Tanakh

Max Hollander analyzes the Akeidah through the lens of considering Avraham's pain and fear in anticipation of sacrificing Isaac.

Jackson Gardner explores the meaning of “sod” for Rambam and Ramban.

Joel Wolowelsky & Avner Taler explore the Brit Bein Ha-Betarim through a lens of chronology and spiritual renewal.

Joel Wolowelsky analyzes various midrashic readings of the Akedah.

Daniel Brauner analyzes the character of Balaam -- specifically, why Balaam is considered so wicked in the eyes of Chazal.

We only rarely have the opportunity to compare and analyze instances where a rabbi or scholar changed his interpretation over time, yet R. Yom Tov Lipman Heller published his Mishnah commentary, Tosafot Yom Tov, twice in his lifetime. Yaakov Jaffe examines the evolution of R. Heller's interpretation of the term “the Mouth of the Earth” in Pirkei Avot.

Why do biblical and rabbinic texts preserve so many names, places, and seemingly unnecessary details? Chaim Trachtman argues that these textual additions are more than literary embellishments: they strengthen communal memory, reinforce covenantal identity, and help transform religious tradition into lived history.

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.

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