Episodes
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Some post-Pesach thoughts.... if chametz is so bad, why does Jewish law require it? Why is chametz central to Shavuot, and to life? Rebbe Nachman gives us some clues.
*Sources can be found here: www.sefaria.org/sheets/33290?lang=bi
*More Torah thoughts on my site: 58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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One text leads to another, faces are masks are words are invitations are interpretations. We go on a journey within Jewish law and lore, from wedding feasts to Purim costumes to heretical readings of the Torah.
You can find all the texts here, and maybe reading along will make the listening easier: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/395527?lang=bi
You can find more Torah thoughts on my website, 58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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Episodes manquant?
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The introduction to Leviticus is strange: God calls Moses and only then speaks to him (what is the function of the calling? What does it mean to be called?) And the word for calling, 'Vayikra', is traditionally written with a little letter alef at the end.
You can read the sources I used here: www.sefaria.org/sheets/389441
Using the texts of Rashi, Jacques Lacan and Maimonides, we try and figure out the function of this 'objet petit a', this surplus of meaning that drives the desire to transcend the system of law. One of the ways that this desire manifests itself is by doing the right thing, without being able to articulate why.
Without the little alef, the word 'Vayikr' means something like randomness, happenchance. It's the randomness of Purim, of Amalek, of sometimes being safe and sometimes being attacked, without a narrative to make sense of it. One way of getting out of this raw random reality is by making up a story: if you keep the commandments you will be rewarded, etc. Another way is to celebrate the randomness, get drunk, destroy illusions and fake stories. But sometimes we are 'called' to something above the bare facts of existence, a calling to fulfillment that doesn't have words to explain itself.
* For more Torah-related thoughts, visit 58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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I dug into the sources and commentaries, trying to find out what a 'cherub' looks like.
Bull?
Bird?
Baby?
Two lovers?
Symbols of symbols of symbols...
* You can see the texts I used here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/380622?lang=bi
* You can see more Torah-related work of mine on 58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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A Torah exploration. Were the basics laws of justice given at Sinai, or after the crossing of the sea, or during slavery in Egypt, or to Noah, or to Adam, or even before creation itself?
I'll tell you why I think it matters. The last two years have severely weakened the authority of law for many people. The constantly changing regulations, uncertainty, protests and cynicism has brought us to treat the question "What's the law today?" as normal. And although we are usually referring to Covid-related restrictions of gathering and movement, the effect is to bring law itself into question. Just reading the newspaper raises other questions of the connections between law and justice. In that light, I explored Jewish sources on where law begins, and how particular or universal it is.
You can find the sources I use here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/378908?lang=bi
* Welcome to find more torah-related podcasts here, or on my website 58thcentury.world
* Find micro-sermons on my blog 120torah.wordpress.com
* Listen to a weekly Torah thought in slow simple Hebrew at www.buzzsprout.com/1882545Support the Show.
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What blessing could be appropriate for COVID vaccinations? Using a Talmudic text as a starting point, we look at some little-known blessings for medical procedures, at the correct response for a sneeze, the creation of sneezes, and the spirituality of the randomness of disease and healing. Prepare for confusion!
* You can find the sourcesheet, including a few sources I didn't cover in the recording, here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/368754
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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This is my God and I will anvehu (Exodus 15)
While the simple meaning of anvehu is probably a vague sense of worship or exaltation, it's been used as the base for two important rabbinic teachings: having beautiful things, and acting like God.
This shiur, in a sense, was an attempt to explore both of those teachings, look at the radical idea of 'Me' as a divine name, and eventually to integrate the two of them into a single theo-aesthetic concept. Well, that's what I tried to do, at least!
* You can find the sourcesheet, including a few hassidic sources I didn't cover in the recording, here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/363316
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Happy Channukah!
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The Torah seems to be against mixing distinct things: meat and milk, holy and profane, and even grafting one kind of tree onto another. But why? The laws of grafted trees are extreme: some say the trees should be uprooted, others say that all of humanity needs to keep this particular Jewish law. It's true that nature is great as it is, but we're also here to change the world, not just be passive. Lots of questions arise!
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/357178?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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Looking into the sources of the Jewish calendar, we find more confusion than clarity. Different rabbinic texts propose different shemita calculations, putting everything in doubt. This class looks at the confusion, and tries to find - not the truth, but what to learn from the process.
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/353689?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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It's (supposedly) the shemita year this year, the Sabbatical year, when the land rests and debts are cancelled. The deeper we look at the laws of debt release, though, the more paradoxes and contradictions we find, until we (maybe) uncover the root of all laws - to cease to exist as law at all.
Listen to the podcast, and check out the full source-sheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/351301?editor=1
Read and listen to more here, or get in touch to share your thoughts: https://58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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We go on a bizarre halachic excursion through the sources on Sukkah building - specifically exploring the seemingly strange law: the walls of a sukkah can be made out of a person, as long as they don't know it. Knowing and not-knowing seem to be intrinsic to what a sukkah is all about...
Listen to the podcast, and check out the full source-sheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/348191?editor=1
Read and listen to more here, or get in touch to share your thoughts: https://58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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Rebbe Nachman brings a twist to the significance of Rosh Hashana: it's celebrating the creation of the world, of course, but that's something we do every moment. We just need to do it better. Turning raw potential into actuality, taking an idea and limiting it into words, acting in the world and sometimes messing it up - that's life itself.
Welcome to read through the (abridged) texts I'm using on the sourcesheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/345549?editor=1
If it's helpful, last year I put together a list of ideas for celebrating Rosh Hashana alone, outside of synagogue communities. The pandemic is far from over, and maybe this is still relevant for you or someone you know.
English: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tzppvqEQUL68FPpmMM8wMkgqe2VCNNv_RLYPYY2q7aU/
German: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b848Zz4p4sM8iKzt5T__8Pp9aDCQ8UaLcaZ3-ASNDzg/edit?usp=sharing
As usual, would love to hear any thoughts or feedback from anyone listening. You can write to me through my website, 58thcentury.world
Shana tova umetuka, have a sweet and wonderful new year!
JoshSupport the Show.
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On Rosh Hashana, Jews celebrate the creation of the world (or of humanity, or something else..) If so, Elul marks the time before creation. What does it mean to be before creation? Why is answering that question forbidden in Jewish law? We take a journey through a series of texts, touching the questions and almost answering them.
* You can find all the sources here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/343207?editor=1
* You can find more about me and different Torah ideas here: http://58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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Looking at the month of Elul as part of the wider framework of "days of judgement". Our model is a surprising detail in religious taxation, the "tithing of beasts". As usual, the deeper we explore the more peculiar it becomes, giving lots of food for thought.
You can see the sourcesheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/341120
Please be in touch with any thoughts or feedback! You can write to me through the website: 58thcentury.worldSupport the Show.
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"All of Israel are children of kings". This principle is often invoked in the Talmud, and often rejected. We look at the various examples and try and figure out what and when we can see ourselves as royalty. This gives us food for thought as we enter the high holiday preparations, and start saying, audaciously, Avinu Malkeinu, "Our Father, Our King."
Sources: Mishna Berachot 1:2; Shabbat 128a; Taanit 25a.Support the Show.
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Looking at the legal definition of a 'shaliach' - an agent or messenger, we get a couple of principles which seem to extend much further, to the idea of what it is to be human at all.
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/336734?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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Continuing the discussion on prayer as a focal point for understanding what it is to be human, we look at the category of speech, as expressed through laws on prayer and esoteric discussions about the status of a golem.
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/334132?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/
Let me know any thoughts and questions you have!
.Support the Show.
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Rather than looking at the highest levels of mystical prayer, we try to explore what is it that differentiates a human prayer from a mechanical one. The idea of kavvanah, mental focus or attunement, seems to be key to understanding what it is to be human at all!
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/332675?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
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Rambam / Maimonides is almost unique in Jewish philosophy in the importance he gives to states of mind. His extreme position on the necessary mind-state during prayer is almost impossible to achieve. But he sees it as crucial to becoming fully human.
* You can find the sourcesheet with all the texts here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/288319?editor=1
* A project of 58th Century Judaisms: https://www.58thcentury.world/Support the Show.
