The College Commons Podcast, passionate perspectives from Judaism's leading thinkers, is produced by Hebrew Union College, America's first Jewish institution of higher learning.
College Commons
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246 episodes
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Podcast Overview
The College Commons Podcast, passionate perspectives from Judaism's leading thinkers, is produced by Hebrew Union College, America's first Jewish institution of higher learning.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
12/3/2015
1 verified contact email on file for College Commons
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Recent Episodes
June 9, 2026
Michael Meyer: Hebrew Union College at 100 Years – 50 years ago!
Historian Michael A. Meyer, Professor Emeritus at Hebrew Union College, discusses American Judaism's evolution over 150 years in this interview.
May 28, 2026
David Mendelsson: Looking at 56 Years of HUC in Israel
Professor Emeritus David Mendelsson shares insights from 56 years of HUC's evolution in Israel, offering a historical perspective on momentous change.
May 14, 2026
Judah Cohen: Soundscape of the Soul
<p>Soundscape of the Soul</p><p><br></p><p>Jewish Music transplanted from Europe to American, via Hebrew Union College.</p><p><br></p><p>Judah M. Cohen, Ph.D. is the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost at Hebrew Union College. Cohen previously served as the Lou & Sybil Professor of Jewish Culture in the Indiana University Borns Jewish Studies Program and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Research and Creative Activity at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.</p><p><br></p><p>Over the course of four books and over 50 articles, Cohen has explored the idea of Jewish cultural expression as a dynamic and ever-changing process. His research interests include music in Jewish life, American music, musical theater, popular culture, Caribbean Jewish history, diaspora, and medical ethnomusicology.</p><p>His training as a musicologist and an anthropologist, and his professional activity within Jewish studies, has allowed him to explore many aspects of Jewish culture and history. Cohen holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from Harvard, and for his doctoral work he explored the meaning of becoming a Reform Jewish cantor at the turn of the twenty-first century, based on three years of ethnographic study with cantorial students. In his first book, Through the Sands of Time: A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., he offered both a historical narrative and a meditation on writing the history of a small community.</p><p><br></p><p>Subsequent projects have led him to investigate the history of Jewish music scholarship in the United States, musical theater works that address Holocaust memory, contemporary forms of Jewish musical expression and musical representations of such cultural figures as Anne Frank and Shylock. His other books include The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor (2009); Sounding Jewish Tradition: The Music of Central Synagogue (2011), which received the Greater Hudson Heritage Network Award for Excellence; and Jewish Religious Music in Nineteenth Century America: Restoring the Synagogue Soundtrack (2019).</p><p><br></p><p>Throughout his research, he has focused on the idea of Jewish cultural expression as a dynamic and ever-changing process, created and recreated over time by artists, religious leaders, philosophers and activists. He has aimed to understand this idea largely through the prism of sound and its relationship to ideas of Jewish identity.</p>
246 total episodes available with 2 transcripts
Recent guests on College Commons
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Michael Meyer
Guest
David Mendelsson
Guest
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is College Commons?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates monthly.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 10 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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