Latest Essays

Midrash Chad Shenati, discovered in the Cairo Genizah, criticizes Abraham for not praying for Sarah and praises Isaac for praying for Rebekah.

The term לשוח is a hapax legomenon, a term that appears only once in the Bible. What does it mean?

A look at the the practice and prohibition of child sacrifice in the Bible and the ambivalence underlying the stories of Jephthah’s daughter, Agamemnon’s daughter, and the binding of Isaac.

The literary similarities between the expulsion of Ishmael account and that of the Akedah implies that a trial is taking place.

Esau’s plan to kill Jacob and his “dotted” kiss upon their reunion has been cited by rabbinic authorities, such as Rav Moshe Feinstein, as evidence that antisemitism is inherent. This idea is not found in the Torah or the Talmud.

Using historical geography and geology to uncover the setting of a pre-Israelite story.

Why Melchizedek, a minor biblical character, became so significant in Jewish and Christian interpretation.

What does it mean for the rainbow to be a sign of God’s covenant with life on earth, and how does this compare with other concepts of the rainbow in the ancient world?‍

The story of divine beings procreating with human women (Genesis 6) is expanded upon in the book of Enoch to tell how these angels also bring sin to humanity, causing the ancient flood as well, and this sin is the source of disease in the present day.

Genealogical lists are often overlooked, and yet they represent a distinct biblical literary genre with ideological content. What messages are these lists meant to convey?

Eight possible meanings of Cain’s response גָּדוֹל עֲוֹנִי מִנְּשֹׂא (Genesis 4:13) and what this tells us about his character as presented in the Torah

Commentators have struggled with this question for centuries, but ancient cosmology offers a compelling solution.

“And the Lord Blessed the Seventh Day and Consecrated It” (Genesis 2:3). Can time be blessed?

The bridge that enables the annual traversal from the ending of the Torah back to its beginning is the anticipation of new questions.

How subversive literature becomes normalized.

We are God’s partners in fixing the ethical flaws in the Torah. Halachic loopholes are not dishonest or deceptive; they are part of the design.

Building materials or trail mix? How Karaite Jews read Leviticus 23:40, which describes the mitzvah of taking (ולקחתם) the four species, in light of Nehemiah 8:15.

The golden calf is a Jewish version of the “fall” of Adam and Eve in Christian tradition.

The Torah’s adaptation of a polytheistic ancient West-Semitic custom of sacrificing to seventy gods.

Qohelet says that simḥah (joy) is the best thing in life, but also that it is profitless and absurd. This essay will explore this fundamental contradiction.

The final phrase of Haazinu (Deut 32:1-43) in the MT, וכפר אדמתו עמו, “and he will atone for his land, his people,” is difficult to parse. The textual variants from Qumran, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint offer a clearer, if more dismal, understanding of the phrase.

The Israelite-Samaritan interpretation of “you should afflict your souls” (ועניתם את נפשתיכם) and our experience of Yom Kippur.