Mechon Hadar Online Learning

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 to the centralized leadership to ask, and then must obey the answer, on penalty of death. The point seems to be about reinforcing the power and authority of central religious leadership. But in the arc of ongoing interpretation, these verses become a provocative jumping off point to reflect on the nature of the encounter between an individual’s religious question and religious experts. It becomes possible to find in them a voice for the importance of asking our questions, not primarily to ensure obedience but because our questions have an important role to play in the unfolding of Torah itself.

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 suppress it. But actually religious life without desire is flat and one-dimensional. Ultimately, the richness and depth of our religious experience hinges on appreciating, valuing, and even cultivating desire. In Parashat Re’eh, we can trace an approach that embraces human craving and desire as a powerful mechanism to fully live a life of mitzvot, meaning and integrity.

In Halakhic Man, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik suggests that teshuvah - usually translated as “repentance” - is not to be narrowly defined as turning from sin. Rather, teshuvah prompts us to reconsider all our habits and routines, including those that are not necessarily sinful. Doing teshuvah is really an expression of our capacity for self-creation and identifying and realizing our own potential. The goal is to attain our individuality, autonomy, uniqueness and freedom As we move through the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah (“Ten Days of Repentance”), we will explore Soloveitchik’s approach and grapple with what we are called to do during this important period.

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 ways,” but how is that possible for mortals? R. Yitz Greenberg has taught prolifically about being like God through a zealous commitment to the “triumph of life,” even when that is a challenging commitment to hold. Building upon his teachings, we can focus on an embrace of life that also involves integrating loss. Instead of loss as an obstacle that we try to defy, we can understand our capacity to hold loss as exercising a divine capacity we have, part of what it means to be created in the image of God.

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 meanings of prayer more widely, jumping off from the word va'ethanan to list ten kinds of prayer connected to different verbs and different figures in the Torah. Taking Moshe’s unanswered prayer as the lens, we are invited into an exploration of what prayer is, entirely detached from the question of whether prayer is answered.

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 find not so subtle subtexts in Moshe’s introductory remarks that create a bleak picture of Israel’s propensity to sin. Parashat Devarim always falls before Tisha b’Av, and this motif of rebuke aligns with a day that brings failures and destruction to the forefront of our minds. But taken in context, as the beginning of Moshe’s final speech to the people, an emphasis on sin is a depressing frame for a recapitulation of Torah. Perhaps the focus on rebuke is meant to motivate the people to be more careful in their actions. Even so, some interpretations veer away from a theology that constantly points a finger at our failures. Instead, we encounter a sense of God who takes responsibility to proactively steer humanity towards success.

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, rather than harm others. This lecture was originally delivered in January 2022 as the Dr. Eddie Scharfman Memorial Lecture.

In Parashat Masei, Moshe receives detailed instructions about setting up cities of refuge. Unlike other mitzvot introduced as being relevant to when the people enter the land, Moshe can actually fulfill this mitzvah, at least in part. He makes sure to set aside three cities on the east side of the Jordan river before he dies. This may seem tragic, a desperate grasp for a taste of entering the land when the full experience is entirely shut off. Instead, we can see his efforts as a climax of his life’s work, a moment when his heart sang because he so deeply appreciated the meaning and importance of refuge.

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 actions. This lecture was originally recorded in Winter 2022 as part of a series in partnership with Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC.

In this week’s parashah, we find a slight variation on one of the most common verses in the Torah. This minor shift in words reflects a profound revolution. At the end of his life, Moshe takes a leap in how he speaks to God, and how he shows up for the people.

In the second part of his lecture series, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg speaks with Rabbi Aaron Alexander. Rabbi Greenberg explores the commandment to have children, quality of life, and situations where preserving life overrules religious obligations. This lecture was originally recorded in Winter 2022 as part of a series in partnership with Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC.

In Parashat Balak, the ruler of Moav calls on Bilam to curse Israel. God ends up putting words of blessing in his mouth, and he speaks prophetically about the people of Israel. The episode raises questions about prophecy—when it is and isn’t present, and for whom.

What does it mean to choose life in an imperfect world? Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, in conversation with Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, offers examples of how Judaism teaches us to repair the world in an effort to uphold the value of life. This lecture was originally recorded in Winter 2022 as part of a series in partnership with Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC.

In Parashat Chukkat, the people complain again about their food in the wilderness, but this complaint is different from earlier complaints. They don’t remember the food in Egypt with nostalgia, nor do they crave a particular item. They are disgusted with manna.

In Parashat Korach, there are multiple accusations against Moshe and Aharon’s leadership and dramatic responses. Instead of viewing these through the lens of rebellion and punishment, one can view the various “demonstrations” as conveying divergent messages about the nature of God and what religious leadership looks like. Between the cracks of a fiery and violent display of God’s power, there is also a hint of a gentle, nourishing, but no less powerful, force.

Dena Weiss studies the Meor Einayim and explores what it means to refrain from spiritual work, not just physical labor, on Shabbat. This lecture is part 2 in a series originally recorded in November 2021.

In Parashat Shelach, twelve scouts scope out the promised land. They are on a mission to gain answers to specific questions, some about the land itself, and what kind of home it would be, and others about strategy for conquering the land. Fundamentally, it is a story of receiving an ancestral inheritance and doing the work to figure out what it will take to make it home.

Rabbi Shai Held conducts a close reading of Psalm 139. He looks at the original Hebrew and multiple translations, arguing that the literary ambiguity showcases the psalmist’s relationship with God. This lecture was originally recorded in Summer 2020.

In the simple instruction to kindle lamps in the mishkan, our interpretive tradition leaps into a theological spiral. What is the relationship between human light and divine light? The human role in creating light in the world becomes an opportunity to delve into the question of significance, or insignificance, of our efforts, and whether a sense of embarrassment is constructive or inhibiting.

If someone you wouldn’t endorse asks you for a recommendation, what would you say? Discussing the ethics around truth and lying, Rabbi Avi Strausberg presents multiple approaches to the topic and asks what to do when there may not be a clear answer. This lecture was recorded at the Hadar Rabbinic Yeshiva Intensive in 2020.