Aleph Beta

18/08/2026

There are only two biblical characters called Yonah. One’s a dove. One’s a prophet. And the parallels don’t stop there.

Both stories feature a boat and a storm, the same impending destruction, the same number of days. Even the same word for the evil that caused it all—“chamas.”

Once you line it all up, it stops looking like coincidence and it starts looking like an instruction: read these two stories together.

We’re spending the next 5 weeks doing exactly that with Rabbi David Fohrman and Imu Shalev—tracing the Book of Jonah back to the Flood, verse by verse. And we want you to join us! It’s completely FREE. Comment JONAH and we’ll send the link to sign up.

11/08/2026

The entire second half of the Book of Exodus is one giant chiasm—a literary structure where the text mirrors itself. The Golden Calf at the center. Shabbat on both sides. The command to build the Mishkan mirroring its actual construction. And bookending it all: two cloud scenes.

And when you read those two cloud scenes side by side—the way the chiasm is asking you to—everything shifts.

The cloud that once covered a mountain now travels with the people. The glory that once rested on top of Sinai now fills the Mishkan—so intensely that even Moses can’t enter. The fire that once looked like a terrifying blaze on a distant peak now keeps them warm at night.

Same elements. Completely different relationship.

And what sits at the center of all of this? The Golden Calf. The moment God said: if I dwell among you even for a moment, I will destroy you.
And yet—by the last verse of Exodus—God doesn’t just dwell among them. He moves in.

That’s the message the Torah wants to leave us with at the end of this book. That no matter how far we’ve strayed, the relationship is never beyond repair. That even after the greatest rupture, God still wants to be close to us.

These ideas are inspired by Rabbi David Fohrman’s teachings in his video series “Understanding Shmot Through Chiasms” For a deeper dive, go check it out at alephbeta.org

10/08/2026

What if Cain’s greatest sin wasn’t the murder itself?

In this week’s Aleph Beta guide to Parshat Shoftim, we explore a surprising connection between Cain and Abel and the Torah’s laws of the ir miklat, the city of refuge.

Cain may not have fully understood what would happen when he struck Abel. But afterward, when God asks where his brother is, Cain responds:

“Am I my brother’s guard?”

That may be where the Torah wants us to focus.

Cain’s failure wasn’t only what happened to Abel. It was his refusal to take responsibility for another person’s well-being.

And then comes the remarkable irony: Cain, who failed to protect his brother, is himself protected by God. Later, in Parshat Shoftim, society is commanded to offer that same protection to the inadvertent killer.

It’s an extraordinary blend of compassion and accountability, kindness and justice.

The idea comes from Aleph Beta’s study guide, “Shoftim: The Line Between Murder and Apathy,” based on Rabbi David Fohrman’s teaching.

There’s much more to uncover in the guide, including the fascinating parallels between Cain’s story and the cities of refuge.

Check out the full guide and explore the sources for yourself.

A printable parsha guide for our Shoftim video, "The Significance of Saving Private Ryan."

06/08/2026

What does it mean to rejoice before God?

In Parshat Re’eh, joy is not meant to be private. The Torah tells us to celebrate with our children, our households, the Levite, and those who do not have an inheritance of their own.

Why?

Because if there is one God, then there is one human family.

Recognizing God as the source of everything means recognizing that His blessings were never meant to stop with us. Sharing our abundance is not separate from worship. It is part of worship.

The Torah’s alternative to a religion of fear and control is a life of gratitude, generosity, and joy.

Discover more in this beautiful class:

God doesn’t like foreign gods .... but does He have to remind us over and over? And the people, too, seemed to be obsessed with foreign gods. What made…

04/08/2026

The entire second half of Exodus is one giant chiasm: a literary structure where the text mirrors itself.

Here’s the structure: two cloud scenes on the outside. Then the command to build the Mishkan mirroring the actual construction. Two Shabbat commands flanking the middle. And sitting at the very center—the Sin of the Golden Calf. The great disaster of the entire book.

But here’s what makes the chiasm so powerful. It isn’t just a pretty literary structure—it’s the Torah writing its own commentary. When two elements mirror each other, the Torah is asking you to read them side by side. And when you do, the differences oftentimes carry deep meaning.

These ideas are inspired by Rabbi David Fohrman’s teachings in his video “A Giant Chiasm in Sefer Shmot.” For a deeper dive, go check it out at alephbeta.org

03/08/2026

Why was idol worship so tempting?

Maybe because it promised something every human being craves: control.

When life feels uncertain, we look for formulas, rituals, and guarantees that might protect us or give us what we want. But Parshat Re’eh challenges that entire approach to religion.

A relationship with God is not a transaction. We do not give in order to manipulate the outcome. We give out of gratitude. We worship not because we believe we can control God, but because we recognize that we cannot control everything.

Avodah zarah (idol worship) is rooted in fear. True service of God is rooted in love, trust, and relationship.

Explore this powerful reading of Parshat Re’eh with Aleph Beta.

God doesn’t like foreign gods .... but does He have to remind us over and over? And the people, too, seemed to be obsessed with foreign gods. What made…

30/07/2026

Ever feel like you're going through the motions religiously — doing everything you're "supposed" to do, but the passion is gone?

That's exactly the complaint God levels at the Jewish people in the book of Micah. Not "you're breaking the rules" — but "why do you seem so worn down?" And in response, the prophet Micah offers his own one-line summary of what God wants from us — famous words: "It has been told to you, man, what is good, and what God demands of you: only to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."

But here's the problem Rabbi David Fohrman raises: Moshe already gave us a one-line summary of what God wants, back in this week's parsha, Eikev — and it's a completely different list (fear God, love Him, serve Him, keep His commandments). Is Micah contradicting Moses?

Rabbi Fohrman argues no — they're answering two different questions. Moshe describes what God asks of us as Israelites: a relationship with obligations that are, frankly, all-consuming. Micah describes something underneath that: what God demands of us simply as human beings. And when Micah imagines the "obvious" way to ramp up your religious passion — more sacrifices, more offerings, more, more, more — he shows exactly where that road leads: off a cliff, all the way to child sacrifice. That's not it.

The real answer, Micah says, is to shore up the foundation, not to build higher. Justice. Kindness. Humility. And in a stunning final twist, Rabbi Fohrman shows that Micah is quoting the story of Bilaam — the pagan prophet hired to curse Israel, who instead blesses them with the words "How good are your tents, Jacob." What made Bilaam see the Israelites as good wasn't their prayer or ritual. It was how they treated each other.

Check out the 2-part video series here:

Are Micah and Moses arguing about what it means to be a good person? Find out in part 1 of this epilogue.

27/07/2026

Quick: when's the last time you turned to the Ten Commandments for actual moral guidance? Not as a symbol of Western civilization — but for you, today, with a real decision in front of you?

Rabbi David Fohrman makes the case that this document has three hidden layers of structure, and once you see them, the Ten Commandments stop feeling like ancient furniture and start feeling like a live wire.

Layer one: why two tablets? Tradition says one governs our relationship with God, the other our relationships with people. But look closer — "Honor your father and mother" sits on the God tablet, not the people tablet. The real dividing line isn't God vs. people, it's Creator vs. peer. Five commands about our vertical relationships (with those who made us), five about our horizontal ones (with those who are our equals).

Layer two: the five commands on each tablet mirror each other. "I am the Lord your God" and "Do not murder" turn out to be the same principle wearing two different outfits — the temptation to murder starts the moment you decide someone is inconvenient and you'd be better off without them. Ignoring God is the same move, just subjective instead of objective. Idolatry and adultery? Both are a betrayal of an exclusive, sacred bond.

Rabbi Fohrman leaves us with three more principles to find — and a third layer he only hints at. Read the full piece and try to crack the rest yourself:

How do the Ten Commandments still apply today? After all, most of them are not difficult to observe – “don’t steal… don’t kill” – these are not laws you…

23/07/2026

Today is Tisha B'Av.

It's tempting, on a day like this, to reach for something that makes the loss make sense. A reason. A silver lining. Some way to tie it up so it stops hurting so much.

But maybe today isn't asking that of us.

Maybe today is simply asking us to feel it — the full weight of everything we've lost, without rushing to explain it away. Not because there's no meaning in it somewhere, but because that meaning isn't ours to hold yet, not from where we're standing, in the middle of our own story.

Eicha doesn't end on a comforting note. It ends on a raw, angry one — and only a verse earlier does it let itself hope. Maybe that's the order we need too: a little bit of hope tucked in our back pocket, just enough to let us feel the rest of it honestly.

So today, we don't look away. We sit with the tzar, the loss, the anger, even the questions we can't answer. Not because we've figured anything out, but because this is the day for feeling it, fully — and trusting that grief like this is never the last word.

May we know no more sorrow.

https://www.alephbeta.org/tisha-bav-2026?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=july-2026-organic

23/07/2026

When was the last time you hated someone for absolutely no reason? Sinat chinam, baseless hatred, is the reason the Talmud gives for the loss of the Second Temple. But, outside of comic book super villains, most of us don’t hate for the fun of it. Could it be we’ve been misunderstanding the true meaning of baseless hatred this whole time?

Join Rabbi Fohrman for a look at the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, and discover what Tisha B’Av is really trying to teach us about the nature of hate and putting an end to sinat chinam.

When was the last time that you hated someone for absolutely no reason? Could it be we’ve been misunderstanding the true meaning of “baseless hatred” this…