Best Hadar Institute Podcasts (2025)

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Hukkat: Miriam of Words 5:28

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12h ago5:28

5:28

It is Miriam who was always the speaker of the three siblings. Miriam, who, according to the Talmud, was also called Puah because of the sounds she made to soothe women in childbirth as their babies emerged into the world. Miriam, who used her words to stand up to her father when he separated from his wife, insisting that a chance at life, however …

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R. Avi Strausberg on Pride Month 2025: Flags of Love 4:42

3d ago4:42

4:42

The Song of Songs (2:4) imagines a boundless love between two lovers in which one lover says of the other, “his flag of love was upon me.” That’s how I felt at Pride this month—surrounded by flags of love.By Hadar Institute

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Korah: Pretended Perfection 7:32

8d ago7:32

7:32

The most insidious part of Korach’s claim is that it is a lie we desperately want to believe.By Hadar Institute

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R. Dani Passow: Reading the Rabbis Part 2 43:16

10d ago43:16

43:16

The Talmud is notoriously complex, and its stories are no exception. In this class, we will learn strategies for how to understand these texts such as structural analysis, to explore the narrative flow and construction; interiority, to uncover the unstated emotions and motivations of the sages; and contextual analysis, to place each story within th…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Shelah: When the Story Changes 8:32

15d ago8:32

8:32

To be a Jew is to believe in impossible dreams. To be a Jew is to believe that slaves can become free. It is to believe that the senselessness of this world can be disrupted by divine words that break through the barrier between heaven and earth. It is trust, even on our darkest days, that we are part of God’s dream.…

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R. Dani Passow: Reading the Rabbis Part 1 40:48

17d ago40:48

40:48

The Talmud is notoriously complex, and its stories are no exception. In this class, we will learn strategies for how to understand these texts such as structural analysis, to explore the narrative flow and construction; interiority, to uncover the unstated emotions and motivations of the sages; and contextual analysis, to place each story within th…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat BeHa'alotkha: Unspoken Words 7:38

22d ago7:38

7:38

The tragedy of Moshe’s final conversation with his father-in-law are the words that he leaves unsaid.By Hadar Institute

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R. Shai Held: Psalm for Shabbat 41:08

24d ago41:08

41:08

The psalms attached liturgically to each day of the week are often mumbled over quickly, without much attention to their meaning. In this series, we'll engage in careful literary-theological readings of these psalms, looking at how various midrashim interpret the psalms, and bring new meaning to this part of our daily prayers. Key themes explored w…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Naso: Choosing to Live 6:44

29d ago6:44

6:44

There are moments in life where things have gone so wrong that we cannot see a way forward. That may be what has happened to the woman who chooses to drink the sotah waters.By Hadar Institute

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R. Tali Adler on Bemidbar: A Jew Without Sinai 10:06

1M ago10:06

10:06

To be a Jew is, when we are lucky, to feel the memory of Sinai in our bones. We strive to feel as if we have experienced both the slavery and liberation of Egypt first hand, as if we ourselves saw God’s miracles.By Hadar Institute

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Shavuot: What Did We Hear at Sinai? 7:24

1M ago7:24

7:24

What did we hear at Sinai? What does God want us to hear?By Hadar Institute

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat BeHar-BeHukkotai: Breaking the Cycle 8:38

1M ago8:38

8:38

When it comes to the enslavement of Jews, God gives us two imperatives. First, strive to be like God. Failing that, resist the temptation to become like the Egyptians.By Hadar Institute

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R. Shai Held: Psalm for Friday 28:12

1M ago28:12

28:12

The psalms attached liturgically to each day of the week are often mumbled over quickly, without much attention to their meaning. In this series, we'll engage in careful literary-theological readings of these psalms, looking at how various midrashim interpret the psalms, and bring new meaning to this part of our daily prayers. Key themes explored w…

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Lag Ba'Omer: The Paradox of Respect and Humility 6:58

2M ago6:58

6:58

What makes Lag Ba’Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, special? Why has this day become an oasis of relief, and even celebration, amidst the generally mournful period between Pesah and Shavuot? The Talmud tells us simply that one year, R. Akiva’s 24,000 students all died between Pesah and Shavuot; a post-talmudic tradition asserts that the plague that f…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Emor: A Tale of Two Structures 7:40

2M ago7:40

7:40

Parashat Emor features two types of ritual buildings: the first, the mishkan (tabernacle), later transformed into the beit ha-mikdash (Temple); and the second, a sukkah. We encounter the mikdash this week, mostly in the form of limits on who may serve in it and how they must conduct themselves. Those who may serve there are not allowed to engage wi…

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Pesah Sheini: The Afterglow of Nisan 8:00

2M ago8:00

8:00

When you stop to think about it, Pesah Sheini is a very strange holiday, with a motivation that would be incomprehensible for almost any other festival. As we read in Bemidbar 9, some people were ritually impure on the 14th of Nisan—the eve of Pesah—and therefore unable to perform the foundational mitzvah of slaughtering and eating a paschal offeri…

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R. Tali Adler on Aharei Mot-Kedoshim: Two Wounds 7:49

2M ago7:49

7:49

Yom Kippur, depending on who tells its story, is animated by one of two central wounds.By Hadar Institute

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R. Avi Strausberg: A God of Truth? 33:02

2M ago33:02

33:02

The Talmud teaches us that God is a God of truth who it would seem values honesty. Yet, what does that mean for all of our questions and doubts? Is there a limit to how honest we can be and are there situations in which another value trumps honesty for the sake of something greater? This class, which is part 1 of a 3 part series, will turn to Talmu…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Tazria-Metzora: The Discovery of Birth 7:04

2M ago7:04

7:04

Each of us was brought into this world by someone who allowed their body to become home to a stranger. This is what mothers do before we meet our children: watch, sometimes in wonder, and sometimes in grief, as the bodies which were once ours alone grow, bend, ache, and change in ways that make us unrecognizable to ourselves. Feel our ribs widen, o…

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on HaZikaron/Yom Ha'Atzma’ut: The Religious Sensibility of Hatikvah 6:20

2M ago6:20

6:20

Although it eventually won out, it was not always obvious that “Hatikvah” would be the Israeli national anthem. There were other competitors, and various critiques of the poem written by Naphtali Hertz Imber. Among those critiques was a voice from at least some religious Zionists who thought the work too secular to reflect the religious import of t…

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R. Tali Adler on Shemini: The Question in the Middle 8:20

2M ago8:20

8:20

Vayikra is a book that is concerned with the holy and the profane; the pure and the impure. Nearly every mitzvah in Vayikra contains these categories. The Jewish people are told that they are to be kadosh because God is kadosh. In Vayikra, it is the holy that is the primary pathway to God. The mishkan (tabernacle), the center of holiness on earth, …

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Yom HaShoah: Love in Light of Destruction 8:54

2M ago8:54

8:54

It shouldn’t be possible to say such a thing, but I have spent most of my life taking the Holocaust for granted. My father of blessed memory was a child survivor; my mother, she should live a long life, is herself the child of survivors. I have no memory of learning about the Holocaust, no recollection of a parent telling me what it was, of what ha…

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Tzav: Ashes to Ashes 7:16

3M ago7:16

7:16

The burnt ashes of the korbanot (sacrifices), piled on the altar, represent the intermingled prayers and dreams, experiences and regrets, of the Jewish people.By Hadar Institute

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Pesah: The Yom Kippur Before Pesah 6:26

3M ago6:26

6:26

We are doing a lot of prep work this week. We are cleaning our homes, kashering pots and cutlery, making sure we’ve got everything on our Seder shopping lists.By Hadar Institute

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R. Tali Adler on Vayikra: Blood and Breath 7:52

3M ago7:52

7:52

The unspoken drive towards human sacrifice lurks in the background of Sefer Vayikra.By Hadar Institute

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1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat Hukkat: Miriam of Words 5:28

1
R. Avi Strausberg on Pride Month 2025: Flags of Love 4:42

1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat Korah: Pretended Perfection 7:32

1
R. Dani Passow: Reading the Rabbis Part 2 43:16

1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat Shelah: When the Story Changes 8:32

1
R. Dani Passow: Reading the Rabbis Part 1 40:48

1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat BeHa'alotkha: Unspoken Words 7:38

1
R. Shai Held: Psalm for Shabbat 41:08

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Naso: Choosing to Live 6:44

1
R. Tali Adler on Bemidbar: A Jew Without Sinai 10:06

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Shavuot: What Did We Hear at Sinai? 7:24

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat BeHar-BeHukkotai: Breaking the Cycle 8:38

1
R. Shai Held: Psalm for Friday 28:12

1
R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Lag Ba'Omer: The Paradox of Respect and Humility 6:58

1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat Emor: A Tale of Two Structures 7:40

1
R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Pesah Sheini: The Afterglow of Nisan 8:00

1
R. Tali Adler on Aharei Mot-Kedoshim: Two Wounds 7:49

1
R. Avi Strausberg: A God of Truth? 33:02

1
R. Tali Adler on Parashat Tazria-Metzora: The Discovery of Birth 7:04

1
R. Micha'el Rosenberg on HaZikaron/Yom Ha'Atzma’ut: The Religious Sensibility of Hatikvah 6:20

1
R. Tali Adler on Shemini: The Question in the Middle 8:20

1
R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Yom HaShoah: Love in Light of Destruction 8:54

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R. Tali Adler on Parashat Tzav: Ashes to Ashes 7:16

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R. Micha'el Rosenberg on Pesah: The Yom Kippur Before Pesah 6:26

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R. Tali Adler on Vayikra: Blood and Breath 7:52