Kol Ramah

Parsashat Balaq [Numbers 22:2-25:9] is perhaps best-known for the story of Balaam and his donkey, one of the few animals in the Torah to be given a talking role. Balaq, the king of Moab, is eager to protect himself and his nation from the Israelites, and tries to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites. In short, that mission ends in failure for Balaq, since Balaam is compelled to bless the Israelies....

Parashat Huqqat [Numbers 19:1-22:1] begins with the curious ritual of the red heifer, the cow which is completely burned so that its ashes might be sprinkled on all who come into contact with any part of a dead human being [corpse, bone, battle death, grave] in a ritual designed to restore to ritual purity those who have become impure by what is known as corpse contamination or corpse defilement,...

Parashat Korach [Numbers 16-18], featured on this week’s Parashah Talk, is primarily concerned with Korach’s rebellion. As Jacob Milgrom observes in his JPS Torah Commentary on Numbers, the Torah story combines elements of 4 discrete rebellions. I would like to say that we discussed these rebellions in full, but technical difficulties prevented me from participating as much as I would have liked....

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky invite you into the rabbi's study once again! The main focus of Parashah Sh’lach L’chah [Numbers 13-15] is the tragic episode of the spies, the tribal chieftains sent to scout out the land. Their negative report sets back Israelite history a generation, for those over 20 are condemned to die in the wilderness, leader and follower alike. Fo...

We recorded Parashah Talk a day early and managed to run late. There was so much to talk about in B’ha’alot’khah [Numbers 8-12]: the second Passover, the silver trumpets, the complaining people and the summons to prophecy of the 70, and the concluding story about Miriam’s and Aaron’s complaint about Moses and his gift of prophecy. And even here, we left things out and did not go into the depth we...

Parsha Talk Naso 5781with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler - Parashah Talk for Naso [Numbers 4:21-7:89] features conversation about the Nazir [Num. 6:1-21] and the haftarah from Judges 13:2-25, about the birth of Samson], the Sotah [the woman suspected of adultery [Num. 5:11-31], the Priestly Blessing [Num. 6:22-27], and the gifts to the mishkan [Tabernacle] from the chie...

Parashat B’midbar [Num. 1:1-4:20] opens Sefer B’midbar [Book of Numbers] with a census of the Israelite men aged 20 and over, suitable for military service. And if that were not dry enough, the census information is repeated, given as the 4 camps [one for each direction (east-south-west-north)]. Eliot could not quite bring himself to say it was an amazing parashah, but I think we did it, and ourse...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. As with so many years, our reading of Leviticus this year comes to an end with a double portion, B’har-B’huqotai [Lev. 25-27]. We discuss the laws of the sabbatical year and the jubilee year, and Rashi’s famous comment on the first verse [you have to listen to the podcast for the pop-cultural reference with which it is co...

Parashah Talk for Emor [Lev. 21-24) was recorded a day early this week, but as befits a parashah entitled Emor [“Say”], we had a lot about which to talk. We covered the material in the parashah: the curious wording of the 1st verse in the Hebrew (21:1), the requirements, restrictions, and limitations on the kohen [priest] (21-22), the notion of qiddush ha-shem [sanctification of God’s name] (22:31...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler for Parsha Talk! Parashat Acharai Mot-Kedoshim [Leviticus 16-20] is the subject of Parashah Talk this week. According to the rabbis, this is not only the center of Leviticus, but of the Torah as well. Leviticus 19:18, ואהבת לרעך כמוך, “love your neighbor as yourself”, is the basis for the Golden Rule. According to Rabbi Aqiva, it is t...

Come join us with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. It is a double portion on Parashah Talk, Tazria-M'tzora [Lev. 12-15] and Yom Ha'atzma'ut, the observance of Israel's Independence Day [actual date-is April 17th, this year, which conflicts with Shabbat, necessitating the observance moving to Thursday]. It is, as my good buddy Ellot always notes, an amazing parashah. See...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler once again invite us all in to the rabbis study tor a lively discussion of this week's parsha, Shemini. (Image - https://atravesdelasescrituras.com/) Parashah Talk for Sh'mini [Leviticus 9-11]: When I (BC) used to teach the story of Nadav and Avihu in 10th Grade Bible, I would refer to it as a "Tragedy in Three Verses" [Leviticus 10:1-3]....

Parashah Talk, the Pesach Edition: Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chester. This Shabbat is the 7th day of Passover, when we read the beginning of Parashat B'shallach [Exodus 13:17-15:27, last read on January 30], featuring the Song of the Sea [Exodus 15:1-21]. On Sunday, the Torah reading is the same as the 2nd day of Shavuot and Sh'mini Atzeret [Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17]. There...

This week, the Shabbat before Pesach, is known as Shabbat Hagadol, for reasons that are not entirely clear. In European Jewish communities, it was one of two shabbatot [the other being Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur] when the community rabbi would address his flock. Traditionally, the rabbi would speak about the laws of Pesach; one might think it a little late to...

We begin a new book of the Torah this week, ספר ויקרא [Leviticus], which gives its name to the parashah [Leviticus 1:1-5:26] as well, va-yiqra. We spend some time discussing the nature of the book, quite unlike Genesis and Exodus, the layered meanings of the first verse, and the laying on of the hands [1:4] as it appears here, and elsewhere. And before you know it, with so much left to say, our ti...

This week, parashat va-yaqhel-p’qudei [Exodus 35:1-40:38], is where it all began. Parashah Talk in its current format has been produced each week for the last year. This is our response to the Covid 19 pandemic. It has given Eliot, Jeremy, and I a chance to deepen our friendship which was rooted in many summers together at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. While we hardly saw each other throughout the...

Meet the newest member of the Radio Kol Ramah staff: This is a rebroadcast of a 2019 interview with Mitch Mernick at Yiddish New York. You surely want to hear about Amy's experience with WFDU-FM, The radio station of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler for Parsha Talk! Parashat Ki Tissa [Exodus 30:11-34:35] coincides with Shabbat Parah [Numbers 19:1-22], the third of the 4 special shabbatot [sabbaths] before the upcoming Pesach [Passover] holiday. One way of considering this conjuction is as the story of a bad cow [the Golden Calf (Exodus 32)] and a good cow [the so-called red heife...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler for Parsha Talk! Because Purim is observed Thursday night, and many of us will be davening ma’ariv [praying the evening service] and reading the megillah [the Scroll of Esther] at the time we normally record Parashah Talk, this week we recorded Wednesday evening. We have parashat T’tzaveh [Exodus 27:20-30:10], taken up mostly with a d...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler for Parsha Talk! This week is the 2nd of the 4 special Shabbatot before Pesach. In addition to the regular Torah reading of T'ruman [Exodus 25:1-27:19], which begins the lengthy section on the description of and building of the mishkan ["tabernacle"], there is a special maftir (additional reading) [Deuteronomy 25:17-19] and haftarah (...

Parashat Mishpatim [Exodus 21:1-24:18] contains the Covenant Code, the first extended legal section of the Torah. The laws themselves defy easy categorization; the rabbis of the Mishnah used their own organizational system in Seder N'ziqin [Damages], the Mishnah's 4th Order, whose foundation is in the Covenant Code. Our conversation meanders through the parashah, with due time devoted to chapter 2...

Max Silverstone, music staff at Camp Ramah and 2nd year cantorial student at JTS, returns to Radio Kol Ramah with Mitch Mernick for an in-depth look at original research he is compiling on the history and music of the the site that we call Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. Of note, there has been an organized Jewish presence on the shores of Lake Ellis for over 100 years! Tracks: 1940 Bob Chester - Ma...

Parashat Yitro [Exodus 18:1-20:22] is best known for the original narration of the 10 Commandments. They will appear again in Deuteronomy 5, when Moses is reviewing for the people their history and narrates them again. The episode in Exodus is known as מעמד הר סיני [ma'amad har sinai, "the standing at Sinai"], and is the central event in the Jewish people's self-understanding. Chapter 18 focuses o...

Parashat B'shallach [Exodus 13:17-17:16] features the Song of the Sea, the triumphant poem of redemption sung by the Israelites when they have crossed the Sea of Reeds and turn around to see the Egyptians dead on the opposite shore. Rather than poetry, our conversation is more about prose: the character and leadership of Moses, the character of the Israelites as they cross over, ostensibly into fr...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmonofsky and Barry Chesler for Parsha Talk. Parashat Bo [Exodus 10:1-13:16] covers the last three plagues [locusts, darkness, and the slaying of the first-born] and includes chapter 12 [one of my favorite chapters in the entire Torah] and the beginning section of chapter 13 [which is actually more than half the chapter going by the verse count]. This beginning...