Hi, When the Jewish People were in the dessert they built a portable Temple. In Hebrew?  The Mishkan. Among other things, there was an Ark.  For the tablets of the Ten Commandments. And the Torah gives the dimensions of the Ark. “Two and a half cubits long.  A cubit and a half wide.  And a […]

Hi, I sat down at my computer to work on today’s Torah Minute. And before I got started? I figured I would click on today’s New York Times. To see what’s happening in the world. And something caught my eyes. A carved wooden bust of Tutankhamen. A.k.a. King Tut! It was an article about a […]

Hi, I’m sure you’ve done it. Played Jewish geography! You meet another Jew for the first time? And before you know it, you’re related! Or at least know someone that they know. Sometimes you meet a fellow Jew.  They look familiar. You know you’ve seen them before.  But you just can’t place it. If all […]

Hi, I’m in the Shavuot mode! The holiday that starts Sunday evening and goes through Tuesday. It commemorates the most important event in the history of the world. The giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai! It taught the world that G-d cares about how we live our lives. And that there are absolute rights […]

Hi, The Torah is amazing! Sometimes it seems “so ancient”.  So “old fashioned. We might say, “We can pass over that one.  Those days are over!” But if we have patience? We’ll discover tremendous lessons.  Very relevant lessons. … You can’t really get around it.  The Torah is thousands of years old. It couldn’t talk […]

Hi, Happy Chanukah! What better time could there be to get back to the Torah Minute? After all, Torah is what Chanukah is all about. … We’ve all heard the story. The Greeks tried to destroy Judaism.  And impose Greek culture on the Jews. Torah scrolls were burned.  And Torah study became a capital offense. […]

Hi, Tomorrow night is Yom Kippur. … Jewish tradition teaches that G-d cares about how we live our lives. And we’re held accountable for our actions. But don’t worry. We don’t have a picture of a devil with a pitch fork! … Here’s one way to look at it. Picture that you need to drive […]

Hi, Memorial Day. One of the days that our country has set aside to be special.  To be meaningful. A day to reflect on what we stand for. And to remember those that gave their lives to defend our values. … Memorial Day is less than 200 years old. And I think it’s safe to […]

Hi, …Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled to protect defendants in capital cases. It ruled that they can’t be brought into court with shackles. Because seeing the defendant in shackles makes an impression on the jury. “It almost always… affects the jury’s perception of the character of the defendant”. The court was split.  And some argued […]

Hi, The Book of Exodus continues. And what a change of subject matter! Straight from the Revelation at Mount Sinai and the building of the Altar? To civil law! Like the laws of damages and personal injury. Laws against gossip.  The obligation to return lost objects. Being truthful.  Consideration for the stranger. And even helping […]