Ta Shma

Shai Held. Amalek Within and Without. Appalled by its savage offensive against Israel, the Torah considers Amalek a perpetual enemy of both God and Israel. While Amalek’s behavior is undoubtedly abhorrent, there is something worrying about both the depth and the duration of hatred prescribed: If Amalek is detestable, why must its children be denounced as enemies of God? And by mandating Israel to kill every last Amalekite, does not the Torah run the risk of inculcating in Israel the very cruelty it so detests? To read the Torah’s troubling charge to wipe out Amalek is, of necessity, to struggle with it.

Shira Billet. What Modern Jewish Philosophy Can Teach Us About the Ethics of Technology. Is human connection something natural and pre-technological? Does technology foster or obstruct human connection? Does technology advance or impede the project or ethics? Does technology transform human connection such that a new kind of ethics is called for? We will read lengthy excerpts from the writings of Martin Buber, Joseph Soloveitchik, and Hans Jonas, and consider the implications of their discussions for the era of the internet and social media. Recorded live at the Summer Yom Iyyun, 2015.

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

Shai Held. Deuteronomy and the King. Should Israel ideally have a king? On this fundamental political and theological question, biblical voices are sharply divided. For some texts, the very idea of a human monarch is an offense against God, an unacceptable assault on God’s exclusive sovereignty over Israel. Yet other texts see an Israelite king as a key part of God’s providential plan for Israel’s flourishing in the land. The laws of the king in parashat Shof’tim stake out a middle ground between these two extremes.

Shai Held. Rabbis Heschel and Soloveitchik in Conversation. What do famous Jewish philosophers think about modern technology? Recorded live at the Summer Yom Iyyun 2015.

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

Shai Held. The Torah’s laws are frequently stated from a thoroughly patriarchal perspective: They reflect a society in which men hold the bulk of power in family and society. In important ways, however, the laws found in Deuteronomy seem somewhat different from the laws in Exodus. Within the biblical context, Deuteronomy works to raise the legal and social status of women and to alleviate their suffering. In modest but powerful ways, Deuteronomy sets a process into motion that still continues to this day.

Jason Rubenstein. Jewish Ethics of Shame, Speech, and Reputation in an Age of Social Media. Jewish law has always cared deeply about how and why we speak about others. In this class, we'll ask three questions: what light can its insights shed on our contemporary, rapidly evolving lives of social media; when the assumptions underlying Jewish law seem no longer to apply, what does this tell us about the possibilities of communication in this new age; and what can the world of online (mis)communications teach us about Torah?

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

Learning Dependence. Shai Held. One of the key lessons God wishes to teach the people in parashat Ekev is that human beings “do not live by bread alone”. But what do God’s words actually mean; what are the people being asked to internalize and remember? Deuteronomy wants Israel to learn a deep and enduring truth about life with God, whether in the wilderness or in the land.