Torah Cafe

One of the central roles of the High Holidays Service is the Chazzan, the cantor who leads the prayers singing melodies and tunes to the words of the prayers. Chazzanim (cantors) have been part of Jewish liturgy from the earliest times and many of the tunes have been used for hundreds of years or longer.

A fascinating discussion about Chazanim and Chazzanut - Cantors and the history of Cantorial music.

It is a fundamental Jewish belief that G-d created us. But why? Why did he create the universe? What did he expect to get out of creating us?

One of the central parts of Jewish services in the synagogue is when the Torah scroll is taken out of the ark, placed on the Bima. Various men are called up to say blessings and then the Torah is read.

Learn all about the Torah reading in the synagogue. 

People often think of G-d in the Torah as being angry, vengeful and punishing. The Torah tells us of the plagues brought against the Egyptians and others who disobeyed him. The Torah warns a number of times of punishments that we will get for not listening to G-d's instructions. 

Is G-d vengeful and angry? How does that fit with the description of a loving and caring G-d?

The question of a missing spouse, called Agunah, has been one of the most troubling scenarios that Jewish scholars grappled with throughout Jewish history, becoming the most extensive and complex field of Jewish law. 

A fascinating discussion about the Agunah problem and its evolution to a new Agunah problem that we face today.

One of the more intriguing mitzvahs in the Torah is the ceremony of the eglah arufah (decapitated calf), performed in ancient Israel when a murdered stranger was found out in the field and the killer was unknown.

A fascinating discussion about the Eglah Arufa ceremony, why and how it was performed and how it impacts us today!

The Torah says that for fish to be Kosher they have to have fins and scales but what exactly are the scales that make a fish Kosher? Do fish that drop their scales or have a handful of scales count as kosher? What about fillet where the skin has been removed? How can we know if the fillet is kosher? 

A fascinating discussion about what makes fish kosher and how we can identify kosher fish.

Ever wonder if we really exist or perhaps we are just figments of someone else's imagination?

Chassidus (Jewish mysticism) teaches that indeed we are simply figments of G-d's imagination.

Discover how we know we are figments of G-d's imagination and what that means for us.  

One of the central parts of Judaism is the Holy Temple in Jerusalem where our ancestors brought sacrifices and served G-d fulfilling many of the commandments. Our second Temple was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, we have prayed, hoped and waited for the building of a Third Temple. We firmly believe the Third Temple will be built in the same spot in Jerusalem in the future and we will once again serve G-d there.

A fascinating discussion about the Third Temple, what it will look like, when and how it will be built and why we are certain that it will happen. 

One of the most important prophets of the Jewish people was Yeshayahu ben Amotz - Isaiah who served as the spiritual leader of our people during the Assyrian invasions of Israel and some of the most traumatic times our people experienced. His prophecies were immortalized in the book that bears his name.