IKAR Podcasts

Join Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation with Raphael Warnock, Baptist pastor and senator from Georgia, to discuss his new book The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America. Join us on June 27 during services, virtually and in-person. Senator Reverend Raphael G. Warnock is a transformational voice in Congress and the pastor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Ebenezer Bapt...

Senator Reverend Raphael G. Warnock is a transformational voice in Congress and the pastor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, and for the semiquincentennial of America, he exhorts us to reach for the highest and noblest aspects of our national character. Senator Warnock argues that we suffer not from a paucity of resources but from a poverty of moral imagination.

A conversation with Dr. Sara Glass, author of Kissing Girls on Shabbat, and Lani Santo, CEO of Footsteps, discussing LGBTQ+ identity, chosen family, and building a self-determined life after leaving ultra-Orthodoxy.

In this week's Torah reading we meet a character who is mentioned just once and then vanishes from the story.  Who is he, and what does he teach us?  And what does all of that have to do with being 13?

The window of opportunity is closing. But as long as the spark of vitality remains within us, it’s not yet too late.

A conversation featuring Elly Oltersdorf of Achvat Amim, sharing a firsthand perspective on Jewish solidarity work in the West Bank amid escalating settler violence. Joined by Joe Goldman of New Israel Fund, this conversation will explore what solidarity, moral witness, and shared responsibility can look like in this moment. Co-sponsored by Achvat Amim, New Israel Fund, and Standing Together LA.

Source sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H8amu8GaAckmuDgd7HIknLHTIyz6YQ5UvmZDKExjriY/edit?usp=sharing We are a nation built by people who dared to believe the unbelievable, even when the odds were far worse and the stakes much higher than at any  blackjack table… Our shared history, our family stories, our collective legacy is one of impossible dreams made real– …we are our ancestors’ wil...

Source sheet: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Midrash-Class-1.pdf In the gaps, the ambiguities, the contradictions, and the mysteries of Torah, Midrash is born. Like a flower emerging from the crack in the sidewalk, a new image captures our attention, transforming the entire landscape. In this three-part series, we’ll investigate the project of Midrash– where these new stories come fro...

The Torah's most repetitive chapter may conceal one of its most urgent lessons. Through a series of surprising midrashic connections, we discover that the leaders bringing gifts to the Mishkan are the same figures who once clashed bitterly with Moses during the struggle against Pharaoh. Their last-minute act of reconciliation raises a timeless question: what does it take for a divided people to re...

Source sheet: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Midrash-Class-1.pdf In the gaps, the ambiguities, the contradictions, and the mysteries of Torah, Midrash is born. Like a flower emerging from the crack in the sidewalk, a new image captures our attention, transforming the entire landscape. In this three-part series, we’ll investigate the project of Midrash– where these new stories come fro...

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly parsha study class from 5.27.2026, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Source sheet: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Shavuot-Day-1-Source-Sheet-5786.pdf We spend so much time preparing to speak, but what does Shavuot and revelation teach us about how we can prepare to listen?

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly parsha study class from 5.20.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

In the gaps, the ambiguities, the contradictions, and the mysteries of Torah, Midrash is born. Like a flower emerging from the crack in the sidewalk, a new image captures our attention, transforming the entire landscape. In this three-part series, we’ll investigate the project of Midrash– where these new stories come from and how they shape our understanding of both the Torah and its interpreters.

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parsha study class from May 16, 2026, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parsha study from May 6, 2026, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Two extraordinary moments of recognition in the Book of Ruth remind us that the simple act of seeing one another—of identifying with another’s pain—can restore our humanity and redeem the world. May 16, 2026 – Bamidbar 5786

In 1942, Executive Order 9066 laid the foundation for the mass removal and subsequent incarceration of over 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans. The federal government built ten concentration camps throughout the interior of the country where they incarcerated the majority of the Japanese Americans removed from the West Coast. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the closure of the camps. J...

How ancient Biblical agricultural laws call us to imagine a radically inclusive social, political, and economic reality. Behar Behukotai 5786 – May 9, 2026

Source sheet: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u9DAtF5hBMeh46i6JUiXeLmT4TRpaqR4 This is a recording of the final class of the For the Love of Learning series with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Morris Panitz.

Between Pesach and Shavuot, we count the days of the Omer. What does this practice offer us about being present, making the most of the time we have, and cultivating faith in what is to come?

On Monday May 4, join Hadar West and Rising Song's R. Deborah Sacks Mintz for a festive Hilula - uplifting gathering of song and story.   https://hadar.org/learn/classes-events/hadar-west-lag-baomer-rising-song This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly parsha study class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Source sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KZ75mWBCUQnUoqY7lwS7yv84Kz6rix_Sb4SVnI1T_rg/edit?tab=t.0 This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to m...

A lone figure escorts the scapegoat into the desert, carrying not just the sins of a people, but the unbearable weight of human truth. What unfolds is a raw confrontation with guilt, memory, and the fragile hope that love can outlast both. An ancient ritual becomes a deeply personal journey toward compassion, repair, and return.

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 4.23.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.