Know Your Navi: The Fun and Prophets Podcast

The haftara for the portion of Balak (or Chukat-Balak) is from the Book of Mikha (Micah), 5:6-6:8.

The Torah portion of Behaalotecha begins with a description of the Menora in the Tabernacle, and this reading from Zekharya (Zechariah) is a vision of the Menora in the Second Temple.

In the Diaspora, the third chapter of Chavakkuk is read on the second day of Shavuot.

This reading comes from the second chapter of Hosheia (Hosea).

Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 10:32-12:6 is read on the eighth day of Passover in the Diaspora and (in some communities) on Israeli Independence Day.

The haftara of Shabbat HaGadol is Malachi 3:4-23; this podcast begins from the middle of Malachi's second chapter.

The reading from the Prophets for the Torah portion of Yitro consists of Yeshayahu 6:1-7:6 and 9:5-6.

Does a terua have to come from a shofar? Do Lot's descendants flee back towards Sedom (Sodom)?

Why do we need a parable of Babel? Who wields the broom of destruction?

What army does God command? Why are the Medes so mean? Did jackals overrun the capital of the Chaldeans?

What are the Philistines the last to realize? Who sings King David's greatest hits?

Could Ashur have prevented forest fires? Did anything good happen at Nov (Nob)? How does the Davidic shoot take root? Where do lions, leopards and bears (oh my!) hang out cattle?

What wrecked Samaria's bricks- and- sycamore sector? Why does Efrayim eat Menasheh? When does God show no mercy to widows and orphans? Should you keep an eye on your toolbox?

Who are the original conspiracy theorists? What comes from Endor besides Ewoks? How does Yeshayahu take dry cleaning to the extreme? What sort of king should sit on David's throne?

How does Assyrian imperialism give a new meaning to "close shave"? What fateful choice does Achaz make? What's it like to walk around with the name Mahershalalhashbaz? Does Yeshayahu's reliable witness Uriyya flip on him?

Why would Yeshayahu never make it as a thriller writer? Did Pekach have a secret plan? How did Judeans end up in Damascus? Who was Immanuel?

What do you do if your neighbors are family? When does God whistle? Were flint horseshoes popular in the Ancient Near East? When should you kiss a hot coal? Who has the true vision of the Heavenly Court, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) or Yechezkel (Ezekiel)?

What is the price of fashion in Zion? Why would seven women go after one man? Is fire a good cleanser What nation is a vineyard?

Who were the middle-managers of the Kingdom of Judea? When do brothers become strangers? Did Yeshayahu have something against powerful women? Why does God rebuke rather than punish?

Why does Yeshayahu "sample" Mikha? Did Yotam (Jotham) ever escape his father's shadow--or his son's? What reproductive record did Achaz (Ahaz) set? When do man and bat meet in Scripture?

What could the Judeans learn from a donkey? Who is not welcome in the Temple? Does repentance require seeing red? Who plays when the king's (locked) away?

Where does Yeshayahu (Isaiah) rank among the Latter Prophets? How long did his career last? Have we lost his other book? Was Judea a kingdom with no king?