Bereishit

Avraham’s challenge to God’s planned destruction of Sodom raises the fundamental ethical problem of collective punishment. The resolution of this challenge, Sruli Fruchter explains, enables Avraham to realize God’s highest ideals and to confront the conflict between compassion for oppressors and consideration for their victims.

Mark Glass puts the Akeidah in conversation with the surrounding narratives of the book of Genesis.

Sarah Golubtchik suggests that the numerous parallels between the puzzling episode of Yehuda and Tamar and the story of Yaakov, Rivkah, and the Berakhot are the key to unlocking this mysterious episode.

Herzl Hefter provides critical perspective on a stream of Akeidah interpretation from Kierkegaard to the Rav

Zohar Atkins presents a new poem on the Akeidah.

Aryeh Klapper recreating a patriarchal voice.

Ari Silbermann examines one of the most traumatic events in the Torah.

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.

In a chapter adapted from his new book, Be, Become, Bless: Jewish Spirituality between East and West, Yaakov Nagen suggests based on the Zohar that the world endures when we see Godliness in another person's face.

Daniel Lifshitz explains the connection between Abraham, Gideon, and David through the lens of this week's Parshah and Haftarah.