Noach – A World of Difference — By Ben
Parshas Noach is one of the most troubling portions in all of Torah. The idea that God wiped out all humanity, save one family, is terrifying. Ironically, this is the Bible story […]
Author Archives: eltram
Bereishis – Why the Snake was Punished — By Ben
Adam and Eve have just eaten from the Tree. God is wrathful. Judgment! Judgment! Judgment! Man is sentenced to an existence of sweat and toil for his food, Women will […]
Lessons from Yom Kippur
With the craziness of the holidays (aka chagim), very often things on the Jewish schedule come to a halt. Classes are put on hiatus, work is nearly impossible to accomplish, […]
Structure of Prayer – Rosh Hashana — By Ben
A couple of weeks ago, I started going through the nuts and bolts of the Shemoneh Esrei. I mainly focused on the opening (1-3) and closing (17-19) sets of prayers […]
Can You be Commanded to Love God? — By Ben
The month preceding Rosh Hashana is Elul. The rabbis say that the name Elul is an acronym for Ani l’dodi, u’dodi li or I am for my beloved, and my […]
The Structure of Prayer — By Ben
Now that we’re in the month of Elul, Rosh Hashana is just around the corner. This time last year I did a blog post outlining the core of the prayer […]
Shoftim – Kingly Indulgence — By Ben
In an election year, when you come across anything in Torah that speaks about government and rulers, it’s hard not to take special notice. And this week’s Torah portion has […]
Mirror, Mirror: Seeing the Worst in Ourselves in Others. — By Ben
Originally I was going to write about something else entirely this week, but after reading the tremendous guest post by Barbara Heller from yesterday, I decided to piggy back off […]
If God’s all knowing, how could we possibly have Free Will? — By Ben
One of the fundamental tenants of Judaism is the belief that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. That God knows not only everything possible there is to know about this current moment, but that […]
Learning, loss, and love. Happy Birthday Mom — By Ben
It was about a year and a half ago that my mom’s sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My experience with my extended family has always been limited, but my Aunt […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 