Category Archives: Podcasts

The Simple and Clear Reasons why Jews Reject Jesus and Christianity

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:37:34 — 44.7MB)

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Jesus is not, and never was, the Messiah because he fulfilled none of the personal qualifications of Messiah, accomplished none of the necessary requirements of the Messiah and the Messianic Era is clearly not underway. Jesus is not, and never was, divine because assigning godly qualities to a man is anathema for Jews and against multiple explicit verses in the Jewish Bible. Jews have always rejected Christianity as a whole because it is based on very shaky principles and does not hold a candle to Judaism. Listen if you want to understand why Jews do not believe in Jesus and why Christians probably should not either.

The Mission of Transmission: Why Jews must Believe that the entire Written and Oral Torah is Divine and how that is a Reasonable and Logical

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:21 — 33.1MB)

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Maimonides, in including this as the ninth of the thirteen principles of faith, makes it abundantly clear: If you do not believe that every word of the Torah is true you have no place in the Jewish people. The Talmud further clarifies (Sanhedrin 99a) that even if someone acknowledges that all the Torah is divine save for a single kal vachomer (Talmudic syllogism) or gezeira shava (analogy by common term) then he has no portion in the world to come. The seriousness of this requirement demands us to investigate this issue in depth. Here we go!

Lessons in Suffering from Jacob and Joseph

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:42:21 — 46.9MB)

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Jacob’s life was a seemingly endless streak of suffering and challenges. His own brother was hellbent on murdering him; his father in law tricked him into marrying the woman whom he did not desire to marry; his father in law also marginalized him professionally. Joseph’s life path follows a similar line: His brothers conspire to murder him; ultimately settling on selling him as a slave. Joseph is wrongly accused of misdeeds of carnal nature and unjustifiably imprisoned. These two forbears of Judaism can teach us a lot about the Jewish perspective on challenges, pain and suffering.

This Class was delivered at Shalom Cypress in Cypress, TX

Ungracious Hosts: The Story of Greek and Roman Oppression of Jews (323 BCE – 66 CE)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:22:00 — 37.5MB)

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At the beginning of the Second Commonwealth Era the Jews were introduced to a reality that they were previously unexposed to; namely living in Israel under foreign rule. With relatively minor exceptions such as the successful Macabbean revolt in 67 BCE and the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132 CE, Israel will be thenceforth dominated by non Jewish entities until the founding of the modern State of Israel. This created unique challenges for the Jewish communities living in Israel at that time. They were at the mercy of their hosts, and no longer could they feel at home and have their rights to live and practice as a Jew guaranteed. Additionally, the spiritual effects of the exposure to these foreign influences began to permeate into the ideological and religious consciousness of the people. Jews abandoning their dedication to their religion became a trend. The offices of Jewish central authority became destabilized opening up room for spiritual dissent and spiritual descent. This is a story of Jewish resolve in the face of tremendous conflict.

There are Prophets and there is Moses: The Qualifications, Screening and Content of Prophets and the 4 Distinctions between Moses and all other Prophets

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:23 — 30.4MB)

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Belief in the idea that God communicates to man is an essential principle of our religion. In fact, various elements of prophecy comprise four of the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith that Maimonides enumerates as necessary for inclusion in the religion. What does prophecy mean? How does one become a prophet? How are claims of prophecy vetted? What was the leadership role of prophets throughout the ages? What was unique about the prophecy of Moses?

God and Man: The Balancing Act of Faith and Personal Responsibility

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:39:15 — 45.4MB)

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As Jews we believe that God is not only the Creator of the Universe, but also is constantly sustaining the world with spiritual and physical nourishment and individually supervising all humans. The extent of how involved God is with us in the most minute fashion is revealed when the Talmud declares “A person cannot bend his finger from below unless it is thus decreed from above”. Yet surely we cannot rely on God totally and neglect our own responsibilities. Or can we? In this class we examine some of the sources in classical Jewish literature that grapple with this delicate subject.