Torah Cafe

One of the biggest cultural debates in the past century has been over abortion. Does allowing abortions protect a women's right to choose or does prohibiting abortions protect the fetus's right to live? What about abortion in cases of rape, teen mother, when the child poses a health threat to the mother or when the child is handicapped? What does the Torah say about abortions and the arguments on...

Vaccines have been administered across the world for decades as a way of building immunity to viral infections. While vaccines have limited the spread of disease and saved millions of lives, in recent years certain groups have organized against vaccines. Does Jewish law and values encourage vaccines? Should we require everyone to get vaccinated? What should we do when people refuse...

Animal Sacrifices were a central part of Jewish practice when our Temple stood in Jerusalem. Though we no longer practice sacrifice since we have no Temple, we still study the rules of the sacrifices and pray for the temple to be rebuilt and for sacrifice to be restored. Learn about the different types of sacrifices, the process of offering a sacrifice and the logistics of how large amounts of sac...

The greatest miracle in our history and the greatest event in the Exodus from Egypt was the splitting of the Red Sea when the Children of Israel crossed the Sea while the Egyptians who followed them into the sea drowned. We celebrate the great miracle of the splitting of the sea on the holiday of the 7th day of Passover, the anniversary of the great event.  Learn about the great mir...

While we never imagined that we would experience the total shutdown of society due to a virus, our ancestors have dealt with plagues of different forms repeatedly throughout our more than 3,000 years of history. Learn how our ancestors responded to plague and how we can learn from them to alleviate our own challenges in dealing with the Novel Cornavirus today!

In ancient Hebrew, letters and numbers are interchangeable. Words can be written in number format and numbers are written with letters. Every word has a number value and certain numbers have unique meaning. The system of Hebrew numerology is called Gematria. Learn about Gematria and other Jewish codes.

Esther was the unlikely heroine of the Purim story. She used her forced marriage to the Persian Emperor and position as queen Persia to save her people from annihilation. Listen to the full story of Esther, her background, ascendance as queen, her role in the Purim story and her impact on Jews in the Persian Empire.

One of the unique rituals practiced in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was the twice daily offering of incense. The incense had a unique recipe that was used only in the Temple and was the most sought after ritual in the Temple given the great power and blessings ascribed to it. . Learn all about the Ketoret (incense) in the Holy Temple, how it was made, the blessings is contains and how we can invok...

Techelet was a blue dye made from a creature called Chilazon that the Torah commands us to use in making Tzitzit strings worn on four cornered garments such as a Tallit. It was also used in the temple for the priestly garments. More than 1,500 years ago we lost the techelet and therefore no longer dye out tzitzit blue. Can the Techelet and the Chilazon it comes from be found today using Torah sour...

Many ancient societies worried about the evil eye that could somehow harm them or their families? In Jewish Ashkenazi culture, we used terms like keinahora to ward off the 'evil eye'. Do Jews believe in the evil eye? If yes, what exactly is it? What are its powers? And how do we avoid the harm coming from the evil eye?

G-d is often referred to in scripture and our prayers in masculine form or as our Father. But is G-d really masculine? Is G-d not beyond gender? Could G-d be female? Both genders? A fascinating discussion about G-d and gender.

Over the years Jews have developed many unique Jewish foods. The Jewish diaspora has been spread out across many different lands. Some foods are unique to specific communities while others are universal used by all Jewish communities. Many foods developed from local cuisine where Jews lived while others were made for holidays or as part of specific Jewish laws. A fascinating discussion about Jewis...

Today, many are concerned with the ethical treatment of animals as pets, in commercial farming, in medical testing and other fields. What rights do animals have in Judaism? How should we be treating animals? Is killing for food okay? Killing for sport? Tests that cause animals pain? Are all animals the same?

In 2003, the human genome project decoded the entire human DNA sequence. As a result, we can now easily read and match any person's DNA quickly and easily. Today, many services provide DNA testing to match people to unknown relatives and match them to ancestral groupings. Many people discovered through DNA testing that they had Jewish ancestry or that they were closely related to other J...

One of the oldest - and for a long time the largest - Jewish communities in the world is the Jewish community of Babylon in modern day Iraq. Jews lived in Babylon continuously for over 2.500 including a long period where they had a Jewish autonomous state led by their own Jewish King. Babylon was also a center of Jewish scholarship most notable for the Babylonian Talmud, the central work of J...

Gambling, betting and lotteries are all old forms of entertainments that have been around for thousands of years. Some societies, frowned on financial risk games while other's encouraged it. What does Judaism say about gambling? Is it permitted? If yes, under what circumstances? A fascinating discussion about the Jewish view on gambling and other games of financial risk.

Chanukah is a festival of light. Every night we light one more candle in the Menorah to commemorate that miracle of light that occurred over 2,000 years ago. What is the meaning of light? Why do we light candles for eight days adding a candle each night? Jewish mysticism tells us that the Chanukah lights are very powerful and give us the ability to light up the darkness in our own lives.

What is the meaning of dreams? What causes them? Are they just our imagination gone wild or it there a deeper meaning to dreams? Can dreams guide us or help us know what will happen to us? Learn what Kabbalah, our Jewish mystical teachings say regarding dreams.

Perhaps the most significant and memorialized of our Matriarchs is Jacob's favorite wife Rachel known in Yiddish as Mama Rochel . After waiting for many years to have children, Rachel died during the childbirth of her second son Benjamin. She was the only Matriarch not buried in Hebrew, instead her tomb is in Bethlehem. Rachel's unique role as the mother of our people, has made a tradition for Jew...

Many of our early ancestors including Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Rachel suffered with infertility. Today, we have modern medical solutions including in vitro fertilization that allows for couples that would otherwise be infertile to have children. What is the Jewish perspective on infertility? Why does G-d give some people children and not others? Should those who are infert...

Pidyon Haben (lit. Redemption of the Son) is a unique ceremony performed on first born sons when they are 30 days old. The ceremony is not performed for all firstborn sons so it is not all that common. At the Pidyon Haben, the son is given to a Kohen and the father then exchanges the son for 5 silver shekels. Learn more about how this unusual ceremony is performed and its special significance.

Central to Shabbat observance are the Kiddush and Havdallah ceremonies performed at the beginning and end of Shabbat with a cup of wine. What do the ceremonies entail? Why are they performed? What is the deeper meaning behind them? A fascinating discussion about Kiddush and Havdallah.

What do Jews believe? While Judaism is very broad, the basic beliefs are organized by Maimonides into 13 principles that are considered the basics of Jewish belief. A conversation about the 13 principles that every Jew must know.

Halacha is the Hebrew term for Jewish law. Judaism has details laws and rules covering every part of our lives including Jewish rituals as well as how we treat others. Who decides Halacha? Who makes up the rules? What happens when rabbis can't agree on what a rule should be? What happens when rules get outdated and need to be changed? A fascinating discussion about Halacha and how it is decided.

Shabbat candles are lit by Jewish women and girls (or men), 18 minutes before sunset on Friday afternoon and on the eve of Jewish holidays. Why do women light Shabbat candles? What are their significance? How is it done? Learn about Shabbat candles and the blessings they bring to our home and to our life.