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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Torah and Mesorah

Nation As Family in the Torah

by Rabbi Avi Weiss
Posted on September 21, 2022

a page from a work of lurianic kabbalah

The Study of Kabbalah

The well-known custom of staying up all night on Shavuot to study Torah originated as a kabbalistic practice with roots in the Zohar. Every Shavuot, the Zohar explains, God marries the Jewish people once again, and the study of Torah beautifies the shechina (divine presence) before the marriage ceremony is to commence.…

painting featuring a giraffe, tiger, and elephant with trees and blue sky in the background. cheerful painting. angel hovers over the giraffe at the back of the line of the three animals.

What Will You Create?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 30, 2021

The Torah opens with God creating the world during the Six Days of Creation. Then follows Shabbat: va’yakhulu haShamayim, “And the Heavens and Earth, and all their hosts were completed.” Every Friday night, we open kiddush by reciting this verse and the verses that follow.…

young boy in a white t-shirt blowing a shofar with a black background

Atonement and Sacrifice

In the days of the Beit HaMikdash, one achieved atonement through two key rituals: vidui (confession) and the offering of korbanot (sacrifices). Although each one could be viewed as a separate act, both pieces were fundamentally brought together by the kohen gadol, or high priest, on Yom Kippur. …

young boy in a white t-shirt blowing a shofar with a black background

Atonement and Sacrifice

In the days of the Beit HaMikdash, one achieved atonement through two key rituals: vidui (confession) and the offering of korbanot (sacrifices). Although each one could be viewed as a separate act, both pieces were fundamentally brought together by the kohen gadol, or high priest, on Yom Kippur. …

If the Medium Is the Message, What’s the Message?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on February 11, 2021

When the Children of Israel stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they famously declared “נַעֲשֶׂ֥ה וְנִשְׁמָֽע – na’aseh ve’nishma – We will do and we will listen.” (Exodus 24:7). This phrase appears at the end of parshat Mishpatim, after all the laws that followed the Ten Commandments.…

Parashat Ha-Teshuva: Deuteronomy Chapter 30 and Its Location in the Book

by Rabbi David Bigman
Posted on September 15, 2020

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.…

On Feminine Depictions of God in Tanakh

by Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky
Posted on July 20, 2020

Morality of the Torah and Contemporary Morality

by jlebwohl
Posted on July 20, 2020

Will the Real Shabbat Please Stand Up: The Sabbath in the Two Versions of the Aseret Hadibrot

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 19, 2020