Deeper Look At The Parsha

Episoade

• 
  LEARNING SOMETHING NEW 11.09.2026 32min

  The Rosh Hashana machzor has 100’s of pages and the davening is really long. You already know about the shofar, the apple, the honey, and about Unesaneh Tokef. But you don’t know everything. In this shiur, Rabbi Dunner helps you notice the messages behind what you know, because what Rosh Hashana really demands is that you get yourself off autopilot.
• 
  OUT OF PROPORTION 10.09.2026 8min

  In 1544, a Flemish mapmaker sat in a castle dungeon on a charge of heresy. Twenty-five years later he published the map that still hangs in every classroom, and still makes Greenland look the size of Africa. Like him, we are all guilty of distorting proportion - but Rosh Hashana forces us to redraw our map.
• 
  THE MAN WHO SOLD THE EIFFEL TOWER 03.09.2026 8min

  In 1925, master conman Victor Lustig managed to “sell” the Eiffel Tower to a respectable Paris scrap dealer. The scam was outrageous, but its success exposed something deeply human: we are often easiest to fool when we desperately want a story to be true. Rabbi Dunner finds an unsettling echo of this exact weakness in Parshat Nitzavim.
• 
  WHEN EVERYTHING ISN'T ENOUGH 27.08.2026 32min

  Why can a person have everything and still feel empty? Parshat Ki Tavo offers a startling answer: fulfillment depends not on what we possess, but on how we receive it. From John Stuart Mill to Bikkurim, Holocaust survivors, and modern psychology, Rabbi Dunner explores how gratitude transforms abundance into gladness — and why that may be the essential spiritual work of Elul.
• 
  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? 27.08.2026 8min

  In 1897, New York’s wealthiest families spent a fortune dressing as European royalty at the spectacular Bradley-Martin Ball. Parshat Ki Tavo opens with another elaborate ceremony of success—but with a very different script. Rabbi Dunner explores ancestry, ambition, memory, and the strange temptation to improve the past once the present has turned out rather well.
• 
  IT IS MY PROBLEM 20.08.2026 8min

  Patti Lyle Collins could decipher addresses everyone else considered hopeless, rescuing thousands of letters from Washington’s Dead Letter Office. Her remarkable gift offers a striking lens on Parshat Ki Teitzei’s command not to ignore what others have lost. The Torah asks more than helpfulness: it asks us to resist indifference, and never to look away from those in need.
• 
  AN EMPEROR WITHOUT AN EMPIRE 14.08.2026 9min

  Joshua Norton lost his fortune, declared himself Emperor of the United States, and somehow became one of San Francisco’s most beloved characters. His strange story offers a surprisingly sharp lens on Parshat Shoftim’s vision of royal leadership: titles may confer authority, but they never make one human being inherently greater than another.
• 
  WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? 06.08.2026 9min

  The railway revolution transformed Britain, but it also exposed an unexpected problem: every town kept its own time. What followed offers a striking lesson for Parshat Re’eh. Diversity is a blessing, but only when it rests on a common foundation. Without a shared center, even strength, talent and sincerity can leave people fragmented, confused, and unable to move together.
• 
  WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? 05.08.2026 30min

  We imagine that seeing is automatic, but Parshat Re’eh insists otherwise. From Harvard’s invisible gorilla to the Torah’s blessing and curse, this shiur explores how easily we miss what matters most. True vision means recognizing where a road leads, seeing the people beside us, and discovering that blessing begins when we learn to look at life through Torah-trained eyes each and every day.
• 
  THE LONG WAY HOME 30.07.2026 8min

  Christopher Nolan’s new Odyssey has revived the world’s fascination with the oldest homecoming story in Western literature. But why does the journey of Odysseus still resonate so deeply—and what can it teach us about Parshat Eikev, Jewish history, and the meaning of coming home? The answer lies not in the voyage itself, but in what begins after we arrive home.
• 
  THEY ARE CHAPTERS. WE ARE THE BOOK. 23.07.2026 8min

  Tisha B’Av asks us to sit with the darkest moments in Jewish history: destruction, exile, massacre and loss. But what are we meant to carry with us when the fast ends and we rise from the floor? Is the lesson that Jews have suffered? The Shabbat that follows, Shabbat Nachamu, offers an answer—and perhaps it is the most important lesson of all.
• 
  THESE ARE THE WORDS 16.07.2026 8min

  The Church of England just voted to "hear" a document accusing Israel of genocide thirty times over. Meanwhile, as Rabbi Dunner learns from Archbishop Joseph D'Souza of Hyderabad, his Anglican flock in India is persecuted, and the Church of England couldn't care less. Why do they platform a libel against Israel while ignoring their persecuted brethren? For an answer, Rabbi Dunner turns to Parshat Devarim and Moses' final warning: justice means hearing both sides.
• 
  THE STORY WE CHOOSE TO TELL 16.07.2026 35min

  During a recent journey through Poland, one unexpected stop transformed Rabbi Dunner's understanding of Parshat Devarim. Standing in a place where the past had seemingly been erased, he discovered why Moshe's final words are not a history lesson at all, but a timeless guide to Jewish fortitude, renewal, and - most importantly - hope.
• 
  AN EARLY WARNING FROM BELGIUM 25.06.2026 8min

  Belgium’s prosecution of Antwerp mohalim is more than a local legal dispute. As the Three Weeks approach, it offers an early warning about how Jewish life is eroded: not always through violence, but through regulations that redefine sacred practice as criminal conduct. History shows where such pressure can lead when Jews are welcome only after Judaism has been stripped away.
• 
  WHEN OLD ANSWERS STOP WORKING 25.06.2026 39min

  Parshat Chukkat unfolds amid death, transition, failed leadership, poisonous speech, and unanswered questions. Rabbi Dunner explores why Moshe’s old methods no longer worked, how grief disguises itself as anger, why blessings become invisible, and how sacred symbols can become idols. The message is bracing: faith is not certainty, but rather it is the courage to keep moving forward through mystery, loss, and change.
• 
  MEMORANDUM OF MISUNDERSTANDING 19.06.2026 8min

  The U.S.–Iran MoU arrived wrapped in the soothing language of peace, restraint, and understanding. But Parshat Korach is a warning that beautiful words can conceal ugly intentions. Korach spoke of holiness while seeking power; hostile regimes speak of diplomacy while buying time. The Torah’s lesson is clear: noble language must always be tested against truth before it is allowed to shape policy decisions.
• 
  SPIRITUALITY IS NOT AN EXCUSE 11.06.2026 9min

  Haredi opponents of military service argue that army life threatens the spiritual refinement of Torah students. But the spies in Parshat Shlach made the same mistake: treating withdrawal from the world as the only way forward. Their story teaches that when Jewish survival requires responsibility and sacrifice, spirituality cannot become an excuse for leaving the danger to other Jews who must fight instead.
• 
  WHEN THE MIGHTY FALL 11.06.2026 32min

  The spies were righteous leaders, yet greatness offered no immunity from failure. Rabbi Dunner explores why Yehoshua needed Moshe’s prayer, why Kalev prayed at Chevron, and why humility is not weakness but spiritual protection. From leadership and groupthink to tzitzis and prayer, this shiur reveals how honest vulnerability gives us the courage to face giants without losing faith in God.
• 
  THE GOOD OLD DAYS 04.06.2026 9min

  A ruined castle that was never a castle. Memories that improve with age. Longing for places that never existed. In Parshat Beha'alotecha, the Israelites look back at Egypt and remember only the fish, forgetting the slavery. Rabbi Dunner explores nostalgia, memory, and why the greatest danger of idealizing the past is losing sight of the future.
• 
  THE DETOX DELUSION 29.05.2026 8min

  Modern society swings endlessly between indulgence and denial. One day we binge, the next we detox. But in Parshat Nasso, the Torah’s mysterious Nazir presents a far more nuanced vision of spirituality. While Judaism values discipline and restraint, it remains deeply suspicious of extremism, performative piety, and the fantasy that holiness can be achieved by escaping ordinary life.