Symbolism

In biblical texts, the span of forty days or forty years is rarely a measure of precise time. Instead, it holds symbolic significance, shaping narratives in ways that transcend a literal interpretation.

Is the prohibition about animal compassion, keeping species separate, or does it hold symbolic and metaphorical meanings? Beyond its surface, the law against “plowing” with an ox and a donkey also conveys a double entendre.

The Talmud requires having two unspecified cooked dishes to be eaten as part of the Passover meal. How did this requirement develop into the custom of placing two particular symbolic foods, the shankbone and the egg, on the seder plate?

The Shema has many interpretations, philosophical, eschatological, national, etc. A historical-critical way to understand the Shema is to read it (and Deuteronomy more broadly) against the backdrop of Assyrian domination, when Assyria touted their god Ashur as the supreme master of the world.

The division of the Torah into five books is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible, yet by the early first millennium C.E., the Torah became known by the Greek name Pentateuch, literally “five scrolls.” When and why was this division created?