Jonathan Magonet

After the Golden Calf, Moses refuses to lead Israel unless YHWH remains with the people, and presses further: teach me Your ways. God deflects with a tautology—“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”—and only afterwards reveals the divine attributes (Exodus 34:6–7), compassion and grace, faithfulness for a thousand generations, but punishment for sin to the fourth. The list is not a catalogue of divine qualities but an explanation of how YHWH is willing to limit the divine power to engage directly and intimately with the people out of love.

In the final blood ceremony formalizing the covenant at Sinai, how informed is Israel about the covenant’s details when they declare, na’aseh v’nishma, “let us do and [then] let us hear”?

When Moses sees an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, he kills the Egyptian. Does Moses get involved because he knows he is a Hebrew or does he act out of a sense of justice?

A look at Naomi’s theology, as expressed in her poem, and how it carries her through her grief and back into productive engagement.

Generally translated as “do not steal,” the Rabbis make a compelling case for understanding lo tignov in the Decalogue to be a prohibition against the more serious offense of kidnapping, or, in modern terms, human trafficking.

The story of Jephthah’s daughter is famous as an example of child sacrifice, yet certain clues in the biblical text imply she may have suffered a very different fate.

Why God repeats his command to Jonah a second time