Hot Off the Shtender

Hot Off the Shtender is a weekly blog that explores texts and reflections from the bet midrash. Lovingly referred to as “HOTS,” this is a SVARA resource you won’t want to miss.

Two chanukiyot (menorahs) stand on some SVARA materials, lit for the second night of chanukah (one center candles, two candles on the right).

The Meta-Miracle of Chanukah

December 25, 2019

by Laynie Soloman

Chanukah is filled with miracles—long-lasting surprise pockets of oil, an unexpected military victory, the legacy of zealous resistance in the…

A SVARA-nik's hands sit on an open Talmud on a shtender. The beit midrash reference guide is sitting on the table.

Radical Presence & the Practice of Rebuke

October 7, 2019

The Jewish new year season tends to have one “star of the show”—teshuva, the practice of recognizing whom we’ve harmed…