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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Ute Steyer looks at Masechet Megillah Daf 27.

Can a synagogue be made into a beit midrash or vice versa? This is the discussion between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Raba. And how do we treat sifrei kodesh – sifrei torah, chumashim, siddurim etc. What is the proper way a true talmid hakham behaves?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This podcast is a collaboration with The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Ute Steyer looks at Masechet Megillah Daf 23.

We will briefly revisit the discussion of whether a woman may receive an aliyah and also see the opinion of the Maharam on the subject before moving on to discuss for which prayers a minyan of 10 adults in required.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This podcast is a collaboration with The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

Hawkeye, the MCU hero everyone loves to hate (or hates to love), is back with his very own limited series on Disney+ and this time...it’s personal. Seriously. As the sharp-shooting Avenger wrestles with grief and guilt and tries to make amends for his morally questionable choices, he also must come to terms with what it means to be a role model and take down a mysterious criminal syndicate, all while trying to make it home for Christmas. Join Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky as they discuss why (or whether) Hawkeye matters, what it means to be a hero, the process of Teshuvah, and the true meaning of Christmas (just kidding).

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Carl Perkins looks at Masechet Megillah Daf 17.

With this page, we begin chapter 2 of Megillah, which focuses on how the megillah is supposed to be read. The very first rule is that the megillah is to be read in order. The text goes on to tell us that other liturgical texts, such as the Hallel (which had been discussed a few pages earlier), the Shema, and the Amidah (the “standing” prayer, consisting originally of eighteen blessings) are also to be recited in the proper order. Why is this? My sense is that this reflects a very important perspective of rabbinic Judaism, namely, that the world follows its natural order. Miracles may happen, but time does not ever flow backwards. Elsewhere (in the ninth chapter of tractate Berachot), we learn that a prayer that asks that time be reversed is considered a vain or ineffectual prayer. Similarly, one can only appreciate the Megillah’s story of the deliverance of the Jewish people if one reads it in the proper order, first hearing about the threatened extermination, then about the miraculous deliverance.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This podcast is a collaboration with The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

When it originally came out, The Matrix trilogy was a pop culture phenomenon, changing the way movies were made, and influencing the way we think about technology, politics, gender, sexuality, violence — even the nature of reality itself. The new sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, attempts to, well, resurrect the franchise, but does it capture our imaginations like its predecessors? Free your mind, as Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky take the red pill and tumble down the rabbit hole of The Matrix Resurrections.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!