Jewish Thought and Modern Philosophy

From ancient to modern times, some of the greatest Jewish thinkers have regularly utilized “Greek” or philosophical frameworks to explore religious ideas. Why? How have traditional Jewish thinkers drawn upon the language and spirit of Athens? In this seminar course, we will consider how modern Jewish philosophers and theologians engage and investigate great human questions. Along the way, we will introduce and explore some of the greatest Jewish minds of the 20th century, including Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, Michael Wyschogrod, and Emmanuel Levinas.

Dr. Ira Bedzow

Ira Bedzow is the Director of The MirYam Institute Project on International Ethics & Leadership; Head of Unit, International Chair in Bioethics (World Medical Association Cooperation Centre) at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University. He holds a PhD in Religion from Emory University and a Masters degree from University of Chicago. Ira is also Senior Scholar of the Aspen Center for Social Values, co-director of the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust (MIMEH), and a regular contributor in Forbes for their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion section. He is also an Orthodox rabbi (yoreh yoreh, yadin yadin).

Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo

Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo has taught Jewish philosophy and law at Yeshiva University. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Jewish Philosophy. He has also studied at Machon Shlomo, Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, Heichal HaTorah B’Tzion, and Beit Ariel Jerusalem. He has published widely on Jewish themes, and he lectures internationally. He was the Director of Education for Meor NYU, and before returning to the U.S. he was on the faculty of Michlalah Jerusalem College and Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalyim for ten years. His book Learning to Grow is published by Kodesh Press.

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is chief education officer of Tikvah and founding dean of the Tikvah Scholars Program. Prior to joining Tikvah, Rabbi Gottlieb served as head of school at Yeshiva University High School for Boys and principal of the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA, and has taught at The Frisch School, Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Hebrew Theological College, Loyola University in Chicago, and the University of Chicago. He received his BA from Yeshiva College, rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where his doctoral studies focused on the moral and political thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Rabbi Gottlieb’s work has been featured twice in the Wall Street Journal and his writing has appeared in First Things, Public Discourse, SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review, The University Bookman, Tradition Online, the Algemeiner, From Within the Tent: Essays on the Weekly Parsha from Rabbis and Professors of Yeshiva University, and, most recently, Strauss, Spinoza & Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith. He is a trustee of the Hildebrand Project and serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. He lives in Teaneck, NJ, with his wife and family.

Jewish Thought and Modern Philosophy

Dr. Ira Bedzow

Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb

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