Mechon Hadar Online Learning

Avital Hochstein. An Additional Step in Leaving Egypt- Bezalel is a key character in our parashiyyot. In Tractate Berakhot (55a), there is a short sugya that deals with Bezalel ben Uri, one of the chief artisans building the mishkan (tabernacle). This sugya raises varied perceptions regarding the qualities necessary for leadership and the qualifications of a leader. In the following lines, I will suggest that this discussion of the leadership model that Bezalel presents, a discussion found at the end of the book of Exodus, is an added step in the distancing from Egypt, a step from a reality in which Moshe the man of God is the leader, towards the possibility of human leadership of a different kind.

Shai Held. Recorded live at our Yom Iyyun: Hadar’s Vision for the Future, at our First National Shabbaton, March 3-5, 2017 in honor of our 10th year.

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join Andrew Belinfante (filling in for R. Avi Killip) interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

ספר שמות מגיע אט אט לסיומו. פרשתנו, פרשת כי תשא, מציעה פריזמה אפשרית אחת לעיון בו: המעבר מן הסנה לסיני. מעבר זה טומן בחובו ממדים רבים. בשורות הבאות אתמקד במעבר ביחס לראייה, (במעבר של משה מהסטת עיניו בסנה לבקשה לראות עוד בסיני). וכן במעבר בהוויה, (מחוסר האמון בנוכחות האל, ושאלה אודות עצם הווייתו, אל הוויה ונוכחות כעדות לאהבה המתגלות בסיני).

Avital Hochstein. The Book of Shemot is drawing to a close. Our parashah, Parashat Ki Tissa, offers one lens through which to see the book: the transition from the revelation of the burning bush to the revelation of the giving of the Torah, from the sneh to Sinai.

Ethan Tucker. Recorded live at our Yom Iyyun: Hadar’s Vision for the Future, at our First National Shabbaton, March 3-5, 2017 in honor of our 10th year.

Jason Rubenstein. The 13th of Nisan, not the 13th of Adar, is the date that holds the key to understanding the Megillah. On the 13th of Nisan, Haman chose and announced the 13th of Adar as the date to exterminate the Jews of the Persian empire. The contrast with the Torah’s first 13th of Nisan, in the year of the Exodus, could not be sharper or more bitter. That year, the 13th of Nisan brought the Israelites one day closer to the inevitable and overwhelming redemption God had been fashioning, that took place the very next day, on the 14th. In the Megillah, the Jews instead learn of their imminent destruction, to occur on a date chosen by chance, not God.

Jason Rubenstein. What if being skeptical about miracles, nervous about the future, and unwilling to rely on Divine salvation weren't threats to Judaism - but part of the tradition itself? This session will develop the possibility that the major features of the Purim story - and their reception by Hazal - have a subversive, ironic, and secularizing aim. Beyond thinking about the two holidays specifically, we'll develop them as paradigms of competing religious worldviews that stretch the boundaries of Jewish belief. Recorded live at the 2017 Rabbinic Yeshiva Intensive.

פרשתנו מקדישה פסוקים רבים ללבושו של אהרון וכן חטיבה קצרה ביותר ללבוש בניו. בשני המקרים מסוכמת מטרת הלבוש בשתי מילים – "לכבוד ולתפארת"

Avital Hochstein. From Priestly Garments to Common Garb. Our parashah details the design and materials of the priestly garments of Aharon and his sons. In these descriptions, the purpose of the garments is summed up in two words—“for honor (kavod) and beauty (tif’eret)." The text compels us to try to understand the significance of dealing with clothing and how these garments operate within the stated goal of 'honor and beauty,' 'adornment and dignity.'

Dena Weiss. In celebration of 10 Years of Mechon Hadar, the extended Hadar community will be learning all of Pirkei Avot together at a pace of 3-5 mishnayot a week, concluding with a Siyyum Celebration on March 2, 2017 and a National Shabbaton March 3-5, 2017. Each podcast includes the full text, a translation with explanations, and a short Dvar Torah inspired by that week's mishnayot.

פרשתנו פותחת בבקשה של האלוהים לבני ישראל: "וידבר ה' אל משה לאמור: דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי" (שמות כה, א'-ב'). מדוע צריך האלוהים לבקש, מהי מהות בקשתו, ומהו ההקשר שמוביל אליה?

Avital Hochstein. Our parashah opens with a request that God makes of Benei Yisrael: “The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give, you shall take my offering” (Shemot 25:11-12). Why does God need to make a request, what inspires this request and what is its essence?

פרשתנו, כשמה, מלאה במשפטים, אשר רבים מהם הפכו לאורך הדורות לביסוס חלק מרכזי מיסודותיה של מערכת משפט יהודית ענפה. חוקים רבים מוצאים את הורתם בפרשתנו: מה קורה במקרה של רצח ומה במקרה של גניבה; דיני עבדות ודיני שכירות; מה קורה כשרכוש של אדם אחד פוגע ברכוש של אדם שני ומה במקרה שאדם נפגע, ועוד כיוצא באלה. לא רק פרטים, אלא גם עקרונות משפטיים מתבססים על פסוקי הפרשה: הצורך להביא דברים בפני שופט, תפקידה של שבועה, ציווי להתרחק משקר והאיסור לקחת שוחד.

Avital Hochstein. Our parashah, as per its name “Mishpatim,” meaning “laws,” is full of statutes, many of which have served as the basis of the Jewish civil law and procedure. Indeed, many laws can trace their origin to our parashah: What happens in a case of murder or in a case of robbery, labor laws, what happens when one person’s property damages someone else, what if the damaged party is a human being, and so on. Not only do we find the laws themselves, but also how to adjudicate them: the role of the court, the role of oaths, the prohibition on accepting bribes, and the demand for truthfulness on all sides.