What responsibility comes with being chosen? In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Mike Feuer explore Parshat Yitro and the surprising choice to frame the revelation at Sinai through the presence of Yitro, an outsider. They examine how the Torah…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
What does Yitro teach us about choosing Torah instead of receiving it by force? Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Michael Hattin explore Parshat Yitro, highlighting the contrast between Amalek’s hostility and Yitro’s embrace of the Jewish people. They discuss Yitro’s journey…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
What is our responsibility to the rest of the world, and how might that impact the image that we want to project to humanity at large? Tovah Leah Nachmani joins us in the studio this week to discuss Yitro, an…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
In Yitro, we see Moses learn that it takes more to be a public religious leader than simply being a person of faith. How does Moses learn to be a person who has experienced faith on a personal level bring…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
Judith Plaskow challenged us to confront the disturbing warning issued by Moses to “the nation” at the foot of Mt. Sinai: “Do not go near a woman.” Were women not included in revelation? In our brief time together, we will…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
We live in an exceedingly materialistic world. Advertising provokes us to purchase things that we hardly need. We buy new clothes though we have a closet filled with perfectly good ones. We frequently find ourselves measuring status by a person’s…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
Following the great revelation of Sinai, God issues a series of commands that sound like a repetition! Why are they there? And how do they direct Israel to react and respond to the Sinai experience? Please let us know your…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
Who is Yitro? What drives him? We shall examine this intriguing character who on the one hand, proclaims God’s supremacy, but on the other, decides to leave the camp of Israel before the key moment of revelation. You can download…
Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
Receiving the ten commandments (or ‘utterances’) was one of the most theatrical and awesome moments in Jewish history: the Jewish people experienced thunder and lightning, next to a smoking Mount Sinai enveloped in a thick cloud, with the sound of…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
Parshat Yitro describes God’s revelation at Mount Sinai. The Israelites stand at the foot of the mountain and witness the thunder, sounds and lightning, and they hear God utter the Ten Commandments. At times, this covenantal happening is depicted as…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
There are two accounts of the ten commandments – one, in our parsha, which is happening in “real” time. The other account appears in Deuteronomy, when Moshe re-tells the momentous events of Sinai to the new generation that has grown…
Personalities, Biblical personalities, Podcast series, Pardes Parsha Podcast, Tanakh, Torah
The Pardes Parsha Discussion is a new weekly series by faculty member Rabbi Alex Israel, designed to stimulate discussion around the Shabbat table, especially with teenagers. Click here to download and print this week’s Parsha Discussion on Yitro – A…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Yitro
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