Episodes
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Don't be fooled by what the pundits tell us about why Donald Trump won and Kamala Harris lost. While their analyses have some merit, they skirt the two issues that the results themselves prove were the real reasons Harris lost: she was a she, not a he, and she didn't have the "right" color skin. Judaism rejects both factors--and it does so starting "in the beginning," Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Genesis, Sefer B'reishit, where woman, NOT man, is the first human created as we understand what humans look like.
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Given the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other horrific storms around the world, all blamed on global warming, Sukkot, which arrives Wednesday night, offers us an opportunity to discuss this question: What does “green,” which symbolizes things environmental and ecological, have to do with Jewish festivals? The answer is “everything,” and so, that’s the topic for this week.
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We’re podcasting a few days early this week because the High Holy Days begin tomorrow evening, which is when Rosh Hashanah 5785 begins. Very few people really understand what the purpose of this 10-day period that ends on Yom Kippur is—but we need to understand it because the very future of the world is at stake. And that’s not an exaggeration.
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Shammai's Episode No. 151
We need to take the issue of hate very seriously as we approach the Election 2024 finish line, because of North Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate Mark Robinson’s long well-documented history of hateful rhetoric, including outrageous Holocaust denial comments and statements wishing Adolf Hitler was still alive. We also have to take very seriously the support Donald Trump has given him, at least up until yesterday, including hosting a fundraiser for him at Mar-A-Lago earlier this year, and calling him a rising Republican star. And we also have to take very seriously the support the GOP has given him and still does. Finally, we also have to take very seriously the support and the hate Robinson, Trump, and the GOP nationally are running on. Be afraid. Be very afraid.Support the show
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Summer is over and we’re back to our biweekly schedule. The topic for this week is how Benjamin Netanyahu has dishonored the memory of his brother, someone over whose dead body he built his career. That is what Benjamin Netanyahu did. He began building his entire career on the legacy of his dead older brother, Jonathan (Yonatan in Hebrew), whom the IDF calls “one of Israel’s greatest soldiers.” Yoni Netanyahu put hostages before his own safety. It cost him his life at Entebbe. Bibi Netanyahu puts Bibi and his political career before the safety of hostages. He will say and do whatever he deems necessary to stay in office for as long as possible. Friday marks the start of his 18th year as prime minister, albeit not consecutively. Every day that he stays in office, because of his hubris, he not only trashes Yoni’s memory and leaves the 101 hostages in the hands of Hamas murderers, he risks the safety and security of the State of Israel.
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In this special summer episode, the contemporary issue being explored is the one day in every Jewish year that way too many of us choose to ignore (assuming that we even know it exists): the grueling nearly 35-hour fast smack in the middle of summer known as Tishah B'Av, which this year begins on Monday at sundown. Those of us who are aware of it want nothing to do with it because it is the ultimate downer day on the Jewish calendar. A downer it surely is, but that's not what Tishah B'Av is really about. Tishah B'Av is truly a day of uplift. Take 15 minutes and listen to why I say that.
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I contend that former President Trump, because of his rhetoric, is to blame for creating the atmosphere that allowed that horror to happen. I also blame his rhetoric for the culture of violence in America. I cite chapter and verse from his statements since mid-2015 to support this. Someone for whom I have great respect said I was an idiot for thinking this way. This episode gives you the chance to decide whether I am an idiot. I can't wait to read your e-mails.
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As we prepare to celebrate the creation of this democratic republic of ours, two seemingly unrelated events (they are very much related in a profound way) threaten to fundamentally change this country--and not in a good way. Those events are the effective creation of an imperial presidency by the U.S. Supreme Court and President Biden's so-far steadfast refusal to end his campaign for re-election. How these two events tie together, and how we can avert the threat they pose, are what this episode is about.
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Once again, a state’s display of the Ten Commandments has become an issue that will most certainly be appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which narrowly decided the issue 44 years ago, but this time may be different. The Ten Commandments, are not commandments at all, but a preamble to the Covenant God made with Israel, which does contain commandments--613 commandments, not just 10.
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The ignorance being displayed by college campus protestors is astounding--and it bodes ill for this country as well as for Israel. This isn't a very long episode, but it IS an important one.
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The way to have constructive and meaningful s'darim next week is to study the Haggadah beforehand. That requires some help from more modern versions and haggadah commentaries. This episode explains why. It's being released several days early to give everyone time to buy one of these volumes and to study it.
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What do I know about Jewish law? I'm a heretic. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that nonsense over the years—including from some members of my own family. So this week I'm going to let someone else say the things about keeping kosher that I've been saying—an Orthodox rabbi, no less. This episode is a newly edited version of one I presented last year.
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Purim begins after Shabbat ends and lasts until sundown on Sunday. You might think you know all there is to know about Purim. If you do, this episode may show how much more there is to know about the book from which Purim sprung--Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther. This episode runs for about a half-hour but I hope you find it both interesting and informative.
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What with last Thursday having been Leap Day, with the leap month of Adar II beginning on Saturday evening with Rosh Chodesh, and the Muslim month of Ramadan beginning on Monday, I thought it would be interesting to leap into a discussion of how the secular and Jewish calendars we use today came to be. Did you know, for example, that there was one year that was 445 days long? Do you know why there is a leap day in the secular calendar, a leap month in the Jewish calendar, or why Ramadan and the other 11 Islamic months regress every 32.5 solar years through the entire secular calendar?
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At 10 a.m. this morning, when I recorded this episode, there already had been 2,266 people who died by guns so far this year. That number is now up to 2,294. That averages out to nearly two gun deaths every hour since the new year began.
Between January 1st and today, there have been 55 mass shootings and eight mass murders.
As of this morning, 37 children under the age of 11 had been killed by guns; it’s up to 38 now. It’s up for teenagers between ages 12 and 17. It was 172 this morning and it’s 173 now.
We are in the midst of a major gun violence crisis that must be addressed. That’s the subject of Episode No. 139.
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On Monday, we here in the United States and also in Israel will celebrate Martin Luther King Day. That we celebrate this day here is understandable and commendable. After all, he was a great warrior for equality and justice for all people. But why is this day marked in Israel, too? And why will many synagogues and Jewish organizations here hold their own celebrations this weekend and throughout Monday’s observance?
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We who do not live in Israel have always maintained that we have no right to interfere in the Jewish state's internal affairs. Given the explosion of Jew-hatred we are seeing around the world, however, it is clear that "Jew" and "Israel" are synonymous in the eyes of the world, so this Diaspora hands-off attitude is a luxury we no longer can afford. We need to do all that we can to move Israeli voters away from the extreme right and its ruinous policies.
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We hear a great deal these days about whether Israel is violating international law in the way it’s conducting its war with Hamas in Gaza. The opposite, in fact, is more likely to be true. Given that Israel is the Jewish State, though, a fair question is whether Israel is also violating Jewish law in this war. This episode addresses that question.
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