The Book of Esther has no Divine instructions, no prophecies, no outright miracles. God doesn’t even get mentioned. We all love hearing how Mordechai and Esther saved their people in a time of crisis – but does this story have any moral message for us? As we’re listening to the Megillah on Purim, what can we learn about coming close to God in our everyday lives? Join Imu Shalev and Rabbi David Fohrman as they dive deeply into Megillat Esther to find an answer to this question. They start off with a very odd set of comments from our sages, claiming that there were angels at work in the Esther s ..read more

A Book Like No Other is a chance to learn alongside Aleph Beta Founder and Lead Scholar, Rabbi David Fohrman, a master close reader of Torah, as he embarks on his most far-reaching and in-depth explorations. Each season is a stand-alone journey into a different Torah text. Our only goal: reading the Torah carefully, on its own terms, and following wherever that leads. Together, we'll unwrap remarkable patterns and surprising connections that lie just beneath the Torah's surface, revealing the beauty and insight that truly make the Torah a book like no other. A Book Like No Other is made possib ..read more

Rabbi David Fohrman and Imu Shalev study the tale of the blasphemer, a dark and puzzling episode buried deep in Leviticus. The details of this story are scarce: an anonymous man provokes a fight in the Israelite camp, curses God, and ultimately is stoned to death as punishment. But a close read of these few short verses sends Rabbi Fohrman and Imu on a surprising journey, raising provocative moral questions about God’s judgment and uncovering an unlikely connection between the condemned blasphemer and one of the Bible’s greatest heroes. A Book Like No Other is a product of Aleph Beta, and made ..read more

Season 1 of Meaningful Judaism is ending, but before we go, we just have to share some extra Torah that didn’t make it into earlier episodes. There’s the beautiful idea about angels that got cut from our episode on tzitzit – but we’ve found some amazing new evidence, so we’re bringing it back! And then there’s the problem of fish and birds. They got left out of the episode on kosher animals, so how do they fit into our theory of why some animals are kosher and not others? Join Imu Shalev and Beth Lesch as they reveal the answers to these questions, reflect on the reactions to our first season ..read more

It’s one of the most famous of the Torah's laws: no eating bacon! But is there any particular reason for this restriction? Why does God permit us to eat cow but forbid pig? In this episode, Imu Shalev and Beth Lesch look for clues in the Torah’s language and zoom in on something that’s easy to miss: The Torah never actually says "Pigs aren't kosher." Actually, the word “kosher” doesn't appear at all in the Chumash (the Five Books of Moses). The Torah uses an entirely different word to describe those animals which we are permitted to eat, a mysterious word that most people wouldn't associate wi ..read more

Yep, you read the episode title right. Should this podcast even exist?? We here at Meaningful Judaism put our hearts into creating quality podcasts that probe the meanings behind the mitzvot… but what if this whole premise is misguided? What if there’s a fundamental flaw? Does God really want us to be demanding reasons for the mitzvot? If we were really pious, maybe we would be satisfied keeping the mitzvot simply “because the Torah says so”?? And if we’re trying to figure out the “real” reasons for the mitzvot… well, what if we get it wrong? How can we be so conceited as to think we can know ..read more

(Part 2 of 2) Are tzitzit supposed to “mean” something? Most people who wear tzitzit probably don't find it especially objectionable or burdensome, but how many people can honestly say that wearing tzitzit is a deeply meaningful spiritual practice? That it helps them to be a better Jew, a better person, to feel closer to God? Probably not so many. For everyone else, tzitzit is, at best, a testament to one's commitment to following the Torah but without any unique meaning or character, and at worst, a ritual, performed by rote, simply because everyone else seems to be doing it, devoid of any me ..read more

(Part 1 of 2) Are tzitzit supposed to “mean” something? Most people who wear tzitzit probably don't find it especially objectionable or burdensome, but how many people can honestly say that wearing tzitzit is a deeply meaningful spiritual practice? That it helps them to be a better Jew, a better person, to feel closer to God? Probably not so many. For everyone else, tzitzit is, at best, a testament to one's commitment to following the Torah but without any unique meaning or character, and at worst, a ritual, performed by rote, simply because everyone else seems to be doing it, devoid of any m ..read more

What’s meaningful about keeping Shabbat? Lots of things, right? It’s a day of rest, a chance to put down our phones, learn and pray, focus on our family and friends. But Shabbat has its challenging aspects too. Sometimes the restrictions of Shabbat weigh on us and make it hard for us to appreciate how meaningful it is. So how do we hold on to a sense of the beauty of this day?  Well, what if we knew that keeping Shabbat actually makes something important, something kind of magical, happen in the world… even when it seems as if we’re just sitting at home doing nothing? And wouldn’t it be a ..read more

What is the meaning of the ‘niddah’ law? Why does the Torah require husbands and wives to separate when the wife has her period? The laws in Vayikra describe the “whats” of niddah but not the “why.” Why would God want to keep husbands and wives apart from one another? And what does menstruation have to do with it? And those are just the easy questions! In this episode, guest host and scholar Beth Lesch respectfully yet candidly raises questions about the challenges of observing these laws. In conversation with Yoetzet Halacha Adina Blaustein and fellow scholar Tikva Hecht, Beth shares her own ..read more