KMTT - the Torah Podcast

Emor | "ממחרת השבת" and the Calendar Controversy, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Who were the "Beitusin" who challenged rabbinic authority about the date of Shavuot?

This shiur, given at the annual Yemei Iyyun beTanakh hosted by SAR High School, analyzes the controversy over the date (and day of the week) of the "Omer" offering which, in kind, affects the date and day of the week of Shavuot.

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Tazria-Metzora | The Unique Opportunity Afforded to the Metzora, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why is the law regarding the Yoledet presented immediately before the laws of tzara'at?

The complex, confusing and unique instructions regarding the diagnosis and healing from tzara'at make these parashot possibly the most inscrutable and deliberately overlooked sections in the Torah. We analyze the status, implications and message of Tzara'at following his or her repatriation ceremony - which looks, in many ways, like the purification from an encounter with death. In a season when painful memories of the victims of the Shoah and our fallen soldiers are saluted, this long reading gives us, perhaps, a renewed appreciation of life and of the miraculous opportunity of "second chances".

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Pesach | Miriam's Vital Role in the Redemption, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Miriam is a somewhat difficult character to follow in the text; she is first presented anonymously, watching over her baby brother until he is safely brought back home to be nursed by their mother, then appears as the "prophetess, sister of Aharon" who intensifies the Song at the Sea - and then a seeming downfall at the incident of her slander of her brother and the attendant צרעת. But looking back at the nature of fraternal relations in Bereishit, we can discern a key role in her leadership as a sister to the political and spiritual leaders of the people and her role as both catalyst as well as beneficiary of fraternal loyalty - a role that helps this "first family of the nation" lead us from debased enslavement to noble sovereignty. This shiur was lovingly given in honor of the birth of our granddaughter, מרים תהילה, named for my mother, מרים בת יצחק ורבקה ז"ל, a true unifier and inspiration for all of her grandchildren.

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Vayikra | 5786 | "I am first and I am last", by Rav Eli Weber

Yeshayahu 43:21 - 44:23 Why do we offer korbanot?

Pekudei | 5786 | Then Shlomo assembled the elders of Yisrael, by Rav Eli Weber

The Inauguration of Beit Hamikdash. 1 Melakhim 7:51 - 8:1-21

Vayakhel | Shemot 35:3 and the Karaites, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

What is development of the Karaite-Rabbanite dispute about fire on Shabbat?

The opening passage of Parashat Vayakhel includes Moshe's reminder to observe Shabbat and a singular mention of the prohibition of kindling a fire on Shabbat - לא תבערו אש בכל מושבותיכם ביום השבת. This passage became the focal point of a near-millenium long dispute between the Karaites and the rabbinic community as is evidenced from the many comments found in rabbinic literature from the Middle Ages defending and staunchly arguing in favor of the lighting of Shabbat candles. This polemic may lie at the source of a part of Friday night Tefillot.

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Ki Tisa | After the Fall: Recovenanting, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why are the Luchot consistently referenced as "Luchot Even"?

In the aftermath of the חטא העגל - the sin of the golden calf - God commits to a (new?) covenant, one which inheres compassion and forgiveness, predicated on contrition and repentance. This recovenanting requires several steps - Moshe has to carve two tablets of stone like the set that God had given him, and God will then engrave the same words that He had written on the first set. There is a repetition of the last section of the original law code (from Ex. 23) but no repetition of the civil and criminal code which precedes it. We explore the role of the לוחות האבן - the stone tablets - and the three monikers by which they are known - לוחות אבן, לוחות הברית, לוחות העדות; we also propose an explanation as to why only the end of the law code is re-covenanted - as well as an interesting suggestion as to why Moshe is praised, at the end of his life, for "the strong hand" which, per the Sifrei, refers to his breaking the tablets.

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Teruma | And I will dwell among the children of Israel, by Rav Eli Weber

Melakhim I 5: 26-32 - 6: 1-13

Between the Mishkan and the Mikdash.

Shabbat Zakhor | And Shaul smote Amalek, by Rav Eli Weber

Zakhor | Shmuel I 15:2-34

What caused Shaul's downfall?

Megillat Esther | Esther's Brilliant Plan, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why do we need to hear so many details of the Persian court in Esther 1 and 2 - when the plot only begins in chapter 3?

The first two chapters of Esther seem superfluous to the critical part of the plot - the decree to kill Mordekhai's nation and the successful stratagem that defeated it. Why does the reader need to hear about the Persian Emperor's "glory" and extended coronation party, and about the excessive preening and primping involved in getting the young maidens ready for their "night with the king"? We explore the psychological profiles that each chapter gives us about Achashverosh and Esther, respectively, and then the profile that chapter 3 and 5 give us about Haman; without which we wouldn't be able to understand Esther's brilliant strategy that outfoxed our two enemies and opened the door to national salvation.