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Archive for Adar I / Adar II 5774 - March 2014
Temple Talk is a weekly internet radio webcast with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven of the Temple Institute.
This week features:
Anniversaries, Homecomings and The Sanctification of G-d’s Name
The Secret of Purity: Get Out of the Exile and Come Home to Israel!
Celebrating our relationship with G-d, finishing the tabernacle and looking forward to the Holy Temple, and coming home to the Land of Israel are the interwoven themes in this week’s surprising edition of Temple Talk. Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman also provide an exclusive sneak-peak description of this year’s Fifth Annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day special broadcast, coming up on Sunday March 30th.
Back in 1977, good ole Andy Griffith appeared in a television commercial for Nabisco’s Ritz Crackers and coined the phrase “everything tastes great when it sits on a Ritz.” Since then, the expression “to sit on the Ritz” has come to mean anything excellent — ritzy. As in swanky, elegant, posh. As in, perhaps, the quality of Jewish life in the lands of their exile? Now you can have your bacon flavor and eat it, too: Ritz has a new cracker with artificial bacon flavor that is certified kosher. Why is that a big deal, or even newsworthy? Is it a reason for Rabbi Richman to go ballistic and once again demonstrate total political incorrectness? Imitation bacon flavor with rabbinical supervision; is this a sign of the success of American Jewry; that we’ve made it and are “here to stay?” Not according to G-d’s word to the prophet Ezekiel, who states that… um… actually, the worst desecration of His holy name is the simple fact that the Jewish people remain in the lands of their exile. And the greatest sanctification of His name will only happen when the Jewish people come home to the Land of Israel. So how are we to understand that the same organization which certifies imitation bacon-flavor crackers, roundly criticizes Israeli rabbis for standing up to John Kerry’s fire sale of the Land of Israel?
Am I hearing you right? If you dare, listen to this week’s Temple Talk, and decide for yourself.
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“You are what you eat.” This modern catchphrase finds its most perfect expression in the concluding verses of parashat Shmini: “For I am the Lord your G-d, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev. 11:44) This is the only reason offered for the long list of living creatures that we can and can’t eat that precedes it. We can bring a taste of the Holy Temple to our own tables by regarding every morsel we place within our mouths as no less real than an offering upon the altar.
Shmini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47)
Parashat Shmini is read on Shabbat:
2 Adar 20, 5774/March 22, 2014
Temple Institute Links:
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Temple Talk is a weekly internet radio webcast with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven of the Temple Institute.
This week features:
Where Nadav & Avihu Went Wrong: Making a Moment Last Forever
Parashat Shmini & the Challenge of the Human Condition: Keep Kosher & Get High!
This week’s Torah portion of parashat Shmini features the tragic death of the High Priest Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, struck down by Heavenly wrath. What sin exacted such harsh punishment? From the Torah’s account, it seems clear: They brought a “strange,” unauthorized fire. But it’s also clear that they were looking to honor the Creator and deeply desired to keep the excitement of the moment of the Tabernacle’s inauguration alive. These two great, righteous men were not satisfied with the old fare; “same old, same old” just wouldn’t do it for them. But then again, none of us should ever be satisfied with routine. Keeping things fresh and new is the name of the game, but how to that and yet remain within the lines is the subject of this week’s edition of Temple Talk. Newness and the sense of awe and wonder at the unexplained are also an aspect of the special Torah reading this Shabbat, the Numbers chapter 19 ordinance of the Red Heifer. Join us for an edition of Temple Talk dedicated to the battle against complacency!
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THE 5th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY ONLINE VIDEO HAPPENING!
Sunday, March 30th, (Adar II 28), the Temple Institute will be hosting its 5th Annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day broadcast. The four hour live stream video broadcast will begin at 5:00 PM Israel time, (10:00 AM Eastern time), and will be rebroadcast for a second showing after a brief interlude. These two broadcasts will give everyone an opportunity to see the entire program, at a convenient time. During both broadcasts, viewers will be able to communicate directly with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven throughout the live streaming webcast, via our chat-room. (Please note that the chat-room facility will not be live until the actual event.)
Confusion reigns in our modern world, and every aspect of modern society seems to feed on this confusion, fanning the flames of man’s existential disconnect with his own true self. The Holy Temple, and more specifically, the offering of animals on the stone altar in the Holy Temple, is designed to banish man’s confusion by compelling him to focus on who he is and to Whom he is answerable. Are we just a link on the food chain, or is our G-d given soul that which determines who we can be?
Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36)
Parashat Tzav is read on Shabbat:
2 Adar 13, 5774/March 15, 2014
Temple Institute Links:
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Temple Talk is a weekly internet radio webcast with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven of the Temple Institute.
This week features:
The Plain Truth on Torah, Vegetarianism, & the Temple Offerings
In Defense of the Korbonot: The Much Maligned Service of the Holy Temple
Purim is coming, the holiday of turnabout and hidden Divine providence. The true essence of this highly beloved festival seems to hidden, just as the name of G-d is hidden from the scroll of Esther. In this week’s edition of Temple Talk, Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman explore another another hidden aspect of Purim, which lies at the very heart of the scroll of Esther: the struggle for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Foreign domination and subterfuge, internal wrangling, complicity and conspiracy of silence… we are fighting the very same battle for the Holy Temple today. It all goes hand in hand with the Torah portions of the book of Vayikra, as the profound and timeless truth of the Temple offerings peeks out at us from behind the latticework, like the hidden presence of G-d in the Purim story. This confluence between the highly misunderstood subject of the korbonot and the inner truth of the Purim story are fused together in this week’s unique edition of Temple Talk.
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From the moment of creation it has been leading up to this: The “face to face” reunion of man and G-d in the intimacy of the Tabernacle. But, jaded by lifetimes of exile and wandering, we are required to re-attain the purity and guileless innocence of untainted youth. If you are brave enough to shed off some layers of cynicism and skepticism and are ready to take on the you you were meant to be, the book of Leviticus is the perfect place to rediscover the original self you left behind long ago.
Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26)
Parashat Vayikra is read on Shabbat:
2 Adar 6, 5774/March 8, 2014
Temple Institute Links:
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