Jerusalem Lights

This week’s Jerusalem Lights podcast is a Passover primer! Jim Long and Rabbi Chaim Richman offer an amazing and inspiring analysis of the eternal covenant of the Passover offering, the haggadah and the seder night, the unique prohibition against chometz (leaven) – and the significance of Passover for all mankind. Can Passover be observed by non-Jews? Should it be? Are non-Jews who love the G-d of...

This week’s Torah portion of Parashat Vayikra begins the book of Leviticus, called by our sages the very ‘heart’ of Torah, which focuses on the korbanot – the offerings that are made in the Holy Temple. Contemporary man has suffered a disconnect from the spiritual foundations of this vastly misunderstood subject, and many misconceptions need to be unlearned -- many ‘sacred cows’ have to be slaught...

Jerusalem Lights Podcast #57 - Standing Between the Staves of the Ark of the Covenant   This week the book of Exodus is concluded with the reading of the last two Torah portions, Vayakhel and Pekudei. On the day following the first Yom Kippur, Moses assembled the entire nation together and conveyed G-d’s message of forgiveness, giving over to them G-d’s commandments of observing the Sabbath a...

This week’s powerful Torah reading of Ki Tisa features so many concepts that speak to man’s perennial search for a true and meaningful relationship with the Creator, even as he grapples with his own limited humanity. Jim Long and Rabbi Chaim Richman explore the universal meaning of the horrendous Golden Calf episode and it implications for contemporary man, and share knowledge and insight in the w...

Purim Parallels and Universal Lessons from the Scroll of Esther The beloved holiday of Purim will be celebrated this week! In this special edition of the Jerusalem Lights podcast, Jim Long and Rabbi Chaim Richman delve deeply into the multi-faceted dimensions of the Purim story as told by the Scroll of Esther, presenting unique mystical insights, fascinating historical and archeological informatio...

The Divine Presence vs. the Spirit of Amalek This week’s Torah portion of Terumah gives expression to the Creator’s desire to be welcomed into this world – and this changes everything. The message of G-d’s desire that we create a Mikdash – a sanctuary for His presence, first fulfilled with the desert tabernacle and later, through the Holy Temple in Jerusalem -- is a message of love and faith which...

Jerusalem Lights Podcast #53 - Parashat Mishpatim Just last week in the Torah portion of Yitro, we stood at Mount Sinai and witnessed the transcendent experience of the Giving of the Torah. This week’s Torah portion of Mishpatim (Ordinances) is firmly anchored in this very physical world…but yet, it is a perfect continuation of the thunderous, Divine Sinai Revelation. This portion contains 53 mitz...

Jerusalem Lights Podcast #52 - Parashat Yitro: TORAH FOR EVERYONE! This week’s Torah portion is named for Yitro, former advisor to Pharaoh and idolatrous priest par excellence. The very same Yitro who became Moses’ father-in-law, and turned with all his heart to follow the One G-d of Israel. What’s more, Yitro was also the architect of ancient Israel’s judicial system. Why is this week’s Torah por...

Parashat B’shalach: Walking Through the Sea Towards Our Eternal Destiny With Pharaoh and the Egyptian army in hot pursuit, the Children of Israel face the Sea of Reeds in this week’s Torah portion of B’shalach. Walking through the water that had miraculously split before them, the Israelites experienced the great saving of Hashem, and collectively rose – man, woman and (even the as-yet unborn) chi...

Parashat Bo: The Torah Concept of Time vs. Pharaoh’s Mind Control Slavery: A Lesson for Our Time   This week’s Torah portion features the final three of the ten plagues: locusts, darkness and the slaying of the firstborn. It also contains the commandments of the Passover offering, and Rosh Chodesh...the sanctification of the New Moon, which is the foundation of the Hebrew calendar. In this we...

PARASHAT VA'ERA The Modern-Day Egyptian Exile of Psychological Warfare, Fear and Control  G-d’s plan to redeem Israel from Egyptian bondage begins in this week’s Torah portion of Parashat Va’era, which features the first seven of the ten plagues that were visited upon Pharaoh and all of Egypt. But why did G-d take the long way around? Why did the Master of the Universe deem it appropriate to...

Parashat Shemot: Ancient and Modern Cancel Culture This week our Torah portion is parashat Shemot, beginning the Book of Exodus. In a flash, the generation of Joseph and his brothers have passed, and a new king arises in the land of Egypt ‘who did not know Joseph.’ The children of Israel ‘were fruitful, teemed, increased….and the land became filled with them,’ much to the chagrin of Pharaoh, who b...

Our Jerusalem Lights podcast this week features a special tribute to the memory of an extraordinary man. Spiritual trailblazer, archeologist, author and teacher, Vendyl Jones of blessed memory was a true pioneer of bringing the light of Torah to the non-Jewish world. Jim Long fondly recalls his mentor and shares some of Vendyl’s fascinating personal history, and highlights some of his remarkable a...

The Tenth of Tevet and the Septuagint: King Ptolemy, Torah Translations and the Golden Calf of Intellectual Arrogance The dramatic reunion of Yosef and his brothers in the Torah portion of Vayigash coincides with three ‘days of darkness’ this week: the 8th, 9th, and the Fast Day of the 10th of this Hebrew month of Tevet. Our Jerusalem Lights podcast focuses on the events in history that these days...

Yosef the Dreamcatcher, Making the World’s Dreams Come True From Yosef in Egypt to the Hasmonean Priests of Chanukah: Fighting Against Illusion As we welcome the new month of Tevet and the beloved holiday of Chanukah reaches its illuminating crescendo this week, our hosts enthusiastically relate to the action-packed Torah portion of Miketz which features themes whose messages resonate with the urg...

Parashat Vayeshev: Yosef and the Beginning of the Descent into Egyptian Exile The light-filled holiday of Chanukah begins this week, converging with the Torah portion of Vayeshev , which focuses on Yosef (Joseph) the dreamer – the patriarch Yaakov’s beloved son of his old age. To put it mildly, Yosef doesn’t get along with his brothers – and they waylay him, throw him in a pit, and sell him as a s...

Parashat Vayishlach and Plain Talk About Israel, Iran and the Fakhrizadeh Assassination The Stain of Esav’s Influence on the History of Western Culture The Torah portion of Vayishlach includes an exciting array of many of the seminal events in the patriarch Yaakov’s life, including Yaakov’s struggle with an angel; his much-anticipated reunion with Esav, the rape of Dina by Shechem and the revenge...

This week’s Torah portion of Vayeitzei recounts the adventures of the patriarch Yaakov, who fled from Esav and worked for Lavan for 20 years. Yaakov married Lavan’s daughters Rachel and Leah, who together with Bilhah and Zilpah became the mothers of the Children of Israel. But it was Rachel whom Yaakov felt was his true soul mate. Why did he kiss her and cry when they first met? How did Lavan mana...

Parashat Toldot: Plain Talk about the Birthright, the Blessings, and the Legacy of Abraham and Esav, the Progenitor of Western Culture This week we usher in the new month of Kislev, whose energy is informed by its crescendo, the Festival of Chanukah, with its theme of the revelation of the hidden light of creation. Indeed, light and darkness is a major theme of this month, and features prominently...

All About Life and Death - and Love and Marriage The Torah portion of Chayei Sarah features only two concepts: the death of Sarah and her burial at the ‘double cave’ in Hebron, and Eliezer’s mission to find a wife for Isaac. Yet in this week’s edition of the Jerusalem Lights podcast, our hosts discover that a major theme emerges from the connection of these ideas – namely, the true meaning of a li...

The Incomprehensible Test of the Binding of Isaac :  A Defining Moment at the Crossroads of History In a show not to be missed, this week’s edition of the Jerusalem Lights podcast was recorded on the 17th day of MarCheshvan – the day that marks the beginning of the Great Flood in the time of Noah – as the election ballots in the USA are being counted and tension mounts. All sides are in agree...

Also, The Amazing Merit of our Mother Rachel In  this week’s Torah portion of Lech Lecha (“ Go to yourself ”), the patriarch Abraham bursts upon the scene. He begins a career of teaching  a world that was in denial of G-d, that there really was a Creator. Abraham literally stood up against the whole world, confronting  and exposing the fallacy of idolatry and confounding the evil es...

Parashat Noach: The Waters of Marcheshvan: Blessing or Retibution Water, water everywhere: This week’s Torah portion of Noach tells the story of the Great Flood, G-d’s retribution against a humanity that had grown so wicked, it had lost all semblance of the Divine image in which man was created. The flood began during this very month of MarCheshvan, and yet this month also begins the much-anticipa...

B’reishith: The Constant Renewal of All Creation Is the World on Auto Pilot, or is G-d Still Running the Show? The festivals of Tishrei have concluded and this Shabbat we begin the yearly cycle of Torah readings once again, starting over with the first portion of the book of Genesis – parashat B’reishith. The process of renewal that we have all participated in during this intense holiday season, i...

The Essence of Sukkot: Prophecy, Prayer and Peace for the World The Exquisite Beauty of Hoshana Rabbah: Our Chance to Change the Final Sealing of Judgment This  week's Jerusalem Lights special Sukkot podcast is a tale of two sukkot ,  one in Jerusalem and one in Northwest Arkansas, as our hosts reach out  to you with inspiring Torah insights on many aspects of the  holiday,&nbs...