Kallah Scholar-in-Residence

Our annual “Kallah” weekend of learning and tefilla (prayer) began in 1969, the first of its kind in Boston. Each year, through lectures and discussion, an outstanding scholar leads study during and after Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning services and a Sunday morning community gathering. The Kallah re-lives a longstanding tradition of twice-yearly open assemblies for study with scholars of the academies in ancient Babylon. The Temple Reyim Kallah is named for Rabbi Philip Kieval, who founded it with initial support from Saul and Harriet Goldweitz, in memory of Saul’s mother Gussie Goldweitz. The first Kallah scholar was Professor Robert Chazan, a historian then at the University of Cincinnati, whose subject was Jewish-Christian Relationships From the Past To The Present.

2026 Kallah Scholar-in-Residence: Jeremy Eichler

Friday Evening April 24, Shabbat April 25, Sunday April 26, 2026

Our visiting scholar this year is music critic and cultural historian Jeremy Eichler, who will speak about What Music Remembers: An Exploration of Sound, War and Memory. 

Previous Kallah Scholars-in-Residence

  • 2025: Professor Jonathan Klawans, Boston University – Truth and Falsehoods in the Bible and Beyond
  • 2024: Professor Derek Penslar, Harvard University – Zionism: An Emotional History
  • 2023: Rabbi Professor Shaul Magid, Dartmouth College – Anti-Semisitm and Anti-Anti-Semitism
  • 2022: Rav Professor Rachel Adelman, Hebrew College – Unlikely Agents of Redemption in the Purim and Passover Stories
  • 2021: Gary Rendsburg, Rutgers University – The Bible Through Literary Eyes
  • 2019: Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth University – Perspectives on Human Dignity and Anti-Semitism
  • 2018: William Miles, Northeastern University – African-Jewish Communities and Encounters
  • 2017: Steven Whitfield, Brandeis University – Jews in Popular Culture
  • 2016: Michael A. Grodin, Boston University – Jewish Bioethics
  • 2015: Ruth W. Messinger, American Jewish World Service – Repairing the World
  • 2014: Arthur Green, Hebrew College Rabbinical School – Radical Judaism
  • 2012: Peter Cole, Adina Hoffman, MacArthur Fellow; Ibis Editions; Yale Univ; Wesleyan; Ibis Editions – Hidden Wisdom, Concealed Treasure: Uncovering the Medieval Jewish World
  • 2011: Jane Kanarek, Hebrew College – Women’s Ways to the Rabbinate: Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox
  • 2010: Barbara Geller, Wellesley College – Rabbis, Romans, and the Birth of Christianity
  • 2009: James Loeffler, University of Virginia – The Most Musical Nation: The Musical Life of Jewish Eastern Europe
  • 2008: William Dever, University of Arizona, Emeritus – Where Did We Come From? Origins of Ancient Israel.
  • 2007: Jacob Meskin, Hebrew College – The Modern Jew: Visions and Controversies
  • 2006: Ruth Langer, Boston College – Talking to G-d: Way Jews Pray 
  • 2005: Or Rose, Hebrew College – The God(s) of Judaism: A Historical Journey
  • 2004: Jonathan Sarna, Brandeis University – Jews in America: To Bigotry no Sanction; to Persecution no Assistance
  • 2003: Barry Holtz, Jewish Theological Seminary – Our Living Texts: What We Can Learn Today? 
  • 2001: Jay Harris, Harvard University – Is There a Future for Zionism? Should There Be?
  • 2000: Diane Sharon, Jewish Theological Seminary – Rivalry in the Bible
  • 1999: Yosef Abramowitz, Jewish Family & Life Magazine – Challenges Jews Face: A Journalist’s Perspective
  • 1999b: Everett Fox, Clark University – The Bible: New Hearings, New Views
  • 1998: Ora Horn Prouser, Jewish Theological Seminary – Disturbing Biblical Texts
  • 1997: Moshe Waldoks, Camp Ramah/AviChai Foundation – The Power of Positive Judaism
  • 1996: Shaye Cohen, Brown University – Judaism in the 20/1st Century
  • 1995: Jack Wertheimer, Jewish Theological Seminary – Walking the Tightrope: Judaism in Contemporary America
  • 1994: Joel Roth, Jewish Theological Seminary – The Centrality of the Talmud
  • 1993: Nehama Aschkenasy, Univ. of Connecticut, Stamford – Family, Community and Generational Conflicts: A Journey Through Judaic Literature
  • 1992: Benjamin Gampel, Jewish Theological Seminary – From Golden Age to Expulsion: The Saga of Sephardic Jewry
  • 1991: Hillel Levine, Boston University – Judaism and the Modern World: Jewish Contributions to the Processes of Modernization
  • 1990: Isaiah Gafni, Hebrew University, Jerusalem – The Jew and His World: Family Ties, Community & Social Confrontations
  • 1989: Morton Leifman, Jewish Theological Seminary – Exploring Judaism Through Words and Song
  • 1988: Leonid Feldman, CLAL, Wexner Heritage Foundation – Why be Jewish? An Odyssey from Communism to Judaism
  • 1987: Reuven Kimelman, Brandeis University, CLAL – Changing Images of the Jew – Will Our Grandchildren be Jewish?
  • 1986: Howard Sachar, George Washington University – A Journey Through Modern Jewish Experience
  • 1985: Burton Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary – Exodus Revisited: History, Legend and Lore
  • 1984: Jules Harlow, Jewish Theological Seminary – What’s so Conservative About Prayer?
  • 1983: Ronald Brauner, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College – Conflict and Accord – Making It in the Modern World
  • 1982: Steven Katz, Dartmouth College – Varieties of Jewish Religious Experience in the Second Temple Period
  • 1981: Emanuel Goldsmith, University of Connecticut – The Heritage of Yiddish Culture
  • 1980: David Sidorsky, Columbia University – Revolt and Continuity in Jewish Thought
  • 1979: Seymour Siegel, Jewish Theological Seminary – Today’s Challenges to Jewish Law: The Conservative Response
  • 1978: Fritz Rothschild, Jewish Theological Seminary – God, Man and Judaism – Their Meaning for Our Life
  • 1977: Charles Liebman, Bar-Ilan University, J.T.S. – The Development of the American Jewish Synagogue
  • 1976: Ismar Schorsch, Jewish Theological Seminary – A Study of Jewish Political Strategy Through the Ages
  • 1975: Jakob Petuchowski, Hebrew Union College – The Dynamics of Our Jewish Heritage
  • 1974: Gershon Winer, Resident in Israel – Our Jewish World: The Message in the Media
  • 1973: Avraham Holtz, Jewish Theological Seminary – The Modern Jew Searches for His Identity
  • 1972: Yochanan Muffs, Jewish Theological Seminary – The Humanity of God: The Psychology of the Prophet
  • 1971: Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, The Jewish Spectator – What Can a Modern Jew Believe
  • 1970: Gerson Cohen, Columbia University – Dissidence and Revolt Against the Jewish Establishment Ancient and Modern Times
  • 1969: Robert Chazan, University of Cincinnati – Jewish Christian Relationships the Past To The Present

Learning