Jews, Czechs, Poles, Jacob and Esau is Episode 81 of A Dash of Drash, recorded in my last hour in Prague.

I visited Auschwitz for the first time last week and am still processing that intense experience, which has left a lasting imprint on me.

Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1–22:24) includes towards the end the very challenging story of Akedat Yitzhak, the Binding of Isaac.

The stories in Genesis are full of depth, mystery and profound lessons for each generation. Parshat Noah begins with the story of the catastrophic flood (Chapter 6) and ends with tale of The Tower of Babel (Chapter 11).

This Shabbos we begin to read the Torah anew. We begin with the portion of Bereshis which tells us the story of creation.

On the sixth day, according to the story, Adam, the first human form, is created in God's image. Was that a good thing?

Every morning during the month of Elul, leading us into the New Year, it is traditional to blow and hear the shofar whose voice is supposed to wake us up to our mission.

It can be hard to feel satisfied in this world that screams at us that we always need more!

Ayn od milvado; there is nothing other than God. Does this mean that if we are really spiritual, we transcend all the grossness of our physical world?

The third Jonathan from London is Jonathan Boyd who is the Executive Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London.

This land was once filled with giants. But they died out, slowly, over the centuries, until there was only one left - the great and mighty Og.

“The Forest of Sadness.” That’s the last stop recorded in the Sinai travel itinerary. What is this strange place? And what pain does it hold, there in the shadows of its trees?

Towards the end of The Book of Numbers, there is a list of 42 places on the Israelite's journey as they hope to enter a new land. It is reminiscent of the wanderings of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers of which there are some 65 million in our world today.

Acclaimed writer and director Jonathan Glazer is Rabbi Marc's oldest friend and for years, they have enjoyed conversations on where art, religion, spirituality and culture meet and diverge. 

We should talk about the Daughters of Tzelophehad more.

What’s so bad about Bilaam? Now Balak, the king of Moab - for whom our parsha is named - he’s a real villain...

This week we run into one of the classic questions of the Torah: “What did Moses do that was so wrong?”

Leadership and Transition with special guests Rabbis Gavriel Goldfeder and Salomon Gruenwald is Episode 70 of A Dash of Drash. In Parshat Hukkat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), Miriam and Aaron die, and Moses is told that he will not lead the people into the Promised Land.

This week, everything goes to hell.

In Parshat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32), the leadership of Moses and Aaron is challenged and the source of that challenge is Korach.

From Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks: The story of Korach has much to teach us about one of the most disturbing phenomena of our time: the rise of populism in contemporary politics.

It only took one week. From the day the Children of Israel were first given the Sabbath, they managed to observe just one day of rest together as a whole community.

OneTable has created a Shabbat Dinner Guide for their thousands of monthly users and beyond. Check it out.

For the next five weeks, we will be touring through some of the darkest chapters in the Israelites’ long desert journey. And one theme will dominate these parshot above all: dissatisfaction.

Asceticism - the idea that physical pleasure stands in the way of spiritual enlightenment - has a long and storied history in the annals of religious thought.