IKAR Podcasts

Recovery and Bilaam’s addictive tendencies.

If Bilaam is really so bad, that brings us back to our original question - what is he doing in the Torah? What are we reading this bizarre story at all???

The Red Heifer. Supposedly the greatest mystery of the Torah. Our Sages have puzzled over it for centuries. But isn’t this just a distraction from the main events of Parshat Hukat: the deaths of Miriam and Aaron!

Every June, we turn our attention and love to the LGBTQ+ community at IKAR. For many years we have taken the opportunity during PRIDE month to stories from LGBTQ+ folks and their family members. We're excited to share a compilation of the past three year's stories.

This week, the Angel of Death showed up twice.

“There were four judges in Sodom, and they were named for their actions: Shakrai, meaning liar, Shakrurai, habitual liar, Zayfai, forger, and Matzlei Dina, perverter of justice” (Babylonian Talmud).  In our grief and rage for the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, it is clear that we are living through the return of Sodom. But, Sodom and subsequent corrupt societies were undermined and ul...

Ours is a tradition of stories. We see this from the flawed humanity of Adam and Eve through the tangle of relationships in Genesis and the struggle and redemption of Exodus, to the creative rabbinic interpretations of Midrash and Talmud, to the spiritually rooted Chasidic tales. Stories are essential to understanding one another and informing how we make sense of and choose to live in the world. ...

Forty years in the desert?? Really?!?

The Israelites have begun complaining. They say they miss the meat and melons they had back in Egypt. Really?! After God freed them from slavery and is raining down manna from heaven?! These ungrateful wretches! Disgraceful. But, then again…are really they so different from us?

God gave us the law. Now we're giving it back.

Someone must have slipped something into my drink. I’m reading my Torah late one night and, suddenly, the letters start to run backwards...  

Today's episode is a bit later than usual because of Shavuot.

Thoughts on the dangers and the blessings of flag-waving

In such a turbulent time we need to remember what love looks like. The unique mutual devotion of the biblical heroines Naomi and Ruth teaches us that our interpersonal relationships can have transformative and healing power — for us, our descendants, and the human community.

Three striking midrashim help us understand how the Hebrew name for this fourth book of the Torah can help frame our journey through it.

There is a curse upon the land.

After the tragic shooting in Buffalo rooted in White Supremacy and hate, we look to the Omer, a time on the Jewish calendar associated with mourning. The themes of Lag b’Omer offer some guidance on what our society needs.

So this is how it ends?!

Pop Quiz: What Biblical verse is on the Liberty Bell? This is an edited version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Study class from 5/19/2022

A whole new spin on Yom Kippur.

A Jewish response to the recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion intending to overturn Roe v. Wade. Find the transcript on our website: https://ikar.org/sermons/im-a-private-person

How did counting the Omer become so much more than numbers? This is an edited down version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Studies Class from 5/12/2022.

Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we can receive the Torah, we must learn Derekh Eretz - how to live together in harmony with all human beings. One of the greatest Jewish philosophers, the mighty Maharal of Prague (famous from the legend of The Golem!) called thi...

Right in the middle of the first major list of the Jewish holidays comes a major interruption.

This is the first session from Rabbi David Kasher's five-part series that began on May 2, 2022. As we return to our yearly tradition of studying Pirkei Avot, and learn to walk the Path of Life with the Maharal as our guide. Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we ca...