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…
Details
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…
Details
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…
Details
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…
Details
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…
Details
TorahTutors is pleased to congratulate our Director, Sarah Rudolph, on her recent appointment to the editorial committee of Tradition! Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought is published by the Rabbinical Council of America. It was founded in 1958 by Rabbi Normal Lamm and has been led since January 2019 by Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, who…
Details
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, ob”m, once wrote about Thanksgiving: Though you don’t have to be religious to be grateful, there is something about belief in God as creator of the universe, shaper of history and author of the laws of life that directs and facilitates our gratitude. It is hard to feel grateful to a…
Details
A person who finds a lost object takes on responsibility not only to return the item but to make reasonable efforts to keep it in good condition until the owner comes to claim it. For instance, the Mishna (Bava Metzia 2:8) states that books (in those days, scrolls) must be read – or at least…
Details
While TorahTutors learning is generally not school-based, it can involve homework when appropriate – and occasionally, a school may offer credit for TorahTutors sessions as part of a student’s individualized Jewish Studies requirements, which may take the homework up a notch. In one such case, a high school senior submitted an essay developing insight into…
Details
A mother and daughter with little background in Jewish learning wanted to explore Jewish prayer together with their TorahTutors tutor. They began with the question: “If you had never heard of prayer, would it occur to you to do it?” A midrash suggests it did occur to the first human in the world, and that…
Details |