Do you ever feel restricted by all of the commandments that exist in Judaism? Is the primary focus of Judaism supposed to be purely observance of the commandments or is that just a piece that fits into a higher calling? Join me as we dive deep and reframe what the role of Mitzvahs is in…

Did you know that there are 6 events that Jews are supposed to remember daily? Number 2 on the list, is remembering our ancestors standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. Why isn’t the focus to remember receiving the Torah? Why is it to remember the standing at the Mountain? What was actually the most…

Does the Torah allow us to restrict individual rights for the betterment of society? Where do we draw the line between freedom and safety? With three kids home in quarantine, having classmates who tested positive for Covid-19, I figured it’s a good time to discuss the Torah’s perspective on quarantine. The Torah study that results…

Tu Bi’Shevat is the Jewish holiday celebrating the New Years for the trees. Why do we celebrate trees by eating fruit? Why don’t we take branches or flowers into our homes? Why does the Torah call children “fruit of the womb”? Why does Kabbalah call our world the “fruit of the spiritual world”? What does…

Did you ever wonder why of all the prayer services, we only cover our eyes during the Shema? And only for the first sentence of the Shema? Why is that? Join Rabbi Moshe on this deep dive into the meaning of the Shema, why it’s so important and why we cover our eyes for it!…

If you were giving the Jewish nation the Torah, what would be the first national mitzvah (commandment) you would give? In this week’s Torah portion, G-d gives the Jewish nation the commandment of sanctifying the new moon each month! Seems like a strange choice. Join us as we dive deeper into the understanding of Kiddush…

Did you ever notice in the Torah that there are so many different names of G-d? In the first two verses of this week’s Torah portion, the Torah uses THREE different names of G-d. What’s going on here? Why does G-d have so many names and why are each of them used specifically here? Join…

There are three basic functions that the Mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) has in the modern world: 1) for purifies the ritually impure male or female 2) for Jewish conversion and 3) for immersing metal vessels used in contact with food prior to using them? The first two seem along the same lines but what’s the…

We discuss in this episode the source of prayer in the Torah and the evolution into and meaning of the three daily prayers: shachris (morning prayer), mincha (afternoon prayer) and maariv (evening prayer). Thank you to Rabbi Shaya Fox for sponsoring this episode in honor of the launch of the thinking Jew podcast and in…

Did you ever wonder why so much of our national history has been spent in exile? We’ve been in exile for more years than we’ve lived on our land! Why did the Jews need to go into the Egyptian exile before receiving the Torah? What about our individual lives? Do we have personal exiles? Join…