The news from Israel can feel overwhelming – but Torah gives us language for understanding current events with complexity and compassion. From Hadar’s Beit Midrash in Jerusalem, Rabbi Avital Hochstein joins Rabbi Avi Killip to unpack some of the most pressing spiritual and moral questions in Israel today.
The Haggadah describes how "in every generation, they stand against us to destroy us." At the same time, the lesson of the Exodus from Egypt in the Torah is to translate our suffering into empathy, to remember that we were strangers in Egypt and therefore look after the strangers today. As we enter a complicated Pesah, how can we hold these two narratives together?
29 Mar 2024
Is Israel Fighting Amalek?
Rav Avital and Rav Elazar reflect on what it means to celebrate Purim in the shadow of war. They explore how we might grapple with the suffering of innocent people in Gaza through Torah.
6 Mar 2024
Feminism in a Time of War
The reality in Israel today is that the people on the battlefield are mostly men and the people left behind to look after their homes and children are mostly women. Rav Avital shares some reflections on this situation through the lens of the women's contribution to the mishkan (tabernacle).
29 Feb 2024
Mistakes and their Aftermath
This week's parashah has the biggest mistake in the Bible: the building of the Golden Calf. How do huge mistakes like this happen? What are their consequences? What about for the people who didn't prevent it from happening? Rav Avital and Rav Elazar use this story as a framework to think about the terrible mistakes that led up to the October 7th attacks.
21 Feb 2024
The Qualities of a Leader
What qualities do we want in a leader? Rav Avital and Rav Elazar consider what leaders today could learn from the models of Moses and Aaron and the disposition required to keep the menorah lit.
14 Feb 2024
Mandatory Volunteerism
The opening words of this week's Parashat Terumah contains a tension that Rav Avital and Rav Elazar have felt since the beginning of the war. It's inspiring that Israelis—and Americans too—are coming together in a spirit of donation and volunteerism to fulfil urgent needs in Israel, but it raises deep questions as to who was supposed to take care of these needs in the first place and why they failed to do so.
How should we think about volunteering when it feels actually mandatory? And when we do offer our time and resources, what are we offering it for and for what larger purpose?
7 Feb 2024
How Can We Feel Safe?
Rav Avi flew to Israel this week and reflects with Rav Elazar what it means to leave a place that is ostensibly safe to come to a place which is ostensibly dangerous. Through the lens of David writing Psalm 23: what is the connection — and dissonance — between being safe and feeling safe?
1 Feb 2024
The Role of Torah in War
A midrash describes how God offered the Torah do the descendants of Esau, but they refused it when they heard one of its key teachings was "do not kill." What does it mean to receive and hold fast to the Torah in a time of war, where killing is a terrifying and necessary reality?
24 Jan 2024
Unity or Conformity?
All over Israel, there is a slogan that calls for people to come together in unity: "Together, we will win." But unity is a difficult concept to live out and it too often leaves some people out. Rav Avital and Rav Elazar explore ask the question based on characters from this week's parashah: how can we have unity that doesn't erase our strengths that arise from diversity?
18 Jan 2024
Reflections on 100 Days
There have now been captives of Hamas for over 100 days. Rav Avital and Rav Elazar discuss how this grim milestone feels in Israel today and what Torah and Tefillah has been keeping them going.
11 Jan 2024
Learning From Our Children: A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #7
R. Avi Killip rejoins R. Avital Hochstein and R. Elazar Symon to talk about our relationships with our children. What are we trying to inculcate in them? And what do we hope that they can remind us about?
14 Dec 2023
What Are We Allowed to Feel? A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #6
R. Avi Killip and R. Avital Hochstein introduce Dr. Tsivia Frank Wygoda, a new member of Hadar's team in Israel who supports independent minyanim in Be'er Sheva and southern Israel. They reflect on how war pushes us to think in terms of black and white binaries, and yet, the reality - politically, morally, and emotionally - is such more more complex. Are there limits on what we are allowed to feel and how we can express these feelings?
7 Dec 2023
Holding on to the Value of Human Dignity: A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #5
R. Avi and R. Avital talk about the tumultuous week of the ceasefire and returned captives. What are the values that animate the conversation about who should be the priority to bring home? How can we even put relative values on people? And how can we live out our values and imagine a better world in tough times?
4 Dec 2023
Can We Be Thankful? A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #4
R. Avital Hochstein and R. Elazar Symon take the opportunity - belatedly - of Thanksgiving to talk about what they're thankful for and the difficult but necessary role of thankfulness in Tefillah.
20 Nov 2023
R. Avital Hochstein and R. Elazar Symon: A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #3
What happens in a beit midrash during a time of war, violence, and uncertainty? We checked in with R. Avital Hochstein and R. Elazar Symon, both members of Hadar's team in Jerusalem, to discuss what learning Torah means in this difficult time and what this war reveals about Israeli society.
7 Nov 2023
R. Avital Hochstein: A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #2
We check in with Rabbi Avital Hochstein, President of Hadar in Israel, to hear about life in Israel, Tefillah, and Torah this week.
27 Oct 2023
A Spiritual Perspective from on the Ground in Israel #1
Avital Hochstein is a rabbi, a Jerusalemite, a mother of two soldiers currently serving in the IDF, and President of Hadar in Israel.
In this episode, we hear directly from R. Avital and Hadar's Beit Midrash in Jerusalem. What parts of Torah can we reach for? How can we pray and what can we pray for? What does ritual and communal life look like in the shadow of this tragedy?
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