Category Archives: Parsha

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Ki Seitzei – Moabite the Hand that Fed You

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 56:01 — 25.6MB)

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Our number one goal in life is to achieve perfection. Perfection of character, perfection of behavior, profession of speech, profession of thought, perfection in every possible way. Our bad character needs to be fixed, our shortcomings need to be rectified, our bad habits need to be reversed, our maladies of character need to be remedied. But how much can we actually change? Is there anything that we do not change I must learn to live with? These are some weighty questions and in a very unusual place in this week’s Parsha we find answers, answers that will enable us to ascend the ladder of perfection. It’s all laid out for you in this week’s edition of the Parsha podcast.

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Ki Seitzei – Conscience Cleanser (5784)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 46:31 — 21.3MB)

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Of the motley potpourri of subjects featured in Parshas Ki Seitzei are several fascinating mitzvos that we address in this week’s Parsha podcast. We begin with a fascinating analysis of the law of the beautiful captive woman. We proceed with a heartening insight based upon the wayward and rebellious son. Finally, we offer a sharp and penetrating insight into the prohibition against bringing a harlot’s fee to the temple and into the prohibition against excising a skin ailment of tzaraas. Listen to this wonderful and profound edition of the Parsha podcast. You will not regret it. On the contrary, it will delight you give you great joy.

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Parshas Ki Seitzei (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:01:03 — 27.9MB)

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In the parsha that contains the most mitzvos of any of the 54 Torah sections (a staggering 74 mitzvos), we read about the wayward and rebellious son, the requirement to build a fence around your roof to prevent tragedy, two episodes that we are mandated to remember, and many, many more interesting and insightful mitzvos.

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Shoftim – Selfless, Fearless, Flawless, Scholars

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:08:27 — 31.3MB)

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Our Parsha features laws relating to all types of leaders: Judges must not corrupt judgment, must not accept bribery, must hearken to the rulings of the Grand Sanhedrin, and must relentlessly pursue justice. Kings may not have too many wives, too many horses, too much silver and gold, and must always be cognizant of the Almighty by carrying a Torah scroll wherever they go. Prophets mustn’t withhold the prophecy and mustn’t misappropriate prophecy given to their fellow. Priests play a vital role in the release of accidental murderers from cities of refuge and in the ceremony of decapitating a calf when an unidentified corpse is discovered between two cities. Judges, Kings, Prophets, Priests — very few of us know any of these office holders. In this Parsha podcast, we discover that each one of us must strive to adopt the qualities of these officials. We learn what it takes and the particular pitfalls of each one.

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Shoftim – Government-in-Exile (5784)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 45:28 — 20.8MB)

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In this Parsha Podcast we share two fascinating and deep insights from our Parsha. The first relates to the method by which capital punishment must be meted out. The second is a novel and fascinating spiritual and cosmic perspective on the monarchy as a method of government, both in the era when monarchies were widespread and of the era of its effective dissolution.

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Parshas Shoftim (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:00:20 — 27.6MB)

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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, and what happens to rebellious judges; we read about the unique laws related to kings; there are more laws pertaining to the Kohanim; and we find the means of vetting professed prophets and what happens to the six kinds of false prophets.

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Reeh – Root Force

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:03:25 — 29.0MB)

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Idolatry is anathema. Idolatry in the Holy Land is totally intolerable. Multiple times in the book of Devarim, we are exhorted to thoroughly and utterly destroy any remnant of idolatry that we encounter in the Land, be it altars, pillars, idolatrous trees, or molten images. But it is insufficient to eliminate the idols. We are required to uproot the idols from their source. The impulse to engage in idolatry has been rendered extinct today. No one craves to genuflect to an image of wood and stone, but we still can be enticed to do bad things. Just as we are commanded to eliminate all foreign gods from the land, we are commanded to eliminate the foreign gods squatting in our heart. The impulse to engage in idolatry has been rendered extinct today. No one craves to genuflect to an image of wood and stone, but we still can be enticed to do bad things. Just as we are commanded to eliminate all foreign gods from the land, we are commanded to eliminate the foreign god squatting in our heart. In this Parsha podcast, we learn how to do it.

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Reeh – Idle Tree, Idle Warship, and Falls Profits (5784)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 57:00 — 26.1MB)

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The Torah spends a lot of time cautioning us against idolatry. As the nation is about to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan, they are repeatedly warned to not fall prey to the idolatrous practices of the indigenous population. Instead, they must shatter the idolatrous altars, destroy idolatrous infrastructure, obliterate idolatrous paraphernalia , uproot idolatrous trees, and thoroughly dismantled all idolatrous venues. The warnings against idolatry are one of the primary themes of the book of Devarim and of Moshe’s last messages to the nation. What does this mean for us today? We are are quite unfamiliar with the idolatry of yore. It does not resonate with us. We don’t understand why the ancients were so enamored by idolatry. When we read all about idolatry in the Torah we ask the important question: what does this have to do with us? In this very interesting and stimulating podcast, we talk about modern idolatry and how it compares and contrasts with the idolatry of yore. We also share several fascinating observations from our glorious antecedents regarding hints and references to the Christian hero in the Torah and in the Talmud.

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Parshas Reeh (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:00:30 — 27.7MB)

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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 mitzvos – some repetitions and some new ones that have hitherto not been mentioned.

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Eikev – Hidden Mechanisms

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:02:33 — 28.6MB)

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Several themes seem to be repeating themselves again and again throughout the Book of Devarim. For example, the nation is repeatedly encouraged to not be fearful of the formidable Canaanite Nations waiting for them on the other side of the Jordan. But the one theme that repeats itself more frequently than any other is the nation being encouraged to observe the laws, the statutes, and the commandments of Torah. They are encouraged, they are exhorted, they are enticed with rewards for observance and threatened with the consequences of its repudiation. Why is it so important for the nation to be told repeatedly to observe the commandments? Why do some people tend to disregard some of the commandments and to trample upon them with their heels? In this very interesting of Parsha podcast, we learned about the hidden mechanisms of mitzvos. We don’t necessarily understand how the inputs lead to the outputs. We don’t understand how the observance of mitzvos elevates a person to become Angel like. But the proof is in the pudding and a pudding is very tasty.

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Eikev – Shock and Awe (5784)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:05:26 — 30.0MB)

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Flashy achievements make the news. Great triumphs, awesome deeds, transcendent moments grab our attention and seize our imagination. Humdrum acts fail to stir excitement. But when we are devising a strategy for how to prepare our ladder of ascension, it may be ill-advised to pursue quantum leaps of greatness. In fact the most effective process to transformative greatness is slow and gradual and dotted with seeming unremarkable, bite-sized micro movements up a very tall ladder. This idea is hinted to in Rashi’s first comment to our Parsha. When we analyze other parts of the Parsha, we see a variety of angles as to why the slow and unremarkable path is optimal. In this wonderful Parsha podcast, we also take deep and penetrating dive into the mysterious and esoteric world of the nature first set of tablets that Moshe and brought down from heaven, their shattering, and their pending reclamation.

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