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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Category: Personal Status & Identity

Family First

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on April 29, 2021

Does the Torah advocate or permit a person to sacrifice obligations to the family if he or she devotes himself or herself to serving God? This question comes up in the context of the giving of the Torah, which we are about to celebrate on Shavuot.…

The Discernment of Outsiders

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on February 4, 2021

Can someone from the outside see better than those on the inside? The word that introduces and is the catalyst for Yitro’s advice to Moshe is va’yar, to see -. “וַיַּרְא חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה – Moshe’s father-in-law saw.” (Exodus 18:14) This seeing is not merely observing.…

Magen-David, Jewish

Who (or What) Defines Us As a People?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 7, 2021

With the opening of the book of Shemot, we transition from Bereshit, the story of the family, to Shemot, the story of the nation. It is a shift in the meaning of “Bnei Yisrael,” from “the children of the man named Yisrael (Yaakov),” to “The Nation of Israel (the Israelites).”…

COVID and Clothing

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 17, 2020

Our clothes are closely connected to our body and our identity. They have the power to disguise who we are, represent who we are, and even shape who we are. Clothing plays an important role in this week’s parsha and in the prior ones as well.…

Isaac digging wells

Are You a Seeker or a Dweller?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 19, 2020

Are you a seeker or a dweller? Scholars of religion have noted that religious people can be categorized as either seekers or dwellers. Seekers are the ones who are looking for G-d, meaning, and truth. They wonder about how religion’s messages and teachings can play out in their lives, and they look to bring a religious ethos into the world.…

prayer

We Permit Ourselves to Pray with Sinners? Inclusion in the Orthodox Community

by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff
Posted on September 15, 2020

A recording of this shiur is not available, but you can find the source sheet through this Sefaria link.…

Aggadah

“Where Baalei Teshuva Stand, the Utterly Righteous Cannot Stand”: An Aggadic Reflection on Perfection and Patience

by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper
Posted on September 15, 2020

Scroll below the video to follow along with the source sheet.  …

Panim el Panim: Moshe and the High Priest on Yom Kippur

by Dr. Yael Ziegler
Posted on September 11, 2020

To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…

Blessing of Ephraim

Surely, Ephraim is My Precious Child: Haftarah and History (Jeremiah 31)

by Dr. Shalom Holtz
Posted on September 11, 2020

To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…

The Creation of the World and the Status of the Human Being (Hebrew)

by Dr. Yonatan Grossman
Posted on July 20, 2020

Protecting the Widow: Legal Institutions in Megillat Ruth

by Dr. Yael Landman Wermuth
Posted on July 20, 2020

When Successful Theodicies Fail: The Holocaust and the Problem of Gratuitous Suffering

by Dr. Daniel Rynhold
Posted on April 17, 2019