Little Desk in Jerusalem

Daily Jewish Living Part 2

2009-11-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Hi every one this is the audio for the second class in my Daily Jewish Living series, hope you enjoy.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/aihtw1e2mzy/Class 2.mp3

Intro Daily Jewish Living

2009-11-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Just as a warning these students are right out of High School, so I apologize in advance if some of their comments might be inappropriate.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/fietmnatudj/1st class.mp3

Daily Jewish Living Part One

2009-11-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

In my first class I asked all the boys to write down two questions that were bothering them about being Jewish or Jewish practice. These are what they came up with;

1. What is Hashem ?

2. How can you know Hashem exists?

3. Who am I ?

4. Why must there be a Gd?

5. Why do we have to be Jewish?

6. Why is Judaism necessary for a moral life?

7. Why should I care what the Torah says?

8. Why are there so many Mitzvot

9. Why study Gemara ?

10. Why is learning essential to Judaism ,true it helps develop the religion and helps us continue the chain of being a Jew, but why should we do it daily?

11. Why do we have the laws of Shomer nigieh?

12.How does davining help a person?

13.Why do we have to use a siddur when we daven?

14.Why do we need to say the same tiffilios every day? It just becomes routine.

15.Why do we put on Tiffilin ?

16.How come so many irreligious/ non Jewish people are happy fulfilled while so many observant are not?

17.Why women are regarded as intellectually inferior as men and not capable of learning gemara, or not meant to be lawyers or politicians?

18. Where should the line be drawn as to where traditional halacha should be adhered to, in a modern equal egalitarian society, should not halacha interpretations evolve? (women rabbis mixed seating)

19. What is the significance of heavy Musar in Yeshivot

20.Is downloading music/ movies a sin

21.What is Judaism’s view on drugs?

22.Why is Mincha and Marriv so important?

23.Why do people want purpose?

24.What happens to us when we die?

25.How does the Torah help me chose what I want to do every day for the rest of my life?

26.Is science a modern day Avoda Zara?

27.How significant is what we wear on the outside, and how does it affect what is inside?

28.Is evil as much a part of Gd as everything else?

29.Where did the many Jewish Sects come from?

30.Is the torah from Hashem?

Feel free to comment if you have heard a good answer to any of these questions or you would like to add a question to the list. As the class progress I will post some of the answer that we came up with , as well as an audio of the entire class for those that are interested.

2009-11-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Just to fill in those that don't already know, this year has been a pretty busy one for me. Studying for the second part of my Rabbinic ordination (G-d willing I will complete it by January) having finished Rav Manhig before the summer,I am also taking classes online at Penn State. In addition to these two projects I am also a Madrich(dorm counselor) at a Yeshiva in the Old City called Orayta www.orayta.org . Besides the regular responsibilities of a dorm counselor such as curfew, wake up and the like I am also giving a number of classes at the school. Starting tomorrow I will be giving a Jewish History class in the morning from 8 to 845, Sunday- thursday. On tuesday nights from 815 to 930 I give a class in Daily Jewish living.

I will post some of the classes and if there is positive feed back I will try to put them up every week. Also depending on if I have enough time I will try to get the Parsha thoughts up and running again.

Hoping that everyone is doing well, Best wishes from the Holy City

Josh

2009-10-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry that I have not posted for a while life has been very busy. hopefully by the end of the week I should be up and running again.