madlik

Parshat Naso (Numbers 6)

Join Geoffrey Stern, Rabbi Adam Mintz and Rabbi Hirsh Chinn on Clubhouse Friday May 21st at 4:00pm (ET). The Torah is ambivalent with regard to the sobriety of the Nazarine. Is the Nazir a holy man striving for greater spirituality or an addict seeking rehab for a moral shortcoming… or both? Rabbi Hirsh Chinn was Geoffrey’s roommate at Yeshivah Torah Vodaath. He was a student of the recently deceased Rabbi and Dr. Abraham J Twersky, who according to his obit in the New York Times was “the descendant of several Hasidic dynasties. Yet he was also a psychiatrist and a respected authority on addiction who was drawn to the 12-step approach central to Alcoholics Anonymous, a program whose origins are Christian….. (see more here). Rabbi Hirsh actually edited a Hagadah written by Dr. Twerski which is based on the premise that “The original passage from bondage to freedom, Exodus, is equated to a person with a substance abuse problem and their passage to freedom through recovery. (see here)

Friday May 21st at 4:00pm Eastern Time

Link: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/MOvLGvRL

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/325089

To listen to last week’s Clubhouse meeting A People’s Army – a chance for peace:

Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1)

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday May 14th at 4:00pm (ET). Was Ben Gurion’s vision of a People’s Army which united the country and created a melting pot for Israeli Society foreshadowed in the Bible’s universal compulsory military service? What about the exception of the Tribe of Levi? Does the elimination from military service and dispercement of a militant and ideologically pure Priestly cast have lessons for us today? And what would the Torah have to say of the Haredi draft exemption? Finally, what do modern-day Israeli commanders have to say about peace?

Friday May 14th at 4:00pm Eastern Time

Link: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/xX9bg9vM

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/322522

To listen to last week’s Clubhouse meeting Judaism for the Accidental Tourist:

Parshat Bechukotai (Leviticus 26:21)

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday May 7th at 4:00pm (ET). Judaism, along with most religions, favors consistency in practice and steadfast faith… or does it? Focusing on a single verse that has been used to support this position (Leviticus 26: 21) we argue for an alternative. We explore happenstance, serendipity, temporarily fealty, chance, accident, the unintentional, the unexpected, or as the King James translators have God put it ”adventures with Me”. We contrast those who acquires their share in the World-to-Come only after many years of toil, and those who do so in one moment. בשעה אחת

Friday May 7th at 4:00pm Eastern Time

Link: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/join/Madlik/Ymv6TiVL/xqB0k4r9

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/320390

To listen to last week’s Clubhouse meeting:

Acharei Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16-20)

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday April 23rd at 4:00pm (ET). A continuation of our exploration of Jewish institutions with fresh eyes. This week we look at the individual. We explore the Biblical prohibition against aloneness/loneliness and how it relates to gender identity and preferences and this week’s Torah portion with its apparent prohibition of homosexuality. How do we look at aloneness differently after Covid-19 and what can it teach us?

Friday April 23rd at 4:00pm Eastern Time

Link: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/MdQa8WAo

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/316534

To listen to last week’s Clubhouse meeting:

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday April 16th at 4:00pm (ET). A continuation of our exploration of Jewish institutions with fresh eyes, and after the plague of Covid-19. This week we look at the home and towards the time when we will re-open our home as we re-open our temples. We explore the relationship between the home and the temple. The Mishkan and the Mishkan Ma’at…. the “small temple that is the home”. Which came first?Which holds the secret to the perseverance of the Jewish People?

Friday April 16th at 4:00pm Eastern Time

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/Pr4nRg2R

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/314697

To listen to last week’s Clubhouse meeting:

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday April 2nd at 4:00pm (ET). As we return to Synagogue services Post-Covid and we renew our temples let’s take the death-during-services of Aaron’s sons as an opportunity to critique services that are too long, with too many additions and imagine how our services could be improved.

Friday 2nd at 4:00pm Eastern Time

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/M5GVnyo4

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/313001

This week’s joke:

On Rosh Hashanah morning, the Rabbi noticed little Adam was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the synagogue. It was covered with names, and small American flags were mounted on either side of it. The seven-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the Rabbi walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, “Good morning, Adam.” “Good morning, Rabbi,” replied the young man, still focused on the plaque. “Rabbi Resnick, what is this?” Adam asked. “Well, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.” Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Adam’s voice was barely audible when he asked: “Which service? Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur?” source

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday April 2nd at 4:00pm (ET). We use Chol HaMoed (Hebrew: חול המועד‎) as an opportunity to explore the place of secular Ḥiloni culture in Judaism and its potential to inspire, uplift and improve. Also joining us will be Ahad Ha’am, Mordecai Kaplan, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook and Elain de Button….

Friday 2nd at 4:00pm Eastern Time

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/PGe3e7bk

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/311627

Did you miss last week and want to listen to what you missed?

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Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday March 26th at 4:00pm (ET). “You shall not oppress a stranger, … having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” and the motif of loving the stranger is not found in the Haggadah unless we follow the advise of the Mishnah and read the parsha until the end…

Friday March 26th 4:00pm Eastern Time

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/MRD3kVo8

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/229545

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz on Clubhouse Friday March 19th at 4:00pm (ET). We’ll discuss the incantation of “Pour out Your Wrath” and suggest some authentic alternatives….

Friday March 12th 4:00pm Eastern Time

Link to Sefaria source sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/309001