Study Torah Online: Live and Interactive Torah Learning with Rabbi Eliyahu Shear
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What are afflictions of love? We take off from where we left in our last lesson. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (the author of the holy Zohar) teaches us that there are three gifts that God gives us – but that they all come with hardships. We learn about Rabbi Yochanan and as we are to find out later – he too encountered some great trials in his own life.
Continue reading “Lessons in Talmud – Tractate Berachot – Lesson 11 Daf 5a / 5b (using Koren Talmud Bavli)”
The following story has recently come to light. I don’t think many have heard it before and if everything about this story is true, it is most likely that only the very closest of family ever knew it having kept it a secret all these years. If indeed the story shared in the video below is true, it is certainly an amazing one and one from which we can all learn. I am presenting the facts as they are told.
Perhaps two of the greatest lessons we can learn from the story are:
If a Rebbe can manage to get pulled off the path of Judaism – so can anyone. If a Rebbe who has distanced himself from Judaism so completely as to end up on a completely secular path – but can find his way back to a true path, then so too, can anyone.
The Book of Nechemia depicts events that occurred to the Jewish people in the second half of the fifth century BCE. These events are for all intents and purposes the last events (in the Tanach) to depict the Jewish people before their final exile – which they are currently in. It was a time when Ezra, together with Nechemia were bringing the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel to build the Second Temple and hopefully bring a sense of redemption to the Jewish people. Of course, only those who chose to come back actually came back, and of course, that redemption they were hoping for would only happen if the Jewish people returned wholeheartedly to God.
If you own a smartphone, you’ll want to put some Jewish apps onto it. Below, I have listed some apps which I hope you will find useful. Some of these apps will allow you to study Torah on-the-go and having used them myself, I can really say that they are outstanding.
That feeling… when you look around you and consider – the seventh move in just 11 years. A library of one’s personal books purchased over a period of 30 years. Books worth far more than their dollar value. Books – many of which are simply unobtainable. Some out of print. Others – practically collector’s items for those who knew to buy them at the time. They’re all used at some time. That has been most of my life – study and teaching. I can’t imagine giving them up now. I had worked so hard to be able to get them.
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The wisest of all men – King Solomon shares with us a secret about the relationship between the Jewish people and God. He writes the most beautiful words fitting for a relationship between two lovers, in his classic Song of Songs. Here, he includes the ups and downs of any relationship. What keeps the relationship strong, is a unique love. Even during the “downs”, the relationship is sealed by something quite mysterious!
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I took these photos a few years ago and made up a montage of them using my graphic skills. The important areas are in colour with the less important parts in black and white.
This photograph was taken by Shoshanah during one of the main festivals – Pesach or Sukkot (during the intermediate days). Twice a year, Israel offers an incredible opportunity for everybody to come to the Kotel and receive (or give if they are Kohanim) the blessing from the Kohanim.
This short video includes the short story about the Chafetz Chaim’s wishes to come to the Land of Israel. Those who live here, should well value this blessing. For more information about the Chafetz Chaim, see the entry on the Wikipedia – Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaKohein Kagan (1839-1933).
