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.

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

780 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes780

Newest first

Dec 22, 2025 · 37 min
R. Avi Killip: Birthing Worlds
For generations our relationship with God has been mediated through texts written almost entirely by men. In these sessions, Rabbi Avi Killip explores a collection of midrashim, written by contemporary Israeli women writers, exploring images of God that are uniquely female oriented while being deeply rooted in the images and language of the Torah and classical midrash. “Birthing Worlds,” the second class in this series, introduces midrashim on the life experience of birthing and pregnancy loss as windows into the divine experience of creation and revelation. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/KillipBirthingWorlds2025.pdf
Dec 17, 2025 · 9 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Mikeitz: How Do You Climb Out of a Pit?
Parashat Mikeitz teaches that dreams hold immense power: the power to bring downfall or renewal, life or death, destruction or creation, war or peace. This means that the way we, as human beings, pursue a dream—whether out of spiritual emptiness or fullness, with an expectation that it will disconnect or connect—places before us both choice and responsibility.
Dec 15, 2025 · 6 min
R. Elazar Symon on Hanukkah: The Miracle of Home Carried into the Street
One of the differences between the Hanukkah candles and the other significant candles in our religious practice, the Shabbat candles, is their location. While Shabbat candles are lit inside the house, in the private domain (or, the technical term: reshut ha-yahid), the Hanukkah lamps are ideally lit in the doorway that connects to the public domain (reshut ha-rabim). But what is the significance of this difference? What is the meaning of the liminal space of the doorway? And what spiritual message does the invitation to illuminate it contain?
Dec 10, 2025 · 10 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat VaYeishev: Yosef's Father, a Symbol of the Future
One of the most dramatic turning points in Yosef’s life is his fall from a respected and powerful position in Potiphar’s house in Egypt to the status of a prisoner in jail. In the Rabbinic tradition, this moment is seen not merely as a downfall but as a moment of personal choice, a point at which Yosef chooses to invest in a future. He chooses active continuity rather than starting anew. Interestingly the character who represents this choice is one from his past: his father.
Dec 8, 2025 · 44 min
R. Avi Killip: The Kiss of Death
For generations our relationship with God has been mediated through texts written almost entirely by men. In these sessions, Rabbi Avi Killip explores a collection of midrashim, written by contemporary Israeli women writers, exploring images of God that are uniquely female oriented while being deeply rooted in the images and language of the Torah and classical midrash. “The Kiss of Death” is a breathtakingly beautiful midrash about the death of Miriam, that opens layers of unexpected metaphors for God. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/KillipKissOfDeath2025.pdf
Dec 3, 2025 · 10 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat VaYishlah: From Ya'akov to Yisrael—and Back
“Ya’akov was very afraid and distressed.” He takes many different precautions in order to avoid a violent reunion with his brother, with potentially severe consequences. At the same time, in our parashah Ya’akov receives a new name: Yisrael—a name he receives twice! The name, at its core, describes a person caught in conflict, and it is given to Ya’akov the first time in the midst of a struggle.
Dec 1, 2025 · 38 min
R. David Kasher: Klal Yisrael and Beyond: Balancing Communal Obligations with Civic Responsibilities
Are our primary responsibilities always to our own community? Or do Jews in the diaspora also have a religious obligation to contribute to the general social welfare - perhaps even to get involved in local politics? When Jews have political, social, or financial capital - how should we spend it? Rabbinic tradition offers no easy answers to these questions, but instead presents us with complex and nuanced attempts to balance universal ideals with practical communal concerns. Together we will review various approaches within this tradition - mishnaic, medieval, mystical and modern - and attempt to determine what it means to be both a member of the tribe and a citizen of the world. Recorded at the July Learning Seminar 2025.
Nov 25, 2025 · 9 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat VaYeitzei: A Covenant of Separation
Throughout Parashat VaYeitzei, almost from their very first encounter, Lavan and Ya’akov are locked in conflict. But there is a rare moment of encounter—though a fraught one—where the verses describe a desire to bridge: “Come, then, let us make a covenant, you and I” (Genesis 31:44). What emerges is a covenant of separation—a covenant in which much of the content is devoted to how the two will live apart, not together.
Nov 24, 2025 · 40 min
Independence and Interdependence: When do we need to stay together, and when must we strike out on our own?
Participating in and belonging to a Jewish community is rightly considered to be central to living a full and meaningful Jewish life. However, sometimes being enmeshed in community can present a challenge to exploring and pursuing our own personal goals and interests, both religious and non-religious. In this class, we'll explore a passage of the Ma'or vaShemesh, from the great Hassidic master R' Kalonymos Kalman Epstein, wherein he explores and defines the limitations of being in community and when a person must leave their peers to pursue their own path. Recorded in July Learning Seminar, 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/JLS2025StrausbergIndependenceInterdependence.pdf
Nov 19, 2025 · 7 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Toldot: Rivalry or Relationship?
Our parashah offers an opportunity to encounter a typical human phenomenon—plurality —and contemplate its implications. Specifically it brings us to ask: how do Ya’akov, Esav, and their offspring live with each other, as “two” from the womb?
Nov 17, 2025 · 20 min
R. Ayal Robkin: The Apprentice Mind Part 3
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, also known as the Alei Shur, offers a powerful and inspiring — but often demanding — vision for what it takes to become a better human being. Before we can do any act of repentance, of teshuvah — we must first learn how to change and how to grow. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RobkinApprenticeMind2025.pdf
Nov 12, 2025 · 8 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Hayyei Sarah: Rivkah’s Blessing
Rivkah receives a blessing from her family members before she sets out on her journey to marry Yitzhak: “O sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads; may your descendants inherit the gates of their foes” (Genesis 24:60).
Nov 10, 2025 · 18 min
R. Ayal Robkin: The Apprentice Mind Part 2
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, also known as the Alei Shur, offers a powerful and inspiring — but often demanding — vision for what it takes to become a better human being. Before we can do any act of repentance, of teshuvah — we must first learn how to change and how to grow. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RobkinApprenticeMind2025.pdf
Nov 5, 2025 · 8 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Vayera: The Righteous With the Wicked
In this week’s parashah, Avraham argues with God over the divine decision to destroy Sodom completely. Avraham and God agree that Sodom is wicked and that terrible things happen there. So what, then, is the basis for Avraham’s plea? Why does he resist God’s plan to punish and overturn Sodom? What are Avraham’s arguments as he tries to stop the city’s total destruction?
Nov 3, 2025 · 45 min
R. Aviva Richman: Why Talmud is the Bedrock of My Faith
The Talmud has often been subject to misrepresentation—viewed as esoteric or overly complex—yet it holds profound power as a centerpiece of Jewish tradition. How can Talmud and Talmud study anchor an approach to Judaism that speaks to the challenges and dangers of our moment? How can its embrace of complexity, argument, and multivocality offer a model for living a thoughtful and principled Jewish life in our uncertain times? Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RichmanTalmudKickoff2025.pdf
Oct 29, 2025 · 11 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Lekh Lekha: Walking, Tradition, and Renewal
Abraham is “our father” in many senses. He is seen as the father of the Jewish people, the spiritual father of Judaism and of monotheistic faiths more broadly, and the father of the covenant with the one God. Yet in our parashah, Abraham is introduced first and foremost as a son, a descendant who must decide whether to be traditional or innovative—whether to follow the path of his forebears or to become a revolutionary.
Oct 27, 2025 · 21 min
R. Ayal Robkin: The Apprentice Mind Part 1
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, also known as the Alei Shur, offers a powerful and inspiring — but often demanding — vision for what it takes to become a better human being. Before we can do any act of repentance, of teshuvah — we must first learn how to change and how to grow. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RobkinApprenticeMind2025.pdf
Oct 22, 2025 · 13 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Noah: "In His Generation"
Parashat Noah invites us to reflect on the relationship between society and the individual. The introduction of its main character raises a central question: What is our role when we live within a corrupt society? How should we conduct ourselves when leaders are not guided by the values we hold dear, and when many individuals disagree with us about what is good, just, and right?
Oct 13, 2025 · 10 min
R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Bereishit: What If Adam Had Reacted Differently?
Two children are fighting in the playground. Called into the principal’s office, each insists: “It all started when he hit me back.” This familiar joke captures something deeply human: our tendency to avoid responsibility by blaming others.
Oct 6, 2025 · 7 min
R. Tali Adler on VeZot HaBerakhah: On Endings and Beginnings
The draw of theatre in the age of movies is that each experience is unique. While the script's words and stage directions remain the same night after night, the unique alchemy of the actors and audience gathered in that particular configuration at that particular moment in time, does not. When we linger in our seats after the final encore, delaying our exit into the glaring reality of the world, it is because something in us senses that this particular magic will never happen again. If we were to return to see the play again the next night it would not be the same, and neither would we. Every time a curtain falls on stage, the particular piece of art that was that play, that night, with that audience as it is that night, shatters.