All Episodes
Displaying 31 - 60 of 699 in total
Parsha: Haazinu - Torrential Torah (5782)
The Song of Haazinu, the third of three Songs on the Torah, tells the story of the Jewish people, past, present, and future. It speaks of high points and nadirs, this ...
The Gates of Repentance
The Ten Days of Repentance are upon us. In just a few days is the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah. These powerful high holidays culminate with the climax of Yom Kippur,...
Parshas Haazinu (Rebroadcast)
Still in the final day of Moshe’s life, he conveys to the nation a 43-verse Song predicting the contours of Jewish history, both past, present, and future. The pattern...
Parsha: Nitzavim Vayeilech - Like Clockwork
We are not machines. We are humans. And that's messy. We have all sorts of struggles doing the right thing. We are influenced by a myriad of impulses, inclinations, an...
Parsha: Vayeilech - Career Capstone (5782)
On the last day of Moshe's life, he accomplished a lot. He wrote 13 copies of the Torah, one per tribe and one to be permanently stationed in or near the Ark, he spoke...
Parsha: Nitzavim - The Penitent Manifesto (5782)
Repentance is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind. When we blunder; when we err; when we create distance and barriers between us and God, we are afforded the abilit...
Ethics: Place of Torah (6.9)
There are only three rules of real estate: location, location, location. When it comes to choosing a place to live, the same principle applies. But what determines a g...
Parshas Nitzavim & Vayeilech (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 - Gaze from Heaven
Blessings and curses. That is the dominant theme of our Parsha. We read the admonition of Deuteronomy - 98 bone-chilling curses that will befall our people in the even...
Parsha: Ki Savo - Clinging to Gold (5782)
On the surface, Bikkurim appears to be an ordinary, tithe-like Mitzvah. When the first fruits of a season's crop begin to sprout, you designate them as Bikkurim, and e...
Ethics: Double-Edged Swords (6.8)
Not everything that we covet in life necessarily redounds to our benefit. There are great many things that are double-edge swords: they can be used for good; they can ...
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 - Conscience Cleanser
Of the motley potpourri of subjects featured in Parshas Ki Seitzei are several fascinating mitzvos that we address in this week's Parsha podcast. We begin with a fasci...
Parsha: Ki Seitzei - The Payoff Pitch (5782)
What is the nature of the conflict of life? How, indeed, are we suspended between good and bad, between mitzvos and sin, between the evil and good inclinations? The Al...
The Root Cause of Anti-Semitism and How to Solve it: The Torah's Surprising View
Jew hatred is not a new phenomenon. Ever since our people were founded -- and truthfully even beforehand -- we have been the recipients of unprecedented, enmity and ho...
Ethics: The Life-Giving Property of Torah (6:7)
The thing that we crave more than anything else is life. We all want life. We all flee from curtailing of - or danger to - our life. How do we indeed get life? In this...
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 - Government-in-Exile
We begin the month of Elul on the Parsha Podcast with style, flair, and panache. It starts with some sweet, sweet vindication as we share a citation that legitimizes t...
Parsha: Shoftim - Hill To Die On (5782)
Our Parsha contains the instructions for how to conduct war. We are told that we must extend peace overtures before launching an attack, we are told about the special ...
Ethics: Proper Attribution (6.6.48)
When we hear something beautiful, something genius, something powerful, we may be tempted to pass it off as our own. In the final installment of the 48 ways to wisdom ...
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 - Idle Tree, Idle Warship, and Falls Profits
The Torah spends a lot of time cautioning us against idolatry. As the nation is about to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan, they are repeatedly warned to not fall...
Parsha: Reeh - Steak Your Claim (5782)
The criminal treated most severely under Torah law is the Meisis, a personal tries to entice others to do idolatry. Attempting to persuade people to repudiate God is m...
Ethics: Systematic Studying (6.6.47)
The penultimate way to wisdom offered by our sages instructs us to be systematic in our studies. What exactly does this mean? In this very special Ethics Podcast, we o...
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 - Shock and Awe
Flashy achievements make the news. Great triumphs, awesome deeds, transcendent moments grab our attention and seize our imagination. Humdrum acts fail to stir exciteme...
Parsha: Eikev - Well-Heeled (5782)
If the Almighty promises to give you a blessing, your ears should perk up. If God promises to give you abundance, health, prosperity, fertility, security, and all mann...
Ethics: Sharpening Teachers (6.6.46)
Teachers are usually pretty talented. They're usually gifted, knowledgeable, intelligent, and well-studied. In way to wisdom # 46 we learn how a student should strive ...
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 - Get a Life
Moshe was Joshua's teacher. By any measure, Moshe was a greater leader of the nation than Joshua was. Moshe was the sun to Joshua's moon. But Moshe was unable to lead ...