TEXTing – Details, episodes & analysis

History repeats itself, but are we doomed to relive the mistakes of the past? In this episode Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes explore cycles of life, destruction, and redemption through the lens of Tisha B’Av Kinot (liturgical poetry), Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), and Devarim (Deuteronomy), and ask whether we could—or should—break out of them. Episode Source Sheet   You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Living through crisis propels us to reflect on historical crises and consider the consequences of our behavior on future generations. As Tisha B’av approaches, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky study a text from Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu) chapter 32 about how we process cataclysmic events and imagine a future beyond them.     Episode Source Sheet   You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

In excess, both pride and shame can be destructive forces, yet to cultivate a healthy ego, one needs a moderate dosing of each. In this episode of Texting, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes unpack tractate Yoma page 22b, which highlights the tension between the need to stand up for oneself and the imperative to be magnanimous and forgiving. What emerges is the importance of interpersonal relationships, as we strive to treat others as we want to be treated.      Episode Source Sheet    Episode Discussion Guide    You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.     JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

Right now, Jews are struggling to live with conflicting feelings— loyalty and dissent, compassion and rage, fear and hope. In this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky turn to an ancient text—Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)—as well as rabbinic interpretations, to consider how we might live and thrive amidst contradiction.    Episode Source Sheet   Episode Study Guide   You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Many Jews have found themselves frequently code-switching, altering their speech to fit in, during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In this episode of Texting, Elana Stein Hain and Yonah Hain take a close look at an instance of code switching in the rabbinic Midrash, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 4:7-8, and what it can tell us about communicating with different audiences today.     Episode Source Sheet    Episode Study Guide    You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.     JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

As the rabbis of the Talmud faced exile and marginalization, they sometimes turned to humor and satire to cope with the challenges they faced. On this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes examine a passage from Talmud Bavli Bekhorot 8b-9a that preserves how the rabbis satirized the Roman cultural sphere—and consider what we can learn about how humor might comfort and guide us through difficult times.    Episode Source Sheet   You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.   JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

In times of war, personal tragedy tends to be subsumed by a collective sense of loss and grief. Borrowing a metaphor from a rabbinic passage about the spread of wildfire in Bava Kamma 60a-60b, Elana Stein Hain and Leora Batnitzky, a professor of philosophy and Jewish studies at Princeton University, explore human interconnectedness as it relates to evil in the world. Together they consider the question: during times of communal pain, when is it right, or even necessary, to close ourselves away, and when are we morally bound to participate in the wider community?     You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.     Episode Source Sheet    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

How do we relate to power today beyond the binary narrative of oppressor and oppressed? In this episode of TEXTing, Elana Stein Hain and Yonah Hain examine a passage from the Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin that explores what it means to challenge those who hold power. Through the classic rabbinic reading of the story of the rebellion of Korach from Numbers 16, more complex possibilities emerge for understanding and critiquing power through a Jewish lens.    We are grateful to the Walder Charitable Fund and Micah Philanthropies for their generous support of TEXTing.    Episode Source Sheet  You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

Since the devastation on October 7 and throughout the subsequent Israel-Hamas War, Israelis and Jews worldwide have endured tremendous loss and deep uncertainty. In the first episode of TEXTing, a podcast devoted to the exploration of Jewish texts in relation to current events, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes turn to the Talmud in tractate Hagigah to address this shock, disbelief, alienation, and despair.     We are grateful to the Walder Charitable Fund and Micah Philanthropies for their generous support of TEXTing.    This episode is also sponsored by Erica Schacter Schwartz    Episode Source Sheet    You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

The world has changed dramatically over the past millennium, yet the challenges we face concerning how we exist in public, and who we allow to shape our world view, is a tale as old as time. On this episode of TEXTing, recorded live at Hartman’s Rabbinic Torah Seminar in Jerusalem, Elana Stein Hain and Christine Hayes explore texts about rabbinic ‘influencers’ and discuss how universal public scrutiny shapes how we think and behave.   Episode Source Sheet   You can now sponsor an episode of TEXTing. Click HERE to learn more.    JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS