IKAR Podcasts

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.

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 4.15.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

Source sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LwZjl53yR6HMKUQJy60udqZc_Yvf45-H/view This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz'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 modern questions. Join...

Join Rabbi Sharon Brous and Dalia Dassa Kaye as they discuss Dassa Kaye's new book, Enduring Hostility - The Making of America’s Iran Policy, "a timely and rigorous analysis of a half-century of American policymakers' shifting perceptions of Iran, and how they have driven US-Iran relations." Dalia Dassa Kaye is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and a former Seni...

Are we ready to give sound to the silent beginning at Sinai?

California State Senator Ben Allen, representing Senate District 24, including Beverly Grove, Fairfax, Mid City West, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, joined Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation.

The death penalty has no place in a just society. And it has no place in a Jewish society.

An introduction to the Yizkor service

Source Sheet here: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-Song-and-The-Star.pdf Judaism greets our most powerful experiences of salvation and redemption with song and music. Using the lens of Franz Rosenzweig’s Star of Redemption, we find music not only passively accompanying our experiences of the Divine, but also actively attuning us toward justice, bringing redemption to others and joy...

How do we think about mo’adim, the fixed times in our calendar when we are asked to show up for a meeting with God? Can we treat these occasions as moments of sacred recognition?

We Jews are obsessed with telling stories – as the core of the Passover Seder and beyond.  The obsession to do so is woven into the fabric of Jewish life and practice.  Through interpreting our people’s narrative, we become the story we tell about ourselves and we partner with God in completing creation.

Ezekiel’s prophecy, read on the Shabbat of Passover, challenges us to dream audaciously. You cannot tell a redemption story that leaves some behind. And that includes those amongst our own people who’ve gone terribly astray.

As we approach Pesah, we often consume ourselves with cleaning our houses, but we neglect any spiritual preparation for the holiday. What would happen if we let the search for chametz in our houses lead to a search for something in ourselves? What might we find?

Source sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YKuYB4tSLePVfl1YytWeZSShpH2kdw4P/view Class #16 | March 24, 2026 This is a recording of Rabbi Morris 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...