“The presentation was great – a perfect balance between math, Jewish teachings, and fun!” — Rachel Biale, Program Director for New Lehrhaus (The Bay Area Hub for Adult Jewish Learning)
“His talk was both meaningful and accessible. All who were present had an uplifting and thought-provoking opportunity to learn. And on top of that, we all laughed with Dr. Lesser a great deal.” — R. Ben Zeidman, Temple Mount Sinai
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On Judaism-math connections, Dr. Larry Lesser has written several articles and co-led an international funded speaker series (for which he gave the opening talk and moderated the others). His ongoing journey includes lived experience in a half-dozen streams of Judaism, distinctively positioning him to engage diverse audiences and win recognitions for his nondenominational, nonliturgical Jewish folk-rock albums Sparks and Night Will End.
speaker series
An award-winning Professor at UT-El Paso (same 31.76oN latitude as Jerusalem!) since 2004, Dr. Lesser has published research in top journals in statistics/math education. He served as a supporting faculty member throughout the existence of the UTEP Inter-American Jewish Studies Program (2005-2018) and Jewish Education El Paso (2009-2012), and several of his 142+ articles connect math/statistics with Judaism (which his college highlighted in 2023). This led to co-writing a competitively-selected proposal for a funded international general audiences religion-and-mathematics speaker series for the Scientists in Synagogues program. Lesser gave the opening talk (on infinity, watch here or here, and reprised for U. of Maryland’s KEDMA and the Bay Area’s New Lehrhaus), moderated subsequent talks, and the overall speaker series yielded much media coverage, scholarship, and dissemination, such as this 4-minute film.
articles
In 2006, he published in Journal of Mathematics and Culture (JMC) the first juried comprehensive classroom-oriented article on Jewish mathematics, based on his curriculum integration while teaching math at a pluralistic Jewish high school. The article gives scholarly background and class-tested examples beyond gematria to include counting, infinity, pi, modeling, geometry, logic, and connections to Jewish text/customs and school experiences. In 2016, Lesser published a followup paper in JMC with a randomized experiment and he is now co-leading a team exploring statistics curriculum/pedagogy used with Haredi student populations. Other papers include a short Pi Day piece in The Jewish Educator, a 2015 essay in TEEM on language/culture parallels, and a contribution to the THGC-commissioned ethics module. (Lesser also enjoys creating curriculum highlighting other cultures, such as a probability lesson based on beloved games from Mexican-American culture.)
creative work and presentations
Lesser draws from multiple intersecting identities to make material engaging and accessible for audiences of varied (religious or mathematical) backgrounds. In addition to the funded 2021 speaker series mentioned above, he gave presentations and performances connecting Judaism to Aesop’s fables and opened (see video) the March 27-28, 2023 world premiere of the associated opera The Fox and the Cookie for which Opera UTEP was selected as a national finalist in the Opera performance collegiate division of The American Prize.
He has also performed at events such as services, the 2023 TMS Jewish Food Festival, the 2024 JFed’s WinterFest Chanukah on the Plaza, and for UTEP Religious Studies with his original Jewish songs based on Jewish text/culture that made him a 4-time Finalist (and Winner of Best Humorous Song) at the 2021 New Mexico Music Awards. His album SPARKS ‘ approach yielded articles in international journals (The Israeli Journal of Humor Research and NewCAJE’s The Jewish Educator) and a song video screened at the national conference of The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies and the Silver City Community Film Festival.
Such experiences led to his being named (one of 46 from 200+ applications worldwide) a Jewish Wisdom Fellow by Hadar. Since fall 2025, he has released a all-new album (NIGHT WILL END) and a mini-album updating six of his Sparks songs. His “Healing Song” has been covered by other artists and used in many states at congregational services and he has occasionally served as accompanist as well. Since 2024, he also has published thematic pieces in R. Menachem Creditor-edited collections for Bondi Beach, Shavuot, Purim, and High Holidays, as well as in venues such as Desert Exposure, Drash: Northwest Mosaic, and Mizmor Poetry Anthology. Lesser has also won national Jewish cartoon caption contests from the Sept/Oct 2018, Summer 2025, Fall 2025, and Winter 2026 issues of Moment magazine.
Since 1997, Lesser has used his award-winning teaching skills to give (for varied multi-congregation settings, audiences, and formats) engaging interactive math-and-Judaism presentations for the International ALEPH Kallah, citywide Yom Limmud or Tikkun Leil Shavuot events (e.g., Houston, El Paso), individual congregations (from Modern Orthodox to post-denominational; for example, here), pluralistic day schools or Sunday schools (e.g., Ft. Collins, El Paso, Houston, Albuquerque, Austin, and Richmond).
Talks besides the “Divinity and Infinity” talk (how math concepts can help illuminate big ideas in Judaism) mentioned above have included:
- “Water is Torah: Swimming (and Singing) in the Sea of Talmud” (for UTEP World Water Week 2025),
- “How We Count” (how Jewish values are embedded in how Jews count in holy books, time, people, etc.; e.g., talk),
- “How We Argue” (how Jewish values are embedded in how we approach arguments; here),
- “Lots and Lotteries” (Jewish texts and views on chance — from ancient to modern),
- “Who is Wise?” (secular and Jewish perspectives on wisdom) and
- “Learning Language” (new talk)
Lesser also has arranged for talks of interest to the Jewish community by other speakers, such as Dr. José Villalobos on group empathy (flyer) and has had math-and-Judaism contributions acknowledged in other scholars’ work (e.g., this, this, and this). He has served as congregation board member, as a Jewish community newspaper columnist, and has been interviewed about: Chanukah on an NPR-station, Crypto Jews on an iHEART radio podcast, math-Judaism connections on BBC Radio Wales (here or here), and his overall creative endeavors by the Jewish Voice.
oppanel(pdf)