Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism – Details, episodes & analysis

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. הי״ד the Hebrew acronym  הַשֵּׁם יִקּוֹם דָּמוֹ "May Hashem avenge his blood" has been carved after the names of too many victims of bloodshed in the past few months, and especially in the last few days. This week's parsha addresses tribalism, revenge killings and blood feuds which in the Ancient Near East, especially in the Sinai Peninsula, have a too rich history. Today we review the Biblical texts in light of pre-Islamic customs preserved by the Bedouin and we wonder …. when will it ever end.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/587623 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/09/04/may-god-avenge-his-blood/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse on August 25th 2022. The Torah prohibits us from adding or detracting to its directives and also against rewriting history. It even predicts that there might be a time where our leaders will try to reinvent our past. We discuss.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/426413

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2022/08/24/a-time-that-never-was/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. The so-called Biblical Spies are actually not characterized as undercover agents but rather as tourists or in Hebrew; Turim. Broadcasting live from Venice, Italy, we take this opportunity to explore the significant impact that journey has played in defining the Jew.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/575122 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/06/26/wanderlust/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. We've encountered age limits in the Torah with regard to reaching the age of majority, military age and the age required to serve as a priest, but there is a singular verse which provides a mandatory retirement age and this is the subject of our discussion.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/574152 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/06/19/retirement-ageism-and-age-limits/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. This week we start the fourth Book of the Torah and it is also my grandson Ari's Bar Mitzvah. As the Torah quantifies and qualifies its members, there is nothing new with the emphasis on the genetic lineage of the tribes. What is surprising, is a strategically placed Rabbinic comment that whoever teaches Torah to another, Scripture regards it as though he had given birth to him. So, what is Ari celebrating… his membership in the tribe or his choice to be reborn as a student of Moshe Rabenu and his teachings. In short, is it Nature or Nurture?

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/569859 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/06/05/jewish-identity-nature-or-nurture/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded live on Clubhouse. God threatens to scatter the Israelites among the nations. The Septuagint, in its Greek translation, coins a new word, maybe a new concept. A Greek word used, not for migrants but to reference a people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere. The word is Diaspora, a seminal concept in Judaism and a word that has spawned such concepts as alienation, ethnicity, repatriation and redemption. Modern day Diaspora Studies may ignore the Jews but Disapora may lie at the heart of what is the enigma of the Jews…

Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/567783 

Transcript on episdode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/05/29/diaspora/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. This week's parsha is Behar, which means "at the Mountain". While Rabbi Mintz is not at the Mountain, he is in Israel and will share impressions of his recent visit to the only Haredi Hesder Yeshiva. The Talmud suggests that we set aside specific times for Torah study and we will use the Sabbatical year referenced in the parsha to focus on different ways that our tradition has offered for integrating study into civil society and military service.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/566480

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/05/22/times-for-torah/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. 

We usually think of Tishrei and the Fall as a marathon of Jewish holidays, but if you count Rabbinic and Israeli holidays, the seven weeks of Spring win the holiday race with ease. Pesach, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha'atzmut, Pesach Sheni, Lag ba'Omer, Yom Yerushalyim and Shavuot. We use Leviticus 23 which has the most complete summary of Biblical holidays to explore the dynamic of adding new holidays and adding meaning to existing holidays.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/564540 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/05/14/ki-ba-moed-the-time-has-come/ 

Join Geoffrey Stern, Rabbi Adam Mintz and special guest Rabbi Menachem Bombach recorded on Clubhouse. This year Yom Hazikaron; Israeli Memorial Day, will be different for many reasons and from many perspectives. We invite Rabbi Menachem Bombach, a maverick visionary in the Haredi community to join us for a conversation about the meaning, history and halachic significance of this day for Israelis in general and for the ultra-Orthodox in particular.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/563501 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/05/08/yom-hazikaron/ 

This week's parsha is Acharei Mot.. literally; After Death. From Rabbinic Judaism up until the present, we Jews "Choose Life". Was it always so? Was it so obvious? Is it the secret sauce of Jewish survival? And…. Is it at the core of the current conflict? So many questions and only half an hour. Join us for Life Comes First recorded live on Clubhouse.

Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/561608 

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2024/05/01/life-comes-first/