Latest Essays
Sukkot in Ezra-Nehemiah and the Date of the Torah
Sukkot in Ezra-Nehemiah and the Date of the Torah
According to Ezra (3:4) and Nehemiah (8:14-15) the returnees celebrated the holiday of Sukkot according to the law as it “was written,” but differences between their celebrations and the prescriptions in the Torah suggest that the laws they had written were slightly different than ours. Was the Torah finalized by the time Ezra-Nehemiah was written?
Relegating Redemption of the Firstborn to a One-time Event in the Wilderness
Relegating Redemption of the Firstborn to a One-time Event in the Wilderness
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?
Standing Under Sinai: On the Origins of a Coerced Covenant
Standing Under Sinai: On the Origins of a Coerced Covenant
Tracing the tannaitic and biblical sources for the famous claim that God held Mount Sinai over the Israelites and threatened to bury them if they did not accept the Torah.
Obliterating Cherem
Obliterating Cherem
The Torah describes a practice of declaring people cherem, which means that the person, and—in some cases—his family, would be annihilated, and his possessions donated to the Temple. The rabbis were unhappy with this law and used their homiletical approach to “obliterate” it.
The Secret of the Ma’aseh Merkava According to Maimonides
The Secret of the Ma’aseh Merkava According to Maimonides
Already in the time of the Rabbis, Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot was considered to be esoteric knowledge. Although most Jewish exegetes interpret it as a metaphorical teaching about God, Maimonides interpreted it to be about science and astronomy. So why must it be kept a secret? Because Ezekiel was wrong and his science mistaken.
The Philistines: Ancient Records, Archaeological Remains, and Biblical Traditions
The Philistines: Ancient Records, Archaeological Remains, and Biblical Traditions
The current scholarship about the identity of the Philistines, who they were, when they came to the Levant, and why.
The Law of Fourth-Year Fruit: Restraining the Ancient Vintage Celebration
The Law of Fourth-Year Fruit: Restraining the Ancient Vintage Celebration
Ancient Israel had two separate customs relating to vineyards and wine that took place during the time of vintage: a fertility rite (חילול) that marked the first use of a vineyard’s produce, and an annual vintage celebration (הילולים) in which the winegrowers praised God for their harvest. As the rites seem to have been wild, the law of ‘orla and the fourth year produce (רבעי) in Lev. 19:23-25 attempts to restrict them.
The Animal Laws Before Kashrut: A System of Purity
The Animal Laws Before Kashrut: A System of Purity
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).
The Haggadah: A New Telling of the Exodus Story
The Haggadah: A New Telling of the Exodus Story
In the Second Temple period, the core ritual of Pesach was eating the sacrificial meal and praising God. With the destruction of the Temple, the seder, with its focus on telling the story of the exodus, took the place of the paschal sacrifice as the core ritual.
