ParshaNut Podcast

This week Abraham buys a cave in which to bury Sarah his wife. But over time, this cave will come to hold many of the greatest figures in the book of Genesis... including one final surprise guest.

Abraham and Sarah, the perfect pair. But even they had their difficulties...

How they worked past their most troubling times may provide us insight into how we work through our own.

Here is a verse, said Spinoza, that shakes the very foundations of Jewish theology:

Abram passed through the land up to the place of Shechem, at Alon Moreh - and the Canaanites were then in the land. hen in the land. (Gen. 12:6)

Wait…was that it? Abraham’s travel itinerary - what’s the the big deal?

Poor Noah gets such a bad rap. And he saved all the animals! So nice of him! So why do the rabbis mock him every chance they get? Their answers lie either before the flood, or after it.

We begin the cycle of the Torah again, with the Book of Genesis. And just four chapters in, we come across our first murder. Cain kills his brother Abel, but isn't killed by God in return. So what does happen to him? The commentators, as always, have answers.

Elie Wiesel was the great modern articulator of the concept of God's hiddenness from the world, or 'Hester Panim.' But there is a tradition of questioning this hiddenness that stretches all the way back to this week's parsha, and takes surprising twists and turns throughout the centuries of commentary.

Moses is addressing the people for the last time. And as he calls out the different who are there before him, he makes special mention of two workers: the wood-chopper and the water-drawer. This is odd. What is so special about these two people? Well, Rashi has one answer. But we have another.

What was the first language? And if there was one, where did all the other languages come from? As our commentators explore these questions, they reflect on the implications language and translation have for sacred scripture.

As we look into the case of The Hanging Man, we take a tour through the depths of one comment of Rashi's, and witness his brilliance on full display.

A strange verse in Parshat Shoftim has all the commentators speculating on the nature of trees. But it is 20th-century philosopher Martin Buber, not directly commenting on the verse, who may have the best interpretation.