Coffee – The Grind and the Gemara

I confess that we in the Becher home are coffee fanatics.  We only buy recently roasted beans, grind them in a ceramic grinder, make pour-over coffee using only non-bleached paper filters and do not pollute the coffee with sugar or chas v’shalom, artificial sweeteners and other toxic waste.  We recently acquired a cold brew coffee tower, which drips cold water through ground coffee for six hours and produces one of ...

Read More

The Ties That Bind

As different as the Super Bowl and the Siyum Hashas were, they nevertheless shared one thing in common: The desire of the human for connection and unity.  It is our belief that since the human soul was created with a similarity to Hashem and with the obligation to increase and cultivate that similarity, it therefore seeks out Oneness.  Hashem, as the Shema states, is One – He is uniquely one, ...

Read More

God Bless America

Abraham’s relationship with God was rooted in a covenant, an agreement between two parties, each having obligations toward the other.  Abraham and his descendants were obligated to practice circumcision, kindness and justice and to have faith in God.  God in turn promised that Abraham’s descendants would maintain a special relationship with Him.  They would be given the Land of Israel and would be a “blessing to all nations of the ...

Read More