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Jewish Studies: Unscrolled

Jewish Studies: Unscrolled

By: Tablet Studios
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 Jewish Studies: Unscrolled features host Alyssa Quint in conversation with expert guests and historians. Each episode focuses on a single classic Jewish text and covers topics ranging from a 17th-century hostage crisis, to modern classical interpretations of a Yiddish lullaby.2025 Tablet Magazine Judaism Spirituality World
Episodes
  • Jewish Studies Unscrolled: American Horror and Sidney Lumet’s film The Pawnbroker (1964), with Jeremy Dauber

    Jewish Studies Unscrolled: American Horror and Sidney Lumet’s film The Pawnbroker (1964), with Jeremy Dauber
    Dec 30 2024
    Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we delve into a rare cultural intersection: Jewish life and the genre of horror. While Jewish contributions to American culture often focus on comedy, literature, or music, horror remains largely unexplored, even by prominent Jewish filmmakers. We’re joined by Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University professor and author of American Scary: A History of Horror from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond. Together, we examine Sidney Lumet’s 1964 film The Pawnbroker as a rare exception, highlighting its haunting depiction of Holocaust survivor Sol Nazerman’s trauma, particularly through the “thin place” of the subway—a space where the present collides with the horrors of the past. You can watch the subway scene we discuss here.
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    29 mins
  • Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Bruce Springsteen, with Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman

    Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Bruce Springsteen, with Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman
    Dec 26 2024
    Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we talk about Bruce Springsteen and his iconic song “Thunder Road.” While Springsteen himself isn’t Jewish, this song, and his songwriting in general, invites reflections on themes central to Jewish life: tradition, leaving home, and coming back again. We’re joined by noted Bruce fans, Park Avenue Synagogue rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman. Drawing on their personal connections to the song and their shared journey through rabbinical training, Cosgrove and Zuckerman unpack the spiritual resonance of Springsteen’s work, asking why certain texts—whether Torah or rock lyrics—speak to us anew across the decades. You can buy Rabbi Cosgrove’s book, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today, here.
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    37 mins
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