All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 870 in total
Parsha: Nitzavim - Repent Up Demand
How difficult is it to repent? How hard is it to examine your behavior, your choices, your values, your decisions to determine which are in need of improvement? How ha...
Parsha: Nitzavim Vayeilech - Pro Choice (5783)
On the final day of Moshe's life, he gathers the entire nation for a parting message. After forging another covenant between the nation and God and explicating the con...
The Alchemy of Repentance
Repentance is one of God's great gifts to humanity. The ability to move past our mistakes, to cleanse ourselves from our previous trauma, to expunge sin and any of its...
Parshas Nitzavim (Rebroadcast)
On the final day of Moshe’s life, he gathered the entire nation – men, women, children, and according to the Talmud, all souls of future Jews – to pass them through a ...
Parsha: Ki Savo - A Cursory Reading
Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy is arguably the most difficult portion in the Torah to read. Known as the Admonition, the chapter details the blessings that will be bestowed...
Parsha: Ki Savo - Dial of Joy (5783)
The Torah has a surprising view on joy and how to attain it. The prevailing attitude in our society is that a person's state of joy is contingent upon circumstance: In...
Divine Mirroring: The Secret to Earning a Merciful Judgment on Rosh Hashanah
The judgment on Rosh Hashanah is comprehensive: every single human has his or her moment of judgment before God. Even the dead are judged again each year. The judgment...
Parshas Ki Savo (Rebroadcast)
As the Book of Deuteronomy draws to its conclusion, the narrative makes a transition: Moshe finishes conveying the mitzvos to the nation, and sets up his final parting...
Parsha: Ki Seitzei - Yibbum Or Bust
The death of one's spouse is always a tragedy, but there's something particularly sad about someone who dies without children. Leaving no living progeny behind leaves ...
Parsha: Ki Seitzei - The Upside of Laziness (5783)
Our parsha begins with the unusual law of the marriage of a Jewish warrior and an enemy captive woman. When a Jewish warrior spots a prisoner of war that he desires to...
TORAH 101: Third Order of Mishnah (Women)
A great corpus of Torah law governs the relationships between men and women. The Second Order of Mishnah contains books on the initiation of marriage, on marital respo...
Parshas Ki Seitzei (Rebroadcast)
In the parsha that contains the most mitzvos of any of the 54 Torah sections (a staggering 74 mitzvos), we read about the wayward and rebellious son, the requirement t...
Parsha: Shoftim - Crown Jewels
Many of us secretly harbor the belief the we would make a fine president. Leading a nation sounds like a cushy job: armies of aides at your beck and call, ready to exe...
Parsha: Shoftim - Crisper Genes (5783)
The nation is on the doorstep of Canaan. In our Parsha, the people are instructed in how they must treat the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. It's not pleasant. The ...
Elul Cheat Sheet
Preparing for the High Holidays can be daunting. How can anyone adequately prepare for standing in judgment in front of the Heavenly tribunal? But prepare we must. The...
Parshas Shoftim (Rebroadcast)
This week we learn the laws governing all kinds of leaders: The parsha begins by detailing the laws of judges, the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, an...
Parsha: Reeh - Path Independence
We like to maintain optionality and delay decisions if possible. The idea of being pigeonholed into one path irks us. But Moshe tells the nation that we must make a ch...
Parsha: Reeh - Making Dough (5783)
The Parsha ends with a delineation of the festivals. When discussing Passover, the verse notes that for 7 days we eat matzah because we left Egypt within great haste. ...
Elul: Month of Personal Reinvention
We are on the doorstep of the month of mercy, the month that precedes the high holidays, the month of Elul. The high holidays are very significant and auspicious days,...
Parshas Reeh (Rebroadcast)
This week’s parsha marks a transition in the Book of Deuteronomy: it is no longer primarily about admonishment and rebuke and warnings, instead we read a bevy of mitzv...
Parsha: Eikev - Tefillin' Good
This is a very special episode of the Parsha podcast. Exactly 5 years ago, the Parsha podcast began a streak of producing a brand new episode each week. With the unend...
Parsha: Eikev - Longevity Pill (5783)
A ubiquitous feature in Jewish homes, the Mezuzah contains a scroll with two paragraphs from the Torah, one from this week's Parsha and one from last week's. This mitz...
TORAH 101: Second Order of Mishnah (Festivals)
The Jewish calendar is studded with days of great importance. Each week we relive Genesis by celebrating the holy Shabbos. At half-year intervals are the mega festival...
Parshas Eikev (Rebroadcast)
We pick up where we left off last week amid Moshe’s speech to the nation before his passing, and as in the previous few weeks, Parshas Eikev is jam packed with insight...
Parsha: Vaeschanan - Two of Hearts
Even believers are incapable of understanding God. It's supremely logical to observe that our wonderful world - our wonderful universe - certainly had a Creator, but h...
Parsha: Vaeschanan - Jordan Rules (5783)
As a result of Moshe's sin of striking the rock, he was barred from crossing over the Jordan River and entering the Land of Canaan. In Moshe's speech to the nation, he...
Parshas Vaeschanan (Rebroadcast)
This week’s parsha continues Moshe’s monologue to the nation in the weeks preceding his passing. He begins by recounting his repeated efforts in trying to convince God...
Biblical Longevity
We all want to live long. But how long is a long life? Centenarians are still rare. Global life expectancy is around 70 years old. In healthier, richer countries, mayb...
Parsha: Devarim - Wellsprings of Beer
There are many levels of Torah. There are many ways to acquire Torah, 48 by the calculation of our Sages. The human with the greatest understanding of Torah was obviou...
Parsha: Devarim - Middling East (5783)
In his speech to the Nation, Moshe revisits the episode of the Spies that occurred 39 years prior. When the nation was on the verge of entering the Land, Moshe commiss...