Impalement as a form of punishment meted out by conquering armies was a fact of biblical life and, according to the book of Joshua, something that the Israelites also practiced.  But the book of Deuteronomy states that, "an impaled body is an affront to God." Today, we took a closer look at this strange dichotomy. 

TINW Torah Study

227. Impalement (Sept 3, 2016 revisited)

Dichotomies in the Bible—slight differences, or outright contradictions—make it possible for people to use the Bible to argue positions for or against any number of issues. For example, the book of Joshua give two very different versions of the conquering of the walled city of Jericho. 

226. Founding Narrative (Feb 13, 2016, revisited)

In this 2015 exploration of biblical references to wine, we look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.

225. Wine (June 20, 2015 revisited)

This episode is a revisiting of our very first blogging/podcasting Torah Study session. In it we look at mythology of ancient Greece and how it might have influenced some of our biblical tales.

224. Healing (May 24, 2014 revisited)

The Israelite army is on the march, a Moabite king seeks to curse them, a non-Israelite prophet speaks directly to the Israelite God, and a donkey talks to his rider! 

223. Donkeys and Others - June 26, 2021

We continued our Pride Month exploration of Jewish text that addresses non-binary people. This week we focused on transgender people and we might be surprised to find that the belief that a person might not fit their outside shell is not a 21st century phenomenon.  We finished with 14th century poem by a man who seems to, heartbreakingly, wish he had been born a woman.

222. Transgender Jews - June 19, 2021

In the United States, the movement to embrace non-binary people for who they are has received a lot of traction. Our listeners may be surprised to learn that the issue of non-binary people was a question the earliest Rabbis also grappled with. Not in the "gender identity" sense that we read about today, but it was true for the place in society of intersex people. 

221. Gender Fluidity - June 12, 2021

This week we learned about a woman named Rahab who was a successful, non-Israelite businesswoman. She chose to join the Israelite people, which signified to our ancient sages that she had become a convert, and she is the ancestor to many important people in our Bible, including the Prophet Jeremiah and the Prophetess Huldah. And the Christian Bible tells us she was also an ancestor of Jesus. 

220. Rahab the Convert - June 5, 2021

When the people were liberated from slavery to Egypt, a "mixed multitude" left together. The medieval sage Rashi identified this "mixed multitude" as one that included converts. This led Rabbi Jaech to look at what some of the ancient Rabbis have to say about converts - a group of people which Rabbi Jaech and I, your podcaster, are proud to be!

219. Converts Among Us - May 29, 2021

The social distancing and isolation required due to covid-19 appears to be coming to an end in the US, beginning a time of reunions. This caused Rabbi Janet Roberts to look at reunions in the Torah. Reunions can be events full of conflicting feelings. But our ancient sages taught that old friends offer an opportunity to celebrate your "aliveness."

218. Reunions - May 22. 2021

The U.S. recently completed a census, and this week&apos;s Torah Portion calls for a census to be taken. This is one of several biblical tales that require a counting of the Israelite people.  Some of our traditions recount the census-taking as a point of fact. Other&apos;s indicate that counting the people can only lead to bad things. People are different today, just as they were different in biblical times. Our Torah stories come from different traditions and reflect a variety of beliefs. 

217. Count Me In!

The Greek philosopher Aristotle had a belief that hearing "contributes most to the growth of intelligence," making Aristotle dismissive of the intelligence of deaf-mutes. Many of our ancient sages seemed to agree with that assessment. But others showed more evolved thinking, and appreciation for the humanity of differently abled people. 

216. Deaf-Mutes - May 1, 2021

Yup - it&apos;s in there: rules about what should be done regarding menstruation are in the Bible. Rabbi Janet Roberts led us on an exploration of what is in the Bible, how those rules were changed in post-Temple times, and what they might mean to us today.

215. Purity Laws - April 24, 2021

Ancient thinking reflects the belief that medical afflictions were punishments from God to show his displeasure, and that displeasure had to be carefully managed lest God seek to punish the entire community! This week we looked beyond physical afflictions and took a closer look at mental afflictions. There are numerous examples of mental illness in the Bible and references to it in the wisdom of the ancient sages - so we know mental illness is as ancient as our people. However, unlike in biblical times, today we know that mental illness is not a punishment from God, but a real, medical condition for which we should have compassion.

214. Mental Illness - April 17, 2021

Reform Judaism is a religion of innovation. We looked at the innovations over the years that attempt to provide meaning to followers in an effort to remain relevant. And the innovations continue even today!

213. Alien Fire - April 10, 2021

Rabbi Jennifer Jaech of Temple Israel of Northern Westchester in Croton-on-Hudson, NY heads up our weekly Torah Study sessions. This podcast offers a (typically) 5 minute summary, created and presented by Tara Keiter. Sometimes we have guest leaders but this is, mostly, Rabbi Jaech's class.

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TINW Torah Study

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