When I was studying in Israel after high school, my roommate and I had some interesting late-night conversations. One of our favorite recurring themes was a debate that, as we discovered, showed up long before our gap year – for instance, in the following Talmudic passage: Rabbi Tarfon and the Elders were reclining in the […]
The Three Weeks is upon us and sometimes the laws related to interpersonal relationships are not prioritized properly. All year round, our mindset should always be focused on treating others with the utmost respect. However, the time period of the Three Weeks and now, the nine days, serves as a reminder for us — helping […]
One of the hardest times in the Jewish calendar is the period of the three weeks, culminating in the fast of Tisha B’Av. It’s a time when we do things to actively reduce our joy, as we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. But as we try to connect, it can often be quite […]
As I sit here mourning the loss of the Beis Hamikdash (Holy Temple) that was burned to the ground 2000 years ago, catapulting the Jewish people into a painful exile, where we’ve been beaten and murdered, expelled and tortured in almost every land we’ve ever lived in since then, I am thinking of how we […]
Dear JITC- What prophecies are we supposed to be seeing during the times of Moshiach that we may be seeing right now? Thanks, MM Dear MM- Thanks for your question, though I don’t love it and you’re probably not going to love my answer. The reason I don’t love your question is because it presupposes […]
I had a dream last night about Tisha B’Av. As one does. And in it I got into a theological conversation with a less observant friend of mine. Theological conversations are not uncommon in my dreams. Occupational hazard, I suppose. We were sitting on the floor – one of the customary ways that Jews mourn, […]
