ParshaNut Podcast

The case of The Tempter in Deuteronomy speaks of the dangers of being lured into idolatry by your loved ones - friends and family members. We are warned against giving in to their influence. But the commentaries of Rashi and the Rashbam point to other tempting forces in our lives - ones which may be harder to resist.

From the Documentary Hypothesis to Lurianic Kabbalah - something for everyone in this week's ParshaNut, as we scour through the stories of Korach's rebellion to find secret connections to an earlier uprising.

How did it take forty years to walk from Egypt to Israel? The distance itself suggests that it could have been done in a month. Well, it turns out they were in one place for a nearly half the time, a place called 'Kadesh.' So how did they get stuck there, and why?

It's time to kill the Midianites. And Pinchas ben Elazar, the priest, will lead the charge. Why is he chosen? The reasons seem obvious at first. But there is more to the story...

God sins. We forgive. 

Who would dare say such a thing?!  Why, the rabbis of the Talmud, of course.

From Moses to Einstein, this week we take a tour of Jewish thought throughout the ages, and try to pick up on themes that we have been grappling with throughout time.

This week,the Torah goes Dr. Seuss on us. The language that the Torah uses to describe Moses crafting a copper snake seems almost deliberately playful. What is the meaning of this unusual poetic device, and who stuck it in there? 

This week, Moses uses a new name for God, "The God of the Spirit of All Flesh." It is a name used only one other time in the Torah. We'll take a look at both contexts, and see what they have in common, and what they tell us about the kind of God Moses wants to believe in.

This week, we return to a classic story from the Torah, the "Sin of the Spies," only to discover there are no spies there at all.

Forgive the poor sound quality this week, folks! The Parsha Nut is traveling, and away from his regular recording studio. But since we're revealing the secrets of the universe this week, I guess it's fitting that they be a little hard to hear.