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Serach - The Keeper of Israel’s Collective Memory

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Release Date: 07/17/2025

Left Behind-The Jewish Rapture show art Left Behind-The Jewish Rapture

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

How a Story of Liberation Was Used to Exclude What if the Exodus wasn’t just a story of freedom… but also a story of exclusion? Key Takeaways Redemption stories are rarely neutral—they are often weapons. The charge of being “left behind” usually says more about the accuser than the accused. A story about leaving becomes an excuse for not moving at all. Timestamps [00:00] Moses' Uncompromising Message to Pharaoh [00:24] The Irony of the 'Left Behind' Story [01:48] Introduction to Madlik and This Week's Topic [02:42] Exploring the Tradition of Those Left Behind [04:00] The Ambiguous...

info_outline Who’s In, Who’s Out — A 3,000-Year-Old Debate show art Who’s In, Who’s Out — A 3,000-Year-Old Debate

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

The Exodus isn’t just a freedom story — it’s the Torah’s first argument about gatekeeping. Pharaoh asks a simple question: “Who exactly is going?” — mi va-mi ha-holchim. Moses answers with a revolution: Everyone. Key Takeaways Who’s going?” really means “Who counts? Inclusion isn’t modern — it’s Torah. Presence matters more than status. Timestamps [00:00] Pharaoh's Question: Who's Going? [01:26] Introduction to Madlik and This Week's Topic [01:58] The Essence of Hasidism and Inclusion [05:03] Exploring the Exodus Story [07:14] Moses' Radical Answer to Pharaoh...

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Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Rav Shlomo Wolbe, Mussar, and the Theology of Human Greatness Moses delivers the greatest promise in Jewish history—freedom, redemption, a future—and the Torah says something heartbreaking: the Israelites don’t listen. Not because they reject God or Moses, but because of “kotzer ruach” (Exodus 6:9)—shortness of spirit. Key Takeaways The Torah’s Greatest Threat Isn’t Sin — It’s Smallness True Greatness Is Internal, Not External Mussar Teaches Us How to Grow, Not Just What to Do Timestamps [00:00] The Devastating Reality of kotzer ruach [00:45] Introduction to Rabbi Shlomo...

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Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

What Children Hear That Adults Miss We begin the Book of Shemot (Exodus) with a New Year’s-style resolution: read more Torah out loud—to our children, and to our grandchildren. Because the Exodus isn’t just Judaism’s greatest story; it’s Judaism’s most re-read story—told at the Seder, year after year, the longest-running book club in history. We’re joined by scholar and author Ilana Kurshan to discuss her new book Children of the Book, a beautiful exploration of how reading to kids shapes not only them, but us. Together we read Exodus through young eyes: the burning bush as a...

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Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

In this episode of Madlik Disruptive Torah, Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz explore one of the Torah’s most enigmatic verses—Jacob’s blessing of Judah and the phrase “until Shiloh comes.” Claimed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, this single line opens a sweeping conversation about the power of religion to shape history—for good and for evil. Drawing on classical commentators, medieval Jewish-Christian encounters, and modern interfaith scholarship, we ask hard questions: What happens when sacred texts become battlegrounds? Can religion be part of the solution to religious...

info_outline Sacred Numbers Without Superstition show art Sacred Numbers Without Superstition

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

As we close one year and step into another, we’re revisiting a live Madlik Disruptive Torah conversation recorded in December 2022, back when the podcast was broadcast weekly on Clubhouse in front of a live audience. This episode explores the enduring power of numbers in Jewish thought—especially the number 70. From the seventy souls who descend to Egypt, to seventy nations, seventy languages, seventy judges on the Sanhedrin, and the rabbinic idea that Torah itself has shiv’im panim—seventy faces—this conversation asks what numbers can teach us without turning Torah into...

info_outline Hanukkah: The Civil War We Forgot show art Hanukkah: The Civil War We Forgot

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Was Hanukkah really a war of Jews vs. Greeks — or a Jewish civil war we chose to forget? Was Hanukkah really Jews vs. Greeks — or a Jewish civil war we chose to bury under a story about oil? In this episode of Madlik Disruptive Torah, Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz revisit the Hanukkah story through the sources. From Maccabees I and the politics of Ptolemy vs. Antiochus, to the lone Talmudic mention of the oil miracle (Shabbat 21b), they show how a messy internal power struggle became a clean miracle narrative. Key Takeaways Hanukah began as a Jewish civil war — not just Jews vs....

info_outline Bottom Up Torah: How Queer Jews Are Changing Orthodoxy show art Bottom Up Torah: How Queer Jews Are Changing Orthodoxy

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Imagine being told you belong to a faith that is fighting to keep you out—and refusing to leave. In this week's Madlik, Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz welcome Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox-ordained rabbi, for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation. Key Takeaways Vulnerability transforms the meaning of Torah. Bottom-up change is reshaping Orthodoxy. The tradition has the capacity — and the precedent — to grow. Timestamps [00:00:12] Rabbi Steve Greenberg’s coming-out context and the question of LGBTQ+ Jews as teachers of Torah. [00:03:11] Steve’s...

info_outline The Jewish Future Israel Wants… But Fears to Admit show art The Jewish Future Israel Wants… But Fears to Admit

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Beneath the surface, Israel is fighting for the soul of its religion — and most of us don’t even see the battle lines. In this episode of Madlik Disruptive Torah, Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz are joined by Professor Adam S. Ferziger to explore the quiet revolution reshaping Israeli Judaism. Drawing on his new book, Agents of Change, Ferziger reveals how American Modern Orthodoxy—its values, institutions, and worldview—has profoundly influenced Religious Zionism and the broader Israeli religious landscape. From the tension between nationalism and modernity to the emergence of a...

info_outline He’s Christian. He Fights for Israel. He Speaks Talmudic Aramaic. show art He’s Christian. He Fights for Israel. He Speaks Talmudic Aramaic.

Madlik Podcast – Disruptive Torah Thoughts on Judaism

Ready to discover how reviving a lost language can reshape the whole Middle East? Ta Shma (come and hear) Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz are joined by Shadi Khalloul—IDF paratrooper veteran, founder of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, and one of the world’s most passionate advocates for reviving the Aramaic language. Together, they explore Parshat Vayetzei and the hidden “Rosetta Stone” moment in Genesis 31, where Jacob and Laban name the same monument in Hebrew and Aramaic. Key Takeaways Aramaic is the Hidden Backbone of Jewish Life Aramaic Once United the Ancient...

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More Episodes

The only Israelite to go down to Egypt and enter the Promised Land was a woman.

In the years after the Civil War, heritage groups began honoring a rare category of Americans: Real Sons and Real Daughters — children born to aging veterans of that war. Not grandchildren. Not great-grandchildren. Their actual children. Living, breathing links to a fading past.

Today, the same honor is given to the children of Holocaust survivors. These are voices that don’t just remember history — they carry it.

In the Torah, there is one figure who embodies this idea more than any other.

Her name is Serach bat Asher.

According to legend, she enters Egypt with Jacob’s family — and, somehow, centuries later, she helps Moses find Joseph’s bones, enters the Promised Land and even consults with 3rd Century Rabbis of the Talmud. She provides us with a paradigm for a social institution that is undervalued... the Living Legacy. We explore this critical source of cultural history in the Bible, Rabbinic texts, other religions and cultures.

Key Takeaways

  1. The power of intergenerational wisdom
  2. The value of seeking out and listening to living witnesses
  3. That authenticity comes from experience, not just bloodlines

Timestamps

  • [00:00:00] – Introduction to “real daughters” and the historical role of living links to the past
  • [00:02:48] – Rabbi Adam begins discussing the Parsha and the uniqueness of Serach bat Asher
  • [00:05:08] – Reflections on personal connections to historical generations and legacy
  • [00:08:06] – Discussion of adoption, inheritance, and authenticity in Jewish tradition
  • [00:10:03] – Serach reveals the location of Joseph’s bones, showing her enduring memory
  • [00:13:10] – Why Serach, as a woman, may have symbolized enduring legacy and transition
  • [00:16:00] – Midrash: Serach gently reveals to Jacob that Joseph is alive through song
  • [00:19:32] – Serach credited with prophetic knowledge of Joseph's survival
  • [00:23:00] – Serach offers eyewitness testimony at the splitting of the sea
  • [00:29:00] – Broader discussion on real sons/daughters, Holocaust survivors, and living legacy

Links & Learnings

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Safaria Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/662562

Transcript on episode web page: https://madlik.com/2025/07/16/serach-the-keeper-of-israels-collective-memory/