Is holiness meant to escape the physical world—or transform it? This episode tackles one of the deepest misunderstandings about Torah spirituality. Drawing from the unique structure of Tefillas Musaf on Shabbos, Rabbi Klapper shows that Judaism does not split life into “holy moments” and “real life.” Instead, Shabbos introduces a fourth tefillah that exists only once a week because it represents something entirely new: the power to unite shamayim and aretz. Musaf is not about asking, striving, or fixing—it’s about connection. Like Yosef HaTzadik, who stood firm in the lowest place on earth while remaining bound to his father above, Musaf expresses the midah of Yesod: channeling Divine shefa downward and lifting the physical upward at the same time.

Through Yosef’s life, Avraham’s mission, and the contrast with Bilaam’s worldview, the episode exposes a fault line between Torah and many other belief systems. Holiness is not found by abandoning the body, nor by living two separate lives. It is created when food, work, struggle, and restraint are all brought into Hashem’s service. Shabbos trains us in this unification—preparing the world to become a place where the Shechinah can rest. The practical reflection is simple and demanding: don’t wait for holiness to happen “somewhere else.” This Shabbos, take one physical act—eating, resting, speaking—and consciously turn it into a bridge between heaven and earth. That is how Malchus is built.

Hosted by Rabbi Ari Klapper and produced by Eli Podcast Productions, this episode is part of the Real Judaism series, available on RealJudaism.org. Don't forget to subscribe and share to stay connected with our daily lessons and timeless Torah insights!

When mercy fails, can justice itself save us?

At Shalash Shudis, Rabbi Klapper brings the astonishing Gemara where Yitzchak Avinu — embodiment of din — steps forward to defend Klal Yisrael. While Avraham and Yaakov, symbols of chesed and rachamim, are silent on the day of judgment, Yitzchak uses logic and love to turn the case around: “Half their lives they can’t sin — let me bear the rest.” In that moment, din itself becomes mercy.

This is the secret of the final Shabbos meal — when the midda of restriction is soaked in Shabbos light until it too turns to compassion. Like Yitzchak, we learn to see judgment not as punishment but as Hashem’s desire to bring us home. Practical takeaway: approach the week’s first moments as Yitzchak did — with discipline that defends, structure that protects, and din transformed into rachamim.

Hosted by Rabbi Ari Klapper and produced by Eli Podcast Productions, this episode is part of the Real Judaism series, available on RealJudaism.org. Don’t forget to subscribe and share to stay connected with our daily lessons and timeless Torah insights!

What happens to all the holiness of Shabbos once the candles go out?

We step into Seudah Shlishis, the closing heartbeat of Shabbos, where its light begins to pour into the coming week. Rabbi Klapper unpacks Rav Pincus’s teaching on Z’eir Anpin — Hashem’s “small face,” the Divine mode that governs weekday reality through measured din and rachamim. On Shabbos, though, we encounter the higher Middos Elyonos — Hashem’s true will to give without limit. As Shabbos fades, those middos descend to sustain the week, like embers carried from the Mikdash into our homes.

Rabbi Klapper shows how this shift defines our mission: to take Shabbos’s patience and mercy into our weekday encounters. The transition at Mincha isn’t a goodbye but a transfer of power — Shabbos training the world to live with long sight, not short temper. Each choice of self-control in the week is a spark of Shabbos light still burning within you.

Hosted by Rabbi Ari Klapper and produced by Eli Podcast Productions, this episode is part of the Real Judaism series, available on RealJudaism.org. Don’t forget to subscribe and share to stay connected with our daily lessons and timeless Torah insights!