Shows / Ta Shma
Ta Shma
Bringing you recent lectures, classes, and programs from the Hadar Institute, Ta Shma is where you get to listen in on the beit midrash. Come and listen on the go, at home, or wherever you are. Hosted by Rabbi Avi Killip of the Hadar Institute.
Episodes
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Vayikra: Repetition in Prayer: Constancy, Urgency, and Love
There are many instances in our prayers where we repeat phrases, paragraphs, or whole sections. What is the significance of repetition in prayer? God's…
- Ta Shma
Be Careful What You Wish For: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #2
On Shabbat, the liturgy is missing a central element: petitioning for our needs. What is the purpose of prayer on Shabbat and what can it teach us about having…
- Ta Shma
Broken Tablets, Broken Hearts: The Tisch with Dena Weiss #1
The revelation at Mt Sinai transformed the relationship between God and Jewish people. After the sin of the Golden Calf, both had to find a way to move forward…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei: "Moshe Rejoiced": Shabbat, Prayer, and Intimacy with God
The rhythm of our week includes a day dedicated to feeling God’s presence differently from the rest of the week: Shabbat. A prayer recited only on Shabbat…
- Ta Shma
The Tisch with Dena Weiss: A Taste of Hasidut
Welcome to a new mini-series for Ta Shma, the Tisch with Dena Weiss: A Taste of Hasidut. Each episode will feature bite-sized insights from Hasidic thought on…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Ki Tissa: Praying for Knowledge of God’s Essence
Moshe asks to know God’s ways. But this is not a philosophical exploration about the nature of God. It is a question with a purpose. What is the knowledge we…
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Killip: Love and Hiddenness
The revelation at Sinai is a high point in the Jewish story. It is the moment when God gives us the mitzvot—and we accept them. But, the Talmud tells us that…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Tetzaveh: The Intimacy of Wearing God’s Name
In the moment of prayer, how are we meant to feel close to God, beyond reciting the words of the Siddur? How might we feel a connection to God through our…
- Ta Shma
R. Shai Held: (Where) is God in the Book of Esther?
One of the classic questions about the book of Esther is: why isn’t God mentioned? What does this mean for the book and for us? R. Shai Held explored some of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Terumah: The Particular Holiness of a Place
If God’s presence fills the whole world, why does it seem easier to connect to God in some places rather than others? This paradox is central to understanding…
- Ta Shma
R. Nadav Berger: The Possibility of Intimacy with God and the Commandments
The midrashic composition, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, develops the allegorical reading of Song of Songs as a love story between Israel and God. The verse "Let God…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Mishpatim: The Moral Dimension of Opening Our Eyes in the Morning
How are we meant to orient to our day when we wake up? In what ways can a short blessing about God opening our eyes set our intention for the day to come?
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Killip: Praying When the World is At Stake
As we watch storms surge and fires burn, the changing climate has moved from an abstract fear to an ever-present reality. The enormity of this crisis demands a…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Yitro: Struggling to Pray with Intention
Ideally, prayer is a pouring out of the soul. But in Jewish practice today, people don’t only pray when they feel moved to pray. We are mandated to say the…
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Killip: The Gestation of a Tree
Growth is gradual, so slow in fact that it cannot be tracked in real time. We need an annual date as a marker of a specific moment, before and after seasons of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Beshallach: Praying for Your Sake
What does it mean to pray to God when we are experiencing pain? One approach understands God as intricately tied to our suffering, and indeed, in need of…
- Ta Shma
R. Tali Adler and Joey Weisenberg: Elevating God and Us
Rabbi Tali Adler teaches a beautiful combination of midrashim about the lulav and etrog—which completely rethinks our relationship with God and God’s…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Bo: Praying For—or Against—Our Enemies
How do we relate to our enemies through prayer? Can we pray for their failure? Might we ever pray for their welfare?
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer: Hannah as Rebellious Worshiper
Our rabbis imagine an intense confrontation between Eli the high priest and Hannah, our model for how we recite the Amidah. Explore this fascinating midrash…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Va'Era: Eighty Years of Prayer
Is it worth persisting in prayer, even if we aren’t answered right away? What does it mean to pray for something for years—or even decades? Moshe can serve as…
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Killip: "Anti-Idolatry" - Talmudic Wisdom on Fighting Racism
Anyone living in America today will eventually encounter racism they cannot easily fix or change, just as our ancestors could not entirely avoid or correct…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Shemot: Rethinking the Amidah
Our most fundamental prayer, the Amidah, doesn’t mention Moshe by name. But the scene of Moshe at the burning bush is one of the central images of the Amidah’s…
- Ta Shma
Dena Weiss: How to Have Difficult Conversations, Part 3
Are you permitted to lie if the truth might be worse? In this series, Dena Weiss considers Jewish texts that span time and space in order to arrive at a set of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYechi: Waiting for God
Where is God in my life and why am I stuck in a difficult place? Will God ever intervene on my behalf, and help me—and all of us—come to a better place? What…
- Ta Shma
Dena Weiss: How to Have Difficult Conversations, Part 2
How do you share painful or unsettling news? In this series, Dena Weiss considers Jewish texts that span time and space in order to arrive at a set of concrete…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYigash: Prayer is About Coming Closer
How might we come closer to God in prayer? What are the physical acts that deepen the potential for relationship with God while praying? The rabbinic…
- Ta Shma
Dena Weiss: How to Have Difficult Conversations, Part 1
What do you say—or not say—to someone who has lost a family member? In this series, Dena Weiss considers Jewish texts that span time and space in order to…
- Ta Shma
Yael Jaffe: I Know of Nothing But Miracles, Part 2
What do miracles tell us about God’s presence? How do we define the miraculous? Where does one miracle begin and human agency end? In this series, originally…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Mikeitz: Facing the Truth
How are we meant to admit sin in our prayers? What is the model for confession after having done something wrong?
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Killip: I Know of Nothing But Miracles, Part 1
What do miracles tell us about God’s presence? How do we define the miraculous? Where does one miracle begin and human agency end? In this series, originally…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYeishev: The Meaning of Judaism
As we begin to close the Amidah, in the penultimate blessing that we call Modim, we say to God: “modim anahnu lakh,” we modim you. Drawing from the root י-ד-ה…
- Ta Shma
R. Avi Strausberg: The Before and After - The Sudden Deaths of Nadav and Avihu
The sudden death of Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu leaves readers stunned and grappling for answers. By turning to a modern midrash in the form of an original…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYishlach: Dressing for Prayer
Ya’akov is preparing to encounter God directly through sacrifice, an analog to our experience of prayer. It has been decades since Ya’akov actually encountered…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYeitzei: The Meaning of God's Holiest Name
In our prayers, we do not shy away from calling God directly by name, using the most holy four-letter name of God (although we don’t pronounce it explicitly)…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman: Living in God's Shadow
Our tradition sometimes uses the image of a shadow to describe human experience with God. This rich metaphor, which captures both a sense of safety and shelter…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Toldot: Blessing God
A major theme of Parashat Toldot is “ברכה - blessing.” This root appears 32 times in this parashah, more than in any other in the Torah. In prayer, we use the…
- Ta Shma
R. Shai Held: A God Who Weeps
In several passages in the book of Jeremiah, the prophet seems to cry over the bitter suffering of his people; accordingly, Jeremiah has sometimes been…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Hayyei Sarah: Personal Prayer and the Amidah
How are we meant to pray words that we didn’t write? And how are we meant to pray those same words, multiple times a day?
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat VaYera: Compromise and Acceptance
Avraham alludes to a phrase found in our daily Amidah: "the King Who loves justice (tzedakah) and judgment (mishpat)." What does this phrase mean, and how…
- Ta Shma
R. Ethan Tucker: Do We Really Think Monotheists Believe in the Same God?
Questions of theology pervade efforts to facilitate cooperation and dialogue across religions. We often search for what is common in order to build a sense of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Lekh Lekha: Searching for Unexpected Moral Heroes Through Prayer
In this week’s parashah, we meet a character who teaches us a lesson in morality, and also ends up in the first blessing of the Amidah, one of our most…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Noah: Praying a Few Words at a Time
What happens when we try to pray, but we just can’t make it work? Is there any hope, or any strategies, for those of us who can’t always reach the heights of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer on Parashat Bereishit: Relational Prayer
From the beginning of the Torah, humans have a fraught relationship with knowledge. The essence of da’at—knowledge—in Adam’s world is the tree of knowledge (עץ…
- Ta Shma
Dena Weiss: Can We Reverse the Irreversible?
We repent in order to go back to the way that things were, to repair what has broken, and to retrieve what we have lost. We often think of teshuvah as a type…
- Ta Shma
R. Mich'ael Rosenberg: Return, Ascent, and Bloodied Wings
The High Holidays are a murky time of transition. How can we balance the need to both take stock of our past and look forward to the future? In this lecture…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Nitzavim: Torah of Teshuvah, Part 1
Parashat Nitzavim falls in the thick of the season of teshuvah in the calendar. This is no coincidence—it is the primary source in the Torah for the concept of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer: The Deeper Meaning of Avinu Malkeinu
Where does Avinu Malkeinu come from, why do we say it on Rosh Hashanah, and what does it mean to call God “Our Father, Our King?” Rabbi Elie Kaunfer considers…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Ki Tavo: Reenacting Sinai
In Parashat Ki Tavo, Moshe instructs the people to do an extensive ceremony when they come to a specific mountain after they enter the land. Many aspects of…
- Ta Shma
R. Elie Kaunfer: Who By Fire? The Most Controversial Prayer in Jewish Life
Rabbi Elie Kaufner explores the themes and intertextual references in Unetaneh Tokef. This lecture was originally recorded in Elul 2021.
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Ki Teitzei: Sexual Ethics - Consent, Community, Covenant
Exercising leadership means taking responsibility. At the end of last week’s parashah, Shoftim, elders of a town closest to an unsolved murder proclaim they…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman: Kingship in the Machzor
Rabbi Aviva Richman examines the idea of God as King in the Musaf Amidah for Rosh Hashana. This lecture was originally recorded in Elul 2021.
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shoftim: Torah Fueled by Our Questions
Parashat Shoftim deals with the structures and nature of leadership. Early in the parashah, one passage explains that someone who has a hard question should go…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Re'eh: Eat, Crave, Love
Parashat Re’eh speaks of “desire” multiple times. From a religious perspective, we often think of desire in terms of how we may control it, or even completely…
- Ta Shma
R. Yitz Greenberg: Recreating Ourselves Through Teshuvah
In Halakhic Man, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik suggests that teshuvah - usually translated as “repentance” - is not to be narrowly defined as turning from sin…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Eikev: Being Like God
Note: this Devar Torah relates to difficult subject matter, including loss and pregnancy loss.In Parashat Eikev, we are instructed to “walk in all of God’s…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Va'Ethanan: On Prayer and the Possible
In Parashat Va'Ethanan, Moshe beseeches God. He doesn’t get his request. Interestingly, the sages peg this moment of prayer as the entryway to explore the…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Devarim: Moshe's Second Song
In Parashat Devarim, Moshe gives an account of Torah, reframing the journey in the desert for the next generation that will enter the land. Some commentaries…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman: Words That Make Or Break Our World
Proverbs teaches that "life and death are in the hands of the tongue." Rabbi Aviva Richman explores the power of words and how we can use speech to heal…
- Ta Shma
R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Mattot-Masei: Moshe's Second Song
In Parashat Masei, Moshe receives detailed instructions about setting up cities of refuge. Unlike other mitzvot introduced as being relevant to when the people…
- Ta Shma
R. Yitz Greenberg: The Triumph of Life, Part 3
In the final part of this lecture series, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg speaks with Rabbi Tali Adler about how we can maximize the potential for life in our everyday…