West Deal Torah Center

Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every Friday morning at 6:45 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class on Parashat Emor, Rabbi Dana surveys the parasha's broad topics — laws of the kohanim, korbanot, and the Jewish holidays — before focusing on a striking question raised by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in Darash Moshe: why are the laws of leket and peah, gifts for the poor, inserted in the middle of the To...

Rabbi Moshe Tobal hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:30 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class on Parashat Emor, Rabbi Moshe Tobal explores the two main themes of the parasha: the special laws of the Kohanim and the Jewish holidays, including Sefirat HaOmer and the Four Species of Sukkot. He raises the central question of what connects these two seemingly unrelated topics. The Rabbi develops th...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class, Rabbi Ike Hanon explores an episode from Parshat Emor involving the Megadef, the person who blasphemed Hashem, and the legal uncertainty Moshe faced in determining his punishment. The Chachamim note that this case ran parallel to that of the Mikoshesh Etzim, the wood gatherer who violated Shabbat, and...

Rabbi David Semah hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:45 AM at West Deal Shul. Rabbi Semah opens by connecting Parashat Emor's commandment of the Four Species on Sukkot to a famous Midrash in which each species represents a different type of Jew, from the learned and righteous Etrog to the spiritually empty Aravah. He then shares a powerful Zohar that reframes the Aravah entirely, teachin...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. The class begins on Pesachim 37a by revisiting the dispute between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel over pat ava, and introducing a new interpretation that pat ava means a large quantity of bread rather than thick bread. Rav Minyami bar Rava quotes a tradition in which a rabbi privately asks his own rabbi about this term,...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers the final lines of Pesachim 36b and the opening of 37a, continuing the discussion of what types of dough and bread qualify as lechem oni for the mitzvah of matzah on Pesach. The sugya explores whether an onen may eat bikurim, tracing the debate among Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Shimon, and...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. The class covers Pesachim 36a-36b, focusing on whether one can fulfill the mitzva of matzah using produce that has the status of Bikurim or Maaser Sheni. Rabbi Yosei HaGalili and Rabbi Akiva both agree that Bikurim cannot be used for matzah, though they initially derive this from different sources — Rabbi Yosei HaGal...

Rabbi Moses Hidary hosts classes every Monday night at West Deal Shul. In this class, Rabbi Hidary continues through Shaar HaBitachon, focusing on Perek 4 and the topic of relying on Hashem in matters of health and livelihood. The Chovos HaLevavos teaches that while a person must take proper hishtadlut to maintain their health and seek medical treatment when ill, they must not place their trust in...

Mr. Sammy Saka hosts classes on Zoom Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30PM. Contact Jacob Betesh to be added to the chat. In this class on Pirkei Avot 1:11, Mr. Sammy Saka explores the teaching of Avtalyon, who warns sages and leaders to be exceedingly careful with their words, lest those words lead others to sin and cause a desecration of Hashem's name. Mr. Saka illustrates this principle through v...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers Pesachim 36a, revisiting the machloket between Rabbi Yosei HaGlili and Rabbi Akiva over the meaning of lechem oni and what types of dough are valid for matzah. Rabbi Yosei HaGlili derives from the word oni that matzah must be something permissible to an onen, thereby excluding Maaser Sheni, while Rabbi Akiva re...

Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every day at 6:50 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers Berachot 18b, continuing a multi-session discussion about whether the dead are aware of events in this world, a question rooted in the halachic concept of loeg larash — the prohibition against mocking the dead by performing mitzvot in a graveyard. Rabbi Dana walks through three interconnected stories: a man w...

Rabbi Albert Setton hosts classes every Saturday at 7:00 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class, Rabbi Albert Setton begins Perek 4 of Pirkei Avot by exploring three celebrated Mishnayot that redefine wisdom, strength, wealth, and honor — all attributed to Ben Zoma — emphasizing that true greatness is measured internally and in relation to oneself, not in comparison to others. He then examines Ben Az...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers the final sugya of Masechet Pesachim, beginning with the Rabbinic decree that pigul and notar cause tumah to the hands. The Gemara presents two opinions explaining these separate enactments: one to deter dishonest kohanim from intentionally invalidating korbanot and claiming accident, and the other to prevent l...

Mr. Morris Sutton hosts classes featuring a guest speaker at West Deal Shul. In this Yom Ha'atzmaut address, the speaker reflects on the profound gift that the State of Israel represents for the Jewish people today. Drawing on his own family's story across generations, he contrasts his father's inability to have a bar mitzvah in Israel with his own experience celebrating at the Kotel, highlighting...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class on Parashat Kedoshim, Rabbi Ike Hanon explores the famous verse "Love your fellow like yourself" and Rabbi Akiva's declaration that it is the great rule of the Torah. He examines the story in the Gemara where Hillel tells a prospective convert that the entire Torah is summarized in the principle of no...

Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every Friday at 6:45 AM at West Deal Shul. Rabbi Dana explores the double parasha of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, focusing on the central mitzvah of Kedoshim Tihiyu — the command to be holy. He contrasts Rashi's view, which ties kedushah to restraint from inappropriate relationships, with the Ramban's broader teaching that one must avoid becoming a Naval Birshu...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers Pesahim 120a-120b, beginning with the Mishnah's discussion of falling asleep during the Seder and its effect on eating the Korban Pesach. Rabbi Yosef's distinction between dozing and fully sleeping is explored, with a famous story of Abaye waking Rabah mid-Seder used to illustrate the halacha and its ap...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. The class covers Pesachim 120a, focusing on whether one may eat after the afikoman matzah, just as the Korban Pesach was required to be the last thing eaten at the Seder. The Gemara examines two opposing traditions in the name of Shmuel and attempts to bring proofs from the mishnah and from the laws of snack matzot, ultimately r...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers the Mishnah at the end of Maseches Pesachim — En Maftirin Achar HaPesach Afikoman — which famously appears in the Haggadah as the teaching given to the Chacham. The Gemara debates what 'afikoman' means: Rav understands it as a prohibition against leaving one's chabura to eat elsewhere af...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes Monday through Friday at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. On Yom Ha'atzmaut, Rabbi Ike Hanon delivers a special Torah thought celebrating the miraculous nature of the modern State of Israel, noting that Israel's thousands of airstrikes against Iran represent wonders no less significant than the miracles of the Tanakh. He presents an insight from the Maharal of Pragu...

Rabbi Moses Hidary hosts classes every Monday night at 8:00 PM, temporarily on Tuesday nights for the next 3 weeks at West Deal Shul. This class continues Shaar HaBitachon Perek 4 in the Chovot HaLevavot, focusing on where bitachon and hishtadlut intersect in the context of earning a livelihood. Rabbi Hidary reviews last week's teaching on physical safety, explaining that one may not put onese...

Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every day at 6:50 AM sharp at West Deal Shul. This class covers Berachot 18a, focusing on who is exempt from mitzvot when dealing with a deceased person. The Gemara establishes that both the shomer, the person guarding the body, and the avel, the relative responsible for burial, are exempt from mitzvot like Shema, prayer, and tefillin, regardless of whether they are...

Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every day at 6:50 AM at West Deal Shul. This class covers Berachot 17b, beginning with the Mishnah's rule that an onen — one whose deceased relative awaits burial — is exempt from mitzvot when the body is in front of him. The Gemara raises a contradiction from a Braita discussing eating near a dead body, which implies the exemption applies even when the mourner...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. The class begins with a Mishnah from Masechet Sukkah discussing the customs of doubling Hallel, concluding that both practices are valid based on local minhag, while the opening beracha for Hallel is obligatory as a halacha. The Gemara then explores the principle of ober l'asiyatan, that blessings must precede the performanc...

Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul. In this class, Rabbi Ike Hanon examines Pirkei Avot 2:9, where Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai asks his five students to identify the best and worst paths a person can follow. Each student offers a different answer centered on interpersonal character traits — a good eye, a good friend, a good neighbor, and a good heart — except for R...