Parshat Yitro includes the Revelation at Mount Sinai, one of the most dramatic moments in the Torah. But this week on Into the Verse, we zoom in on a moment shortly before that, one that’s easy to miss. God gives Moses instructions for the Israelites, so they can get ready for the giving of the Torah. And what’s the first thing God wants them to keep in mind, on the brink of this historic moment? God says, “Tell the children of Israel: You saw what I did to the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.”

Rabbi David Fohrman and Imu Shalev wonder: Why eagles’ wings? Why does God pick that image to frame the Revelation? As a matter of fact, birds come up pretty often in the Torah: why is that, and do they have a message for us? By the end of their conversation, we’ve discovered a new way to understand our connection with God at Mount Sinai… and in every moment of our lives.

Subscribe to our new podcast, A Book Like No Other, wherever you get your podcasts. To listen on Spotify click here, to listen on Apple podcast click here, and to listen on Aleph Beta click here. 

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Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

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Parshat Beshalach tells the story of the end of the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. And after all of that, we get three short stories of stops that the Israelites took while journeying from the Red Sea to the Sinai desert, each one involving some kind of food or water crisis that leads the Israelites to complain. It seems pretty clear that these stories are connected, but what are we supposed to take from them?

Rabbi David Fohrman, along with Imu Shalev, took a look at these three stories and noticed a word that keeps coming up: Test. So what does this all mean? Imu and Rabbi Fohrman put their heads together to figure it out.

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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We all know the story of the Garden of Eden. Adam, Eve, forbidden fruit, snake. But what if there’s another layer to this story lying beneath all the obvious drama - a layer of meaning that will not just change how we understand the Garden of Eden but how we understand the entire purpose of Torah itself? In this special bonus episode, Rabbi Fohrman introduces his brand new podcast, A Book Like No Other, and shares the entire first episode of that podcast. 

Subscribe to A Book Like No Other wherever you get your podcasts. To listen on Spotify click here, to listen on Apple podcast click here, and to listen on Aleph Beta click here. 

To check out Rabbi Fohrman’s book, The Beast that Crouches at the Door, which he mentions in this episode, click here.  

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Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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Parshat Bo is where the Exodus really happens. God sends the last plagues and tells the Israelites to prepare for liberation, and on the night of the tenth plague, Pharaoh finally gives the order: Leave now. But just when the Israelites are gearing up to get out of Egypt, there are a few details that seem to slow the action down. For one thing, there are God’s instructions: “Get your shoes on, be ready to leave… but don’t walk out of your houses!” And for another, God specifically picks a longer road out of Egypt, because the other one is “nearby.” What should we make of these strange facts?

In this episode, Ari Levisohn takes a closer look and discovers surprising parallels with an earlier Biblical story. There was another nighttime escape from an evil place, another moment when people had to get ready to leave. And it turns out that when we read these two stories together, we learn something new – not only about the Exodus, but about the meaning of liberation itself.

Want even more textual parallels? You can find Ari's full chart here.

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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In this week's parsha, God introduces Himself to Moses as YHVH, but then He says something surprising: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Kel-Shakai, but My name of YHVH, I didn't make known to them." If we have been reading the Torah up to this point, we will have heard the name YHVH countless times! So what does God mean by saying that the forefathers only knew Him as Kel-Shakai? 

Join us this week as Beth Lesch explores the nature of these different names and the different kinds of relationships we experience with God.

Check out Rabbi Fohrman's further ideas about the meaning of the name Kel-Shakai in his video “Finding God In Science.” 

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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In Parshat Shemot, we hear about the early life of Moses: How his mother put him into the Nile as a baby, how he was raised in Pharaoh’s house, how he fled from Egypt… and how God sent him back to lead the Israelites out of slavery. But there’s one detail that’s easy to miss in all the drama. God tells Moses at the burning bush: “Your brother Aaron is coming to meet you, and he is rejoicing in his heart.”

Why does it matter that Aaron is rejoicing? Yes, he’s going to see his long-lost little brother. Yes, he’s going to be the spokesman who helps Moses carry out his mission. But why is it so important for God to note that Aaron is happy about this? And… how will this tiny detail shed light on a mysterious midrash about Moses and the bones of Joseph?

Join Ari Levisohn and Beth Lesch as they explore the surprising connections between Joseph and Moses and uncover a remarkable and moving story about the power of brotherly love.

WEB-EXCLUSIVE EPILOGUE: Ari and Beth continue the conversation and investigate a new midrash, this one highlighting Moses's relationship with his sister Miriam. Check it out here.

For more on how the Passover sacrifice redeems the sale of Joseph on a national level, see Rabbi Fohrman’s series Why Did God Allow Slavery?

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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Why is the Fast of Asara B'Tevet significant today? The 17th of Tammuz, 9th of Av, and Tzom Gedaliah all commemorate conquest, destruction, exile, and the downfall of a kingdom. They're horrible, and of course we mourn those days. But on the 10th of Tevet, we’re remembering when the Babylonian armies surrounded the walls of Jerusalem… and then waited… for two and a half years.

Why do we fast on this day? What makes the events of Asara B’Tevet so important that we still fast thousands of years later?

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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Parshat Vayigash opens at a very tense moment. Joseph’s brothers are standing in front of him, not knowing who he is. All they know is that this powerful Egyptian official has threatened to keep Benjamin in Egypt as his slave. So Judah steps forward to plead for returning Benjamin to their father… and Joseph bursts into tears and reveals his identity to them. The long separation from his family is finally over. But have you ever wondered how things got so bad in the first place? Why Jacob favored Joseph and Benjamin so much that his other sons were consumed by jealousy, even selling Joseph into slavery?

Join Rabbi David Fohrman and Ari Levisohn as they explore the roots of Jacob’s actions. Even if you think the Joseph story couldn’t possibly be more dramatic and moving than it already is… this episode will reveal a whole new layer of meaning.

Rabbi Fohrman and Ari continued to gather fascinating evidence and are still putting the puzzle together. Get a sneak peek into their research notes here, and if you have any thoughts, we would love to hear them!

Looking for even more parallels between Parshat Mishpatim and the Book of Genesis? Check out Ami Silver's video How Can The Laws Of Mishpatim Help Correct Past Mistakes?

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What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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Does it make you feel uncomfortable when Hanukkah gets lumped together with all the other “winter holidays”? It can be hard to see Hanukkah’s any different when the Hanukkah and Christmas lights all get blurred together. But if that’s not enough to make it difficult to appreciate Hanukkah’s uniqueness, there are even some historians who want to claim that Hanukkah is actually nothing more than the Jewish version, not of Christmas, but of an earlier Pagan winter solstice festival. And… are you ready for this?... The Rabbis of the Talmud seem to support that claim!

Join Rabbi Fohrman as he confronts these uncomfortable questions, diving into two puzzling Talmudic passages and uncovering the true identity of our beloved Hanukkah and its deeply-rooted significance.

And when you’re done, check out our other great Hanukkah content here.

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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Remember when Joseph was imprisoned in Egypt, and he asked one of his buddies to put in a good word for him with Pharaoh, hoping he might get sprung from jail? Well, some commentators seem not to take too kindly to Joseph’s tactic. Rashi, quoting our Sages, explains that because Joseph did that, God delayed his liberation from prison for two full years. 

It kind of makes you scratch your head: That sounds like a harsh punishment. What was so bad about what Joseph did? Why fault him for trying to get out of prison? 

In this week’s episode, Ari Levisohn and Daniel Loewenstein jump off from this question, and it takes them to all kinds of places… ultimately revealing a startling picture of who Joseph was and what he represents. But you’ll have to listen to find out!

Looking for the course that Ari described as “incredible”? Rabbi Fohrman’s piece on how Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams? “Does God Speak To Us Today?”

What did you think of this episode? We’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback. Leave us a voice message – just click record, and let your thoughts flow.

Into the Verse is a project of Aleph Beta, a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. If you’re enjoying this podcast, help support our work by subscribing to Aleph Beta.

For past episodes of Into the Verse, go to our website, alephbeta.org, where a premium subscription gets you access to all of our past episodes and our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts on the parsha, holidays, and so much more!

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