Touro Talks

Rav Doron Perez, World Mizrachi CEO, joins Touro Talks for a conversation about the importance of Zionism and bringing Torah values to Zionism. He explains how every Jew can impact the development of the land of Israel, and who has a monopoly on truth. Sharing the tragic loss of his son on October 7 as he fought for the land of Israel, Rav Perez stresses the importance of building bridges and standing together.

Political analyst and Egyptian refugee, Dalia Ziada, joins Touro Talks for an incisive analysis of the shifting dynamics in the Middle East, including Israel's emergence as a regional power and Turkey's growing influence, peer pressure on American college campuses, the socialist Islamist alliance, and her journey from burning the Israeli flag on her university campus in Egypt to speaking on American college campuses about the Islamist threats to America.

Faulkner said “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” In this Touro Talks, Dr. Henry Abramson, historian and dean of Lander College for Men, spoke with former refusenik and author Rabbi Dr. Yosef Mendelevich on the occasion of the release of his new volume, The Cantonists, published by Touro University Press. They speak about Mendelevich’s experience in the gulag, integrating into a society, army conscription, and the relevance of his most recent book for the issues we still face today.

Recorded live on October 14, 2020. A conversation with activist, political prisoner, and Israeli minister, Natan Sharansky & historian Gil Troy on their book, Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People. Sharansky talks about family and that “once you discover your people, you are never alone” and Palestinian activism and rights. 

In a wide-ranging conversation with Touro President Dr. Alan Kadish, Congressman Ritchie Torres shared how his upbringing in the South Bronx led to success in his political career. He spoke about his passion for Israel, the rise in antisemitism, why he believes some of his colleagues are misguided when it comes to the Jewish state, and how he’s fighting that on all fronts. Dr. Kadish and Torres also discussed ways to address America’s mental health crisis and what Torres is doing to help impact and improve the lives of New Yorkers.

Poland and Lithuania are home to the Chassidic movement, misnagdim and the controversy between the two, so much of our halachic commentary, and a rich and diverse Jewish cultural life. Walking their streets, we can relive our history and find out place in it. Get a taste of the stories and knowledge Drs. Shnayer Leiman and Henry Abramson have to share and what you’ll experience if you join Touro’s luxury summer tour of Poland & Lithuania with this special episode of Touro Talks.

Recorded live on June 20, 2021. A conversation on the new Middle East with Ambassador Houda Nonoo of Bahrain on the Abraham Accords, and the history of Jewish life in Bahrain.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein and Bishop Glenn R. Plummer join Touro Talks host, Dr. Alan Kadish, for a conversation on antisemitism, support for Israel, and what we can expect under the new U.S. administration.

Recorded live on November 19, 2024. Touro Talks host Dr. Alan Kadish, explores the series of high-profile legal cases filed after the horrific events of October 7th, 2023 against those who provided material support to the designated foreign terrorist organization Hamas, with guests Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder and Erielle Davidson.

Touro Talks commemorates October 7th, one year later, with divrei chizzuk, words to guide and strengthen us, from Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, and an analysis from former Consul General of Israel and new distinguished Touro faculty member, Ido Aharoni, on the global rise of antisemitism and the challenges now faced by Israel in a post-October 7th world. Touro president, Dr. Alan Kadish, host. Note: Rabbi Lau's message is in Hebrew. Translation is available in the transcript.

Recorded live on September 8, 2024. Since the Hamas massacre and the Gaza war, Jews have been caught in a loop: condemned as victimizers even as they see themselves as the victims. Join Touro Talks host and Touro President, Dr. Alan Kadish, with guest, best-selling author Yossi Klein Halevi, as they talk about what it means to be a people that has regained power, but is still under existential threat. How can Jews navigate power and vulnerability? And what needs to change in the Jewish psyche to help the community better cope with the threats facing the Jewish world today?

A conversation with US District Judge, Honorable Roy K. Altman, and President of Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Alyza D. Lewin, Esq., on antisemitism on college campuses and beyond.

Recorded live on May 9, 2024. Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, hosts professors and students at American universities across the country for a conversation about antisemitism on American college campuses. Guests are Miri Bar-Halpern (Director of Intensive Outpatient Treatment Service, Boston Child Study Center; Clinical Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School), Oren Gross (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Irving Younger Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School; Senior Research Affiliate, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany), Marie-Alice Legrand (J.D. Candidate '24, Columbia University), and Talia Segal (B.S. Candidate ’24, Ge...

(Recorded live on February 26, 2024) Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, hosts professors Shai Davidai, PhD (Assistant Professor of Management, Columbia Business School), Claire Finkelstein, JD, PhD (Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy; Faculty Director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, The University of Pennsylvania), Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, MD (Clinical Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Steven Davidoff Solomon, JD, M.Fin. (Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law) for a conversation about antisemitism on college campuses across the United...

(Recorded live on January 29, 2024) Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, hosts Anne Bayefsky (Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust) and David Luchins (Founding Dean of Touro University's Lander College for Women–The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School and Chair of the Political Science Department) for a conversation role of the United Nations in past and current conflicts between Israel and its neighbors.

(Recorded live on December 18, 2023) Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, in conversation with student leaders on American college campuses, Gabriel Diamond (B.A. Candidate '24, Yale University), Talia Dror (B.S. Candidate '25, Cornell University), Jillian Lederman (A.B. Candidate '24, Brown University), Marie-Alice Legrand (J.D. Candidate '24, Columbia University). 

(Recorded live on December 4, 2023) Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, hosts David M. Friedman, former Ambassador of the United States to Israel for a discussion on a career in law, diplomacy, Israel, antisemitism and October 7.

(Recorded live on November 19, 2023) Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University, hosts Michal Cotler-Wunsh, LL.B., LL.M. (Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism), Joel Finkelstein, Ph.D. (Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer, Network Contagion Research Institute), Malcolm I. Hoenlein (Executive Vice Chairman Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations) for a conversation on cutting-edge efforts to combat worldwide antisemitism.

(Recorded live on October 24, 2023.) Special screening of the Oscar-Nominated Short Film, Feeling Through, the first film to star a DeafBlind actor, with guest host, Sam Levine, Professor of Law and Director of the Jewish Law Institute at Touro Law Center. Post-screening conversation with Doug Roland, the film's director/writer, and the film's producers from Helen Keller Services, Dr. Susan Ruzenski, and Chris Woodfill.