‘Online Learning’ Category

Online Learning

June 12, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Sh’lah L’kha (שלח לך) — Why Is Life So Hard?

Parashat Sh'lah L'kha (שלח לך) -- Why Is Life So Hard? Every person experiences challenges in their daily life. For some those challenges are major and for some they are minor. But no one has experienced life without some aspect of pain, suffering, or difficulty. Why is this? Why can't life be easier? Why does it seem that we have to go through pain to discover life's greatest moments? This week, we will try to answer these questions by unpacking one verse (Numbers 14:17) from this week's Torah portion of Sh'lah L'kha with the help of the hasidic Torah commentary Noam Elimelekh. Join us for this fascinating conversation about the nature of life! Classes from other years: Triennial III (2013/5773) -- One Torah[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

May 8, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Emor 2015/5775 (Triennial II) — Shabbat Appears Everywhere

Parashat Emor 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- Shabbat Appears Everywhere Shabbat (the day of rest) is mentioned countless times in the Torah, including in this week's Torah portion of Emor (Leviticus 23:3). Why does this command appear so many different times? Isn't once enough? Today we will explore a number of places in which the Torah commands the Israelites to observe Shabbat. We will try to glean meaning from each instance using the interpretive principle of "smikhut parshiyot" (סמיכות פרשיות), which teaches us that the meaning of a text can be gleaned by understanding the context in which it is written. Please join us for this interesting class on the meanings of Shabbat!

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class Shabbat
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Online Learning

May 1, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Aharei Mot-K’doshim 2015/5775 (Triennial II) — “For the Life of the Flesh is in the Blood”

Parashat Aharei Mot-K'doshim 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- "For the Life of the Flesh is in the Blood" The Torah teaches us that one of the key purposes to sacrifice animals is to limit capital punishment.  When the blood of an animal is spilled on an altar, it sufficiently replaces the need to spill the blood of a human being (Leviticus 17:11). Why is animal blood a sufficient replacement for human blood? How does this practice relate to the Christian teaching that the spilling of "the blood of Christ" forgives the sins of humankind? Why does blood represent the life force of a living creature's life force? How do the laws of kashrut honor the notion that "the life of the[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

April 12, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Online YIZKOR 2015/5775 (12 pm, Sunday April 12, 2015)

Join Rabbi Saks for an ONLINE opportunity to recite Yizkor for your loved one. If we get 10 LIVE we will recite the Mourner's Kaddish. Feel free to watch at your convenience and insert the name of your loved one at the appropriate moment.

Category : Holidays Online Learning Online Yizkor Passover
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Online Learning

March 20, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Vayikra (ויקרא) — All for One and One for All

Parashat Vayikra 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- All for One and One for All The first verse of this week's triennial Torah portion (Leviticus 3:1) speaks of the "zevah sh'lamim korbano," the offering of the sacrifice of well-being. This sacrifice is the third of six sacrifices described in the early chapters of Leviticus (burnt, grain, well-being, sin, guilt, and thanksgiving). The key Hebrew root embedded in the offering of the sacrifice of well-being is "sh-l-m" meaning peace or wholeness. The rabbis in the Sifra, a 3rd century CE midrash on Leviticus, teaches us that because it contains the root "sh-l-m," the well-being sacrifice contains within it all of the other sacrifices so that TOGETHER they bring peace/wholeness to the world AND that[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

March 6, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Ki Tissa (כי תשא) — Can the Chasm Between God and Humanity be Bridged?

Parashat Ki Tissa 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- Can the Chasm Between God and Humanity Be Bridged? In this week's Torah portion we read the famous story of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32) in which the Israelites rebel against God. But more than just a simple rebellion, perhaps this "sin" indicates that the chasm between the holy (God) and the mundane (humanity) is too great to bridge. This issue is also addressed in the verse that opens the Torah portion prior to the story of the Golden Calf in which Moses receives the Torah from God (Exodus 31:18). Does the Torah reflect God's direct word? Or,[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

March 5, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Online Purim Megillah Reading for 2015/5775

Join Rabbi Saks today at 12:30 pm for an online reading of Megillat Esther! Photo taken from -- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/Megillah1.html

Category : Online Learning Purim
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Online Learning

February 27, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat T’rumah (תרומה) — The Gendered Language of Torah

Parashat T'rumah 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- The Gendered Language of Torah In the second third of this week's Torah portion (Exodus 26:1-30), the term "sister" (achot) is to refer to cloths of Tabernacle's coverings (Exodus 26:3). Interestingly, this same term is used in Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim to refer to their wings (Ezekiel 1:9) which brings to mind a passage in Exodus 25:20 (back in our Torah portion) which uses the term "brother" to refer to the faces of Cherubim. What can we learn from this gendered language? Is it nothing more than an idiosyncrasy of the Hebrew language? Or does it teach us something deeper about the Torah's (and rabbis') view of[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

February 20, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat T’tzaveh (תצוה) — Wearing Sacred Clothes

Parashat T'tzaveh 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- Wearing Sacred Clothes Judaism has many sacred clothes or garments including tallit (prayer), tefillin (boxes and straps for arm and head), and kippah (head covering). Likewise, in this week's second triennial reading of the Torah portion (Exodus 28:1-29:18), Aaron and his sons wear sacred clothes for their roles as priests. What is the purpose of these garments? What purpose do they serve when we wear them? And what's more, what happens when we take them off? Does its "power" wear off? How different are we supposed to feel when wearing these garments versus when we're not wearing them? Join us for this fascinating class on the power of[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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Online Learning

February 13, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Mishpatim (משפטים) — The Difficulty In Telling the Truth

Parashat Mishpatim 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- The Difficulty in Telling the Truth (Exodus 22:4-23:19) Telling the truth is not always easy, but it's an important part of our society. Deals would not be made and promises would not be kept if we are worried the other side is lying to us. In this week's Torah portion (Mishpatim) we have an allusion to the act of telling the truth "before God" (Exodus 22:7) which may be a forebear to the testimonial act of swearing by use of a Bible. Perhaps this is meant to teach us that fear or love of God will cause us to tell the truth. Yet, embedded in the[...]

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class
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