A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Nature and Torah

With summer approaching (at least, in the northern hemisphere, where most of our students and tutors are located), we’re thinking about Rambam’s advice as to how one might achieve fulfillment of the mitzvah to love God: by contemplating “His commandments and sayings and actions, until we comprehend and take full pleasure in comprehending…” (Sefer Hamitzvot,…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Kindness in the Book of Ruth

It’s Tuesday and almost Shavuot, which means it’s a great time for a #TuesdayTorahTutorsTidbit about Megillat Rut.Real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. A preteen TorahTutors student has been delving into Megillat Rut with her tutor.They noticed many examples of chesed (kindness), a central theme in the Megillah that is one of the reasons offered for…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Different Types of Motherhood (and More)

The approach of Mother’s Day in the US reminds us of some different perspectives on motherhood that a TorahTutors student encountered in her studies of Biblical women. Devorah, the prophetess and judge, is not known as a biological mother at all; her marital status is unclear, and tradition preserves no information about any children she…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Eating and Blood (But Not Together!)

We’re back from Pesach with a new Tuesday TorahTutors tidbit! Real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. A TorahTutors student learned three different ways to translate a phrase in Vayikra 19:26 (part of this week’s Torah portion in Israel). Most literally, lo tochlu al hadam translates as “don’t eat on the blood” – a translation that…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Multiple Interpretations

A TorahTutors student working on Hebrew language learned that the word ???? (mimenu) can have different meanings. First, the prefix might mean “from” or it could be comparative, implying “more than” or “less than.” To further complicate matters, the suffix might be singular third person masculine (him/it) or it could be first person plural! For…

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