Eve Levavi Feinstein

Does the Bible prohibit intermarriage with non-Israelites? Not originally. Deuteronomy only prohibits intermarriage with the Canaanite nations. Faced with an intermarriage crisis in Persian Period Yehud, Ezra and Nehemiah reinterpret texts from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, thereby extending the prohibition of intermarriage to all the peoples of the land from their times.

In modern times, Shavuot (“Weeks”) has also become known as חג הבכורים, “the festival of firstfruits,” and in Israel it is celebrated as an agricultural festival. Indeed, bringing firstfruits of grain and fruits to the temple at certain times of the year is biblical, but what, if any, is its connection to Shavuot?

Leviticus 18 includes an extensive list of prohibited sexual relations, including incest, but it does not mention relations between a father and daughter. How can this glaring omission be explained?

Deuteronomy’s description of the circumstances of divorce is ambiguous. Thus, the Mishnah (m. Gittin 9:10) records three different opinions on when a man is allowed to divorce his wife. What can we infer from the biblical text?

How do the laws of Leviticus 18 compare to the laws and practices of the Babylonians, Hittites, and Egyptians, and to the rest of the Bible?

Why can’t a man remarry his wife once she has been married to someone else?

Leviticus 21 and Ezekiel 44 regulate whom priests may marry. What rationale lies behind these laws?

Leviticus 15:24 does not declare sex with a menstruating woman to be forbidden, only that it results in temporary impurity. Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18, however, strictly prohibit it. What accounts for these two different approaches?

Exodus 22:28 commands Israel to give its firstborn sons to God, and makes no mention of redeeming them. What exactly is being commanded?

The Priestly Torah has two different conceptions of why/how the firstborn Israelites are exempt from serving as priests. Is a questionable firstborn census an effort to weigh in on this dispute?

The dietary laws in Leviticus are not expressed in terms of kosher (כשר) or not kosher but in the terms of the Priestly purity laws: purity (טהרה), pollution (טומאה), and disgust (שקץ).

A Comparative Analysis