By Rabbi Getzy Markowitz
The Torah library is vast. Within it are distinct genres, each with its own rhythm, texture, and purpose.
- Scripture. The foundational source from which all Torah knowledge flows.
- Talmud. Legal analysis and debate.
- Midrash. Interpretive teachings that uncover deeper layers of meaning.
- Kabbalah. The mystical dimension, exploring the inner structure of reality.
- Halachah. The codification of Jewish law.
- Chakirah. Jewish philosophy and theology.
- Chasidut. Spiritual wisdom drawn from mysticism and lived faith.
- Musar. Character refinement and moral development.
- Dikduk. Hebrew language and grammar.
- History. The unfolding story of Torah scholarship and Jewish life.
- Liturgy. Prayer, poetry, and sacred text.
And then there is She’elot u’Teshuvot. Responsa literature. Halachic case law. Questions and answers spanning centuries, continents, and circumstances.
This week, we began a journey into this remarkable genre. Monday night with young adults. Tuesday with adults and the broader community. What unfolded was extraordinary.
We did not just study answers. We encountered questions. Deep, complex, humbling questions asked by Jews who came before us. People facing impossible circumstances, writing to the rabbinic giants of their generation.
A father in Auschwitz, 1944. His only son has been condemned to the crematorium. He has the means to save him, but another child will die in his place. He turns to the rabbi and says: “Tell me what the Torah says. Whatever you rule, I will obey.”
Conversos in 15th-century Spain. Forced to live as Christians under threat of death. Passover approaches. They cannot risk being found with matzah. They write to a rabbi in Algiers: “How can we observe Pesach? We cannot do everything, but we want to do something.”
Jews fleeing invasion in 1732 Algiers. Taking refuge in bathhouses, they ask: “Can we pray here?”
Even Henry VIII had questions for the rabbis. The problem was that there were none in England. Jews had been expelled in 1290, so his agents had to track down rabbis in Italy. But that is a story for another time.
These were not theoretical exercises. These were real people in real crisis, turning to Torah for guidance. And the questions themselves, even before the answers, reveal something profound about what it means to be a Jew.
In a world gone mad, they still asked.
When everything was on the line, they still cared what Hashem wanted.
When they could not do everything, they still wanted to do something.
Sitting together, studying these exchanges, it felt less like ancient history and more like direct messages. DMs from our ancestors. Personal. Urgent. Real. Voices reaching across centuries asking us: What do you care about? What are you willing to sacrifice? When things get hard, do you still ask?
It forced us to examine our own lives. Our own commitments. Our own relationship with Torah and tradition.
And it gently but unmistakably invited us into a more advanced engagement with Jewish texts. Not just what to do, but how our greatest minds thought. How they weighed values, wrestled with tension, and arrived at rulings that shaped Jewish life for generations.
I want to invite you to be part of this journey.
Monday nights for young adults.
Tuesday nights for adults, couples, and the wider community.
We are just getting started. Next week, we enter the minds and methods of some of history’s greatest rabbis, discovering how they processed questions, marshaled sources, and navigated the space between law and life.
It is rigorous. It is moving.
And it might just enhance how you think, Jewishly.
You’ve Got Mail.
Let’s open it together.
JLI @ MTC
