Ta Shma Hadar Institute
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- Religion & Spirituality
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Bringing you recent lectures, classes, and programs from the Hadar Institute, Ta Shma is where you get to listen in on the beit midrash. Come and listen on the go, at home, or wherever you are. Hosted by Rabbi Avi Killip of the Hadar Institute.
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R. David Kasher on Parashat Tzav: Four Links in a Chain
For the most part, Parashat Tzav repeats much of what we learned last week in Parashat Vayikra. Again, the Torah details the choreography of the sacrificial system—only this time from the perspective of the priest. All of the offerings from last week show up again. But there is at least one thing that is unique to Tzav: a shalshelet.
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R. Micha'el Rosenberg: Making Sense of Insensible Food Laws
To what extent is Jewish law “fake” or “real”? Is halakhah a game where you can say whatever you want, or does a ruling, once issued, create a new reality? What are the underlying principles of kashrut and Jewish food laws? Recorded live at Hadar's Manger Winter Learning Seminar in January 2024.
Source sheet available here: https://mechonhadar.s3.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RosenbergInsensibleFoodLaws2024.pdf -
R. David Kasher on Parashat Vayikra: A Prehistory of the Sacrifices
The laws of Leviticus appear to be entirely separate from the narrative and themes of the Torah so far. Exodus, by contrast, picks up directly from the narrative of Genesis, and—as we have seen—even the case laws in Exodus sometimes make subtle references to earlier stories. But when we enter Leviticus, we feel ourselves to be in another kind of book entirely. There is no narrative at all in here the first parashah. Instead, the book opens by listing the various types of korbanot (sacrificial offerings), and the precise details involved in their ritual preparation. Speaking directly to the priest, absorbed in the procedural realm of the mishkan (tabernacle), it is as if this middle book of the Torah is detached from the world that has come before it.
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R. Avi Strausberg on Purim: Look to the World and Find God
As someone who longs to feel God’s presence in my life in a clear and direct manner, I have always been struck by the fact that God is noticeably absent from Megillat Esther. In a story that is about the near demise and heroic salvation of the Jewish people, it is not God’s hand that is featured in this story as the saving force, but rather the human hands of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai.
What is Megillat Esther teaching us about living in a world in which, as in our own, God’s presence is unseen? -
R. David Kasher on Parashat Pekudei: The Invisible Palace
There is something hidden in the mishkan. A story of creation.
Nehama Leibowitz, the great 20th century compiler of Torah commentary, calls our attention to a group of modern scholars who sensitized us to the use of repetition as a rhetorical device in the description of the building of the mishkan. She cites a list of the greats: Buber, Rosenzweig, Benno Jacob, Cassuto, Meir Weiss, and others, who all highlight the way key phrases in our text echo an earlier story in the Torah—the earliest, in fact. -
R. Leah Sarna and R. Tali Adler: The Torah of Pregnancy
From one perspective, pregnancy is a miracle. But from another, pregnancy is a nightmare. In her essay that won the Ateret Zvi Prize in Hiddushei Torah, Rabbanit Leah Sarna argues that the Jewish tradition makes space for both of these stories about pregnancy. This presentation and conversation with Rabbi Tali Adler is from February 2024.
Customer Reviews
Dennis Karpf
Rabbi Kaunfer’s shiur on Vayigash of Judah’s drawing near to Joseph as a whisper as in the daily Amidah is profound and moving. In drawing near to G-d through our prayer and words of daily Amidah may we achieve achieve a whisper of echad. Well done.
Great podcast
Love Yitz Greenberg.
Wish there was more content than once a week.
Any more Shai Held, Ethan tucker etc?
Good material but it’s read, not said.
If the format was a sermon or a shiur it would be far better in my opnion. Hearing an essay being read to me is sub-optimal.