Mechon Hadar Online Learning

אחד הפסוקים שוברי הלב ביותר בעניין הקשר שבין אלוהים לאדם נמצא בפרשתנו, בהצהרתו של האלוהים: "אַסְתִּירָה פָנַי מֵהֶם" (דברים לב, כ). בספרות התלמודית מוצג ר' מאיר כמי שמתמודד עם המציאות שהפסוק משקף, ומנסה להציע גישה לחיים בצל הסתר פנים.

Avital Hochstein. One of the most heartbreaking verses regarding the relationship between God and people is found in our parashah, in God’s declaration: “I will hide My countenance from them” (Deuteronomy 32:20). In talmudic literature, Rabbi Meir is described as one who deals with the reality this verse reflects and, at the same time, strives to make sense of the world around him and offer a way of living under the shadows of Divine concealment.

Elie Kaunfer. Does teshuvah represent a radical departure from my past identity or a subtle re-shaping of it? What is our relationship with our past once we've changed? If we were successful at doing teshuvah, would we still recognize ourselves? We will explore these questions and more through close examination of classical and modern sources. Recorded in September 2014.

Shai Held. Understanding and Questioning Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's Vision of Teshuvah. Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash, September 2016.

Elie Kaunfer. How does the person who composed a prayer affect our understanding and relationship to it? In the case of the prayer Avinu Malkeinu, how does the relationship between Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues affect our understanding of what the prayer is about? Elie Kaunfer investigates the sources behind the prayer. Recorded live at the Singing Communities Intensive 2014.

Dena Weiss. In this new year, I am excited to be undertaking a new project of sharing thoughts and Divrei Torah on each week's Torah portion. Sign up to receive them by email or stay tuned for our weekly podcast. Looking forward to learning with you. Shanah Tovah, Dena. At the core of Rosh HaShanah and its liturgy is the notion that God is being coronated. This is the day that we declare God as our king. But why it is that the King needs to be coronated anew each year? Kings do not have term limits. God never steps down from the throne. Nevertheless, we coronate God annually. We do this because, even though God does not change, we do. We change and so does the world we participate in. Existence is not the same as it was last year, and therefore even though God is the same God, He needs to be declared king over this new world and recognized fully as the author of this new stage of creation.

Aviva Richman. There is something about the “Mi She-Anah” prayer of Selihot that has bothered me in recent years. I used to think of this part of Selihot as a relatively straightforward list poem. The structure seemed elementary and kind of boring—May the One who answered X person in Y place also answer us. In my mind, I conflated all of the specific examples as circumstances where a person prayed to be saved and God answered the prayer through an act of intervention and salvation. It felt both literarily redundant and theologically simplistic.

Shai Held. Ask a Jew about the meaning of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), and you are likely to hear that it is a day of repentance and forgiveness, a day when sins are atoned for and new beginnings become possible. That is an accurate portrayal of the Yom Kippur we experience each year, but it is actually very different from the Yom Kippur described in the Torah. Reprinted from Parashat Aharei-Mot 5774 in Rabbi Held's new book, The Heart of Torah (JPS, 2017)

Tali Adler, Shai Held. Join us as we celebrate Rabbi Shai Held's widely acclaimed new book, The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion with a festive book launch featuring shiurim by prominent Jewish leaders and thinkers. Listen to Rabbi Held's keynote lecture here, with an introduction by Tali Adler.

עם ההתקרבות לסיום ספר דברים, אנו קרבים גם למותו של משה. המתח גובר; המנהיג היחיד של עם ישראל עד כה עומד למות. הפחד, כך מרגישים גם אנו קוראי המקרא, גדול. אולם ישנו ממד נוסף למתח, אשר אנו הקוראים לא רק צופים בו אלא גם שותפים אליו. בתרבות שמעריכה מסורת, שהקשר אל העבר הוא במובנים רבים מה שמכונן אותה, הרי שרגעים של מוות ומעבר בין דורות הם מאיימים במיוחד. רגעים אלה מכילים פוטנציאל למשבר ולשבר, וההתמודדות עמם מורכבת שבעתיים.

Avital Hochstein. As we approach the end of Devarim, we also approach Moshe’s death. The tension rises: The only leader the Jewish people have known thus far is about to die. Even we—the readers of the biblical text from a distance of hundreds of years—sense the great fear that must have been felt by the Israelites. But there is another aspect to the tension, which we, the readers, are not only observers of, but also party to. In a culture that values tradition, which is largely founded on a connection to the past, moments of death and transition from one generation to another feel particularly threatening. These are moment that hold the potential for crisis and fragmentation. Dealing with them is particularly complex.

Dena Weiss. If God made us who we are, then shouldn't God shoulder some of the blame for our sins? In this class we'll engage this question through a Hasidic approach to teshuvah and forgiveness. We will explore the theological advantages and disadvantages of shifting blame from ourselves to God, or conversely, shifting blame from God to ourselves. Recorded in 2014.

Elie Kaunfer. Much of the power of the High Holidays lies in our coming face to face with the reality of human frailty. People are judged, God is the judge. People are the sheep, God is the shepherd. And perhaps most forcefully: People are dust and will return to dust, while God is the living and eternal king. But the picture of Unetaneh Tokef, from which those images derive, is actually much more complex. By looking at the source texts for this poem, we will open up new layers of meaning. Recorded in September 2015.

Listen back as Mechon Hadar faculty members Elie Kaunfer, Avi Killip, Aviva Richman, Jason Rubenstein, and Dena Weiss discuss their favorite texts about Teshuva. Recorded on September 13, 2016.

פרשתנו, כפי שניכר כבר מתוך שמה, מותירה אותנו מול אתגר אקטואלי במיוחד: מהי משמעות הצירוף "כי תבוא אל הארץ", ומהן השלכותיו בעידן הנוכחי, שבו חיים במדינת ישראל שבארץ ישראל הם מציאות עכשווית ויומיומית עבור חלק ניכר מבני העם היהודי? מה הייתה משמעות הצירוף והשלכותיו לאורך דורות רבים שבהם העם היהודי לא חי בארצו, או שחי בה ללא קיום ריבוני?