Op-ed

“Who Wrote the Bible?” Challenged My Conservative Jewish Education

A single semester in college led to a crisis of faith and identity.

Lisa Jacobs

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It’s Biblical! The Meaning Is Less Relevant

Contemporary Israeli discourse uses the Bible’s rhetorical power to sway public opinion, sometimes interpreting phrases to suggest the opposite of what they meant in their original context.

Dr.

Gili Kugler

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A Journey of Twenty Years with R. Dovid Steinberg

The first time I opened a Talmud was with Rabbi Dovid. Even years before his encounter with academic Bible, he always made space for me to argue points that I disagreed with. I became hooked on Torah study.

Bill Friedlieb

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A Tribute to My Friendship with David Steinberg

Wishing David a happy birthday. We first connected in February 2010 when he was working as a kiruv (outreach) rabbi with Aish HaTorah.

Kevin Wolf

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Why Write a Biblical Commentary?

Walking in the footsteps of Philo, the first biblical commentator, taking Ibn Ezra’s critiques to heart, and paying it forward to the next generation.

Prof.

Ronald Hendel

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Ten Commandments in Every Classroom: The Texas Bill Version

Texas Bill 1515 requires classrooms to display not just the Ten Commandments, but a specific version created by the Fraternal Order of Eagles found on monoliths across the U.S. Is this a legitimate version of the Decalogue?

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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Prof.

Jed Wyrick

“It Is a Time to Act for the Lord, They Make Void Your Torah”

It takes courage to stand up for truth in the face of dismissal.

Dr. Rabbi

Jeremy Rosen

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In the Footsteps of Yaʿabetz

Like the biblical Yaʿabetz, as interpreted by the rabbis, TheTorah.com gives wise and compassionate counsel while spreading Torah far and wide.

Dr. Hacham

Isaac S. D. Sassoon

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A Model for Christian Students of the Bible

TheTorah.com offers Christians helpful models for how to engage Scripture with intellectual rigor in a manner that can enhance their own faith.

Prof.

Peter Enns

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Embracing the Tension between Traditional and Critical Scholarship

Exposing readers to modern critical scholarship and traditional Jewish commentary, not treating them as mutually exclusive, is one of TheTorah.com’s most significant contributions.

Prof. Rabbi

Marty Lockshin

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Pursuing Truth: Our Responsibility Beyond Orthodox Identity

Every age offers examples of the tension between those who welcome new insights and those who uncritically repeat and elaborate on outworn models.

Dr. Rabbi

Norman Solomon

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You Don’t Have to Check Your Brains at the Door

One of modern Judaism’s primary challenges is the lack of educated Jews. TheTorah.com plays a vital role in addressing this issue and making substantial strides toward a solution.

Prof. Rabbi

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

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Renewing the Torah’s Authority

It is time to cut the shackles of encrusted conventions that anchor the Torah in a previous civilization, and that threaten to drag it down to oblivion.

Dr. Rabbi

Irving (Yitz) Greenberg

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Torah for an Interconnected and Changing World

A Shavuot tribute to TheTorah.com on its 8th anniversary (and my 88th birthday).

Dr. Rabbi

Norman Solomon

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Clergy for TheTorah.com

Many hundreds of rabbis and clergy use TheTorah.com as a resource. I am committed to help support it. Will you join me?

Rabbi

Ron Stern

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Coronavirus: What We Can Learn from the Bible and the ANE

An expert in ancient Near Eastern contagious diseases reflects on living through a modern one.

Dr.

Yitzhaq Feder

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A Campus Rabbi Comes to Terms with Biblical Criticism

After years of yeshiva education and even Orthodox semicha, encountering biblical criticism was a shock to my system. However, my initial fear and disorientation gave way to a new bottom-line understanding of Torah, and it has become part of the message that I use to inspire my students on campus.

Rabbi

Daniel Levine

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When a Teacher Believes Biblical Criticism Is Worse Than Pornography

In a Modern Orthodox school in the Tri-State Area, a Jewish day school sophomore is publicly rebuked and shamed by his rabbi for reading academic biblical scholarship.

 

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Confessions of an Interloper: Bible Criticism from the Sidelines

“Bible criticism can ruin only a faith that has already been weakened.” – Emmanuel Levinas, “The Spinoza case”

Prof. Rabbi

Shaul Magid

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Biblical Studies: No More Corrupt Than Any Other Discipline

A response to Joshua Berman’s critique of academic biblical scholarship, “The Corruption of Biblical Studies.” This reply is self-standing, but you are encouraged to read his piece before reading this response.

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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The First Source-Critical Bar Mitzvah Speech?

This is an actual bar mitzvah speech delivered by a Modern Orthodox boy at his bar Mitzvah.

Staff Editors

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Facing Our Past

Biblical scholarship as archaeo-psychology sheds light on the development of moral and religious awareness. We can either run from it or learn from it.

Dan Sofer

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Academic Biblical Studies, the 71st Face of the Torah

The need for rational-critical approaches to Scripture, in the popular Israeli discussions of the weekly parasha.

Prof.

Yair Hoffman

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Reaching Across the Great Divide

Archaeology Review September / October 2013

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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