KMTT - the Torah Podcast

Is Halakha the Enemy of Loving God? A new series with Rav Eli Weber in conversation with Rav Ezra Bick

Does God care which way your lulav faces? Rav Bick on why commitment is the truest love.

Rav Bick argues that halakha's detailed obligations don't compete with love of God; they are its truest form. Loving God means serving Him, and real service includes commandments we don't understand. Drawing on the Sefat Emet, the Akeida, and the Sifra's teaching on chukim, he shows that commitment beyond our own understanding and preferences is what raises a person toward the Divine.

Sefat Emet | Who Was the Sefat Emet? Life, Legacy, Learning, by Rav Eli Weber

Intro to the Series. He refused to become Rebbe as a teen. Meet the Sefat Emet, whose words "endure forever."

Rav Eli Weber introduces the Sefat Emet, the Gerrer Rebbe raised by his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim, and shaped by Kotzk's passion for honesty. His Torah on Chumash is a foundational Chassidic work. It is not meant to answer questions on the parasha. Its ideas are meant to be internalized and to keep growing in each learner, as its title suggests: "truthful speech endures forever."

New Series! Sefat Emet | Bereishit | What was the World Missing?

Rashi teaches that the world lacked one thing after six days: rest. The Sefat Emet explains that this menucha is not mere inactivity. It is the unifying force that lets us step back and see how every part of creation, even what seems to oppose holiness, serves God's plan. Shabbat completes the world by revealing its hidden purpose.

Bereishit | The Sin of the Tree of Knowledge, by Rav David Debow

In this first episode of the 'Mind of a Monotheist' series, we explore Adam and Eve's first sin and how that sin is repeated by every one of us, bringing unhappiness to our lives. I examine the sin and show how it can be avoided in our personal lives. I offer a novel close reading of this biblical passage that shows how the sin is about language and consciousness, and the choices we make every day.

Rav David Debow, an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion (1990), is a veteran educator who has taught students from middle school through adulthood, in formal and informal settings and at lectures around the world. He strives to make innovative and complex Torah ideas accessible to novices and advanced scholars alike. Rav Debow founded and ran Midreshet Emunah v'Omanut, a unique Jerusalem seminary combining Torah study and the arts. He is currently editing Koren's new Mikraot LeDorot series and has joined a new EdTech venture.

"The Take-Home Meaning of Shemini Atzeret" by Rav Assaf Bednarsh

Leil Hoshana Rabba 5787, Heichal Shlomo

Exploring Charedi Culture with Alumni Coordinator Rav Yonatan Shai Freedman in conversation with Jonathan Rosenblum.

Jonathan Rosenblum is the director, spokesperson, and founder of Jewish Media Resources, an organization which attempts to clarify journalists' understanding of Charedi Jewish society. Leil Hoshana Rabba 5787 at Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem

VeZot HaBerakha | Birkat Moshe: Sequence, Meaning and Purpose, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

This shiur addresses the order of the tribes as they receive Moshe's Berakha; what are we to make of this odd sequence? A closer look at the purpose of these Berakhot will help illuminate the rationale behind the sequence and the intent of the Berakhot as related to the upcoming conquest of the Land.

Source sheet >>

Aveilut and Simcha: How Rav Soloveitchik Read Yom Kippur's Hidden Joy, by Rav Yosef Blau

Kiyum simcha beYom HaKippurim. No festive meal, no Hallel — so why does Yom Kippur still override mourning like a Yom Tov?

Rav Soloveitchik understood aveilut not as a set of external practices but as an inner state — the felt sense of disconnection from Hashem — and understood Yom Tov's simcha similarly, as fundamentally about closeness to Hashem rather than merely festive eating. Because Yom Kippur represents the deepest possible closeness to God (epitomized by the Kohen Gadol entering the Holy of Holies), it cancels aveilut just as other Yamim Tovim do, even without a festive meal — revealing an inner joy beneath its solemnity.

This shiur was given in the context of a chug for Bnei Chul at yeshiva: 'Torah and Stories of the Rav' from a close talmid and giant of Jewish education, Rav Yosef Blau. Rav Blau served as the mashgiach ruchani at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary from 1977 to 2025, before coming on aliya to Israel.

Shabbat Shuva | Teshuva Mei'Yir'a: The Runaway Son, by Rav Eli Weber

Why would Chazal choose the "cynical," self-interested model of teshuva for the Shabbat before Yom Kippur?

Hoshea 14:2-10, Mikha 7: 18-20, Yoel 2: 15-27

The Haftara of Shabbat Shuva models a modest, even self-interested form of teshuva — returning to God not out of love but out of disappointment that other paths failed — and insists that this lesser teshuva is still fully accepted, the way parents unconditionally welcome home a child who returns only because he has nowhere else to go. Since teshuva mei'ahava (the transformative ideal) is a standard most people can't consistently meet, teshuva mei'yir'a remains a vital, always-available option — one that all of us need, and should choose.

Rosh Hashana 5787 | Chana's Silent Prayer, by Rav Eli Weber

Chana's silent tears at Shiloh became the model for Jewish prayer. Discover the story.

Shmuel Alef 1:1 - 2:10

The Haftara of Chana, read on the first day of Rosh Hashana, tells of a barren woman's anguished, silent prayer at Shilo and Hashem's response through the birth of Shmuel HaNavi. Rav Eli Weber highlights Chana's prayer as the model for all Jewish prayer, and her expression of gratitude when her plea was answered as a lesson for approaching the Days of Awe.