All Episodes
Displaying 361 - 390 of 784 in total
Parsha: Ki Seitzei - A Lifetime A Day (5781)
The Midrash in our parsha calculates that the Torah contains 613 mitzvos, 248 positive mitzvos, where the Torah commands us to do something proactive, and 365 negative...
Ethics: Accepting Affliction (6.6.25)
Life is full of nuisances. For many - maybe all - life inevitably contains some pain, suffering, and affliction. How we approach these situations is a central element ...
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 - Crisper Genes
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 ...
Parsha: Shoftim - Gateways to Great Pursuits (5781)
Justice is a virtue that we must vigorously pursue. Our Parsha begins by instructing us to establish a court system with judges and bailiffs throughout our gates and t...
TORAH 101: False and Unrealized Messiahs
Our Nation has been yearning for Messiah for a very long time. And for good cause: Messiah is associated with wonderful things. Messiah is the state of the world when ...
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 - Making Dough
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. ...
Parsha: Re'eh - Look at Me (5781)
Moshe begins our parsha by presenting the Nation with a choice: See, I have placed before you today blessing and curse. And he continues to state that the blessing is ...
Ethics: Trust Sages (6.6.24)
Our primary responsibility as humans and as Jews is to develop and deepen our faith in the Creator. Can we have faith in man? Can we have faith in a mortal? In the 24t...
What God Wants
The Torah is an instruction manual from God. The word Torah, in fact, means instruction. The Torah contains many details; in fact, there is no conceivable situation th...
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 - Longevity Pill
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...
Parsha: Eikev - Cheat Code for Life (5781)
The Torah contains a lot of details regarding what the Almighty expects of us. A verse in our parsha purports to get to the bottom line of what - in one sentence - doe...
Mitzvah: Fire On the Altar (#132-3)
Steady fires were always present atop the Altar. At all times, even when sacrifices were not being processed in the Tabernacle and the Temple, a steady fire was mainta...
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 - Jordan Rules
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...
The Kabbalistic Backstory of Tisha B'av with Rabbi Shmuly Botnick
The Ninth Day of the month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. On this day, the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. On this same day the Second...
Parsha: Va'eschanan - Entry Denied (5781)
Moshe was very desirous of entering the Land. The Midrash reveals that he prayed 515 separate prayers to petition God to revoke His ban on Moshe entering the Land. But...
Ethics: Good Heart (6.6.23)
Although the study of Torah is ostensibly a cognitive pursuit, there are many qualities that are not cognitive nature that facilitate and enable the study of Torah. In...
Parshas Va'eschanan (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...
Parsha: Devarim - Middling East
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...
Parsha: Devarim - Man of Words (5781)
At the end of Moshe's life, he gathers the entire nation for his parting message to the nation. The Midrash makes a remarkable contrast between Moshe's beginning and e...
Mitzvah: Ashes of the Altar (#131)
The first activity performed in the Temple each day was the removal of the ashes from the previous day's sacrifices. Before today's sacrificial schedule can commence, ...
Parshas Devarim (Rebroadcast)
5 weeks before his passing, Moses gives a three-parsha-long speech to the nation, which constitutes his last will and testament. He begins with a retrospective of the ...
Parsha: Mattos & Masei - 49-Step Program
What did the nation do over the course of the 40 years in the wilderness? What was their objective? In our parsha we read that the nation stopped in 42 locations over ...
Ethics: Anger Suppression (6.6.22)
Anger is part of the human experience. When things agitate us, we get frustrated and have a tendency to lash out, to berate, to say things that we may regret. In this ...
Parsha: Mattos & Masei - Talent Incubator (5781)
Our parsha contains the laws regarding a person who murders someone accidentally. We are told that the accidental murderer must flee to the city of refuge and remain t...
TORAH 101: Characteristics of King Messiah
King Messiah will spearhead the spiritual movement that will reverberate the world over. This King will bear a grand and lofty stature exceeding that of the greatest e...
Parshas Mattos & Masei (Rebroadcast)
This year, the Book of Numbers ends with a double parsha – Mattos and Masei. We learn about the laws of vows and oaths; the miraculous war with Midian; the unusual req...