Ta Shma

As we begin to close the Amidah, in the penultimate blessing that we call Modim, we say to God: “modim anahnu lakh,” we modim you. Drawing from the root י-ד-ה, the word modim has multiple meanings, each offering very different understandings of this blessing. This root word is also core to what it means to be a Jew, as it is the root word of Judaism (יהדות) and describes two aspects of the name of our ancestor Judah/Yehudah (יהודה). What does modim mean?

The sudden death of Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu leaves readers stunned and grappling for answers. By turning to a modern midrash in the form of an original short theatre piece written by R. Avi Strausberg, we attempt to pause time and make space to not only understand the motivations for their offerings, but also how their sudden deaths impacted their mother, their father, and their remaining brothers.

This session was originally delivered at Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2021.

Ya’akov is preparing to encounter God directly through sacrifice, an analog to our experience of prayer. It has been decades since Ya’akov actually encountered God in this way, and now he is preparing for this transition back into direct relationship. Critically, Ya’akov prepares by asking everyone to purify themselves and to change their clothes. What is the significance of changing clothes?

The many names of and metaphors for God sprinkled throughout the song genres of Jewish tradition - Psalms and piyyutim, traditional melodies and contemporary compositions - give us ample opportunity to explore diverse touchpoints of connection to the Divine. R. Deborah Sacks Mintz explores a variety of music designed to deepen connections and unlock new questions inherent in the act of singing to God.

This lecture was originally delivered at Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2022.

In our prayers, we do not shy away from calling God directly by name, using the most holy four-letter name of God (although we don’t pronounce it explicitly). What might this name mean, and what might it mean in the context of prayer?

Our tradition sometimes uses the image of a shadow to describe human experience with God. This rich metaphor, which captures both a sense of safety and shelter as well as darkness and fear, helps R. Aviva to reflect on where we find ourselves in the complex and ongoing story of God and the Jewish people.

This lecture was originally delivered at Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2022.

A major theme of Parashat Toldot is “ברכה - blessing.” This root appears 32 times in this parashah, more than in any other in the Torah. In prayer, we use the Hebrew root ב.ר.כ as the main verb of our blessing formula. What does it mean to say, “ברוך אתה ה׳ - barukh attah Adonai,” usually translated as, “Blessed are You, God”?

In several passages in the book of Jeremiah, the prophet seems to cry over the bitter suffering of his people; accordingly, Jeremiah has sometimes been referred to as "the weeping prophet." But there is another, very different way to read these passages, according to which it is God, and not Jeremiah, who is crying. In this lecture, Rabbi Shai Held explores the arguments for seeing the God of Jeremiah as "the weeping God," probing the theological implications of this startlingly anthropomorphic image. 

This lecture was originally delivered at Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2022.

How are we meant to pray words that we didn’t write? And how are we meant to pray those same words, multiple times a day?

Avraham alludes to a phrase found in our daily Amidah: "the King Who loves justice (tzedakah) and judgment (mishpat)." What does this phrase mean, and how might it relate to our own prayer lives?