Sabbath & Holidays
Va’ethanan: “This is the teaching”
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Deuteronomy, like Hamlet, is full of "quotations." This week we feature one that flips in the middle and sends us on a biblical journey. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:25D’varim: A Lamenting Question?
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
We start reading this week at Deuteronomy 1:1. But where do we stop—and why? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:41Mattot-Masei: Where Moses Walked
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
This week, the shocking truth about Kadesh-Barnea. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:09Pinhas: Pact, Plot, Passion
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Two strange words are used this week to describe what the Midianites did to the Israelites. We'll talk about what they are and why they are here. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:38Balak: Abraham and Balaam
Tuesday, July 3, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Two biblical figures both saddle their own animals to get on with their task—and that's not the only thing they have in common. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:06Hukkat: Wise Blood
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 by Shlomo Zuckier | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
The red heifer, which we read about in this week’s portion, serves to purify those rendered impure by contact with a dead body. This process is traditionally known as the hok par excellence, the archetype of an inexplicable statute in the Torah.Korah: A Tribal Story
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Numbers always prefers one of the two Hebrew words for tribe — except in chapter 17, where it uses that word quite differently. We'll continue the exploration that we began during Parshat B'midbar. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:51
Steal This SiddurWednesday, June 13, 2012 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
If anyone might be poised to understand how a project of decentralized authority and radically distributive ownership could operate in a market-based economy, it would be the treasurer of a kibbutz.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Torah Talk with Michael Carasik Joshua and Caleb, the two "good" spies, tell the people not to be afraid of the Canaanites—with a nice bit of biblical Hebrew slang. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:52B’haalot’kha: Like His Likeness
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Torah Talk with Michael Carasik This week, the temunah of God makes a surprising and rare appearance. As God lets Aaron and Miriam know, it's one more way that Moses is special. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:51
Editors' Picks
Why Joshua? Meir Soloveichik, Jewish Ideas Daily. What is truly celebrated on Simhat Torah: the fact that the Torah has been completed, or that its reading begins again? The choice of the day's Haftarah, and the history of that choice, offer a clue. (PDF, 2010)
Absolute Citron Miriam Krule, Tablet. "It's easier to grow 2,000 acres of oranges or lemons than to grow one acre of etrogs," says California citrus farmer John Kirkpatrick, the only large-scale grower of the fruit in the U.S.
Shaken, Not Stirred David Rosenberg, Media Line. In developing innovative storage techniques for lulavim (palm fronds), Israel's technological prowess went head-to-head against an Egyptian embargo, and won.
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? (2010)
Myrtle, Date Palm, Willow, Citron Arthur Schaffer, Tradition. What do the "four species" of Sukkot signify? A botanist finds an agricultural interpretation that would have been readily available to an ancient Israelite farmer. (PDF, 1982)
Hope Springs Talmudic Shai Secunda, Jewish Week. Unfolding beyond the crush of defeat, the Talmud's vigorous spirit of inquiry represents a great, resilient optimism.
Yom Kippur at Sea Sam Kestenbaum, New York Times. A young Maine lobsterman takes time off on Yom Kippur to mend spiritual knots and refuel for the coming year. (2010)
Why Fast? Elli Fischer, Adderabbi. Expiation, corrective, a reflection of mood, or sensitization to the plight of the needy? Only one of these reasons has biblical support.
Bad Bans Brad Hirschfield, Washington Post. By banning bans on circumcision, California now drives the debate about this issue underground, where it will fester among the most hostile opponents of the practice.
Paradise Regained William Kolbrener, Aish.com. A literary encounter with Paradise Lost helped one graduate student access the poetry inherent in the Jewish idea of repentance.