A small group of pre-teen TorahTutors students studying the book of Yehoshua noticed a lot of references to Moshe throughout the book. For instance, chapters 20-21 describe the designation of cities of refuge and Levite cities in fulfillment of the original command to Moshe. At the conclusion of chapter 21, the Navi also emphasizes that…
Rabbi Chaim Brovender founded WebYeshiva under the direction of Rabbi Jeffrey Saks 13 years ago, with TorahTutors following as an affiliate site soon after, so it might not be “new.” But as this new article in the Jerusalem Post magazine notes, there is something unique about it, as well as newly intensified relevance: There are hundreds of places…
One of our students is a social worker who spends lunch breaks with her tutor to sharpen her Gemara skills. They learned in a mishnah on Pesachim 99b: “They should not give a poor person fewer than four cups of wine, even if he takes from the public fund.” The student asked, at whom is…
During one recent TorahTutors session, discussion about public perception brought up a particular detail of the laws of Chanukah. The Gemara (Shabbat 23a) suggests that someone who lives in a courtyard [or house] with entrances (or windows) facing two different directions must light Chanukah candle[s] in both. Why? “Because of suspicion” – because if one…
Did you ever see a six foot man eating chicken? Is the question about a 6-foot man who eats chicken, or is there perhaps a giant chicken out there eating humans? Exploring this and other examples of syntactic ambiguities helped a TorahTutors student understand two different ways to read Bereishit 37:18, “And they…
In the seventh chapter of his introduction to Pirkei Avot, Rambam explains that a person’s negative character traits can create obstacles to prophetic perception of God, and describes some of the essential qualities of a prophet: wisdom, strength of character, satisfaction with one’s lot, etc. However, “It is not of the conditions of the prophet…