Torah Cafe

By Zalman GordonReligion & Spirituality Judaism

Torah Cafe episodes

May 05, 2024 Is it Kosher to Feel Resentment?
When someone is wronged, it is human nature to feel resentment towards the person who wronged them. Is it okay to feel resentment? Can we do something to express that resentment? Or should we just turn the other cheek?
A fascinating discussion about the Jewish view of resentment.
54 min
April 28, 2024 The Fall of Sennacherib
One of the most amazing events in Jewish history was the miraculous fall of Sennacherib and his massive armies at the gates of Jerusalem. This story is told in detail three times in Tanach (more than any other event) and mentioned countless times as well.
A class about this incredible Passover miracle.
39 min
April 21, 2024 Who Wrote the Haggadah?
The Haggadah, the book that we use for our Passover Seder is one of the oldest and probably the most widely used Jewish book. It has been printed thousands of times with thousands of commentaries.

A fascinating discussion about the Haggadah, it's history and how we got the Haggadah that we use today.
39 min
April 14, 2024 Selling Our Chametz
The Torah prohibits a Jew from owning Chametz on Passover. A common workaround to that prohibition is for Jews to sell their Chametz to a non-Jew before Passover and then purchase it back from them after Passover.
A fascinating discussion about selling our Chametz over Passover!
Sell your Chametz today (by Sunday, April 21 at noon) at jccmb.com/sellchametz
39 min
April 08, 2024 Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Formation
One of the earliest works of Kabbalah is the Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Formation, a very short book that describes the mystical building blocks of creation. The Talmud describes how the book was used by scholars to create a person.
A fascinating discussion about Sefer Yetzirah, its history, its impact and its teachings.
39 min
April 05, 2024 What is the meaning of a Solar Eclipse?
Solar Eclipses are a natural phenomena that fascinated people back in ancient times. With over 3,000 years of history, our people have lived through hundreds of solar eclipses. What do our Jewish traditions teach about a Solar Eclipse?
1 hr 7 min
March 31, 2024 The Ancient Jewish Calendar
Today, we have a set Jewish calendar that has been in use for the past 1700 years. However, for the first 1600 years or so of Judaism, we used a variable calendar that was updated monthly based on sightings of the new moon and calculations made by the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Council of Judaism.
A fascinating class about Kiddush Hachodesh, the system used for the ancient Jewish calendar.
56 min
March 24, 2024 The Jewish Response to Antisemitism
We have recently seen a huge increase in expressions of the world's greatest hatred antisemitism. Why do people hate Jews? Why has it persisted over so much time, through so many places and cultures? What can we as Jews do about it?

A fascinating discussion about the Purim festival and the lessons we can learn from the Purim story to help us respond to antisemitism today.
49 min
March 17, 2024 Why does our world have so many problems?
When we look around us, we see so many things going wrong in our own lives, people around us and the world on a whole. There seems to be endless violence, wars, corruption, disease, crime, natural disasters. G-d's world appears to be unjust and full of problems.
Why did G-d create a world with so many problems? Why didn't he create a more perfect world where everyone got along and did the right thing, where nature was less destructive?
A fascinating Purim related discussion about why G-d made our world imperfect and what we can do about it.
49 min
March 10, 2024 What are Chareidim?
Chareidim is a term often used for a segment of the Jewish community that live in their own communities and forgo some western cultural norms. They are often misunderstood, derided and called offensive names such Ultra-Orthodox.
Who are the Chareidim? What are their communities like? How do they live? And why they are widely misunderstood?
1 hr 8 min