Mechon Hadar Online Learning

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, beginning with the words Yismah Moshe (“Moshe rejoiced”), explores our connection to God and Shabbat through the lens of Moshe’s experience of God.

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 spirituality, ethics, and character development. These episodes are short – but they are packed with big ideas. But first: what is Hasidut? How is it like or unlike other kinds of Jewish learning, and why should more people try it? To set the table, R. Avi Killip sat down for a discussion with the Tisch's host, Dena Weiss. "Mitteler Rebbe's Kapelya" and "Nigun Hisva'adus" from RAZA Kapelya (2023) by Chana Raskin. Produced by Joey Weisenberg and Chana Raskin for Hadar's Rising Song Records.

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 need in order to pray and to connect to God? How might this knowledge help us approach God, even if we might feel distant from God’s presence?

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 the commandments were actually accepted twice: once at Sinai, and again in Persia, during the time of Ahashverosh. Exploring these two moments in tandem allows us to see how personal empowerment can lead us to approach God with love.

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 tactile experiences? The plate of the High Priest (tzitz) and our tefillin hold some answers.

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 the most vexing theological questions in this recording from summer 2017.

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 the concept of the mishkan, God’s dwelling place on earth.

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 kiss me with the kisses of God's mouth," for example, is read as reflecting a close, even radically close, intimacy between Israel and God. According to the midrash, the verse implies an instance of direct and close-up interaction with God and the Torah. R. Berger explores this midrashic idea and discussed the implications of such a relationship with God and the commandments.This lecture was originally delivered as part of Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2022.

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?

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 complex type of faith, a different kind of prayer, and a theological reckoning. How can we bring our fears and hopes to God? What might it look like to pray about climate change? In the Dr. Eddie Scharfman Memorial Lecture from January 2023, Rabbi Avi Killip explored the wisdom that Jewish tradition has to offer for this time of global crisis.

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 Amidah multiple times a day, and we can’t guarantee that each of those moments will be characterized by intention, or kavanah. Should I pray even if I don’t know if my heart will be in it?

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 change. Like all birthdays, Tu Bishvat invites us to celebrate, to notice the beauty in slow growth, and to appreciate the potential of what is yet to be born.

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 redemption as well. How might we understand that position, and where is it found in the liturgy?

Rabbi Tali Adler teaches a beautiful combination of midrashim about the lulav and etrog—which completely rethinks our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. Before and after, Joey Weisenberg plays one of his original compositions. Recorded in Summer 2020 as part of a course "Melody and Midrash."

How do we relate to our enemies through prayer? Can we pray for their failure? Might we ever pray for their welfare?

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 and think about the power of prayer in the hands of forgotten members of society. This lecture was originally delivered at the Summer Learning Retreat in 2021.

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 one model for addressing these questions.

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 idolatry. What do we do when that happens? How can we reject ideas as pervasive and corrosive as racism? The Talmud’s reflections on the struggle against idolatry raise similar questions and offer instructions on how to actively demonstrate objection through our behavior so that we do not unintentionally uphold the status quo. The anti-idol mandate can teach us a lot about how to live in a culture we see as fundamentally evil, even when we do not have the power to change it. Transferring idolatry to racism, the entire tractate of Avodah Zarah can be read as an attempt to think through how to live an anti-racist life.

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 first blessing. How does Moshe’s subtle presence change how we might experience the opening of the Amidah?

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 concrete guidelines and best practices for having painful conversations. This lecture was originally delivered as part of Hadar's Winter Lecture Series in January 2021.