Video
The “Mitzvah” of Hametz: Human Creativity, Ingenuity and Desire with Rahel Berkovits
Session 1: 1/29/23 Session 2: 2/5/23 Session 3: 2/12/23 Session 4: 2/19/23 Session 5: 2/26/23 Session 6: 3/5/23 Session 7: 3/12/23
Jewish calendar, Pesach
Rahel Berkovits
Rav Rahel Berkovits is Senior Faculty at Pardes, where she has taught Mishnah, Talmud and Halakha for more than twenty years. She lectures widely in Israel and abroad on topics relating to women and Jewish law and Jewish sexual ethics. In 2015, Rahel received rabbinic ordination from Rabbis Herzl Hefter and Daniel Sperber.
Rahel is the halakhic editor and a writer for Hilkhot Nashim, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s halakhic source guide series published by Koren. She is also a founding member of Congregation Shirah Hadasha, a halakhic partnership synagogue in Jerusalem, where she serves on the halakha committee.
Video
“These are the Ones Who Are Strangled” – The Death Penalty According to the Rabbis with Rahel Berkovits
Session 1: 10/23/22 Session 2: 10/30/22 Session 3: 11/6/22 Session 4: 11/13/22 Session 5: 11/27/22 Session 6: 12/4/22 Session 7: 12/11/22
Talmud
Podcast
Greatest Hits: High Holidays Episode 4 with Rahel Berkovits
Greatest Hits: The High Holidays Episode 4: Death and Life: The Meaning of Yom Kippur According to the Rabbis Description: What is the link between afflicting one’s soul on Yom Kippur and the day being the ultimate Shabbat? What do…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Jewish calendar, High Holidays, Yom Kippur
Podcast
Rabbinic Courage to Repair and Adapt – Texts from Gittin Part Two
Class Title – Rabbinic Courage to Repair and Adapt – Texts from Gittin Part Two Class taught by Rahel Berkovits Class description: In this class we will encounter the literary power of the Talmud as we examine the story, as told…
Talmud
Podcast
Rabbinic Courage to Repair and Adapt – Texts from Gittin Part One
Class Title – Rabbinic Courage to Repair and Adapt – Texts from Gittin Part One Class taught by Rahel Berkovits Class description: In this class we will encounter the literary power of the Talmud as we examine the story, as told…
Talmud
Podcast
Podcast
5781 — Sukkot: The Ritual of Lulav; To Rejoice for Seven Days Before the Divine
Our practice today of shaking the lulav every day of Sukkot is based on a decree that R. Yohanan b. Zakai made post Temple destruction. From where did he get the daring to institute that we would continue to perform…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Jewish calendar, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Sukkot
Podcast
5780 — Chukat: Action vs. Intent: Human Domain vs. The Godly Realm
There is no Talmud on Tractate Parah, the Mishnah tractate which deals with the red heifer ceremony. What did the Babylonian rabbis learn from this temple ritual in the course of other discussions? In this podcast, Rav Rahel Berkovits examines…
Tanakh, Torah, Bamidbar (Numbers), Chukat, Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast
Podcast
5780 — Shelach: Tzitzit–A Model for a Rabbinic Sexual Ethic
The mitzvah of tzitzit commands the Jewish people not to lust after our hearts and eyes and to be holy. Through a Rabbinic story concerning a man, whose tzitzit smack some sense into him as he is about to bed…
Tanakh, Torah, Bamidbar (Numbers), Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Shelach
A Daughter’s Recitation of Mourner’s Kaddish
A source guide exploring the halakhic basis and history of daughters reciting Mourner’s Kaddish for a parent.
Hilkhot Nashim: Kiddush, Hamotsi, Havdalah, Sefer Torah
An in-depth source guide tracing halakhic approaches to women’s ritual practice from the Talmud through modern authorities.