Sign up for one of NJOP’s free Hebrew Reading Crash Courses starting Monday night January 17th (Level I for beginners) and Wednesday night January 19th (Level II for intermediates), and unlock the fascinating etymology of Hebrew words and connect more meaningfully to Jewish life.

The four Torah passages that are enclosed in Tefillin are written in Hebrew. From the ritual of Tefillin we learn that there is both “rational love” and “emotional love,” a love of the mind and a love of the heart. To appreciate how in Judaism, emotional love trumps rational love, read this enlightening thought entitled “Rational Love and Emotional Love: A Lesson from Tefillin” from Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald’s Torah message on this week’s Torah portion, Bo. Out of respect for the Sabbath, please consider printing it on Friday afternoon if you plan to read it on Shabbat.