Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

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Academic Biblical Scholarship

Why Should the Scientific Study of the Bible Matter to Us?

In a 1927 speech at the inauguration of the Hebrew University’s Institute for Jewish Studies, Dr. Rabbi Felix Perles called on Jewish scholars to be on the forefront of critical Bible study. He compares this effort to how Maimonides, even though he was accused of abrogating the Torah, incorporated philosophical study into Judaism.

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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Yehezkel Kaufmann: An Academic Defender of Israel’s Religious Spirit

Israelite religion developed from a revolutionary idea: monotheism. And religion alone, not external factors, accounted for the remarkable preservation of Jewish national identity and consciousness in exile.

Dr.

Aly Elrefaei

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Dovid Steinberg’s Ultra-Orthodox Agenda

TheTorah.com engages the Documentary and Supplementary Hypotheses, source, redaction, and textual criticism, and even offers moral critiques of Torah laws and narratives, but what is Steinberg really trying to accomplish?

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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Did Ezra Reconstruct the Torah or Just Change the Script?

In the second century C.E., 4 Ezra and Irenaeus tell a story of how the Torah was burned by Nebuchadnezzar and reconstructed by Ezra through divine inspiration. Rabbinic texts know of this tradition, but in their version, Ezra’s contribution is changing the Torah into Aramaic writing, or even Aramaic language.

Prof.

Rebecca Scharbach Wollenberg

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Chaim Shvilly’s Confession for Bible Critics

Dismayed by claims of modern scholars that the Book of Daniel’s historical survey of the Seleucid era was written post-facto by a Hellenistic author, Chaim Shvilly (1907–1974) composed a ritual confession that Bible critics would be required to say at Daniel’s grave.

Staff Editors

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Moshe Greenberg: A Spiritual Critical Bible Scholar

At the heart of the life and career of Moshe Greenberg, z”l, was a search for spiritual meaning through the scholarly study of the Bible.

Dr.

Alex Sinclair

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An Old Georgian Translation of Esther Incorporates Three Greek Versions

The Hebrew book of Esther was translated into Greek and expanded in the 1st century B.C.E. It was then revised and contracted in two further textual forms. A fourth version preserved only in a late first-millennium Old Georgian translation combines all three Greek texts, using a conservative redaction approach, similar to what scholars posit happened with the Pentateuch.

Dr.

Natia Mirotadze

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Biblical Criticism Is Not Science

Dr. Rabbi

Yoel Bin-Nun

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I Respect Academic Methodology but Am Not Convinced by Its Conclusions

Rabbi

Yoni Rosensweig

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Studying the Bible Critically Is a Window into Our Cultural Past and Present

Dr.

Yael Avrahami

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From the Visigoths to the Bible

Prof.

Hagith Sivan

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Bible Criticism Allows Me to Keep My Jewish Connection

Prof.

Shawna Dolansky

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I Was an “Israelien” and Became [More] Jewish via Bible Study

Prof.

Athalya Brenner-Idan

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Inspired by the Literary Power of the Bible

Prof.

Everett Fox

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Judaism Intellectually Alive: Scholarship and Rabbinate Intertwined

Prof. Rabbi

Pamela Barmash

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Theologically and Politically Inspired by the Bible

Prof.

Marvin A. Sweeney

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Tanakh and My Search for Jewish Identity

Prof.

Carl S. Ehrlich

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Adventure Awaits Those Willing to Study Bible Critically

Prof.

Nili Wazana

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Torah Thoughts, Rabbinic Mind, and Academic Freedom

Na’aseh Ve-Nishma

Prof.

Zev Garber

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Theology, Not Biblical Studies

Dr.

Tova Ganzel

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Whose Torah Do We Celebrate on Shavuot?

Rabbi

David D. Steinberg

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The Vitality of Biblical Texts

The generative relationship between ancient texts and later interpretation can illuminate and revitalize the study of these texts, including the Bible.

Prof.

Hindy Najman

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Bible Scholarship in Orthodoxy

Reflections on teaching biblical criticism in the classroom; a talk given at the Edah conference (2005).

Rabbi

Eric Grossman

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In What Sense Did Orthodoxy Believe the Torah to be Divine?

Decades before Facebook, blogs, and the Internet, at a time Orthodoxy was trying to distinguish itself from the Conservative movement, ten Orthodox thinkers responded to the question of what the divine revelation of the Torah meant in Orthodox Judaism. Did they meet the challenge of Biblical Criticism?

Dr. Rabbi

Lawrence Grossman

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The Hebrew Slave: Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy

A classic example of source criticism applied to Torah legislation.

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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Why Now? Toward a Sociology of Knowledge Analysis of TheTorah.com

An analysis of why the approach taken by TheTorah.com has found such a large audience among the Orthodox at this time.

Prof.

Chaim I. Waxman

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Metempsychosis (Gilgul), Academic Study of Bible and the Meaning of Truth

Dr. Hacham

Isaac S. D. Sassoon

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Traditional Torah Study versus Scientific Analysis

How do they differ? What are their respective goals? And why the two should not be confused.

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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A Bible Scholar’s Simchat Torah

The joy of unraveling the Torah’s mysteries

Prof.

Baruch J. Schwartz

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The Embarrassing Case of the Blasphemer: Did God Really Want Him Dead?

Dr.

Serge Frolov

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Biblical Authority: A Jewish Pluralistic View

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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How Can a Torah Commentary Be Source-Critical and Jewish?

Prof.

Baruch J. Schwartz

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The Diatessaron and Its Relevance to the Study of the Pentateuch

An introduction to the Diatessaron, and its significance to biblical studies, particularly the Documentary Hypothesis.

Dr.

Naomi Koltun-Fromm

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The Benefits of Studying Torah with Modern Biblical Scholarship

Staff Editors

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In the Footsteps of Leibowitz: Kasher, Levinger, Goldman and Schwartz

Prof.

Tamar Ross

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Torah MiSinai and Biblical Criticism: Rising to the Full Challenge

Dr. Rabbi

Jeremy Rosen

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Is Modern Critical Study a Jewish Way of Studying Torah?

The works of medieval exegetes such as Maimonides, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra demonstrate that Judaism has a long-standing tradition of studying the Torah critically.

Prof. Rabbi

Marty Lockshin

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Cracks in the Edifice: A Personal Reflection

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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Accepting the Torah through the Prism of Chaos Theory

Illustrating four aspects of Shavuot from critical and traditional perspectives.

Dr. Rabbi

Jeremy Rosen

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Can Orthodox Education Survive Biblical Criticism?

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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

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

Lisa Jacobs

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

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

God Doesn’t Come Down to Earth Lower than Ten

“The heavens are the heavens for YHWH, and the earth was given to humankind.” — Psalm 115:16. Reflections on the 10-year anniversary of TheTorah.com.

Rabbi

David D. Steinberg

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

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

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

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