This week, Elliott is joined by Prof. Tony Kushner (Southampton University) to talk about his new book, The Jewish Pedlar, in which he tells the story of a triple murder. But it's not just about murder - they talk about a number of themes in Jewish history, and British Jewish identity over the last two hundred years.

You can buy Tony's book here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526178022/ (you can receive a discount with the code 'Event30')

That was the last episode of our first series, and we will be taking a break over August, but we’ll be back in September with more Progressive Sermons from the last 50 years, more Jewish philosophy, a series on Jewish novels and a lot, lot more. Please look out for news.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there is a sermon that you remember that you would love us to talk about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook page, and we also on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary.

Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elliott is again joined by Student Rabbi Yael Tischler to discuss another woman of the Hebrew Bible of whom we may not have heard. This week, they discuss Queen Ataliah - the only woman to reign in Israel as sovereign.

You can follow the texts they are reading here: https://www.alyth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Athaliah-Sources-All-Else-is-Commentary.pdf

If you want to find out more about Leo Baeck College, and what it takes to study for the rabbinate, and how you can support the college, please check out their website: www.lbc.ac.uk.

Next week: Elliott is joined by Prof. Tony Kushner to talk about his new book, The Jewish Pedlar.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topics you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Student Rabbi Yael Tischler returns to discuss another woman of the Hebrew Bible of whom we may not have heard. This week, she and Elliott discuss the Ba'alat Ein Dor, the Witch of Ein Dor.

You can follow the story they are reading here: https://www.alyth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Source-Sheet-All-Else-is-Commentary-Baalat-Ov.pdf

If you want to find out more about Leo Baeck College, and what it takes to study for the rabbinate, and how you can support the college, please check out their website: www.lbc.ac.uk.

Next week: Student Rabbi Yael Tischler returns as we discuss another woman from the Hebrew Bible about whom you may not have heard before. A more unambiguous villain in the form of Queen Ataliah.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topics you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two special episodes this week, each featuring an incredible rabbi being ordained by the Leo Baeck College on Sunday 6 July. In this episode, Elliott speaks to Student Rabbi (Erev Rav) Dr Hannah Altorf about the Jewish idea of machloket (disagreement) - is it good thing? And what does it mean for our communities?

If you want to find out more about Leo Baeck College, and what it takes to study for the rabbinate, and how you can support the college, please check out their website: www.lbc.ac.uk.

Next week: Student Rabbi Yael Tischler returns as we discuss another woman from the Hebrew Bible about whom you may not have heard before: the Witch of Ein Dor.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topics you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two special episodes this week, each featuring an incredible rabbi being ordained by the Leo Baeck College on Sunday 6 July. In this episode, Elliott speaks to Student Rabbi (Erev Rav) Andrea Kulikovsky about the theology of the cloud - what does it mean to live our Jewish lives online?

If you want to find out more about Leo Baeck College, and what it takes to study for the rabbinate, and how you can support the college, please check out their website: www.lbc.ac.uk.

If you have any comments or questions, or if there are any particular topics you would like us to about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on Facebook page, and we have just arrived on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Elliott speaks to Rabbi Josh Levy about a sermon he gave about the judicial reforms in Israel on Kol Nidrei in 2023, just a few days before the 7 October attacks. Elliott asks him about the context of the sermon, how things have changed since then, and Rabbi Josh tells the subsequent story of the formation of the Movement for Progressive Judaism.

To read the sermon along with us, you can find it here.

You can find out more about the Movement for Progressive Judaism here: https://pathtoprogressivejudaism.org.uk/

If you have any comments or questions, or if there is a sermon that you remember that you would love us to talk about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook page, and we also on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elliott is joined by Prof. Gavin Schaffer (Manchester Metropolitan University) to talk about his new book, An Unorthodox History, in which he approaches the history of the Jewish community in the UK from the margins.

You can buy Gavin's book here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165473/

If you have any comments or questions, or if there is a sermon that you remember that you would love us to talk about, please be in touch with us at allelseis@alyth.org.uk – we would love to hear from you. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook page, and we also on Bluesky, so please head over there to give us a follow as well.

If there are people in your life who you think would be interested, please tell them about All Else Is Commentary. Please visit our website: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

All Else Is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth.

We are incredibly grateful to be supported by the Shoresh Charitable Trust.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're taking a couple of weeks' break, so this is just a short episode to let you know what is coming up.

In particular, we are welcoming Rabbi Josh Levy and Rabbi Hannah Kingston to talk about two important sermons from the last 50 years. And we want to hear from you if there are sermons you heard or heard about, and would like us to discuss on the podcast. You can write to allelseis@alyth.org.uk – or join the conversation on Facebook, or Bluesky.

We are looking forward to all kinds of other episodes, which you can find out about here: https://www.alyth.org.uk/learn-us/adult-learning/all-else-is-commentary/

All Else is Commentary is brought to you by Alyth, and we are grateful to the Shoreh Charitable Trust for a grant that will make the podcast sound as good as it can.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.