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In-Depth Online Torah Learning for Adults

Discover meaning in mitzvot, connect to God, and feel the Torah's relevance in your life.

Fall in love with Torah - for the first time, or all over again - with Aleph Beta’s over 1,000 beautifully produced Torah videos, podcasts, and printable Torah learning guides - all online.

Fall in love with Torah - for the first time, or all over again - with Aleph Beta’s over 1,000 beautifully produced videos, podcasts, and printable guides.

Featured Videos: Parshat Shoftim

  • The Torah's Police Officers

    The Torah's Police Officers

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 11 min video

    Parshat Shoftim introduces us to the system of law enforcement that God envisioned for the Israelites: a police force, called the shotrim. Only...the Torah doesn't really tell us outright what these shotrim are supposed to do. In fact, the only thing we're told about them is in an obscure law about military service: when some people are exempt from service for one reason or another, the shotrim are the ones who send them home.Why is this law the only thing the Torah tells us about the shotrim? And why would this job be assigned to police officers? Believe it or not, the answers just might lie in an older story in the Torah, a story about a nation with a very different kind of law enforcement system: Egypt.Come and see what the Torah's idea of police officers is all about.Watch the course mentioned in the video: Why Do We Celebrate “Law-Day”?We also explore the shotrim's role before battle in: The Bible's Curious Exemptions For Serving In The Military

  • The Origin Of The Accidental Murder Laws In The Bible

    The Origin Of The Accidental Murder Laws In The Bible

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 12 min video

    In Parshat Shoftim, we are introduced to cities of refuge, a safe haven for one who kills accidentally. Interestingly, we've heard many of the same circumstances before in the Torah, but why? In this video, Rabbi Fohrman gives us a context to understand what lies beyond accidental murder, and how to become more sensitive individuals.

  • Is There Spiritual Guidance Within Our Legal System? Part I

    Is There Spiritual Guidance Within Our Legal System? Part I

    Immanuel Shalev - 13 min video

    If the entire book of Deuteronomy is supposed to be Moshe's rousing speech before the nation enters Israel, how can we understand the mundane text of Parshat Shoftim? Instead of inspiration, we hear law after law of seemingly trivial matters – witnesses, legalities, land boundaries. What is this long list of laws doing in the middle of this book, that is supposedly Moshe’s inspirational speech?

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Parsha

  • Shoftim: The Torah's Police Officers

  • Ki Teitzei: Erasing Amalek...Today?

  • Ki Tavo: What Does the Bible Say About True Happiness?

  • Nitzavim: Shirat Ha'azinu: The Song of Moses

  • Vayeilech: The Inspiring Conclusion to the Torah (Part 1)

See more >

Holidays

  • How Do I Get Closer to God?

  • How to Prepare for Rosh Hashanah?

  • Yamim Noraim: Meaning and Significance

  • Rosh Hashanah: Day of Judgment or a Day of Joy?

  • High Holidays: Just How Guilty Should I Feel?

See more >

Understanding Mitzvot

  • Why Does the Mikvah Make Me Pure?

  • Kashrut: What Does God Have Against Cheeseburgers?

  • Did God Really Need to Rest? Shabbat's Role in Judaism

Understanding Tanach Stories

  • The Garden of Eden

  • The Expulsion of Ishmael

  • Jacob's Ladder

  • The Golden Calf

  • The Sin of the Spies

  • Iyov (Job)

See more >

Deep Dive Courses

  • Genesis Unveiled: An Epic Adventure through the early Bereishit Stories

  • Abraham's Journey: A Deep Dive into all the Avraham Stories

  • Jacob Man of Truth: A New Perspective on Yitzchak, Rachel, Yaakov, and Eisav

  • Methodology: Learn How to Read the Torah

Big Questions

  • Why Does Judaism Have a Written and Oral Law?

  • What is so Revelatory About the 10 Commandments?

  • What is the Meaning of Life

  • Why Does our Torah Contain Laws that Seem to Promote Slavery?

  • How Can we Respond to the Charges of Biblical Criticism?

Prayer

  • Understanding Shacharit

  • Understanding Shabbat Prayers

  • Understanding Hallel

  • Hannah's Prayer: How to Get Close to God

  • Understanding Eishet Chayil

  • Why is it Important to Pray?

How to Read Torah

  • Understanding the Genre of Torah

  • Intertextuality and Chiasms - How the Torah Encodes Meaning

  • How Our Stories Become Our Laws - The Surprising Relationship Between the Narrative and Legal Sections of the Torah

Personal Growth

  • How to Heal a Broken Relationship

  • Why Does Honoring Our Parents Lead to Us Meriting a Long Life?

  • Do I Have to Get Along with Everyone?

  • What Can We Learn from Moses' Humility?

Parsha

  • Shoftim: The Torah's Police Officers

  • Ki Teitzei: Erasing Amalek...Today?

  • Ki Tavo: What Does the Bible Say About True Happiness?

  • Nitzavim: Shirat Ha'azinu: The Song of Moses

  • Vayeilech: The Inspiring Conclusion to the Torah (Part 1)

See more >

Holidays

  • How Do I Get Closer to God?

  • How to Prepare for Rosh Hashanah?

  • Yamim Noraim: Meaning and Significance

  • Rosh Hashanah: Day of Judgment or a Day of Joy?

  • High Holidays: Just How Guilty Should I Feel?

See more >

Understanding Mitzvot

  • Why Does the Mikvah Make Me Pure?

  • Kashrut: What Does God Have Against Cheeseburgers?

  • Did God Really Need to Rest? Shabbat's Role in Judaism

Understanding Tanach Stories

  • The Garden of Eden

  • The Expulsion of Ishmael

  • Jacob's Ladder

  • The Golden Calf

  • The Sin of the Spies

  • Iyov (Job)

See more >

Deep Dive Courses

  • Genesis Unveiled: An Epic Adventure through the early Bereishit Stories

  • Abraham's Journey: A Deep Dive into all the Avraham Stories

  • Jacob Man of Truth: A New Perspective on Yitzchak, Rachel, Yaakov, and Eisav

  • Methodology: Learn How to Read the Torah

Big Questions

  • Why Does Judaism Have a Written and Oral Law?

  • What is so Revelatory About the 10 Commandments?

  • What is the Meaning of Life

  • Why Does our Torah Contain Laws that Seem to Promote Slavery?

  • How Can we Respond to the Charges of Biblical Criticism?

Prayer

  • Understanding Shacharit

  • Understanding Shabbat Prayers

  • Understanding Hallel

  • Hannah's Prayer: How to Get Close to God

  • Understanding Eishet Chayil

  • Why is it Important to Pray?

How to Read Torah

  • Understanding the Genre of Torah

  • Intertextuality and Chiasms - How the Torah Encodes Meaning

  • How Our Stories Become Our Laws - The Surprising Relationship Between the Narrative and Legal Sections of the Torah

Personal Growth

  • How to Heal a Broken Relationship

  • Why Does Honoring Our Parents Lead to Us Meriting a Long Life?

  • Do I Have to Get Along with Everyone?

  • What Can We Learn from Moses' Humility?

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Let us introduce ourselves

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Rabbi Fohrman Our lead scholar

Rabbi David Fohrman is the founder and lead scholar at Aleph Beta. Over the last two decades, he’s pioneered a way of reading Biblical text that feels both rigorous and revelatory. Through Aleph Beta, he’s given expression to that, developing what is now a vast library of content, spanning all types of media: animated videos, podcasts and books. He’s also embarked on an effort to train a team of Torah scholars adept at the close-reading methodology he’s pioneered – and their work can be found at Aleph Beta, too.

Prior to his founding of Aleph Beta, Rabbi Fohrman served as a senior editor and writer for the ArtScroll Talmud Project. He also taught Biblical themes as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University, where he had earlier received a Master’s degree in Western intellectual history. Rabbi Fohrman received his rabbinical and Talmudic training at the Ner Israel Rabbinical College, but some of his earliest and most profound exposure to Biblical text analysis came from his encounters with Rabbi Yosef Leibowitz, in his childhood years in Northern California. 

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