Psalm 108 is a fusion of segments from Psalm 57 and 60!

What do we make of old texts being "recycled" to make new mizmorim?

Four situations necessitate thanksgiving to God.

This is a chapter that speaks of God's responsiveness to human distress, and the human thanks of God's salvation.

The heading - "Let the redeemed of God" - indicates that this distress, salvation and thanks are happening under the rubric of Redemption.

This is a chapter that we recite on the night of Yom Haatzmaut.

The nations all burst into song when they appreciate God's salvation of the Jewish People

Is humankind insignificant and lowly, or just a little lower than God?

What does a person do when they are falsely accused, pursued for no fault of their own?

This chapter is the text that we use for Tachanun, in the rabbinic phraseology, "Nefilat Apayim - falling on one's face."

As we shall see, this chapter tells a tale of intense dejection and sudden salvation.

Tehillim have fascinating and complex headings known as superscriptions.

But what do they mean? Do they denote authorship, musical notation or historical context?

What does a person do when they are falsely accused?

How do they cope with the emotional fallout?

Our chapter divides into two sections (with two inclusios)

v.1-4 prayer against those who defame

v.5-9 - sleeping soundly due to trust in God

David is pursued into exile by his son in a mutiny, and he cries out to God.

This psalm reassures the person in distress: "I lie down, and I sleep; I awake, for God supports me." Due to this verse, this chapter is included in the prayers before a person goes to sleep at night.

This "royalty psalm" underscores the intimate relationship between God and the king.

Our Psalm/Mizmor contrasts the path of the wicked with that of the righteous. The wicke dlook active, but it is all bluster. Only the person attached to Torah is genuinely rooted, and will endure. Our Patreon page is here if you would like to offer some financial support. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=51407457

What is Psalms about?

Who wrote the Psalms?

Today we introduce this important book.

Malachi is the final prophet. After this, there is no prophecy.

But why did prophecy end?

God is coming to establish justice, order and decency in the world.

God's arrival i surrounded by clear delight along with melting and quaking mountains, fire, cloud and darkness - features that mirror God's revelation at Mount Sinai.

God's presence establishes a clear choice between good and evil.

Today we speak of:

1. The role of priests

2. The impeccable standards necessary for Torah teachers

3. The debate in Malachi about intermarriage.

Today we introduce Malachi and the period in which he prophecizes.

We then move to explain the first two polemics of ch.1

War in Jerusalem. Revelation. Universal recognition and worship of God

We are still on "that day" - a day which is part apocalypse, part redemptive. This chapter speaks about the purging of Jerusalem.

Chapter 12-14 describe an "end of days" global battle against Jerusalem in which God will fight the nations, save his city and his people.

Today we study the first installment of this heady drama.

The "sheep of the slaughter" - one of the most mysterious and cryptic chapters in Tanakh.

We visit the debate of when Zechariah ch.9-14 was written.

Today we discuss the notion that the future king who will bring peace to Jerusalem will be "poor and riding a donkey" (9:9) - an image which has often been seen as associated with the Mashiach.

Today we discuss the phrase (8:16) "Truth, Justice and Peace" and the inherent tensions between them.

It is the 4th year of Darius.

The Temple is not yet completed but the structure is already standing.

People are asking: Will we need to fast on the 9th of Av this year?

The prophet responds. What do you think he said?

Today we identify a deliberate structure of Psalms 95-100 which form them into a self-contained unit.

Two prophecies: Chariots (again) - and Crowns.

What are the messages behind these prophecies? In our reading, both are prophecies encouraging the returnees to Jerusalem that God is backing the enterprise of the Return to Zion, and the project of rebuilding the Temple.

A flying scroll; a female figure of evil transported in a lead cauldron - these are the strange and colourful images of our chapter. But What do they mean?

An image of a golden Menorah with two olive trees.

This prophecy has become the basis of the national crest of the State of Israel.

But what does it all mean?

Zechariah sees a celestial hearing in which the High Priest stands before Satan. God rebukes Satan and says that he doesn't want to hear any accusations against the Jewish People who have endured so much!

Instead the High Priest is given fresh, clean clothing, symbolizing God's forgiveness of His people and his intent to offer Israel a fresh start, a new beginning.

We continue with Zechariah's visions which express the end of Israel's oppression and dispersion, and promises both God's and Israel's return to Jerusalem.

Zechariah 1 offers a cryptic image of white and red horses and a mystery man who reports: “We have roamed the world, and have found it dwelling in tranquility.”

To which Zechariah's angel blurts out: "How long will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, to which you have been furious for seventy years already?”

In chapter 2 we hear Haggai actively encouraging the Jews of Judea to build, lifting their hopes with promises of a better future.

The year is 520 BCE. the second year of the reign of Darius. Jews returned to Judea 17 years previously. But the Temple project has stalled ... Haggai quotes the people who say that "It isn't the right time to build the House of God." Haggai communicates that God feels differently: "Build the House and I will be pleased and glorified..." TO DONATE VIA PATREON see this link: https://patreon.com/user?u=51407457

From the day of destruction to the day of jubilation, Tzephaniah charts the process whereby Jerusalem will be purged of its evil elements and will return in joy and safety to God's protection and service.

We focus on the difficult phrase which opens ch.2 and the moral lessons that we can learn from it.

This chapter is familiar to most of us as the opening of Kabbalat Shabbat. But there is a strange shift from the first segment to the second. Why does the chapter transition from joy to rebuke and warning?

Zephania predicts a terrifying apocalypse that will be visited upon Jerusalem

Music: Noga Erez

Here is Habakkuk's prayer.

Is he continuing to challenge God or has he submitted?

As we will see his prayer calls on Jewish history and askes God: "In anger; recall Your compassion!"

What does God answer Habakkuk's protest about the prevalence of evil in the world? This answer becomes the basis of one of the most famous pronouncements in Judaism.

Habbakuk opens his book asking God how it can be that "the evil surround the righteous - that is why Torah is weakened!" How can God allow evil and bloodshed to gain the upper hand in our world?

Chapter 3 describes:

1. Nineveh as the City of Blood

2. Her promiscuity and witchcraft - possibly a reference to her idolatrous culture, or to he double-dealing in international relations (Radak)

3. The Assyrian conquest of Thebes, and that the same fate will befall Nineveh

4. The siege of Nineveh

5. The collapse of the leadership, the economy and the military

Interestingly, neither God or Israel are explicitly mentioned in this chapter.

Our chapter begins with the restoration of the fortunes of Judah and Israel.

It then proceeds to portend the fall of Nineveh.

Chapter one of Nahum presents God as filled with Fury and vengeance, and predicting the demise of the Assyrian empire and its capital city Nineveh.

This chapter contains the famous lines that we recite at Tashlich on Rosh Hashanna.

Music: שבק ס נופל וקם

God says that he has an argument with the people! What is it?

What's the connection with the Exodus, with Bilaam, and with Sacrifices?

This is another chapter about redemptive, messianic times.

But the text is at cross purposes: Will the future be one of war or peace? Why would shepherds and princes (rather than warriors) be the correct way to fight Assyria?

In this podcast we relate to Rav Amital's Hesped for the 8 soldiers from Yeshivat Har Etzion who fell in the Yom Kippur War. You can see the speech at this link.

How does faith respond to suffering? - In a variety of ways.

This Mizmor gives us several vantage points on the experience of suffering - protest, rebuke, faith, a call to divine retribution and justice. This is a sophisticated multifaceted treatment of injustice and evil.

Chapter 4 communicates the messianic vision of a Jerusalem of lawfullness, peace and divine presence.

Today we discuss verse 5 and its messages about Judaism's independence and we articulate a theology of religious tolerance.

Micah accuses the leadership - royalty, aristocracy, priests and prophets - of corruption.

He issues a warning that Jerusalem will be destroyed.

Did his words make an impact?

Chapter 2 presents a biting social critique of the injustices of society.