KMTT - the Torah Podcast

Ramban On The Torah | 18 | Vayera, by Rav Eli Weber

Lekh Lekha | The Land that I Will Show You, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

How was Avraham supposed to understand the directive to go to the "land that I will show you"?

When God commanded Avraham to leave his family and all that he knew, He directed him to go to "The Land that I will show you"; but how was Avraham to know where to go? How was he going to be "shown" the Land? Deciphering this enigmatic command may hold the key to understanding much of Avraham's movements throughout his narrative cycle, culminating with the journey to Moriah.

Source sheet >>

"Korim Li Am Yisrael": The Unprecedented Achdus Sweeping the Jewish World, by Rav Dovid Gottlieb

Delivered as part of a "Night of Chizuk" in Beit Shemesh

Many thanks to R Rosner for hosting (Nofei HaShemesh) and to R Goldberg and R Gibber for joining us from Boca Raton. Thanks as well to Kehilat Eretz Chemdah in Yerushalayim for their incredible help in organizing the event. שנשמע בשורות טובות

Chizzuk for our Current Situation, "We are in a new world." Sicha with our Overseas Talmidim, October 15th, 2023 by Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters HY"D were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in April.

Ramban On The Torah | 17 | Lekh Lekha, by Rav Eli Weber

During these challenging and uncertain times, a short inspirational lesson followed by the recitation of tehillim.

We thank the OU for including our Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein, in their Daily Tehillim and Chizuk Call; to join the daily call, click here >>

Noach's Altar, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why was Hashem's reaction to Noach's offerings so...tepid?

In the immediate aftermath of the flood, three consecutive events are recorded. Noah builds an altar and offers mammals and birds to God at which God seems to be pleased and internally commits to never again destroying the earth. God then presents an essential legal/moral code to Noah and then God confirms his commitment to never again destroy the world, by indicating the sign of that pact -the rainbow. This sequence is unsettling, as we would expect the "sign of the covenant" to be presented immediately after God's "internal" conversation. Yet the legal code interrupts these two. Furthermore, God's response to the offerings is less than enthusiastic - His observation is that "Man's nature is wicked from his youth" - hardly a ringing endorsement of mankind. What are we to make of this Divine reaction and how are we to understand the sequence of God's presentations to Noah and his sons? We suggest an uncommon understanding of the phrase ריח ניחוח as they key to unlocking this three-stage interaction. This shiur was given in honor of our brave חיילים וחיילות who guard our borders and our cities - ה' ישמרם מכל נגע וינחיל לעמו נצחון ויכלו אנשי זדון מן הארץ

Source sheet >>

Ramban On The Torah | 16 | Noach, by Rav Eli Weber

Divrei Chizuk, by Dr. Jacob Freedman, Psychiatrist and Trauma Specialist

Special address to our Bnei Chul talmidim, during "Milchemet Charvot Barzel"

Trees and Consequences: עץ החיים ועץ הדעת, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

The description of "the tree that is in the midst of the garden" is mysterious - to which tree does it refer? The text seems to conflate the two singular trees - the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. What are we to make of this confusion? Indeed - what is each of these trees about? Why is Hashem "suddenly" concerned about Adam eating from the Tree of Life only after he eats from the Tree of Knowledge? And what does any of this have to do with the timing of the birth of Kayin and Hevel? Rashi and R. Yosef Bekhor Shor disagree about whether they were born before the episode in the garden and subsequent expulsion - or before. We explore how all of these issues interrelate and propose a new understanding of the nature of the Trees - and how their purposes and characteristics intersect. This shiur was given in memory of the brutalized victims of the terrorist pogrom perpetuated against he citizens of the south on Shemini Atzeret. ה' יקום דמם.

Source sheet >>