
Jerusalem is a city that has captivated the imagination and devotion of people for thousands of years. Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, a rabbi and Wheaton College professor of religion, illuminates the connections between each of the Abrahamic traditions and the historical and theological ties grounding them in Jerusalem.
Guest Bios
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus is Professor of Religion at Wheaton College. His is the author of Gastronomic Judaism as Culinary Midrash (Lexington Press, 2018) and has published numerous articles on Jewish food in the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, Studies in Jewish Civilization, and other journals, and has translated Rabenu Bahya ben Asher’s fourteenth-century Hebrew mystical manual on food, Shulhan Shel Arba (Table of Four) into English which is available online. He has regularly taught “The Rituals of Dinner” First Year Seminar at Wheaton for over twenty years, as well as other courses in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies (New Testament) from Vanderbilt, and is an ordained Reconstructionist Rabbi. He lives, cooks, eats, and gardens with his wife Maia, an elementary school teacher in Providence, RI.

Susan Balogh
Susan Balogh teaches Social Studies at the Edith C. Baker School in Brookline, MA.
Free Resources and Featured Books
Dome of the Rock by Oleg Grabar. This book features photographs of Jerusalem, including much of the architecture mentioned by Professor Brumberg-Kraus!
Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah da Costa, recommended by Susan Balogh who reads the book with her middle school students.
Episode Acknowledgements
Special thaks to the Qatar Foundation International, which provided the seed funding and support to develop and launch this podcast and to produce this episode.
Thanks to Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus and Susan Balogh for generously sharing their expertise.
Image Credits
- Photo of Jerusalem provided by Daniel Osborn.
- Photo of Professor Brumberg-Kraus provided by Professor Brumberg-Kraus.
Featured Music
- “Kim Arar,” by Wind of Anatolia, from the album Live at the 2014 Golden Festival, used with permission from Wind of Anatolia. The track has been excerpted and mixed with narrative.
“Leave the TV on,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Lemuel, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Lahaina,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Cloud Harbor, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“The Records,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Union Hall, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Sals Place,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Duck Lake, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Our Names Engraved,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Duck Lake, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Strange Dog Walk,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Castro, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Dolly and Pad,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Piano Mover, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Slate Tracker,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Glacier Quartet—Araby, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Drone Pine,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Pine Barrens, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been overlaid with narrative.
“Wistful,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Grey River, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Morning Colorwheel,” by Blue Dot Sessions, from the album Resolute, used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). The track has been remixed and overlaid with narrative.