TanakhCast

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 12-15.  We get into the flow of things with an in-depth examination of various impurifying skin flakings and discharges and the measures taken to correct them.  We also consider, but just for a minute, the behaviours that lead to all the impurifying discharges and wonder, but just for a minute, why folks are more interested in the cure instead of prevention.

ICYMI, the piece by Professor Yishayahu Nitzan who is absolutely convinced that the condition referred to as "zav" is really gonorrhoea and the wonderful Flow: the Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim - which you can pick up from Amazon here.

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 8-11.  We begin puzzling out the vagaries of kashrut law and Jewish eating and end up with Chabad and Aish HaTorah trying to justify why we should marry only Jews when, technically, all of the patriarchs, Joseph, Moses, Boaz, David and Solomon and even the founders of Ashkenazi Jewry didn’t… And yet, despite the notorious Pew Report, the Jewish people keep on keeping on... or do they?

And ICYMI, the paper in Nature about how European women and NOT women from the Near East were the principal female founders of the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Europe.  You'll want to read this with a cup of hot cocoa.

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 4-7.  We explore what kind of near-offering Anthony Weiner would bring had he offended during the time of the Dwelling and how tum’ah is a form of cooties that has greater ramifications beyond getting that circle-circle-dot-dot-now-you-have-a-cootie-shot.

 

In this week’s episode: Leviticus 1-3.  We explore a list of shockingly and disgustingly explicit instructions relating to the offering of near-offerings, and how many kohens and Levites there might be who would find these instructions useful.  We also consider what Nobel prize winning author Shai Agnon would have said about Third Temple enthusiasts offering the Paschal Lamb today.

ICYMI, here, here and here are some studies about "Y-Chromosomal Aaron".

And the crowd-obscured YouTube video of the paschal lamb offering can be found here ... get it while it's hot!

In this week’s episode: Exodus 37-40.  We conclude Exodus with a fanciful reconsideration of it as the middle installment of the Torah trilogy and how Joss Whedon would have probably hated its ending too.

ICYMI, here's Emily Asher-Perrin's piece on The Empire Strikes Back and how it ruined trilogies as well as Joss Whedon's hating on Empire's ending.

In this week’s episode: Exodus 33-36.  We explore one of the more obscure yet significant commandments in the daily diets of traditional Jews and how a simple sign on my front lawn might not be enough to ward off folks from falling into my sinkhole.  Also, listening to this episode while baking will guarantee leavening as it lasts 18 minutes and three seconds!

In this week’s episode: Exodus 29-32.  We consider what happens after Moshe is shamelessly late and the person who is supposed to be in charge (read: Aharon) confronts demands for a Golden Calf.  And we regard what it means to “pursue peace” as Hillel (inspired by Aharon) does when similarly confronted by bad behaviour and whether all this “peace pursuing” is not just a sleazy dodge.

And if that's not enough, TanakhCast is also on Soundcloud!

In this week’s episode: Exodus 25-28.  We explore the Dwelling, God’s residence and all the design elements necessary to heighten curb appeal and resale value.  We also look at the High Priest’s most famous yet most obscure vestment - the Urim veTummim and its surprising place in colonial American history - along with the selling of naming rights, organized shnorring and valedictory addresses in stilted biblical Hebrew.

In this week’s episode: Exodus 21-24.  We examine the first hardcore batch of laws in the Torah and discuss what might happen when two men brawl in public.  We also briefly discuss sheep-diddling and the nimble halakhic minds that can regard a life as not-a-life and a pursuer as not-a-pursuer.

And ICYMI, Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik's piece entitled "Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy" can be found here

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In this week’s episode: Exodus 17-20.  Though this portion is pyrotechnically-packed and commandment-filled, we examine the irony of memory and forgetting as it refers to the memorable command to erase the memory of Amalek.  How are we supposed to forget Amalek when we constantly bring them up all the time?

And ICYMI, here, here and here are pieces about the Knesset and banning the word "Nazi".