Ta Shma

For many of us, confronting death raises urgent questions of faith, doubt, and the meaning and purpose of our lives. Yet we live in a culture that avoids talking about death, let alone the existential challenges it raises. Physician and ethicist Lydia Dugdale, author of The Lost Art of Dying, joins Rabbi Shai Held to draw on ancient and contemporary wisdom about mortality and meaning. Recorded in Fall 2025. This conversation is part of the Faith WithHeld series, generously sponsored by the Schiller family.

The Book of Leviticus, and Parashat BeHukkotai that brings it to a close, makes a clear and recurring claim: reality is not an act of fate, but the outcome of human choice and behavior. 

According to a midrashic tradition, the counting of the Omer (that may have seemed to be nothing but a calendrical counting of the days from Pesah to Shavuot) expresses the anticipation of the Israelites for the giving of the Torah.  The biblical commandment, however, appears in an agricultural context.

In Parashat Emor, we encounter the story of the blasphemer. This blasphemer undermines, degrades, and treats with levity the very foundation of the religious system—the root of faith and the bedrock of the world.  Yet various midrashim, in their characteristic fashion, are not satisfied with a dry, factual account.  

When the unthinkable happens, what remains of faith? Journalist Sarah Wildman, who lost her young daughter, joins Rabbi Shai Held in a searching conversation about grief, love, and the struggle to go on. They will probe how mourning collides with meaning-making, and how faith might fracture, endure, or be remade in the wake of devastating loss. Recorded in Fall 2025. This conversation is part of the Faith WithHeld series, generously sponsored by the Schiller family.

Drawing close is no simple matter.  At times, it can be difficult—even dangerous.  And yet, to come near is also wondrous: it can nurture, enrich, and expand life.  The possibility of a misstep is always near—but so too are countless opportunities.  The line between one kind of closeness and another is often fine.  It depends on sensitivity, harmony, the insistence on not including elements foreign to the relationship, and attentiveness to the nature of the invitation.

Dedicated in loving memory of my nephew, Yishai Elyakim Urbach, who fell in Gaza one year ago, a few weeks after setting out to build his own home.Tehillim 127:1 "Unless God builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Human beings cannot truly build alone.  What we build by ourselves, the psalmist suggests, cannot ultimately endure.And yet one of the most beloved songs sung in Israel on Yom Ha’Atzma’ut insists: “I built a house in the Land of Israel.”  Human initiative—human courage, labor, and creativity—stands at the heart of the Zionist ethos.  Even in religious communities where the day is marked by the recitation of Hallel, a prayer of gratitude to God, the name of the day itself—Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, Independence Day—centers the human story.  

Chapter 12 of the Book of Vayikra deals with the sacrifice of the woman who has given birth.

When we think of the Holocaust, we can only be silent.We are incapacitated emotionally, morally, theologically.  At times it seems that the countless museums and memorials, the ceremonies and journeys, the songs and the prayers, are but a desperate attempt to break free from the paralysis that grips us in its shadow.The Torah, too, knows such a moment when children are consumed by fire, and their surviving family is left with nothing but silence.  

The opening scene of Parashat Shemini is both brief and dramatic.  It depicts the final day of the dedication of the mishkan (tabernacle)—the very day on which Nadav and Avihu die.  

The stories transmitted in the Talmud and midrash present contemporary readers with a rich and delightful entry point into the Rabbinic worldview and mindset, offering moral insights and memorable lessons. At the book launch for How to Read a Talmudic Story, Dr. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein and R. Aviva Richman explore how these narratives illuminate rabbinic values, struggles, and creativity. Together, they consider not only how to read these stories, but what they continue to teach us today.  Recorded in March 2026. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/TalmudicStoryBookTalk2026RichmanRubenstein.pdf

Midrash Vayikra Rabbah offers an extensive homily on the shelamim (peace or well-being offering) based on the linguistic affinity between the Hebrew words shelamim, sheleimut (wholeness), and shalom (peace).  By examining both the technical details of how the offering was brought and the linguistic potential inherent in its name, the midrash transforms a discussion of ancient ritual into an exploration of the very nature of peace.

The exodus is nothing less than the "orienting event" of Jewish life. But Exodus memory also has another, much more painful side: amidst suffering and devastation, Jews remember the exodus and wonder why, if God redeemed us then, God does not do so now. In this lecture, R. Shai explores the double-edge of memory: exploring how it can sustain us in hope and how, sometimes, it can deepen our despair.This lecture was delivered in memory of Jerome L. Stern z"l in March 2026.Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/SternPesahLecture2026HeldLivingWithoutExodus.pdf

The Book of Leviticus, Vayikra, begins: “God called (ויקרא) to Moshe and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying” (Leviticus 1:1).  Why does God begin with a call?  What is the essence and context of this kind of summoning?

What is the value and beauty of Tanakh? And how are biblical texts aware of, and in conversation with one another? In this class, Rabbi David Kasher investigates the Tanakh's conception of Kingship as it is first formulated in the Torah and then recalled and reconsidered by the prophets and kings. Recorded at the Tanakh Intensive 2026.Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/TI2026KasherReadingTanakh.pdf

The Torah portions of VaYakhel and Pekudei describe the practical implementation of the construction plans for the tabernacle (mishkan), originally detailed in Terumah and Tetzaveh.  

The absence of a leader creates a vacuum, and this vacuum invites a question: What kind of leadership are we seeking?  At the beginning of Parashat Ki Tissa, Moshe is absent.  When he ascended the mountain at the end of Parashat Mishpatim, he entered the cloud, and left behind an alternative leadership structure, appointing two individuals in his stead: Aharon and Hur.  Who are they, what happens to them—and what do we learn from them about the essence of leadership?

From a theological perspective, the most striking feature of the Book of Esther is God’s absence.  God’s name does not appear anywhere in the megillah, which—at least on the level of peshat (the simple, contextual meaning)—presents an entirely human story.

Being in a relationship is both an opportunity and a challenge.  Relationships with others have the potential to be life-expanding, but to achieve this they must be built with delicacy and intention of mind and heart.  The Torah portions of Terumah, Tetzaveh, and VaYakhel-Pekudei present various opportunities for encounter and connection—with others in general, and the connection between the Holy blessed One and humanity in particular.

Traditional Jewish exegesis and modern academic scholarship often speak in different languages—one theological and reverential, the other historical and critical. In this public conversation, Rabbi Shai Held and Rabbi David Kasher reflect on how these frameworks shape our reading of the Bible, how they challenge one another, and how thoughtful engagement with both can lead to a richer, more responsible understanding of sacred scriptures. Recorded at the Tanakh Intensive 2026. 

Parashat Terumah opens with a divine request. God asks the Children of Israel for a contribution to achieve a specific goal: “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). The entire parashah, along with its layers of midrash, serves as a blueprint for how God seeks to be together with us—and how we can be together with others, even in an encounter that might otherwise seem impossible.  

In addition to loving God and loving our neighbor, the Torah also commands us to love the stranger-sojourner (ger). This lecture delves into this surprising biblical mandate to love the stranger-sojourner and seeks to understand its relationship to more foundational ideas in Jewish theology, ethics, and spirituality. R. Shai considers questions like: Why does the God of the Torah love strangers-sojourners? How does a truly Torah-based society respond to its most vulnerable members? What is the relationship in our lives between our own memories of suffering and vulnerability and the ways we engage with others? Recorded in January 2026. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/HeldLovingTheStranger2026.pdf

Parashat Mishpatim shines a spotlight on human beings and their responsibility for the rest of others on Shabbat. 

Do you love midrash? Hate it? In this class, Rabbi Ethan Tucker delves into this unique rabbinic genre to try and understand its essence: Reading the Torah like a love letter, poring over every phrase, while also allowing our deepest values and concerns to come to the fore. Out of this alchemy, midrash is born and the traditional canon is never the same. Recorded at Hadar's Tanakh Intensive 2026. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/TI2026TuckerMidrashRabbinicImagination.pdf

The Torah describes a moving encounter between Yitro and Moshe, in which Moshe shares his journey and experiences.  A close reading of the details reveals that the Torah offers us a model for meaningful human connection—a way of meeting another person with openness, allowing space both to show and to be seen, to listen deeply and to receive with empathy.

Tu Bishvat is often called the “birthday of the trees.” There is also a reactionary trend to reject this framework of “birthday” and go back to its original, technical and halakhic purpose, which is found in the Mishnah.

The Torah describes: “Amalek came and fought with Israel at Refidim” (Exodus 17:8). Where does Amalek come from? What is the context out of which this war begins?  

On its face, it is a real anomaly in Jewish practice: we recite blessings before putting on tefillin or lighting Shabbat candles, but we don't recite any before we visit the sick or comfort a mourner.  In this session, we'll probe a range of sources that try to explain why that is, culminating in a careful examination of one of Maimonides' post-powerful and important essays about the role of character and virtue in Jewish life. Recorded at the Rabbinic Yeshiva Intensive 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RYI2025HeldWhyNoBlessingsInterpersonalMitzvot.pdf

Woven into the account of the Exodus are two distinct and seemingly contradictory images of the Children of Israel.  On one hand, they are a nation of oppressed slaves, redeemed from a bondage of both body and soul.  On the other, they appear as a vast, armed, and formidable group, driven out in haste by an Egypt terrified of their power.  The opening chapters of the Book of Exodus present these two narratives in parallel, without attempting to reconcile them.

Pharaoh succeeded.  He brought the Children of Israel into a state of slavery.  The opening of Parashat Va’Era focuses on one particular consequence of this: the loss of the ability to listen.

What does it mean to strive toward unity and togetherness in a moment in which we are so divided? What is gained—and what is lost—by holding fast to notions of klal yisrael? Is it possible and even desirable to bridge our differences, or are there times in which our values take priority over notions of togetherness? R. Avi explores these questions through biblical, midrashic, and hasidic sources in her lecture in memory of Dr. Eddie Scharfmanm, given in 2026.Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/StrausbergPromisePossibilityUnity2026.pdf

The deterioration of relations between Egypt and the Children of Israel proceeds rapidly.  What values, emotions, and perspectives make such a breakdown possible—and what could prevent it?  The contrasting figures of Pharaoh and his daughter offer two opposing models, each of whom go through three steps.  On the one hand, Pharaoh exemplifies the descent from relationship into fear, oppression, and alienation.  On the other, his daughter represents a path grounded in courage, relationship, empathy, and a belief in the possibility of mutual flourishing.

For generations our relationship with God has been mediated through texts written almost entirely by men. In these sessions, Rabbi Avi Killip explores a collection of midrashim, written by contemporary Israeli women writers, exploring images of God that are uniquely female oriented while being deeply rooted in the images and language of the Torah and classical midrash. "And God Waited" engages with midrashic answers to an imagined question “What might God be waiting on from us?”  Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/KillipAndGodWaited2025.pdf

We find ourselves at the closing moments of the Book of Genesis—moments of transition as a family becomes a nation. We stand on the threshold between Yosef’s personal trauma and the national trauma soon to come, the slavery in Egypt. What mindset does Parashat VaYehi seek to give us as a tool for facing the suffering of Egypt?

We know about the fasts that mark the destruction of the Temple from a prophecy of Zekhariah.  While the Jewish exiles were in Babylon, the prophet was asked whether traditional fasts would continue to be observed.  In his response, Zekhariah refers to four fast days. 

The word “vayigash” (“he approached”) opens one of the most dramatic scenes in the Torah: a climactic moment in the tense encounter between Yehudah, the brothers and Yosef, a moment in which the fate of the entire family rests on the words and actions of a single person.  “And Yehudah approached him and said…” (Genesis 44:18).

For generations our relationship with God has been mediated through texts written almost entirely by men. In these sessions, Rabbi Avi Killip explores a collection of midrashim, written by contemporary Israeli women writers, exploring images of God that are uniquely female oriented while being deeply rooted in the images and language of the Torah and classical midrash. “Birthing Worlds,” the second class in this series, introduces midrashim on the life experience of birthing and pregnancy loss as windows into the divine experience of creation and revelation. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/KillipBirthingWorlds2025.pdf

Parashat Mikeitz teaches that dreams hold immense power: the power to bring downfall or renewal, life or death, destruction or creation, war or peace. This means that the way we, as human beings, pursue a dream—whether out of spiritual emptiness or fullness, with an expectation that it will disconnect or connect—places before us both choice and responsibility.  

One of the differences between the Hanukkah candles and the other significant candles in our religious practice, the Shabbat candles, is their location. While Shabbat candles are lit inside the house, in the private domain (or, the technical term: reshut ha-yahid), the Hanukkah lamps are ideally lit in the doorway that connects to the public domain (reshut ha-rabim). But what is the significance of this difference? What is the meaning of the liminal space of the doorway? And what spiritual message does the invitation to illuminate it contain? 

One of the most dramatic turning points in Yosef’s life is his fall from a respected and powerful position in Potiphar’s house in Egypt to the status of a prisoner in jail. In the Rabbinic tradition, this moment is seen not merely as a downfall but as a moment of personal choice, a point at which Yosef chooses to invest in a future. He chooses active continuity rather than starting anew. Interestingly the character who represents this choice is one from his past: his father.

For generations our relationship with God has been mediated through texts written almost entirely by men. In these sessions, Rabbi Avi Killip explores a collection of midrashim, written by contemporary Israeli women writers, exploring images of God that are uniquely female oriented while being deeply rooted in the images and language of the Torah and classical midrash. “The Kiss of Death” is a breathtakingly beautiful midrash about the death of Miriam, that opens layers of unexpected metaphors for God. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/KillipKissOfDeath2025.pdf

“Ya’akov was very afraid and distressed.” He takes many different precautions in order to avoid a violent reunion with his brother, with potentially severe consequences. At the same time, in our parashah Ya’akov receives a new name: Yisrael—a name he receives twice! The name, at its core, describes a person caught in conflict, and it is given to Ya’akov the first time in the midst of a struggle.

Are our primary responsibilities always to our own community? Or do Jews in the diaspora also have a religious obligation to contribute to the general social welfare - perhaps even to get involved in local politics? When Jews have political, social, or financial capital - how should we spend it? Rabbinic tradition offers no easy answers to these questions, but instead presents us with complex and nuanced attempts to balance universal ideals with practical communal concerns. Together we will review various approaches within this tradition - mishnaic, medieval, mystical and modern - and attempt to determine what it means to be both a member of the tribe and a citizen of the world. Recorded at the July Learning Seminar 2025. 

Throughout Parashat VaYeitzei, almost from their very first encounter, Lavan and Ya’akov are locked in conflict. But there is a rare moment of encounter—though a fraught one—where the verses describe a desire to bridge: “Come, then, let us make a covenant, you and I” (Genesis 31:44). What emerges is a covenant of separation—a covenant in which much of the content is devoted to how the two will live apart, not together.

Participating in and belonging to a Jewish community is rightly considered to be central to living a full and meaningful Jewish life. However, sometimes being enmeshed in community can present a challenge to exploring and pursuing our own personal goals and interests, both religious and non-religious. In this class, we'll explore a passage of the Ma'or vaShemesh, from the great Hassidic master R' Kalonymos Kalman Epstein, wherein he explores and defines the limitations of being in community and when a person must leave their peers to pursue their own path. Recorded in July Learning Seminar, 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/JLS2025StrausbergIndependenceInterdependence.pdf

Our parashah offers an opportunity to encounter a typical human phenomenon—plurality —and contemplate its implications.  Specifically it brings us to ask: how do Ya’akov, Esav, and their offspring live with each other, as “two” from the womb?

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, also known as the Alei Shur, offers a powerful and inspiring — but often demanding — vision for what it takes to become a better human being. Before we can do any act of repentance, of teshuvah — we must first learn how to change and how to grow. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RobkinApprenticeMind2025.pdf

Rivkah receives a blessing from her family members before she sets out on her journey to marry Yitzhak: “O sister!  May you grow into thousands of myriads; may your descendants inherit the gates of their foes” (Genesis 24:60).  

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, also known as the Alei Shur, offers a powerful and inspiring — but often demanding — vision for what it takes to become a better human being. Before we can do any act of repentance, of teshuvah — we must first learn how to change and how to grow. Recorded in Summer 2025. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/RobkinApprenticeMind2025.pdf

In this week’s parashah, Avraham argues with God over the divine decision to destroy Sodom completely.  Avraham and God agree that Sodom is wicked and that terrible things happen there.  So what, then, is the basis for Avraham’s plea?  Why does he resist God’s plan to punish and overturn Sodom?  What are Avraham’s arguments as he tries to stop the city’s total destruction?