Park Avenue Podcasts

With Israel under fire, listen as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to Rabbi Steven Weil, the CEO of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), the only organization authorize to collect charitable donations on behalf of the IDF across the United States. 

Dr. Richard Haass and Rabbi Cosgrove discuss the latest developments in conflict between Israel and Iran, what it means for Israeli and global Jewry, and its implications on the world stage.

PAS's own Jon Frankel and sportswriter Michael Bamberger join Rabbi Cosgrove for a wide-ranging conversation about baseball, exploring Jewish ethical questions raised by topics such as the end of Pete Rose's banishment and the use of electronic umpires.

Words aren't just words—they carry history, impact, and, sometimes, danger. Rabbi Cosgrove explores how language evolves, why “Free Palestine” can no longer be dismissed as harmless, and what it means to speak—and stay silent—in an age of rising antisemitism.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Why do we read Ruth on Shavuot, and why at Yizkor? In a world governed by law, Ruth teaches the power of hesed – unearned, enduring kindness. Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on memory, love, and the quiet acts that bind us to one another, in life and in loss.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove and Jon Frankel, PAS member and guest co-host for this episode, interview Dan Grunfeld, former professional basketball player and son of former New York Knick and NYC high school basketball legend Ernie Grunfeld, as they discuss Dan's book, By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Recorded in front of a live audience, listen as Rabbi Cosgrove talks to Shuly Rubin Schwartz, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), joined by JTS students, including our own Rabbi Aiden Pink, as they highlight how JTS has adapted to the modern world.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Can a person guilty of moral failure ever be redeemed? Reflecting on the posthumous reinstatement of Pete Rose, Rabbi Cosgrove explores the balance between justice and mercy, sin and atonement. In a world desperate for integrity, he argues, moral accountability, especially from our leaders, is the cornerstone of national character.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

In the wake of a papal-political clash over “the order of love,” Rabbi Cosgrove explores Judaism's own moral calculus: how to love one's neighbor while prioritizing one's own. Drawing on the Bible, rabbinic tradition, and current events, he examines where faith, ethics, and communal responsibility meet—and sometimes collide.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove talks to Rabbi Daniel Ross Goodman about his past studies of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, how it led to his recent book, Soloveitchik's Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America, and what it meant to be a student of "The Rav."

In front of a live audience, Rabbi Cosgrove and Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013, discuss a wide range of current events and issues that are relevant to Israel, both its politics and its people.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What makes the seder different from all other nights? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that above all, it's the questions that frame the entire evening. He urges us to listen to everyone's questions with open hearts and minds and to allow that every question can have more than one right answer.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

When alternate notions of what's in the best interest of the Jewish community compete, how do we know what's right? Reminding us that we are not the first to face this dilemma, Rabbi Cosgrove recalls Rabbi A.J. Heschel, urging us to find the quiet inner voice of conscience.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Rabbi Cosgrove and Yizhar Hess, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization, discuss why American Jews should vote for Cosgrove and the MERCAZ USA (Conservative Movement) (Slate 17) in the elections that run through May 4.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Rabbi Cosgrove interviews Snir Pilus from Brothers for Life (BFL), which gives critical and immediate help to Israeli soldiers injured in combat. Among other initiatives, the organization pairs recently wounded soldiers with other injured soldiers to support each other during recovery.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, the senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in California and the author of a new book, The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews, as they discuss the post-October 7 relationship between American Jews and Israel.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What model of leadership serves our people best? Absolute adherence to principle or willingness to compromise? The book of Esther prompts Rabbi Cosgrove to examine both approaches, share his own answer, and advise that we must be tolerant of those who choose differently than we do.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Where do we find holiness? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that while a beautiful sanctuary may inspire us, holiness is to be found in the connections between people, between ourselves and others. He urges us to pursue holiness by practicing respectful dialogue with those with whom we disagree.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

It is tempting to see things as black or white, right or wrong, good or bad. Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that reality is not so neat. He urges us to be generous in standing together as we deal with the messiness of conflicting truths.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

In the wake of the October 7 attacks and many universities' lack of strong response to rising antisemitism on campus, Marc Rowan, major funder and Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, encouraged university donors to “close their checkbooks” until major changes are made on campus. Looking at the current state of affairs, Rowan and Rabbi Cosgrove will discuss the many ways we can advocate for change on campus and beyond.    For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What are the qualities of a leader? Looking to the examples of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Moses, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that a great leader is one who stands up for righteousness while honoring the sentiments of opposing factions who do not agree on what is the truth.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

After participating in a mission to Israel for parents and their Gen Z children seeking to gain a common language for discussing the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to realize that no resolution is possible without empathy for the other side.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Bucky Apisdorf, founder of Let's Do Something, an organization that promotes advocacy, safety, and healing in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, recounts his experience on Oct. 7 and how his life changed after the death of his best friend at the Nova Festival.    For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What does it mean to celebrate victory by planting a flag? Rabbi Cosgrove cautions that true victory includes respecting the dignity of our opponents and that only when we refrain from provoking and demeaning our adversaries can we hope for a permanent, peaceful resolution of conflict. For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook. Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Rabbi Rebecca Keren Jablonski to discuss her new book, Confessions of a Female Rabbi: Relevant Religion in an On-Demand World. Together, they explore her efforts to foster a deeper connection to Jewish life for “unshuled” Jews.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, Senior Rabbi of New London Synagogue, discusses the history and current incidents of antisemitism in London and the world.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What is your American story? Rabbi Cosgrove offers four questions to guide conversations at the Thanksgiving table.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to  renowned scholar and author Rabbi Yitz Greenberg about his new book, A Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, which explores the relationship between humanity and God.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Following last week's election, you may feel crushed and afraid or you may feel relieved and grateful. Rabbi Cosgrove counsels that whatever our reaction, each of us must move forward, working to realize our ideals with respect for those whose reactions differ from our own.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove discusses the current political climate in Israel with Yohanan Plesner, President of the Israel Democracy Institute since 2014. For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook. Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with renowned philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy as they discuss his new book, Israel Alone, and Israel's existential war against barbarism. For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook. Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Dr. Richard Haass, a veteran diplomat and respected voice on U.S. foreign policy and international relations, shared insights on what has taken place in the Middle East and the world over the past year and his thoughts about what might be on the horizon.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Can you imagine peace between sworn enemies? Through the story of how Jews and former Nazis cooperated to find and reinter the remains of an American Jewish soldier buried in a German mass grave, Rabbi Cosgrove offers hope that the enmities of our day may also be resolved someday.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.  

What happens after a fragile vessel shatters? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the divine light of our loved ones remains even after they are no longer present, and especially at Yizkor, we can still gather their sparks.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.  

What does it mean to be courageous, especially during times that, on the surface, call for resignation? Through an exploration of Jewish history, rabbinic thought, and High Holiday liturgy, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the bravery that is hard-wired in the DNA of the Jewish people.

Are you carrying any grudges? Regretting how you've treated someone? Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to forgive the shortcomings of others as we hope God will forgive our shortcomings, to make apologies and accept apologies so that we can begin the new year free of past bitterness.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What do we seek when entering a synagogue? By way of a visit to his grandfather's synagogue, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that we hope to experience gratitude for the people and values that have shaped us and to dedicate ourselves to becoming even better versions of ourselves.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Do you have hope for the future? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that all of Jewish history has been a series of trials and tests, and it is hope that has sustained the Jewish people throughout. To guarantee the Jewish future, we must channel our hope into living vibrant Jewish lives.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

ABC News' Nightline anchor Juju Chang interviews Rabbi Cosgrove about his latest book, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

In good times and bad, for Israelis and for American Jews, Jewish identity is tied to our connection to the Land. Rabbi Cosgrove explains how the pull of Israel situates Jewish identity and lays bare the challenge of living outside Israel while always feeling that one belongs there.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Throughout history, hope in the future has been essential to Jewish survival. Rabbi Cosgrove urges that despite our weariness and despair over the continuing war in the Middle East, we must envision and plan for a future of peaceful coexistence between Israel and its neighbors.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Throughout history, hope in the future has been essential to Jewish survival. Rabbi Cosgrove urges that despite our weariness and despair over the continuing war in the Middle East, we must envision and plan for a future of peaceful coexistence between Israel and its neighbors.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with Abigail Pogrebin and Rabbi Dov Linzer about their remarkable collaboration on the book It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses, and how the Torah can bring people together despite their differences.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin about his newest book Tikkun Ha'am: Israel and the Crisis of Liberal Judaism, the current era of American Judaism after October 7, and what Jewish identity means.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Is there any getting over grief? Rabbi Cosgrove suggests that just as the Israelites carried the shards of the broken tablets of the covenant, so too, we carry our losses and yet, move forward.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with James S. Snyder, long-time Park Avenue Synagogue member, art historian, and Director of The Jewish Museum, as they discuss the mission of The Jewish Museum, and Jewish art and expression at this point in Jewish history.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What is Double V? Recalling the campaign during WWII for victory against fascism on the battlefield and victory against racism on the homefront, Rabbi Cosgrove calls for a Double V campaign for Israel, for victory against Hamas and for the democratic values that are intrinsic to the state.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with award-winning author Francine Klagsbrun about her new book, Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream, and Szold's pioneering Zionist vision.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

What is your response to the anti-Israel protests on college campuses? Explaining that these demonstrations not only express distress at Israel's response to Hamas, but reflect a surge of antisemitism, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove urges all Jews to step up to combat Jew-hatred politically, legally, and philanthropically.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

How does a connection to the land of Israel play out in your life? In sharing his own personal experience, Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us how the dream and the reality of a sovereign Jewish state in the land of Israel has sustained the Jewish people.   For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.   Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.

We heard from Scott Miller, co-author of Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust​​​​​​, in dialogue with Rabbi Zuckerman.