Holiness. A word that has bewildered believers for a very long time. We severely lack a deep and thorough understanding of holiness all the while it is the foundation of God’s expectations of us. The Sages of Israel teach that when the Shekinah left the land of Israel just before the Babylonian Exile, it left in 10 stages. How does understanding these 10 levels of holiness help us to understand what God expects of us?

For the video version of this lesson, please watch on our YouTube channel here.

In Parsha Bo, we see the continuation of HaShem’s using nature to inflict His will on the Egyptian Pharaoh. Have you ever thought critically about how involved HaShem is in nature? Whether back then or today, how do we think about this relationship? In today’s episode we’re going to talk about 6 types of responses, 3 types of people who disbelieve in HaShem and 3 types who believe. Which one are you? More accurately, how much of each type are you?

Are you, or have you run into “new to Torah” folks who are incredibly annoying, disrespectful, and arrogant in their new-found knowledge? Did you know this is a natural phenomenon that we can study so that we better know how to navigate it? It’s called the Dunning-Kruger Effect and it’s what today’s episode is all about.

In this week’s episode, we delve into this week’s Parsha and the story of Jacob and Esau. Why is this story so contentious? It’s a story of Ikar, Tafel, and what is the priority.

As the feast of Sukkot concludes and before we move on in our minds to the next Feast, we want to examine what Sukkot means and how we should carry the truths and experiences of Sukkot ahead, building our growth and maturity.

In this week’s episode, we take a look at Yeshua’s declaration that we are the “salt of the earth”. We have many lessons and sermons on this Scripture, but how deeply have we looked into this from a Temple perspective? “Salt of the earth” could mean a very specific thing that we’ve not seen before.

In this week’s episode, we are in Parsha Eikev and dealing with the question, “What does your God require of you?”

Shalom everyone! In this episode of IBR, we are talking through the beginning of Parasha Pinchas. How is it that Pinchas gets to basically get away with wanton murder? Some new information may help us solve this perplexing question. Also, can we take from Pinchas’ lead and take matters of judgement into our own hands? We’ll answer all these questions in this week’s episode.

Parsha Shelach is packed with events, beginning with the sending of the spies. While there are many questions that surround this event, our topic today is going to focus on one phrase of the ten spies about grasshoppers. We can't help but compare and contrast ourselves with these spies and how we see ourselves affects how we walk with God.

In this week’s episode, we spend the entire show talking about three key phrases in the beginning of this week’s parashat.

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This week, we share a throw-back teaching on Parashat Emor from 2018. We often, much like the traditions we come from, focus on only a few “pet” Scriptures. These tend to be things about dietary laws, calendar, and the Name. In this teaching, we invite you to look past those Scriptures that are familiar and easy in order to gain broader wisdom from the Torah.

Let’s face it, by the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, most of us are ready to be done and can’t wait to sink our teeth into a big, doughy pizza. But did you know that there has been a long standing tradition among some religious Jews to hold a seder at the end of the Passover week? This seder is called Seudah haMoshiah, Messiah’s Meal. In this episode we’ll discuss the meal and what it could mean to us.

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