The Book of Memories
Angels teach the complete Torah to babies in the womb, our Sages tell us. The baby is born and his learning is forgotten, a lost memory hidden in the Book of Books, waiting to be rediscovered and reintegrated through study and thought. Join Rabbi Shnayor Burton and Mikey Stone as they discuss the weekly Torah portion's events and themes without any remove. Immerse yourself in a new reality. Acquire perspectives and tools that will elevate your consciousness and actions. Please join our quest! Email BookOfMemoriesPodcast@gmail.com with comments and questions. The Book of Memories is a project of Tails of Lions Media.
Episodes
46 episodes
Freedom Revisited
God told Moses of His four-part plan for Israel's redemption from bondage, (which we symbolize by drinking four cups of wine at the Seder). Moses relayed the message to the Israelites: "And Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, but t...
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46:00
A Single Congregation
Join us this week for the season finale of The Book Of Memories, as we discuss the roadmap for world peace. Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks about exciting next steps for the podcast!
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1:02:19
The Proper Unit, Or, How To Smash The Gentilarchy
The Torah mandates that we count Jews in half-units. It's a cliche to assert that as individual selves, we are incomplete and lacking, but this week we strip away the platitudes, and show how the appropriate absorption of the self into the whol...
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1:04:39
Waiting
We are commanded to remember the Sabbath day (implying a past Sabbath), and to safeguard the Sabbath day (implying a future Sabbath). What do these commands entail? And what about the present experience of the Sabbath? Pay close attention to th...
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1:00:56
Offerings And The Origin
The act of building God's house reflects kindness, generosity, and wisdom, yet bloodshed is the main activity practiced within it. Why? And what does it have to do with the secrets of the creation? Tune in this week to find out.
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53:28
His House That We Build
How can we construct a house for One who is beyond space? Why donate our treasures to One who owns the heavens and the earth? Join us this week to find out.
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54:52
Man, God, And Judges
Many of the Torah's laws, and a large portion of traditional Torah study, concern the domain of what appears to be civil law. What explains the emphasis on what at first glance is a secular area of law, an area that appears to have parallels am...
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1:10:44
The Only Thing That Should Make One Prideful
Warning: Listen to this bonus episode only if you are prepared for an unfiltered and occasionally speculative conversation about Daas Hashem.
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1:17:34
Torah Of Moshe
Is the Torah our guide to understanding God's ways, and ipso facto, the good life? Or is it something Other entirely? And if it may be the latter, why does it contain so much humanly graspable law? Join us this week as we grapple with these que...
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1:14:48
How To Split The Sea
Water and Air, Matter and Spirit. Humanity, infused with the air of life by God, barely survived its first encounter with the deluge of matter, and only by retreating to an ark. Moses, "the one who pulls out of the water", confronted the sea di...
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1:03:39
God's Justice And Man
"He established them to endure forever, providing a law that shall not be transgressed." Thus does Psalms 148 describes God's institution of laws of nature-in other words, His justice. Does this divine justice relate to our human imperati...
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53:04
The Steps Of Exile And Redemption
What is the purpose of Israel's exile? Is it a consequence of national sin, or a necessary condition for outreach to gentiles? On the surface, these are our sages' two main, opposing approaches, but in truth, they are two steps of one process b...
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1:20:31
Egyptian Soil And The River At The End Of Time
God called it "My Nation". Majorities of Jews throughout multiple ages made it their home. It was the location of a temple, altars and sacrifices to Hashem. Rav Yehudah Halevy made pilgrimage to its holy sites... Egypt. Join us this week ...
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1:10:55
Destiny Of The Nations
Seventy from the house of Jacob went to Egypt, the first and prototypical place of exile. Seventy is also the number of original "languages", or nations, that inhabit the world outside of Israel. Join us this week to learn how the fate of...
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1:01:12
Dreams At Night
Maimonides tells us in his Guide that not everyone who has a veridical dream is a prophet, perhaps having in mind Joseph the righteous. But if Joseph was indeed not a prophet, he nonetheless had a mastery of the dream realm, one that offended h...
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1:09:28
If A Wall
To wait or to initiate? That is the question this week, for both womankind and for Israel. Join us to find out what it means and why it matters.
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58:23
Beautiful Of Form
The Torah's laws and ethical directives ostensibly discourage both the valuing of physical beauty, and the occult. Yet both phenomena are prevalent in the Torah, particularly among our beautiful mother Rachel and her kingly descendants, such as...
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55:51
Parents And Children, Earthly And Divine
Esau greatly honored Isaac throughout his days, and yet his brother Jacob received their father Isaac's prime blessing. It is Israel alone that can actually fulfill the verse which commands "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may...
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50:02
Eternal Life
We believe that the soul is eternal and that the dead will return to life. Why, then, do we fear dying and mourn the dead? And why does the Torah give weight to the phenomenon of death? There is indeed a tension here, and this week we speculate...
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51:43
Forefathers, Foresons, And The Godly Attributes
The prophet Elijah, against the Heavenly Court's wishes, taught Rabbi Judah the Prince and his students the secret protocol for bringing about the final redemption. The rabbis almost succeeded, until they were thwarted at the last moment by Eli...
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1:29:38
"You Are My Sister"
Our forefathers advised their wives to tell the inhabitants of lands they sojourned in that they were not their wives, but their sisters. Far from being instrumental mistruths, these incidents are links in a great biblical and midrashic c...
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1:07:15
"You Are Called Adam"
“My breath shall not abide in Adam forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years."Noach and his family survived the great flood described in the beginning of Genesis. Join us this week to learn...
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54:34
Creation, Wisdom, and Awe
A world of perfect and absolute wisdom, coherence, and moral order would seem to be the only kind of world that a Perfect Being would create. Yet, one crucial element might be missing in such a world, one that is necessary for relating to this ...
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1:04:04
Repentance Part 2: The Limits of Teshuvah, and Knowledge of the Good
Is man’s free will ever (externally) impeded? No, it is absolute, says Maimonides, and yet man can lose the ability to change his sinful ways. Join us this week as we discuss this apparent paradox, addressing numerous points in the sixth chapte...
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1:15:54
Repentance Part 1: Free Will and the Tree of Knowledge
Maimonides’ prooftext that man has power over his own actions is the biblical verse that describes the power man attained after sinning and eating from the forbidden Edenic fruit. Yet Maimonides also teaches us that as God wills that each part ...
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49:38