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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.

Featured Videos

  • Why Is The End Of Bamidbar So Anticlimactic?

    Why Is The End Of Bamidbar So Anticlimactic?

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 13 min video

    The Torah is a book of great drama, why does the narrative ends with a seemingly-unnecessary story about a random conquest of some towns? In this week and next week, Rabbi Fohrman paints a picture of epic connections to the stories of Jacob, Joseph and Judah.

  • The Art Of Negotiation

    The Art Of Negotiation

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 13 min video

    In this week's Torah portion, Rabbi Fohrman discusses the interesting conversation between the children of Gad, the children of Reuben and Moses, as they are requesting to live on the other side of the Jordan – not in the land of Israel proper.Rabbi Fohrman analyzes their exchange to get to the core of true negotiation and communication – trust and respect.

  • The Promised Land: Good Or Bad?

    The Promised Land: Good Or Bad?

    Beth Lesch - 15 min video

    In Parshat Devarim, Moses recounts the story of the spies. In that story, Moses had sent 12 men to the Promised Land, asking them: "And what of the land? Is it good or is it bad?" Now without even going to see the land for yourself, you know the right answer to that question, right? The Promised Land is good! The Almighty God describes it as a good land, His chosen land, the place where His chosen people belongs. Then why does Moses pose this question to the spies? Is it a trick question? Isn't this a bit strange?When you take a closer look at the text, and when you look at it through the lens of Moses' words in Parshat Devarim... when you see how the spies actually answer Moses’ question, and how the people react, it becomes clear that there is a story playing out here just beneath the surface of the text, a story with a checkered history and insidious undertones, a story that sheds a whole new light on this tragic episode.-----------------------------------------------------The most comprehensive presentation of Rabbi Fohrman’s theory of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge is in his book, The Beast That Crouches at the Door, which you can purchase here. He also explicates parts of the theory in various videos and podcasts throughout our library, including:Genesis UnveiledEicha And Ayekah: Was There A Tisha B’Av In Eden?What Is The Meaning Of Life? (see Part III, aka segment 4)-----------------------------------------------------Click for Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch’s commentary on the parallel between the sin of the spies and the sin of Adam and Chava.-----------------------------------------------------For more on Parshat Devarim, see What Did Moses Do Wrong?

  • Finding Purpose in Grief: The Lesson of Rachel's Tears

    Finding Purpose in Grief: The Lesson of Rachel's Tears

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 5 episodes - 58 min video

    Tisha B'Av can feel static. Like we're just meant to marinade in sadness. How do we channel our grief towards a greater purpose? This film turns to Rachel Imeinu, her struggle with infertility, and her conflict with Leah, to discover a lesson for us all.

  • Grappling with Loss

    Grappling with Loss

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 6 episodes - 92 min video

    If God loves us, why does He let us suffer? This question may be impossible to answer, but on Tisha B’Av it’s just as impossible to ignore.

  • How The Sin Of The Spies Led To Tisha B’Av

    How The Sin Of The Spies Led To Tisha B’Av

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 7 episodes - 179 min video

    The first recorded tragedy of the 9th of Av occurred hundreds of years before the first Beit HaMikdash was even built. This surprising origin story sheds a whole new light on the meaning of the day.

  • The Split Kingdom and the Road to Tisha B'Av

    The Split Kingdom and the Road to Tisha B'Av

    Rabbi David Fohrman - 8 episodes - 204 min video

    To really understand the origins of Tisha B'Av, we have to look deep into Israel's past. Before the Romans. Before the Babylonians. Even before the ten tribes were exiled. What first went wrong?

Welcome to Aleph Beta!

Discover your Torah library

Browse full library >

Parsha

  • Matot: Why is the End of Bamidbar So Anticlimactic?

  • Masei: The Art of Negotiation

  • Devarim: The Promised Land - Good or Bad?

  • Vaetchanan: Seeing Layers in the Ten Commandments

  • Eikev: Appreciating Our Creators

See more >

Holidays

  • How Israel Split and the Road to Tisha B'Av

  • How Am I Supposed to Appreciate the Loss of the Beit HaMikdash?

  • Tisha B'Av After October 7th

  • Why Do We Still Mourn?

  • Megillat Eichah and Its Secrets

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

  • Matot: Why is the End of Bamidbar So Anticlimactic?

  • Masei: The Art of Negotiation

  • Devarim: The Promised Land - Good or Bad?

  • Vaetchanan: Seeing Layers in the Ten Commandments

  • Eikev: Appreciating Our Creators

See more >

Holidays

  • How Israel Split and the Road to Tisha B'Av

  • How Am I Supposed to Appreciate the Loss of the Beit HaMikdash?

  • Tisha B'Av After October 7th

  • Why Do We Still Mourn?

  • Megillat Eichah and Its Secrets

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

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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