Taste of Torah: Making happiness happen

Written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Co-Director of Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) at UCLA — This Jewish month of Adar is a time of extreme happiness! The miracle of the Purim story, taken place in Adar, and the enormous salvation that occurred is…

Taste of Torah: A flickering ner tamid

One of the most notable pieces of this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Tetzaveh, is the commandment to create within Jewish sanctuaries a ner tamid, “a constantly burning light” (Exodus 27: 20-21). When I embarked on new paths on my Jewish journey, one of…

The Tabernacle and the freedom to serve

The freedom to practice the religion of one’s choosing is of paramount importance to modern-day Americans. It is not a right to be taken for granted, since historically, it was often not afforded to people. However, our modern emphasis on…

Taste of Torah: Slavery and societal development

One of the many beauties of studying Torah is tracing an idea to its origins thousands of years ago and seeing its final effect in our society. This week’s parshah (Torah portion), Mishpatim, opens with the laws of treatment of Hebrew slaves. The…

Taste of Torah: A kingdom of priests or a holy nation?

This week’s Torah portion, Yitro, is eponymous to Moses’s father-in-law and a prominent Midianite priest, Jethro (Yitro). The initial section of the portion describes the great respect Moses shows him. It also conveys an episode where Jethro criticizes Moses for overworking…

Taste of Torah: Singing appreciation

Written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Co-Director of Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) at UCLA   This week’s Shabbat has a second name, Shabbat Shirah (“The Sabbath of Song”). The reason for this name is that in this week’s Torah…

Taste of Torah: A lesson in open-mindedness

Written by Rachel Cohen of Jewish Leadership Network (JLN) and My Aish LA   This week’s Torah portions, Bo and Be’Shalach, open with the final and most devastating plague about to hit Egypt. God says to Moses, “Tell Pharaoh that exactly at midnight,…

The restriction of our movements: leaning towards nondenominational Judaism

I would like to introduce you to The Box. The Box helps define, categorize and organize. It’s comfortable inside The Box. We were raised in The Box. Our families helped build The Box. Whom would we be without The Box?…

Taste of Torah: Spices instead of tar, and faith in details

This week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, begins the narrative of Joseph and his brothers and contains some of the most dramatic episodes in the Torah. Vayeshev opens with rivalry between Joseph and ten of Jacob’s other sons over Jacob’s apparent favoritism of Joseph and…

Taste of Torah: God is in this place

This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vayetze, starts with Jacob camping for the night and resting his head on a stone to sleep. He dreams of a ladder stretching to the heavens, with endless angels ascending and descending the ladder (Genesis 28:10-12).…