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 […]
Tag Archives: God
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 […]
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 […]
Devarim – Don’t Wanna Hear It — By Ben
With this week’s parsha, we begin reading the final book of the Torah, Devarim (aka Deuteronomy). This book is different from the other books in that it’s virtually one long speech […]
The Dinner Party — By Ben
Recently I was at a friend’s house for Shabbos dinner. And even though it was a Shabbos dinner, the crowd wasn’t particularly observant. Some guests drove there. One person checked their phone. And […]
Pinchas: No Country for Old Zealots — By Ben
The Torah has no shortage of troubling passages. But few are as disturbing as the actions of Pinchas and the Torah’s opinion about them. If you’re unfamiliar with it I’ll give […]
Korach: A Good Reason to Argue – By Ben
In this week’s parsha, once again Moses is confronted by more dissatisfied Jews. It’s becoming such a common theme, I think we should change the name of the book of […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 