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).…
Taste of Torah: positive transformations and Torah
By Elisa Gurevitch, co-director of Chabad at UCLA This week’s parashah, Toldot, includes the famous story of Rivkah (Rebecca), who, after many years of marriage, was finally blessed with twins, Yaakov (Jacob) and Esav (Esau). Our Sages tell us that, while…
Taste of Torah: Learning from our ancestors’ mistakes
This week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah (“The life of Sarah“) ironically begins after she is already dead. It is our job to reflect on her life and learn any lessons that we can from her actions. Interestingly enough, when one…
Taste of Torah: To be one who binds or one who frees
This week’s Torah portion, Vayera, tells the story of two very different Abrahams. In the first part of the portion, we see Abraham argue with G-d regarding the fate of the people of Sodom (Genesis 18:22). Not long after that,…
Taste of Torah: Secure while leaving the homeland
Written by Sharona Kaplan, Co-Director of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at UCLA