On Mondays, March 17, 24, 31, and April 7, from 1:00-2:00 pm EST, Rabbi Hayyim Angel will teach a four-part mini-course on How to Analyze Torah Narrative.
The classes will be held over Zoom, and are run by Lamdeinu Teaneck.
Registration is required.
Please go to www.lamdeinu.org to register.
The Hebrew word for the Temple sacrifice is “korban.” The root letters of the word mean “drawing near.” Sacrifices—and prayer—are intended to draw us into a closer, more intense relationship with the Almighty. They are not ends in themselves but are entryways to a more spiritual life.
Communication is not only about issuing a message; it requires that the message be received. Each context has its own dynamics. Each parent/leader/rabbi etc. must have the sensitivity to choose the right means of communication for each situation.
We must face this problem squarely and candidly: The narrowing of horizons is a reality within contemporary Orthodoxy. The fear to dissent from the "acceptable" positions is palpable. But if individuals are not allowed to think independently, if they may not ask questions and raise alternatives, then we as a community suffer a loss of vitality and dynamism.
Great figures such as Rabbis Benzion Uziel, Ḥaim David Halevy, Ovadiah Yosef, and Yosef Mesas have received much attention and analysis by scholars. However, many other great scholars and halakhic decisors remain almost unknown to persons who are not in-depth devotees of the topic. In this article, I seek to briefly introduce the reader to seven such rabbis.
There are so many really nice, good, religiously observant people, who keep kosher and Shabbat and all the mitzvoth, whose kids go to yeshiva, who learn Torah and dress modestly. All this is crucial—it's who we are and what we need to do and it's keeping Judaism alive. Yet, sometimes, it seems like people lose the center and purpose of it all; a truly intimate, authentic, personal relationship with themselves and Hashem.
Beginning Monday, February 17, Rabbi Hayyim Angel will teach an eight-part series on the interface between traditional and academic methods of Tanakh study. Topics covered include authorship of the Torah, archaeology, contradictions and redundancies in the Torah, literary methods in the study of Tanakh, and traditional commentary in an age of Humanism.
The series is hosted by the Beit Midrash of Teaneck.
Each of us can be a philanthropist on our own financial level if we give what we can without even being asked. Or if we are asked, we can respond early and enthusiastically. Together we can build a better, stronger community.
Holiness is linked to the way we live our daily lives; it isn’t an ethereal concept restricted to prayer, meditation and study. "Kiddush Hashem" is a daily responsibility and privilege.
You do things that shouldn’t be able to be done. You endure things that shouldn’t be put up with. That is part of the existential job description of what it means to be a Jew. And I cannot imagine a greater privilege than the opportunity to be part of it all.