Sabbath & Holidays
Rejoice When Your Enemy Falters?Friday, March 22, 2013 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Proverbs says, "When your enemy falters do not rejoice and when he stumbles do not feel glee." Does that apply even if your enemy is really, really evil?
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Two kitchen utensils — and the surprising verses they lead us to elsewhere in the Bible. (Click here for source sheet.) DownloadVayikra: Meat & Meal
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Three surprising words — two of them English — for an offering made of flour. (Click here for source sheet.) Download Vayakhel-Pekudei: Completing Creation
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
It\'s a fundraiser\'s dream: The people have to be told to stop bringing gifts for the Mishkan. (Click here for source sheet.) DownloadKi Tissa: Singing and Sinning
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
What was the sound that Joshua heard, and what did Moses say about it? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:15T’tzaveh: What Was Aaron Wearing?
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
After Leviticus, Aaron's breastplate (hoshen) is never mentioned again. But the mysterious ephod appears several times in the Prophets—as an idol. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:18T’rumah: God Among Men
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
God chooses to live among the Israelites—but what kind of place does He want? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:01Mishpatim: Cracking the Covenant Code
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
The goring ox—to whom it belongs, and whom it gores. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:12:05Yitro: Men of the People
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
It's all about the am, "the people"—but who is included? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:52B’shallah: Who is Like You?
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Why it's "mi-KHAmokha" the first time and "mi KAmokha" the second time—and why it matters. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:12:02
Editors' Picks
Elijah's Newfangled Cup Eliezer Brodt, Seforim. Opening the door to Elijah and inviting him to drink a cup of wine is a widespread Seder custom today. But there is no record of this custom anywhere before the 17th century.
The Jew and the Giant Olive Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. The midrash says a person should eat an olive's worth of matzah at the Seder. But halakhists today reckon the amount required at 10 times the size of an actual olive.
Deconstructing Dayeinu Avi Shafran, Cross-Currents. "Would it really have 'been enough for us' had God not, say, split the Red Sea, trapping our ancestors between the water and the Egyptian army?"
Plato and the Haggadah Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Cardozo Academy. In the Phaedrus, Plato bemoans the inadequacy of the written word. So too, on Seder night, it is not sufficient for us to read the Haggadah—we must hear it.
From the Exodus to the Holocaust Harold Klein, Moment. Less than a week after celebrating the Exodus at Passover, we mourn the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah. Both commemorations demand that we remember the events as if we were there.
Were the Israelites Enslaved in Egypt? Michael Carasik, Jewish Ideas Daily. The Bible gives no fewer than four different reasons for the Israelites' enslavement in Egypt. But if there really was slavery, why does the Bible have so much trouble explaining it?
The Roots of Seder Night Dorothy D. Resig, Bible History Daily. Even while the Temple stood, some Jews were unable to offer the Paschal sacrifice. Still, they found ways to recognize the holiday.
Why Is This Year's Passover Different from . . . ? Dovid Heber, Yeshiva World News. Passover, which begins on March 25 this year, has not fallen so early in the Gregorian calendar since 1899, and will not again until 2089. Why?
Be Joyful Yehudah Mirsky, Jewish Ideas Daily. "And you will rejoice," the Bible commands with regard to Sukkot. But can even God summon up joy on demand?
Uniting Past and Future Raymond Apple, Arutz Sheva. Sukkot doesn’t just remind us of the huts that our ancestors built in the wilderness, but it also presages the future, “when all mankind will sit in unity in God’s universal sukkah.”