Episodes

  • From Death to Redemption: The Tikkun of Chava by the Women of Shemot

    From Death to Redemption: The Tikkun of Chava by the Women of Shemot
    Jan 14 2025
    53 mins
  • Tikun of Kayin through Moshe, the Egyptian and Yitro Shemot SHORT CLASS

    Tikun of Kayin through Moshe, the Egyptian and Yitro Shemot SHORT CLASS
    Jan 14 2025
    6 mins
  • The Egyptian Exile and The Promise to Abraham - Shemot

    The Egyptian Exile and The Promise to Abraham - Shemot
    Jan 12 2025

    He said to Abram, 'Know with certainty that your children will be strangers in a land which is not theirs — they will serve them, and they will afflict

    them — four hundred years.'

    (Bereishis 15:13)

    The 'Covenant Between the Pieces' between God and Avram demonstrated the power of offerings, brought with proper intent, to keep the Jewish people on the level at which they would deserve to retain control over Eretz Yisrael.

    The climax of this covenant was God's announcement to Avram that, nonetheless, before his descendants would be able to enter the Land, they would first have to go through a purifying process of exile to bring them up to the necessary level. This would have three distinct stages, each one more difficult than the one before:

    First, 'Your children will be strangers in a land which is not theirs,' without specific suffering, but subject to the whims of the local rulers. This stage would begin with Yitzchak Avinu himsel, who had strife with the Philistine king and his people, something that never happened to Avraham. The experience of being strangers would take away something of their sense of freedom, prompting them to turn their minds toward awareness of God, since they would perceive the limits of their own power.

    Next, 'They will serve them.' After the deaths of the sons of Yaakov, the Jews in Egypt began to work for Pharaoh, first willingly as part of a general work tax imposed by the government, and afterward through coercion. Slavery would weaken their tendency to pursue material possessions as an end, and make them more spiritual in that aspect of their themselves.

    The last stage would be, 'They

    willaffict them,' this time phrased in terms of what the Egyptians would do to them, since it would be imposed on them involun-tarly. This suffering would help them to conquer the desire for physical pleasures, reaching the level of true sacrifice for God.

    SEE MALBIM
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    17 mins
  • Jacob’s Blessings and The Tenth of Tevet VaYechi

    Jacob’s Blessings and The Tenth of Tevet VaYechi
    Jan 9 2025
    45 mins
  • Immortality Through Our Children VaYechi

    Immortality Through Our Children VaYechi
    Jan 7 2025

    What does it mean that Yaakov Never Died?

    Didnt we embalm and bury him?

    Was that a body double?

    What does Emet - Truth have to do with immortality?

    What is the significance of swearing under the thigh?

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    53 mins
  • Joseph, the model of self control loses it, why? VaYigash

    Joseph, the model of self control loses it, why? VaYigash
    Jan 5 2025
    25 mins
  • Justice and Mercy United: The Shema’s Vision Through Joseph, Judah, and Jacob - Vayigash

    Justice and Mercy United: The Shema’s Vision Through Joseph, Judah, and Jacob - Vayigash
    Jan 2 2025
    56 mins
  • Drawing the Light of Hanukah into The Darkness of Tevet

    Drawing the Light of Hanukah into The Darkness of Tevet
    Jan 1 2025
    There is a thought that when I seesomeone else’s candle and it is not lit or its flickering, I have aresponsibility to light their candle. People sometimes fear that lightingsomeone else’s candle will diminish my own, but in fact it’s just the opposite,not only do I not diminish my own, but I am bringing more light to the world.Yesterday our family had the unfortunate task to bury our cousin, RhondaShoshana bat Frieda - Rhonda Tawil A'H Rhonda was someone who suffered for manyyears, but she always had a smile and cared about everyone else bringing lightto all We don’t eulogize on Rosh Hodesh andmore so on Hanukkah, but these words of Torah I believe reveal some of heressence and a lesson to all of us. Each month in Musaf of Rosh Hodesh wehave a Kavana or though to modify the permutation of the name of Havaya in theblessing of the month. Each of these permutations relates to a verse from theTanachand helps us to understand what we hope to accomplish in the month. The verse for Tevet is a verse wemention when we take the Torah from the Ark. גַּדְּל֣וּ לַהֹ’ אִתִּ֑יוּנְרוֹמְמָ֖ה שְׁמ֣וֹ יַחְדָּֽו׃ Exalt the LORD with me; let us extol Hisname together. The Benai Yissaschar suggests that ourgoal is to draw the ligh of Chanukah into the darkness of the month of Tevet.We do this on Rosh Hodesh and also tonight when we complete the lighting withZot Chanukah. The Talmudtells of Adam and this month of Tevet. Adam saw that from the time of creation throughwinter each day became shorter and worried that the light of the world wascoming to an end. Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the wintersolstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening afterthe solstice, he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, andthis is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for eight days.Upon the next year, he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted onthe previous year which preceded the solstice and these eight days of hiscelebration, as days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals forthe sake of Heaven, but they, the gentiles of later generations, establishedthem for the sake of idol worship. The fast of theTenth of Tevet (this year we will observe it on the 10th of January,2025) commemorates the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, whichled to the destruction of the First Temple. This day is the first—in terms ofthe chronological order of the events it commemorates—of four fast days thatdenote the stages of the destruction of the First Temple, as follows:  10 Tevet: Babylonian siege ofJerusalem begins  17 Tammuz: The walls of Jerusalem arebreached two and a half years later  9 Av (Tisha B’Av): The destruction ofthe First Temple by the Babylonians. Many years later, the Romans destroyed theSecond Temple on the very same date.  3 Tishrei: (the Fast of Gedalyah). Themurder of Gedalyah ben Achikam, who was the governor of the survivors whoremained in the Land of Israel after the exile to Babylon. His murdersymbolized the completion of the destruction and the beginning of the exile. In days o0f old, some fasted on the 8th,9th and 10th of tevet. A three day Fast in this month ofdarkness commemorating three tragic events as the Tallmud explains. The first event is the Torah’stranslation into Greek, known as the Septuagint. The completion of thistranslation took place on the 8th day of Tevet, but the sources write that theevent darkened the world for three days, precisely until the Tenth of Tevet.Indeed, the 8th and 9th of Tevet are defined as “fasts of tzaddikim”, and thisis why in previous eras, righteous individuals would fast all three days in arow. The second event in close proximity tothe Tenth of Tevet is the birth of Yehoshua the Nazarene. There is a Jewishtradition that identifies his birth with the 9th day of Tevet (and even claimsthat the persecution of the Jews in his name is one of the reasons for settingthe fast on this day). Translating the Torah into Greek and thinkone can understand it, waters down the Torah. I know of many non-Jews who canquote chapter and verse, but without the oral tradition understand nothing. AndChristianity is an attempt to water down Jewry by replacing 613 misvot with onedirective. These are attempts to destroy the oral Torah. The rabbis explain that the lawsrelating to Hanukah are in essence revealing the light of the oral Torah.(Rabbi Farhi has a great class called Chanukah: Generating Miracles whichexplains this idea – Thanks Jonah for sharing). In megilat Esther, we read: So Estherwas taken to king Aĥashverosh into his royal house in the tenth month, which isthe month Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign. This was tragic. Taking a Jewish girl tothe King could not be good...
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    25 mins