Category Archives: Parsha

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Behar Bechukosai – Hostage Letter

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Our Parsha contains some of the most difficult portions in the Torah, the Admonition. Our nation is told of the consequences of failing to adhere to the rules of God. The consequences are fierce and harsh. When this section is read in the synagogue, it is done quickly and in an undertone to prevent the congregation from lapsing into depression. But the Admonition ends on a comforting note: God promises to remember the covenant that He forged with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Notwithstanding our intransigent behavior and our betrayal of God, He pledges to ensure that we endure come what may. This podcast orients around a fascinating peculiarity in this comforting note. We discover the unique role that Jacob plays in our history, the difference between his Jacob and Israel personas, and his connection with Elijah, the heralder of redemption.

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Parsha: Behar & Bechukosai – Divine Nudge (5781)

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Two years ago, our nation underwent an unprecedented calamity. At our people’s largest annual festival, the celebration of Lag ba’Omer in Meron, a crowd crush resulted in the death of 45 of our brethren. How do we respond to such a tragedy? What is the way to process such a disaster. In this Parsha Podcast we look to this week’s double parsha of Behar and Bechukosai for guidance.

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Parshas Behar & Bechukosai (Rebroadcast)

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This week’s double-Parsha closes out the Book of Leviticus. Parshas Behar begins at Mount Sinai, where the Almighty instructed Moshe to convey a series of laws to the Jewish people. The first is the mitzvah of Shemittah, the prohibition of engaging in any agricultural work every seven years. In two chapters in the Torah (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28) we read about the positive consequences of obeying the Torah and heeding its laws; and the terrible, painful consequences of disobeying the Law. Though reading Parshas Bechukosai is scary and a tad depressing, the truth is that this framework is the secret to our nation enduring such long and painful exiles.

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Emor – Snowball’s Chance in Heaven

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The story of the first person to ever be executed in a Jewish court of law is featured at the end of this week’s Parsha. An unnamed man, the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man, blasphemed and was executed. When we ponder the story we discover all sorts of interesting tidbits. The blasphemer has a fascinating back story and his motivation to blaspheme is quite surprising. In this podcast we study the episode of the blasphemer and emerge with a powerful lesson that can make a big impact on our lives.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated by Danny Caplan and family in honor of Aron Caplan, whose bar mitzvah parsha is this week – happy birthday! And also in loving memory and leilui nishmas, Yona bat Esther, may her soul be elevated in Heaven.

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Emor – Sense of Belonging (5781)

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Our parsha contains the first recorded instance of capital punishment in Jewish history. A disgruntled man, the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man blasphemed and was executed as a result. What is the significance of this story? Why do we have the narrative about the blasphemer in middle of the Book of Leviticus, a Book dedicated almost exclusively to sacrificial and ritualistic law with nary a narrative? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we offer a novel understanding of this episode and draw powerful insights and lessons from it.

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Parshas Emor (Rebroadcast)

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Parshas Emor contains a staggering 56 mitzvos, nearly all of them relating to either to the Kohanim, the priests, or to the Festivals, and the parsha ends with a very unusual episode that happened at Sinai.

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Acharei Mos/Kedoshim – It’s a Small World

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Our double Parsha contains many different mitzvos. In this podcast we study a set of mitzvos and a very interesting dispute about their nature. We discover a valuable and profound insight that can help us develop and cultivate our potential.

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Acharei Mos/Kedoshim – Challenge Accepted (5781)

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Our Nation has always had bad neighbors. The Midrash in our Parsha states that the Egyptians and the Canaanites, both nations that our people lived in close proximity to, are the most morally deficient of all the world’s nations. Moreover, the specific areas in those lands where the Jews resided contained that worst offenders of those nations. Evidently, the Almighty wants us to have really awful neighbors whose repugnant behavior we must shun. Why? Why did the Almighty arrange it that way? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we discover a new approach to this interesting phenomenon.

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Parshas Acharei & Kedoshim (Rebroadcast)

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This week’s double-parsha contains a smorgasbord of mitzvos. The three chapters of Parshas Acharei cover three general categories. First we read about the Yom Kippur sacrifices and procedures; then we learn about the prohibitions against the consumption of blood among other ritualistic and sacrificial laws, and the final chapter is oriented around the many prohibited sexual relationships. Parshas Kedoshim has the highest mitzvah density of any parsha: In its 64 verses, we learn 51 separate mitzvos covering many different areas of Jewish practice, including arguably the most famous mitzvah in the whole Torah.

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Tazria Metzora – Heaven on the Cheap

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This week’s double Parsha contains some of the most intricate and complex laws in the Torah, the laws of purity and impurity. This subject remains an enigmatic mystery for us, in fact, even in Talmudic times it was arcane. That said, there is always something that we can glean from every part of Torah. In this podcast we propose a theory relating to the particular subject matter of our Parsha and it’s unique and far reaching consequences.

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This Parsha Podcast by my friend Aaron Findley in honor of his daughter Anne Meredith / Chana Miriam on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah and in loving memory of his mom Miriam Findley.

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Tazria/Metzora – Blessings in Disguises (5781)

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Tzaraas, the spiritual leprosy whose laws are detailed in our Parsha, appeared in three different areas: the befell sinners’ skin, clothing, and house. How common was Tzaraas of the house? The Talmud reveals that it actually never happened even once and it will never happen in the future. If it never happened, why does the Torah delineate all its laws? When we peel away the layers of this question we discover an amazing insight.

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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