Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. As we complete the book of Genesis, we look at a few verses that have been interpreted by both Jewish and Christian exegetes and explore how these commentaries may have been a conversation rather than a polemic. In the process, and without ignoring the divisive nature of religion, we wonder at the power of scripture and the potential for religion to bring us together.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/533990
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/12/27/until-shiloh-comes/
Join Geoffey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Joseph is confronted with his long-lost family who thought he had died. It is the so called: “holiday season” which can be a difficult time. While many of us celebrate, some of us wonder, with the passing of another season, of another year, what difference has our life made. In wartime, with our finest youth being cut down before the prime of their life we anguish, what difference could they have made. So join us as we ponder: A Wonderful Life
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/532981
Transcript on episode website: https://madlik.com/2023/12/20/a-wonderful-life/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Jacob, now called Israel, approaches is estranged brother with trepidation. He splits his clan in half in order to minimize any losses and he sends gifts and otherwise tries to appease Esau. We explore appeasement and compromise in the Torah and Rabbinic Literature.
Sefaria Source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/528058
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/11/29/appeasement-in-its-time/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. In a week where indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar and with pressure from the public and the US have appeared to have reached a tentative and partial hostage deal, we explore, what according to Rabbinic tradition was the first instance of an anti-Israel campaign and its resolution. Is this a model of how we deal with our neighbors with whom we disagree? What are the lessons to be learnt?
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/526979
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/11/22/conflict-resolution/
Rav Stav is the co-founder of the Tzohar, a rabbinical organization which aims to provide religious services to and create dialogue with the broader Israeli population. He also serves as the rabbi of the city of Shoham. Previously he served as the rabbi of the religious film school, Maale, and was one of the founding heads of Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva. He is the author of Bein Ha-Zemanim, a book about culture and recreation in Jewish thought and law. One of Israel’s most visible rabbinic figures, he regularly appears on Israeli television and radio, and lectures to a wide range of audiences. We discuss his organization and the challenges and opportunities presented by the war and its aftermath.
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. In the only parsha named after a woman we continue our exploration of issues raised by Israel at war. In the Jewish State, Jewish law (Halacha) has exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce for Jews. One area where Orthodox women have radically broken with Rabbinic authority is with regard to divorce. Traditionally women have been at the mercy of the patriarchy, whether their husbands or the rabbinic courts. These women, the NGOs and Rabbis who support them have used Biblical and Rabbinic texts to claim rights long denied. The primary source relates to King David and a single verse in the Book of Samuel protecting military wives. Join us as we explore these initiatives and texts.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/523840
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/11/08/women-wage-war/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Over 250,000 innocent civilians have been displaced since the advent of the Oct 7th war from both the South and the North of Israel. Volunteers, non-government organizations and tech workers who were organizing protests a month ago have taken the lead in welcoming these fugitives and providing all sorts of support, both physical, spiritual, social and psychological. Join us as we study a parsha that celebrates the hosting of guests.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/522063
Transript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/11/01/making-place-for-the-displaced/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. What about Abraham was so radical? What about Abraham has created such extremes of love and hate… such rivalry, such animosity, such promise and such despair?
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/520323
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/10/25/abraham-and-the-birth-of-anit-semitism/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Noah has been denigrated for saving only himself and his family and not for saving all of humanity. In a world where victims and survivors of terrorism are vilified and protecting ones life and the security of ones family a sin, we look at Noah differently and learn something about ourselves and our enemies.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/518474
Transcript on Episode Web page: https://madlik.com/2023/10/18/a-tzaddik-in-peltz/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. As Hamas finally achieves its goal of massacring thousands of Israelis, we reconsider the Talmudic saying that man was created single to teach that for anybody who destroys a single life it is counted as if he destroyed an entire world. So join us as we mourn and Study Torah....
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/516652
Transcript: https://madlik.com/2023/10/11/a-single-life/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. As we finish the annual Torah cycle we use the legendary partnership between Zebulun and Issachar to explore Rabbinic Judaism’s various and many times conflicting position on financial support for Torah Study.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/515056
Transcript on Episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/10/04/learning-torah-for-a-living/
Join Geoffrey Stern recorded on Clubhouse as he preaches the Yom Kippur Sermon on the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War and while 100s of thousand Iisraeli citizens are protesting on a weekly basis for the soul of Israel and the future of the Jewish People.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/513577
Transcripton on episode website: https://madlik.com/2023/09/26/the-yom-kippur-sermon-i-wanted-to-hear/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. We have previously remarked that the ultra-orthodox are re-creating a world and traditions that never existed. Moses admonishes the Children of Israel to “Ask your parent, who will inform you” and we explore the function and exploitation of custom in the Rabbinic Tradition up unto today.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/512114
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/09/20/inventing-tradition/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. One of the arguments that you hear for not supporting the current demonstrations in Israel is that they are supported or funded by foreign players or …. that criticizing the Government of Israel will provide fodder to our enemies. And so …. we examine a deep-seeded reflex of the Ancient Israelites and their heirs to focus on foreign opinion and blame foreign intervention to vindicate their shortcomings.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/509231
Transcript on episode website: https://madlik.com/2023/09/06/what-will-the-goyim-say/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. We re-visit Bikkurim; the offering of the First Fruits to the priest. We explore the development of this parsha from its ancient beginnings where it excluded everyone besides a male landowner through Rabbinic literature up until the present where it is used to accommodate converts and gender differences.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/507524
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/08/30/read-it-till-the-end/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. The Biblical prohibition against leaving a human being unburied overnight; no matter how unworthy the deceased may be, has both practical and profound lessons …. which we shall explore.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/506265
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/08/23/god-hanging-here-from-these-gallows/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. As the State of Israel is polarized by the role and authority of the Supreme Court we read the Biblical injunction to provide Judges and pursue Justice. We will study the primary sources and we wonder ….. why both sides are claiming the mantle of Democracy but no one in the Jewish State is discussing Judaism! So join us for Courting Justice.
Sefaria source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/505087
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Deuteronomy, and only Deuteronomy stipulates … over 20 times, centralized worship in what ultimately became Jerusalem. The Samaritans accepted this centralized approach but substitute Mt. Gerizim for Jerusalem. The Essenes rejected Jerusalem and its corrupt priests and power-brokers and moved to the desert to achieve spiritual purity. Finally the Rabbis ….. chose Yavneh and it’s scholars… and we discuss....
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/503844
Transcript on episode webpage: https://madlik.com/2023/08/09/next-year-in-yavneh/
Join Geoffrey Stern and rabbi Adam Mintz, recorded on Clubhouse. Moses links the rights the Israelites have to occupy their homeland with the radically contingent nature of those rights. We marvel at how when asked what is the most important concept in the Torah, Israelis almost always answer ‘am segulah’ … a Chosen People, or the like and the Americans almost always answer ‘tikkun olam’ or the like. So, join us as we attempt to unravel this riddle.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/502940
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/08/02/jewish-homeland-or-homeland-for-the-jews/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Tisha B'av 2023 / 5783. In this past week, Israel has been subjected to nationwide protests, potentially catastrophic strikes, deep division and a total lack of political leadership culminating in a rash move by the Knesset. We’ve seen this movie before… so we mourn, we learn and maybe we discover a glimmer of hope.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/501664
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/07/26/tisha-bav-came-early-this-year/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. Moses tries to (re)formulate the message of the Torah for a new generation which did not know the Exodus. The founders of the State of Israel chose not to write a constitution and we wonder if and how the ideals of those who established the State of Israel can guide a new generation.
Sefaria Source Sheeet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/500692
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/07/19/eleven-days-from-horeb/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. In all honesty, we really can’t promise to light a spark or shed some light on this week’s parsha but we will, bli neder, review the laws of making and annulling vows and in so doing explore the ambiguous relationship that Judaism has with keeping one’s word.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.Sefaria.org/sheets/499543
Transcript on episode website: https://madlik.com/2023/07/12/no-promises/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse as we review the literature on the obscure word "Atzeret" which can variously mean an assembly, a captive audience, a day-off from work or an after-party. With particular focus on "after-party" we use Atzeret as an opportunity to explore the concept of The Feast in the Ancient Near East and in the Torah.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/497992
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/07/05/party-on/
Join Rabbi Adam Mintz and Rabbi Avraham Bronstein recorded on Clubhouse. This week while Geoffrey is Island hopping in Greece Madlik hosts a lively discussion between his two favorite co-hosts as they discuss the dramatic episode of Moses seeming disregard for God's command to talk to the rock and his fatal decision to strike it.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/497433
Transcript on episode page: https://wordpress.com/post/madlik.com/4231
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. We sense that Korach’s rebellion has something to do with correct governance and even democracy, it’s just not clear what the message is and whose side we’re on. Join us as we survey Classical Jewish and philisophic literature on Korach and the enigma of Democracy.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/496058
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/06/21/the-people-v-korach/