Temple Talk is a weekly internet radio webcast with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven of the Temple Institute.
This week features:
In Praise of Civil Disobedience: The Righteous Women of Israel
The Perfect Storm and the Divine Promise of “Your Sins Shall be White as Snow”
As the burgeoning Egyptian exile begins to take center stage this week with the reading of the first Torah portion in the book of Exodus, Israel is still covered with the snow of last week’s epic storm that began on the Fast of Tevet. What’s this unprecedented storm got to do with G-d’s Divine promises to Israel – and the book of Isaiah? And what’s John Kerry got to do with anything? Leave it to Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman to find immense spiritual significance in the timing of Israel’s unusual winter weather, tying it directly to the messages of our Torah readings and the spiritual cycle beginning this week. Grab your mug of hot cocoa, snuggle up by the fireplace and listen to a particularly heart-warming edition of Temple Talk!
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When Yaakov was reunited with his beloved son Yosef, he understood it as the confirmation of G-d’s Oneness, and recited the Shema proclamation of G-d’s unity. His twelve sons would later reconfirm G-d’s Oneness by reciting the Shema, as Yaakov prepared to reveal to them his vision of the end of days. By this very affirmation of G-d’s Oneness in our world, Yaakov fulfills the promise of his other name, Yisrael, and his children, throughout the generations, fulfill their role as witnesses to G-d’s abiding and eternal unity.
Vayechi (Genesis 47:28-50:26)
Parashat Vayechi is read on Shabbat:
Tevet 11, 5774/December 14, 2013
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:
Cycles of Celebration and Mourning in the Holy Temple Calendar
The Tenth of Tevet, Jerusalem and Jewish Siege Mentality: It’s All in Our Heads
As we conclude the book of Genesis with this week’s Torah reading of Vayechi, we prepare for the annual fast of the Tenth day of Tevet, to be observed this Friday, commemorating the siege of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nevuchadnezzer that ultimately led to the destruction of the First Temple. Isn’t it rather odd that just days ago we were celebrating the re-dedication of the Temple during Chanukah, and now we are back to mourning its destruction? How do we understand this cycle, and the transformation from the joy of Kislev to the mourning of Tevet? After soloing Temple Talk for a full month, Yitzchak Reuven welcomes his co-host and army comrade Rabbi Chaim Richman back from his US speaking tour. Reunited at last, our hosts take a sobering, realistic look at the Kislev-Tevet Regression and Jewish siege mentality!
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:
Chanukah: Uncompromising Non-Warm Non-Fuzzy Defense of Torah
Yosef & His Brothers: Who is ‘Fessing What & Who is Forgiving Whom?
‘Tis the season of confrontation: Yosef squares off with his brothers, Yehudah and the Maccabees square off with the Greek oppressors and the Hellenizers from within, Israel squares off with the United States over its policy of detente with the genocidal regime of the Iranian ayatollahs, and Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount square off with violent Muslim mobs.
No sooner did the Maccabees defeat the Greeks than the scourge of Hellenization began its return. No sooner do Yosef and his brothers reconcile than Pharaoh begins to impose the rules of exile. The harsh but crucial lesson: We must always be vigilant in our devotion to G-d and our love of the land of Israel.
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The seismic shocks, the tectonic rumblings, the pulsating magnetic fields could all be felt from one end of creation to the next when Yehudah drew near to Yosef in their battle for custody of Binyamin. Neither brother was willing to abandon Binyamin and that’s what G-d wanted to know! When Yosef revealed his true identity to Yehudah and the others, they all realized that they could lay down their arms: It was all in G-d’s hands!
Vayigash (Genesis 45:28-46:7)
Parashat Vayigash is read on Shabbat:
Tevet 4, 5774/December 7, 2013
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Bat Melech – with Rena Richman
A special Chanukkah teaching just recorded in Lubbock, TX at the South Plains Hebraic Center.
The Created “OR” (Light) of Chanukkah
Like an antidote to the chaos and darkness G-d said “Let there be Light (OR אור), and there was Light.” We find that from the very beginning Chanukah is stamped in the text of the Torah: the twenty-fifth word of the Torah is OR אור and Chanukah begins on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev…
This teaching is also available for purchase on DVD from this link
Dedication: Dedicated to all the wonderful people we visited on the tour!
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:
Spirit of the Maccabees: All For the ONE G-D!
Yosef in Egypt, the Start-Up Nation and the Original Jewish Lobby
The leaders of the nations today have brought the world to the edge of darkness in a repeat performance of one of the greatest capitulations to evil of all-time, all for a headline and a few petro-dollars. Too bad not one of the Geneva Ghouls bothered to look at this week’s Torah reading, parashat Miketz. They could have gotten a mighty lesson in real leadership, you know, the kind where man places G-d, and not himself, in the driver’s seat, as Yosef did in leading Egypt out of darkness. But if it’s darkness the world leaders want, who you gonna call? That’s right, the original Dark-Busters – the Maccabees! It is time to learn again how to stick it to the man and reintroduce holy light into the world! Plus, the inside story of the Chanuka rededication of the Holy Temple and the rekindling of the Temple menorah.
Temple Institute Links:
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