The Parasha with Rabbi Dweck

The book of Debarim opens with Moses' final words to the Children of Israel before he dies. This is significant because we are introduced to him as being "not a man of words". Moses goes through one of the greatest arcs of personal development in the Jewish Bible. In this class we examine the nature of that development and what we might take from it for our own lives.

These parashot close the book of Bemidbar. God orders a punitive strike against Midian for sending their women to seduce the men of Israel towards licentiousness and idol worship. Yet, after the war, the men bring back the very women that ensnared them as spoils. Moses is furious and commands that they not be allowed to live.

In this episode we look at what motivates us and how we might relate to why we do what we do.

The daughters of Tselofhad famously protest their loss of their father's real estate in the promised land due to being excluded from inheritance because they are women. They bring their complaint to Moses who brings it directly to God and God comes out in favour of the women. This parasha is often read during the 3 weeks between 17 Tamuz and 9 Ab. We explore the role of women in the issues that created these fast days as well as in the story of the sisters Tselofhad.

This year we look at Perashat Hukat. 38.5 years have passed since last week's parasha. And the current cohort of the Israelite people are the children of those who had left Egypt but perished in the desert as a result of the poor report of the 12 spies. In this episode we look at paradigm shifts, changing realities, and surviving them.

Korah raises a rebellion against Moses and Aaron and insists that the entire nation is holy and does not need the two of them as leaders. Yet, he insists that his system is correct and challenges the leadership with a veiled bid for his own. In the end, Korah is literally ejected from the nation by God Himself and swallowed by the earth. In this episode we look at what the Talmudic sages thought happened to make Torah do this and we explore some of the deeper ramifications for ourselves.

The Children of Israel are beginning their journey through the desert to the Promised Land and God instructs them as to how they should travel. It is by the rising of the cloud from atop the Mishkan that they are to move and stop and camp when it rests. Simple enough. But the Torah makes sure to be explicit with every scenario and tell, in what ostensibly is quite redundant terms, how they traveled. In this episode we explore why and what we might learn about living life from it.

Naso is the longest parasha in the Torah. What makes it so, however, seems to be entirely unnecessary. Its end lists again and again identical gifts brought by the 12 heads of the Tribes of Israel for the Inauguration of the Mishkan. While it could have been condensed for brevity, it is not. We explore why in this episode and consider its implications on our unique lives and the importance of consciously living them.

The children of Israel prepare to embark on a journey through the desert to the promised land. It begins, however, with a census. This census has the people speak their names. In this episode we explore the significance of this census and why a journey through the desert can be a productive endeavour in self discovery.

Here we study the importance of recognising what is and is not in our control and why it is so important in living our lives.

Emor focuses a great deal on the contrast between the sacred and the non-sacred. Amongst these are the special festivals that are sacred days in our Jewish calendar. We look at each of these and consider their particular meaning along with the their place as punctuated times on the Jewish year and how they impact our lives.