Six days a week we work, eat, sleep, exercise and go about our daily lives. When Shabbat arrives, we pause to reconnect with the Creator. On Friday afternoon as the sun sets and Shabbat begins, we have a special mystical prayer called Kabbalat Shabbat, which includes Psalms, poems and study to greet the Shabbat Queen.

What is the meaning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers? When did they start? And why do we refer to Shabbat as a queen?

A fascinating discussion about Kabbalat Shabbat, the mystical service greeting the Shabbat!

Before the Holy Temple was built in Jerusalem, there was a Jewish Temple stood at Shilo for 369 years. The Temple at Shilo served Israel at the very beginning of our history in a period know as The Judges (Shoftim), a period we know little about.

A fascinating discussion of what we know about the ancient Temple in Shilo.

Dogs are mentioned twice in the torah, both times positively. However, they are not Kosher animals and there are also negative references to dogs in Jewish sources. Historically, Jews rarely owned dogs; however, some Jews throughout history did have dogs (mostly for protection) and today, many Jews have dogs as pets. 

What does the Torah and Jewish teachings say about dogs? Should Jews have dogs as pets? Do we view them positively or negatively?

A fascinating discussion about Judaism's perspective on dogs!

Kabbalah teaches that G-d uses various expressions to impact creation. These expressions sometimes come as Names of G-d. One of G-d's lesser known names, is a 72 word name that was invoked at the Splitting of the Sea and can be found alluded to in the Torah's description of the event.

A fascinating discussion about the secrets of the  72-word name of G-d.

Here is a link to the handout https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IS1UVj6F2tlVHgl2eEvmpDrH3WAuC8na/view?usp=sharing

When adults convert to Judaism, they must convert on their own volition with a commitment to fulfill all of the Torah's commandments that are applicable to them. However, children do not have the agency to choose to convert on their own nor can they be held to a commitment that they make. How then can we convert children to Judaism?

A fascinating discussion about how children convert to Judaism. 

We hear a lot about antisemitism, the irrational, obsessive hatred of Jews. Yet is an important flipside to antisemitism - philosemitism, the irrational, obsessive love for Jews.
We all know philosemitism - they are all around us and are a huge part of our country. There have been philosemites as long as there have been antisemites. Still, for some reason, philosemitism doesn't get the same acknowledgement or attention as antisemitism.
A fascinating discussion about philosemitism, which will also give us a much better understanding of antisemitism, its causes and steps we can take to reduce antisemitism and increase philosemitism.

One of the most cryptic stories in the Torah is when he is attacked by an angel on the way to Egypt to confront Pharaoh. Moses' wife Tziporah circumcised her son and the angel let go.

A fascinating dive into the story of the angel attacking Moses. 

The most important Jewish find in recent history was the Cairo Geniza, a massive trove of hundreds of thousands of ancient documents and books that entirely rewrote medieval Jewish and Middle Eastern history. 

A fascinating discussion about the exciting find and some of the amazing things we learned from it. 

On Jewish festivals, we have a Mitzvah to recite 6 chapters of Psalms expressing our thanks to G-d for the miracles He has performed for us. Reciting these Chapters is called Hallel - praise. 

A Chanukah related discussion about the Mitzvah of reciting Hallel.  

Bet Shamai and Bet Hillel were two major Jewish schools in Jerusalem that lasted about 100 years from about 10 BCE to 70 CE. The schools were founded by two great Jewish leaders Hillel and Shamai. There were hundreds of debates of Jewish law between the two prominent schools. 

A fascinating discussion about Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel and their important contributions to Judaism and Jewish History.