Individual & Communal

This fundamental question lies at the heart of two stories: God suspending Mount Sinai over the Israelites to compel them to accept the Torah, and Joshua, with the Jordan River suspended over the Israelites, compelling them to accept mutual responsibility for each other's private sins.

Leviticus 16 – ויקרא טז

Deuteronomy reflects influence from ancient Wisdom traditions, such as those in the book of Proverbs and in other ancient Near Eastern literature. Yet Deuteronomy presents Torah as Israel’s own Wisdom teaching. This serves both to elevate Torah and to insist that it be in dialogue with the broader, non-Israelite world.

If a corpse is found in a field, and the killer is unknown, the enders of the closest city to break a heifer’s neck by a stream and declare that they did not spill “this blood” (Deuteronomy 21). How does this ritual of eglah arufah, “broken-necked heifer,” atone for Israel’s bloodguilt?

Jewish tradition places a strong emphasis on the importance of repentance on Yom Kippur. It finds its way into Yom Kippur through a post biblical association between fasting and repentance. But what does fasting signify in the Bible and what did it mean originally in the context of Leviticus 16?

God creates “the human... male and female” (Genesis 1), which we typically understand to mean the first human couple. However, a look at the creation of other species in the same chapter suggests otherwise.

By erasing the boundaries between Written and Oral Torah, and removing any clear content from God’s revelation of law, Sommer undermines the concept of authoritative halakha that he wishes to refine.

The anomalous and paradoxical nature of the twelfth curse – Deuteronomy 27:26.