Ta Shma

Elie Kaunfer. Each week, Jews welcome in Shabbat with songs sung passionately and jubilantly. But what do these prayers actually mean? In this course, we'll do a close literary and theological investigation of each of the songs featured in Kabbalat Shabbat and ask what they can teach us—about Jewish theology, about Jewish spirituality, and about worshiping God. Part 6 of a 6-part series.

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.

Moses’ Challenge (and Promise). Shai Held. According to Deuteronomy, Israel’s unique God has given it unique laws. If Israel will only follow them, it will be recognized as unique among the nations.1 Seeking to inspire obedience to the law, Moses offers three arguments on its behalf. Analyzing each of Moses’ arguments in turn can teach us a great deal about the theological vision of Deuteronomy, and of the Torah more broadly.

Shai Held. Each week, Jews welcome in Shabbat with psalms sung passionately and jubilantly. But what do these prayers actually mean? In this course, we'll do a close literary and theological investigation of each of the psalms featured in Kabbalat Shabbat and ask what they can teach us—about Jewish theology, about Jewish spirituality, and about worshiping God. Part 5 of a 6-part series.

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.

Or: When God Falls in Love. Shai Held. Few ideas have traditionally been more central to Jewish theology than the election (or “chosenness”) of the Jewish people, and few ideas have been more controversial. Of the Five Books of Moses, it is Deuteronomy that gives the most sustained attention to what election means—and also, crucially, to what it doesn’t.

Shai Held. Each week, Jews welcome in Shabbat with psalms sung passionately and jubilantly. But what do these prayers actually mean? In this course, we'll do a close literary and theological investigation of each of the psalms featured in Kabbalat Shabbat and ask what they can teach us—about Jewish theology, about Jewish spirituality, and about worshiping God. Part 4 of a 6-part series.

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.

Israel’s Journeys and Resting-Places. Shai Held. Reading Numbers 33 can be a tedious undertaking. The chapter recounts the various stations on Israel’s journey through the wilderness—all forty-two of them. The question, of course, is why—why the painstaking, laborious enumeration of all of Israel’s stopping places, even places where nothing of any significance seems to have taken place. Yet traditional interpreters have been guided by the assumption that each and every story in the Torah serves a purpose. What, then, can we make of this less-than-scintillating account of Israel’s journeys and resting-places?

Shai Held. Each week, Jews welcome in Shabbat with psalms sung passionately and jubilantly. But what do these prayers actually mean? In this course, we'll do a close literary and theological investigation of each of the psalms featured in Kabbalat Shabbat and ask what they can teach us—about Jewish theology, about Jewish spirituality, and about worshiping God. Part 3 of a 6-part series.