Tag: Shavuot

Yaakov Jaffe examines different views on which of Ruth's attributes first sparked Boaz's attention, and explores what that means about how we define a Jewish hero.

Why does the Tosefta accuse the Jews of being deceitful at Sinai? Worse still, why is God portrayed as being complicit in their deception? Ahead of Shavuot, Sara Wolkenfeld explains.

Ezra Zuckerman Sivan examines the significance of the six barleys that Boaz gives Ruth in light of the story of Rachel, Leah, and the duda'im.

How should we understand Yatziv Pitgam, the enigmatic poem recited in the Haftarah for the second day of Shavuot? Tzvi Novick’s close reading reveals it to be a paean to the Torah and those who study it.

In this riveting short story, Leah Cypess retells a medieval Shavuot legend of how a Jewish community was saved from a deadly sorcerer.

In advance of Shavuot, Stuart Halpern reviews Reading Ruth, a succinct but poignant new literary commentary on the Book of Ruth, by Leon Kass and his granddaughter Hannah Mandelbaum.

Ezra Zuckerman Sivan examines how the yibbum triangle of Ruth, Tamar, and Lot's daughters teaches us how to rebuild our lives in a time of upheaval.

The call to learn Torah at night surprisingly comes from a verse in Lamentations. Yaakov Weinstein discusses what we can learn from this, and what it means for the practice of staying up on Shavuot.

Michael Bernstein examines how the individual experience is ironically incorporated into holidays that are all about the community.

Take a fantastical jump into Matan Torah in this short story by David Zvi Kalman.