IKAR Podcasts

Latest Episodes:

Your Brother's Blood is Crying: Biblical Origins of our Divided Society - Judy Klitsner May 01, 2023

Show notes

Despite the many challenges the Jewish people face today, many believe that our greatest difficulty is our inability to coexist peacefully among ourselves. In our studies, we will focus on the theme of embattled siblings, which pervades the book of Genesis. We will draw a line from these narratives to the Jewish people today, noting, and suggesting possible responses to, the enduring affliction of fractiousness among “siblings.”

The Thin Line - Rabbi Morris Panitz Apr 24, 2023

Show notes

It’s the presence and prospect of death in our midst that makes life so precious. It’s the awareness that there’s a thin line separating it all that summons us back into life. The lungs that breathe with you, the heart that beats for you, the blood that sustains you defines both the beginning and the end of our stories. They belong to each other- just as death belongs to life and grief belongs to love.

Reparations Now: A Conversation on the CA Reparations Task Force's Findings and Proposals with Member Dr. Shery Grills, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen and Reverend Eddie Anderson. Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

Reparations Now: A Conversation on the CA Reparations Task Force's Findings and Proposals with Member Dr. Shery Grills, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen and Reverend Eddie Anderson.

Prophetic Grief and Public Protest - Rabbi Sharon Brous Apr 16, 2023

Show notes

For millennia, we’ve tried to understand how Aaron, Moshe’s brother, remained silent, even acquiescent after suffering unimaginable loss. Some say his heart turned to stone—he simply could no longer feel. Prophetic grief, in contrast, is born at the intersection of heartache and fury, and rages against reality. When experienced by not only by individuals but by the collective, bursts of prophetic rage and grief—while imperfect political movements—have the power to overturn world orders. Some reflections on my recent trip to Israel and the meaning and potential of this protest movement.

The Forgotten Story of Our Pilgrimage - Rabbi Morris Panitz Apr 14, 2023

Show notes

Three times a year, the Torah instructs, we’re meant to drop everything and set off on a collective journey to a sacred destination. While these pilgrimages have disappeared from our practice, it’s worth wondering why the Torah selects this religious behavior as the primary way to capture and reanimate the core values of these holidays. Pilgrimage, it turns out, is the ideal way to tell the story of Passover.

Who is Waiting? - Rabbi Deborah Silver Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

The very first Pesah is described as a ’night of waiting.’ But who is waiting for whom, and why?

The Season of Our Freedom: What Does it Mean to Be Free? - Rabbi Dvora Weisberg Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

In Pirkei Avot, we read that "A free person is

one who studies Torah." How can the study of Torah help us understand

and appreciate what it means to be free?

SERMON: A Holy Justice, and a Just Holiness - Rabbi David Kasher Apr 03, 2023

Show notes

Rabbi Kasher’s farewell sermon, a pre-Passover reflection on the role of mitzvot in Jewish life.

We Were Strangers, Too - Rabbinic Intern Hannah Jensen Mar 26, 2023

Show notes

Right now we find ourselves approaching Passover where we are reminded of our oppression and slavery in Egypt and our eventual path toward freedom. This year it's coinciding with proposed new national policies to turn away more asylum seekers are our borders. How can we reconcile what is happening now with our own central narrative as a people who left everything to seek freedom? What lessons can we learn about how to use our voices to fight for more justice?

The Seeds We've Sown - Rabbi Robit Tsadok Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

Spring is springing and the month of Nissan is coming! What will your renewal and regeneration look like this year?