A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Truth, Lies, and the In-Between

We’re back after a brief hiatus, with another Tuesday TorahTutors tidbit! Real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. A TorahTutors student learned this beautiful passage in the Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9): Chizkiyah said: Peace is great, for regarding [most] mitzvot, it is written “When you see [your enemy’s donkey struggling]…” (Shemot 23:4), “When you chance upon…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About The Gift(s) of the First Fruits

This week’s Torah reading (Parshat Mishpatim) includes the commandment of bikkurim: “The choice first fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of Hashem, your God” (Shemot 23:19). A TorahTutors student read the Sefer Hachinuch’s explanation of the “roots” of this commandment: So that even as we rejoice in our bounty, we will…

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A Tuesday(ish) TorahTutors Tidbit About Trees and Bushes and More

In honor of Tu B’Shevat and, in America, Martin Luther King Junior Day, we’ll make this a pre-Tuesday TorahTutors tidbit: real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. A TorahTutors student learned about the mitzvot of ma’aser: separating portions of produce for Leviim, poor people, and/or simply to eat oneself in Jerusalem. Different types of ma’aser are…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Grammar and Resurrection of the Dead

A time-traveling Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit: Real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. A TorahTutors student studied some the Gemara’s many suggested Scriptural sources for the concept of the resurrection of the dead, and one of the texts cited is in this week’s Torah reading. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 91b quotes a baraita that states: Rabbi Meir…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About Lofty Goals and the Means to Achieve Them

A #TuesdayTorahTutorsTidbit for the beginning of 2022, about goals and what we need to achieve them; real Torah, from real TorahTutors sessions. According to Rambam (in his Introduction to Perek Chelek), the ultimate good to which a human’s soul might aspire transcends this world and consists in full knowledge of, and thereby unity with, God.…

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A Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit About What We Learn from the Tribe of Levi

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…

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