Torah Cafe

The most complicated part of Kosher laws is the process of preparing Kosher meat from slaughter to checking for disease to cutting out forbidden parts and draining the blood. While in earlier times, our grandparents did most of this themselves, today it is all prepared in the factory so Kosher meat consumers are often oblivious to the complex preparation process. Learn about the entire process of...

Our society today is grappling with the role of law enforcement and community safety. Is law enforcement today effective? Do law enforcement representatives use more force than necessary? Are there safer ways to keep the peace without harming others than current law enforcement practices? How can we keep society safe from harmful elements while avoiding the use of force that can unnecessarily...

The prophet Jeremiah was one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He lived at the very end of the first Jewish kingdom and witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy Temple. He spent most of his days warning his people of the impeding catastrophe and imploring them to change their ways. A fascinating discussion of Jeremiah the prophet, and the tragic story of his people.

Sacrifice was practiced by Jews from the days of Moses for over 1300 years while the temples stood in Jerusalem. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE we stopped offering sacrifices. Does Judaism today still believe in sacrifice? Why was it practiced in Judaism for so long? Learn about sacrifice in Judaism including why it was practiced for so long, why we no longer practice sacrifice and w...

After the death of Moses, his disciple Joshua, led Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land leading the conquest of the land from the Canaanites and then dividing the land among the twelve tribes. Learn about the story of Joshua and Israel's conquest of the Promised Land.

One of the strangest commandments in the Torah is the Red Cow. When someone with a dead corpse, they may not enter the Temple in Jerusalem or eat sacrificial meat until they are sprinkled with spring water mixed with ashes from a red cow. The Red Cow commandment is so strange that King Solomon wrote he can understand every commandment except this one. A discussion about this strange Mitzvah and it...

There is a special blessing that the Torah tells us should be used by Kohanim, the priests descending from Aaron (Moses' brother) to bless the people. Thiss Sunday to learn about this blessing, its great power particularly for dreams,  the special hand motions that go with it and the riddle of why it's not done the way it is supposed to be done.

Shabtai Tzvi proclaimed himself as Moshiach in the early 1600's splitting world Jewry between his earnest supporters and opponents. As his popularity grew among Jews, Christians and Muslims he at one point appeared unstoppable until he converted to Islam and the Jewish community rejected him. Listen to the unbelievable story of this charismatic impostor who convinced so many and mad...

At the center of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem stood a golden box called the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark sat the tablets the Moses had brought down from Mt. Sinai and the original Torah scroll written by Moses. The Ark was central to Jewish worship throughout the time we had it and was at times taken out of the Temple for unique events. It disappeared before the destruction of the Temple in...

Anger is a challenging and problematic emotion that many feel at challenging times. Anger can be harmful to the person feeling the emotion and to others around them leading them to do and say things they later regret. Conquering anger is a challenge for everyone but particularly for people who struggle with constant anger outbursts. Judaism sees conquering anger as one of the most i...

The Hebrew scriptures includes 24 books that Jews consider holy. What are those 24 books? How are they organized?

For thousands of years Jews have prayed at the graves of our deceased loved ones and Tzaddikim (saintly individuals). But why do we pray at graves when we always pray directly to G-d without any intermediaries? What is the special significance to pray at graves and why has it been so important to most Jewish communities throughout history? A discussion about the Jewish tradition to visit and pray...

Do you need a label to be Jewish? Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist; where did all these labels come from? How did Judaism become so fragmented?  Were we better off for over 3,000 years before these groups were created? Join us to learn the fascinating story of how Judaism fragmented over the past 150 years and the battles waged that split Jewish communities into warring...

Deborah who lived more than 3,000 years ago was one of our 7 prophetesses mentioned in scripture. She was one of the few female Jewish leaders in ancient times. The fascinating tale of Deborah and the beautiful poem that she composed.

The Great assembly or Knesset Hagedolah was a group of Jewish scholars and leaders led by Ezra that made a number of important contributions to Judaism and Jewish practice at the beginning of the Second Temple period. Among the achievements are canonizing the Tanach (holy scripture), composing prayers and blessing and creating the synagogue. Learn about the Men of the Great Assembly and their...

Sexuality drives some of the most powerful feelings and experiences that humans have. Sexuality is both a primitive human instinct as well as the glue that joins two loving souls. Often sexual experiences can be powerfully positive while just as often they can be destructive and terribly harmful. Our society today grapples with the inherit contradictions in sexual relationships and experience. A f...

We count a new Jewish year number every year starting a new year on Rosh Hashanah How did we get to that number? Jewish tradition tells us that our Jewish year number is the number of years from Creation but have we really been counting since creation? Moses, the Torah and our people began more than 2,000 years after the counting began. A discussion about the Jewish year counting and how we got to...

Samson was a Shofet, leader of Israel in the Shoftim period when Israel first settled in the land of Israel. He was best known for his superhuman strength and mighty feats in battle with the Philistines. He was later betrayed by his wife Delilah who shared the secret of his superhuman strength with the Philistines. Discover the fascinating story of Samson.

One of the greatest Jewish figures in our history was Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon known as Rambam of Maimonides who lived in the 12th in Egypt. This Sunday will be the 813th anniversary of his passing. Discover the fascinating story of Maimonides, his impact on Judaism and the way he singlehandedly organized the Torah.

The Torah we were given includes two parts. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah. We consider the Oral Torah to be the primary source of all our laws and rules in Judaism? What exactly is the Oral Torah? How do we know it is true and was transmitted accurately over the many generations? A discussion about the Oral Torah, what exactly it is and how we know it to be true.

Rashi, a 12th century scholar from France was one of the greatest Jewish scholars of all times. Best know for his commentaries on the Torah and Talmud that have become the standard commentaries on those central Jewish text Learn about Rashi, his life story and the great impact he made on Jewish scholarship and Judaism.

Tithing or separating a tenth of one's earnings for charity originates in Judaism where it is known as Maaser Kesafim and has since been adopted by other religions built from Judaism. When did we start tithing? Why do we tithe? What kind of earnings should be tithed? Where should the tithes go? A discussion of Ma'aser Kesafim - Tithing in Judaism

Modern medicine has given us the power to extend lives even when the individual is not expected to recover and may be in extreme pain or not responsive. At what point can we stop offering live saving treatment that is just temporarily extending the suffering? Can we do anything to make them die sooner and end their suffering? End of life care is relevant to all of us who have had loved o...

Do Jews have martyrs? There are religions in which it's a great thing to die for your faith, and doing so makes you a saint or gets you a ticket to paradise. What is the Jewish view? Millions of Jews have died for being Jewish but is it a central value in Judaism? Are martyrs heros? Do they get a ticket to paradise? Is Jew person supposed to die for their beliefs? What is the Jewish view on martyr...

The ethics of capital punishment has been hotly debated for decades with our Governor recently taking a strong position against capital punishment. Throughout this debate, the perspective of Judaism has been brought up repeatably by both side including by the Eighth Circuit in 1988 Hayes V. Lockhart case. What does Judaism in fact say about the death penalty? On which side of the debate does Judai...