Men Of Torah

We open with an introduction to Mussar, Ethics or Character Building with Chapter 1 of Way of the Upright, Messilat Yesharim.

What is the path to holiness? The Sages say the mouth of the Upright will laud HaShem, the words of the Righteous will bless Him, the tongue of the Pious will exalt Him and that HaShem is sanctified among the Holy Ones. How do we climb this ladder?

Repentance, Charity and Prayer are really not the same as the Hebrew equivalents. Taylor helps us examine these attributes from a Hebraic perspective.

We pick up the narrative in Luke 14. What do we learn from the Master at the dinner table? What about healing on the Sabbath? Where should we sit? Are we too busy for our faith?

Several hard sayings of Yeshua are reviewed and prioritized in order that we may learn to explain them to others.

A quick review and recommendation of Rabbi Shalom Arush's classic work, The Garden of Emunah, which leads to a discussion of resurrection vs. reincarnation and rebuffs from Christian teachers.

The final melachah is discussed, leading us to HOW we guard Shabbat. The division of Jew and Gentile became a halachic issue in Apostolic times, but WHO is the authority to make halachah?

In Samuel's first presentation to the Tzadik Class, he teaches remotely, bringing us up to speed on some very specific issues regarding grains and liquids.

Scott tag-teamed with his sons to review these melachot with the class.

In Isaac's first presentation to the Tzadik Class, he reviews skinning, reaping and tanning.

In Ryan's first (I think) time up to lead the class, he reviewed the concerns with electricity. Is it fire? Did we finish the work? The men got pretty worked up about timers, pilot lights, gas logs, cheating and of course, dimmer switches!

Greg takes us through the definitions regarding domains and transferring, then brings it home with an excellent review and practical examples. I learned a lot!

Jonathan gave us an excellent understanding of how to select (good from bad, not bad from good) along with the concept of finishing a work.

A small mixup allowed us to get two men's perspectives to the weaving, sewing and spinning melachot. No looms on Shabbat!

Judaism used to proselytize or evangelize a great deal. The Temple courts reflect that there were 8 million Righteous Gentiles worshipping the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the days of the Master. What happened?

When it comes to protecting the weak, caring for widows and orphans, these are the hallmarks of our faith. But where do we draw the line?

Taylor filled in a gap in our 39 Melachot class by discussing the liturgy options each man is implementing in his home on Erev Shabbat. There is unity and diversity with some amazingly wonderful traditions and minhag being established at Bella Torah!

I was invited to speak at a local businessmen's Bible Study. I thought they were all practicing Catholics, but it turned out that two-thirds were former Catholics. This talk presented Judaism, Messianic Judiasm and a full two hour question and answer period.

Johnnie smoothed everything over with this latest iteration of the 39 Melachot.

Brock tied it all up nicely (in a craftsman's knot) to give us the straight skinny on tying our shoes and neckties, untying and then dyeing. The dyeing halachah led to a strong need for a "smoothing" class! He even tied it all together with a rhyming poem at the end. Very nice.