Bereishit

Sam Borodach traces the role of clothing throughout the Joseph narrative.

Tamar Weissman shows how the Druze minority in Israel remarkably resemble the biblical Kenites.

R. Yitzchak Blau analyzes the 2018 book, Was Yosef on the Spectrum?

Yisroel Ben-Porat analyzes a Midrash offering non-misogynistic takes on the original sin.

Did Rabbeinu Bahya mention a lightning rod centuries before it was discovered? Yaakov Taubes takes us on a journey through science, magic, and religion to help explain this medieval commentator’s cryptic comment about the Tower of Babel.

Yitzchak Etshalom comments on the relationship between Lavan and Yaakov.

Tammy Jacobowitz reviews David Forman's latest book, a companion to Sefer Bereishit, and finds engaging, instructive literary analysis that pulls new insights from familiar stories.

This week's Parashah introduces us to the city of Shechem. Tamar Weissman examines the various appearances of this city throughout Tanakh, explaining that while it is a city of rupture, it is also one of covenant and fraternity.

Meshulam Gotlieb analyzes a midrash on Jacob's ladder dream to understand Jacob's lifelong fear, how he became so fearful and how it affected his life.

Does the Torah support a universalist or ethnonationalist political orientation? In this timely essay, Ezra Zuckerman Sivan explores the meaning behind key stories in Genesis through the framework of the Aleinu prayer.