Eli Podcast Productions

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Honesty is the Best Policy • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 205

Feb 17, 2022

10:29

Moshe already knew about the Golden Calf while he was still on the mountain, so why carry the Luchos all the way down before breaking them? What did he see as he came closer that changed everything? The Sforno points to one detail in the pasuk about what the people were feeling, and it says something about how we perform mitzvos and how we do the things we know we shouldn't. A second answer, built on a Gemara about a sin done more than once, cuts even closer.

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The Purpose of Prayer • Parshas Beshalach • Ep. 200

Jan 13, 2022

14:02

Across the street from a yeshiva stands a billboard that doesn't belong there, and one man decides to pay a lot of money to make it go away. What he puts up in its place puzzles every driver. It fits Bnei Yisrael at Refidim. Why would Hashem lead a people dying of thirst into such a test? And why does Moshe, who always davens, not daven for them? The Or HaChaim finds a cornerstone idea about what tefillah is for, beyond getting what we ask.

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The Secret Recipe For Unity • Parshas Yisro • Ep. 201

Jan 20, 2022

11:59

Bnei Yisrael camp twice in a single pasuk before Har Sinai, once in the plural and once in the singular, and Rashi says the singular means "as one person with one heart". Why the repetition, and why does Yisrael only appear the second time? The Kli Yakar finds a change that happened between the desert and the mountain, hidden even in the name Refidim. It takes a look at the smallest mountain, and what a person must give up before real harmony is possible. A story of two boys booked for the same bar mitzvah leyning brings it into a very ordinary setting.

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A Blessing in Disguise • Parshas Mishpatim • Ep. 202

Jan 28, 2022

10:31

Whatever arrives in our lives, a good break or a hard test, how do we know which one it really is? In Parshas Mishpatim the pasuk says "v'avadtem" in the plural, then turns to the singular for the blessing of bread, water, and health. Why the switch? The Baal HaTurim gives the pshat, and the Ramban sets a condition on serving Hashem for the right reason. A remez adds one more layer. A cleaner and a rainy night at a shul make that clarity real.

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Renovations for the Shechinah • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 203

Feb 3, 2022

12:46

Shemos Rabbah reads one word in Parshas Terumah in a way that seems backwards. Bnei Yisrael are asked to give, yet the pasuk says "v'yikchu li", they shall take. And Hashem needs nothing from us anyway, so what is being given, and what is being taken? A king who marries off his only daughter and makes one small request of her new husband is a picture of what Hashem asked of us after Matan Torah. The Alshich adds a question about why the pasuk says "b'socham", among them, and what it asks of each person.

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True Mesiras Nefesh • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 204

Feb 10, 2022

16:31

Aharon had a part in the Chet HaEgel, and in Parshas Terumah the Midrash Tanchuma connects his appointment as Kohen Gadol to that very sin, so that he would know Hashem had forgiven him. But the Gemara says a sin never brings a reward. How can that be? A Midrash Rabbah on what Aharon feared for Klal Yisrael shows what the act revealed about him. It points to a trait that every person is born without and has to build. A story of two boys in Poland and a pair of shoes puts it at a child's size.

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Surfing the Waves of Emuna During Pesach • Pesach • Ep. 208

Apr 13, 2022

16:00

Five years of digging, a tunnel five kilometers long, and a prison break that finally works. One man stays behind, and the question that follows him is the one we all face. Before the Seder, the Torah's wording raises its own puzzles. Why does the Ramban stress that Pesach, like Shabbos, must be guarded? Why does the Torah even call Pesach "Shabbos" in the count of the Omer? And why the extra care for every mitzvah of the night? The Chofetz Chaim's idea about Shabbos connects them, and says what to prepare for the Seder.

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Zrizin Makdimim Pioneering Progress and Proactivity • Lomdus • Ep. 251

Feb 9, 2023

9:20

Even when Kiddush Levana could be said on a Tuesday, the Terumas HaDeshen says to wait for Motzei Shabbos. But isn't there a rule that those who are zariz do mitzvos as soon as they can? A related case: a man in jail is allowed out for one day a year, and he asks which day to take. The Chacham Tzvi sets two cases side by side and draws a line between them, then faces a hard question from Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. A lomdus look at when a hiddur outweighs rushing, and what counts as part of the mitzvah itself.

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Wheat, Miracles, and Meaning • Parshas Emor • Ep. 209

May 5, 2022

12:26

Why is the Omer offering named after a measurement, when the Mincha offering has the exact same volume and no one calls it that? The Torah also starts the count to Shavuos from this one offering, and only after it may new grain be eaten. Why name a korban after its volume, and what ties it to the count? Rabbi Yosef Salant connects the word "omer" to another place where the Torah uses it. It speaks directly to anyone working long hours for a living. A small card handed to Rabbi Asaf Prisman by a stranger on a flight carries the point.

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Our Responsibility as Hashem's Ambassadors • Parshas Bo • Ep. 199

Jan 6, 2022

7:06

Moshe Rabbeinu warned that Makas Bechoros would come at "about" midnight, though Hashem struck at exactly midnight. The Gemara in Berachos says he was worried the Egyptian astrologers would miscalculate. But why would Moshe care what they thought, when within minutes they would see the plague arrive just as he said? The answer sets a standard for anyone who looks like a representative of Hashem. A newspaper article waiting to go to print, with a correction promised for tomorrow, makes the standard very concrete.

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