In the Podsha: A Weekly Parsha Conversation

For Parshat Mishpatim, I speak with Lawyer and Law professor at Emory U, Rabbi Shlomo Pill about the purpose of Mishpatim. How do these laws create the society we want? What is the purpose of these laws, and why are they after the Ten Commandments? Shlomo Pill is a Professor of Law at Emory University. He Specializes in American Law and the intersection between Muslim and Jewish Law. He is the founding Director of the Institute for Jewish Muslim Action (IJMA), a policy-action group building cooperative relationships between American Jews and Muslims through educational programming, policy research, and political and legal advocacy on issues of mutual interest in American public life

I was honored to have on Rabbi Joshua Berman of Bar Ilan University to talk about his book Created Equal. In the conversation he discusses, the purpose of using Near Eastern texts to explain the Torah, what is going on with the Ten Commandments and how we each have a special relationship with G-d. Rabbi Dr Joshua Berman is a Professor of Bible at Bar Ilan University. He is the author of various Academic books on Torah including Created Equal and Inconstancies in the Torah. You can see more of his work here: https://bible.biu.ac.il/en/node/559

For parshat Bo, I hang out with Zahava Bauer, teacher of Literature and Halakha at Torah Academy of Greater Philidelphia, about the meaning of Firstborns for the Egyptians and the Jewish people and the importance of marking time.

I talk with Miriam Gedwiser, Judaic studies teacher at Ramaz upper school, about Moshe's job is a communal one, how we learn things even if we dont realize it, and why all the plagues had to happen. Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at the Ramaz Upper School and is on the faculty at Drisha. She has a B.A. in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from N.Y.U. School of Law.   She also serves on the board of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership and is a consulting Editor at the Lehrhaus.

For Parshat Shmot, I chat with my dad about his Bar Mitzvah Parsha. We talk about why Moshe was chosen as a leader for the Jewish people, while going through buts of Torah along the way, and detail some of the Hero's journey Moshe goes through this week. Yes, my dad and I were really in smicha together, you can see more about that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SbY0S5nldQ