Torah Cafe

Abraham's first son was Yishmael, born from his second wife Hagar. However, G-d rejected Yishmael as the future of Abraham's movement. Later Abraham was forced to send Yishmael away and he fell into an unholy life. Today many people (mostly Arabs) claim to be descendants of Yishmael.
What do our Jewish traditions say about Yishmael? What does he represent in Judaism?

The Torah opens the story of Abraham when he is 75 years old and G-d commands him to go to the land of Canaan. What happened for the first 75 years of Abraham's life?
A fascinating tale of the first 75 years of Abraham's life.

We believe that Judaism is not only about Jews. We Jews have a message to share with the world around us. A universal code of morality and values that we should encourage all humans to live by.
A fascinating discussion about the Jewish message to humanity.

Many people are afraid to have more children. They add to a already too large population competing for scarce resources. They increase the pollution and add to the CO2 destroying our planet. They are to expensive to raise and take too much energy. Throughout our culture we are encouraged to have as few children as possible.
The first of our 613 Commandments is not only that we must have children but also to have many. Is that really a good idea? Are we not afraid of the harmful results of irresponsibly having children? 
What about people who cannot or did not have children? Are they missing this commandment? Do they have an alternative?

Each year on Sukkot for over 3,000 years, we have taken an Etrog along with three other plants to shake together on the festival. The Etrog is a very unusual fruit and obtaining a real Etrog each year was a challenge in many Jewish communities across the Jewish diaspora.
A discussion about the extraordinary Etrog and the other plants for Sukkot as well as the history of our people's use of this amazing fruit.