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Religion & Spirituality

Ta Shma

Hadar Institute

Bringing you recent lectures, classes, and programs from the Hadar Institute, Ta Shma is where you get to listen in on the beit midrash. Come and listen on the go, at home, or wherever you are. Hosted by Rabbi Avi Killip of the Hadar Institute.

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  • 780 episodes
  • Updated Yesterday

Episodes780

Newest first
  • Oct 23, 2023 · 12 min

    Impulsive Decisions: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #18

    Taking a vow is a serious halakhic undertaking, and Rabbinic law warns us against taking them hastily. But even if a voew is ultimately annulled, it's possible that for the vow - the words we saw when we feel the most desperate - to be part of a broader process of growth and change. The Ma'or Va'Shemesh explains. "Ki Anu Amecha," "Ah Shtarker Bistu," and "Nigun Hisva'adus" from RAZA Kapelya (2023) by Chana Raskin. Produced by Joey Weisenberg and Chana Raskin for Hadar’s Rising Song Records.

  • Oct 19, 2023 · 8 min

    Being Self-Ignited: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #17

    God wants us to serve Him with excitement and joy, which is reflected in the lighting of the the Menorah. The Ma’or VaShemesh reads the lighting of this lamp on the part of Kohen Gadol as analogous to the igniting of religious fervor that can often happen when people are in the presence of great religious teachers and inspirational spiritual leaders. Like the flame which achieves independence from the spark that ignites it and then draws from its own fuel to keep the light burning, so too, people need to draw from their own internal resources to maintain excitement and to be internally motivated to keep on growing. "Ki Anu Amecha," "Klimovitcher Nigun," and "Nigun Hisva'adus" from RAZA Kapelya (2023) by Chana Raskin. Produced by Joey Weisenberg and Chana Raskin for Hadar’s Rising Song Records.

  • Oct 18, 2023 · 12 min

    R. David Kasher on Parashat Noah: Naming Noah

    Noah is a notoriously difficult character to pin down. Is he being presented as one of our heroes, to be emulated for his exceptional virtue, or as a tragic foil for the real heroes to come?

  • Oct 16, 2023 · 14 min

    The Joy of Belonging: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #16

    At Sinai, people hear God’s voice. But a Midrash records that what they were most impressed by a glimpse of the entire community of the angels in heaven, and the way that the angels were arranged. What could possibly have been so moving about the angels' formations? “Mitteler Rebbe,” "Ki Anu Amecha," and “Nigun Hisva'adus” from RAZA Kapelya (2023) by Chana Raskin. Produced by Joey Weisenberg and Chana Raskin for Hadar’s Rising Song Records.

  • Oct 11, 2023 · 13 min

    R. David Kasher on Parashat Bereishit: The Grammar of God

    The Torah signals to us from the start that words have great power. A book that opens with an account of a world created through divine speech acts reveals its own interest in the creative possibilities of language. So we can expect this text to choose its words carefully, deliberately. We might not, however, have expected the extent to which the Torah is willing to manipulate the other features and forms of language in order to communicate ideas.

  • Oct 5, 2023 · 7 min

    R. Avi Strausberg on Simhat Torah: Becoming Torah

    At the end of the day, or perhaps at the end of the Jewish calendar year, am I actually a better person as a result of the many hours given over each year to Torah study? Or, am I the same person I was before, just another year older?

  • Sep 27, 2023 · 8 min

    R. Avi Strausberg: Holding God Holding Us

    For much of our lives we are unable to receive or offer the holding and embracing that we need. Sukkot is yhe holiday that invites us to pause—to hold and to be held.

  • Sep 24, 2023 · 11 min

    R. Avi Killip: Forgiveness, Intimacy, and the Eternal Search

    The search for God will span a lifetime. But once a year the dynamic is different. If Judaism offers up life as a giant game of hide and seek with the Holy One, Yom Kippur is the one day when God doesn't hide. The game is paused, and God emerges in search of us.

  • Sep 18, 2023 · 40 min

    R. Jamie Weisbach: Eating as if You’re Fasting

    There is a halakhic obligation to eat on the day before Yom Kippur. What is the nature of this obligation? Where does it come from? What can it teach us about the meaning of Yom Kippur itself and the process of Teshuvah? Recorded for Hadar's onliene yom iyyun on Erev Yom Kippur 5789.

  • Sep 11, 2023 · 55 min

    R. Tali Adler: Sacrifice - What It Is, What It Could Be, Why It Matters

    Akeidat Yitzhak, the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, is usually seen as the ultimate Jewish model of personal sacrifice. But is willingness to die for God really the epitome of sacrifice? In this session, R. Tali Adler explores a midrash that questions Akeidat Yitzhak's role as the central model of personal sacrifice, and offers a story about Rachel our Matriarch as an alternative.

  • Sep 4, 2023 · 9 min

    R. Elie Kaunfer: Introduction to Malkhuyot

    In a newly released video and audio series (originally recorded in 2020), Rabbi Elie Kaunfer introduces aspects of the High Holiday Mahzor as we prepare for the upcoming Hagim. This is the first of these introducing the Malkhuyot (or Kingship) section of Rosh Hashanah Musaf. You can go to hadar.org and sign up for the WhatsApp group to receive this video and audio series every day.

  • Aug 30, 2023 · 11 min

    R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Ki Tavo: The Power of “Amen”

    In Parahsat Ki Tavo, the word “amen” appears 12 times in 12 consecutive verses (Deuteronomy 27:15-26). It is also a word that features prominently in our prayer experience, usually in response to the prayer leader’s prompt. But what does this word mean? What is happening ritually when we say “amen”?

  • Aug 28, 2023 · 44 min

    Sustenance - A Talmudic and Culinary Exploration of Women in Judaism

    In what way is the Talmud like a recipe book? In this panel event that brought together an incredible slice of the New York Jewish community, Hadar’s Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish leads a discussion about a revolutionary new cookbook, "Feeding Women of the Talmud, Feeding Ourselves," collected by Kenden Alfond. Learn not only about this book but also about the women of the Talmud and mustard seeds!

  • Aug 23, 2023 · 8 min

    R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Ki Teitzei: Are Gerim Treated Differently in Prayer?

    Jewish identity is irreducibly made up of both religious and ethnic components. One of the situations where this complexity comes to the fore is for converts (or in Hebrew: gerim), people who become Jewish but do not necessarily have ethnic Jewish ancestors. And yet, our liturgy is full of references to the “God of our ancestors” and similar formulations assuming an ethnically Jewish background. How should Jews by choice interact with a liturgy that assumes, at least sometimes, that those who recite it are Jews by birth?

  • Aug 21, 2023 · 44 min

    R. Avital Hochstein: Seeing as a Path to a Life of Ethics and Hesed

    Putting together a lot of her teaching over the years, Rabbi Avital Hochstein explores the verb “to see” in the Torah. How can seeing someone else create connection and mutual understanding? How can seeing help us evaluate what is good and right?

  • Aug 16, 2023 · 8 min

    R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Shoftim: Praying for Peace

    At the end of the Amidah, we ask for God to “שים שלום - grant peace.” But the word “שלום - peace” has multiple meanings, and it is not clear exactly what we are asking for in this moment. Is this a request for broad political stability, or something more personal? How might we understand this request for peace and how it relates to our prayer life?

  • Aug 14, 2023 · 6 min

    Saying What We Don't Mean: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #15

    One of the most quintessential human emotions is regret. Regret is so intimately tied with my sense of human frailty and fallibility that it’s always jarring for me to read that the Torah describes God as having this feeling! Really? God regrets? It’s as unfathomable as it is comforting. “Yemin Hashem,” “Mitteler Rebbe,” and “Nigun Hisva'adus” are from RAZA Kapelya (2023) by Chana Raskin. Produced by Joey Weisenberg and Chana Raskin for Hadar’s Rising Song Records.