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The Book of Esther has no Divine instructions, no prophecies, no outright miracles. God doesn't even get mentioned. We all love hearing how Mordechai and Esther saved their people in a time of crisis – but does this story have any moral message for us? As we're listening to the Megillah on Purim, what can we learn about coming close to God in our everyday lives?

Join Imu Shalev and Rabbi David Fohrman as they dive deeply into Megillat Esther to find an answer to this question. They start off with a very odd set of comments from our sages, claiming that there were angels at work in the Esther story. The Megillah doesn't say anything about angels, so what on earth made the rabbis think that? Rabbi Fohrman teases the possibility that these strange angel stories are all pointing to a link between Esther, a narrative from the end of Tanach, and another story all the way back in Genesis. If we explore that connection, we may eventually find the key to the Megillah's moral message.

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Meaningful Judaism is a project of Aleph Beta Labs. Aleph Beta is a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. For our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts, please visit www.alephbeta.org.

At the heart of Judaism's chosenness lies an unexpected twist that few have noticed. Rabbi Fohrman stumbles upon a shocking connection between two of the Bible's most pivotal moments - one that completely transforms our understanding of what it means to be chosen. This discovery not only challenges centuries of religious interpretation but might just change how you see your own relationship with God.

For more on Rabbi Fohrman's reading of the deception story, see this essay from his book Genesis: A Parsha Companion.

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Subscribe to Aleph Beta to unlock the full season of A Book Like No Other and get access to a private RSS feed for seamless listening on your favorite podcast app.

Meaningful Judaism is a project of Aleph Beta Labs. Aleph Beta is a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. For our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts, please visit www.alephbeta.org.

(Part 2 of 2) Are tzitzit supposed to “mean” something? Most people who wear tzitzit probably don't find it especially objectionable or burdensome, but how many people can honestly say that wearing tzitzit is a deeply meaningful spiritual practice? That it helps them to be a better Jew, a better person, to feel closer to God? Probably not so many. For everyone else, tzitzit is, at best, a testament to one's commitment to following the Torah but without any unique meaning or character, and at worst, a ritual, performed by rote, simply because everyone else seems to be doing it, devoid of any meaning at all.

Is there a reason that God commands us to wear these funny tassels? The Torah tells us that tzitzit are supposed to remind us of God and mitzvot, they’re supposed to make us holy. But how exactly does that work? God could have asked us to tie a string around our finger to remember the mitzvot, or asked us to only wear shirts with the words “Remember God! Be holy!” printed on them. But instead we get this mitzvah about having fringes hanging down from the corners of our clothes. If God wants us to wear something that will remind us not to sin, tzitzit seems like a very random choice.

In this episode, Imu Shalev and Daniel Loewenstein tackle these questions and search for the spiritual meaning of tzitzit, diving deep into the Torah’s verses that describe the mitzvah. Their journey leads them to a host of surprising and thrilling destinations and, ultimately, to a whole new understanding of the message behind this commandment.

Subscribe to Aleph Beta to unlock the full season of A Book Like No Other and get access to a private RSS feed for seamless listening on your favorite podcast app.

Meaningful Judaism is a project of Aleph Beta Labs. Aleph Beta is a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide. For our full library of over 1,000 videos and podcasts, please visit www.alephbeta.org.