ParshaNut Podcast

'The Four Children' is one of the most well-known sections of the Passover Haggadah. But of the four, one of these children seems a little out of place. Unlike the others, he does not even know how to ask questions. But his presence may turn out to be critical to the Passover experience.

Exodus is a book full of miracles. But the very first "miracle" that God brings before Pharaoh seems more like a silly magic trick than an epic wonder. Why does God start so small?

This week we look at one of the strangest stories in the whole Torah. God is out to kill someone. And a makeshift circumcision is the only thing that will stop Him.

Confused yet?

Some people believe the Bible has hidden codes that we can use to predict the future. That might sound crazy to you, but here's an even stranger idea: Could it be that the characters in the Torah, themselves, were looking for secret codes in the Torah?! This week we look at a tradition that makes that surprising claim.

How does the heart respond to shocking news - good or bad? This week we see Jacob completely overwhelmed, on the verge of death, and then suddenly okay again. What happened to him in that moment, and how did he recover?

There's a lot of crying in the Torah. But no one cries more than Joseph. What is it that has him weeping so often? We attempt a psychological study of the man - with the help of some of the great commentators.

This week, for anyone who's been wondering what the heck this podcast is all about, we take the opportunity to give a general introduction to the whole genre of "parshanut."

What would you say is the most important line in the Torah? Now what about the least important line? Well, Maimonides says that there is no difference - every verse in the Torah is equally important. But what does he mean by that? We'll try to find out by taking a line that seems at first to be a throwaway, and digging deeper to find the hidden story behind it.

There's some wild, far-out stuff in the Torah. But this week, things get especially crazy when we run into a bunch of... talking rocks! Now, are we really supposed to believe this stuff? That's the big question we try to tackle this week, with some help from a great 16th-century philosopher, Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague.

This week, we reexamine a famous piece of midrash - a story of angels crying - in search of a better understanding of what drives Isaac, the most silent and mysterious of our forefathers.