Humash

In this essay, Aviva Lauer analyzes the Biblical prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in wartime, and connects it to messages about human dignity.

David Fried offers a novel reading of the Akeidah.

Tzvi Sinensky responds to Herzl Hefter's Akeida essay.

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.

Batya Hefter uses the case of Isaac to illuminate how hasidic masters read the Bible.

Dr. Eddie Reichman, an ER doctor on the front lines of fighting Coronavirus, and an expert in the history of halakhah and medicine, shares a unique perspective on history of combatting plagues in the Jewish tradition.

Abraham’s participation in the war of the four kings against the five fits uncomfortably in the broader narrative of his life. Rabbi Mark Glass argues that this Abrahamic episode articulates a core Torah perspective on military might.

In this essay, written in honor of Yom Yerushalayim, Bezalel Naor explores the differing visions for the ideal state held by Plato and the Rabbis, Maimonides and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.

David Schwartz explores thematic similarities between the Hanukkah miracle and Pharaoh’s dreams.

Ezra Zuckerman Sivan comments on the story of Zelophehad and his daughters.