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/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on June 15th 202 on Clubhouse. The Biblical Spies looked like grasshoppers to themselves and so they imagined in the eyes of others. We review Rabbinic and later Zionist texts as we explore the pitfalls of a Slave and Ghetto mentality up until today.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/494982
Transcript of episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/06/14/the-grasshopper-mentality-and-the-new-jew/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on June 8th 2023 on Clubhouse. Pesah Sheni, the makeover Passover has been adopted by the Orthodox LGBTQ community as a Biblical holiday to accept different pathways, identities and evolutions amongst the Jewish People. We review the sources and celebrate!
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/493778
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/06/07/kosher-queer/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on June 1st 2023. We compare and contrast the Biblical Sotah (Suspected Woman) and the ritual of the bitter waters to the trial by ordeal found in ancient societies up until the Salem Witch Trials. We ask, what we can learn from this primitive form of justice.
Sefaria Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/492460
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/06/01/truth-or-dare/
Join Geoffrey Stern for live Shavuot night learning on Clubhouse. We’ll prove, with the help of Yehudah Halevi, and beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Torah was given at Sinai. In the process, we hope to share an insight into the meaning and challenge of Sinai.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/489667
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/05/24/the-echo-of-sinai/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on May 18th 2023 on Clubhouse. The Torah counts every able-bodied male to serve in the army and to pay their share of taxes and we look at the Haredi demand that they be exempt from military service and subsidized by the State and wonder…. why?
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/487982
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/05/18/god-wants-you-to-serve/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on May 11th 2023 on Clubhouse. We marvel at how Rabbinic Judaism modified if not totally abrogated explicite Biblical injunctions against selling land in perpetuioty and taking interest on loans. Using the Pruzbol and Heter Iska as case studies we explore the audacity of Rabbinic Judaism.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/486023
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/05/10/prozbul-and-iska-llc/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on May 4th 2023 on Clubhouse. This week’s Torah portion is Emor. In it we come across the source for the tradition for Jewish men to grow beards and Peyot (side curls) and the prohibition to cut the corners of the beard. We are struck by a recurring theme of the holiness of the corner whether in beard grooming, agricultural laws or in the four-cornered garment and we wonder whether there is something more at play.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/484211
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/05/04/rounding-the-corner-2/
Join Geoffrey Stern ansd Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on April 27th 2023. This week’s Torah portion is Achrei Mot-Kedoshim. It contains what is known as the Holiness code which describes and prescribes pretty much every sexual deviation. It is the perfect opportunity to celebrate and review a radical responsa that was published earlier this year. It was written by Rabbi Jeffrey Fox, and called Gay Women (Nashim Mesolelot) A Teshuva and published by Maharat Yeshiva. So join us for Women who love women who love Torah.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/482838
Direct Link to the Responsa: https://www.yeshivatmaharat.org/gay-women-teshuva
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/04/26/women-who-love-women-and-the-torah-a-responsa/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on Thursday April 20th. – We peel away the stigma of leprosy from the biblical Tzorat and instead look at it through the lens of the death-averse Tumah/Taharah paradigm …. with some insights into life.
Sefaria Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/480513
Transcript: https://madlik.com/2023/04/19/cosmetic-theology/
Passover has finally come to an end and we are putting away our Passover plates and unboxing our Hametz. What a great opportunity to revisit one of our favorite episodes recorded in 2021 where we challenge our Rabbis and ourselves to re-imagine our Synagogue Services after Covid. Join us for a replay of Prayer and Services and the Sickness unto Death.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/313001
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on March 29th 2023. We continue our exploration of Haggadot that break with the past. Today we will focus on Kibbutz Haggadot which were written, for the most part, by secular Jews who had a deep understanding of Jewish texts and traditions. In these Haggadot these self-proclaimed "New Jews" reimagine the message of the Seder and inspire us to do the same.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/477153
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/03/28/protest-haggadah-cont/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Avraham Bornstein recorded on Clubhouse on March 24th 2023. This week’s Torah portion is Vayikra. Vayikra is a call to action. In every generation we are admonished to imagine ourselves overthrowing the Pharaoh of our day and liberating the People of Israel. Today we’ll survey haggadot that take this challenge to heart and re-imagine the Haggadah in their time and for their time. As Israelis take to the streets, we challenge ourselves to join this tradition and write a new Hagaddah.
Sefira Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/475511
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/03/23/protest-haggadah/