I have taught several classes on Jewish history and thought online for Torah in Motion. All of my classes are linked here.

I lecture regularly at Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring, Maryland. I have also taught at the Jewish Center in New York and the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.

Visiting Scholar Invitations:

• Congregation Agudath Sholom, Stamford, CT (upcoming January 2026)
• Congregation Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, NJ (August 2019)
• Hillel, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (March 2016)

Selected Topics and source sheets

Synagogue Humashim:

• The King James Bible Overthrown? Reflection on Recent Synagogue Translations
• Choosing Your Humash
  • Part 1: The Hirsch Humash (no source sheet)
  • Part 2: The Hertz Pentateuch
  • Part 3: The ArtScroll Stone Edition

• Did We Need Another Modern Orthodox Prayer Book? Reflections on the New RCA Siddur
• Who Was Dr. Philip (Paltiel) Birnbaum? the Man Behind the Machzor
  • Recording available from The Jewish Center

The Siddur:

• Series on “Who Wrote the Siddur?” available at Torah in Motion.

Jewish History and Biography:

• The Study of History in Jewish Tradition
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3

• Who Wrote the Zohar? Some Critical Scholarship is Older and Frummer than You Might Have Thought
• When Courts Get Involved: Mehitzot, Meliha, the Mashiah, and More
• Rabbi or Rogue? Michael Rodkinson and the First English Translation of the Talmud
• Are the Maccabeats Kosher? Salamone Rossi, Leon Modena, and Controversy over Singing in Shul
• Toward a More Pragmatic Redemption: Rabbi Yitzhak Yaakov Reines and the Controversy over the Early Zionist Movement
• What Did the Beit Hamikdash Really Look Like?
• From Slabodka to Berlin: the Short Life of R. Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan
• From Orthodoxy to Heresy: the Long Life of Mordecai Kaplan
• Baal Teshuva, Physicist, Teacher, Mystic: The Multifaceted Life of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan
• Don’t Like the Chazzan? You’re Not Alone: A Brief History of the Baal Tefillah

History of Halakha:

• Origins of the Oral Law
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
• Codification Controversies
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
• A Historical Journey Through the Talmud
  • Part 1: Introduction
  • Part 2: Rashi and Rambam
  • Part 3: From Tosafot to the Brisker Revolution
  • Part 4: Academic Approaches
  • Part 5: Who Wrote the Gemara?

Pesach:

• The Seder is Anything but Orderly
• From Scandal to Seder: How Geonic Polemic Shaped the Text of the Haggadah
• Four Questions or No Questions? How to Read Ma Nishtana
• The Life, Death, and Afterlife of Moses’ Staff
• Are Pesach Guides Getting Stricter?
• Series “From the Mishnah to Maggid” available at Torah in Motion on the history of the Haggadah.

Shavuot:

• All Night in Salonika, 1533: the First Tikkun Leil Shavuot
• What Did the People Hear? A Textual Analysis of the Revelation at Sinai
• Putting the “Ten” in the Ten Commandments: A Short History of a Name
• Why Do We Say Akdamut and Yatziv Pitgam on Shavuot?

Hannukah:

• Taking Apart the Hanukkah Miracle and Putting it Back Together

Purim:

• What Makes the Book of Esther Religious?
• Queen Esther Goes to Hollywood