IKAR Podcasts

BEST BOOK EVER Into the Wild - Parshat Bamidbar

Three striking midrashim help us understand how the Hebrew name for this fourth book of the Torah can help frame our journey through it.

BBE BONUS CLASS Weapons of War - Parshat Behukotai

There is a curse upon the land.

SERMON On Mourning and Lag b’Omer - Rabbi Ronit Tsadok

After the tragic shooting in Buffalo rooted in White Supremacy and hate, we look to the Omer, a time on the Jewish calendar associated with mourning. The themes of Lag b’Omer offer some guidance on what our society needs.

BEST BOOK EVER The Book of Love - Parshat Behukotai

So this is how it ends?!

BBE BONUS CLASS The Meaning of Freedom - Parshat Behar

Pop Quiz: What Biblical verse is on the Liberty Bell? This is an edited version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Study class from 5/19/2022

BEST BOOK EVER Joy and Jubilee - Parshat Behar

A whole new spin on Yom Kippur.

SERMON "I am a private person." - Rabbi David Kasher

A Jewish response to the recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion intending to overturn Roe v. Wade. Find the transcript on our website: https://ikar.org/sermons/im-a-private-person

BBE BONUS CLASS Kabbalistic Storytelling - Parshat Emor

How did counting the Omer become so much more than numbers? This is an edited down version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Studies Class from 5/12/2022.

CLASS The Ethics of Public Shaming - The Path of Life: Jewish Ethics with the Maharal of Prague - R' David Kasher

Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we can receive the Torah, we must learn Derekh Eretz - how to live together in harmony with all human beings. One of the greatest Jewish philosophers, the mighty Maharal of Prague (famous from the legend of The Golem!) called this course of study "The Path of Life."

BEST BOOK EVER A State of Moral Emergency - Parshat Emor

Right in the middle of the first major list of the Jewish holidays comes a major interruption.

CLASS The Path of Life: Jewish Ethics with the Maharal of Prague - Rabbi David Kasher

This is the first session from Rabbi David Kasher's five-part series that began on May 2, 2022. As we return to our yearly tradition of studying Pirkei Avot, and learn to walk the Path of Life with the Maharal as our guide. Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we can receive the Torah, we must learn Derekh Eretz - how to live together in harmony with all human bei...

BBE BONUS CLASS Decoding the Codes - Parshat Kedoshim

Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from May 5, 2022

BEST BOOK EVER The Most Important Thing - Parshat Kedoshim

This podcast was produced while standing on our heads. The rest is commentary.

The Question of Jewish Identity - Rabbi David Kasher

Reflections after a recent trip to Israel.

BBE BONUS CLASS The Nakedness - Parshat Acharei Mot

Uncovering the familial sexual prohibitions of Leviticus.

Yom HaShoah - A Survivor's Story

John Destler was born in Berlin on October 13, 1931. One of his earliest memories is watching from the balcony of his family’s apartment as Hitler and Mussoilini drove by in a motorcade. In the week of Yom HaShoah, we welcome John to our community to talk about his unique experiences, trauma, and challenges. Including a life long battle with addiction that he was able, at the age of 72, to face and heal. (From Samara Hutman's Intro) In partnership with Righteous Conversations Project.

Telling the Story Differently

Rabbi Kasher checks in from his Seder in Israel

SERMON The Unsung Heroines of Our Liberation Story - Rabbi Tova Leibovic-Douglas

Our Passover story was made possible by a quiet revolutionary spirit manifested through four female archetypes.

SERMON Leaving Egypt in a Warming World - Rabbi Morris Panitz

BEST BOOK EVER BONUS CLASS The Priests of Passover

BEST BOOK EVER Shedding Our S(k)ins - Parshat Metzora

What's the connection between gossip and skin disease?

SERMON Covid Torah - Rabbi David Kasher

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that we have all become better readers of Leviticus.

BEST BOOK EVER BONUS CLASS The Origins of Impurity

Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from March 31, 2022

BEST BOOK EVER The Haunted House - Parshat Tazria

Can a house get sick? The Torah seems to think so.

The Complicated Wisdom of Jewish Time

Reflections on mourning from Moed Katan and Parshat Shemini. In memory of Steven J. Kasher, Z"L.

BBE BONUS CLASS Cold Comfort - Parshat Shemini

SERMON Don’t Look Away - Rabbi Morris Panitz

You know the cycle. Front page headlines retreat to the back pages and eventually disappear from both the paper and our attention. Even the most horrifying headlines, those emerging from the brutal war in Ukraine, risk being ignored in the frenetic pace of our news cycle. We must not turn away. Even in the absence of a clear political path forward, we need to keep our hearts open to the stories, pleas, and suffering of the Ukrainian people, responding with empathy, advocacy, and resources.

BEST BOOK EVER Kasher on Kosher - Parshat Shemini

This week, we receive the first major list of kosher laws. But whyare we supposed to keep kosher? There are some classic answers. But Rabbi Kasher's got a theory of his own.

SERMON Fostering Possibility - Rabbi Susan Silverman

In this drasha we explore how Esther and Moses overcame their resistance to action, when that action involved risk; Serah bat Asher and Ruth's capacities to draw strength and purpose from the past and imagine themselves as agents of a better future; and how all their stories shed light on our lives and world today, particularly in relation to our responsibility for the children in the LA County Foster Care system.

BEST BOOK EVER BONUS CLASS The Sin of Abel - Parshat Vayikra

Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from March 10, 2022