edJEWcation

edJEWcation
  • 4.8 (39)
  • Judaism
  • Updated Weekly

Your weekly dose of Jewish wit and wisdom. Each week Rabbi Abba Perelmuter, Chayaleah Sufrin, and Jay Covitz explore Jewish history, culture, and writings. Whether you're a relapsed Jew or an old pro there is something for us all to learn.

  1. 1d ago

    The Book of Deuteronomy: Moses' Last Words

    Moses has five weeks left. He starts talking on the first of Shevat, he dies on the seventh of Adar, and in between he delivers the longest, most repetitive, most urgent speech in the Torah. The traditional name for it is Mishneh Torah, the repetition of the Torah, and many commentators say this is the one book Moses spoke on his own behalf. So this week we skip the parsha by parsha treatment and take the whole book at once, because the themes only show up when you stand back far enough to see them. In this episode, we get into: Why Deuteronomy reads differently from the first four books, and what “Moses spoke on his own behalf” actually means The discrepancies with Numbers, starting with who really wanted to send the spies, plus the small differences in the Ten Commandments Who Moses is actually talking to: a generation born in the desert with no slave mentality and no memory of Egypt The warning that prosperity, not persecution, is what makes people forget, and how uncomfortably well that lands in America Why Moses was not allowed to enter, what God showed him from the mountain, and why he wanted in so badly in the first place The Shema line by line: hearing as integrating, why “one” and not “alone,” the two inclinations hiding in V’ahavta, and how anyone can be commanded to love We also end up on free will, the chocolate bar, and a sixth grade yearbook from 1992 that somehow ties the whole thing together.

  2. Jul 29

    Parenting Adult Children: Boundaries & Grace

    Nobody warns you that the hardest parenting years might come after your kids are grown. We opened with a story Jay picked up in a Delta Lounge, a man quietly putting on tefillin who turned out to be a Soviet Jew that did not learn he was Jewish until his family reached America. That pulled us into the Rebbe and Soviet Jewry, quiet diplomacy versus loud demonstrations, and a father exiled to Kazakhstan whose wife made ink from berries so his Torah could survive. Then we turned to the question a lot of you have written in about: how do we stay parents to our kids once they are adults with lives, spouses, and kids of their own? In this episode, we get into: Why grown children still need their parents more than anyone expects, and what that means for us Where the boundary sits, and how to give feedback that lands from a place of love instead of criticism Protecting your spouse first, and why in-laws have to tread more carefully than parents Raising kids who become friendly with you without ever forgetting you are the parent Free choice, and how you can do everything right and still get a result you did not plan for Overbearing parents, helicopter moms, the Little League dad, and when to bring in a third party Whether you are the parent watching your kid make a call you would not make, or the adult child trying to keep the peace, come sit with us. There is grace in here for both sides.

  3. Jul 22

    Lament This: The Book of Lamentations

    Tisha B’Av is coming, and before we sit on the floor with the lights low, we’re doing our homework. This week we open the Book of Lamentations, the scroll Jeremiah wrote as Jerusalem fell (or was about to fall, depending on which commentators you ask). It’s a book with a wild backstory: a king who burned the first draft, a scribe named Baruch who took dictation for round two, and an alphabet-shaped message hiding in the book. In this episode, we get into: Who Jeremiah was and why nobody wanted to hear his “doom and gloom” prophecies The scroll King Yehoyakim burned, and what Rashi says was in it Was Lamentations written before the destruction as prophecy, or after as eyewitness testimony? Why Jerusalem is described as a widow, and what that metaphor really means The Dubner Maggid’s parable of the needle-and-thread wagon: trading something real for nothing Whether Jews blame themselves too much for their own tragedies, from the Babylonians to October 7th Why we end our reading of Lamentation not on despair but on “bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return” It’s the heaviest book in Tanakh, but we promise this isn’t a stuffy seminary lecture. Come study with us before the fast.

  4. Jul 15

    Matot-Masei: Vows, Tribes & Cities of Refuge

    The Rabbi opens with a request: can we please put a moratorium on the word “anti-Semitism” until next July 4th? (Spoiler: no, but we try.) Then we celebrate some family news and dive into Matot-Masei, the double portion that closes out the book of Numbers. The Rabbi calls it one of the juiciest parshas of the year, and he makes his case: a war, an angry Moses, a real estate negotiation gone sideways, and an ancient legal system for accidental killers. In this episode, we get into: Why some Torah portions are read as doubles, and who divided (and named) the parshas in the first place The trup (cantillation): how an ancient melody quietly narrates the story, including Joseph’s famous pause with Potiphar’s wife Gad and Reuben asking to stay east of the Jordan, and how one reversed word order exposed their priorities What the tribes’ obligation to fight alongside their brothers says about diaspora Jews when Israel is at war Cities of refuge: the Torah’s “safe space” for accidental killers, and why the tribe of Simon got scattered on purpose Whether you grew up with this parsha or you’re hearing “Matot-Masei” for the first time, pull up a chair. There’s a waffle bar story in here too. Links Parashat Matot-Masei (Numbers 30–36) Gad and Reuben’s request and Moses’ response (Numbers 32) “Every shock fighter among you crosses the Jordan” (Numbers 32:20–24) Cities of refuge (Numbers 35:9–34) The shalshelet in the Joseph and Potiphar’s wife story (Genesis 39:8) Shogeg vs. ones, laws of exile “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” (all Jews are responsible for one another) “Those who tend a tree eat the fruit” (Proverbs 27:18)

  5. Jul 8

    Yahrzeit, Kaddish & the 17th of Tammuz

    Some episodes start light. This one starts with a candle. We begin with Jay’s yahrzeit for his mom, twelve years gone and still deeply missed, and the Rabbi walks us through what the anniversary of a death really means in Jewish tradition. From there we widen out to a fast day heavy with history and a piece of tech that might change how any of us learns Torah. In this episode, we get into: What yahrzeit means and why we say Kaddish for eleven months, then every year after The Rabbi’s own story of counting down the days, and the strange sadness when Kaddish ends The five tragedies of the 17th of Tammuz and the start of the Three Weeks Why you can get engaged during the Three Weeks but not married (and what that says about free will) Yochai, the new AI tool that turns anyone into a Torah study partner

  6. Jun 17

    Hillel & Shammai: Judaism's Dynamic Duo

    What makes two rabbis who disagreed about almost everything the most celebrated pair in Jewish history? This week we sit down with Hillel and Shammai, the original dynamic duo, and the answer turns out to be the way they argued, not what they argued about. In this episode, we get into: The lost art of disagreeing with someone you actually like and respect, and why Judaism treats a good argument as something close to sacred. Machloket l’shem shamayim: what makes an argument “for the sake of heaven,” and where the line gets crossed The Hanukkah menorah debate: do you start with eight candles or one, and why each side is right The gentile who asked to learn the whole Torah on one foot, and the very different answers Hillel and Shammai gave Why Hillel’s golden rule (”what you don’t want done to you, don’t do to others”) is not the same as “love your neighbor as yourself” Lenient versus strict: how two yeshivas, two personalities, and one open door shaped Jewish law Why we almost always rule like Hillel, and the surprising reason it comes down to humility Pull up a chair, pick a side, and remember: the rest is commentary. Resources: Hillel and Shammai, sayings and character Machloket l’shem shamayim (a dispute for the sake of heaven) Korach’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron

  7. Jun 10

    The Twelve Prophets, Part 3: Micah to Malachi

    We made it to the finish line. After two earlier episodes, we wrap up the Twelve Prophets and tie a bow on them all. Along the way we get into why these texts barely show up in yeshiva, a much-debated Midrash about Adam and the animals, and whether religion or just plain ideology has driven the worst of human history. Then we go prophet by prophet, all the way to the very last words of prophecy. In this episode, we get into: Micah, and the “swords into plowshares” verse that 99 percent of the world wrongly credits to Isaiah Nahum and the fall of Nineveh, plus a thorny question: if God wanted the exile, why blame Assyria for carrying it out? Habakkuk, who opens by arguing with God and reduces all 613 commandments to one: the righteous shall live by his faith Zephaniah on fear, fight-or-flight, and the command “do not fear” Haggai, Zechariah’s colored-horse visions, and Malachi closing the prophets with the hearts of parents and children turning back to each other Grab a book of the prophets and read along with us. It only takes a few minutes a day, and as we say in here, it’s no great honor to be ignorant. Resources: Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Malachi

  8. Jun 3

    The Minor Prophets, Part 2: Hosea to Micah

    We picked up where we left off with the Twelve Prophets (Trei Asar), and Hosea throws us straight into one of the strangest stories in all of the Tanakh. Gd is furious that the Jewish people are chasing idols, so He gives Hosea an unusual assignment: go marry a woman of ill repute, have kids with her, and name them “Not My People” and “No Mercy.” It’s harsh, it’s strange, and the Rabbi calls it the most dramatic living metaphor any prophet was ever asked to act out. In this episode, we get into: Hosea, the harlot metaphor, and the Kabbalistic question of whether Gd can actually be affected by what we do What a prophet (and a leader) is supposed to be: tough on the people, defender to Gd, never a politician Joel and the locusts, the seven-year famine, and when punishment came measure-for-measure Famous Amos (great cookies, great prophet) and why prosperity might be the harder spiritual test Obadiah the convert who saved 100 prophets from Jezebel, the rabbinic tradition that Rome is Edom, and the famous widow with the miraculous oil Micah and the morality prophets: how “idolatry” in our day reads as money, power, and the corruption that comes with success We also kept circling back to something: most American Jews don’t think about Gd as Someone with expectations. That’s exactly the tension Hosea was preaching into 3,000 years ago. Same story, different costumes. Hit play, and stay with us for Part 3, where we close out the Twelve.

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Your weekly dose of Jewish wit and wisdom. Each week Rabbi Abba Perelmuter, Chayaleah Sufrin, and Jay Covitz explore Jewish history, culture, and writings. Whether you're a relapsed Jew or an old pro there is something for us all to learn.

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  • Creator
    edJEWcation
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    120
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © edJEWcation
  • Show Website
    edJEWcation