Shows
Ta ShmaR. Aviva Richman: Defining Da'at: A Jewish Perspective on Artificial IntelligenceIn a time of abounding artificial intelligence, we will attempt to define what makes intelligence "non" artificial. Our jumping-off point will be the Hebrew word da'at, which is prominently used in Jewish law to assert the importance of mental awareness, intention, and consent. As we excavate the many meanings of da'at, we will ask: What are the characteristics of our minds and thoughts that are at the core of our very real identities? Which parts of our minds matter most to ensure the dignity of a sense of self and to build trust in interpersonal interactions?This...2025-02-0344 min
Living Our Beliefs: Exploring Faith & Religion in Daily LifeA Jewish Feminist Finds Modern Orthodoxy at College – Aviva SteinEpisode 76.In part one, we talk about her Jewish practice at UMass Amherst, where she is now a senior. Part two will cover her engagement on campus in support of Israel and the need for bridge building. Given the tensions on many campuses last year around the Israel/Palestine situation, talking to some college students is timely. I am eager to also speak with a Muslim student who can share their experience, so if you or someone you know is interested, please get in touch. You can reach me through my website – www.talkingwithgodproject.org. ...2024-09-121h 07Ta ShmaR. Aviva Richman: The Power and Limits of Radical HesedWhat does it mean to think of hesed as the bedrock of Jewish practice? Rav Aviva explores this question through an essay by Rav Yitzhak Hutner, the author of Pahad Yitzhak, in which he argues that the most foundational attribute of the world is Hesed. Recorded at the Manger Winter Learning Seminar 2024. Source sheet: https://mechonhadar.s3.amazonaws.com/mh_torah_source_sheets/MWLS2024RichmanHesed.pdf2024-09-0947 min
Answers WithHeldWhy Do Bad Things Happen?R. Aviva Richman joins R. Shai Held to discuss one of the most difficult moral and religious questions - why do bad things happen? Where is God when they do? Personal childhood memories of confronting this question lead them to explore how being present might mediate God's presence, to appreciate petitionary prayer in nuanced and sophisticated ways, and to wonder about God's role of holding loss in times of tragedy.2024-04-1542 minTa ShmaJewish Law and Jewish Values: A Conversation with R. Ethan Tucker and R. Aviva RichmanIn this panel discussion given at the February Learning Seminar 2024, Hadar’s rashei yeshiva, R. Ethan Tucker and R. Aviva Richman, reflect on their approach to Jewish law and how our quest for God can be lived through the details of our halakhic lives.2024-04-011h 10
Turn it and Turn itTo Your Heart’s Desire: (How) to Eat Meat? with Rabbi Aviva RichmanThis season of Turn it & Turn it is on the topic of: "Food & Eating"
We’ll take a broad and deep look at core halakhic and aggadic sources that shed light on what we have to consider if/when we eat meat. Starting from the book of Devarim, hitting highlights in the Talmud and medieval interpretations and landing in the contemporary moment, which questions must we raise and what answers should we have before taking a bite? This will also serve as a case study to investigate the relationship between “ritual” and “ethics” in halakhah.
This audio...2023-11-211h 13Ta ShmaR. Aviva Richman: Living in God's ShadowOur tradition sometimes uses the image of a shadow to describe human experience with God. This rich metaphor, which captures both a sense of safety and shelter as well as darkness and fear, helps R. Aviva to reflect on where we find ourselves in the complex and ongoing story of God and the Jewish people.This lecture was originally delivered at Hadar's Summer Learning Retreat in June 2022.2022-11-2832 min
Uri L'Tzedek: Orthodox Social JusticeUnequal Resources And Sharing Property with Rabbi Aviva RichmanWatch the video recording of this class on Uri L’Tzedek’s YouTube channel:
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Donate: utzedek.org/donate 2022-11-2253 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Nitzavim: Torah of Teshuvah, Part 1Parashat Nitzavim falls in the thick of the season of teshuvah in the calendar. This is no coincidence—it is the primary source in the Torah for the concept of teshuvah. Although we will sin and face the consequences of our failures, Nitzavim teaches that we can find our way back to a life of blessing.2022-09-2113 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Ki Tavo: Reenacting SinaiIn Parashat Ki Tavo, Moshe instructs the people to do an extensive ceremony when they come to a specific mountain after they enter the land. Many aspects of this ceremony are reminiscent of Sinai. A mountain, words of Torah written on stones, building an altar and offering sacrifices. It looks like a reenactment of entering into a covenant with God at Sinai and all of the obligations entailed by berit. But why is there a need to reenact Sinai? Wasn’t that one-time event powerful enough on its own to solidify entry into covenant for all future generations?2022-09-1411 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Ki Teitzei: Sexual Ethics - Consent, Community, CovenantExercising leadership means taking responsibility. At the end of last week’s parashah, Shoftim, elders of a town closest to an unsolved murder proclaim they bear no responsibility for the murder and ask for atonement. Yet the Talmud learns from this ceremony of disclaiming guilt that leaders nonetheless bear responsibility—for example, to provide proper accompaniment as travelers leave their city. Blood of the heifer drips down their hands as they claim they have no blood on their hands.2022-09-0709 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman: Kingship in the MachzorRabbi Aviva Richman examines the idea of God as King in the Musaf Amidah for Rosh Hashana. This lecture was originally recorded in Elul 2021.2022-09-0649 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shoftim: Torah Fueled by Our QuestionsParashat Shoftim deals with the structures and nature of leadership. Early in the parashah, one passage explains that someone who has a hard question should go to the centralized leadership to ask, and then must obey the answer, on penalty of death. The point seems to be about reinforcing the power and authority of central religious leadership. But in the arc of ongoing interpretation, these verses become a provocative jumping off point to reflect on the nature of the encounter between an individual’s religious question and religious experts. It becomes possible to find in them a voice for th...2022-08-3111 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Re'eh: Eat, Crave, LoveParashat Re’eh speaks of “desire” multiple times. From a religious perspective, we often think of desire in terms of how we may control it, or even completely suppress it. But actually religious life without desire is flat and one-dimensional. Ultimately, the richness and depth of our religious experience hinges on appreciating, valuing, and even cultivating desire. In Parashat Re’eh, we can trace an approach that embraces human craving and desire as a powerful mechanism to fully live a life of mitzvot, meaning and integrity.2022-08-2511 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Eikev: Being Like GodNote: this Devar Torah relates to difficult subject matter, including loss and pregnancy loss.In Parashat Eikev, we are instructed to “walk in all of God’s ways,” but how is that possible for mortals? R. Yitz Greenberg has taught prolifically about being like God through a zealous commitment to the “triumph of life,” even when that is a challenging commitment to hold. Building upon his teachings, we can focus on an embrace of life that also involves integrating loss. Instead of loss as an obstacle that we try to defy, we can understand our capacity to hold loss as exercis...2022-08-1712 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Va'Ethanan: On Prayer and the PossibleIn Parashat Va'Ethanan, Moshe beseeches God. He doesn’t get his request. Interestingly, the sages peg this moment of prayer as the entryway to explore the meanings of prayer more widely, jumping off from the word va'ethanan to list ten kinds of prayer connected to different verbs and different figures in the Torah. Taking Moshe’s unanswered prayer as the lens, we are invited into an exploration of what prayer is, entirely detached from the question of whether prayer is answered.2022-08-1012 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Devarim: Moshe's Second SongIn Parashat Devarim, Moshe gives an account of Torah, reframing the journey in the desert for the next generation that will enter the land. Some commentaries find not so subtle subtexts in Moshe’s introductory remarks that create a bleak picture of Israel’s propensity to sin. Parashat Devarim always falls before Tisha b’Av, and this motif of rebuke aligns with a day that brings failures and destruction to the forefront of our minds. But taken in context, as the beginning of Moshe’s final speech to the people, an emphasis on sin is a depressing frame for a recapi...2022-08-0312 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman: Words That Make Or Break Our WorldProverbs teaches that "life and death are in the hands of the tongue." Rabbi Aviva Richman explores the power of words and how we can use speech to heal, rather than harm others. This lecture was originally delivered in January 2022 as the Dr. Eddie Scharfman Memorial Lecture.2022-08-0153 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Mattot-Masei: Moshe's Second SongIn Parashat Masei, Moshe receives detailed instructions about setting up cities of refuge. Unlike other mitzvot introduced as being relevant to when the people enter the land, Moshe can actually fulfill this mitzvah, at least in part. He makes sure to set aside three cities on the east side of the Jordan river before he dies. This may seem tragic, a desperate grasp for a taste of entering the land when the full experience is entirely shut off. Instead, we can see his efforts as a climax of his life’s work, a moment when his heart sang because he...2022-07-2709 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Pinchas: Moshe's Mitzvah for GodIn this week’s parashah, we find a slight variation on one of the most common verses in the Torah. This minor shift in words reflects a profound revolution. At the end of his life, Moshe takes a leap in how he speaks to God, and how he shows up for the people.2022-07-2009 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Balak: A People’s Prophet, A Prophet’s PeopleIn Parashat Balak, the ruler of Moav calls on Bilam to curse Israel. God ends up putting words of blessing in his mouth, and he speaks prophetically about the people of Israel. The episode raises questions about prophecy—when it is and isn’t present, and for whom.2022-07-1311 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Chukkat: Critique and CreativityIn Parashat Chukkat, the people complain again about their food in the wilderness, but this complaint is different from earlier complaints. They don’t remember the food in Egypt with nostalgia, nor do they crave a particular item. They are disgusted with manna.2022-07-0609 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Korach: Fire and FlowerIn Parashat Korach, there are multiple accusations against Moshe and Aharon’s leadership and dramatic responses. Instead of viewing these through the lens of rebellion and punishment, one can view the various “demonstrations” as conveying divergent messages about the nature of God and what religious leadership looks like. Between the cracks of a fiery and violent display of God’s power, there is also a hint of a gentle, nourishing, but no less powerful, force.2022-06-2910 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shelach: Believing in Ourselves, Owning Our InheritanceIn Parashat Shelach, twelve scouts scope out the promised land. They are on a mission to gain answers to specific questions, some about the land itself, and what kind of home it would be, and others about strategy for conquering the land. Fundamentally, it is a story of receiving an ancestral inheritance and doing the work to figure out what it will take to make it home.2022-06-2209 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat BeHa'alotekha: A Small and Steady LightIn the simple instruction to kindle lamps in the mishkan, our interpretive tradition leaps into a theological spiral. What is the relationship between human light and divine light? The human role in creating light in the world becomes an opportunity to delve into the question of significance, or insignificance, of our efforts, and whether a sense of embarrassment is constructive or inhibiting.2022-06-1509 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Naso: One Mitzvah at a TimeParashat Naso includes the ritual of sotah. A husband brings his wife whom he suspects of adultery to the mikdash (sanctuary) where a kohen gives her a potion of “cursed waters” that either acquit her or punish her. From our earliest sages to the present moment, many nuanced interpretations of this anomalous and troubling ritual have emerged. We will focus on one Rabbinic principle that applies to the procedure of sotah, but has much wider implications for other rituals, and paves the way towards a theology of mitzvot embedded in honoring the dignity of each individual.2022-06-0808 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Bemidbar: Dismantling Holiness with LoveAs Israel traveled through the desert, they frequently erected the mishkan (tabernacle) anew. This means that they also deconstructed the mishkan frequently, dismantling what had been sacred. When we are so aware of the logistics involved in creating spaces to facilitate a sublime experience, it can become demystifying, for better and for worse. In Parashat Bemidbar, we get a behind the scenes view of the logistics of holiness, and a profound message about how to balance the mystique of kedushah alongside the very mundane—and relentless—work to sustain it.2022-06-0109 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat BeHukotai: From Curse to CatalystThe curses of BeHukotai resonate, and we can point to various societal failures that have contributed to this reality, reasons for God to be “angry” at us. Perhaps there is some efficacy in the fear and guilt that undergird the curses as we reach for a sense of control and agency. But severe problems are hardly so simple. As we face what is not a nightmarish curse but a harsh reality of uncertainty about sustainability and abundance, the punishment and guilt model might not serve us well. We have to stare these problems in the face, together, and find path...2022-05-2508 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Behar: Shemittah - A Restrained and Wild LoveShemittah (the sabbatical year) is considered one of the hardest mitzvot. But the mitzvah might not only be about inculcating discipline to the extreme. We can also understand Shemittah and Yovel (jubilee) as mitzvot meant to inculcate an extreme love.2022-05-1810 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Emor: God Who Desires DesireParashat Kedoshim explored the centrality of consent in a relationship with God, that one can’t be “coerced” to bring an offering. The importance of our will in sacred relationship goes beyond the basic need for consent. In Parashat Emor, we will develop another dimension of human will in sacrifices: the importance of intention and attentiveness. Sacred relationship becomes an exercise of cultivating radical ratzon.2022-05-1109 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Kedoshim: Radical RatzonAccording to many interpreters, we achieve kedushah by curbing our desire. Holiness, in this view, inextricably entails suppression of our will. Taken to its extreme, this can lead to a notion that being in relationship with God requires blind obedience and negation of ourselves. In contrast, it is also possible to understand kedushah in a way that features—rather than suppresses—our will. Through an expansive reading of the concept of ratzon (will), we can strive for an ethics of kedushah that focuses on consent and mutuality as central to deep relationship, with God and others. 2022-05-0510 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Metzora: Speech That HealsLast week, in Parashat Tazria, we saw that our capability to be full partners in Torah is anchored in the messy and sometimes disorienting details of our embodied lives. In Parashat Metzora, we see the importance of narration, how giving voice to our experience plays an important role in a model of Torah and halakhah that conveys dignity and is a source of healing. 2022-04-0607 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Tazria: Torah Rooted in the RealTazria is a parashah that people often find more repelling than compelling. Why so many words dedicated to bodily emissions and the intricate appearance of skin diseases? This Torah of the body touches on the relationship between halakhah and individuals’ embodied experiences.2022-03-3008 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shemini: Whiplash and EnduranceIt is hard to imagine a parashah more devastating than Shemini, or more of a testament to the stamina of enduring relationship despite all. When we experience the events of this day through the inner worlds of Aharon and his wife Elisheva, there is much to learn about relationship that persists through guilt, anxiety, and loss.2022-03-2309 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Tzav: Constancy and IntermittenceParashat Tzav opens with an image of constancy, the fire on the altar that always burns, never extinguished. The unextinguished fire is not just practical, burning sacrifices throughout the day and fats throughout the night; it represents an ongoing and unwavering connection between the people and God. Yet, an honest religious life involves flux, times when we do feel strong connection and times when we don’t.2022-03-1609 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Vayikra: "Calling In"The first verse in Vayikra seems mundane and predictable; God speaks to Moshe in the mishkan (tabernacle), as God does throughout much of the Torah. Yet, the call of Vayikra is an unexpected gesture of intimacy. Through this lens, the whole book of Vayikra represents an invitation into relationship across apparent obstacles and boundaries. Vayikra asks of us: what are the ways in which we feel distant from God or others? What does it mean to hear a call beckoning us close in those very moments of distance?2022-03-0909 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Pekudei: Shifting ExpectationsThe Book of Shemot ends in a striking tension: God’s presence fills the mishkan but also precludes Moshe from entering. Having shepherded the people into relationship with God, and having fought so hard to maintain that, Moshe now faces the possibility that the terms of his own relationship with God have drastically changed, as he is shut out of the mishkan. What can we learn from the model of Moshe about how to adapt to unexpected twists and turns in our own roles and relationships?2022-03-0208 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYakhel: Moshe's GambleThere is a classic debate about the order of the Torah with respect to the passages about the mishkan (tabernacle) and the golden calf. In one view, it was written in order, with God’s intention for the mishkan derailed by the people’s sin, but ultimately restored as they achieve forgiveness. In the other view, the text is out of order, and the mishkan came only in response to the people’s sin. When we integrate the insights of both sides of this debate, we land on a third approach that emphasizes the power of taking initiative in relati...2022-02-2309 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Ki Tissa: A Radical ShabbatFor most of the week, and most of our lives, we devote ourselves to the hard work of slowly getting closer to what we most hope for and long for, in terms of who we can become, the relationships we have, and what our world can be. We are always aware of the work that remains to be done. We take a break from this work on Shabbat, not just because we are tired and need time off, but to bring a sense of our true selves into clear focus, and to know that what feels like the unattainable...2022-02-1609 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Tetzaveh: The Pulse of PrayerTerumah and Tetzaveh offer a visual landscape of the mishkan, its structure, its furnishings and the dress of those who served in it. One thing that is lacking from this picture is a soundscape. The Torah doesn’t indicate that any words were recited in the mishkan, in prayer or in song. In fact, if we picture the mishkan based on this week’s parashah, the only sound was from the jingling bells on the bottom of the robe worn by the Kohen Gadol. The resonant sound of these bells evokes the steady rhythm of the high priest in wors...2022-02-0909 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Terumah: Redemptive Relationship, EpilogueParashat Terumah brings us to what is a sort of epilogue—though also, in some ways, a prologue—of the love story in three scenes we saw between Israel and God in earlier parshiyyot of Shemot. Beyond Sinai (articulating commitment and marriage), we come to the moment of “moving in” as we build a home in the form of the mishkan. Through intertwined acts of human and divine hospitality, Parashat Terumah teaches us to cultivate a readiness to give of ourselves to shelter and care for another, even when we cannot always clearly envision the recipient—or even the utility of...2022-02-0208 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Mishpatim: Undoing Slavery and Acquiring OurselvesThe very first law of the extended laws of Parashat Mishpatim starts with a horrifying phrase: “When you acquire a Hebrew slave.” We were just, two weeks ago, freed from being Hebrew slaves. How could the Torah possibly articulate the words “Hebrew slave”? This first law in Parashat Mishpatim forces us to confront the fact that oppressive structures become entrenched, and won’t disappear overnight. The dramatic liberation story is over. Now starts the much harder work of finding redemption within unideal and often harsh realities.2022-01-2610 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Yitro: Redemptive Relationship, Part 3In Parashat Yitro we come to Sinai, the final formative scene in reading the Exodus as a story of how Israel and God "fell in love." Strands of our tradition depict Sinai as a kind of wedding between us and God. In some depictions, Israel blindly agreed to enter this relationship even without knowing all the commitments involved. In other traditions, each person was fully informed of the details beforehand. Exploring these different versions of Sinai we see the importance of informed, affirmative consent as the bedrock of any relationship of intimacy. At the same time, it reminds us...2022-01-1911 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Tu Bishvat and MLK Day: Fruit Trees, Access, and EquityIn recent decades, Tu Bishvat has become a holiday for trees and to raise awareness and concern for our natural environment. This year, as we celebrate Tu Bishvat in the midst of a Shemittah year, it is a powerful opportunity to notice the ways Jewish laws on produce and agriculture come at the intersection of the natural environment and social equity. Particularly on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this intersection is especially poignant. As we celebrate Tu Bishvat of Shemittah this year, let’s remember that we must build a world where blessings are not only shared, but shared in...2022-01-1610 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat BeShallach: Redemptive Relationship, Part 2Last week, we began an exploration of the different stories of how Israel “fell in love” with God. Far from a naive picture of the beloved who swoops in to make everything better, digging deeper into these texts we find a more rugged texture of how redemptive relationship interfaces with complex realities. This week, we will explore the relationship between parents and children, their respective relationships with God, and how these webs of relationship shape each other.2022-01-1210 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Bo: Redemptive Relationship, Part 1Our tradition invites us to explore the nature of redemptive relationship. Instead of reading the Exodus as primarily historical or mythic, a prominent strand among our sages interprets the Exodus intimately and poetically, through the lens of the Song of Songs. The narrative becomes the origin story of our covenantal relationship with God — or, one might say, the story of how we fell in love.2022-01-0411 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Va’Era: Calling God Into BeingSometimes we need a new name for God. The ways we’ve known God so far may feel limited, inadequate, or even disappointing. Moshe is lucky enough to have God disclose a new name, one that will usher in redemption. Learning new names for God that represent a different kind of relationship, or new ways for God to show up in the world, is not generally so straightforward. Sometimes we have to be proactive, whether out of gratitude or desperation, and call God into being in new ways.2021-12-2909 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat Shemot: Seeds of SlaveryWhere does our story of slavery begin? These are times when our own ancestors mistreated or enslaved others, perhaps laying the groundwork for the kind of oppression that would end up enslaving us. Noticing these moments is about becoming aware of how our choices about how to exercise power shape the communities and world our descendants will inhabit.2021-12-2211 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYechi: Unfinished ReconciliationYosef and his family are reunited, and we might hope to find meaningful resolution and reconciliation between brothers. Instead, we discover communication gaps, accompanying persistent guilt and fear. When we embrace the mess of Sefer Bereishit that has so much unresolved conflict, we can be inspired to expand our views of reconciliation and forgiveness.2021-12-1609 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYigash: Leaning In - With Reckless CompassionWhat is the tone of Yehudah’s approach to Yosef? Surprisingly, early traditions emphasize the aggressiveness of the encounter, suggesting that Yehudah approached “for war.” Even more surprisingly, we learn that we are meant to adopt this very stance in our own daily prayer. We too must cultivate the capacity to fight for what conviction and compassion demand, day in and day out.2021-12-0809 min
Judaism for the Thinking PersonThe Incommunicability of Experience and the Rape of Dinah[WARNING: The second half of the podcast discusses the rape of Dinah and I share an account of sexual harrassment from recent congressional testimony.]
If the early chapters of Genesis are about where we come from, the second half of Genesis is about the experiences that change us, that make us who we are as adults, not through our own achievements but through what happens to us, from tragedy to transcendence, from rejection to love, from struggles with mental health, sexual harrasment, being cheated, to seeing God in a place. Little do we notice how in these c...2021-11-2916 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYeishev: Sexual Ethics, Part 2 - IntegrityIn Parashat VaYeishev, Yosef repeatedly resists the advances of Potifar’s wife. In the wake of modern and contemporary sexual revolutions, there has been pushback on a sexual ethics based on boundaries and “purity” in favor of a sexual ethics that focuses primarily on consent. Consent is critical, but sometimes too narrow a lens to understand the significance of sexuality in our lives. Upon closer look at Yosef’s encounter with Potifar’s wife, we find an approach to sexual ethics that intersects with fundamental questions of identity and purpose.2021-11-2408 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYishlach: Sexual Ethics, Part 1 - Voice and DignityThe most devastating part of the story of Dinah is that the Torah does not share Dinah’s perspective. We have no idea if this was “the rape of Dinah” or an encounter she desired. This gap is not surprising, but as inheritors of Torah we must ask ourselves how we inherit this part of our Torah responsibly.2021-11-1811 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman: Rain, Dew, Wind, and Storm: The Quest for Nourishing Torah Through a discussion of midrashim on the Book of Devarim, Rabbi Aviva Richman dives into the various roles of Torah as intermediary, a place for grief, joy, atonement, darkness, and more. She teaches the Torah, like rain, is limitless. Listen in to enjoy the journey of inspiring Torah thought.2021-11-1541 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Parashat VaYeitzei: Facing Our Blessings, Part 2 "Recognition”—or lack thereof—emerges at pivotal moments of Yaakov's unfolding story, and reverberates to his children as well. Following the theme of recognition in Ya’akov’s journey allows us to address these fundamental questions for ourselves: Do we deserve the blessings we have? Do we get the blessings we “deserve”?2021-11-1109 minTa ShmaR. Aviva Richman on Toldot: Facing Our Blessings, Part 1R. Aviva Richman shares her thoughts on Parashat Toldot. When Yitzhak blesses Ya’akov, disguised as Esav, it introduces a gap between being seen for who we are and finding blessing. It leaves us yearning for the kind of blessing that comes not from hiding ourselves but from being fully recognized. We’ll explore different aspects of the relationship between recognition and blessing over this week and next. This week, our focus will be the significance of faces and being seen.2021-11-0308 min
Jewish Ideas to Change the WorldNew Paradigms in Learning Torah: A VBM interview with Rabbi Aviva RichmanABOUT THE SPEAKER: Rabbi Aviva Richman is a Rosh Yeshiva at Hadar, and has been on the faculty since 2010. A graduate of Oberlin College, she was ordained by Rabbi Danny Landes and completed a doctorate in Talmud at NYU. Interests included Talmud, Halakhah, Midrash and gender, and also a healthy dose of niggunim.
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2021-05-2009 minTa ShmaZooming Out, Zooming In: Risk, Values, and Hard Choices with Aviva Richman and David Slusky2020-11-1157 minTa ShmaWe Are Born Of Risk with Aviva Richman and Chavi Karkowsky2020-11-0558 minTa ShmaDignity and Risk with Aviva Richman, Jess Belasco, and Jonathan Malamy2020-10-2959 min
Responsa RadioHigh Holidays Special EditionThis special Hikhot High Holidays edition of Responsa Radio was recorded live with Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Rabbi Avi Killip, and Rabbi Aviva Richman in advance of an unprecedented High Holiday season. Have a question about Jewish law you’d like answered on the show? Send an email to halakhah@hadar.org2020-09-081h 00
Dash of DrashEpisode 85: Singing Through Chaos - live from New York with Special Guest Rabbi Aviva RichmanThis week I have been a participant in Hadar Institute's "Singing Communities Intensive." 100s of people gathered together at B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan to sing, teach, learn and listen led by Joey Weisenberg and other amazing teachers. Rabbi Aviva Richman, a teacher of Talmud at Hadar, integrates heart and song into her teaching and, as we begin The Book of Exodus, we discuss the role of music and song through chaos and into redemption.2018-12-2615 min
#YourTorahMakhshirin: Triumph of the Will?Rabbi Aviva Richman looks into masekhet Makhshirin, unpacking how its discussion of the purity of objects provides us with a chance to become more aware of our intentions in our day-to-day lives.2018-06-0400 min
Live @ HadarPraying on the Margins: Prayers of ProtestAviva Richman explores midrashim on Hannah and prayer as invitations to speak up to power. Recorded at the 2017 Executive Seminar.2017-10-1600 min
Mechon Hadar Online LearningThe One Who Answers - When We Don't Pray (High Holidays 5778)Aviva Richman. There is something about the “Mi She-Anah” prayer of Selihot that has bothered me in recent years. I used to think of this part of Selihot as a relatively straightforward list poem. The structure seemed elementary and kind of boring—May the One who answered X person in Y place also answer us. In my mind, I conflated all of the specific examples as circumstances where a person prayed to be saved and God answered the prayer through an act of intervention and salvation. It felt both literarily redundant and theologically simplistic.2017-09-1511 minMechon Hadar Online LearningEmbracing Teshuvah: A Faculty PanelListen back as Mechon Hadar faculty members Elie Kaunfer, Avi Killip, Aviva Richman, Jason Rubenstein, and Dena Weiss discuss their favorite texts about Teshuva. Recorded on September 13, 2016.2017-09-111h 06Mechon Hadar Online LearningAlways Already There: The Futile Search for God?Aviva Richman. In what might be considered a Jewish version of original sin, we will explore the significance of the golden calf in the Hasidic spiritual practice of the Sefat Emet. What does it mean to be both a sinner and someone incapable of sin? How do we search for God when God is at once entirely inaccessible and at the same time so close that the idea of searching in the first place is ridiculous? Recorded live at our 2017 Summer Yom Iyyun, The Search for God: In Our Lives and in Our Communities2017-08-071h 03Mechon Hadar Online LearningWe Are But Dust: Confession, Accusation, HopeAviva Richman. How do we search for God when we feel God has betrayed us, or people have betrayed us and God's justice is nowhere to be found? This session focuses on contemporary Israeli poetry that is deeply embedded in words of prayer and words of Torah even as these words take on new meanings. We will engage the poetry as a model for struggling to be in relationship with God when the sacred words we inherit ring false, and when the world's problems resound loudly as ever. Aviva Richman delivers a powerful keynote address and shiur klali, featuring her...2017-07-241h 10