Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Kedoshim: Radical Ratzon
According to many interpreters, we achieve kedushah by curbing our desire. Holiness, in this view, inextricably entails suppression of our will. Take…
4 years, 3 months ago
R. Shai Held: Theology in a Time of Climate Emergency
We live in a time of unprecedented climate emergency: greenhouse gas emissions are causing vast and irreversible changes to the the Earth’s climate. …
4 years, 3 months ago
R. Ethan Tucker: Midrash and Rabbinic Imagination, Part 3
In some rabbinic midrashim, biblical characters cross over into different story lines, creating whole new backgrounds for their characters. Rabbi Eth…
4 years, 4 months ago
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Metzora: Speech That Heals
Last week, in Parashat Tazria, we saw that our capability to be full partners in Torah is anchored in the messy and sometimes disorienting details of…
4 years, 4 months ago
R. Ethan Tucker: Midrash and the Rabbinic Imagination, Part 2
>Who are Hur, Yair ben Menashe, and Serah bat Asher and why do these minor biblical characters appear in midrash far removed from their own stories?…
4 years, 4 months ago
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Tazria: Torah Rooted in the Real
Tazria is a parashah that people often find more repelling than compelling. Why so many words dedicated to bodily emissions and the intricate appeara…
4 years, 4 months ago
R. Ethan Tucker: Midrash and the Rabbinic Imagination, Part 1
When a midrash seems so fantastical and outlandish that you conclude it must be made up, you are probably not reading the text as closely as the midr…
4 years, 5 months ago
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shemini: Whiplash and Endurance
It is hard to imagine a parashah more devastating than Shemini, or more of a testament to the stamina of enduring relationship despite all. When we e…
4 years, 5 months ago
R. Avi Strausberg: The Danger of Hope
In times of despair and sadness, hope plays an important role. But can there be danger from too much hope? R.Avi Strausberg explores a wide variety o…
4 years, 5 months ago
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Tzav: Constancy and Intermittence
Parashat Tzav opens with an image of constancy, the fire on the altar that always burns, never extinguished. The unextinguished fire is not just prac…
4 years, 5 months ago