KMTT - the Torah Podcast

Lekh Lekha | Hearing the Call and Working for God, by Rav Ezra Bick and Rav Yonatan Shai Freedman God's call is always broadcasting. Why was Avraham the one who heard it? Avraham's greatness, Rav Ezra Bick and Rav Yonatan Shai Friedman suggest, lay not in what he had already achieved but in hearing God's call and answering it. When he arrived in the Land, the first thing he did was build an altar...

Mind of a Monotheist | 3 | Lekh Lekha | Egyptian Beauty Bias by Rav David Debow What does Sarai's beauty in Egypt teach about racism? Rabbi David Debow reads Lekh Lekha. Rabbi David Debow argues that "Lekh lekha" calls Avraham to leave his land, his kin and his culture, rejecting every kind of determinism, because monotheism begins in freedom. In Sarai's abduction in Egypt, he finds the Torah open...

Why Give Tzedaka? Ethics as Divine Service, by Rav Ezra Bick and Rav Eli Weber In this second episode of Talking Machshava ("Talking Jewish Thought"), Rav Eli Weber asks Rav Ezra Bick a question. If love of God and service of God are one and the same, is tzedaka (charity) worth more when it goes to a poor person we dislike?

Sefat Emet | Lekh Lekha | Why Abraham Alone Heard God's Call, by Rav Eli Weber Why does the Torah never explain why God chose Abraham? Drawing on the Zohar, the Sefat Emet answers that God calls out "Lekh lekha" to all of humanity, but only Abraham listened and acted. Rabbi Eli Weber shows that Abraham's greatness lay in that response. He left home, family and comfort simply because God asked, wit...

Sefat Emet | Noach | Noach and Avraham: Two Faces of Divine Help, by Rabbi Eli Weber Everyone needs God's help, Noach and Avraham alike. That is how the Sefat Emet insists on reading the Midrash that contrasts the two. The difference is in the form the help takes. Noach's help was open and miraculous. Avraham's came hidden within nature, earned through his lifelong closeness to God. And history ne...

Lekh Lekha | 'VaYirdof ad Dan': The "Dan" Problem, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom How can Avraham be described as chasing the kings "to Dan"? Isn't that a double-anachronism?  This lecture explores the geographical mystery of Avraham chasing the four kings "to Dan" in Parashat Lekh Lekha, despite Dan being the name of Avraham's great-grandson. Rabbi Etshalom analyzes various traditional and critical app...

Lekh Lekha | The Brit as Relates to Non-Jews, by Rav Binyamin Tabory Does circumcision apply to gentiles? May a Jew circumcise a gentile? Brit mila has two layers: a physical mitzva and a covenant with God. According to Rambam, the descendants of Ketura are obligated in the physical act. Any non-Jew may be circumcised if he does it sincerely as a mitzva. The covenant itself, kritat brit, belongs t...

Noach | Ever Min Ha-chai, by Rav Binyamin Tabory The seventh of the mitzvot benei Noach: to whom does it apply? All humanity must keep the seven Noahide laws. Rav Binyamin Tabory A ger toshav is someone who formally accepts them before a beit din, and that acceptance changes his status. He becomes "commanded" (metzuveh), which is a kind of partial conversion. He may then live in Eretz Yisrael and...

Noach | Why Chamas Doomed the World; What Noach Missed, by Rav Ezra Bick with guest Rav Jacob Bernstein Robbery did not just add to the sins of the Flood generation. It destroyed society, and a world without society cannot stand. Rav Ezra Bick applies this to Jewish unity in Israel today. Rabbi Jacob Bernstein adds that Noach's private righteousness was not enough: Avraham and Moshe became great b...

Mind of a Monotheist | 2 | Noach: Shem, Ham and Yefet: Torah's Map of Peoplehood, by Rabbi David Debow Is the Torah biased? Why is Noach's son Yefet named for beauty? A bold read on race in the Torah. Monotheism holds that only God is a perfect unity, so a monotheist resists reducing people to a single essence. Reading Genesis 10, Rabbi David Debow shows how the Torah defines every nation by land,...

Is Halakha the Enemy of Loving God? A new series with Rav Eli Weber in conversation with Rav Ezra Bick Does God care which way your lulav faces? Rav Bick on why commitment is the truest love. Rav Bick argues that halakha's detailed obligations don't compete with love of God; they are its truest form. Loving God means serving Him, and real service includes commandments we don't understand. Drawing...

Sefat Emet | Who Was the Sefat Emet? Life, Legacy, Learning, by Rav Eli Weber Intro to the Series. He refused to become Rebbe as a teen. Meet the Sefat Emet, whose words "endure forever." Rav Eli Weber introduces the Sefat Emet, the Gerrer Rebbe raised by his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim, and shaped by Kotzk's passion for honesty. His Torah on Chumash is a foundational Chassidic work. It is n...

New Series! Sefat Emet | Bereishit | What was the World Missing? Rashi teaches that the world lacked one thing after six days: rest. The Sefat Emet explains that this menucha is not mere inactivity. It is the unifying force that lets us step back and see how every part of creation, even what seems to oppose holiness, serves God's plan. Shabbat completes the world by revealing its hidden purpose.

Bereishit | The Sin of the Tree of Knowledge, by Rav David Debow In this first episode of the 'Mind of a Monotheist' series, we explore Adam and Eve's first sin and how that sin is repeated by every one of us, bringing unhappiness to our lives. I examine the sin and show how it can be avoided in our personal lives. I offer a novel close reading of this biblical passage that shows how the sin is ab...

"The Take-Home Meaning of Shemini Atzeret" by Rav Assaf Bednarsh Leil Hoshana Rabba 5787, Heichal Shlomo

Exploring Charedi Culture with Alumni Coordinator Rav Yonatan Shai Freedman in conversation with Jonathan Rosenblum. Jonathan Rosenblum is the director, spokesperson, and founder of Jewish Media Resources, an organization which attempts to clarify journalists' understanding of Charedi Jewish society. Leil Hoshana Rabba 5787 at Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem

VeZot HaBerakha | Birkat Moshe: Sequence, Meaning and Purpose, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom This shiur addresses the order of the tribes as they receive Moshe's Berakha; what are we to make of this odd sequence? A closer look at the purpose of these Berakhot will help illuminate the rationale behind the sequence and the intent of the Berakhot as related to the upcoming conquest of the Land. Source she...

Aveilut and Simcha: How Rav Soloveitchik Read Yom Kippur's Hidden Joy, by Rav Yosef Blau Kiyum simcha beYom HaKippurim. No festive meal, no Hallel — so why does Yom Kippur still override mourning like a Yom Tov? Rav Soloveitchik understood aveilut not as a set of external practices but as an inner state — the felt sense of disconnection from Hashem — and understood Yom Tov's simcha similarly, as f...

Shabbat Shuva | Teshuva Mei'Yir'a: The Runaway Son, by Rav Eli Weber Why would Chazal choose the "cynical," self-interested model of teshuva for the Shabbat before Yom Kippur?  Hoshea 14:2-10, Mikha 7: 18-20, Yoel 2: 15-27 The Haftara of Shabbat Shuva models a modest, even self-interested form of teshuva — returning to God not out of love but out of disappointment that other paths failed — and ins...

Rosh Hashana 5787 | Chana's Silent Prayer, by Rav Eli Weber Chana's silent tears at Shiloh became the model for Jewish prayer. Discover the story. Shmuel Alef 1:1 - 2:10 The Haftara of Chana, read on the first day of Rosh Hashana, tells of a barren woman's anguished, silent prayer at Shilo and Hashem's response through the birth of Shmuel HaNavi. Rav Eli Weber highlights Chana's prayer as the mode...

Rosh Hashana | How Did We Get To 30 Blasts? by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom Why do we blow 30 shofar blasts from one vague word in the Torah? The answer involves doubt, unity, and Caesarea. This shiur explores the halakhic development of the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashana, tracing the transition from the Torah's vague command of 'Yom Terua' to the established practice of 30 sounds. Rabbi Etshalom analyze...

When Rosh Hashana Falls on Shabbat, by Eli Weber A topic which is obviously specific to this year, but also a topic with huge implications to the interplay between Deoraita and Derabbanan.

The Parasha Pod | 51 | Rosh Hashana, by Rav Menachem Leibtag and Rav Mordechai Rosenberg Rosh Hashana and Listening to the Shofar When we Can't Hear It 00:00 - What is Rosh Hashana without the shofar? 08:50 - How is Rosh Hashana like Har Sinai? 12:50 - The festivals essence and details: Emor and Pinchas 16:55 - How to fulfil Rosh Hashana without the shofar? 20:15 - Why is Rosh Hashana on the first...

Nitzavim - Vayelekh | "Sos Asis" - I Greatly Rejoice in God by Rav Eli Weber The last and sweetest of the seven haftarot of consolation — can love and awe of God actually be the same feeling? Yeshayahu 61:10 - 63:9 Exploring the haftara "Sos Asis," the final and most comforting of the seven haftarot of consolation, the shiur centers on the marriage metaphor for our relationship with God — a brideg...

 Ki Tavo | The Historical and Metaphysical Future, by Rav Eli Weber Why is the haftara for Ki Tavo so uniquely comforting? A look at divine light, historic redemption, and surprising echoes. Yeshayahu 60: 1-22 This shiur examines the haftara for Ki Tavo, Yeshayahu's "Kumi Ori" — the sixth of the seven Haftarot of Consolation. It highlights three themes: a metaphysical shift in which Hashem's own l...