Taste of Torah: A lover’s eyes

This week’s Taste of Torah is written by Micah Hyman, a sophomore at Yeshiva University, studying computer science. Hyman spent two years at Yeshivat Sha’alvim in Nof Ayalon, Israel, studying Torah.  One morning, as Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdetchiv was…

Taste of Torah: Making it count

Written by Sharona Kaplan; Co-Director of Jewish Learning Initiative at UCLA “Teach us to count our days, that we may acquire a heart of wisdom” (Psalms 90:12) is a beautiful prayer acknowledging the art of counting time and the tremendous…

Taste of Torah: Make Passover meaningful

Written by Rabbi David Eliezrie of Chabad of Yorba Linda It’s Passover night, and we are wondering to ourselves, “Haven’t we heard this story already?” We all know the basic narrative. The Jews were enslaved in Egypt. Moses confronts Pharaoh,…

Taste of Torah: “So you think you understand what’s pure and impure?”

As we continue our trek through the book of Leviticus, we are continuously confronted with laws of tumah (purity) and tahara (impurity). These laws, which for some time in history made up the majority of Jewish practice, seem almost completely archaic and meaningless in…

Taste of Torah: Beware of words

By Rabbi Dr. Tal Sessler of Sephardic Temple In Judaism, words are holy and sacred. The opening chapter of the Torah teaches us that the world was created by Divine speech. Words are powerful in Jewish spirituality. So much so,…

Let My People Know: the historical reality of the Exodus

“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21) This aforementioned moral obligation, influenced by the events of Exodus, has arguably had one of the most positive effects on…

Urban Dictionary: Yiddish Edition

Suffering threats of persecution during the First Crusade, many Jews migrated to Eastern Europe beginning in the 10th century. As such, various Jewish communities settled in Germany and other Slavic countries, and the continuous oppression they endured by virtue of their…

Bar and Bat Mitzvahs: Different traditions same rite of passage

– The Bar Mitzvah – The bar mitzvah is an incredibly significant event as it is the first public demonstration of a boy’s new role as a full-fledged member of the community. He can now participate in a minyan and…

The challenge of prosperity: Dustin Hoffman vs. Haman

Written by Rabbi Dovid Gurevich, Co-Director of Chabad House at UCLA Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the founder of the Chassidic movement and known as “the  Baal Shem Tov” (“possessor of a good name”), famously interpreted the Mishnah’s dictum regarding the…

Taste of Torah: More than just a Tabernacle

One of the perks of writing a Taste of Torah article is the oppurtunity to look at the weekly Torah reading and find an element within it that resonates with readers, even today. In this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20),…