October 7 and Ahead of the Knesset Elections
Ibrahim Abu Ahmad, in a conversation on the realities of Arab citizens of Israel since October 7 and the broader political and social context ahead of the Knesset elections. Abu Ahmad is a Palestinian-Israeli political activist and co-founder of the podcast Unapologetic: The Third Narrative.
Between the River and the Sea
Prof. Hillel Cohen discusses the illustrated memoir Between the River and the Sea: My Travels in Israel and Palestine, written with illustrator Yana Bukler in the aftermath of October 7. Drawing on decades of encounters between Jewish and Palestinian narratives, the book reflects on memory, conflict, and lived realities in the region. The lecture is part of ZMAN EMET, a joint project of EJB, JCall Spain, and the Barcelona Jewish Film Festival.
What has become of the humanistic values of the Jewish tradition?
The Prophetic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia
Watch the recorded lectures from the online course **The Prophetic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia**. This 8-session series explores the life, writings, and mystical practices of the 13th-century Kabbalist, founder of Prophetic Kabbalah, examining his techniques for ecstatic experience and the lasting influence of his thought on Jewish and Western philosophy.
Prof. Michael Marder — Mystical Living, Knowing, Eating: The Zohar’s Reading of Genesis and Beyond
Watch this Beit Midrash lecture by Prof. Michael Marder on Judaism in the Anthropocene and the environmental crisis. Through a reading of the Zohar, the session reflects on knowledge, ecology, and our relationship with the world. Access the full lecture to engage with its ideas and ongoing questions.
The Transformation of Sephardic Sources in Jewish Philosophical Culture
The lecture presents an alternative history of the major developments of medieval Jewish philosophy in the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, tracing its trajectory from its beginnings in the twelfth century to its culmination in sixteenth-century Padua. After reviewing current historiographical accounts, Engel examines the centrality of Maimonides in these narratives and suggest that greater attention should be given to the contribution of a non-Jew to the development of Jewish philosophy, namely Averroes. The lecture thus sheds light not only on internal Jewish dynamics, but also on cross-cultural dialogues as a driving force in Jewish intellectual history in Spain, Provence, and Italy.
The Secret of the Serpent: Sod ha-Nachash
This 8-lecture series explores the symbolism of the serpent in Kabbalah through a close reading of Sod ha-Nachash by Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla. Moving between medieval Jewish mysticism, biblical exegesis, anthropology, biology, and philosophy, the course examines the serpent as a figure of evil and redemption, prophecy and sexuality, mortality and eternal life. The course combines textual rigor with wide interdisciplinary perspectives, offering a unique framework for understanding the serpent as one of the central symbols of Jewish thought.