It’s the last Tuesday in the Jewish month of Elul; time for a TorahTutors Teruah* Tidbit! (*teruah = shofar sound that starts with a “t”) A young student and her tutor began reviewing laws and customs of Rosh Hashanah by discussing the symbolic foods they each eat on Rosh Hashana, such as apple and honey…
Recently, a new adult student joined TorahTutors with the goal of exploring the weekly parsha in more depth. He prefaced his first learning session last week by sending his new tutor two questions he was struggling with after reading that week’s parsha (Ki Tavo) on his own. His questions, paraphrased, were: (Deut. 26:10) “A land…
A young TorahTutors student was interested in connecting more deeply with Jewish prayer, and asked her tutor if they could explore the meaning of Shema. After clearing the topic with the girl’s parents, the tutor guided her to read through each of the three Torah passages recited as part of Kriyat Shema and to find…
The Talmud (Bava Batra 91a) records a view that Ivtzan, a lesser-known leader from the Book of Judges (12:8), is actually Boaz, of Book of Ruth fame. One TorahTutors session included discussion of how different commentaries relate to this tradition on different levels. Ralbag, for instance, suggests simply that the tradition is rooted in the…
A TorahTutors student learning Parshat Shoftim explored the conflicting views of Rambam and Ramban regarding the prohibition of various forms of sorcery and fortunetelling. As a fan of Rick Riordan who had recently read a series of his that emphasized the importance of oracles, she related particularly to Ramban’s portrayal of understandable human interest in…
Rambam stresses in the fifth chapter of Shemoneh Perakim that one should always be focused on the goal of contemplating God to the best of human ability, directing all of one’s pursuits towards that goal. On one hand, this single-mindedness might imply a sparse, minimalist existence, cutting out any type of physical enjoyment. On the…
Finding deeper meaning in calendrical and geographic technicalities: The Mishna in Taanit (1:3) records two opinions about the appropriate date on which to begin praying for rain in Israel: The first view is that prayers should begin on the 3rd of Marcheshvan, the official start of the rainy season; Rabban Gamliel, however, says to wait…
As one of few observant Jews in her school, a young TorahTutors student felt overwhelmed trying to explain her family’s dietary restrictions and asked to learn about kashrut. Her online tutor opened the topic with a brainstorming session, using WebEx’s file sharing and annotation tools to encourage independent thought and prepare to explore texts together.…
A musically inclined TorahTutors student was interested in King David, particularly his early years playing music for his predecessor, Saul. She and her tutor explored a variety of perspectives on the nature of the melancholy that came over Saul and how David’s music helped. Was it simply the distraction of pleasant music that took Saul’s…
The Mishna in Berachot 8:2 reports that when planning to drink wine before a meal, Beit Shamai believes one should first wash and then drink the wine, while according to Beit Hillel, we first drink the cup of wine and then wash hands for the meal. A small group of TorahTutors students got busy analyzing…