R. Aubrey L. Glazer‘s most recent books include: A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking: Critical Theory After Adorno as Applied to Jewish Thought and Contemporary Hebrew Mystical Poetry: How It Redeems Jewish Thinking.

Nehemia Polen, professor of Jewish Thought and director of the Hasidic Text Institute at Hebrew College, is a leading expert in Hasidism and Jewish thought.

Extended Biographies:

R. Aubrey L. Glazer received his Ph.D. in Hebrew Hermeneutics from the University of Toronto. During his studies he immersed himself in the philosophical work of Emmanuel Levinas and the Talmud under the direction of Dr. Robert Gibbs. This intellectual background informed Glazer’s work across academic forums on Jewish philosophy in relation to spirituality, mysticism, and aesthetics. Now an independent scholar, Glazer’s efforts focus on serving the broader Jewish community by incorporating Jewish Mysticism and Hebrew Poetry into theological and academic conversations regarding contemporary intellectual trends in Judaism. Glazer is currently the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco, CA.

Some of his publications include, Tangle of Matter and Ghost: Leonard Cohen’s Post-Secular Songbook of Mysticism(s) Jewish and Beyond (Academic Studies Press, 2017), Mystical Vertigo: Kabbalistic Hebrew Poetry Dancing Over the Divide (Academic Studies Press, 2013), A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking: Critical Theory After Adorno as Applied to Jewish Thought (New York: Continuum, 2011), and Contemporary Hebrew Mystical Poetry: How It Redeems Jewish Thinking (Edwin Mellen Press: New York, 2009).

Rabbi Dr. Nehemia Polen is Professor of Jewish Thought at Boston’s Hebrew College. He is the author of The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto (Jason Aronson, 1994, 1999). He received his Ph.D. from Boston University, where he studied with and served as teaching fellow for Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. In 1994 he was Daniel Jeremy Silver Fellow at Harvard University, and has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He studied at Yeshivat Ner Israel, both in Baltimore and Toronto. In 1998-9 he was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, working on the writings of Malkah Shapiro (1894-1971), the daughter of a noted hasidic master, whose Hebrew memoirs focus on the spiritual lives of women in the context of pre-war Hasidism in Poland. The research culminated in his book, The Rebbe’s Daughter(Jewish Publication Society, 2002), recipient of a National Jewish Book Award. Last year he was on sabbatical in Jerusalem, where he co-taught a course on Polish Hasidism at Hebrew University.