Sin

In 1571, a widowed woman, unable to light a fire, screams “to Satan with you” at the flint and tinder and soon finds herself possessed by an evil spirit. Notably, she also does not believe in the exodus. Only after she repents does the kabbalist Hayyim Vital exorcise the spirit through her little toe. Before doing so, Vital interrogates the spirit to learn why it has not yet entered Gehenna (hell) and how it has been wandering the earth from Hormuz to Gaza to Shechem.

What do the curses in Leviticus 26 mean by saying that Israel will רצה ratzah their sins and the land will רצה ratzah its Sabbatical years?

During the Second Temple period, the scapegoat was tied with a crimson thread. While the Torah requires a crimson thread as part of the purification ritual for tzaraʿat (skin disease), it does not mention it by the scapegoat. Nevertheless, parallel practices found in 2^nd millennium B.C.E. Hittite texts of Luwian origin imply that the use of a crimson thread is not a late innovation but an ancient part of the rite.

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.

In English, to covet means to desire someone or something obsessively, wrongfully, and/or without due regard for the rights/feelings of others. It is a strong emotion, to be avoided. But does “covet” capture the meaning of the Hebrew verb חמד?

Finding gender equality in the Song of Songs without compromising God and meaning.

Ezekiel 36 uses Priestly “purification” imagery similar to that of the red heifer ritual to describe God’s future reconciliation with Israel, inspiring the rabbis to choose this passage as the haftara for Parashat Parah.

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.

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

Following the purification period after birth, a mother must bring a חטאת –“sin offering,” despite her having committed no obvious sin. This offers us a unique glimpse into the prehistory of the Israelite cult, when apotropaic rituals (used to protect against dangerous forces) like those in other ANE cultures, were the norm.

King David conducts a census, which brings about a divine plague killing 70,000 people. During the first wilderness census, Exodus requires the Israelites to pay a half shekel to avoid a plague. What’s so dangerous about a census?

Ezekiel challenges the divine (in)justice of intergenerational punishment, even though it appears in the Decalogue.

Leviticus 16 – ויקרא טז