A core thread running through Jewish tradition is a continuous yearning toward a promised future. In our holy texts, the Prophets preach to a people in exile of a day in which they will be gathered together again in their land with God. In our davening, we pray for the future rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. Each week when we observe Shabbat, we imagine it as a taste of the more perfect world-to-come. We live in the reality of now—and we are always waiting and striving for a promised future.

In this episode of the Shofar, So Good! podcast, host Kate Mishkin delves into havruta learning, the Jewish tradition of studying Torah in pairs. The goal of this paired endeavor: arguing "for the sake of heaven." Kate speaks with Hadar's Rabbi Avi Killip as well as Pedagogy of Partnership's Dr. Orit Kent to explore what exactly that means, teaches us about Jewish history's most famous study partners, and learns how AI is changing havruta learning. Then, Kate and her dad become havrutas.

You can check out the Shofar, So Good! podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shofar-so-good/id1773839577

Where there is order, there is the potential for disorder. Where forces are held back, there is the potential for them to break free.

Last week, in Parashat Bereishit, God ordered the world, separating light from darkness, the upper waters from the lower waters, dry land from water, and the powerful tehom, the watery depths at the foundation of God’s world, was held at bay. A fragile kind of existence was created which allowed for the creation of life in these new conditions. But in Parashat Noah, we see what happens when the tehom breaks free. The question our parashah poses is: what happens next?