Last week we celebrated the holiday of Purim, which is typically (in non-covid times) a holiday for laughter and merrymaking. Rabbi Jaech lead us in a closer inspection of the story which starts with the premise of rounding up the virgins to see which could pleasure the king the most. This is very disturbing to our modern minds. The ancient Rabbis were also disturbed by this story - but not for the same reason!

Last week we celebrated the holiday of Purim, which is typically (in non-covid times) a holiday for laughter and merrymaking. Rabbi Jaech lead us in a closer inspection of the story which starts with the premise of rounding up the virgins to see which could pleasure the king the most. This is very disturbing to our modern minds. The ancient Rabbis were also disturbed by this story - but not for the same reason!

207. Shtupping Contest! - February 27, 2021

The holiday of Purim will be celebrated this week. In the story of Purim, the evil Haman determined by lot - or the throwing of dice - the day of destruction of the Jews. This led Rabbi Janet Roberts to wonder more about the use of lots in biblical times. We learned that the throwing of dice has been around since the 3rd millennium BCE, and was sometimes used to try to divine the will of God.  The throwing of lots also became useful in Temple times to determine which priests had the honor of particular Temple functions. 

The holiday of Purim will be celebrated this week. In the story of Purim, the evil Haman determined by lot - or the throwing of dice - the day of destruction of the Jews. This led Rabbi Janet Roberts to wonder more about the use of lots in biblical times. We learned that the throwing of dice has been around since the 3rd millennium BCE, and was sometimes used to try to divine the will of God.  The throwing of lots also became useful in Temple times to determine which priests had the honor of particular Temple functions.

206. Temple Lottery - February 20, 2021

There are laws that address the possible goring to death of a person by an ox that date to the 18th century BCE, long before the Israelite dating of the passage we read in Exodus 21. Penalties in other Near Eastern cultures required a monetary payment, but the ox was allowed to live and continue to provide value to the owner. In the Israelite law, an ox that gored a human must be killed. And maybe the owner would be, too! 

There are laws that address the possible goring to death of a person by an ox that date to the 18th century BCE, long before the Israelite dating of the passage we read in Exodus 21. Penalties in other Near Eastern cultures required a monetary payment, but the ox was allowed to live and continue to provide value to the owner. In the Israelite law, an ox that gored a human must be killed. And maybe the owner would be, too!

205. The Goring Ox - February 13, 2021

Jethro, the father-in-law to Moses, has a surprisingly important role in Jewish tradition. Surprising because Jethro was not an Israelite at all - in fact he was a priest of the Midianite religion. Even so, Moses respected Jethro and accepted his advice on the organization of a judicial system for the Israelites. This week we looked at the midrash, or traditions meant to fill in the gaps in biblical stories, that try to explain how a non-Israelite came to be so important in the Israelite story.

Jethro, the father-in-law to Moses, has a surprisingly important role in Jewish tradition. Surprising because Jethro was not an Israelite at all - in fact he was a priest of the Midianite religion. Even so, Moses respected Jethro and accepted his advice on the organization of a judicial system for the Israelites. This week we looked at the midrash, or traditions meant to fill in the gaps in biblical stories, that try to explain how a non-Israelite came to be so important in the Israelite story.

204. Jethro & Justice - February 6, 2021

Much of the Bible is historical narrative text, but there is also poetry which sometimes repeats the narrative.  The poetry may not elaborate on the historic facts, but it does convey a sense of emotion and it allows readers to experience the story in a different way. Many of the prayers in our prayer books are taken from lines in biblical poetry.  The prayers do not reflect life as we know it, but offer something aspirational for us to strive toward, and a way to connect to something bigger than ourselves.

Much of the Bible is historical narrative text, but there is also poetry which sometimes repeats the narrative.  The poetry may not elaborate on the historic facts, but it does convey a sense of emotion and it allows readers to experience the story in a different way. Many of the prayers in our prayer books are taken from lines in biblical poetry.  The prayers do not reflect life as we know it, but offer something aspirational for us to strive toward, and a way to connect to something bigger than ourselves.

203. Poetic Prayer - January 30, 2021

Pharaoh does not want to hear the words of God as delivered by Moses and Aaron. Similarly, the people in the Bible rarely listen to the words of God as delivered by a prophet (with the exception of Jonah). Because they do not listen, devastation often rains down. God seems to expect this. As he tells Isaiah, the people will "Hear, indeed, but do not understand. See, indeed, but do not grasp." God may even be content with the devastation brought on his people. God believes that, out of the wreckage a "holy seed" will help to establish a new beginning and, hopefully, build back better. American's are entering a new beginning - let's all try to be part of a better future for our country.

Pharaoh does not want to hear the words of God as delivered by Moses and Aaron. Similarly, the people in the Bible rarely listen to the words of God as delivered by a prophet (with the exception of Jonah). Because they do not listen, devastation often rains down. God seems to expect this. As he tells Isaiah, the people will "Hear, indeed, but do not understand. See, indeed, but do not grasp." God may even be content with the devastation brought on his people. God believes that, out of the wreckage a "holy seed" will help to establish a new beginning and, hopefully, build back better. American's are entering a new beginning - let's all try to be part of a better future for our country.

202. Build Back Better - January 16, 2021

One of the Ten Commandments states that You Shall Not Murder. But there are many stories of killings in the Bible. We looked at two killings that were specifically ordered by God and carried out by prominent members of the community. Our modern minds may struggle with this dichotomy. Today we looked at both modern and ancient text that also struggle with it.

One of the Ten Commandments states that You Shall Not Murder. But there are many stories of killings in the Bible. We looked at two killings that were specifically ordered by God and carried out by prominent members of the community. Our modern minds may struggle with this dichotomy. Today we looked at both modern and ancient text that also struggle with it.

201. Justified Killing - January 9, 2021

In the story in Genesis, the biblical hero Joseph is married to a non-Jew. Apparently, this interfaith marriage was not a concern for the author of the original tale. But, we can see from later midrash by the Rabbis, that the interfaith marriage did cause concern to people. The Rabbis created midrash, not found in the Torah but based upon the same characters, that give reasons why Joseph's wife was acceptable. Is interfaith marriage really a threat to Judaism today? Some people might think so. But Rabbi Jaech disagrees. She believes the biggest threat to Judaism today is relevancy. Is the Judaism we practice relevant to people? Does it matter?

In the story in Genesis, the biblical hero Joseph is married to a non-Jew. Apparently, this interfaith marriage was not a concern for the author of the original tale. But, we can see from later midrash by the Rabbis, that the interfaith marriage did cause concern to people. The Rabbis created midrash, not found in the Torah but based upon the same characters, that give reasons why Joseph's wife was acceptable. Is interfaith marriage really a threat to Judaism today? Some people might think so. But Rabbi Jaech disagrees. She believes the biggest threat to Judaism today is relevancy. Is the Judaism we practice relevant to people? Does it matter?

200. Interfaith Marriage Part 2 - January 2, 2021

In our biblical traditions there are instances of interfaith marriage. In our own Temple Israel community, about one third of our congregants are in interfaith marriages. This week we looked at the policy of the seminary where Rabbi Jaech was ordained and found that they will not accept as students anyone in an interfaith marriage. Given our traditions, we pondered this policy. What are your thoughts about it?

In our biblical traditions there are instances of interfaith marriage. In our own Temple Israel community, about one third of our congregants are in interfaith marriages. This week we looked at the policy of the seminary where Rabbi Jaech was ordained and found that they will not accept as students anyone in an interfaith marriage. Given our traditions, we pondered this policy. What are your thoughts about it?

199. Interfaith Marriage - December 19, 2020

Today we reviewed the traditional Hanukkah story, and the historical Hanukkah story, and  what more we know about Hanukkah, the Maccabees, and winter celebrations of light and greenery. Rabbi Janet Roberts led our discussion today,  concluding with a question of where the use of evergreen trees might be for the Jewish people, say, 200 years from now.

Today we reviewed the traditional Hanukkah story, and the historical Hanukkah story, and  what more we know about Hanukkah, the Maccabees, and winter celebrations of light and greenery. Rabbi Janet Roberts led our discussion today,  concluding with a question of where the use of evergreen trees might be for the Jewish people, say, 200 years from now.

198. Jewish Evergreen - December 12, 2020

A Reform exploration of Torah, ancient wisdom and modern scholarship by Rabbi Jennifer Jaech of Temple Israel of Northern Westchester in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. This podcast offers a (typically) 5 minute summary, created and presented by Tara Keiter. Sometimes we have guest leaders but this is, mostly, Rabbi Jaech's class.

In this week's Torah portion, Jacob prepares to meet with his brother, Esau, who he has not seen in 20 years. Jacob wonders if Esau still want to kill Jacob. Already anxious the night before his meeting with his brother, Jacob is confronted by a man who wrestles with Jacob all night long. As the dawn breaks, we learn that the man is really an angel who wrestled with Jacob. The angel gives Jacob a new name, Israel, which means "God is just." Maybe this story will turn out all right. Or maybe it is a way of showing how the writers personified things we might be anxious about.

In this week's Torah portion, Jacob prepares to meet with his brother, Esau, who he has not seen in 20 years. Jacob wonders if Esau still want to kill Jacob. Already anxious the night before his meeting with his brother, Jacob is confronted by a man who wrestles with Jacob all night long. As the dawn breaks, we learn that the man is really an angel who wrestled with Jacob. The angel gives Jacob a new name, Israel, which means "God is just." Maybe this story will turn out all right. Or maybe it is a way of showing how the writers personified things we might be anxious about.

197. Wrestling - December 5, 2020

TINW Torah Study

What is this?
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from a carefully curated podcast episode.
Every Monday & Wednesday.

Want a 3rd insight and episode every week? Email me at curation@owltail.com.

OwlTail

How our mind explains things:[topic-start]
“The way that the mind works, very frequently, is that we start from a decision, or we start from a belief, and then the stories that explain it come to our mind. Conclusions come first, and rationalizations come later.”[topic-end]
How we come to believe things:[topic-start]
"The real cause of your belief in a political position, the real causes are rooted in your personal history. They’re rooted in who are the people that you trusted and what they seemed to believe in, and it has very little to do with the reasons that come to your mind, why your position is correct and the position of the other side is nonsensical."[topic-end]
Who is Daniel Kahneman:[topic-start]
Nobel prize winning psychologist and economist who helped created the field of behavioural economics.

The Nobel Prize-winning psychologist on why we think and act the way we do — and why facts matter less than we think in forming our beliefs.
With his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman emerged as one of the most intriguing voices on the complexity of human thought and behavior. He is a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in economics for helping to create the field of behavioral economics — and is a self-described “constant worrier.” It’s fun, helpful, and more than a little unnerving to apply his insights into why we think and act the way we do in this moment of social and political tumult.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

On Being with Krista Tippett

Daniel Kahneman — Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other

Real scenarios of a hospital during a war:[topic-start]
“... we were hand squeezing his ventilator as we ran out of oxygen" and when we finally found the physician to get more oxygen, he said "We don't have any oxygen left, you're going to have to let him go"[topic-end]
Who is Sheri Fink:[topic-start]
An investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of Memorial Hospital (the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina).

Sheri Fink on the tragedy of being forced to choose who's life to save

When people are dying and you can only save some, how do you choose? Maybe you save the youngest. Or the sickest. Maybe you even just put all the names in a hat and pick at random. Would your answer change if a sick person was standing right in front of you? In this episode, we follow New York Times reporter Sheri Fink as she searches for the answer. In a warzone, a hurricane, a church basement, and an earthquake, the question remains the same. What happens, what should happen, when humans are forced to play god? Produced by Simon Adler and Annie McEwen. Reported by Sheri Fink.  In the book that inspired this episode you can find more about what transpired at Memorial Hospital during Hurricane Katrina, Sheri Fink’s exhaustively reported Five Days at Memorial You can find more about the work going on in Maryland at: www.nytimes.com/triage Very special thanks to Lilly Sullivan.  Special thanks also to: Pat Walters and Jim McCutcheon and Todd Menesses from WWL in New Orleans, the researchers for the allocation of scarce resources project in Maryland - Dr. Lee Daugherty Biddison from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Howie Gwon from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Emergency Management, Alan Regenberg of the Berman Institute of Bioethics and Dr. Eric Toner of the UPMC Center for Health Security.  Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.    

Radiolab

When people are dying and you can only save some, how do you choose? Maybe you save the youngest. Or the sickest. Maybe you even just put all the names in a hat and pick at random. Would your answer change if a sick person was standing right in front of you? In this episode, we follow New York Times reporter Sheri Fink as she searches for the answer. In a warzone, a hurricane, a church basement, and an earthquake, the question remains the same. What happens, what should happen, when humans are forced to play god? Produced by Simon Adler and Annie McEwen. Reported by Sheri Fink.  In the book that inspired this episode you can find more about what transpired at Memorial Hospital during Hurricane Katrina, <a href="http://www.sherifink.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sheri Fink’s</a> exhaustively reported <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Five-Days-Memorial-Storm-Ravaged-Hospital/dp/0307718972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1471783956&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=five+days+at+memorial" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Five Days at Memorial</a> You can find more about the work going on in Maryland at: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/triage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.nytimes.com/triage</a> Very special thanks to Lilly Sullivan.  Special thanks also to: Pat Walters and Jim McCutcheon and Todd Menesses from WWL in New Orleans, the researchers for the allocation of scarce resources project in Maryland - Dr. Lee Daugherty Biddison from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Howie Gwon from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Emergency Management, Alan Regenberg of the Berman Institute of Bioethics and Dr. Eric Toner of the UPMC Center for Health Security. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/radiolab-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&amp;utm_medium=radiolab-redirect&amp;utm_campaign=pledge&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Radiolab.org/donate</a>.

Playing God


OwlTail 1-3-1

The best podcasts on investing. For anyone interested in the stories in the investing industry, whether it's an interview with Ray Dalio or Ed Thorp to the writer of The Big Short. This topic includes the most fascinating stories from all the best investors. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

 Rahul Moodgal has spent 20 years as a fund raiser across long only strategies, hedge funds, fund of funds, customized solutions, start-ups, and non-profits.  Collectively, Rahul has raised and helped raise $60 billion for firms since 2005.  He started his career in the industry at powerhouse TT International, and later joined The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) where he led the marketing effort that raised $20 billion in just 3½ years.  Within TCI’s affiliate model, Rahul also was responsible for the largest India fund raise in history ($1 billion for TCI New Horizon Fund), and the largest sector fund launch in history ($1.1 billion for Algebris Investments).  Our conversation covers capital raising lessons learned from teaching, the value of transparency, the gold rush before 2008, the lean times afterwards, modern fee structures, the three key points to effective marketing, the three traits that will kill you, the two biggest issues start-up funds face, the best questions asked by leading allocators, and some of the worst horror stories in attempted capital raising. We close comparing by fund raising for charities and investment firms.   Learn More   Discuss show and Read the Transcript    Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com    Join the  Capital Allocators Forum   Write a review on   iTunes   Follow Ted on twitter at  @tseides    For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Capital Allocators

Rahul Moodgal has spent 20 years as a fund raiser across long only strategies, hedge funds, fund of funds, customized solutions, start-ups, and non-profits.  Collectively, Rahul has raised and helped raise $60 billion for firms since 2005.  He started his career in the industry at powerhouse TT International, and later joined The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) where he led the marketing effort that raised $20 billion in just 3½ years.  Within TCI’s affiliate model, Rahul also was responsible for the largest India fund raise in history ($1 billion for TCI New Horizon Fund), and the largest sector fund launch in history ($1.1 billion for Algebris Investments). Our conversation covers capital raising lessons learned from teaching, the value of transparency, the gold rush before 2008, the lean times afterwards, modern fee structures, the three key points to effective marketing, the three traits that will kill you, the two biggest issues start-up funds face, the best questions asked by leading allocators, and some of the worst horror stories in attempted capital raising. We close comparing by fund raising for charities and investment firms.  Learn More <a href="http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com/transcripts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Discuss show and Read the Transcript</a> Join Ted's mailing list at <a href="http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com</a> Join the <a href="http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com/forum" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Capital Allocators Forum</a> Write a review on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/capital-allocators-with-ted-seides/id1223764016" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iTunes</a> Follow Ted on twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/tseides" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> @tseides</a> For more episodes go to <a href="http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com/podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast</a>

Rahul Moodgal - Master Fund Raiser (Capital Allocators, EP.87)

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Joseph H. Davis, global chief economist at The Vanguard Group. Davis is also head of Vanguard's investment strategy group and a member of the senior portfolio management team for Vanguard's fixed income group, which oversees more than $500 billion in assets under management. He earned his doctorate in macroeconomics and finance at Duke University.

Masters in Business

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Joseph H. Davis, global chief economist at The Vanguard Group. Davis is also head of Vanguard's investment strategy group and a member of the senior portfolio management team for Vanguard's fixed income group, which oversees more than $500 billion in assets under management. He earned his doctorate in macroeconomics and finance at Duke University.

TINW Torah Study

Weekly hand curated podcast episodes for learning