When You Struggle to Believe in God, Believe in People
Rabbi Hillel famously taught, “What is hateful to you, do not do to others. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study.” So what does it really mean?
Torah Study
Torah Cannot be Torah Without Us
Torah cannot be Torah without us; it needs us. Therefore, we must read it, we must study it, we must discuss it and debate it. We must carry it. We must dance among its verses, discovering ourselves in its chapters.
On Running Away, Returning, and Teaching the Story of Jonah
We hear the story of Jonah on Yom Kippur, as an example of the power of repentance and redemption. But my favorite thing about this story is how perfectly messy it is to heed God's call.
Unetaneh Tokef in the Time of a Pandemic
The Unetaneh Tokef has a long list of ways that people die, often violently, a way of shocking us into realizing our mortality. The original prayer, however, can be traumatizing. This version seeks a more empathetic approach to mortality.
Navigating COVID: Our Ancestors Pointed the Way
Rabbi Max Chaiken, our Ten Minutes of Torah commentator for the Book of Deuteronomy, is the associate rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Los Angeles, CA. We talk to him about his Jewish journey and the ideas behind his commentaries.