TanakhCast

In this week’s episode: Numbers 24-27.  We examine the Jewish-precedent-setting and bleep-disturbing question posed by Makhla, No’a, Khogla, Milka and Tirza (a.k.a the daughters of Tzlofkhad) with human rights advocate and spouse Noa Mendelsohn Aviv - who would have surely taken their case even though she knew there was little hope of winning.  (Spoilers: Oh, for pity's sake, Mr Rabbeinu, the girls will inherit!)

 

 

In this week’s episode: Numbers 20-23.  We examine the extraordinary measures Balak took against the impending Jewish onslaught and discuss with eldest daughter Maayan Mendelsohn Aviv how best to treat talking donkeys and the lessons learned from all the freewheeling criticism.

In this week’s episode: Numbers 16-19.  We explore how Korach’s astroturf uprising ends up in Sheol while truly grassroots efforts have the potential to produce surprising results.  And we’ll also explore how a festively plump boy from a quiet Colorado mountain town brought about peace in the Middle East by putting a red wig and freckles on a cow.

ICYMI, "By Fire" by Tahar Ben Jelloun at The New Yorker as well as "Forcing the End" by Lawrence Wright about the search for the red heifer.

And here's the bit from SNL with Julian Assange:

... and if you want a peurile laugh, you can watch the South Park episode "Ginger Cow" here, here, here and here.

In this week’s episode: Numbers 12-15.  Tema Smith, Toronto Discussion Group Coordinator for Be’chol Lashon, considers the strange cocktail of anecdotes which is this week’s portion and why Moshe is the poster boy (and this edition the “poster edition”) for Jewish diversity and interfaith outreach.

In this week’s episode: Numbers 8-11.  Among other desert-wandering religious matters, we explore the commemoration of the first Passover after the Exodus and how one of the most popular Jewish religious observances came into existence in a moment of crisis and creativity.  We conclude with a thought about what happens when we make the old new again.

ICYMI, the full Sanhedrin Initiative position on the revival of the Korban Pessah is here.

In this week’s episode: Numbers 4-7.  We explore the supposed efficacy of trying alleged adulterers by ordeal Leonard Cohen style and consider whether the return of flogging might solve the prison problem in North America.

ICYMI, Peter Leeson's article on trial by ordeal and Peter Moskos' book In Defense of Flogging.

In this week’s episode: Numbers 1-3.  We consider the age-old tradition of counting Jews in benign and malign contexts and how one man’s count is another man’s kerfuffle.

ICYMI, have a look at the Eichmann document from the Wannsee Conference here.  There's also Timothy Noah's piece at Slate about Nixon's Jew Count and the transcripts at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia Presidential Recordings Program.   And finally, the complete Pew Research Centre's "A Portrait of Jewish Americans" as well as the eye-crossing sidebar on "Who is a Jew?" and the fun for the whole family Jewish population calculator!

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 24-27.  We conclude Leviticus with a foray into the world of complicated financial products and the ins and outs of the free market as we address the question:  Why regulate?

ICYMI, a paper on the origin of mortgage backed securities, the section of Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium where he tears Reaganomics a new one, and an episode of the always interesting Freakonomics podcast discussing Pope Francis' broadside:

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 20-23. We examine some more commandments that relate to tum’ah and taharah and how a kohein has to be like the animal he sacrifices.  And in between talking about holydays and their food traditions, we take another look at the kohein, his martial options, the kohein economy and, most importantly, how much work he is allowed to bring home.

ICYMI, some information about poutine for all y'all Non-Canadians, the complete episode of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" about Jerusalem and Palestine, and, most important, Yotam Ottolenghi's shakshouka recipe!

 

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 16-19.  Thanks to the miracle of Skype, Dr. Jay Michaelson, author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality and the recently published Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment guests on TanakhCast to explain why context matters in the Holiness Code, and how an obscure verse about to’evah or “abomination” has become one of the most infamous in all of the Torah - and how it has been completely and practically misunderstood.