Popular Shows by Eli Podcast Productions: Page 6

501

A blessing in disguise • Parshas Vayetzei • Ep. 106

Dec 5, 2019

16:05

Rachel gives up Yaakov to save her sister from embarrassment, and a few pesukim later Leah is furious with her over some dudaim. Why would Leah be so upset at the very person who rescued her? One idea answers that, along with two questions that seem unrelated: what makes Chanukah different from every other miracle, and what connects Yosef HaTzaddik to it? Rav Shlomo Kluger opens the way, and a soldier locked in a freezer on an army ship carries the story.

502

Going the Extra Mile for Chanukah • Chanukah • Ep. 107

Dec 11, 2019

10:03

Most of us do what is required and feel finished. Chanukah is the one place where halacha invites us to light more each night, though one candle is already enough. Why is the Gemara's main focus the jug of oil and not the military victory? And why is there no Torah holiday for thanking Hashem? The Ramban on Aharon and the menorah points toward an answer. A story about a school, and a teacher still waiting for her match, brings it home.

503

Double Trouble from Esav • Parshas Vayishlach • Ep. 108

Dec 12, 2019

11:17

The Torah says Yaakov was both afraid and distressed before meeting Esav, and then he prays to be saved "from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav." Why the double language both times? And why does Esav's kiss, and his offer to walk together, come up again at the end? The Beis HaLevi reads these pesukim with a sharp eye for what Yaakov feared most. A point from Rav Yitzchak Hutner on Purim and Chanukah carries it into our own surroundings, and what we are really guarding against there.

504

Discovering Inner Beauty on Chanukah • Chanukah • Ep. 109

Dec 19, 2019

13:59

On a flight to Barcelona, a line of fathers and sons forms in the aisle, all waiting to reach the captain of a famous basketball team. Then comes a Friday night game, and a question about who is really on the plane. That scene sits beside a puzzle about Chanukah. The Greeks loved wisdom and beauty, yet the Mishkan was gold and silver, and we buy a lovely mezuzah case for hiddur mitzvah. So what exactly did the Greeks get wrong, and why did all four of their decrees target the same thing? A word from the Bnei Yissaschar on Tzion and Yavan turns beauty into something very different.

505

Judgment Day and Rebuke • Parshas Vayigash • Ep. 110

Jan 2, 2020

18:51

When Yosef reveals himself, he asks his brothers, "Is my father still alive?" Yehuda has just spent the whole conversation talking about their father's life, so what is Yosef really asking? And why does the Midrash Rabbah call the brothers' silence a warning about Yom HaDin? The Beis HaLevi reads it as a rebuke, delivered in a way most of us would never think to try. A mashal about a father who sails off to a faraway place to find riches, and what he carries home, asks us to look at where we put our effort.

506

Beating the enemy • Parshas Vayechi • Ep. 111

Jan 9, 2020

9:47

Yosef already says yes to burying Yaakov in Me'aras HaMachpeilah, and he has the power to do it. Yaakov still makes him swear. Later, when Pharaoh looks for a way out of that oath, Yosef answers him with a line that sounds almost like a threat to the king. Why would Yosef speak that way, and what did Pharaoh understand that stopped him? The Steipler, working from a Gemara in Sotah, explains what was really at stake. A soldier, a night alarm and an unfinished shoelace bring it to its sharpest point.

507

Little Things Count • Parshas Shemos • Ep. 112

Jan 16, 2020

8:18

The Shabbos before an orphan bride's wedding, a rebbetzin who runs a tzedakah fund has paid for everything. Her husband asks one more question, and her answer catches him off guard. It connects to the two midwives in Parshas Shemos. Rashi says Shifra is Yocheved and Puah is Miriam, named for how they tended the newborns. They defied Pharaoh and kept the babies alive. So why does the Torah name them for the gentle details, and why does Rav Pinkus say that is what earned them such lasting reward?

508

Your Will of Protection • Parshas Vaera • Ep. 113

Jan 23, 2020

11:54

One comment from someone else, and a person who was strong for years suddenly has no appetite and no energy. Most of us have seen it, or lived it. Why does a single sentence do that? An idea Rabbi Asaf Prisman heard from Rav Boyer ties it to a small oddity in Parshas Vaera. The Torah says Bnei Yisrael couldn't listen to Moshe because of "shortness of breath and hard work," when you would expect the order to be reversed. The idea then follows a man in the camps who was cheerful when others couldn't understand how, and who was sad on the eve of Sukkos.

509

The Exact Orchestra • Parshas Bo • Ep. 114

Jan 31, 2020

10:12

Chazal teach that the plague of hail had fire burning inside the ice. The plague of Arov is named for a mixture, though "wild animals" would describe it just as well. And Bnei Yisrael leave Mitzrayim in the middle of Nisan, not at some other time. What do these details have in common? The Ramchal on why Hashem created the world gives one thread that ties them together, and even reaches the name Moshe. A short mashal about someone who looks through a small hole into a room is about how easily we misread a scene, and what that does to our reactions in daily life.

510

Emuna & Bitachon (personal story) • Parshas Beshalach • Ep. 115

Feb 7, 2020

6:49

Bnei Yisrael are trapped between the sea and Pharaoh's army, they cry out to Hashem, and Hashem answers Moshe: "Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them travel." Isn't crying out exactly what we are meant to do in a time of need? The Or HaChaim hears a difference between emunah and bitachon in these words, and it explains what Nachshon was really doing in the water. Rabbi Asaf Prisman also shares something personal from his own family that week, and why these pesukim spoke to him so directly.

511

Having The Right Perspective on Life • Parshas Yisro • Ep. 116

Feb 14, 2020

8:05

The Chofetz Chaim points out that Moshe named his sons in an order that doesn't match what happened to him. First Hashem saved him from Pharaoh's sword, which is Eliezer. Only afterward did he become a stranger in Midyan, which is Gershom. So why is Gershom the firstborn? The answer reaches the way we raise children and the way we live an ordinary day. A short parting scene has Rav Dessler seeing off a student at the train station with a blessing that sounds surprisingly small, until he explains what he meant.

512

Being Extra Sensitive • Parshas Mishpatim • Ep. 117

Feb 20, 2020

8:21

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, yet Chazal teach that it means paying money. Why does the Torah write it in a way that sounds literal if it never was? And why do some Rishonim say the true din really would be to take the eye? Add to that the Ten Commandments split across two luchos, and a rule that has the person who dug the pit keep the dead animal and still pay. One idea runs through all of it, and it is about how we treat someone else. A rav taking a cup of water at a bris turns that sensitivity into something you can picture.

513

What's Important in Hashem's Eyes • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 118

Feb 27, 2020

6:55

Whose gift lands deeper: the expensive bouquet a busy husband orders with one last-second phone call on Erev Shabbos, or the flowers another man picks on his walk home? The same question hides in Parshas Terumah. The Torah lists the donations to the Mishkan from most valuable to least, yet the precious stones for the Efod and Choshen come last, though a Gemara says they were worth far more than gold. The Or HaChaim, drawing on a Gemara in Yoma, explains what Hashem is looking for when we give.

514

Unveiling the Essence of Purim • Purim • Ep. 119

Mar 5, 2020

9:33

Chazal tell us to drink on Purim until we can't tell "cursed is Haman" from "blessed is Mordechai." Why would we want to blur that, when the Rambam warns against losing yourself to wine? And why does the Megillah keep returning to the same pattern: Haman's own plan, ring and hanging, turns back on him? The Ramchal's idea of why Hashem made a world that looks like it has opposing forces answers both questions at once. It also reaches the things in our own lives that seem to be going against us.

515

Today, Tomorrow The Chicago Bulls and the Golden Calf • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 120

Mar 13, 2020

10:50

When Bnei Yisrael demand the golden calf, Aharon answers with one word, "tomorrow." A Midrash gathers three other places where that same word shows up: the war against Amalek, Esther's second party for Haman, and Shmuel sending Shaul to be anointed. All three are about Amalek, and the Midrash says Amalek falls only "tomorrow." What is Hashem hinting about the fight in front of us today? A mashal about how a certain army chooses its recruits, and what the test really measures, brings that one word into our own struggles.

516

Getting into Pesach mode • Parshas Vayikra • Ep. 121

Mar 26, 2020

9:54

Even small children want to be the strongest. Two four-year-olds, one in a garden and one on a balcony, stuck at home for weeks, are busy arguing about whose father is stronger. Where does that urge come from, and why does Parshas Vayikra, all about korbanos, always land right before Pesach? The Ramban's introduction to the sefer and the small aleph in the very first word, as the Baal HaTurim explains it, point to what a korban is meant to do to a person. It also gives a fresh look at where we place our trust when everything we rely on suddenly feels shaky.

517

Deciphering Hashem's Expectations in Pesach • Pesach • Ep. 122

Apr 3, 2020

14:42

The Haggadah opens by pointing at the matzah and calling it the poor man's bread, before it has said a word about why we eat it. Why start there, when we are about to sit like kings and drink like kings? A mashal about a king who meets a young shepherd on a hunting trip, makes him his treasurer, and then finds an unexpected locked room in his house gives the reason. Rabbi Asaf Prisman connects it to a banner he saw outside a shul during the lockdown, and to what it might mean to prepare for Pesach in the heart before the kitchen.

518

Sipping the Seder Pesach's 4 Cups of Wisdom • Pesach • Ep. 123

Apr 8, 2020

10:48

You drink the four cups at the Seder and say the short bracha after the wine, but you forget Yaaleh V'Yavo. Do you go back and say it again? By the usual rule, a bracha is repeated when the meal was obligatory, and the four cups are certainly obligatory. Yet no one seems to rule that way. Rav Shach offers a new angle on what exactly is obligating us that night. Then Rabbi Akiva Eger's teshuvah on women and the matzah seems to push against it, until one more distinction brings the two back together.

519

Taking Responsibility and Embracing Emuna • Pesach • Ep. 124

Apr 14, 2020

11:47

When something needs doing, it is easy to wait for someone else to step up first. Why should it be me? The Tosefta in Berachos says that at the splitting of the sea, the tribes argued over who would go into the water first, and that this is why Yehudah earned the kingship. Was it only a leap of emunah, or did taking responsibility itself change them? A Yerushalmi in Bikurim, about a chasan and a pasuk about Esav, points the same way, and asks what taking responsibility does to the one who takes it.

520

Sefiras HaOmer Utilizing Isolation for Contemplation • Sefiras Haomer • Ep. 125

Apr 24, 2020

14:38

Seven weeks, the pasuk says, and then it says it again. The counting of the Omer is stated twice, and it starts "from the morrow after the Shabbos," though Chazal tell us this means the day after the first day of Pesach. Why the repeat, and why the word Shabbos? A Zohar on Parshas Yisro about how Bnei Yisrael climbed out of Mitzrayim, one level at a time, answers both. Each day of Sefiras HaOmer gets a purpose. A mashal about a very frugal businessman who wanders from the back of a plane toward business class asks where we belong, and what we are doing to get there.

521

How to be a holy Jew • Parshas Kedoshim • Ep. 126

May 1, 2020

15:29

Does being holy mean walking away from every pleasure in this world? Parshas Kedoshim commands us to be holy, and Chazal read that as separating ourselves. Yet the Yerushalmi says we will have to answer for every permitted food we saw and refused. And why does the Torah follow "be holy" so quickly with respecting your parents? The Ramban draws a line that sorts out the Nazir, who is called holy and also called a sinner. The story is of a man, niftar only a week earlier, who once desperately needed a kidney, and what he did with that need.

522

Maximizing enjoyment in this world • Parshas Emor • Ep. 127

May 8, 2020

13:20

The man tasted like anything a person wanted, and even the angels enjoyed it, yet Bnei Yisrael eventually said they couldn't stand it. Torah is described as sweeter than honey, but a Midrash Tanchuma says Hashem had to make a covenant over it because it is so hard. Midrashim also link the Omer offering to the man. How do these contradictions fit together? The Malbim offers a key that explains them all. It reaches the Omer, Sefiras HaOmer and the gap between doing a mitzvah and loving it. A young man excited about a shidduch gets an answer from his Rav that he did not expect.

523

Part of a bigger plan • Parshas Balak • Ep. 135

Jul 2, 2020

13:06

Bilam says the same sentence twice in Parshas Balak: even a house full of silver and gold, I can't go against Hashem. The first time it ends with "small or big." The second time it ends with "good or bad." Why the change? Between the two, a donkey speaks and a curse turns into a blessing. The answer touches every one of us who has pushed hard for something and watched it go the other way. Rabbi Asaf Prisman closes with a bag of fresh buns at the end of the war, and a line Moshe heard at Sinai.

524

Reflecting on the 17th of Tammuz • Three Weeks • Ep. 136

Jul 9, 2020

10:18

The Mishna in Taanis lists five calamities of the 17th of Tammuz, including the broken Luchos, and among them the Korban Tamid being stopped. Why is that the one sacrifice singled out, when every korban ended? The introduction to Ein Yaakov adds a stranger piece: one Tanna says the single pasuk that contains the whole Torah is the one about the Tamid, next to Shema Yisrael and "love your friend as yourself." What did that daily offering hold that the whole Torah leans on? A friend's anniversary gift that cost far more than he ever saw her spend gives a clue.

525

Pure motivation • Parshas Masei • Ep. 137

Jul 16, 2020

11:39

A couple waits eighteen years for a child. Then, when the boy turns eighteen, he lands in the hospital, and his father steps out on Erev Shabbos to buy groceries, working on himself the whole way to accept what Hashem sends. What happens when he comes back to the ward is not what he expects. It connects to Parshas Masei: why did Bnei Yisrael need forty-two stops to reach Eretz Yisrael, and why does the Gemara in Berachos say Torah, the Land and the World to Come all come through hardship? What does hardship reveal about why we do what we do?

526

Getting into the Tisha B'Av Mindset • Tisha B'Av • Ep. 138

Jul 23, 2020

12:32

Rashi says Bnei Yisrael gave Moshe the wrong answer. He offered judges to share his burden, they called it a good idea, and Rashi faults them for it. Why is agreeing a failing? And how could Moshe's cry of "Eicha, how can I carry you alone" begin a chain that ended with the Eicha we read on Tisha B'Av? The answer reaches anyone who has lost a din Torah or wanted a neighbor's house. Then a mother in Poland, whose only son was taken by the army, spends the night on a station bench waiting for him. The Chofetz Chaim took nearly an hour telling it before Tisha B'Av.

527

Fearing Hashem • Parshas Eikev • Ep. 139

Aug 6, 2020

12:09

The pasuk in Eikev says "Mah Hashem Elokecha shoel mei'imach," what does Hashem ask of you but to fear Him. The Gemara in Menachos reads the word "mah" as "me'ah," a hundred, and learns that we must say a hundred brachos every day. Who gave the Gemara the right to switch that word, and what does a hundred blessings have to do with fearing Hashem at all? The Divrei Yoel says the link is deeper than a wordplay, and it begins with what "fear" really means. For anyone who says brachos on autopilot, it reframes the whole day.

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