Find the text study sheet here.

There are a number of

parallels between the creation of the world and the splitting of Yam Suf,

casting this dramatic moment of the Exodus as a kind of “recreation

story.”  Which makes the appearance of a provocative midrash about an

Israelite woman picking fruit from a tree and feeding it to another that much

more fascinating… and I’d like to suggest, subversive.  What exactly

happened in the Garden of Eden, and what message does it hold for the

generation crossing the sea?

7th Day of Passover 5785 | Parshat Beshallah

From 4.12.2025

Prepare to embrace the bold vision of Passover

(that we are all heading toward freedom, that pharaohs crumble and fall)

requires focus. Let's affirm the twin pillars of the Hebrew Bible

(chesed/lovingkindness and tzedek/justice) to gird ourselves for the battle

ahead!

Ours is not the first generation in which telling this story, reiterating these foundational ideas, is risky. Dangerous, even. And perhaps that is the greatest reason of all to tell this story truthfully. 

April 5, 2025 – Pesah 5785

Guy Branum joins Rabbi David Kasher to discuss Ashera and the presence of a goddess in the Torah.

Let us not turn to the garden—or the theater, or the studio—to escape this world, but to enrich the soul, to strengthen our hearts to plant for a better future. Making art, tending gardens, telling stories, especially from within the narrowest constraints—all of these can be sacred acts of defiance.

This is an archive of IKAR's Adult learning class: The Amen Effect with Rabbi Sharon Brous

Lunch & Learn from Shabbat 3.21.2025 - Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum in conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous.

An archive of Rabbi Sharon Brous's The Amen Effect class from 3.11.2025

An archive of Rabbi Sharon Brous's The Amen Effect Class from 2.25.2025