The holiday of Sukkot brings us one of the stranger Jewish customs: Carrying the “four species” of plants around, waving them in all directions as we pray.

In this special bonus episode Imu and Rabbi Fohrman discuss a challenge, raised by a listener just like you, to a previous episode.

Yom Kippur: It’s one of the most significant days of the whole year. We go into this day hoping for some weighty things… forgiveness, a chance to be a better version of ourselves.

Rosh Hashanah – it’sYom Hadin, the Day of Judgment, right? God is going to judge the whole world and decide its fate for the coming year. And our job is to search our hearts, confront our misdeeds from the past, and doteshuvah, repentance. Sounds like a big responsibility!

How can we live a meaningful life? In this episode of Into the Verse, Rabbi Fohrman finds an answer in an unlikely section of Parshat Shoftim: the Israelites’ pre-battle protocols, when the officers exempt various soldiers from fighting. Join Rabbi Fohrman as he explores these military exemptions, their fascinating parallels to elsewhere in the Torah, and what they show us about leading a life worth living. 

Everyone knows it’s not kosher when you cook meat and milk together, but the Torah in this week’s parsha only says you can’t cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk. This law gets extended to all cooking of milk and meat in the Oral Law.

In Parshat Eikev, Moses boils down, into a short, sweet list, what God really wants from us in this world. But, when the prophet Micah comes along and offers a different version, the clarity in God’s expectations gets muddied…or does it? Join Rabbi Fohrman in this episode of Into the Verse as he explores the different “cliff notes” versions of what God asks of us and helps us gain clarity on how we can be the good person God wants us to be. 

Parshat Va’etchanan tells the story of receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. But wait… Haven’t we heard this story before? Why does the book of Devarim repeat this story along with so many others?

Rabbi Fohrman, Imu Shalev, and Tikva Hecht reflect on ten years of Aleph Beta Tisha B’Av videos. They discuss the lessons they have learned over the years about the meaning and nature of Tisha B’Av, and also review their personal favorite videos, and where to get started if you are new.

Shiva Asar B'Tammuz is a fast day that marks the beginning of the Three Weeks, a period of intense mourning that culminates with Tisha B'Av, the day the Temple was destroyed. Twice in our national history foreign armies broke through the walls of the holy city of Jerusalem on this day. Yet, it is much more than the start of an extended mourning period for the Temple.

In Parshat Shelach, we read the story of the spies who ventured to the land of Israel and brought back a false report to the Israelites. Have you ever noticed that their report is strikingly similar to another story from earlier in the Torah?

In Parshat Beha’alotcha, we see the beginning of the dramatic downfall of the generation of the exodus. This dive leads, eventually, to 40 years of wandering in the desert and death to the entire generation. What happened?

(Part 2 of 2) If you were asked what we remember on Shavuot, what would you say? The giving of the Torah, right? But the Biblical commandment to celebrate Shavuot doesn’t even mention receiving the Torah!

(Part 1 of 2) If you were asked what we remember on Shavuot, what would you say? The giving of the Torah, right?

Lag BaOmer: It’s a day for celebrations… parties, music, bonfires, barbecues. What exactly are we celebrating, though?

Parshat Emor includes a familiar passage known as the parshat hamo’adim – the section of the Torah that describes all of the Biblical holidays. But there are two major interruptions in this passage, two things that just don't seem to belong.

How can we make sense of the laws in Parshat Kedoshim? They seem to deal with such a mix of unrelated topics. Some of them are obviously about moral behavior: Don’t steal, don’t deceive people, leave some of the grain in your field for the poor.

(Part 2 of 2) At the burning bush, God told Moses to show the people of Israel three signs, so they would believe that God was in fact with them. Was there any significance to these three signs, or did God randomly select them? And were the signs even effective?

(Part 1 of 2) At the burning bush, God told Moses to show the people of Israel three signs, so they would believe that God was in fact with them. Was there any significance to these three signs, or did God randomly select them? And were the signs even effective?