Scholarship

Whose idea was Sinai? A midrash contends that Sinai was first conceived by Jethro. Ezra Zuckerman Sivan supports this Midrash from the Torah's text, and explains why Jethro was the appropriate vehicle for providing the rationale of Sinai.

The biblical account of the holiday we refer to as Shavuot bears no relationship at all to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The emergence of the association between this harvest festival and the Sinai covenant has therefore occupied both traditional and academic thinkers for centuries. Tzvika Aviv argues for a previously unexplored approach to the question, one which bridges the mystical insights of the Zohar with current scientific knowledge regarding wheat genetics.

Max Hollanders compares the theological issues raised by alien life and AI.

Ori Bach analyzes differing interpretations of Yiftach's vow, and its outcome, in the book of Shoftim.

In this essay, William Goloboy elucidates Psalm 132 and the Divine choice to prohibit King David from building the First Temple.

I. Introduction: The Puzzle of Vayikra 17 The mitzvah of kisuy ha-dam, the commandment to cover the blood of a slaughtered bird or wild animal,...

David Curwin “Ahavah mekalkelet et ha-shurah.” — Bereishit Rabbah 55:8 The sages used the above phrase “love bends the line” to describe Abraham’s actions before the akeidah:...

The epikorus and the min apparently represent two different kinds of heretic in traditional Jewish literature. Elisha Price traces the evolving meaning of each term in Hazal and medieval writings, clarifying the differences between the major genres of Jewish heresy and helping illuminate for us why they matter.

In this essay, Brandon Marlon analyzes the presence of Ibn Ezra in the poetry of Robert Browning.

Michael Kurin analyzes the building and existence of the Mishkan as a form of spiritual redemption for the mistakes which took place in the Garden of Eden.