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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.

A Jastrow dictionary is laid open on a table filled with colorful SVARA learning materials. A person is seated at the table, wearing a brown sweater, with only their hands visible. They're holding a pen in one hand and turning the page with the other.

Hello Gertie!

Summer is creeping in here in Northern California. My life is in the process of shifting from urban Berkeley to…
A learner reads from a masechet resting on a shtender. There are orange sticky-arrows scattered across the page, indicating where a certain line of Talmud starts and ends.

Torah is Ours

One weekend ten years ago I found myself in Mónica’s living room surrounded by butcher paper with sprawling scribbles outlining…
A close-up of two people seated in the bet midrash with their hands pointing at a Jastrow dictionary on top of a table filled with colorful learning materials.

Bless This Mess

I have been teaching in SVARA’s Mishnah Collective for the past few years. Every month, we inform our coordinator of…
Two SVARA-niks learning in the bet midrash. They are both seated at a table full of learning materials and they are looking toward eachother.

Joy on Purim

In her recent Rosh Chodesh piece for the month of Adar II, my friend and colleague Rav Avigayil Halpern beautifully…