Bechukotai 5784: Between Philosophy and Spirituality

Can we approach the Torah as a rational guide for living wisely while allowing space for genuine emotional and spiritual experiences?

In this week’s episode, Rabbi Dr. Elisha Ancselovits and Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield delve into the concept of reward and punishment. Elisha offers an intriguing interpretation – rather than God actively intervening, the Torah provides wisdom about how our behaviors yield consequences in the natural order of things.

They’ll take us on an exploration of the balance between the rational understanding of cause-and-effect with the emotional yearning for divine involvement and control.

Credits:
Rabbi Dr. Elisha Ancselovits – Pardes Faculty
Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield – Pardes Faculty and Host of Pardes from Jerusalem

Elisha S. Ancselovits

Rabbi Dr. Elisha S. Ancselovits teaches Halakha as Practical Philosophy at Pardes and at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa, and has taught at a range of Orthodox, secular, Israeli and European institutions. He holds rabbinic and judicial ordination (Yoreh Yoreh and Yadin Yadin), a Ph.D. in the history of Jewish law, and an M.A. in Modern Jewish Studies, in addition to graduate studies in Medieval Jewish History.

Elisha has served as a researcher and lecturer in Jewish studies and legal theory at universities across several continents, and is currently a fellow at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion. His teaching spans halakha, Biblical and Second Temple law, critical Talmud, critical Zohar, and modern philosophy. Elisha founded Bet Midrash Hukkim Hakhamim, a kollel program mentoring women and men who are emerging rabbis and dayanim.

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