Torah Cafe

Kol Nidrei is for many the most important prayer of the year. However the prayer itself was once extremely controversial. Many Jewish scholars and rabbis called for removing the prayer, others made changes to it. A...

We believe that G-d is our Creator and in our prayers often refer to Him as our father. However, on Rosh Hashanah, we mostly refer to G-d as our King. What does it mean that G-d is a King? Is there an advantage to being...

Poetry has always played a central role in Judaism. Jewish poetry began in the Tanach (the Hebrew scriptures), which contain the earliest known poetry. Later in the early Middle Ages, Jewish poets developed extensive...

It is a great Mitzvah to do everything we can to free our fellow Jews who have been captured. Many Jewish communities maintained special funds for freeing captives and hostages. But should we always free captives at any...

Judaism allows for couple to go separate ways once their marriage reached an end. The process of Jewish divorce - Get in Hebrew - is among the most detailed and complex religious ceremonies in Judaism. A fascinating...

From the beginning of time, people have been predicting the end-of-times, when the world as we know it will come to an end. Today, there are countless people who claim to know the signs that we are almost there. Jews...

The Torah forbids us from eating milk and meat together. What about fish and meat, fish and fowl, or even fish and milk? A fascinating discussion about the rules of eating fish with meat or milk in Judaism. Links to...

An important part of the Temple service was the chopping and donating wood to the Temple for the fire on the Altar. This Mitzvah came with great celebrations and many families had designated days for wood donations...

Josephus is our single most important source for the final decades of the Second Temple period. He was a former Jewish commander who surrendered to the Romans and later became a writer in the court of the Flavian...

In our personal lives and our world in general, there is an epic battle between good and evil. Each side is constantly battling to gain the upper hand. Who wins this battle? Our own life experience and observations...

While historically, Jewish communities were organized and structured, the freedoms in the United States have made Jewish communities fractured and fragile. This created an open market for Judaism in the United States...

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the sixth Chabad Rebbe, was one of the most fascinating and impactful Jewish leaders of the early 20th century. The Rebbe began his leadership role as a teenager, spanning the final...

One of the strangest stories in the Torah is when Balaam decided to go and curse Israel but G-d sent obstacles to disuade him from going. One such event was when Balaam hit his donkey and the donkey began to speak back...

One of the most important Jewish events in modern Jewish history, was the split in Hungarian Jewry in 1870. It marked the first time Jewish communities officially split over theological differences, changing how Jews...

One of the central values in Judaism is not speaking bad about others, Lashon Hara in Hebrew. While gossip has become a staple in our society today, our Jewish traditions are strongly opposed to it. A discussion about...