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/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recordeed on March 16th 2023 on Clubhouse. The craftsmen and craftswomen building the Tabernacle are commanded to weave curtains showcasing images of two Cherubs and fashion golden statues to match. We wonder how these winged-creatures differ from the Golden Calf and the forbidden images that the Bible ridicules with such scorn?
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/474160
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/03/15/man-made/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on March 9th 2023. The Torah commands the Priests to wash their hands and feet before conducting the Temple service. The Rabbis command hand washing upon waking, before prayer, before eating and on multiple other opportunities. When I studied in the Yeshiva, I had a bowl and cup of water under my bed so that I could wash my hands before my feet touched the floor. If you’ve been to an Orthodox wedding or a rest room in Israel you’ve likely seen a washing cup with two handles. What’s with all the washing you say. I say, watch your mouth and….. Wash your hands!
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/472460
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/03/08/wash-your-hands/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on clubhouse on March 2nd 2023. We survey the prophetic and Rabbinic re-imagining of a Temple culture without a Temple but we also continue our discussion from last week where we noted how Jewish Messianism includes an often violent break with accepted practice, intentionally breaking moral and Rabbinic norms to hasten the end. We explore how after the Six Day War, but specifically after the Oslo Accords previous Rabbinic guidance relating to the sanctity of the Temple Mount has been cast aside.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/470857
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/03/02/temple-politics/
Join Goeffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on February 24th. Last year when we discussed the creation of the tabernacle, we explored a powerful theological concept called Tzimzum where God creates the world by contracting his presence. This year we continue the discussion from a historical, ideological and political perspective. We explore how after the expulsion from Spain this concept profoundly impacted every aspect of the Jewish Journey into modernity and up until the current political crisis in Israel.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/469103
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/02/23/when-god-gets-small-cont/
Last year's Podcast: WHEN GOD gets small: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madlik/WHEN_GOD_gets_small.mp3
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on February 16th 2023. We continue our discussion of Sinai with a focus on the negative aspects foreshadowed even at the climactic moment of revelation. We survey the Rabbinic tradition as preserved in our texts and surprisingly in the Koran. Finally we wonder whether Israel and God have entered into a relationship at Sinai that neither one can resist?
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/467460
Transcript on episode website: https://madlik.com/2023/02/15/shadows-of-sinai-cont/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on clubhouse on February 9th 2023. The Torah uses two words that describe the orientation of the Israelites towards Mt. Sinai: נֶ֥גֶד and תַחְתִּ֥ית. We survey the interpretation of these words in the Rabbinic tradition to shed some light on revelation and even to critique synagogue architecture.
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/465646
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/02/08/shadows-of-sinai/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on clubhouse on February 2, 2023. The Torah declares that the Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt “Hamushim” חֲמֻשִׁ֛ים , a word related to Hamesh, the number five. According to many commentaries this word implies that only some of the Israelites left Egypt … armed and ready to fight. This is the first time that distinctions are made between one set of Jews and another. So, as divisions begin to surface within the ranks of the Israelites, we raise our hand to identify and call out the birth of Jewish sectarianism.... A sepcial extended episode with live interaction with clubhouse friends of Madlik.
Sefaria source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/463446
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/02/01/high-five/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded live on Clubhouse on January 26, 2023. God hardens the heart of Pharaoh. We ignore the question of free will and God’s omnipotence and instead we ask: “What makes a man’s heart so hard that it can’t be softened?
Sefaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/462193
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/01/25/hard-hearts/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on January 19th 2023. The Rabbis learn from Moses the importance of Hakarta HaTov; recognizing good and showing gratitude even to inanimate objects. We explore this character trait as it relates to personal conduct and current Israeli politics.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/460393
Transcript on episode web page:
https://madlik.com/2023/01/18/thank-the-donkey-of-the-messiah/
Join Geoffrey Stern recorded on clubhouse on January 12th 2023. The Exodus from Egypt is not simply an episode in the script of the Jewish People; it is The refrain. The fact that it represents the essence of the Jewish people is captured in every commandment that is זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. Modern liberation movements have taken their inspiration from the exodus as a paradigm so what does the Exodus Liberation paradigm look like for Jews and for Israel?
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/458913
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2023/01/11/liberation-theology-for-jews/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on January 5th 2023. Jacob, upon his reunion with Joseph exclaims: לֹ֣א פִלָּ֑לְתִּי “I had never imagined” that I would see my son again. The word he uses for imagining is the same word we use for praying, so we imagine prayer as a form of imagining.
Link to YouTube Vidio of Esther Peterseil z'l at Auschwitz-Birkenau: https://youtu.be/C98M8IaHGNQ
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/456805
Transcript on Podcast webpage: https://madlik.com/2023/01/04/imaginary-prayer/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse December 29th 2022. Even if you are not a proponent of numerology you cannot ignore the repeated claim of the Torah that seventy souls went down to Egypt. The implied significance of the number 7 and its variants 70 and 49 provide a unique lens to view the Biblical narrative. Join us as we explore Gematria, rules of Biblical interpretation and the number Seventy in the Bible.
Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/455577
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/12/28/seventy-faces/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on December 22nd 2022 on Clubhouse. The human act of bowing plays a major role in the dreams of the young Joseph. The people of Egypt actually call Joseph: “Abrek” a name shared by Hosni Mubarak and Barak Obama which means both blessed and bow-worthy. Join us as we explore the relationship between blessing and bowing; prayer, praise and body movement in the Bible and latter Rabbinic texts…. and on this festival of rededication, wonder how we can bring more physical movement back into our prayers.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/454638
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/12/21/body-language/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on December 15th 2022 on Clubhouse. Joseph is the first and only biblical personality characterized as a success. With a nod to Max Weber who wrote the iconic socioreligious study; The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, we take this opportunity to explore the Biblical and latter Rabbinic definition of financial and other success.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/453456
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/12/15/joseph-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on clubhouse on December 8th 2022. An innocuous reference to a Princess named Timna teaches us a profound lesson regarding accepting potential converts and how critical such a choice can be to the future of Judaism. We are oh so fortunate to be able to explore the lenient opinion of conversion in Rabbinic texts with one of its leading practitioners…. our very own Rabbi Adam Mintz. So join us for The Conversion Factor.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/451745
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/12/07/the-conversion-factor/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on December 1st 2022. In a parsha that starts with Jacob having an iconic dream of a ladder joining heaven to the holiest place on earth, we find foreshadowing of the origins and significance of the third holiest site in Judaism; Rachel’s Tomb
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/449816
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/11/30/mother-rachel-comes-to-me/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on Thanksgiving 2022. Isaac and Jacob choose brides from Aram. Aramaic is the chosen legal and liturgical language of the Rabbis and the lingua franca of the Ancient world. Why is Laban vilified and should we slander or offer our gratitude to the Arameans?
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/448278
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/11/23/lost-found-in-translation/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi recorded on Clubhouse on November 17th 2022. With Akedat Yitzchak (the Sacrifice of Isaac) still on our minds we look at Brit Milah from a fresh perspective and review the meaning, function and maybe even contemporary sensibilities regarding circumcision.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/446688
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/11/16/circumspect-about-circumcision/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded November 10th 2022 on Clubhouse. We look at the Binding of Isaac and wonder whether Abraham passed or failed this test. What possible lessons are to be learnt from this narrative other than blind faith and obedience. Finally, we are puzzled why Abraham confronts God over Sodom and confronts Sarah over sending away Ishmael but remains silent when it comes to sacrificing his son.
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/444778
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/11/09/unbinding-isaac/
Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on November 3rd 2022. We discover that when the younger son Isaac is chosen, the older son Ishmael’s banishment in some way endears him to his father and latter Rabbinic and Muslim commentators. By being rejected Ishmael may actually provide an alter ego of the Jewish people. We will discuss…
Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/442342
Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/11/02/call-me-ishmael/