Afleveringen
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PESACH / TZAV
4 Cups of Wine, 3 Matzot. It's Meaning & Message.
The structure of the Seder raises an intriguing question: why does the Seder revolve around the number four, while the most important element — the matzah — specifically comes in a set of three?
Four cups of wine… Four different verses command the telling of the Haggadah and teach that the explanation should be directed toward four types of children. Preceding the section of the four sons are four blessings, the child asks THE four questions, and we eat four portions of matzah as a halachic requirement.
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VAYIKRA
Does G-d Care About My Prayers?
As the book of Leviticus begins with and and mostly discusses Sacrifices that were brought daily in the Holy Temple.
Today we pray in place of the Sacrifices. How does prayer really take its place? Does prayer really work? Does G-d really care if I pray?
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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PEKUDEI/ HACHODESH
Make Time Count
The Previous Rebbe once said: "The clock is a silent moral preacher." Without uttering a word, the clock pierces the soul and awakens a sense of the elevated life one can live and ofthe fleeting moment that will never return.
To learn to listen to the voice of the clock, we will need to dwell on the first question raised in the Torah: How did the mitzvah of sanctifying the new month merit being the firstcommandment given to Israel as a nation? What is primary, fundamental, and essential about it? After all, it is not the first among principles of thought, such as belief in G-d; it isnot the first related to human existence, like procreation; nor is it the first to be practiced in life, like circumcision.
We will explore three unique ideas, and the final one will bring us back to where we began: The mitzvah of sanctifying the new month means sanctifying time—treating withseriousness the most fundamental factor in our existence, which influences every decision in life.
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Lesson 6The Talmud until Today
Decoding the Talmud:
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines Judaism
Talmudic literature and fifteen centuries of constant study.
See how and why the Talmud became the core of Jewish law and discover the vast literature of responsa, legal codes, and commentaries that continue the conversation until today.
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VAYAKHEL
An Oasis in Time
Why does Shabbat take precedence over building the Mishkan? Why was resting more urgent than constructing a home for Hashem and atoning for the sin of the Golden Calf? Especially since the ongoing service in the Mishkan—such as offering sacrifices and lighting the menorah—does override Shabbat, yet its construction did not.
Another paradox: The 39 prohibited melachot (labors) of Shabbat are derived from the work done for the Mishkan. On one hand, even light, enjoyable, or convenient activities—like riding in a car or using an elevator—are forbidden. Yet strenuous physical exertion, such as walking long distances or carrying a child up flights of stairs, is allowed. What defines a forbidden work?
Chassidic thought teaches that Shabbat is a preview of the future—a visit to the destination before it is complete, like stepping into a model home to spark anticipation for the final dwelling.
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Decoding the Talmud
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines Judaism
How the Talmud Thinks
A unique method of logic—and why it matters.
Understand the Babylonian Talmud’s rigorous mode of legal reasoning, how it balances dueling principles to arrive at clear legal boundaries, and how its elegant logic fuels deeper learning.
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PURIM
It's Time To Step Up
The first miracle of Megillas Esther is Esther herself. Nowhere else in the Torah do we find a story quite like hers: a woman dragged against her will into a gilded cage, who in a single moment overturns her fate and takes command of her people.
When Mordechai rouses her to rise and fight against the decree, she reacts with astonishment? The orphan who never knew her parents?! The outcast whom the king has not summoned for thirty days?! The woman living a life fraught with challenges?!
But something happens, and Esther spreads her wings. From being acted upon, she becomes the one taking action, setting the entire world into motion. First, she moves Mordechai into action, as the megillah stunningly states: "And Mordechai did all that Esther commanded him" She is crowned as the leader of the people, then, she shifts her focus to dealing with Achashverosh and Haman.
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TETZAVEH
What You Wear, Matters
The entire world watched in astonishment at the confrontation between Trump and Zelensky over the weekend. Media reports indicated that one of the reasons for Trump’s anger was the attire Zelensky wore to the White House. Instead of a suit and tie, as befitting a high-level diplomatic meeting, Zelensky arrived in the black shirt he has worn since the beginning of the war—a symbol of his ongoing battle rather than a step toward the peace agreement the American president sought.
The question is: how important is clothing in world-changing disputes? More broadly, why do we invest so much energy in the garments we wear?
Even in the Torah, in this week’s Parsha we might find a similar curiosity. Why does Parshas Tetzaveh dedicate a lengthy chapter—43 pesukim, to instructions on designing the priestly garments? What is so important about clothing that it warrants such extensive detail?
Moreover, the sages teach that throughout history, people have sought to lay their hands on the priestly garments. From Adam, to Yaakov and Esav, to Achasverosh—each adorned himself with these sacred garments. This naturally raises the question: what is the significance of donning these garments? Does wearing the priestly clothing turn Ahasuerus into a priest?
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Decoding the Talmud
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines JudaismLesson 4
To Create the Talmud
How the sages shaped its structure and substance.
Meet the pivotal sages in the Talmud’s story—from Rav and Shmuel’s first academies to Rav Ashi and Ravina’s final text—and see how they wove in stories as well as ethical and philosophical teachings.
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TERUMAH
What the Holiest Thing You Can Do?
Some may say, to be holy, you need to pray all day, learn Torah all day and night or spend the maximum amount of time in the Synagogue. While this may be true this week we discover another and of equal importance way of being holy and bringing holiness in this world.
As G-d ask us to build the Tabernacle, with a laundry list of items to contribute.
Why do we need to build it can it just come from heaven? Why the details and so many items?
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Decoding the Talmud
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines JudaismDecrypting the Mishnah
How the sages studied, debated, and understood the Mishnah.
Discover the tools, methods, and principles the sages employed in the centuries-long effort to unpack the Mishnah’s full practical implications.
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MISHPATIM
Opposites Attract
What is the issue with cooking meat and milk together? After all, these are two strictly kosher, healthy, and nutritious foods, each perfect on its own—so why does mixing them make them forbidden?
On the other hand, alongside the prohibition of meat and milk, there is a similar prohibition where the halachic ruling is different: Although it is forbidden to weave wool and linen together due to the prohibition of shatnez, this combination is permitted for a mitzvah. The question is, what is the difference between this and meat and milk? Why is cooking meat and milk not permitted for the sake of a mitzvah?
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Decoding the Talmud
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines JudaismThe Mishnah
The origins, authors, and contents of Judaism’s first legal code.
See how Jewish law shifted from oral tradition to written code and encounter the Mishnah’s precise style, tight structure, and tolerance for debate—and its spiritual significance in Jewish life.
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TU BESHVAT
It's What You Don't See, That Matter Most.
Climbing to a higher level requires disconnecting from the previous place and declaring that we no longer desire it. One cannot ascend to a new level while remaining full of the previous one. Only after emptying oneself of the old way of life can one become a vessel for the new way of life. This is a powerful and essential message for every stage of growth in life. No one likes to leave their comfort zone, but growth is impossible without being open, free, and flexible in our fundamental assumptions.
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Decoding the Talmud
Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book that Defines JudaismLesson 1
Why Jewish life orbits a book of law.
Jewish law’s ultimate record is the Talmud, but what is Jewish law? Explore its nature, scope, and roots in the written Torah and Oral Law—and see learning’s central role in Jewish practice and culture.
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BESHALACH
Taking a Risk
The world belongs to those who take risks and take action.
To those who believe that a person must do their utmost, and Hashem adds His utmost.
They do not seek certainty and statistics; rather, they create the small medium, that will contain the great miracle.
But those who wish to know everything in advance and live in a world without risks – they get nowhere.
Because such a world simply does not exist. Certainty exists only in the World to Come, and until then, there is much to accomplish...
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BO
Mindfulness
Nurture a Healthy State of Mind
How can we reach the lofty goal – to subjugate the mind and heart to Hashem and to control impulses and desires? Is the heart truly under our control, acting in accordance with directed orders?!
After all, we must not only be refraining from doing wrong but not even wanting wrong. It requires mastery over the stirrings of the heart, not even desiring forbidden actions. The question is profound: Is it possible not to want? To suppress the impulses of the heart?!
A profound secret lies within the folds of the tefillin. Its importance extends across all areas of life, both spiritual and in combating distorted thinking, doubts, and intrusive anxieties.
Today, we will address the great gateway of consciousness: mastery of one’s thoughts.
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VAEIARA
The Frog Phenomenon
Much like physical ailments, in the spiritual realm too, there is a "silent killer"—a mindset that may not appear overtly as insidious like other negative thoughts, but is no less dangerous. This refers to "silent heresy" the feeling of disconnection from the greater meaning of life. A person who sees themselves as a "random number" lacking uniqueness and a noble purpose. They might believe that Hashem is great, but they themselves are small—a mere independent creature not meant to change anything.
This mindset is more dangerous than its loud, atheistic counterparts. It blocks the very flow of life that drives action, turning everything cold, distant, and meaningless.
This week’s Torah Reading; What was the purpose of the plague of frogs? Why was there a need for such a harmless and seemingly insignificant plague that could never have broken Pharaoh?
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SHEMOS
It's All About Trust
There are two paths in the journey of life. One can travel the natural path, living a life according to the laws of nature. However, one also has the ability to ascend to the path of trust (bitachon), relying on the goodness of the Almighty, and then matters align in that direction against all odds.
Thus, instead of following the course of fate, one can recreate fate through cleaving to Hashem’s love for us.
Of course, the concept of bitachon raises a fundamental question that has occupied the minds of the greatest thinkers: How can a person be certain that Hashem will deal kindly with them? Perhaps they are undeserving, and Hashem has, Heaven forbid, other plans.
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VAYECHI
First in or Last Out
Parents and educators carry two responsibilities: to present to their children or pupils a goal that needs to be reached and to manage the path to it. In other words, they must connect the destination with the current point where the student stands and make the student understand that the goal is relevant and attainable.
How could Yaakov not believe Yosef? How can we understand the fact that Yaakov does not trust his son's promise, "I will do as you have said" and demands that Yosef take an oath to ensure he would bring him to the Eretz Yisrael?
Yaakov knew that Yosef had a different view about the definition of a leader's role. While Yaakov demanded to be brought to Eretz Yisrael, Yosef asked his children for the opposite—to leave his coffin in Egypt until the Exodus. This reflects a sharp difference between Yaakov and Yosef regarding the essence of leadership responsibility: Is a leader the first to leave, pointing the way to the loftiest goal, or the last to leave, connecting the ultimate destination to the students; present reality?
Of course, both roles are necessary and are part of the educator’s overall mission.
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