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/

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Mintz recorded on Clubhouse. This year our Seder will be different from other seders. For the first time in many of our lives it will be a Leil Shemorim, a night of concern; a night of uncertainty, fatigue and confusion. So, let’s follow the advice of the Rabbis to see ourselves as though we too are leaving our Egypt. Join us as we recast the ancient texts of the Haggadah for our generation and our challenging times.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/559081

Transcript: https://madlik.com/2024/04/16/madlik-model-seder-2024/