Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchR. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Va'Ethanan: Law After War
Our parashah describes a deeply charged moment—a moment where the Israelites are at risk of forgetting the Holy Blessed One. Surprisingly, this dang…
1 month ago
R. Elazar Symon on Tisha B'Av: Wood and Stone
At least in the plain sense of Lamentations 4, the destruction of Jerusalem is not presented as the execution of a carefully designed plan. It is a …
1 month, 1 week ago
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Devarim: Eikhah: What Does God Lament?
Parashat Devarim is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av, the week in which we read Megillat Eikhah (the Book of Lamentations). This crea…
1 month, 1 week ago
R. Dani Passow: Esh Kodesh: Finding God in the Midst of Suffering
In the darkest days of the Holocaust, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczner Rebbe, offered weekly teachings to his community in the Warsaw …
1 month, 2 weeks ago
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Mattot-Masei: The Daughters of Tzlofhad and the Sons of Menashe
The Book of Numbers concludes by revisiting a narrative we first encountered last week: the story of Tzlofhad’s inheritance. This episode appears fi…
1 month, 2 weeks ago
R. Tali Adler: Rabbinic Personalities: Getting to Know R. Yohanan Ben Zakkai
Who were the rabbis who shaped Judaism as we know it today? This class delves into Talmudic stories about Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, comes to know hi…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
4th of July Special: R. Ethan Tucker: 250 Years of Judaism in America
Over 250 years in America, Judaism—a way of life that centers obligation—has had to negotiate a culture defined by autonomy and freedom. How has that…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Pinhas: Between Optional and Obligatory Wars
Over the past three years, a myriad of terms for the reality of war have emerged in Israeli discourse: a commanded war (milhemet mitzvah), an existen…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
R. Elazar Symon on the 17th of Tammuz: What Must Be Broken
The tragedies we remember on 17th Tammuz are really of different kinds.
1 month, 4 weeks ago
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Balak: “A People Like a Lion”
Bilam’s prophecies are rich, dense, and enigmatic. One in particular was emphasised recently in 2025 when the war with Iran took its name from Bilam’…
2 months ago