Kohelet #3: there is a time for everything, to love, to hate...

Rabbi Dr Sam Lebens shares thoughts on joy and its absence in Kohelet.

Text here:

https://www.sefaria.org/Ecclesiastes.3?lang=bi

Hi Everybody!

Purim is almost here. According to the 929 schedule we will be reading Megillat Esther in just a few weeks,

which is unfortunatley too late for Purim itself. Since it's so close, we wanted to give you the episodes a few weeks ahead of time, though we will publish them again on the 929 schedule.

Trying something new for this one, and combining chapters 6-10.

Let us know if you liked this or not!

Happy Purim!

Timestamps:

00:00 Esther Ch.6-7 Rafi Addlestone brings us his overview of the text inspired by Disney fairytales and Malcolm Gladwell.

03:05 Aladdin and Esther: Parallels in Storytelling

05:51 Esther's Empowerment and the Role of Women in Fairy Tales

08:46 Modern Fairy Tales: Empowered Heroines in Disney

11:10 Conclusion: The Legacy of Esther and Modern Narratives

11:59 The Legal Right to Defend: A Turning Point in Esther (Esther Ch. 8 by Rabbi Sam Lebens)

17:48 Yom Kippur and Purim: Themes of Decrees and Transformation

25:11 Calev Ben Dor explores the connections between the Jews of Purim and those at Sinai in explaining the nature of Jewish identity and obligation. (Ch. 9)

28:10 The Significance of Jewish Celebration

32:04 Understanding Mitzvot and Community Obligation

35:16 Introduction to Chapter 10 of Esther (Esther Ch.10 pt 1 by Rabbi Joe Wolfson)

36:15 The Dual Conclusions of Esther

38:19 Achashverosh: From Buffoon to Hero?

41:16 The Moral Transformation of Achashverosh

43:42 Parallels Between Esther and Yosef (Rabbi Joe Esther Ch.10 part 2)

46:41 Leadership in Exile: B'nai Rachel vs. B'nai Leah

49:34 The Temporary Nature of Political Success

52:44 Linking Esther to the Book of Shemot

Hi Everybody!

Purim is almost here. According to the 929 schedule we will be reading Megillat Esther in just a few weeks,

which is unfortunatley too late for Purim itself. Since it's so close, we wanted to give you the episodes a few weeks ahead of time, though we will publish them again on the 929 schedule.

Trying something new for this one, and combining chapters 1-5, and generated the track titles and subtitles with AI.

Chapters

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Esther and Vashti's Role (Ch.1 by Rabbi Joe Wolfson)

02:50 Vashti: The Objectification and Rebellion

05:49 Comparative Analysis: Vashti and Yosef's Refusal

09:04 Midrash Perspectives on Vashti and Feminism

09:27 Ch.2 by Calev Ben Dor | The Rise of Esther: A New Queen Emerges

12:28 Historical Context: The Persian Empire and Jewish Exile

15:38 The Four-Year Gap: War Preparations and Political Intrigue

18:36 Mordechai and Haman: A Complex Relationship

20:39 The Rise of Haman and Mordechai's Defiance (Chs. 3-5 by Rabbi Professor Sam Lebens))

26:41 The Hidden Hand of God in Esther

31:35 Esther's Strategy and Haman's Downfall

36:32 Ch.4 by Aliza Libman Baronofsky

39:28 Esther's Role and Agency

42:18 The Significance of Voice and Silence

43:42 Ch. 5 by Ilana Stein | Esther's Transformation and Royal Approach

46:53 The Significance of Clothing and Inner Strength

49:44 Spiritual Preparation and Divine Connection

Let us know if you liked this or not!

The authors of these audio clips are as follows:

Esther Ch. 1: Rabbi Joe WolfsonIn my recording on chapter 1, I consider the character of Vashti - a heroine according the the _peshat_ straightforward reading of the text but a villain according to the midrash.

Esther Ch. 2: Calev Ben Dor:Calev Ben Dor, on chapter 2, provides historical context to the book of Esther and an intriguing explanation of the backstory of tensions between Mordechai and Haman.

Esther Chs 3-5: Rabbi Professor Sam LebensSam Lebens unpacks the nature of Mordechai's antipathy to Haman

Esther Ch. 4: Aliza Libman BaronofskyAliza Libman Baronofsky considers what sort of feminist hero Esther is and what we can learn from her about women's voices

Esther Ch. 5: Ilana Stein Ilana Stein considers the heroism of Esther through the prism of her clothing and the significance of learning Esther before Yom Kippur.

Happy Purim!

Ilana uses ch.2 to think about our responsibility to future generations. Text here: https://www.sefaria.org/Ecclesiastes.2?lang=bi

Kohelet chapters 1 and 2: a different darkness to Eicha. Not suffering and persecution but the meaninglessness of abundance. I introduce the book and how the Sages struggled with Kohelet's proposition while Ilana uses ch.2 to think about our responsibility to future generations.
In arguing for the contemporary relevance of Kohelet to our modern predicament I quote at length from Rav Soloveitchik. Here is the full piece:
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Worship of the Heart, p.38
Man is bored. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on his entertainment and amusement. He pays enormous sums to anyone who can elicit a smile from him and make him forget his daily worries. What are these worries? Poverty, sickness, persecution, physical pain? None of these. His
main worry is existence itself. He is dissatisfied with what he is doing, with his job, trade or profession. He hates the routine of getting up at 7, catching the 7:45 train, and arriving at the office, where one meets the same people and discusses the same affairs. He finds no joy in what he is
doing; he wants to free himself from his daily obligations and activities. He resents the repetition,
which is basically a natural phenomenon. He is the most miserable of creatures because he is confined to a cyclic existence which keeps on retracing its steps afresh; for he knows what he is going to do next and what is expected of him. He travels to far-off places, because he is tired of his hometown, with its familiar surroundings, and he engages in an incessant quest for new experiences and stimuli… He soon realizes that whatever he was looking for does not exist and he comes home, back to his old surroundings and duties. He chases a mirage that recedes endlessly upon his
approach.

https://www.sefaria.org/Ecclesiastes.1?lang=bi

In the final chapter of the book of our national lament, the acrostic is broken and we begin to move towards a brighter day. In our audio we look at how both our chapter and the midrash on Eicha move the reader from despair to hope. Text here:
https://www.sefaria.org/Lamentations.5?lang=biii

Eikha #4 - perhaps the most graphic and disturbing of the Eikha chapters with the most disturbing image of all as mothers cook their children.

Despite the content, Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo, marshalls the scholarly work on trauma, to make the arresting claim that our chapter in fact sets forth a process of recovery from trauma essential to the survival of the Jewish people.

Text here:
https://www.sefaria.org/Lamentations.4?lang=bii

Eicha #3 - "I am the man who has seen suffering"- the epicenter of the megilla.

Our audio once again focuses on a single verse which is taken by the midrash as the model for what all prophets should aspire to. Text here:
https://www.sefaria.org/Lamentations.3?lang=bii

Eikha #2 - the lament continues, with a prominent theme being that God Himself perpetrates this act 'in his devouring anger... Good was like the enemy. In our audio today we connect a single verse in our chapter to a parallel verse in Tehillim 48 to try and unpack how this tragedy occurred.

https://www.sefaria.org/Lamentations.2?lang=bi

https://929.org.il/lang/en/today

Greetings everybody!
It took nearly a year to do the 220 chapters of Tehillim, Mishlei and Iyov but now we're on our third book in as many weeks.
Shir HaShirim and Ruth - two books told primarily through female protagonists. Now Eikha - how she, Jerusalem, sits alone bereft of those who loved her, in the aftermath of destruction of the Temple in 586BCE.Aliza Libman Baronofsky starts us off with the first chapter, placing it in the context of the life and work of its author, Yirmiyahu.
https://www.sefaria.org/Lamentations.1?lang=bihttps://929.org.il/lang/en/today