Podcasts about Shavuot

The Riches Of Passover  Part 14:  The Day Of The Omer And The Resurrection  -  English and Spanish.   On the Day of the Omer, we began our count toward the feast of Shavuot, Pentecost. We also celebrate the resurrection of Messiah. How are these two themes related? Join us as we examine the Scriptures!  Recorded April 20, 2025.   Las Riquezas De La Pascua Parte 14: El Día Del Omer Y La Resurrección - Inglés y Español.   En el Día del Omer, comenzamos nuestra cuenta hacia la fiesta de Shavuot, Pentecostés. También celebramos la resurrección del Mesías. ¿Cómo se relacionan estos dos temas? ¡Acompáñenos mientras examinamos las Escrituras!  Grabado el 20 de abril de 2025.

Show Notes: True Biblical Worship According to the Original Covenant - Part 1   Episode Title: True Biblical Worship According to the Original Covenant - Part 1   Host: Rod Thomas   Date: April 19, 2025   Description: In this episode of the Messianic Torah Observer, Rod Thomas delves into the profound teachings on true biblical worship according to the original covenant. Recorded on a rainy but warm Shabbat morning in DFW, Rod shares insights from a recent Google-Meet study delivered to Torah-honoring brethren in Nairobi, Kenya. This teaching explores the significance of worship in the Messianic Torah Observer lifestyle, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Day of Firstfruits.   Key Points:   Introduction to the topic of true biblical worship and its importance in the Messianic Torah Observer lifestyle1. Examination of traditional understandings of worship across various religious practices2. Detailed discussion on the biblical principles of worship, including the Hebrew term "shachah" and its significance3. Insights into the original covenant perspectives on worship, including the physical and actionable forms of worship4. Exploration of the appointed times for worship according to Yah's sacred calendar5. Emphasis on the fear of Yehovah as the basis of true biblical worship6. Closing remarks and preview of Part 2, which will focus on worship from a Yeshua-centric perspective7.   Call to Action: Visit [http://themessianictorahobserver.org](http://themessianictorahobserver.org) for more teachings on Yah's set apart days and other Hebraic topics. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this teaching series, where Rod will explore worship in spirit and truth.   Closing: Rod Thomas wishes listeners a blessed rest of their Shabbat, a meaningful Feast of Unleavened Bread, and a powerfully blessed Day of Firstfruits. Until next time, Shalom, shalom.

B"H Spiritual highs are powerful—but they don't last forever. The real work begins after the peak. That's why we count from Passover to Shavuot: to turn inspiration into transformation. One small step each day, building the person we're meant to be—until we're ready to receive the Torah all over again. To watch Torah Thoughts in video format, click HERE Subscribe to the Torah Thoughts BLOG for exclusive written content! Please like, share and subscribe wherever you find this!

The sefirot are 10 tools that G-d used to create our world according to Jewish mystical teachings of Kabbalah, We each have 10 sefirot in our soul as well. We count the 49 days between the first day of Passover and the festival of Shavuot, known as the counting of the Omer. During these days, we can develop our own character by focusing each week on one of the seven emotional Sefirot.A discussion about the Sefirot and our self-development during the Omer period.  

Who erased the two holiest celebrations in the Hebrew calendar, the Year of Jubilee and the Festival of Weeks, to disconnect them from 537 BCE? Join our tribe on Patreon! Check out these cool pages on the podcast's website:Home PageWho wrote the Bible: Timeline and authorsAncient maps: easy to follow maps to see which empire ruled what and whenClick here to see Exodus divided into "sources" according to the Documentary Hypothesis The podcast is written, edited and produced by Gil Kidron

Here's the schedule of Bible study podcasts (audio and video) coming soon.  One lesson per day starting on April 12th through April 20, Resurrection Sunday.  Remember.  Consider downloading the lessons.  You can find the download button at the end of each podcast before you actually hit the play button.   LESSON 1 APRIL 12 Did the Triumphal Entry of Jesus happen on a Sunday?  Could it have been a Monday? Does the TORAH hint at this event?  What year did this happen, 33 A.D. (traditional man made date) or 30 A.D.?  LESSON 2 APRIL 13 The TORAH in Exodus 12 commands fathers on a precise day of the month to find the perfect male lamb that would be sacrificed by each father on 4 days later.  Jews then in Jesus' day know this.  Is there some connection to “Palm Sunday” and this Torah law? LESSON 3 APRIL 14 The first Passover meal occurred in Egypt in 1446 B.C.  It seems the Lord used the Passover meal and certain key elements as a polemic against the gods of Egypt.  Once we get it, it has huge applications for us in the pagan culture we live in today. LESSON 4 APRIL 15 Some argue that Jesus' Last Supper was a Passover Seder.  Some say the Last Supper had no connection to a Seder.  But Jesus' Last Supper was the night before the evening when the Hebrews were to have the Passover meal.  On top of that Jewish sources shows unequivocally shows there was NO Seder in Jesus' day.  There was a Passover meal but not a Seder.   LESSON 5 APRIL 16 God comes to us and provides the WAY back to Himself via the Cross and the Lamb of God. As Paul teaches without the Resurrection all is meaningless.  So, this was the plan of the Lord from ages past.  It was now FINISHED.  The beginning was completed.  The Resurrection was the End of the Beginning. LESSON 6 APRIL 17 There is no Bible verse that says that Jesus is the Passover Lamb!  If your Bible says He is the Passover Lamb it is a proven mistranslation.  Jesus is the Lamb, He is the Lamb of God.  There is a significant difference between the Passover Lamb and the Lamb of God.  It is critical that we understand the difference.  It is critical to see that יהוה Yahvay, the Lord, used the 1st Passover as a model for the Passover of Messiah. LESSON 7 APRIL 18 There is no garden of Gethsemane.  No way.  But, there is a Gethsemane.  Gethsemane is a Greek word that comes from the Hebrew.  Wait till you see what a Gethsemane actually is!  LESSON 8 APRIL 19 (three short videos) The Bible says in ENGLISH that יהוה Yahvay, Adonai the LORD, hardened Pharaoh's heart.  Huh?  How can that be?  Did God take away Pharaoh's free will?  The problem is the text in English.  A great credible Jewish scholar, a Hebrew scholar, shows that the LORD did not harden Pharaoh's heart.  The LORD gave Pharaoh one chance after another.  יהוה Yahvay never took away his free will.  Video 1 is 27 minutes and video 2 is 14 minutes and video 3 is 19 minutes.   LESSON 9 APRIL 20 The Passover of Jesus was the End of the Beginning.  The way was open again back to the Father.  Through the Cross our sins can be totally forgiven and our debt to sin paid if we have Jesus as Lord.  But, God connects the Resurrection, the End of the Beginning, to the feast of Shavuot or Pentecost.  We'll see that Shavuot or Pentecost is the Beginning of the End – it is the time of the Wheat Harvest.

Today on Sense of Soul we have Rabbi Matthew Ponak, he is a teacher of Jewish mysticism, a spiritual counselor, and the author of Embodied Kabbalah: Jewish Mysticism for All People. Ordained with honors at the neo-Hasidic Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, he also holds a Master's degree in Contemplative Religions from the Buddhist-inspired Naropa University. Rabbi Matthew lives in Victoria, British Columbia and is certified as a Focusing Professional to guide others to deeper self-knowledge and healing through their bodies. Rabbi Matthew Ponak's new book, The Path of the Sephirot, comes out in April 2025. It is an experiential guide to counting the 49 days of the Omer, the period of time between the springtime holidays of Passover and Shavuot. In his latest offering, Rabbi Matthew combines traditional Kabbalah with practical everyday wisdom to help seekers of any background access the spiritual potential of this expansive time of year. https://a.co/d/3hqdNR5 To learn more about him, his offerings and speaking engagements, visit https://matthewponak.com Join the journey of The Path of the Sephiroth  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/kabbalah-and-the-49-gates-counting-the-omer-for-spiritual-growth-tickets-1242543253319

Have you ever wondered about the unique intricacies of Jewish prayer and calendrical traditions? Discover the profound significance behind the reading of Haftorahs during special parashas such as Shkolim, Zochor, Parah, and HaChodesh, and how we choose which Haftorah to read. Join us as we unpack the principle of "Tadir v'she'eno tadir tadir kodem" and how it shapes our tradition. We'll also navigate the fascinating calendar distinctions, like why Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the Jewish year while Nisan kicks off the months, and explore other pivotal dates such as Shavuot and Tu B'Shvat.Transitioning to the milestones of Jewish life, we shine a light on the bar and bat mitzvah customs that mark the passage into religious adulthood. While it's a cherished tradition for bar mitzvah boys to read from the Torah, we explore the idea that there's no religious mandate to do so. Drawing from personal anecdotes, we reflect on how some children may feel daunted by this practice and discuss the importance of creating a supportive, understanding environment that respects individual capabilities. We also touch on the practice of singing down bar mitzvah boys and grooms to spare them public discomfort, underscoring the need for empathy in our community rituals.As we embrace the warmth of Shabbos, we explore the transformative potential it holds for our lives. From the modest bowing during the Amidah that embodies humility, to the joyful customs of Kabbalat Shabbat like L'chad Odi, we invite you to experience the richness of Shabbos rituals. Discover how the Amshenov Rebbe's continuing spiritual high illustrates the profound connection we can achieve by welcoming the Shabbos queen. By fostering excitement and reverence, Shabbos becomes much more than a day of rest; it becomes a cornerstone of spiritual rejuvenation that can carry us through the week.In this episode of Ask Away we address these various topics:Understanding Jewish Prayer and Calendar Basics: Exploring Jewish traditions, rituals, Haftorahs, Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, Nisan, Shavuot, and biblical foundations for prayer.Bar/Bat Mitzvah Torah Reading Customs: Bar mitzvah tradition of reading Torah, sensitivity towards struggling children, singing down to prevent embarrassment.Bowing and Welcoming the Shabbos Queen: Jewish prayer customs include bowing during Amidah, Oseh Shalom, and specific prayers, and Kabbalat Shabbat traditions like L'chad Odi and welcoming the Shabbos queen.The Beauty of Shabbos: Shabbos is a special day to connect with ourselves and Hashem, rejuvenating us and enriching our week.And much more ... Please submit your questions at askaway@torchweb.org_____________The Everyday Judaism Podcast is dedicated to learning, understanding and appreciating the greatness of Jewish heritage and the Torah through the simplified, concise study of Halacha, Jewish Law, thereby enhancing our understanding of how Hashem wants us to live our daily lives in a Jewish way._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Marshall & Doreen LernerDownload & Print the Everyday Judaism Halacha Notes:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RL-PideM42B_LFn6pbrk8MMU5-zqlLG5This episode (Ep. #34) of the Everyday Judaism Podcast by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH is dedicated to my dearest friends, Marshall & Doreen Lerner! May Hashem bless you and always lovingly accept your prayer for good health, success and true happiness!!!Recorded in the TORCH Centre - Levin Family Studio (B) to a live audience on March 16, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on March 23, 2025_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!_____________#AskAway, #Halacha, #Jewishlaw, #Jewishtraditions, #prayer, #calendar ★ Support this podcast ★

Have you ever wondered about the unique intricacies of Jewish prayer and calendrical traditions? Discover the profound significance behind the reading of Haftorahs during special parashas such as Shkolim, Zochor, Parah, and HaChodesh, and how we choose which Haftorah to read. Join us as we unpack the principle of "Tadir v'she'eno tadir tadir kodem" and how it shapes our tradition. We'll also navigate the fascinating calendar distinctions, like why Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the Jewish year while Nisan kicks off the months, and explore other pivotal dates such as Shavuot and Tu B'Shvat.Transitioning to the milestones of Jewish life, we shine a light on the bar and bat mitzvah customs that mark the passage into religious adulthood. While it's a cherished tradition for bar mitzvah boys to read from the Torah, we explore the idea that there's no religious mandate to do so. Drawing from personal anecdotes, we reflect on how some children may feel daunted by this practice and discuss the importance of creating a supportive, understanding environment that respects individual capabilities. We also touch on the practice of singing down bar mitzvah boys and grooms to spare them public discomfort, underscoring the need for empathy in our community rituals.As we embrace the warmth of Shabbos, we explore the transformative potential it holds for our lives. From the modest bowing during the Amidah that embodies humility, to the joyful customs of Kabbalat Shabbat like L'chad Odi, we invite you to experience the richness of Shabbos rituals. Discover how the Amshenov Rebbe's continuing spiritual high illustrates the profound connection we can achieve by welcoming the Shabbos queen. By fostering excitement and reverence, Shabbos becomes much more than a day of rest; it becomes a cornerstone of spiritual rejuvenation that can carry us through the week.In this episode of Ask Away we address these various topics:Understanding Jewish Prayer and Calendar Basics: Exploring Jewish traditions, rituals, Haftorahs, Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, Nisan, Shavuot, and biblical foundations for prayer.Bar/Bat Mitzvah Torah Reading Customs: Bar mitzvah tradition of reading Torah, sensitivity towards struggling children, singing down to prevent embarrassment.Bowing and Welcoming the Shabbos Queen: Jewish prayer customs include bowing during Amidah, Oseh Shalom, and specific prayers, and Kabbalat Shabbat traditions like L'chad Odi and welcoming the Shabbos queen.The Beauty of Shabbos: Shabbos is a special day to connect with ourselves and Hashem, rejuvenating us and enriching our week.And much more ... Please submit your questions at askaway@torchweb.org_____________The Everyday Judaism Podcast is dedicated to learning, understanding and appreciating the greatness of Jewish heritage and the Torah through the simplified, concise study of Halacha, Jewish Law, thereby enhancing our understanding of how Hashem wants us to live our daily lives in a Jewish way._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Marshall & Doreen LernerDownload & Print the Everyday Judaism Halacha Notes:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RL-PideM42B_LFn6pbrk8MMU5-zqlLG5This episode (Ep. #34) of the Everyday Judaism Podcast by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH is dedicated to my dearest friends, Marshall & Doreen Lerner! May Hashem bless you and always lovingly accept your prayer for good health, success and true happiness!!!Recorded in the TORCH Centre - Levin Family Studio (B) to a live audience on March 16, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on March 23, 2025_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!_____________#AskAway, #Halacha, #Jewishlaw, #Jewishtraditions, #prayer, #calendar ★ Support this podcast ★

One of our favorite ways to disciple our kids - while having a ton of fun - is to celebrate the 7 Biblical feasts. They're not just for Jewish people...they all prefigure Christ, and are an amazing opportunity to talk about the Gospel to our kids on an annual rhythm. This month's focus in the Family Teams Accelerator is how to lean into the 4 Spring Festivals, and in this episode we give you a sneak peak into some of our tips and rhythms, as well as what to expect as you begin to celebrate things like Passover, Shavuot, etc. On this episode, we talk about: 0:00 Intro 0:39 It's Odd That Most People Don't Live Spiritual Seasons 1:32 The 4 Biblical Spring Holidays 3:49 Why Celebrate These Holidays 4:31 How The Pryor's Have Developed Their Family Festival Celebrations 10:56 These Festivals Are All About Christ 17:30 How To Celebrate Passover 24:10 Family Shavuot Celebrations 27:12 Join The Accelerator This Month! Follow Family Teams: Facebook: https://facebook.com/famteams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familyteams Website: https://www.familyteams.com Resources Mentioned: Free Passover Celebration Cheat Sheet for Families: https://familyteams.com/passover Join us in the Family Teams Accelerator: https://familyteams.com/accelerator --- Hi, welcome to the Family Teams podcast! Our goal here is to help your family become a multigenerational team on mission by providing you with Biblically rooted concepts, tools and rhythms! Your hosts are Jeremy Pryor and Jefferson Bethke. Make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you don't miss out on future episodes!

Welcome to our new Haggada series. We started with Ha Lachma Ania and the second stanza is כל דכפין ייתי ויכול, כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח let all those who are hungry come and eat, all those who are in need, come and partake That's a strange statement. We're inviting everyone in to eat. It's a nice, open house, if someone gets stuck last minute. But, how real is this? How honest and sincere are we? If someone were to actually knock at your door, would you let them in? If a family comes, will you let them in? The sefer Hochmat Shlomo by Rav Shlomo Kluger, in his commentary on Shulchan Aruch, siman 429, discusses Minhag L'K'not Hitim / the custom of buying wheat to distribute to the poor for Pesach . It's called kimcha D'Pischa , which literally means kemach/flour for Pesach, flour for the Matzot on Pesach. Why is this more relevant to Pesach than Shavuot or Succot? Succot is an expensive holiday. What's special about this holiday? Rav Shlomo Kluger says that on the night of the Seder, we are going to say Ha Lachma Ania, and we're going to invite in all those who are poor, and say anyone that wants to come in can come in, but will we really take them in? If not, it's like we're lying in front of God. Therefore, he says, the rabbis established to give out Maot Hittim. That way, if someone knocks at the door, you say can " Look, I said anyone that's hungry, anyone that's needy, but you shouldn't be hungry and needy. We have a community pot. If you were aware of it, and we gave you the money, and you spent it, then technically you caused it. I'm ready to take in anybody that didn't do it themselves, " so to say. We want to make sure that we're clean, so we give Kimcha D'Pischa so that the statement shouldn't be a false statement, but we have to go a step further. Why don't we make the same statement on Succot and invite everyone into our Succahs? And if we did that, we'd have to say Ha Lachma then as well. So we shifted the question a little further. We have Kimcha D'Pischa , we're raising funds for the wheat because we don't want to make a false statement when we invite the guests. Well, why don't we invite the guests on Succot also? The answer goes a little further. We go to the שער Shaar Hatziyun, also known as the Mishna Berurah Chafetz Chaim, in the same chapter in letter 10. He says, Pesach is special in that is we call it Zman Herut/ A time of freedom . And everybody sits by their table, הוא וביתו ברוב שמחה, he's there with his household full of happiness. אין זה כבוד לה׳, it's a lack of respect to God that His children, the poor, are hungry and thirsty. And therefore we give them flour, not just day by day, but for the כל ימי פסח, all the days of Pesach , enough to last them through the holiday, that he can also tell the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim B'Simcha. This is important. Not only do I want to be happy at the Seder , but it's my responsibility to make others happy as well. It's interesting that the concept of giving the Kimcha D'Pischa/wheat or flour for the poor, is not necessarily a Sedaka concept. It's not about charity, but it has to do with your responsibility to make people happy. And the Rambam in the laws of Yom Tov , chapter 6, Halacha 18, tells us that when you're eating and happy on the holiday, you also have to make the convert, the widow and the orphan happy along with other poor, unprivileged people. He says that if a person doesn't do that, then his simcha is not truly the simcha of a holiday. It's a simcha of his own stomach. So it ends up that in order for your holiday simcha to be a proper simcha , you have to make the poor people happy as well. Thhat's why the Rambam doesn't mention this in the laws of charity. It's in the laws of the holiday. To properly fulfill your holiday and have the true Simchat Chag, you have to make other people happy. That's why the sefer Mishneh Yaavetz says, an explanation why, if you look at Mishna Berurah, letter 6 this concept of קמחא Kimcha D'Pischa, says that even someone that's exempt from other types of charities has to give this charity . Because this is not a charity law, it's a happiness law. Literally one of the first laws, if you go through volume 5 of Mishna Berurah one of the first laws is this law of making sure to give קמחא דפסחא Kimcha D'Pischa. How does one fulfill this? There are different customs. Kemach means flour . Why flour? Why not money? Why not give them actual Matzot ? I saw an explanation once that it's because in those days it was considered normal and respectable to go to the Matzah bakery, like today you have חבורה מצה. Getting a box of finished matzot was not the way respectable people acted. We want to give him his provisions in a respectable fashion and let him go like everyone else (not stand out) and be able to actually bake his own I matzot . Fascinating. With this, we go a step further. What do we fulfill this mitzva with? Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in sefer Arichat Shlomo Letter 2 in the laws of Nissan says that it's not only food. He says, כל צרכי החג, all needs, including clothing. Why? Because that's what he needs. And again, דרך חרות, if everyone is sitting around the table with their new clothing, shouldn't he also have new clothing? So when it says anything you need , that doesn't just mean, as we said, whoever's hungry, come and eat. כל דצריך, means whoever has needs , Rav Dovid Feinstein ztl says it means, any Pesach need. That means if you need clothing, come now. But what if I don't have any clothing to give? You can give out clothing cards before the holiday? And with that, we switch gears into our annual Lev Chana appeal. We do this every single year at this time of the year, where we reach out to you to give out clothing cards for families in need. The families receive a card that works like a gift card for multiple stores, so they can shop like everybody else. Not, " Oh, we're going to send you some clothing and see if it fits your children." They can be a person and walk into a clothing store like anybody else, shop in dignity and be happy. And as always, we end off with powerful words of רש״י in Parashat Re'eh , where Hashem says, , אם אתה משמח את שלי, אני משמח את שלך/ If you make My children happy, I'll make your children happy. And that's what we're doing. We're selling happiness insurance. If you want to be insured that you're going to have happiness over the holiday. Rav Chaim Pilaggi says he knows many people who spent a lot of money and the house is full of arguments and contention, because they didn't follow this Rashi. So we're giving you that opportunity to buy happiness insurance. It's very easy. You can: Send an email to Rabbisutton@gmail.com with a pledge and I'll bill you, or send a donation via Zelle to Rabbisutton@gmail.com , or go to https://www.rayze.it/levchanazm/ If you're a JCF person, search CON506. Lastly, if you're a person that likes to write checks, you can send a check to Rabbi David Sutton 1059 East 10th Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11230 and make the check out to Lev Chana Tizke Lemitzvot

Having received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb went on to become Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Today he is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An accomplished author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb has electrified audiences with his stimulating and energetic presentations on ethical and philosophical issues. In Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Gottlieb, we are invited to explore the most fascinating and elemental concepts of Jewish Philosophy. https://podcasts.ohr.edu/ podcasts@ohr.edu

In this lesson I mentioned articles available at the excellent scholarly Christian teaching website, “GotQuestions.org.”  The first (see link below) is comments and thoughts on the Lord's command to His people not to mention other false gods nor even use their names.  The article provides some interesting thoughts and ideas that will only add to your study of the Bible in this podcast. The 2nd article is related to the Canaanites.  Who are they?  What is so important regarding these pagan tribes who inhabited the “Promised Land” the Lord was to give to Israel.  Link 1 - NOT MENTION OTHER GODS https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-other-gods.html Link 2 – WHO ARE THE CANAANITES https://www.gotquestions.org/Canaanites.html I would recommend the following historical article as well related to the Canaanites - CANAANITE CULTURE - https://biblechat.ai/knowledgebase/old-testament/pentateuch/what-were-religious-practices-beliefs-canaanites/ For the first time in the Bible in Exodus 23 the Lord, יהוה Yahvay, commands the Hebrews that they will do three celebrations only to HIM.  They are similar to the feasts practiced among the pagan Canaanites in the “Promised Land.”  We know them as the Feast of Unleavened Bread also known as Passover, the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot or Pentecost, and the Feast of Tents or Tabernacles in Hebrew as Sukkot.  These are three harvest celebrations in the spring, the early summer, and the fall.   At this time we will not go in depth into these festivals.  However, the lessons on all of God's feast (there are eight of them and not seven as taught by many in the church that do not read God's word carefully) are complete and ready.  I mentioned in this podcast that here in the “Comment Section” that I would supply the links to the Playlists for each feast.  See the links below. LOM PLAYLISTS FESTIVALS PASSOVER - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDKjl7iyVRRkXGHoHaPSPaJ5&si=xCL65TeoFeZBWSlL SHAVUTO (PENTECOST) - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDJ31uU9AwdnzQLWJk3D4wtX&si=Nx2djS43D7jaFRq8 ROSH HASHANA - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDJybx4VnVFW5A9F4xD9DQaO&si=2cfxCkT4Kjtp4t9Q YOM KIPPUREEM - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDLzBQoWtJ0Fn5eP3u354rO1&si=UPia9hwCT4hnnAD6 SUKKOT (TABERNACLES – TENTS) - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDKbIxWITDZMT87a0VGwzTvx&si=duR8PvhFPU3jz1UG SABBATH/SHABBAT - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDLshZetXi0avkG665YNcI5I&si=-8a_yRhEYbvxwkVd   Who is this guy, Rev. Ferret?  What's his background?  Why should we take time to listen to him?  Here's a link to check out his background - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0      

Tim and Trudi discuss Sunday's lesson and give some more details about Shavuot and Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-13 Holy Spirit's power to give us the strength to accomplish His plans! Acts 2:1 “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.” We are Better Together! Pentecost means ‘fifteth'. Refers to the Jewish feast of Shavuot- 50 days after Passover. Pentecost is a harvest festival! Acts 2:41 ‘So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.' When the law was given-3,000 died. When Holy Spirit was given-3,000 were saved! This Pentecost fulfilled its eternally determined destiny. To provide power to give strength to believers. This power was introduced with spectacular signs: 1. Power Acts 2:2 ‘And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.' Suddenly-abruptly, unexpectedly and immediately. Not an actual wind but the sound of a mighty rushing wind. Violent blasting roar. 2. Presence Acts 2:3 ‘and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.' No one was left out and no one was excluded. Do you long for the power to be stronger? He is here to give it to you today! +++++++ You can find our service times on our website: https://www.anctally.com/ You can find sermon highlights on Twitter here: https://x.com/allnationstally

There is an obligation to recite the entire Hallel service on each of the eight days of Hanukah. This obligation applies regardless of whether one prays privately or with a Minyan; in either case, one is required to recite Hallel. Before reciting Hallel, one recites the Beracha, "…Asher Kideshanu Be'misvotav Ve'sivanu Li'gmor Et Ha'Hallel," and after the recitation, one recites the concluding Beracha of "Yehalelucha." If one mistakenly recited the "half-Hallel" on Hanukah – meaning, he omitted the sections of Hallel that are not recited during Hallel on Rosh Hodesh – then he must repeat the Hallel. However, he does not recite a Beracha before or after his repetition of Hallel. Women are exempt from the obligation of Hallel. Even though they are included in the obligation of the Hanukah candle lighting, they are nevertheless exempt from the Hallel obligation, just as they are not required to recite Hallel on the Yamim Tobim (Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot). A woman who wishes to recite the complete Hallel on Hanukah may certainly do so, but she should not recite the Berachot before or after the Hallel. One may not make any interruptions during the recitation of Hallel. One should not speak at all during Hallel, or use any gadgets – such as cell phones or Tablets – during Hallel. (Of course, one should not be using these gadgets at any point during the prayer service, as this is very disrespectful to the service.) However, if a person hears somebody recite a Beracha while he recites Hallel, he should answer "Amen" to the Beracha. Likewise, one may respond to Kaddish, Kedusha or Barechu during the Hallel recitation. It occasionally happens that the congregation completes Hallel and the Hazzan begins Kaddish before some congregants completed Hallel. They may interrupt their recitation of Hallel in order to answer to Kaddish. It is interesting to note that there is a verse in the Torah which alludes to the twenty-one days when we recite the complete Hallel. The Torah writes that before the flood, "Shenayim Shenayim Ba'u El Noah" ("two of each [animal] came to Noah" – Bereshit 7:9). The first word, "Shenayim" ("two"), alludes to the first two days of Pesah, when Diaspora communities recite the complete Hallel (as opposed to the other days of Pesah, when the half-Hallel is recited). The second "Shenayim" alludes to the two days of Shabuot, and the word "Ba'u" ("they came") has the numerical value of nine, referring to the nine days of Sukkot, Shemini Aseret and Simhat Torah. Finally, Noah's name in the phrase "El Noah" may be read as an acronym for the phrase "Ner Hanukah," thus alluding to the eight days of Hanukah, when we recite the full Hallel. Summary: Men are obligated to recite the complete Hallel on each day of Hanukah; women who wish to recite Hallel may do so, but without the Berachot. One who mistakenly recited "half-Hallel" on Hanukah must recite the whole Hallel, but without the Berachot. One may not make any interruptions during the Hallel recitation, except to answer "Amen" to a Beracha, or to respond to Kaddish, Kedusha or Barechu.

Day after Shavuot

Stephanie invites you today to spice up your faith by exploring unexpected connections between two great feasts. She dives deep into the intertwined celebrations of Pentecost in the Christian tradition, and Shavuot in the Jewish faith. Both festivals are celebrated 50 days post-Easter and Passover respectively, and invite us to reconnect with themes of gratitude, thanksgiving, and divine revelation. Through the enduring cycles of joy, preparation, and revelation, both Shavuot and Pentecost call believers into a deeper understanding of divine grace and the cyclical journey of faith. Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, concludes a significant period of anticipation following Passover. Observers commemorate this festival by reading the Ten Commandments and partaking in the harvest of wheat, lauded as the superior grain. Symbolically, Shavuot represents the culmination of the spring feasts, and includes the unique preparation of two loaves of leavened wheat bread, symbolizing humanity's sinful nature. Celebrated with offerings, figs, olive oil, and more, Shavuot is a joyous occasion steeped in history and spirituality. In the Christian liturgical calendar, Pentecost, celebrated on June 8, 2025, mirrors Shavuot's setting—50 days after the major religious observances of Easter and Passover. It marks the momentous occasion when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus's followers, empowering us to spread the gospel. God's presence attributes joy and delight to Pentecost, making it a critical event that signifies the birth of the church and believers' empowerment. Stephanie discusses these celebrations as a "rehearsal dinner" for the future wedding banquet, the final joyous gathering in Christ's return. This celebration encapsulates both preparation and revelation, drawing a parallel to the Israelites' three days of preparation to receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The festival's ladder-shaped challah symbolizes Moses' ascent to receive the Law, while its inclusion of yeast signifies the sinful nature that, through divine grace, will be fully redeemed. Central to both Shavuot and Pentecost, is the theme of harvest. The gathering of wheat represents the process of evangelism. As believers are sanctified through trials, they are refined wheat, ready for offering and transforming into the spiritual bread of life. In the same vein, Pentecost is a reminder of the Great Commission—empowering believers to go forth and harvest souls for the kingdom of God. Christ embodies the fulfillment of Shavuot. Just as Shavuot celebrates God's revelation to Moses, Pentecost commemorates the Holy Spirit's descension, ushering a new covenant. This underscores a deeper spiritual truth: the festival of Shavuot rehearses the believers' ultimate communion with God, transcending into a season of salvation heralded by Jesus' coming. Stephanie highlights a fascinating contrast between Jewish and Western traditions: the Jewish cyclical view of time versus the Western linear perspective. Shavuot, celebrated from sundown on June 1 to nightfall on June 3, 2025, emphasizes the end of the spring harvest—a marker in the cyclical liturgical calendar that heralds a pause until the fall feasts. Meanwhile, the Western tradition tends to perceive time as linear, steadily moving towards a future point. This cyclical nature of the Jewish liturgical calendar offers hope and progress, especially during periods that may seem monotonous. After the spring feasts conclude, the Jewish calendar enters a four-month period without festive observances until Rosh Hashanah. Stephanie encourages believers to view these "ordinary" times as infused with the joy and anticipation of Shavuot and Pentecost, reflecting the Christian longing between Christ's first and second comings. This period is an invitation to embody thankfulness, evangelism, and charity, preparing for the ultimate harvest in the final gathering. Stay tuned for more enlightening discussions on Holy Day traditions in upcoming episodes of Gospel Spice! Don't forget to check out our essential workbook to accompany this study. Stephanie personally created the content to invite you deeper into study. Don't miss out! It's at https://www.gospelspice.com/store We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with. Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog Identity in the battle | Ephesians https://www.podcastics.com/episode/74762/link/ Centering on Christ | The Tabernacle experience https://www.podcastics.com/episode/94182/link/ Shades of Red | Against human oppression https://www.podcastics.com/episode/115017/link/ God's glory, our delight  https://www.podcastics.com/episode/126051/link/   What matters to us here at Gospel Spice is to create a place where people who seek deeper intimacy with Jesus, will find Him. We want a warm, welcoming atmosphere to journey ever deeper into the heart of God. We believe it is the ultimate calling of the Christian life, and I like to summarize it with my motto, God's glory, our delight. That is why we invite you to “taste and see” that the Lord is good. And we have been doing this every day since 2019. We need YOU to keep Gospel Spice alive and growing.   Financially speaking, we rely on people who understand this vision and who understand that we cannot function without a minimum budget. We run an extremely tight budget. For example, I work full time but don't draw a salary. And yet, we have expenses – for example, the equipment and technology we use, and also the wonderfully gifted staff who make it possible to deliver high quality content all around the globe, and then the necessary occasional promotional budget to make it possible to be discovered by those who seek to live a life spiced with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need your help.   So we would love for you to consider if this ministry is blessing you to pay gospel spice forward. You can partner with us monthly with 10, 25, 50, 100, a month, or you can make one donation, once. And because we are a register nonprofit organization in the United States under the status of a 501c3 charity, it means that the amount that you pay to gospel spice is fully tax deductible. Completely tax deductible. So you're even saving money as you invest in gospel spice ministries. It is an eternal investment, and we are very grateful to you for it. Now it's very important to us that we give back as much as possible from what you give us. And so we commit to giving the majority of what we receive, once all of our administrative costs are paid, to organizations that fight human trafficking on the front line. There are many worthwhile causes in the world, so why this one? Because I have always personally felt deep compassion for victims of human trafficking – maybe because I have never been its victim myself, so I feel a responsibility to help those less fortunate than me. Also, because Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and that is something that revolts the heart of God. We want to play our part in raising awareness and then financially supporting those who fight this great evil.   So, we do some due diligence. We pick organizations who have proven themselves trustworthy of our support. And then we give money to these Christians organizations that fight human trafficking. So would you consider paying us forward at gospelspice.com/payitforward? Your hard-earned money is always well used at Gospel Spice. Ultimately, you are giving back to the Kingdom, a portion of what Jesus has given you. We are well aware of the privilege to steward your partnership. And my prayer is always that you will find your own life spiced with the gospel as you partner with us to flavor the lives of those around us, near and far, with the spice of the gospel.   Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

A new mishnah! With more on the bridal gifts -- she received gifts after kiddushin, and before nisuin, so they were sent to her father's house, because she hadn't yet been fully married and moved to her husband's house. But then the gifts are not collected in the event that they never reach nisuin. But if the groom eats with the bride's family, the groom gives up his claim on the gifts (even if nisuin doesn't happen). Without that meal with the purported "in-laws," he would still have the claim on them. And not if he said she should be using them still in her parents' house. All of these are things that lose value over time. The Gemara cites cases where issues did creep in between bride and groom. For example, a groom who sent new wine, new oil, and linen in the run-up to Shavuot, in praise of the land of Israel. And another case of a woman who had lost her sense of smell, and who dies before nisuin. Also, coming back to define the bridal gifts and the groomsmen gifts. Plus, another new mishnah - with the case of a person on his deathbed, who gives away all of his property. When does he mean to divest of his possessions even if he gets better, and what must he do to condition the gift on his actual death?

Today I started over a cycle of reading the Bible in a year.  https://hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/read-bible-in-a-year-2024-2025.pdf Wikipedia on Rosh Hashanah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah In the first reading of the yearly Bible reading in Genesis it's shows how God seems to have built this concept of cycles into the fabric of His creation. Day Week Month Year - disputes around the proper calendar - 12 months Shmita - 7 years - let land rest Jubilee - 50 years From Revival Ministries International Publish date: 03/30/2003  The Lord began dealing with me recently about the Year of Jubilee. I believe that this is our Year of Jubilee! In Nazareth, at His local Synagogue, Jesus was handed the book of Isaiah and He read from chapter 61:  The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed one, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], 19 To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound.] Luke 4:18-19 AMP  Jesus preached that the acceptable year of the Lord was here—the Year of Jubilee, which took place every 50th year—the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound (Leviticus 25). What Jesus was really saying was, "I am your Year of Jubilee!"   THE LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 Say to the Israelites, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits. 4 But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap and the grapes on your uncultivated vine you shall not gather, for it is a year of rest to the land. 6 And the sabbath rest of the [untilled] land shall [in its increase] furnish food for you, for your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the temporary resident who lives with you, 7 For your domestic animals also and for the [wild] beasts in your land; all its yield shall be for food.8 And you shall number seven sabbaths or weeks of years for you, seven times seven years, so the total time of the seven weeks of years shall be forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month [almost October]; on the Day of Atonement blow the trumpet in all your land. 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his ancestral possession [which through poverty he was compelled to sell], and each of you shall return to his family [from whom he was separated in bond service]. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall not sow, or reap and store what grows of itself, or gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat the [sufficient] increase of it out of the field. 13 In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his ancestral property. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. Leviticus 25:1-14 AMP Under the Old Covenant every seventh year was a time to let the ground rest so that it could recover and come back stronger, producing a stronger, healthier, more abundant harvest. But the fiftieth year—Jubilee—was an extra special year. It was a Holy year. In the last year, before the year of rest, God caused the ground to produce three times as much fruit so that His people could eat and be satisfied whilst the ground rested and whilst they rested in His goodness.   Jubilee is a year of faith—where you rest from your own labors and your own efforts—allowing God's goodness to lead you and feed you. God wants us to remember that it is He Who watches over us, feeding us, guiding us, and providing for us. If we forget this, we will wear ourselves out with our own efforts, but if we remember that He is the source of our life and every good thing in our life, then we can relax in Him and focus on worshipping Him and yielding to Him.  Jubilee is a time to let slaves go free, to redeem what has been lost and to reach out and help both family and neighbors and those who cannot help themselves. In the year of Jubilee, even though you do not plow or prune or sow, you are still able to eat of the fruit that the ground produces.  You cannot reap from a field that you have never sown, but when you have faithfully sown and sown and sown and then God calls a Jubilee year for you, then you know that it is a year of rest for you, a year of extra blessings, a year of eating from the abundance of the provision that your Father has provided for you as you rest in Him.  When Jesus said, "Today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears," the people of Nazareth were very angry with Him and did not receive Him, but I declare to you today that Jesus is YOUR Jubilee—if you receive Him you will go free! Jesus has come to restore your joy, your family, your property and your inheritance. Every promise that God has made you in His Word is yours.   So receive Him as your Jubilee—rest in Him and enjoy His blessings.  https://www.revival.com/a/287-jesus-our-jubilee#:~:text=Jesus%20preached%20that%20the%20acceptable,profusely%20abound%20(Leviticus%2025). Continuing on with cycles: Beyond Jubilee? 1 day is as a thousand years. Plan for His creation built into the first week of Creation Why the Jubilee? Freedom, pointing to Yeshua Messiah 2030 https://youtu.be/4AG_nJNcTjM?si=4ONS-wbC3oOqQM3A Uses many prophesies and the concept of the Jubilee Entering into year 5785 What is purpose of cycles? Virtuous vs vicious cycles Do not just a mindless pattern but an opportunity to repeat and through our choices either improve or get worse, evolve or devolve, become more like God or less like God, more holy or more wicked, more wise or more foolish How does our culture generally and Christianity specifically treat cycles Main difference is degree to which they are specifically tied to God and His ways as defined by God Himself With time, our week begins on Monday and ends on Friday defined by our work, followed by a 2-day weekend, defined by our priorities (fun or home projects), if you're church goer that weekend also includes church on Sunday.  What do we ask Monday morning and how do we answer? Our months vary in length of days, are named after Greek Gods. The year is mostly defined by a mix of civil and religious holidays, none if which were prescribed in the Bible and none of which significantly improve our understanding of God, His ways, and His grand plan for all time including His future plans, second coming of Christ and how we will spend eternity.  Some other ways, depending on our interests, our cycles are defined are by sports or politics. There is no concept or even awareness of a Shmita or Jubilee year and there is no recognition of the moedim or appointed times throughout the year, namely the Lords Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles. One exception is the Christian church celebrates Pentecost or Shavuot but because there is no attempt to understand how it was originally practiced much of its richness and meaning is lost. Why is this important?  Virtuous cycle. By our definition? Improving financially? More educated (know more of what we think is important to know)?  More loving? Love is the common agreed upon worthy goal, but how should love be defined, by us? By the creation or the Creator? One of Gods desires for us, as stated by Yeshua, is for us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. The New Covenant as described in prophesies like Jeremiah as well as by Yeshua and writers of the New Testament is for the law to be written on our hearts.  My limited understanding of this is that God wants us to love Him and others, and to do it in the way He wants us to do it.  I've only been participating in and practicing the Lord's Feasts and observing His Sabbath on day 7 for a handful of years.  I'm certainly no expert. But with my limited exposure and understanding I can see how following His law and His cycles of life, to the extent that I'm doing so, puts me into a virtuous cycle. Each day, week, month, year I'm learning more about the Fathers ways and how wonderful, and simultaneously complex and simple they are. I also am learning more about His great plan for all time including what to expect in the future.  This is incredibly important at a time when the future of our nation and the world, as well as the future of our own personal lives, can seem on the surface to be so uncertain. We may at times feel like we've made no “progress” in our lives, especially if we're going a difficult season.  With the proper perspective, though, we can see how God works what appear to us to be tragedies and “bad” events for our good, helping shape us to be more like Him, understand His character better, and be more dependent on Him. Praise: Malachi 3:6 "I am the LORD, I change not" James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Thank You Abba that You do not change.  We're not trying to figure out how You changed, but rather than how WE need to change to be more like You, and more like the person You made us to become. Help us to understand how Your cycles which You built into the fabric of Creation are important, and why You asked us to follow them as You have commanded.  And when we don't understand the why, Father help us to obey even without the full understanding and trust You that Your ways are best, best for us individually as well as best for all of mankind.     Psalm 110:4: "The LORD has s

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle, authors of “Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook.”    “The book is a celebration of Jewish Mexican identity, but it also is a celebration of all diaspora identity and how people connect with culture and movement through food,” says Boyle, director of Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies at Bowdoin College and associate professor of Romance Languages and Literatures.    Featuring 100 personal recipes, enjoyed by Mexican Jews around the world, “Sabor Judío” shares the vibrant history of Jewish immigration to Mexico from 1492 to the present. Organized by meal, and including dishes made for Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Hanukkah, Shavuot and other holidays, it connects the past to the present and the future.   “It's really a book about how different generations have migrated with food from one region of the world to another,” Stavans explains. Originally from Mexico, Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College and the publisher of Restless Books.    “The extraordinary story of immigration is that it is never static … and food is [a] wonderful  opportunity to understand those changes,” he says.   The authors spent a decade gathering recipes and personal narratives from Jewish Mexican households. The result: the ultimate comfort food cultural combination.    “Put the [food of the Jewish and Mexican] cultures together, [and] there's so much warmth, you might never stop eating,” Boyle says.   Stavans and Boyle talk about how they met, the evolution of the project, and how they hope people will use their cookbook. They also share food memories, some of their favorite meals, their combined recipe for brisket tacos - which you can find at JewishJournal.com - and more.   Learn more about “Sabor Judio,” Ilan Stavans at RestlessBooks.org and Margaret Boyle on the Bowdoin College website.   For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

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“I never thought there's antisemitism. It's something from the past, for my grandparents, for my mom a little, but it's not something in my generation, or my kids' generation. It's done . . . apparently, not.” Einat Admony is a chef, cookbook author, comedian, and social media star who grew up in Bnei Brak, Israel. With parents from Iran and Yemen, Einat spent her childhood in the kitchens of Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi neighbors. Learn about her family's deep-rooted Jewish heritage in Iran and the broader Middle East. Along with her mother Ziona's journey from Iran to Israel in 1948, Einat discusses the antisemitism she's dealt with online and on the streets in the past year. Hear her stories of Jewish-Muslim coexistence in Iran and memories of spices and perfumes that inspire Einat's dishes. Her cookbooks Balaboosta and Shuk, along with her Manhattan restaurant Balaboosta, reflect a blend of tradition and innovation. “You could not have Judaism today, if it were not for the Jews of Iran,” says Houman Sarshar, an independent scholar and director of publications at the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History in Los Angeles. Sarshar highlights the historical relationship between Iran and Israel, noting that Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel post-1948.  The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by Jews in Iran, their cultural integration, and the impact of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.  —- Show notes: How much do you know about Jewish history in the Middle East? Take our quiz. Sign up to receive podcast updates. Learn more about the series. Song credits:  Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Suspense Middle East” Publisher: Victor Romanov, Composer: Victor Romanov; Item ID: 196056047 ___ Episode Transcript: EINAT ADMONY: I've been in Israel a few months ago. It's like you always feel loved, you always feel supported. It's still home. It's always going to be my home. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations despite hardship, hostility, and hatred, then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East.  The world has ignored these voices. We will not.  This is The Forgotten Exodus. Today's episode: Leaving Iran. MANYA: Whether she's deviling eggs soaked in beet juice, simmering Oxtail in shawarma spices, or sprinkling za'atar on pastry dough, chef Einat Admony is honoring her family's Middle Eastern heritage. Both the places where they have lived for generations, as well as the place they have and will always call home: Israel.   EINAT/Clip: Start with brushing the puff pastry with olive oil and za'atar. Have some feta all around and shredded mozzarella. Take the other sheet and just cut it to one inch strips. Now we're going to twist. Need to be careful. Now we're just gonna brush the top with the mix of oil and za'atar. Get it some shiny and glazy. This is ready for the oven. Bake at 400 until it's golden. That's it super easy, just sprinkle some za'atar and eat. MANYA: For the chef, author, reality TV star, and comedian, food reflects the Zionist roots that have been a constant for Einat, the self-made balaboosta, who is largely credited with introducing Israeli cuisine to the U.S. That love for Israel goes back generations, long before the modern state existed, when her maternal ancestors lived in the land, that until 1935 was known as Persia, but is now known as Iran. Her own mother Ziona, the third of seven siblings, was even named for the destination where Einat's grandparents aspired to one day raise their family. Returning home to the land of Zion from which Jews had been exiled centuries earlier was always the goal. When you ask her why, Einat laughs in disbelief.  EINAT: Why? Why? That's homeland. I think a lot of Jewish people for hundreds of years was, that's in every prayer, it's in every Shabbat dinner evening. MANYA: The hatred directed toward Israel by Iran's regime in the form of the deadly attacks on Israel by Iran-backed terrorist groups and the Islamic Republic of Iran itself make it hard to believe that Iran was once a place where Jews and the Zionist movement thrived. But in fact, Iran's history includes periods when the wide-open roads between Iran and Israel ran two ways and the countries not only lived in harmony but worked in close partnership.  Iran was the second Muslim-majority country after Turkey to recognize the modern state of Israel after its formation in 1948, and the two established diplomatic ties. Regular flights ran between Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport and Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.  SARSHAR: We cannot overlook the fact that since October 29, 539 BCE the Jewish community of Iran remains to this day the largest community of Jews anywhere in the Middle East outside the state of Israel. To this day. You could not have Judaism today, if it were not for the Jews of Iran.  MANYA: Houman Sarshar is an independent scholar and director of publications at the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History in Los Angeles. He has edited a number of books, including Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews.  SARSHAR: The history of the Jews in Iran begins about 2,700 years ago, when the first community of known Jews was taken to Iran. They are commonly believed to be one of the 10 Lost Tribes. And then when we fast forward to when Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and took Jews into captivity. Some years after that at 539 BCE on October 29, 539 BCE, to be exact, Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, liberated Babylon and gave Jews the permission to go back to Israel and rebuild the Second Temple. MANYA: Cyrus the Great – a Persian emperor particularly renowned among contemporary scholars for the respect he showed toward peoples' customs and religions in the lands that he conquered. According to the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus even paid for the restoration of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. SARSHAR: This is known as the Second Temple period in Jewish history, and under the Achaemenid dynasty, Jews participated in every level of society. And a few centuries forward, around the 5th Century, we know the Jews continue to live with many freedoms, because that is the era when the Babylonian Talmud was originally produced in Iran by Rav Ashi. So, you know, there was a thriving rabbanut (rabbanite) in Iran who had the freedom and the luxury and the time to be able to produce such an important document as the Talmud, which has become the cornerstone of all jurisprudence that we know, Western law, and everything. MANYA: The advent and arrival of Islam in Iran in the 7th Century CE changed circumstances somewhat. As was the case across the Middle East, all non-Muslims became dhimmis – residents who paid a special tax and lived under certain restrictions. The situation for Jews worsened in the 16th Century when the Safavid dynasty made the Shiite creed the dominant form of Islam in Iran. Fatwas made life for all non-Shiites quite difficult. SARSHAR: And for reasons that are still open to discussion, all of these restrictions were most vehemently imposed on the Jews of Iran. And because of these restrictions, all non-Shiites were considered religiously impure. And this religious impurity, kind of like the concept of the untouchable sect in India, they were considered pollutive. MANYA: Jews could not look Muslims in the eye. They were placed in ghettos called mahaleh where they could not leave on rainy days for fear the water that splattered on them could contaminate the water supply. They wore yellow stars and special shoes to distinguish them from the rest of the population. They were not allowed to purchase property from Muslims or build homes with walls that were higher than those of their Muslim neighbors. SARSHAR: They could not, for example, participate in the trade of edible goods because, you know, fruits and vegetables and meats carried this pollution. So Muslims could no longer consume the foods that were touched by Jews. And as a result, this created a certain path forward in history for the Jews of Iran.  They went into antique trades. They went into carpet trades. They went into work of textiles. They became musicians. And for the following 500 years, these restrictions kind of guided the way the Jews of Iran lived in that country, even though they had been there for thousands of years previously. MANYA: Houman said the 1895 arrival of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Paris-based network of schools for Jewish children throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including within the mahalehs in Persia, was the first step in a series of improvements for Jews there. SARSHAR: Previous to that, Jews were not allowed to get any kind of an education whatsoever. The only teachers were the Muslim clergy, and they refused to teach anything to Jewish students. So this allowed for the Jewish community to finally start to get a Western-style education, which was very important at that time, given all of the dynamics that were going on in society with modernity. MANYA: As educational opportunities increased in the middle of the 19th Century, so did opportunities for the courtiers and elite to travel and see the Western world as it industrialized and modernized, expanding international trade and sharing wealth more widely. SARSHAR: Often they would be sent by their families to go and try to see if they can, you know, find a way to expand the family's businesses and lives as merchants, and they would come back shocked. I mean, Iran was a place where you know of mostly mud brick homes and dirt roads and people riding around on donkeys. And imagine this is all you've known. You never see women walking around the street. The only women you have ever seen with your own eyes in your life are your mom, your sister, your daughter or your wife, and occasionally, sex workers. And that's it. So all of a sudden, you know, you travel a couple of months by boat and train, and you get to Paris, and it's impossible to try to even conceive of the experience. It must have been something like the Hegelian experience of the sublime. What can the world look like? And where is it that I live in, and why isn't my country the same as this? MANYA: By the early 20th Century, the Persian people concluded the answer to that question was in the rule of law. The reason the European nations provided such opportunity for the community at-large had to do with the fact that the law of the land was not arbitrary or enforced by religion or royalty. It was embedded in a constitution – a set of laws that define the structure of a government and the rights of its citizens – a Western tenet that reduced the power of the clergy and created a parliament called the Majles. SARSHAR: They were starting to read travel journals. They were starting to understand the perspective that Westerners had on Iranians, and those perspectives were often awful. You know, the Western world believed, for example –the country was corrupt to the bone in every respect.  So all of these things gradually led to a call for a constitution, the major pivot of which was the establishment of a legislature of law that would start to create a community where everyone can feel like they're equal in the eyes of the law and have something to gain by trying to improve the country as a whole. Iran became the first constitutional monarchy in the Middle East in 1906 when that revolution happened, it was a momentous event. And really, things really, really did, in fact, start to change. MANYA: In 1925, Reza Shah Pahlavi – an arch nationalist who wanted to propel Iran forward into the industrial age – took over the crown of Iran. He welcomed any Iranian citizen to participate in that agenda. SARSHAR: By now, we had a good two generations of Jews who had been French-educated by the Allianz Society.  They had all gone to France at some point in their lives, so they were able to participate in this industrialization of the country, given the language skills that they had and some of the connections they had built in the Western world. MANYA: Both World Wars in Europe took a massive toll on Iran. Despite declaring neutrality, Iran was occupied by European nations that took over the nation's agriculture, treating Iran as a pantry to feed the armies. Droughts and disease worsened the toll. SARSHAR: One of the lesser-known factoids about history is that during World War I, the nation that lost the most individuals as a result of the war was Iran. Above and beyond all European nations who were at war, because of a famine that had started in Iran. The same dynamic started to happen in World War II. MANYA: With nationalist fever sweeping Europe and Iran, the Allies feared the arch-nationalist Shah would go the way of Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, and Hitler in Germany. They also feared the Shah would collaborate with Hitler's Germany to provide oil for the German oil machine and cease being the pantry the Allies needed it to be. In 1941, the Western powers convinced him to abdicate the throne to his son Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. And when the war ended, Iran was able to enjoy the same economic benefits as the rest of the world at peace time. Most importantly, it was able to profit from its own oil reserves, significantly boosting Iran's national income. SARSHAR: In 1941, it was really the beginning of what is commonly referred to by the scholars of Jewish Iranian history as the Golden Age of Iranian Jewry. From 1941 until the revolution in 1978, the Jewish community of Iran saw a meteoric rise to power and social wealth. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance, real estate development, and other major industries, the aluminum plastics industries in Iran, all were either directly owned by the Jews of Iran or managed under their management.  And during this period, really, we can say that for the first time, after 2,500 years, the Jews of Iran really started to experience the kinds of freedoms that they had not seen since the Achaemenid dynasty. And it is during this time that, you know, we see, really, that life started to change for the Jews of Iran, even though some of the age-old social dynamics were still there.  The institutionalized antisemitism had not been completely wiped out. But for the most part, things had changed because Iranian society in general was also being Westernized, light speed. And many educated people had realized that antisemitism was really looked down upon, you know, that kind of prejudice was really no longer acceptable in the world at large. So many, many sections of the community really had shifted, genuinely shifted. And some, even though maybe their feelings had not changed, knew that their antisemitism was something that they needed to keep private. MANYA: At that time, Iran also became a refuge for Jews fleeing Europe and other parts of the Middle East. On June 1, 1941, a brutal pogrom in Iraq known as the Farhud, incited by Nazi propaganda, targeted Jews celebrating the holiday of Shavuot. Nearly 200 Jews were murdered in the streets. The violence became a turning point for Iraqi Jews. Thousands fled, many stopping in Iran, which became a way station for those headed to Palestine.  In 1942, thousands of Jewish refugees from Poland who had fled across the border into the Soviet Union during the German invasion traveled on trains and ships to Iran. Among the refugees – 1,000 orphaned children.  As Zionist leaders worked to negotiate the young Jews' immigration to Palestine, the Jewish Agency established the “Tehran Home for Jewish Children” – a complex of tents on the grounds of a former Iranian Air Force barracks outside Tehran. More than 800 orphans, escorted by adults, most of them also refugees, moved from Tehran to kibbutzim in Palestine the following year. Later, in 1948, when most Arab League states forbade the emigration of their Jews after the creation of Israel, the Zionist underground continued to smuggle Jews to Iran at about a rate of 1,000 a month, before they were flown to Israel. SARSHAR: The Zionist movement was fairly strong in Iran. It was a very lively movement. The Balfour Declaration was celebrated in all of the Allianz schools in Iran, and very soon thereafter, the first Zionist organization of Iran was established. And truly many of its founding fathers were some of the leading industrialists and intellectuals in Iranian society, in the Jewish Iranian community for the years to come. It was not unlike the kind of Zionism we see today in the United States, for example. You know, the wealthy families of the Jewish communities in New York and Los Angeles, all are very passionate about Israel, but you don't see very many of them selling their homes and packing up and moving to Israel because they just don't want to do it. They feel like they're very comfortable here. And what matters is that a state of Israel should exist, and they are political advocates of that state and of that policy and of its continued existence, but not necessarily diehard participants in the experiment itself. Iranians, after the establishment of the State of Israel, were being encouraged to move to Israel, and the Israeli government was having a lot of difficulty with that, because a lot of Iranians were seeing that life had become better for them, and they weren't as willing to leave, despite the fact that the Kourosh Project provided airplanes to get Jews out of Iran. My own great-grandmother was one of those passengers. She is buried in Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. She was one of the early citizens of Israel who went to live out the Zionist dream. MANYA: Both sides of Einat's family – her mother and father's ancestors – were among those early Israeli citizens. Einat's father was born in Tel Aviv. His parents and grandparents had come from Yemen in the late 19th Century. Einat's mother Ziona was 10 years old when in 1948, the family left Kerman, a city in southeastern Iran known for its carpet weaving and woolen shawls. They arrived in Israel with their suitcases ready to fulfill their dream. But living the dream in the new Jewish nation was not easy. After all, the day after Israel declared its independence, Arab nations attacked the Jewish state, launching the first of a series of Arab-Israeli Wars. EINAT: The story of my mom, it's a very interesting story. The family didn't have much money. There wasn't like, rich family that left, very different story. No, both of my parents come from very, I would say, very poor family. My grandpa was, like, dealing with textile. He was like, traveling from town to town with fabric. And that's what they did. They put them in what's called ma'aborot, which was like a very kind of small villages, tin houses. My mom always said there were seven kids, so all of them in one room. In the winter it's freezing; in the summer, it's super hot. But it was also close to the border, so the one window they have, they always had to cover it so at night, the enemy cannot see the light inside that room and shoot there. Also in the ma'aabarot, nobody speaks the same language. So, it was Moroccan and Iraqi and nobody speak the same dialect or the same language. So, they cannot even communicate quite yet. MANYA: Most of Ziona's six siblings did not go to school. To make it possible for Ziona, her parents placed her in a foster home with an Iraqi family in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. EINAT: My mom's family decided that for her, she should get education, because most of the siblings didn't went to school or anything, So they put her in a foster home. In an Iraqi home, and she didn't speak a word there. So my mom, as a 10 years old, became a kid for foster parents that live in a center in Ramat Gan, where I basically grew up. And she got education, which was great. She learned also Iraqi, which is Arabic. So she speaks fluent Arabic, but she had not an easy life in coming to Israel from a different country. MANYA: Ziona has shared many of these stories with her daughter in the kitchen and dining room as they prepare and enjoy dishes that remind them of home. When she visited her daughter at her home in upstate New York at the end of the summer, Einat collected as many stories as she could over cutting boards, steaming pots, and sizzling pans. EINAT: There's a lot of story coming up, some old story that I know, some new stories. And it's really nice, because my mom is 84, 85. So, it's really nice to capture all of it, all of it. There is a lot of interesting stuff that happened during the first 10 years when she came to Israel.  That's the main, I think, I always talk about, like, how I grew up and how much food was a very substantial part of our life, if not the biggest part. You know, it's like, family can fight and this, but when it's come to the dinner, it's just change everything, the dynamic. For us, it was a big, significant part of everything. So obviously, most of these stories and memories come in while we're cooking or eating. A lot of time she used to talk about, and still talking about the smells, the smells of the flowers, the smells of the zafar (perfume). She still have the nostalgia from that time and talking very highly about what Iran used to be, and how great, and the relationship between the Muslims and the Jews back then. My grandpa's best friend was crying when he left, and he said: ‘Please don't go. Stay with us.' And he said: ‘I want to go to homeland.' So, they have a really great relationship. She's always talking, actually, about how they come for Shabbat dinner, the friends if they put the cigarettes outside of the door in Shabbat because they were observant. So cigarettes, lighter, everything, they keep it outside, in the garden, not coming inside the house. So a lot of mutual respect for the religion to each other. And I love that stories. It just showed what's happened when people take it extreme. MANYA: Einat's cookbooks and restaurant menus are filled with recipes from her own childhood and her parents' upbringing. To satisfy the appetite of her father, a former Israeli athlete, her house always had hummus and every weekend, the family made a hilbeh sauce --  a traditional Yemenite fenugreek dip made with cardamom, caraway seeds and chili flakes. Other recipes reflect her mother's Persian roots. And then there are recipes that, at first blush, seem to come out of left field, but are inspired by the Iraqi Jewish foster family that raised her mother, and the Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi neighbors that passed through the dining room and kitchen where Einat was raised in Bnei Brak.  Now a Haredi town east of Tel Aviv, it was then a diverse population of Jews from, well, everywhere. Einat still remembers standing on a stool next to the Moroccan neighbor in her building learning how to roll couscous. EINAT: One neighbor that was my second mom, her name was Tova, and she was Moroccan, so it was like, I have another Moroccan mom. But all the building was all Holocaust survivors. None of them had kids, and they were all speaking in Yiddish, mostly. So I grew up with a lot of mix. I wouldn't say, you know, in my time, it's not like our neighborhood. I grew up in Bnei Brak, and our neighborhood was very, it was before Bnei Brak became so religious like today. It was still religious, if you go really in, but we're close to Ramat Gan, and I have to say that it's, I would say, I didn't grow up with, it's very mixed, very mixed.  Wouldn't say I grew up just with Moroccan or Mizrahi, I say that it's very, very mixed. And my mom same. I think a lot of her friend is like, It's my mom would speak some Yiddish. She would do Kugel on Shabbat next to the jachnun and all the Mizrahi food. You know, this is the multi-pot and one things I love in Israel. You can see in one table so many different cultures. And that's something that would have happened in my house a lot. MANYA: That amalgam of Jewish cultures is reflected in her cookbooks Balaboosta and Shuk. It also shows up in her menu at the brick-and-mortar Balaboosta, a quaint Middle Eastern trattoria on Mulberry Street in Manhattan.  The name Balaboosta is borrowed from Yiddish meaning “a perfect housewife” – a twist on ba'al habayit, Hebrew for master of the house, or boss. But Einat insists that the term is no longer exclusively Ashkenazi, nor does it refer exclusively to a woman's domestic role. EINAT: An old friend, chef, asked me when I went to open Balaboosta, and I said, ‘I don't have a name.' She said: ‘What do you call a badass woman in Hebrew?' I'm like, ‘balaboosta.' She said, ‘It's a perfect name. We done.' Took five minutes to find this name, and I love it. It's really connected because for me it's so so much different things. You know, I always talk about the 20th century balaboosta. The balaboosta that outside going to work, the balaboosta that asking a man for a date. The balaboosta that it's not just like she's the housewife and the homekeeper. It's much more than that. Today, she's a multitask badass.  It's much more spiritual than what it is. I think it's the one that can bond the people together and bring them together and make peace between two parties clashing. So for me, it's much more than somebody that can cook and clean. So, much, much more than that. MANYA: Einat's parents became more religious when she was 12, which of course had the opposite effect on their daughter: she rebelled. When her time came to do her mandatory service in the Israel Defense Force, she was determined not to serve in a role typically assigned to women. She requested a post as a firing instructor. But after reviewing the high school transcript shaped by her rebellious adolescence, the IDF assigned her to the Nevatim Air Base where she served as a chauffeur for fighter pilots. EINAT: Back then most women would be secretaries giving coffee to some assholes. I was trying not to do that, and somehow I got very lucky, and I was in the same division, I was in the Air Force. I had amazing time for two years. I start the military a very different person, and left a very different person. I used to hang with a lot of bad people before, really bad people. And when I get to the military, I was a driver of pilots, it's the top of the top of the top in the hierarchy in the military in all IDF. So now I'm hanging with people that have the biggest ambition ever, and I'm learning new stuff, and everything opened up, even my language changed completely. Everything. I was want to travel more than I ever want before, and I have like, crazy dreams. MANYA: To make sure the elite pilots were well-fed, the IDF bused in a group of Yemenite grandmothers to provide ochel bayit, or home-cooked meals. Einat befriended the kitchen staff and helped out from time to time. Then in January 1991, she was tapped to cook a meal that probably launched her career. The IDF chiefs of staff had convened at Nevatim base to discuss the U.S. plan to bomb Iraq during the Gulf War and what Israel would do if Saddam Hussein retaliated with an attack on the Jewish state. But they needed to plot that strategy on full stomachs. A couple of pilots served as her sous chefs. That night, the Israeli generals dined on Chinese chicken with garlic, honey, and soy. And a rice salad. EINAT: It was definitely the turning point, the military.  I would say there is some values of relationship and working ethics that I wouldn't see anywhere else, and that's coming, I think because the military. They're waking up in the morning, the friendship, they're no snitching or none of this. It's to stand up for each other. There is so many other values that I grabbed from that. So when I start my culinary career, and I was in a fine dining kitchen, it was very helpful, very helpful. MANYA: After spending five years in a van driving around Germany – an extended celebration of freedom after IDF service --  it was time to get serious about a career. A culinary career made as good a sense as any. Einat worked as a waitress in Eilat and enrolled in culinary school. At the end, she marched into the kitchen of Keren, one of the first restaurants in Israel to offer haute cuisine. She got an internship, then a job. The former restaurant, run by Israeli Chef and television host Haim Cohen, is credited for reinventing Israeli cuisine. Now, as a restaurant owner and TV personality herself, Einat is largely credited for introducing Israeli cuisine to the U.S. But before she became the self-made Balaboosta of fine Israeli dining, Einat was America's Falafel Queen, made famous by two victories on the Food Network's show Chopped and her first restaurant – now a fast food chain called Ta'im Falafel. But her fame and influence when it comes to Israeli cooking has exposed her to a fair bit of criticism. She has become a target on social media by those who accuse Israelis of appropriating Palestinian foods – an argument she calls petty and ridiculous. So ridiculous, she has found the best platform to address it is on the stage of her new hobby: stand-up comedy. Cooking has always been her Zen. But so is dark humor. EINAT: I like comedy more than anything, not more than food, but close enough. EINAT/Clip: Yeah, this year was great here on Instagram, lot of hate comments, though. A lot about food appropriation, me making Arabic dishes. So let me clarify something here. I check my DNA through ancestry.com and I am 97% Middle Eastern, so I fucking bleed hummus. EINAT: It's very petty. Food, supposed always to share. Food supposed to moving forward.  It's tiring and life is much more complex than to even argue and have a debate about stupid things. I'm done. OK, yes, we're indigenous.I have connection to the land. My parents, my grandparents and great grandparents have connection to that land. Okay, I get it. Now we need to solve what's going on, because there was Palestinian that lived there before, and how we can, for me, how we change the ideology, which I don't see how we can, but how we can change the ideology, convince them that they want peace. And they want…I don't know. MANYA: Needless to say, in the year that has followed the attacks of October 7, stand-up comedy has not been the balm it once was. The attacks that unfolded that day by Iran-backed terrorists that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250 more was simply too devastating. EINAT: I was broken there, my husband was with me, I was every day on a bed crying, and then going to work, and it was like I couldn't hear music, because every music thinking about Nova and my friends and then I couldn't see babies with a mom. Everything was a trigger. It was bad. We had a disaster of October 7 and then October 8 to see the world reaction was another. It's not just enough that we going through so much grief and need to kind of contain all that emotion and crazy and anger and rage and now we need to see the world's. Like, ok. I never thought there is antisemitism. It's something from the past, for my grandparents, for my mom a little, but it's not something in my generation, or my kids' generation. It's done, apparently, not. MANYA: The lack of sympathy around the world and among her culinary peers only amplified Einat's grief. As a way to push for a cease-fire and end U.S. support for Israel, nearly 900 chefs, farmers and others in the food industry signed a pledge to boycott Israel-based food businesses and culinary events that promote Israel. EINAT: I felt very, very alone, very alone. The first few months, I felt like, wow, not one call from anyone to check on me. It was pretty sad. At the same time, I'm in the best company ever Jewish community. There is nothing like that, nothing. MANYA: Her team at Balaboosta also checked in on their Israeli boss. But they too were scared. Soon after she posted pictures of the hostages on the window of her restaurant, she confronted a group of teenagers who tried to tear them down. EINAT: I stand in front of them and I said, ‘You better move fast'. MANYA: It's no secret that Iran helped plan Oct. 7. What is not as well known is how many Jews still live and thrive in Iran. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, there were nearly 100,000 Jews in Iran. Today, Israeli sources say the population numbers less than 10,000, while the regime and Iran's Jewish leaders say it's closer to 20,000. Regardless, Iran's Jewish community remains the largest in the Middle East outside Israel.  To be sure, the constitution adopted in 1906 is still in place nominally, and it still includes Jews as a protected religious minority. Jews in Iran have synagogues, access to kosher meat, and permission to consume wine for Shabbat, despite a national ban on alcohol. There's also a Jewish representative in Iran's parliament or Majlis. But all women and girls regardless of religion are required to wear a veil, according to the Islamist dress code, and Jews are pressured to vote in elections at Jewish-specific ballot stations so the regime can monitor their participation. Zionism is punishable by death and after Oct. 7, the regime warned its Jewish citizens to sever contact with family and friends in Israel or risk arrest. They also can't leave. Iranian law forbids an entire Jewish nuclear family from traveling abroad at the same time. At least one family member, usually the father, must remain behind to prevent emigration. But Houman points out that many Iranian Jews, including himself, are deeply attached to Iranian culture. As a resident of Los Angeles, he reads Persian literature, cooks Persian herb stew for his children and speaks in Persian to his pets. He would return to Iran in an instant if given the opportunity to do so safely. For Jews living in Iran it may be no different. They've become accustomed to living under Islamist laws. They may not want to leave, even if they could. SARSHAR: The concept of living and thriving in Iran, for anyone who is not related to the ruling clergy and the Revolutionary Guard, is a dream that feels unattainable by anyone in Iran, let alone the Jews. In a world where there is really no fairness for anyone, the fact that you're treated even less fairly almost fades. MANYA: Scholars say since the Islamic Revolution, most Jews who have left Iran have landed in Los Angeles or Long Island, New York. Still, more Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel – possibly more than all other countries combined. The reason why? Because so many like Einat's family made aliyah–up until the mid-20th Century.  It's hard to say where another exodus might lead Iranian Jews to call home. Einat will be forever grateful that her family left when they still could and landed in a beautiful and beloved place. Though she lives in the U.S. now, she travels back to Israel at least twice a year. EINAT: It's a dream for every Jew, it's not just me. It's the safe zone for every Jew. It's the one place that, even if we have, it's not safe because there is people around us that want to kill us. It's still emotionally. You know, I've been in Israel a few months ago, it's like, you always feel loved, you always feel supported. It's incredible. And it's still home. It's always going to be my home. MANYA: Persian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Middle Eastern and North African countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Many thanks to Einat for sharing her family's story. You can enjoy some of her family's favorite recipes in her cookbooks Balaboosta and Shuk. Her memoir Taste of Love was recently released in  an audio and digital format.  Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible. You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

Chazal tell us that the malachim ask HaKadosh Baruch Hu why the Jewish people don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. The Chatam Sofer in his Derashot asked, why would the angels think that we should say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. On Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, we are celebrating the miracles that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Mitzrayim and gave us the Torah. So that is why we say Hallel on those holidays. But there were no miracles that took place on Rosh Hashanah that should warrant saying Hallel. So why would they think that we should say it? The Chatam Sofer answered, that we have been in galut for nearly 2000 years, and now a new year is coming up and there are still Jews in the world keeping Torah and mitzvot just like they did during the days of Moshe Rabbeinu. Not only that, there are people interested in knowing what time they have until to say Kriyat Shema or until what time they have to say the Amidah . The angels in heaven are amazed that after centuries of persecutions and attempts to get us away from religion, we keep coming back stronger than ever. If we would think about it logically, it doesn't make any sense that there are millions of Jews flourishing in Torah and mitzvot after what we have been through. There are people in every shul across the world learning, praying, doing gemilut chasadim and serving Hashem in the most beautiful ways. The main time to recognize this miracle would be at the beginning of a new year. Our Avot never imagined that in the year 5785, we would still be in galut, and yet still keep every halacha the best way possible. We're still educating our children with purity. We still stand in shul on Rosh Hashanah and accept the kingship of Hashem and we say Malchuyot , Zichronot and Shofarot just like they did in the days of Ravah and Abayeh. There is no miracle greater than this. And so, what did Hashem answer the angels when they asked Him why we aren't saying Hallel? He replied, how could they say Hallel when the Sifrei Chaim and Sifrei Metim are opened in front of Me? The Chatam Sofer explained, those books also refer to the amount of life we will be given when doing mitzvot. Life- meaning excitement and energy. And the Sifrei Metim refers to doing mitzvot without any excitement or any enthusiasm. How could we say Hallel for something that's being decided right at that time? Are we going to have heavenly help to enjoy the Torah and do the mitzvot with a passion? Knowing that this is at stake, it is incumbent upon us to at least try our best on the day of Rosh Hashanah to show as much excitement and enthusiasm as we could when learning and praying. All the blessings for the entire year are found inside the day of Rosh Hashanah, both physical and spiritual. Everything we do on that day matters so much. We eat sweet foods, we act on our best behavior, and we are supposed to put forth our best spiritual efforts in everything we do that day. If we want to do mitzvot with a feeling of life, we have to at least show it outwardly. Even if we may not always have kavanah throughout the year during our tefila , we should make a special effort on Rosh Hashanah to focus from the beginning of the tefila all the way to the end. Hashem is ready to shower us with the greatest year, both spiritually and physically, but first we have to do our part. To get spiritual blessings, we have to want them deep down and show it as well. B'ezrat Hashem, everybody should be inscribed in the Sefer Hachaim , both spiritually and physically. Shabbat Shalom

The 2025 Shavuot Wedding Coincidence Join Johnny Baptist while he discusses the empirical events across the world leading up to World War III, the SEETHING EVIL, ABOMINATION, AND LIES of the New World Order and 2030 Agenda from the PIT, and the bizarre weirdness of the fallen angelic UFO phenomenon as we plunge head first into the forthcoming apocalypse and the Seven Seals of Revelation (chapter 6). Join us tonight as we explore an amazine set of coincidences that are hard to believe. While they happened to me, they are for the entire body of Christ Jesus. I will share them with you, you can pray about them, and we can take hope away with us as we go into some of the darkest times of our walk on earth together. APOLOGIES but sister Carol has taken ill and was not able to join us tonight, so we are shifting gears and I will share with you these impossible coincidence as a token of hope for us all. Do I THINK THIS IS GAURANTEED - ABSOLUTEL NOT!! Do I think it is possible - ABSOLUTELY!! GOD BLESS YOU - See you there!! To sign up for radio show Email Notifications click Mail Link: http://gem.godaddy.com/signups/185380/join

“When we show the world that we're not what they say about us, that we're not white colonizers, that we're actually an indigenous tribe of people that was kicked out of their homeland . . .  the only argument I can think about to put against the story is ‘you're lying.' . . . If they accuse you of lying when you tell your family story, they lost.” Last week's episode featuring Adiel Cohen—Jewish activist, social media influencer, and Israel Defense Forces reservist—received heartfelt feedback. In part two of this conversation, Adiel joins us live from the AJC Global Forum 2024 in Washington, D.C., where listeners had the chance to ask their questions directly. Adiel discusses a plethora of topics, including his social media activism and how Israeli society today reflects the story of Jews returning to their ancestral homeland after over 2,000 years in the diaspora, refuting the false narrative that Jews are white settler colonialists.  If you haven't heard The Forgotten Exodus: Yemen: Live Recording with Adiel Cohen – Part 1, listen now.  —--- How much do you know about Jewish history in the Middle East? Take our short quiz! Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here: The Forgotten Exodus: Yemen: Live Recording with Adiel Cohen – Part 1 The Forgotten Exodus: Yemen, with Israeli Olympian Shahar Tzubari Song credits:  Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: N/A; Composer: DANIELYAN ASHOT MAKICHEVICH (IPI NAME #00855552512) “Suspense Middle East” Publisher: Victor Romanov, Composer: Victor Romanov; Item ID: 196056047 —-- Episode Transcript: Adiel Cohen:   When we show the world that we're not what they say about us, that we're not white colonizers, that we're actually an indigenous tribe of people that was kicked out of their homeland and spread throughout the diaspora for 2000 years . . . they can try to argue with that. But at the end of the day, the facts are on our side. Manya Brachear Pashman: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations–despite hardship, hostility, and hatred–then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman:. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East.  The world has ignored these voices. We will not. This is The Forgotten Exodus.  There has been moving and frankly overwhelming feedback from listeners of our second season, especially last week's live interview with digital influencer Adiel Cohen: about his family's journey from Yemen. If you didn't listen last week, be sure to go back and tune in. Then you'll know why there's been such a demand to release the second part of that interview – a question and answer session.  Why are we sharing this? It's a sampling of the conversations these episodes have generated in homes across the nation and around the world, inspired by this series. What would you ask our guests? Here's what a handful asked Adiel when he joined us at AJC Global Forum 2024 in Washington D.C.  Today's episode: Leaving Yemen, Part 2.  Thank you for this conversation, Adiel. But now I'd like to turn to our audience and give them an opportunity to ask what's on their minds. If you have a question, please raise your hand, someone will bring you a microphone. Be sure to state your name, where you're from, and keeping with the spirit of the event, tell us where your family is from going back generations. Audience Member/Carole Weintraub: Hi, thank you for coming. My name is Carole Weintraub. I'm from Philadelphia. And depending on the week, my family was either from Poland, Ukraine, or Russia – the borders changed all the time.  Adiel Cohen:   Oh wow, ok. Carole Weintraub: Take your pick. My question's kind of a fun question. You mentioned some dishes that your grandmom would make. You gave us the names, but I never heard of them, and could you describe them? Adiel Cohen:   Yes. So the main food that we eat, I would say it's like the equivalent to matzo ball soup. That's like the default dish for holidays, for day-to-day. It's Yemenite soup. It's just called Yemenite soup. It's very simple. It's a soup made with a lot of spices, I think. Kumkum and hell. It can be vegetable, chicken, or beef based, with a side of either potato or pumpkin inside the soup. It's very good, very healthy. We eat it, especially in winter, every Shabbat. Like it cleans your entire system, all the spices.  Some breads that we have that are also very common. Lachuch or lachoh, you know, in the Yemenite pronunciation, it's a flatbread similar to pancake. It's kind of like a pancake, only fried on one side with holes, yeah. And the other side, the top side becomes full of bubbles that turn into holes. So it's fluffy, like very, very soft, very good to eat with dips or with soup.  We also have saluf, which is just a regular pita, it's a flatbread. Zalabiyeh, which is kind of like the, in Yemen they used to eat it during Shavuot and in Israel, now we eat it a lot in Hanukkah, because it's fried. It's kind of like a flatbread donut. I don't know how else to explain it. Right. It's kind of like sufganiyah but made flat, like a pita. There's so much more wow, I'm starting to salivate here. Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you don't mind me just interjecting with one of my own questions, and that is, do you encourage people to make these recipes, to try out different parts of your culture or do you feel a little bit of or maybe fear appropriation of your culture? Like what is… Adiel Cohen:   No, not at all. Go look up Yemenite soup recipe on Google. It's all there in English. And it's delicious. It's healthy. Do it, really. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Do you try other Jewish cultures in fact? Adiel Cohen:   Kubbeh must be one of my favorite foods that is not Yemenite. It's Iraqi-Jewish. My hometown, Ramat Gan, is the capital of Iraqi Jews and Israel. Every time I say that I'm from Ramat Gan, people ask me ‘Oh, you're Iraqi?' I'm like, no, no, Yemenite. So kubbeh, sabich. Sabich, that's the best food, I think, Israel has to offer. Also Iraqi Jewish.  I feel bad that I don't have anything good to say about Ashkenazi foods. I tried matzo ball soup for the first time. I'm sorry. My sister, she married an Ashkenazi Jew from Monsey – can't get any more Ashkenazi than that. And this was actually my first time trying and getting a taste of Ashkenazi culture and cuisine. Can't say that it, like, blew me off. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Alright, next question. Audience Member/Amy Albertson: Hi, Adiel.  Adiel Cohen:   Hi, Amy. Amy Albertson: My name is Amy Albertson. I personally am from California and my family's from Russia, Poland, and China. And my question for you is, as a fellow social media creator, especially during times like this, I get asked a lot about racism in Israel since Americans are obsessed with racism. And they always want to point out how the Teimanim, the Yemenites, the Ethiopians, the other what Americans like to say not white Jews are discriminated against and have been discriminated against since the establishment of Israel.  Obviously, we can't deny that there is racism. However, I would like to know your perspective obviously as a Yemenite Jew living in Israel and also the good and the bad, where you find that things are hopefully better than they were in the past in Israel, and also where you think that Israeli society still has to improve when it comes to things like this. Adiel Cohen:   So part of the cultural discourse in Israel, we always make fun of how every wave of aliyah, from every place in the world that Israel experienced, the last wave of aliyah discriminates against them or makes fun of them, because ‘oh, the new ones.' And in a sense, it is true, you see it a lot. And racism, unfortunately, exists in Israel, in Israeli society, just like in every society in the world. I think that if you compare it to how it was in the 50s, we're way better off now.  And racism is widely condemned, all throughout Israeli society, against anyone, against any communities. We still have the stereotypes, we still have, you know, these jokes that sometimes are funny, sometimes are less funny about different communities. I would say for the most part, we know how to maintain a healthy humor of kind of making fun of each other as different communities but also making it all part of what it means to be Israeli. When my grandparents came to Israel, they were discriminated against. They were ‘othered' by the rest of society that was mostly dominated by secular Ashkenazim.  The same thing can also be said on Holocaust survivors that first arrived in Israel and also faced discrimination from their brothers and sisters, who are also Ashkenazim. So I don't know if racism is the right word. I don't think there's a word that can describe this dynamic that we have between our communities. But yeah, I definitely can say that throughout the generations it's become way better. We see way more diverse representation in Israeli media, in Israeli pop culture. If you look at what's Israeli pop culture, it's majority Mizrahi, and a lot of Yemenites if I may add, because, you know, we know how to sing. Not me, though, unfortunately. But yeah, we see a lot more representation. I believe we're on the right path to become more united and to bridge between our differences and different communities. Audience Member/Alison Platt: Hi, I'm Alison Platt. I live in Chicago by way of Northern California. My family is from all over Europe, and then about 1500 years before that Southern Italy. So I lost my grandmother last week, so I really thank you, I really appreciate the importance of telling our grandparents' stories. So thank you for sharing yours with us. For those of us who are millennials or Gen Z who are for better or worse, very online, storytelling is important and telling our own personal Jewish stories, very important, telling our collective Jewish story, very important. So for someone who does that on social media, what is your advice for those of us who are really trying to educate both on a one-to-one level and then communally about our Jewish identities, what has been successful for you, what has been challenging and where do you see that going? Adiel Cohen:   So, you know, telling a story, you can tell a story with words, you can also tell a story with visuals. Some of the most successful videos that I made about Yemenite Jews involved my grandma cooking and my mom cooking, making lachuch and showing the Seder, the table, how beautiful and colorful it is. So don't be afraid to pull up your phone and just show it when you see it. And in terms of verbal stories, speak to your grandparents as much as you can. When my grandma passed away, I realized how it can happen like that, and then that's it. And there's no more stories from Savta around Shabbat table and what you managed to gather, that's what you're carrying on to the future. So collect as many stories as possible from every generation so that these stories can live on and exist. And just tell them on social media, open your camera, tell it to the world, because this is how they get to know us. Audience Member/Ioel: Hi, everyone. I'm Ioel from Italy. I'm the Vice President of the Italian Union of Young Jews. And part of my family comes from Egypt. So I relate to your storytelling.  Recently, I have attended the inaugural seminar of Archon Europe. It's an organization that's fostering heritage towards Europe. And we were wondering how to share our stories. So I want to ask you, what is the best thing for you to make the story of this sort of silent exodus known in the Western society, and especially in our university. And how do you think your activism is contributing to fight antisemitism? Adiel Cohen:   I think it's as simple as just taking the leap and start telling these stories. As I said, sit with your grandparents, with your parents and just talk about it. Write down notes and turn it into a story that can be told through social media, make videos about it. You know, Egyptian jewelry, if you look into it, there's so much there. There's the Genizah, right, the Cairo Genizah – so much knowledge and Jewish history, not only from Egypt, but from the entire Middle East.  You got accounts in the Cairo Genizah about how Jews lived in Israel, in the Land of Israel, under Muslim rule; stories that are not heard. When you expose the world and people on campus to these stories, first of all, you burst the little bubble that says Jews poofed in Israel in 1948 and up until then, they didn't exist there. And second of all, you show them that Jews existed, not just in Europe, but also in other parts of the world – in Egypt, and in the Middle East as well.  Your question was, how does my activism contribute? I hope to inspire more young Jews, Gen Z, millennials, to share their stories and get connected to them and understand the importance of sharing stories because you can enjoy listening to your grandparents stories, but then do nothing about it. So I hope that my content and then my activism inspires other Jews to speak up, just like I am inspired by other creators who also tell their stories. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And I think the other aspect of his question was about fighting antisemitism, whether or not you feel that sharing these stories helps in that effort. Adiel Cohen:   Definitely. Again, when we show the world that we're not what they say about us, that we're not white colonizers, that we're actually an indigenous tribe of people that was kicked out of their homeland and spread throughout the diaspora for 2000 years, they can try to argue with that. But at the end of the day, the facts are on our side, and also the importance of a story, you can't argue with a story.  If you're telling a story from your family, from your own personal experience, the only argument I can think about to put against the story is ‘you're lying.' And ‘you're lying' is not a good argument. If they accuse you of lying when you tell your family story, they lost. Audience Member/Daniel: Hi, my name is Daniel. I'm American-Israeli and my family background is I'm half Lithuanian and half Yemenite. I just wanna say I feel very and thoroughly inspired by you, and thank you so much for coming today.  Adiel Cohen: Thank you. Daniel: As a child, I was fortunate enough to hear stories from my grandparents and my great grandfather about their lives in Yemen. Recently, I read Maimonides' letter to Yemen Adiel Cohen: Beautiful. Daniel: And I was particularly inspired by the fact that it was originally written in Arabic and it was translated into Hebrew so that it could be properly disseminated in the community. It remains my favorite primary source regarding Yemen's Jewish community. But with 3000 years of history, almost, there's plenty to choose from. So what's your favorite text or book relating to Yemen's Jewish community? Adiel Cohen:   That. Iggeret Teiman, the letter of Maimonides to the Yemenite Jewish community is a transformative letter. It came in a time that was very, very tough for the Yemenite Jewish community. It was a time of false messiahs that started popping out of nowhere in Yemen, both in the Muslim community but also in the Jewish community. And a false messiah that pops out of nowhere creates civil unrest. It sounds a little weird and otherworldly in the world that we live in now, but when someone pops out of nowhere and says, I'm the Messiah. I'm coming to save you all, and back at the time, it was revolutionary.  And there was a lot of troubles that the Jews faced at the time because of the false messiahs. The Yemeni leadership was very hostile to Jews, just like, every time there's problems in society, who gets blamed? The Jews, for different reasons, and that time was the reason that Jews were blamed. That was the reason Jews were blamed for.  And out of Egypt, Rambam comes. He did not set foot in his life in Yemen. But the head of the Yemenite Jewish community sent him a letter all the way to Egypt. He was in Egypt at the time after migrating all the way from Spain to Morocco to Egypt, asking him for help. And he sent him this letter, Rambam sent him back this letter, Iggeret Teiman, where he basically empowers and strengthens the Jewish community, telling them to maintain their faith and do not fall for the false messiahs and keep their faith in Hashem, and they will be saved.  It was as simple as that to save the Jewish community who was suffering at the time, and ever since then, Jews adopted, not fully, but adopted a lot of the Rambam's Mishnah, his ideas. And till this day, the Rambam is the most notable figure that Yemenite Jews look up to. He did not set foot in Yemen one time.  The Jews did not go to Egypt and sought for help, but it shows you why it's my favorite text in our history. It's because it shows that even in the diaspora, even when, you know, we were seemingly disconnected, we always relied on each other. And it's amazing to think about it, how a letter got to Egypt, sent back, and he saved a community from all the way far over there. So yeah, that's the answer. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So I think we are out of time. Thank you for all those thoughtful questions. That was really wonderful. And thank you for being such a lovely audience. And thank you, Adiel. Adiel Cohen: Thank you. Manya Brachear Pashman:   For joining us and sharing your family's story and hopefully inspiring some of us to do the same. So thank you. Adiel Cohen:   I hope so. Thank you so much. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Yemenite Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Adiel for sharing his story. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible.  You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

The Biblical Feasts of the LORD and their Prophetic Fulfillment with Chaim Goldman, “The Watchman”, part 4: Counting of the Omer and Shavuot/Pentecost. What is the Counting of the Omer and what does it mean for us today? Chaim dissects Acts 2 as well as the Hebraic vs Greek Mindset; and shed some light by learning about“The Upper Room Conspiracy.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to part 1, In The Zone | July 2024 | Part 1Rabbi Steve Berkson opens the floor to the local congregants and those listening online to ask questions or make comments about any aspect of our belief.• The focus we should have between Shavuot and Sukkot• Revelation 19:5 – What is meant by “small and great”?• Revelation 5:2 – Why ask who is worthy?• Who's in and who's out?• Will the leader in the “Greater Exodus” be tested like Moses?• A lack of real male role models today• Why did Aharon have to pay for what Mosheh did?• Yahweh rejected all of David's brothers?• Can Yahweh take His Set-Apart Spirit away from us?• How do I know if I'm one of the Five-Fold ministry?• Are tzitziyot related to the spies who gave the bad report?• He cannot be saying that!• The wilderness journey – literal or metaphorically?Take advantage of new teachings every week. Please click the "LIKE" button if this podcast has been a blessing.To learn more about MTOI, visit our website, https://mtoi.org.Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mtoiworldwideFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mtoi_worldwideYou can contact MTOI by emailing us at admin@mtoi.org or calling 423-250-3020. Join us for Shabbat Services & Torah Study LIVE, streamed on our YouTube Channel every Saturday at 1:15 pm and every Friday for Torah Study Live Stream at 7:30 pm, eastern time.

Welcome to this episode of Inside the Epicenter. We delve into the growing messianic movement in Israel with a special conversation featuring Victor Kalisher, the head of the Israeli Bible Society. Growing up as a first-generation believer in the land, Victor shares his unique experiences and insights into reaching out to fellow Jews with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Join hosts Carl Moeller and Joel Rosenberg as they explore the challenges and triumphs of the messianic movement in Israel and gain valuable perspectives on the resources and tools needed to share the message of Jesus with the local body effectively. Tune in for a deep dive into the significance of the Psalms in unlocking prophecy and engaging with Jewish culture, as well as the ongoing work to reach Jewish people with the timeless message of Jesus.   (00:03) Thousands visit the garden tomb for religious reasons. (06:39) Seeking and receiving two signs from God. (08:06) Passover and Shavuot symbolize spiritual freedom. (10:53) Thankful for investment in local believers.   Learn more about The Joshua Fund. Make a tax-deductible donation. The Joshua Fund Stock Tprovided by DimmySad/Pond5     Verse of the Day: Luke chapter 24:45. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.   Prayer Request: Pray that the hearts of Jews are open to the gospel message of Jesus. Pray that the war with Hamas is quickly resolved and that those whose lives have been disrupted can get back to living their lives in peace.   Related Episodes: Courage, Support, and Gratitude with Joel & Lynn Rosenberg #194 The #1 Question Israelis Are Asking Today #193 How to Show Love and Support for Israel and Her Neighbors #182 Christians Blessing Israel: How and Why? #170 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Can wine truly elevate both spirit and wisdom, or does it merely amplify our existing state, for better or worse? Join us as we delve into the profound teachings of King Solomon and other ancient wisdom to uncover the delicate balance of wine consumption. In this episode, we explore how responsible wine drinking can gladden the heart, enhance the joy of studying Torah, and offer solace from sorrow. However, we stress the importance of moderation, cautioning against excessive drinking that can lead to irresponsible behavior and the pitfalls of losing control. The key takeaway? Discover how to enjoy wine without letting it overshadow your responsibilities and integrity.We also take a deep dive into the joy of Jewish festivals like Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, where elevated happiness is an essential part of the celebration. Yet, this joy must be carefully balanced with reverence and fear in our service to Hashem. We discuss how to channel this happiness appropriately, ensuring it enhances rather than diminishes our spiritual connection. Tune in to learn how to achieve true joy in serving Hashem, a joy that is both profound and aligned with dedication and seriousness. Let's navigate this journey of joy, wisdom, and moderation together._____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)Recorded in the TORCH Mobile Studio (D) in Passaic, NJ on July 30, 2024.Released as Podcast on August 1, 2024_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Can wine truly elevate both spirit and wisdom, or does it merely amplify our existing state, for better or worse? Join us as we delve into the profound teachings of King Solomon and other ancient wisdom to uncover the delicate balance of wine consumption. In this episode, we explore how responsible wine drinking can gladden the heart, enhance the joy of studying Torah, and offer solace from sorrow. However, we stress the importance of moderation, cautioning against excessive drinking that can lead to irresponsible behavior and the pitfalls of losing control. The key takeaway? Discover how to enjoy wine without letting it overshadow your responsibilities and integrity.We also take a deep dive into the joy of Jewish festivals like Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, where elevated happiness is an essential part of the celebration. Yet, this joy must be carefully balanced with reverence and fear in our service to Hashem. We discuss how to channel this happiness appropriately, ensuring it enhances rather than diminishes our spiritual connection. Tune in to learn how to achieve true joy in serving Hashem, a joy that is both profound and aligned with dedication and seriousness. Let's navigate this journey of joy, wisdom, and moderation together._____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)Recorded in the TORCH Mobile Studio (D) in Passaic, NJ on July 30, 2024.Released as Podcast on August 1, 2024_____________DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!_____________SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com_____________EMAIL your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!  ★ Support this podcast ★

It is human nature to pre-judge a person or a situation at first sight. We think what we see is absolute truth, but what we see is a result of what we believe to be true. What we believe to be negative, we will surely see and experience as such. Whereas, when we know there is the Creator's hand in everything and acknowledge the Light that abides within all people and circumstances, we see the good and therefore can experience good. When we know there is good in all things and all people, we will always experience the best life has to offer.Join us for a special summer mini-episode of Weekly Energy Boost with @ElishevaBalas. Watch LIVE Mondays at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET on The Kabbalah Centre YouTube or catch the latest episode wherever you listen to podcasts.Visit www.weeklyenergyboost.com to learn more about what we discuss each week. You can also help make Weekly Energy Boost possible by making a tax-deductible contribution at www.weeklyenergyboost.com/donate-today.#kabbalah #spirituality #flow #energy #soul #gemini #sivan #kabbalahcentre #ego #light #consciousness #chaos #negativity #positivity #peace #blessings #bringthemhomenow #transformation #agenda #ulteriormotives 

This week on the show, we're marking Father's Day and Shavuot with reflections on fatherhood, loss, and collective Jewish responsibility.  Director Adam Nimoy shares stories from his memoir, The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy. He details what it was like to be the son of Spock, as well as how he and his father reconnected before Leonard's death in 2015. Tablet writer Gabe Sanders returns to the show with a personal essay about finding unexpected meaning while saying Kaddish for his father.  Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin of Wisdom Without Walls explains the big ideas behind his new book, Tikkun Ha'am/Repairing Our People: Reimagining Liberal Judaism in America, which calls for a renewed emphasis on Jewish responsibility.  Learn more about becoming a Tablet member at tabletm.ag/uomember. Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS:  Emanu-El Downtown's Religious School Lab opens this fall in Manhattan for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade, offering a welcoming community, pick-up from local schools, and one-to-one virtual Hebrew instruction. Visit EmanuelDowntown.org for more. ChaiFlicks, the Jewish streaming platform, presents Kafka, its newest exclusive drama series on the life of legendary author Franz Kafka. Starring Joel Basman, David Kross, and Christian Friedel, the show uncovers the mysteries, scandals, romances, and imagination of the author behind masterpieces like The Metamorphosis. Visit ChaiFlicks.com and use code KAFKAPOD at checkout for 50% off new subscriptions and a 7-day free trial.

Jewish communities have just concluded the celebration of Shavuot, a pilgrimage festival in times of the Temple and the moment when, fifty days after the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt, God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses. Those commandments form the foundation of the many rules and obligations inflected throughout the Jewish tradition. Indeed, after thousands of years of Jewish history, observant Jewish lives continue to be structured by what is known as halakhah, Jewish law. What is halakhah? In 2018, the rabbi Mark Gottlieb sat down to answer that question with Chaim Saiman, one of the world's foremost scholars of Jewish law and the author of a then newly published book called Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law. This week, in honor of the Jewish holiday that celebrates lawgiving, we bring you a rebroadcast of their discussion. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

In recent days, there have been a lot of war-related developments that have taken place in Israel and outside of Israel. So it was good that wr had the opportunity to catch up with Haviv Rettig Gur as Shavuot came to a close in Israel. In this episode, we wound up having a spirited conversation about: I.The mood in Israel days after after Operation Arnon, and also why the day after the successful resuce operation we saw Benny Gantz's long anticipated exit from the unity government; II. The ultra orthodox or 'Haredi' IDF exemption bill that passed in the Knesset; and III. Hamas's rejection (yet again) of Israel's ceasefire proposal.

In recent days, there have been a lot of war-related developments that have taken place in Israel and outside of Israel. So it was good that wr had the opportunity to catch up with Haviv Rettig Gur as Shavuot came to a close in Israel. In this episode, we wound up having a spirited conversation […]

Linda Gradstein, Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron discuss two topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Hear the Extra-Special, Special Extra Segment on Patreon   —Home— Four hostages were rescued from the depths of Gaza. We need a new word for absolute joy mixed with absolute worry mixed with absolute sadness. —Gantz, But Not Forgotten— Benny Gantz announces that he is leaving the government and its tiny “War Cabinet,” which brought relief, anxiety and ambivalence. With Gantz gone, where will the government go? —Shavuot In Israel— For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: Shavuot in Israel, after eight months of war. Plus, the LGBTQ “Vigil of Pride and Hope” in Tel Aviv, celebrating Shavuot, and more music of our times.

Rabbi Shira and Hanna close out Season 3 with by celebrating Shavuot*, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. But how do you celebrate a sacred text that's often problematic? *This year Shavuot at sundown on Tuesday June 11, 2024, and concludes at nightfall on Thursday, June 13.Story of DinahTorah Portion NassoSupport Chutzpod!Submit a questionContact Chutzpod!Follow Shira on InstagramFollow Hanna on InstagramFollow Shira on TwitterFollow Hanna on Twitter

www.dailybreadmoms.com Now coming to busy moms all over the world as a daily podcast! Daily Bread follows the weekly Torah Portion, one part each day, together with a healthy balance from the rest of Scripture — all in one year. More than just a one-year Bible reading plan, Daily Bread is designed as a journal, with a comprehensive Hebrew calendar. To support the podcast - https://www.patreon.com/dailybreadmoms The Journal - dailybread.cc/busymoms Thursday June 13, 2024 7 Sivan, 5784 Deutoronomy 15:19 - 16:17 Numbers 28:26-31 Habakkuk 2:20 - 3:19 (3:1-19) 2 Corinthians 3

Today's Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 104 and 105, contains a strange and hilarious discussion on what to do if you're wearing Tefillin but must take out the garbage. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to find surprising meaning in this seemingly pedestrian debate, and explain why the rabbis were sending us a timely reminder about hope, resilience, and aspiration. Why wasn't the Torah given in the Land of Israel, and why should it matter to us today? Listen and find out. Join us Tuesday, June 11 from 9 p.m. to midnight for a special event featuring Liel Leibovitz, Tablet critic-at-large Marco Roth, and special guests reading and moderating a discussion of modernist literature in the upstairs lounge of The Russian Samovar at 256 West 52nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Shavuot, expect riffing on passages by Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, as well as from the Torah. Register here. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

6/11/24

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. It is day 249 of the war with Hamas. Political correspondent Tal Schneider join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. Schneider discusses latest regarding hostage deal, including Channel 12 release of details regarding permanent ceasefire, countering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing statements about not ending the war. She also speaks about the US proposal for a hostage deal for captives with US citizenship, and what could be discussed regarding that possibility with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel Tuesday. Schneider then looks at discussions in the Knesset on Monday, following Knesset member Benny Gantz's resignation from the coalition and war cabinet, and how that could affect the rest of the Netanyahu coalition. She speaks about the vote and Knesset approval to revive an ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill that would lower the current age of exemption from service for Haredi yeshiva students from 26 to 21. The only coalition member to vote against the bill was Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a brave political move for him, says Schneider, but unclear how that will affect the bill or coalition going forward. Steinberg mentions the Shavuot cookbook put together by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, with recipes and stories about hostages from their families and loved ones, as they move forward into another holiday. For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: Israel's full offer said to provide for ‘permanent' truce before all hostages return Blinken discusses hostage proposal, ‘day after' Gaza war in meeting with Netanyahu Knesset approves revival of ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill; Gallant votes against Gantz quits war government, says PM preventing ‘true victory' over Hamas, urges elections Hostages' families share favorite Shavuot recipes as they hold out hope for loved ones THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.  IMAGE: Hostage families wait outside Tel Aviv's Kempinski Hotel on June 11, 2024 to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Credit Yael Gadot)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Shavuot!

Today's Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 102 and 103, inform us that, wherever we go, we must endeavor to respect the local customs and traditions. And yet, as recent surveys show, local customs and traditions are everywhere imperiled. Why should we still care about the old ways? And what's the potential danger of letting in the new? Listen and find out. Join us Tuesday, June 11 from 9 p.m. to midnight for a special event featuring Liel Leibovitz, Tablet critic-at-large Marco Roth, and special guests reading and moderating a discussion of modernist literature in the upstairs lounge of The Russian Samovar at 256 West 52nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Shavuot, expect riffing on passages by Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, as well as from the Torah. Register here. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

We are all searching for something. We search for comfort and pleasure. We search for answers. Some search for the Creator, while others devote their lives to searching for their purpose in this world. We are all on a search for more. Kabbalah, with its tools of Light, offers to us that more that we hunger. Every being on earth craves the Light, physically and spiritually, even if we may not realize it. This week, the cosmos turns the Light on for us.Join us for a special summer mini-episode of Weekly Energy Boost with @ElishevaBalas. Watch LIVE Mondays at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET on The Kabbalah Centre YouTube or catch the latest episode wherever you listen to podcasts.Visit www.weeklyenergyboost.com to learn more about what we discuss each week. You can also help make Weekly Energy Boost possible by making a tax-deductible contribution at www.weeklyenergyboost.com/donate-today.

Today's Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 100 and 101, unfurl a tall tale that begins with a river washing away some olive trees and ends with a reminder of what may very well be the most important mitzvah of them all. Why is it so important to settle the Land of Israel? Listen and find out. Join us Tuesday, June 11 from 9 p.m. to midnight for a special event featuring Liel Leibovitz, Tablet critic-at-large Marco Roth, and special guests reading and moderating a discussion of modernist literature in the upstairs lounge of The Russian Samovar at 256 West 52nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Shavuot, expect riffing on passages by Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, as well as from the Torah. Register here. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

It's almost time… for Shavuot! Dan, Lex, and Miriam come together for a conversation about what Shavuot will look like this year at Judaism Unbound. They explore the connections between Shavuot and conversion, renewing our commitment to Judaism through ritual, and how we can meaningfully experience Shavuot in new and ancient ways.Click HERE to register for ShavuotLIVE 2024, taking place June 8th-June 9th!Access full shownotes for this episode via this link. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation -- support Judaism Unbound by clicking here!

This week on the show, we're examining the most Beautifully Jewish object of all time: the Torah. In celebration of Shavuot, Beautifully Jewish hosts Stephanie Butnick and Tanya Singer explore creative, unexpected ways of connecting with the Torah.  Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir, host of the Tablet podcast Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally, shares how she found her way into the Torah, and the daily wisdom it offers her.    Dr. Carol Meyers of Duke University, who as Stephanie's professor inspired her love of Jewish stories, explains why it's so important to examine women's lives, in the Bible and beyond.  Lili Shain tells us about Torah Stitch by Stitch, a project started by the late artist Temma Gentles, in which people around the world cross-stitched panels featuring every verse in the Torah. If you're as excited by Torah Stitch by Stitch as we are, you're in luck: We're going to be hosting a Beautifully Jewish stitch-along where we'll all learn to cross stitch together. We'll be stitching meaningful verses selected for us by Lili Shain herself. Join us at tabletm.ag/beautiful to become a member and get access to the pattern and instructional videos (you don't need any experience in cross stitching, we promise!).  Daniella Rabbani and Zalmen Mlotek perform “Der Eybershter Iz Der Mekhutn,” or “The Almighty Is The Bride's Father,” a Yiddish song about the relationship between the Jews, the Torah, and the divine. You can read the English translation here.  We're keeping the Shavuot learning going: Join us Tuesday, June 11 from 9 p.m. to midnight for a special event featuring Liel Leibovitz, Tablet critic-at-large Marco Roth, and special guests reading and moderating a discussion of modernist literature in the upstairs lounge of The Russian Samovar at 256 West 52nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Shavuot, expect riffing on passages by Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, as well as from the Torah. Register here. Learn more about becoming a Tablet member at tabletm.ag/uomember. Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line: (914) 570-4869.  Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. SPONSORS: Brandeis University offers an online master's certificate in Jewish Professional Leadership, training creative and compassionate Jewish leaders on a flexible schedule. Learn more at brandeis.edu/hornstein. Emanu-El Downtown's Religious School Lab opens this fall in Manhattan for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade, offering a welcoming community, pick-up from local schools, and one-to-one virtual Hebrew instruction. Visit EmanuelDowntown.org for more. Since October 7, Meir Panim has provided over 2.5 million meals, essential items, and care packages to IDF soldiers and displaced families, as well as organizing events and daily support for thousands. Donate at meirpanim.org/unorthodox.  ChaiFlicks, the Jewish streaming platform, presents Kafka, its newest exclusive drama series on the life of legendary author Franz Kafka. Starring Joel Basman, David Kross, and Christian Friedel, the show uncovers the mysteries, scandals, romances, and imagination of the author behind masterpieces like The Metamorphosis. Visit ChaiFlicks.com and use code KAFKAPOD at checkout for 50% off new subscriptions and a 7-day free trial.

Today's Talmud page, Bava Metzia 99, wonders whether a person who has secretly moved in to his pal's empty home should pay the owner rent. Must every transaction have winners and losers? Or should we cultivate what a famous self-help author called the abundance mentality and strive for win-win situations in life? Listen and find out. Join us Tuesday, June 11 from 9 p.m. to midnight for a special event featuring Liel Leibovitz, Tablet critic-at-large Marco Roth, and special guests reading and moderating a discussion of modernist literature in the upstairs lounge of The Russian Samovar at 256 West 52nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Shavuot, expect riffing on passages by Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, as well as from the Torah. Register here. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.