Bereishit

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:...

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.

David Fried offers a novel reading of the Akeidah.

Seth C. Oranburg The bird was banging on my window again. I think he is an oriole, but I am not much of an ornithologist,...

The stories of Hagar and Ishmael's banishment and subsequent rescue by the angel and that of a cast-out baby Moses on the Nile rescued by Pharaoh's daughter are seemingly dissimilar, but this close reading by David Curwin argues that their strong parallels have a lesson to teach about the importance of being active and not succumbing to passivity.

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.

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.

Yakov Nagen examines the opening chapters of Genesis to explore what God wanted from people for matan Torah.

Sam Glauber examines Abraham's place in his society.

Building on ideas from Jacques Lacan and Rabbeinu Bahya ibn Pakuda, Zach Truboff offers an innovative psychological reading of the Cain and Abel story.