It's hard to think of a more appropriate chapter for Tisha B'Av as the prophet warns the people of Jerusalem that reliance on the idea that 'God is in our midst' is a dangerous illusion - if they do not build a society worthy of His name, then Hashem has no interest in dwelling amongst them and will do nothing to protect his Temple.

Micha Chapters 1 and 2 - we meet a prophet who lives during the destruction of the northern kingdom yet gives prophecy over Jerusalem. Jonathan Muhlrad considers the theme of corruption in ch.2 as Micha's diagnosis of where Israel is going wrong. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Micah.2

Micha Chapters 1 and 2 - we meet a prophet who lives during the destruction of the northern kingdom yet gives prophecy over Jerusalem. The recording on ch.1 gives the context and compares Micha's take on the churban with that of Yishayahu who lived at the same time. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Micah.1

In today's audio I try to explain the lesson that God is teaching Yonah about the value of even partial teshuva and its resonance for Yom Kippur. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Jonah.4

Ch 3 contains possibly the most successful words of prophecy ever- 5 words from Yonah's mouth and BOOM!, wicked Ninevans are penitents. In my audio today and tomorrow I'll be unpacking the argument between God and Yonah as to the quality of that repentance. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Jonah.3

Ilana Stein considers Yonah in lockdown, the silence of the chapter compared to the intense action of the previous chapter, and brings insights to the chapter that she learned directly from Nechama Leibowitz z"l. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Jonah.2

Yes, we have arrived at the book of Trei Asar that we all know and love. The prophet who runs away, is swallowed by a big fish, who grudingly gives prophecy to a gentile nation, and then to his horror is massively successful!Calev Ben Dor starts us on our Yonah journey - considering the context of when Yonah lived and the king he served, and concluding with suggesting a number of frames with which we can consider Yona, and how the message of the book connects to Yom Kippur, when the story is traditionally read. Most profoundly of all, I found, is the suggestion that the opposite of fleeing (what Yonah does) is to stand before God, understood as the embrace of uncertainty. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Jonah.1

Audio today from Calev Ben Dor considering that most intriguing of verses - that as God took Israel out of Egypt so did he take the Philistines from Kaphtor and Aram from Kir. Calev considers the implication that God is actively involved in the history of many nations, what this means for the concept of chosenness, and what impact this verse had on Martin Buber's Zionism.https://www.sefaria.org/Amos.9

Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Amos.8