Torah Cafe

In a fascinating episode, the Torah tells us how Jacob dreamed about a ladder standing on the ground with its top reaching the heavens and he saw angels going up and down the ladder. The meaning of the dream remains cryptic with countless explanations offered by different Torah commentaries and Jewish thinkers.

Tehillim (Psalms) is one of the most read books of Tanach (the Scriptures) with 150 poems and songs covering historic events, prayers and inspiration. Jews throughout history have read Tehillim as the go-to book whenever they were in trouble or needed help. Who wrote the book of Tehillim? What do the poems speak about? Why has it become so central to Jewish prayer?

Happiness is important for us to function well and to succeed. Happiness makes us pleasant people and helps us build relationships. Happiness is a goal for most people. In Judaism, it's a mitzvah to be happy!  But how do we become happy? What can we do to make ourselves happier? A fascinating discussion about happiness, why it's so central to Judaism and the unique Jewish approach to finding true...

Hospitality has always been a strong Jewish trait and a Mitzvah. Jewish communities have always had hospitality housing and food for travelers while Jewish families opened their homes to strangers.  Why is hospitality so important in Judaism? What should good hospitality include? Are there limits to hospitality?  A fascinating discussion about the Jewish value and Mitzvah of hospitality. 

After the Exodus from Egypt, Jews continued to go back to Egypt for most of our history. Jews lived in Egypt continuously from the time of the destruction of the First Temple around 421 BCE until the mid 20th century, making it possibly the longest continuous Jewish community in history.  A fascinating discussion about the history of the Jews of Egypt. 

Since modern science developed, there has been a long-standing tension between religion and science as many scientific discoveries contradicted long-standing religious beliefs and many scientists believed that new scientific wisdom made religion unnecessary. What does Judaism say about modern science? Can Jewish beliefs be reconciled with modern science? Do we embrace science, reject it or tread c...

The final 5 days of Sukkot and the middle 4 days of Passover are called Chol Hamo'ed - "Mundane Festival". They are part of the holiday but not holidays. They are regular days and holy days. We are allowed to work but not supposed to work if possible. What are these paradoxical days about? A fascinating discussion about Chol Hamo'ed, the middle days of the festivals.

We are commanded to live in the Sukkah over the festival of Sukkot. Our sages say that living in the Sukkah includes both eating and sleeping in the Sukkah. In the middle ages, Ashkenazic Jews stopped sleeping in the Sukkah. Today, many Jews sleep in the Sukkah while many others do not.  A fascinating discussion about the debate over sleeping in the Sukkah. 

One of the saddest chapters in Jewish history was the assassination of Gedaliah, the first Governor of Judea as a Babylonian province. The story told in the book of Kings is the first recorded Jewish assassination. The assassination which led to the end of the Jewish community in Judea for a few decades, is marked each year with the Fast of Gedaliah. Learn about the tragic story of Gedaliah and wh...

Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of the creation of Adama and Eve, the first people and the ancestors of all humans today. The creation of Adam and Eve is described in detail at the beginning of the Torah.  Why did G-d create Adam and Eve? How were they created? What did they do once they were created?

Torah study has been central to Jewish life throughout our long history. Yet historically, Torah was primarily studied by men, with women having limited opportunities to study Torah. Starting in the early 20th century, women have had increasingly more opportunities to study Torah and an increasing number of women have become Torah scholars. A fascinating discussion about women's role in Torah...

Rabbi Yehudah Lowe of Prague, better known as Maharal was one of the greatest rabbis, scholars, philosophers, Kabbalists and statesmen in Jewish history. He served as the rabbi of Prague in the 16th Century but his influence spread far and wide and is still felt today.  Perhaps, the Maharal is best known for the controversial legend about his creation of a Golem, a humanoid made from clay that pro...

The Torah instructs us that when judging the actions of others, we should always judge them favorably assuming the best motive and intent. This can be difficult at times especially when the intent is clearly negative or the actions particularly harmful. How can we realistically follow the command to always judge others favorably? A fascinating class on the important Mitzvah of judging others favor...

Central to Judaism is the belief that there will come a time when the world with its challenges and problems as we know it will end and we will enter a new era without evil, struggling and challenges. There will be an individual who will lead us to this period called Moshiach - the anointed one. A fascinating discussion about the Jewish belief in the coming of Moshiach and what we believe will hap...

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism. However, on the Temple Mount sit the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, Muslim shrines, marking the sites importance to Islam. Since Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967, Jews have been able to go to the Temple Mount under limited conditions. Are Jews supposed to be going up to the Temple Mount? While it is the holiest spot in J...

The Synagogue revolves around the Siddur, the prayer book, a book that can be quite think filled with readings and prayers. Who wrote it? How was it written? Why are there some many different prayer books?  A fascinating discussion about the history of the Siddur, the Jewish prayer book, how it developed over 2500 years and how it is structured today.

One of the most persistent and dangerous anti-Semitic accusations against Jews has been the blood libel. While it came in various forms, it included the claim that Jews participated in slaughtering non-Jews for ritual purposes. Despite the absurdity and offensiveness of the claim, blood libels, led to countless arrests, torture, sham-trials and massacres against Jews over our long history.  A fasc...

It is important to plan ahead and write a will while one is young and healthy to ensure their wishes are fulfilled after their death. For Jews, it's important that our wills not only conform with local laws that will ensure that the wishes of the deceased are carried out. We must also ensure that our wills conform with Jewish laws and values so that our estate is transferred to our heirs in a...

When Jews lived in the Land of Israel and our religious judicial system was in force, we had 6 cities of refuge for someone who killed a person unintentionally (manslaughter). The killer would flee to a city of refuge and be safe there from any relatives of the victim wanting to avenge the murder. A fascinating discussion about the Cities of Refuge. 

Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) teaches that prior to creating our own universe, G-d creates a previous universe called Tohu (Chaos). The universe of Tohu could not survive and therefore crashed. Our universe called Tikkun was then created on top of the broken shards of Tohu leaving us humans with the job of cleaning up the shards of Tohu in our universe. A fascinating class explaining this esoteric c...

Jewish Aramaic was an ancient language spoken by most Jews for well over 1,000 years. Aramaic is used in Tanach (Jewish Scriptures) and many important Jewish works including the Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, Midrash Rabba and Zohar. A fascinating discussion about the forgotten language of Aramaic that is so central to our history and teachings.

Many people believe is paranormal forces that can be invoked or tapped into to discover otherwise unknown information and advise or to manipulate the forces of nature. Many people reject that paranormal forces exist and claim such beliefs to be primitive.  What does Judaism say about magic and paranormal forces? Do we believe they are true? Do they work? Are we allowed to practice any magic? Join...

Strife and divisiveness have challenged humans since the earliest of time. As long as we've had communities we've had divisiveness between people and as long as we've had nations we've had divisiveness between nations. What is the cause for this human tendency of fighting with each other? How can we counter it? A fascinating discussion about the human tendency towards divisiveness...

One of the worst tragedies that befell our people was the ant-Jewish pogroms during the Khmelnytsky uprising in Poland and Ukraine in 1648-1649. The Khmelnitsky Pogroms, known to Jews as Gzayrois Tach Vetat decimated Jewish communities across Eastern Europe and was one of the most cataclysmic events in the history of Eastern European Jewry. Learn the story of this horrific tragedy and understand i...

According to our tradition, the Erev Rav (Mixed Multitude) were a group of non-Jews who accompanied Israel out of Egypt and caused problems for them during their travels through the desert.. Why were they? Why did they join Israel when they left Egypt? What happened to them?