All Episodes
Displaying 31 - 60 of 888 in total
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...
Tisha Bav: Why We Mourn
The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. All manner of calamities and tragedies and disasters befell our people on this day. ...
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 - Greatness and Anti-Greatness
Accidents are unfortunate. Accidents that lead to death are a catastrophe. Among the myriad of subjects discussed in this week's double Parsha is the law of the accide...
Parsha: Mattos & Masei - 49-Step Program (5783)
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 ...
TORAH 101: First Order of Mishnah (Planting)
The Mishnah is a massive, sprawling, and utterly comprehensive canon of Torah law. Spanning 60+ books over 6 Orders, the Mishnah includes all the laws of the Torah. To...
Parsha: Pinchas - Sunday and Moonday
Great leaders are often irreplaceable. The greatest leader of them all is certainly irreplaceable. But even Moshe must have a successor. In our Parsha, Moshe asks God ...
Parsha: Pinchas - Sons of Anarchist (5783)
Korach's rebellion claimed many victims: Some of the perpetrators were swallowed up in a miraculous sinkhole; some were consumed by a divine fire; and some were killed...
Assault on Dina: A Deep Exploration of a Third Rail Topic
Some subjects are way too dicey address publicly - electrified third rail subjects which zap anyone who approaches it. But Blake Cohn is not afraid of third rails. In ...
Parshas Pinchas (Rebroadcast)
Pinchas was a man of action, a zealot who avenged God’s vengeance and was handsomely rewarded for it. In this parsha we read about his reward, Moses’ succession plan, ...
Parsha: Balak - Ruthless and Ruthful Determination
Balak, King of Moab, and Bilaam, sorcerer extraordinaire, hatched a plot to annihilate the Jewish people. Had their plan been successful, there would not have been eve...
TORAH 101: Components of Oral Torah
What makes up Oral Torah? What are the different types of information included in the Mishnah? In part 3 of the authoritative, magisterial, and comprehensive introduct...