Our guest today is Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen, leader of the Beth El Kesser Israel congregation in New Haven, Connecticut. Rabbi Tilsen has been the spiritual leader of Beth El Kesser Israel since 1993. He is a graduate of Columbia College in New York, where he studied Political Science and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. He received a Master’s degree and Rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1991. Rabbi Tilsen is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, the global organization of 1,600 Masorti-Conservative rabbis, and of the New Haven Area Rabbinical Assembly, the local organization of Masorti-Conservative rabbis. You can find some of his writings here.
This week’s Torah portion – Parashat B’reisheet (Genesis 1:1-6:8) – features the famous stories of the creation of the world, Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, and Cain’s murder of his brother Able. Our discussion focuses on the question of why humanity was created with one man and one woman.
