A pre-teen TorahTutors student had a bit of a déjà vu moment when learning the story of Creation. After working through the six days, she and her tutor reached the seventh day and discussed the idea of active rest. The student read the pesukim about Shabbat slowly, while translating – and knew they sounded familiar,…
A young TorahTutors student learning the weekly Torah portion saw the tribe of Levi demonstrate certain character traits in multiple contexts. In last week’s parsha (Vayechi), Yaakov cursed Levi’s anger and indicated that the tribe would be dispersed (Bereishit 49:7) – seemingly as punishment for Levi’s vengeance. At the same time, some see a positive…
An adult TorahTutors student wanted to learn about hair-covering for women, straight from the sources, and to develop her textual skills. One of the primary sources is the Gemara’s discussion of whether the requirement is on the level of Torah obligation or of Dat Yehudit – a category of established practices that women have accepted…
A TorahTutors session included study of a midrash (Sifra Kedoshim 9:12) that addresses the (or a) fundamental nature and perhaps even purpose of religious commandments, as well as more individual questions of what makes for true piety: “Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: How do we know a person should not say ‘I do not want…