Laban is the maternal grandfather of the Jewish people. And yet, he is one of the more unsavoury characters in the Torah. Who was he? What did he care about? How did he influence the Jewish family and what might it mean for us today?

Esav and Yaakob are twins who, with all of their differences have striking similarities. The differences between them can be subtle. But they are significant because they define us as a nation. In this episode we discuss the relationship Yaakob and Esav have with time. And how that has direct implications on how we as Jews, see the world and live every day.

Link to Podcast mentioned in this episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6eVvopDpwg42TxiUMXKPVi?si=rM6ZcVZyQcC260Awdmwsrw

In this episode we look at the marriage of Rebecca and Isaac - particularly Rebecca's complete lack of hesitation to go to him once she determined it was the right thing to do for her life. We explore procrastination, why it's important to pay attention to and what we can do about it.

Abraham has entered into covenant with God, and for the first time, God has a partner in the world. He recognises that he must include Abraham as his partner in His decisions and actions in the world. The first of these instances is the decree on the destruction fo Sodom. In this episode we explore the nature of God's attention both to Abraham and to Sodom and discover in it important implications to our own lives.

The lives and attributes of the forefathers shapes the frame of our own as a people. We look to the Torah's presentation of their stories and draw from them guidance to our own way of being in the world. It informs our identity and our aims as a people and as individuals who make up the people. In this episode we look at Abraham as an iconoclast and how that way of being might inform our own need to stand apart and challenge norms.

Books recommended in this episode:

The Geography of Thought by Richard E Nesbitt - https://tinyurl.com/ycuahxjw

https://tinyurl.com/bdzx68wn

In this episode (my head is cut off in the video! but also) we explore the concept of a צדיק - righteous person. Noah is called a tsadik twice in the parasha. What constitutes a righteous person in the eyes of Torah? What might we learn about our own endeavours towards righteousness from it?

First episode of the new season, and we've got video!

We will continue to work on improving the video and audio quality of the podcast. Hope you enjoy the upgrade.

This week we look at how we are meant to relate to the parasha of Bereshit and through it, the Torah as a whole. Is it meant to describe to us the nature of the world scientifically? And if not, what is it meant to be? We explore that question and with it, the implications of the crisis of meaning in which we find ourselves today - but in all of it, is a bright silver lining....

Before Moses' death he charges the people to be righteous and that although they are destined to falter, they are to dedicate themselves to realigning with truth and righteousness. In this episode we explore the nature of doing what is right and look at it with a glance at Yom Kippur.

Ki Tabo begins with an interesting commandment. We are to bring our first fruits to the Kohen and declare that we have arrived in the Land promised to our forefathers. In this episode we explore the meaning of this commandment and what it means for us today.

Amongst the 74 commandments in this week's parasha is one which requires us to make sure that we do not have any hazards in our domain with which people could be severely hurt.

In this episode we discuss spiritual and mental hazards that in the spirit of this mitzvah are also our responsibilities.